Party Size

[Raistlin]

Six is ideal, as long as the cast is sufficiently large enough. After playing a game like Suikoden, it feels annoying, restrictive, and boring to go back to a three-member party. Five is also acceptable.

EDIT:

I remember in Sukioden 4 I never managed to level up all of the actual battle characters because it took so damn long. This meant that when I tried to go through a later naval battle I ended up dying. I didn't even have all 108.

No one levels up all the battle characters (what is that, about 60 characters?) -- although I probably came relatively close in end-game S3, as it's so damn easy at that point (and in S5 you need 18 battle-worthy characters for the final dungeon). Especially not in Suikoden IV, which is probably the easiest in the series (instant healing after battle + obnoxiously overpowered magic characters). But if you skim through the game and don't bother recruiting many of the characters, the major battles are definitely more difficult.