Suikoden IV - What Should Have Been

[RVallant]

SPOILERS

Meh Suikoden 4 just lacked that "something" that the previous two had for me...

I can always remember being captivated by the evil Windy, the painful death of Gremio, resisting the urge to send heads rolling along the flower castle floor afterwards, the drama of fighting Teo, the struggle of Tir as he led his country to glory and freedom knowing full well that he would pay for it in the deaths of those closest to him.

Suikoden 2 has it to, the outrage of the unicorn bridage! SEEING Viktor and Flik after believing them to be either killed or declared MIA, watching the pathetic leaders of the city states squabble like politicians who have been in a position of power and respect for too long as an advancing army led by one of the most warped men ever and realising that it was their fault he is marching on them.

All those little things I can remember from the old games... Then along comes Suikoden four and after persuading myself to buy it (because I was still rather annoyed at Konami's no show on Suikoden 3 for the UK) I settle down, learn the ropes, think "this is it" and boom... it sank faster than a water rune firing enemy ship being countered by Jeane... It brought up a ton of points but just never capitalised on any of them...

For example Troy was made out to be a godly fighter, someone to be respected and fear and apart from that teasing battle in which, he's unkillable he does nada after that really. Snowe took the coward's route but every time he showed up I just felt he was being a moronic minor pain the side. The Kooluk? a lightweight version of the stormtroopers maybe? Can't hit nothing with talent... The Elves also seemed to have been set in a cast iron attitude problem. Just so many things were wrong, nothing really captivated me.

You know something's up when on your first playthrough you get to a certain point, head to the forums and go "Wow is it just me or did Konami forget to code the other 3/4ths of the game?" (this was around liberation of Obel, amusingly I was trying to find out when the best time for mass recruitment was as both occassions are CLEARLY pointed out for you in Suikoden 1 and 2 yet in Suikoden 4 the game goes so bloody fast and as it's so short it seemed to skip through the entire thing and I missed everything until the final five minutes of the game... )

That's me though.[/b]

[drewsterx]

yes i think the plot should have been better also i just started playing the game like three weeks ago and i could have beat it already but i started over from a previous save just so it would be longer and whats with the stars looking like regular people i dont like that the colors should be bright and the costumes extravagant wtf abd the storyline is pooooo

[Futch02]

I agree that Troy should have had a bigger part in the plot with all the hype, and even Cray was a bit of a letdown after all that. However, the stars were as extravigant as they always were. They've always looked like normal people, but just different enough to tell they're more important than an ordinary "townsman" or "soldier" or whatever.

[Eikei]

I'll say this, I liked S4 a LOT better than S3. Of course, it's no comparison to the first and second games, those are classics, but I liked that they brought back the "Hero" aspect of it instead of doing the POV idea again. For me, that killed S3. I liked being the "Nameless Hero."

[Neclord'sAdvocate]

I like S3 because I found the characters interesting, and well, bright..? In S4 it seemed kind of dull. I mean no offense, really. S4 seemed to lack something, though I admit S4 graphics was way better than S3's. My favorite in S3 was Chris' 'connections' with Borus, Percival, and Nash, and it made Chris' story fun to play (for me). I like S3 a lot, but killing the flame champion was kind of sad, I mean, we had to name him when we won't even be using him..? Overall, S3 was better (for me again) than S4.

[Neclord'sAdvocate]

S4 lacked some life. It was kind of boring, and anyways, I really don't like prequels so maybe that's why I didn't enjoy S4 that much...

[Silvermouse]

Suikoden 3 was way better. The characters in 4 seemed dead, except for maybe Lino En Kuldes and a couple of others. Suikoden 3 had more full characters than any of the other games, and the graphics complemented them by giving them a wide variety of expressions so that you could understand what they were thinking, even if they didn't say it.

I'm not saying that that 3 was the best game, but as far as character development it was.

[rune28]

suikoden 3 and 4 were too graphics oriented, i think the producers will sell more if they ranked their priorities like this
STORY / PLOT / DEPTH
MAP / GEOGRAPHY / BLUEPRINT INTERIORS
SOUND (cuz u get hooked on the music like in part one / two)
graphics (finally just throw some stickmen i dont care just as long as they look pretty good like in part 1 and 2, throw some color and shapes and im good... and use the ps2 graphics system to make it look more deeper and stuff i dont care if its 3d and u can look at things in 1st person (like in 4) its gay. kinda like ffx and ffx2 and xenosaga... all disappointments.. i feel like im getting older so im getting sick of games... but in fact i think they're just losing their touch.

[Iris]

I bet your friend is a graphics freak, because suikoden 4 cant be better than 2, not to a suikoden fan who has played both...its just impossible for someone to think that, the only game that 4 has a shot at being better at is the original suikoden but even then I would say no....

lawl @ j00. I've played and beaten allof them and IV is my second favorite one. I>IV>III=II>V=Tactics. Sorry.

Despite my utter <3 for IV, something definitly should have been better.

For example, Kooluk. Granted, I'd like to say they weren't incompetent fools, but something was wrong with them if they sided with CRAY. Granted, Troy was definitly a great sailor if Glen's story is to go by, but cripes, his country sided with GRAHAM CRAY. You could even see during the meeting in El-Eal that Troy, Colton, and Helmut had that "Why are we working with this crazy mofo? No, seriously, WHY." look. Something was wrong with the Governer if he decided siding with Cray and his crazy, carvinorous pet tree was a good idea.

I'd have liked more scenes with Troy showing his character. He's definitly pretty, and day-um, when Lazlo and friends fought him on the Kooluk ship he kicked ass like ass-kicking was going out of style, but he was mostly eye candy unless you digged deep.

More competence from Kooluk would have been better as well. Of course, Cray was pretty much running the show after Colton and Helmut left, so there was nothing anyone could have done by that point. Really, I feel so bad for Troy and Elenor, having to be around that guy for longer than five seconds.

-Lazlo's eyes could have been less huge and doe-y. His character art is crazy awesome, but it didn't translate over well.

-More scenes with Kika talking. Actually, just more of Kika talking. Mary McGlynn is <3

-More of a complaint to the production team, but I really would have loved it if they put the American VA list at the end. Some of them did such a good job, and then they aren't credited? For SHAME, Konami of America.

I can't fathom complaining about how "most of the characters had no personality!!!111" because, to be completely honest? Over half the cast of any Suikoden game is made of extra-thin cardboard. Yeah, I SAID IT. And deep down, you KNOW it's true, too.

[Persmerga]

Yeah a greater story line for some characters would have been alot better definatly Troy & Kika i think you hit nail on head there because i thought Troy was class just how he handled himself well and unfortunatly he is still a little bit of a mystery.

As for what else the game could have included was a better storyline overall and i would have like to see more things that set off repercussions for he future of the games because after all IV is the stating game in the timeline so far unless VI is set before this but i dount it.

Lazlo's story wasn't the best in my opinion we only scratched the surface about him and the game in general missed a whole load of depth and didn't connect with the user like previous installments it missed this chance to play up on the user emotions like empathy, sorry and feeling connected to the game.

I overall liked the game but compared to the rest it was a rather lacklustered attempt im affraid.

[Iris]

Feh. IV had a fantastic story; it was just subtle about it. Go see my post in the Suikoden IV Reviews thread for my rant.

[Persmerga]

Have done nice rant

Although i personally think IV was a good game do you honestly belive that it was better than II??

lawl @ j00. I've played and beaten allof them and IV is my second favorite one. I>IV>III=II>V=Tactics. Sorry.

Ok i agree tactics was just akinda stop gap game and just an extra and wasn't amazing lets face it.

[Iris]

Have done nice rant

Although i personally think IV was a good game do you honestly belive that it was better than II??

Hmmm... Well, I personally don't actually think that any of the games are actually noticably better than any of the others, they're just different in regards to pros and cons; IMO, if you take all the pros and cons in each game, they usually add up. I can't see what the fuss about II is about; it was definitly a great game, but so were all the others. In my opinion, II does not top any other game, but it does equal them.

That said, I personally enjoyed IV more than I did II. I found IV to be more subtle about its characters and story where as II was obvious. I also found it to be much, much more fun than II. II took itself very seriously, whereas IV was more fun to play and interact with.

[Persmerga]

I see what you mean though IV is more playable in certain aspects and yes i see your point as to II being a little obvious but in a way that is what kind of makes it what it is to alot of people.

IV in a way definatley dared to be different with the boat.

In my opinion i believe II was a better game only because IV had so much more potential than the game we played but still enjoyable.