Why did Suikoden 4 take place 150 years before the first one?

[My name is...something..?]

There really didn't seem to be a point in it taking place before the first one. Is there a reason or did they just do it for the heck of it?

[Meat Puppet]

Why not?

[Xalioniaf]

Why did Devil May Cry 3 take place before DMC1, and why is Dante more badass than in 1 or 2? Because it just is.

[My name is...something..?]

Ah, so it's like I said, they did it just for the heck of it.
They could have easily had it take place a few years after 3 though, so you'd have some more characters that you actually know.

[Raistlin]

Fans for years now have wanted more insight into Ted's character from Suikoden I. Suikoden IV gave them that insight while also being an entirely new, seperate game. That's what Suikoden games are - completely seperate games, with some of the same characters and the odd tie-in to make it that much more enjoyable for the faithful fans of the series.
There are several of the same characters in S4.

[My name is...something..?]

But not that many, there were like less than ten!!

[Dreddz]

People just do that
Dosent make a game bad at all
But generally Suikoden 4 was crap

[black orb]

There really didn't seem to be a point in it taking place before the first one. Is there a reason or did they just do it for the heck of it?
>>> They did it for the Suikoden 1 fans.. a new chance to see Ted and the Soul Eater.
simple as that.