The character raising system is really nothing very 'outstanding', the only thing the characters get by leveling up is stat upgrades, they can't learn new skills or spells on their own without Runes. Suikoden II is 31 Flavours of groovy but calling it the best RPG ever made kinda slaps games like Dragon Quest IV and Phantasy Star II and IV in the face.
Indeed it does, because those games aren't as good as Suikoden II.