Favorite Suikoden?

[VeloZer0]

One question. How long until I get my castle? Because I was like 12 hours in before I stopped playing and there was no castle in sight.

[Raistlin]

You must have been close; as I said, the game is only ~30 hours long, and you have the castle for much of that. Where were you in the game?

[Madame Adequate]

One question. How long until I get my castle? Because I was like 12 hours in before I stopped playing and there was no castle in sight.

Getting the castle comes pretty much out of nowhere. IIRC your characters do a quest and then in the aftermath of it realize "Hey this place is pretty neat let's establish ourselves here" xD You were almost certainly on the cusp of getting your castle at 12 hours in.

[BG-57]

That is the nerdiest analogy ever.

Does that make it untrue?

As for setting, my best guess would be Kooluk. If it's not, I'd say it'll be somewhere pretty left-field and unlikely; either somewhere we've not heard of before, or somewhere oddball that we know almost nothing about, like Kanakan or Zelant. I don't think it'll be New Armes mainly because they obviously weren't reformed before V, and after the events of V they're said to have become more moderate and friendlier. Though obviously later on there could be a reaction against this But I think Kooluk is the most likely setting 'cause it's pretty well established to be in a pretty poor state. I'm not sure Harmonia will ever be the subject of a Suikoden; if it is then I'd say not until very late in the series.

Much of Tactics takes place in Kooluk, to the point where the political situation there is drastically altered by the game's events.

There are hard line factions in New Armes, they could always have a civil war.

I agree Harmonia is less likely for now.

Getting the castle comes pretty much out of nowhere. IIRC your characters do a quest and then in the aftermath of it realize "Hey this place is pretty neat let's establish ourselves here" xD You were almost certainly on the cusp of getting your castle at 12 hours in.

It's a neat castle too.

[Madame Adequate]

Much of Tactics takes place in Kooluk, to the point where the political situation there is drastically altered by the game's events.

Well then I'll shut up about Kooluk!

[BG-57]

Although the events of IV happen before all the other games, and Tactics soon after, so the Kooluk may (SPOILER)be reorganized into some new polical entity later in the timeline. Nothing canonical though.

[black orb]

>>> Suikoden 1 is my fav..
here is my ranking.
1- Suikoden 1
2- Suikoden 2
3- Suikoden 4
4- Suikoden 5
5- Suikoden 3
6- Suikoden Tactics.

Its about time we have Suikoden 6, and they better dont forget the Kobolds, Nay-Kobolds and a new true rune..

[Masamunemaster]

I havent got to play 2 yet so I cant really say anything about it...I hear its the best, but I like the original alot. I bought it off the PSN and I cant wait for them to put the second one on it...

[Bunny]

To me, the most likely place for a Suikoden VI setting would be Harmonia. They have already given us a history of the country, not to mention several characters throughout the game with direct connections to the country and government itself. On top of that, it is, from what I remember, the oldest nation according to the current timeline and has been mentioned to some degree in every Suikoden game to date (conjecture, but I recall a small mention in each game at least). It would bring an immense amount of information to the forefront regarding the entire Suikoden universe regardless of whether or not it was a prequel to IV or a sequel to III.

I would play any Suikoden game released regardless of setting, but a Harmonia-fueled game would have me incredibly excited.

[Laddy]

I really enjoyed III. And I thought I'd be alone in that thought. :/

[Raistlin]

The only person I know who doesn't like SIII is Bleys, and that's only because he got hit on the head a few too many times as a child.

[Mikeneko Rocker -- Tim]

I voted for II, because of Luca Blight.





Tierkreis is the first full-on AU Suikoden game.

[BG-57]

I'm 14 hours into my speed run of Suikoden II, just got all 108 stars of destiny (I picked Kasumi instead of Valeria and went with Feather and Aziboah as the monsters). Just barely defeated Luca with two characters left standing and no healing ability left.

I've been surprised by the number of characters in this game that show up in later ones, especially V: Killey, Lorelei and even Georg Prime! Of course, I'm not counting characters that show up in every installment like Viki and Jeane.

I've played III out of order with the rest of the series, so it's making a little more sense now that I've been playing them in sequence.

[Wolf Kanno]

Oh god... its hard choosing my favorite in this series. I love the cast and Rune from Suikoden 1 but 2,3, and 5 are much better written with equally awesome casts... I have a conundrum.

I own the whole series except 2 and Tiekries. 2 cause its horribly overpriced thanks to its rarity (though I may end up buying it off my friend who has owned it for years and still never finished it ) and the DS game which I've kinda snubbed once I learned it was set in an alternate universe and was filled with more JRPG cliches than the series has ever had. I still have yet to play through all of Tactics but I really should...

Suikoden - Great cast a really good plot once you get past some of the sillier parts such as building giant mirrors to be death beams and a General who wins battles with his poisonous roses... The Rune of Life and Death is still my favorite True Rune and Tir McDohl is easily my favorite main character. The core cast was awesome and its surprising how much of the cast of lesser characters eventually become more important in later installments.

Suikoden II - A much more involved battle system way better spell effects that make even weak spells feel utterly awesome and having almost a third of the cast from S1 return makes for some nostalgic fun. The plot is much better and far more politically driven and as has been mentioned, Jowy and Riou's story is very reminiscent of Ramza and Delita while the overall politics reminds me of Battletech/Mechwarrior during the Clan invasion. The Iron Chef cooking tournaments were awesome... My fave moment was being able to recruit Tir into your party and being able to utterly destroy everything in the game cause him and Riou are an evil combo.

Suikoden III - I love the story telling aspect of this game, being able to see a conflict from three different sides not to mention, like Suikoden 2, you get the added benefit of seeing recurring characters and even people who were kids in the previous installments all grown up (Hello Futch and Lily). The villain was also a bit of a surprise for those who had played the first two games and I liked Yuber's redesign. The battle system was a bit odd but the camera work for some of the dungeon's and maps were breathtaking. Thomas is easily one of my favorite characters in the series thanks to this game and I would love to see him as an adult.

Suikoden IV - Despite some of the game's sinful changes (four member parties instead of six? I have to now learn combo attacks forcing me to have to use a guide so I don't waste time and even then I need to level it up? Horribly underwhelming spell animations?) the story was pretty good and I did quite enjoy the whole Naval angle this game took. Ship battles were simplistic but fun and up until this point, I felt they were one of the better War battle systems in the series. The game at many times, feels like a retread to Suikoden 1 but I did like how they really made the Trading system much more involved if you ever wanted to make use of that Blacksmith. The cast wasn't as memorable but I got a chance to play as Ted from Suikoden 1 and that for me was pretty damn awesome. Though its the weakest of the numbered entries, its still good and should be a testament to the quality of the series as a whole.

Suikoden V - If IV was trying to emulate S1 then V is trying to emulate S2, even bringing back some of the system's from Suikoden 2 and combining it with III's skill system although much more simplified and far more customizable. The plot is pretty damn awesome and this game really does a good job bringing back the classic Suikoden feel of the first two installments. Georg Prime was a great character in Suikoden 2 if you used him but he reached god-like status with this entry. Lorelie also got some great development though I do miss her scythe from S2... I also love the more cinematic duels in this title and this game has my favorite war system out of all the series cause its easy to pick up but still lends itself well to coming up with a bit of strategy as opposed to some of the more luck based versions like SI and S3. It was a really well polished game.

Suikoden Tactics - I have not gotten very far at all in this game thanks to school and my policy of avoiding of starting new games in a semester. Still, I was quite pleased with what I saw, even if the plot did feel a bit too reminiscent of FFVI at certain times.

Suikoden Tiekries - Once I learned it was set in an alternate universe and actually dealt with multi-verse nonsense instead of good old political shenanigans, I pretty much lost all interest for this title. Suikoden thrives on the politics and the story of the True Runes so ditching both for me makes the game a Suikoden title in name only.


Prospect of Suikoden VI - The creator has been talking to some powerful people in his life (Konami) according to his blog so I would be a bit excited for him to come back seeing as how Yuber and Pesmerga both dropped out of the story with his departure. Although IV and V are great games, I get the feeling the staff working on the titles are afraid to go on with it out of respect for the series creator if Tiekries is any indication. Where will it take place? I feel if Harmonia was chosen, it would signal the end of the story of the True Runes cause all the games have pointed to the fact that the major conflict of the True Runes is going to end up with a battle against Harmonia.

I'd personally like a few more entries before then so New Armes is a good choice, the Outlands that Thomas came from could be interesting as well. There's been a few other nations where people have been mentioned to be from that would fun to explore. I just want them to bring back the save file system from the original 3 entries.

[BG-57]

Carryover data was great. Tir McDohl's appearance in II was awsome.

I've finished the main storyline in II, so now I'm just tuning up my party.

Suikoden I Stats:
Stars Recruited: 108/108
108 Completion Bonus: Yes (SPOILER)Gremio ressurected
Weapon Level: Level 16 for all combat characters.
Character Level: Level 60 for all combat characters.

Suikoden II Stats:
Stars recruited: 108/108
108 Completion Bonus: Yes (SPOILER)Level 4 Spell for Bright Shield Rune
Weapon Level: Level 16 for all combat characters.
Character Level: Level 60 for main combat characters, still working on the rest.
Recipes Collected: 40/40 (avoided #34 glitch).
Clive Subquest: Completed (in 15 hours).
Cooking Contest: Completed.
Good Ending: Conditions Not Met.

I have to say the cooking contest was not as hard as I remembered. I only lost twice, once when (SPOILER)the rival chef stole most of my recipes and the other loss was (SPOILER)scripted. I found that I consistently scored around 45 with Tomato Soup/Salad, Spicy Curry, and Pudding/Cake. Whenever a judge was introduced with a personal preference I included at least one menu item that matched it.

Next up: III