Suikoden going downhill?

tomriddle · Post by **tomriddle** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:42 am

Wraith wrote:Well, in the words of SARS: Suikoden is Back.

S5 is apparently better than S1,S3 and S4(obivously). I suppose it depends on person to person if its better than S2 or not. I really wouldn't say that Suikoden is going Downhill anymore. Offcourse S6 might be rubbish but we can't know that yet.

that's debatable/personal preference but I'm of the nation of S1 reigns king over all other sequels thus far...

S5 however is giving it a BIG run for its money.. the entire game thus far is better than that of S1 and the only deciding factor whether or not this tops S1 as my personal favorite is how the story holds up.. S1 was the best because the story never let up and had one of the best endings I've ever experienced in a game.

^^ but I'm not rushing S5, I've been waiting to savor another suiko-experience like this and now that it's here... i'm strapped for the ride

anokosa · Post by **anokosa** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 2:42 am

If I could just say something, Suikoden 4 is set earlier than the known suikodens, so there can't be that much history. Just a point

nephlabobo · Post by **nephlabobo** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 8:19 am

I've been thinking about this topic alot since I started playing S5....and I have mixed feelings about it.

Suikoden 5 gives us pretty much everything we want in terms of story, a well to do hero that's cast out and forced to start a rebellion/army to regain what he lost.

That's exactly the problem.

It's starting to feel like the series as a whole is spinning its wheels a bit in terms of actual story - like as long as it does a rebellion story and throws in a few characters from past games, everyone will be happy.

Suikoden 1, 2 and 3 felt like a natural progression. They got more complex but still told good stories. What's more, it didn't feel like they were retreading old ground.

Suikoden 4 had a different setting going for it, but was a *huge* step back for the series by basically trying to recapture the "feeling" of Suikoden 2 - two friends who end up fighting each other on opposite armies. And it was a generally crappy game.

Suikoden 5....kind of feels like a "greatest hits" of what we expect from the series. Rebellion, betrayal, etc. etc. My problem isn't so much the way the story is told (it's actually done pretty well) but that it doesn't really add anything new the way Suikoden 2 and 3 did.

My general feeling is that if Suikoden is going to continue as a series, Suikoden 6 is going to have to something as drastic as Suikoden 3 did...otherwise the series as a whole isn't going to survive for much longer.

pesmerga786 · Post by **pesmerga786** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 3:01 pm

It looks to be suikoden is doing much better. suikoden 5 looks fantastic and has everything i wanted it to be. nephlabobo i agree with you somewhat about throwing in some old characters, rebellion, etc. but at the end as long as the game is fun and makes you want to come back that is all that counts

SinaiBeach · Post by **SinaiBeach** » Sun Apr 09, 2006 7:46 pm

Nephalaboo you are absolutely right. The first 2 games came out and were good then the 3rd came out and kinda blew people away with how different and unique it was. I think the suikoden series will stay around because its different from RPG's and has a great story following those "True Runes" and wondering what will happen next. I hope they truly can make the 6th installment something amazing so the Suikoden series will stand out again.

Falenan_descent · Post by **Falenan_descent** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:00 pm

People seem to forget that Suikoden IV and Tactics was to cover up some plot and add more detail to the suikoden timeline. It wasn't at all meant to be the next Suikoden II :S

Night · Post by **Night** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 5:29 pm

Falenan_descent wrote:People seem to forget that Suikoden IV and Tactics was to cover up some plot and add more detail to the suikoden timeline. It wasn't at all meant to be the next Suikoden II :S

Yeah, but that's like the worst excuse ever. You're basically saying that it was just meant to be filler for the fans to lap up until a real game was put out.

darkannex · Post by **darkannex** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 6:53 pm

I have to say, after the 4th installation, my hope for the series was poor. Actually, after the latter half of the 3rd series (the beginning and middle was awesome, the ending just sort of fell apart imho), I was losing interest.

Suikoden is one of the few games I even play anymore, the main reason I still have a PS2. To say I was disheartened by the blandness that was the 4th game is an understatement. The elements were there for a good story, but the storytelling was appalling.

Im quite looking forward to playing Suikoden V when I get home tonight though. It's a good feeling.

Jowy Atreides · Post by **Jowy Atreides** » Fri Apr 14, 2006 9:45 pm

Suikoden V will be compared favorably with the original two.

wolf88 · Post by **wolf88** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 10:35 pm

While Suikoden V is definately an awesome game, it will unfortunately never live up to Suikoden II. Suikoden II was kind of revolutionary, and nothing will ever be able to replace/match the enjoyment and feeling that game gave us players. That's not saying that Suikoden V is bad, rather, I mean quite the contrary. Suikoden V was a very good quality game on it's own.

It's like saying FFX is no FF7... although I enjoyed both, I don't think it's really fair to compare them head on like that.

Hopefully however, Suikoden V will be able to bring in a whole new group of fans into to series, who never had a chance to play the previous "good" games in the series.

Jowy Atreides · Post by **Jowy Atreides** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 1:12 am

Suikoden V's battle system is just an upgrade from previous systems.

The only system that received an overdue overhaul was the major battle system.

wolf88 · Post by **wolf88** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 2:02 am

Jowy Atreides wrote:Yes, so revolutionary that most of its systems are exactly the same as its predecessor's.

I'm not talking about battle systems... I'm referring to storyline...

son_michael · Post by **son_michael** » Sun Apr 16, 2006 9:38 am

wolf88 wrote:
Jowy Atreides wrote:Yes, so revolutionary that most of its systems are exactly the same as its predecessor's.
I'm not talking about battle systems... I'm referring to storyline...

but suikoden 5's story is so much better...the only reason suikoden 2 gets all the praise it gets is because of luca blight,viktor and flik.People seem to generally love 2d over 3d which is another reason so many people will always love suikoden 2 for the nostalgia it gives them. Now dont get me wrong...I love suikoden 2, it has characters that s5 dosen't and it has great story and great characters.However suikoden 5 has all this and then some...

below is a list of what both games have that the other dosen't have

suiikoden 5----------------- Suikoden 2

excellent story---------------- Harmonian forces
beautiful cutscenes----------- jowy
voice acting------------------- Pesmerga
formations-------------------- Yuber
armor sets-------------------- Flik
dragon calvary--------------- Viktor
Nether Gate------------------ Neclord
Armes------------------------- Luca Blight
Island Nations---------------- cooking mini game

*the lines are just to keep the words apart, not to connect anything*

and there you have it.....suikoden 5 posseses everything suikoden 2 does and better with great loveable characters too..yet because of suikoden 2's characters and nostalgia suikoden 2 will remain the most remembered game despite suikoden 5 actually being better

dont flame me now...keep in mind this is all just 1 man's oppinion

Iku · Post by **Iku** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 2:32 am

i agree i love 5 and the characters are hugely in depth i can only think of a coule that seem unexplored. And i agree that no matter how hard konami tries people wont be able to let go of suikoden2 being the best ( probably because as stated above of nostaligea) im not saying 2 was bad i loved it, but we need to give the new ones a fair chance by constantly coparing them to 2 . After you've completed compare it to 2!

nephlabobo · Post by **nephlabobo** » Mon Apr 17, 2006 3:06 pm

son_michael wrote:
suiikoden 5----------------- Suikoden 2

excellent story---------------- Harmonian forces
beautiful cutscenes----------- jowy
voice acting------------------- Pesmerga
formations-------------------- Yuber
armor sets-------------------- Flik
dragon calvary--------------- Viktor
Nether Gate------------------ Neclord
Armes------------------------- Luca Blight
Island Nations---------------- cooking mini game

*the lines are just to keep the words apart, not to connect anything*

and there you have it.....suikoden 5 posseses everything suikoden 2 does and better with great loveable characters too.

No , it doesn't. I liked the black and white cutscenes in Suikoden II. It's not a question of 3D over 2D because I prefer 3D. The dragon cavalry? Dragon Knights in SII. Nether Gate? Ninja Clan. Voice acting is subjective. Suikoden II has a better soundtrack - though SV's is pretty good. Formations? Eh. Not that special.

Suikoden V is a good game - but it some ways it feels very paint by numbers.

Rich boy who loses his family/home/possessions etc due to an evil lord who takes everything, boy starts an army to override him. That's why I think S3 was a really great (and the last really great) Suikoden sequel. It was different.