Trouble grasping Suikoden V

[Hxc Flavor]

Have you ever started playing a game, and just had to quit because one detail really annoyed you? In Star Ocean: Second Story it was Claude saying "The Enemy!" before every battle, and I also am not big on spacey games.

I tried playing Suikoden V once or twice, but the camera REALLY bugged me. It was way too far away! I felt like I was watching the game unfold inside of a shoe box while standing on my roof. Not only that, but the whole environment seemed bland.

It's disappointing, I know. I've heard that this is a great game but small details like that make it hard for me to really get into a game. Has anyone else experienced something like this? And if so, is it possible to get over it? Every now and then I watch YouTube videos of Suikoden V to see if my perception has changed - but it hasn't. HELP! I really want to play this game without feeling annoyed.

[EstrangedIX]

The camera in V does indeed suck. Not sure which is worse about that game, that or the arena. I had put it away during the arena part, but picked it back up and started over after a long time. Glad I did because it gets way better once you can recruit. Camera doesn't though but as long as you don't play anything else in the meantime you kinda get used to it, almost like having to wear a pair of shoes that don't quite fit.

[gildedtalon]

The Star Ocean series is one of my favourites

As for the camera in Suikoden V, it never bothered me

[Raww Le Klueze]

You can zoom in the camera.

[sticky-runes]

the zooming option is not helpful and might as well not be there. You can't see where you're going if you're zoomed in, and every time a conversation comes up (which is quite frequent in this game) the camera reverts back to normal view. And this also kills any drama in the scenes that are not cinematic, because you're just looking down on a bunch of little figures staring at each other.

Like Estranged said, it gets better once you can start recruiting. And depending on your budget, having a large TV to play on helps, but playing SV on a small screen sucks. You'll just have to make do with it, but yes, the camera did ruin the experience me.

[patapi]

They tried to hard trying to replicate the camera distance that the 2D titles had.

[sticky-runes]

exactly, which in retrospect is a bad idea. The whole point of 3d graphics is to allow an immersive experience, which they gdid a better job with in 3 and 4, where you can see things up close and from different angles so that you get a feel for actually being in that world. Trying to make a 3d game with 2d style camera angles does not work. It's ok for games like Zelda: Spirit tracks, where the characters all have simplified designs, but for a game like Suikoden where the characters have really complex details on their costumes and hairstyles and facial features, it just looks like a mess from a top down view. You can only really get a feel for the characters when you watch cut scenes or fight duels.

[Antimatzist]

Yeah, the camera angle is bad. If they'd come up with a more dynamic system, it would have been better (not a big fan of the 360° perspective in classic RPGs. Iirc DQ VIII's camera was static, too, but the perspective changed a lot, so it felt better.)

One huge letdown for me are the loading times. I like the castle, but it's so big, and with the loading times, it takes so long to explore it properly. I never stopped playing because of it, but didn't enjoy the castle as much as in e.g. II or III.

[LadyCyclone]

I agree about the loading times, they are excruciatingly annoying. I first got Suikoden V about 4 years ago but I was automatically put off because it was in 3D; it was only a few months ago when I decided to start playing and actually began enjoying it. Though the whole beauty of Suikoden was barely being able to see their faces and definitely not hear their voices; because then you can harness your imagination and really make the story your own.

[freshmetal]

I guess I'm in the minority. I liked how they tried to replicate the over-head camera of the classic games. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but I think it would work much better now with wide screen displays and HD graphics, the viewable area would be larger and character model would look much clearer.

Maybe it was a good idea at the wrong time.

[sticky-runes]

Yeah, the camera angle is bad. If they'd come up with a more dynamic system, it would have been better (not a big fan of the 360° perspective in classic RPGs. Iirc DQ VIII's camera was static, too, but the perspective changed a lot, so it felt better.)

One huge letdown for me are the loading times. I like the castle, but it's so big, and with the loading times, it takes so long to explore it properly. I never stopped playing because of it, but didn't enjoy the castle as much as in e.g. II or III.

Did you ever play Breath of Fire 3 and 4? I actually really liked the graphics to BOF3, it was a similar diagonal sort of camera angle that Suikoden 5 has, but it was a mix of 2d and 3d, so the details were a lot clearer and the characters had anime style movements. Then in BOF4, they went overboard with it, they gave it a 360 camera (and I'd still get stuck in places because the maps were poorly designed) and the characters seemed kind of over-animated to me, and the view was from much further away as well.

I've noticed a lot of people complain about the loading times of S5, but I don't remember it bothering me... Perhaps I'm used to slow loading games.

[freshmetal]

Suikoden V's load times in general weren't bad, but the loading screen after EVERY random battle was too much.

[sticky-runes]

I must admit, there was a time when I hated the thought of Suikoden games going 3d, and when I first played a 3d Suikoden game, I was like "why??? I don't need all these fancy cutscenes and camera angles! I managed to enjoy the first two games without ever knowing what the ceilings look like!"

But as time went on and I found myself playing more and more 3d video games and less 2d games, I did come to embrace 3d graphics, for the way they allow us to explore a world in greater depth. Even though I still play the first two games and enjoy them, I think the birds eye view belonged to that era, and maybe the odd current handheld RPG, but I feel that video games these days should be trying to make me feel like I am involved with the situation with those people, instead of feeling isolated from the situation, watching it happen from afar. Maybe I've developed an attitude where I feel that video gaming technology has advanced so much in recent years, that we shouldn't really need to use our imaginations as much as we used to when playing old school RPGs, and in that regard, SV felt like a step back.

[Xelinis]

I feel like the older I get, the less favorably I look back on Suikoden V. There was a time when I considered it to be an absolute masterpiece, but now, more of its flaws are beginning to creep up on me. It's a game that, more than anything, just played it safe and covered up all of its shortcomings with its incredible amount of series fan service. It just feels like it doesn't have its own identity.

There's also the question of how closely the Falena of Suikoden V matches up with Murayama's original vision. There was some talk about that in this thread: http://www.suikosource.com/phpBB3/viewt ... 14&t=12827

[Twilight Sky]

They tried to hard trying to replicate the camera distance that the 2D titles had.

Or just tried too hard to replicate the brilliance they achieved with Suikoden II. But it was a nice try.