Suikoden VI Speculation Thread

[patapi]

I don't recall if Suikoden allows kanji input for their characters' names. If it's only kana, then it should be painless to have it pronounced in-game.

However, the crucial problem here would be the VA's tone of speaking. Speaking isn't just about pronouncing the individual syllables and combining them like written words, it's also about how all the syllables come together to form a proper tone of voice. Otherwise, it would be toneless and mechanical. And given the general complaints about the quality of game VAs as is, that is definitely not a good idea.

[lucreborn]

You have a good point there. But yet i have another idea...What if they program lets say 50 or so really possible popular names you could choose from and then it would already be set in the game so it wouldnt have any faults or speech problems?

[dragonmasterx]

You know theres one thing in a game i wish they would do but i think its practically impossible to do in any game let alone suikoden VI. If any one has Speech on thier computer where you can make it talk or even read stuff for you. Thats what i want in a future suikoden actually saying the heros name no matter what you name him. Wonder how hard it would be to do that though.....

I think such a feature would be seen in a visual novel/ADV game first before Suikoden.

[Jowy Atreides]

You have a good point there. But yet i have another idea...What if they program lets say 50 or so really possible popular names you could choose from and then it would already be set in the game so it wouldnt have any faults or speech problems?

I just wonder how that would sound though. Any time the hero's name is used, they would have to repeat the line. Or, they could say his name a few times a few different ways, and digitally insert his name whenever it's used. It might sound un-natural though, which would be annoying.

[Dura Sinai]

I don't recall if Suikoden allows kanji input for their characters' names. If it's only kana, then it should be painless to have it pronounced in-game.

However, the crucial problem here would be the VA's tone of speaking. Speaking isn't just about pronouncing the individual syllables and combining them like written words, it's also about how all the syllables come together to form a proper tone of voice. Otherwise, it would be toneless and mechanical. And given the general complaints about the quality of game VAs as is, that is definitely not a good idea.

I've only played Japanese versions of the ps1 era games and at least then it is kana. And yes even beyond the pronounciations being correct, tone is a huge limiting factor.

And honestly, Video Game voice acting, both Japanese and American side have improved over the past years. I remember playing Galerians which was one of the earlier playstation games to use it extensively. On occasion I wished the characters would go back to just text dialogue.

[lucreborn]

Ya alot of hard work would have to be done to get it just right to not be annoying but it still annoys me when they just skip the name then talk its goofy i wouldnt even mind if the dang hero can finally talk when you choose an optional answer I would be happy with that instead of the name thing. But who knows with technology getting better and better who knows whats next for suikoden.

[patapi]

Perhaps for now they should do it FFX-style, where the lead character's name never appear in any voice acted lines, both in voice and on the screen.

That'd get rid the 'skipping' problem for sure.

[Wraith]

Perhaps for now they should do it FFX-style, where the lead character's name never appear in any voice acted lines, both in voice and on the screen.

That'd get rid the 'skipping' problem for sure.

I think thats the best way to do it. Or like in KOTOR 2 they kept calling you 'The Exile' or in KOTOR 1 after the plot twist they began calling you[spoiler] 'Revan'[/spoiler].

S5 also had a title for the Tenkai so people could say that instead of his name.

[Xenosan]

Yeah like in the Armored Core series, you can have whatever name you want and it doesn't matter because the operator always addresses you as "Raven" in voiced scenes.

Personally I think for the PS3 Konami should steal Elder Scrolls: Oblivion game engine. Or have something similiar. That way designing the 108 stars of destiny wouldn't be too hard, and they could use the random face generator for all non important npcs (like people in towns). I would like to see a new camera for the next. Make it an over the shoulder camera like there is in most platform games. But if you push the R3 button it will switch to first person, press it again and it will go to the oldschool bird's eye view, press again and it goes back to the first option.

And for love of money, don't give SoDs the same battle stances. I think that's one of the main things that killed IV, and in V Konami tried to get away with it a little bit (a few characters shared stances, Zweig and Mathias for example). Seriously, what's the point of having 70+ playable characters if they all look the same.

[Red XIV]

Perhaps for now they should do it FFX-style, where the lead character's name never appear in any voice acted lines, both in voice and on the screen.

That'd get rid the 'skipping' problem for sure.

Yeah, but honestly I still found that to be a bit annoying. It seemed too obvious at times that they were going out of their way not to mention his name, even when it would sound much more natural if they did. IMO, they should've just removed the option to change his name.

And personally, I wouldn't mind at all if Konami did that for the next Suikoden. Actually, it's kind of annoyed me how there's never an actual default name, and they wait until after the game's release to give us a semi-official name for the main character.

[patapi]

Actually, it's kind of annoyed me how there's never an actual default name, and they wait until after the game's release to give us a semi-official name for the main character.

The point is, semi-official (as you called it) is still not official. Hence they are not qualified to be default. There is a reason why Konami never use those names twice.

[Choooo]

You know theres one thing in a game i wish they would do but i think its practically impossible to do in any game let alone suikoden VI. If any one has Speech on thier computer where you can make it talk or even read stuff for you. Thats what i want in a future suikoden actually saying the heros name no matter what you name him. Wonder how hard it would be to do that though.....

I think such a feature would be seen in a visual novel/ADV game first before Suikoden.

Actually, I seem to recall Konami's Tokimeki Memorial 2 having this feature. At the beginning of the game, after you picked your name or whatever, you could input (I guess "train" is the right word?) how the two main female characters would say your name in a variety of situations. Like, how they should say the player's name when they're "upset" or "happy" or whatever. I'm not sure how well that worked out though, and it seems like it'd be even more difficult to pull off in English.

[Sharpshooter]

I think it'll be cool if the gears' and weapons' graphic changes as it is upgraded. e.g. If the characters is equiped with Rage Sword Rune, the weapons becomes engulfed with flame. If it's equipped with Flowing Rune, I guess it will be like Water Gun??? That doesn't sound right. Well at least the gears and the weapons changes.