How about 10 instead of 6/4

[Transcending_time]

you'll be able to select 10 characters instead of 6/4 characters only..

10 char. consist of:

five ( 5 ) - melee warriors - short-range and long-range fighter

two ( 2 ) - magic users

two ( 2 ) - supports - healer, morale raser, buffer

one ( 1 ) - strategist / tutor / trainer / etc......

and five ( 5 ) - slots for reservees - do not count as the 10 selected characters to fight with

......to Forum Masters, mistakes / disobedience? sorry,......... again!!!

[patapi]

Whoa, a team of 10 playable characters in Suikoden? That is even bigger than some of the most (in)famous sRPGs out there. Given the huge cast of Suikoden, I think that'd be excellent, if implemented properly.

On the other hand, the games are pretty easy already with 6 members. Suikoden IV's battles took longer on average, but that's most likely because we had less total hits per turn to take the bosses down.

Even with the easily abused elemental tiles, I thought Rhapsodia introduced pretty good challenges (gameplay-wise) for a Suikoden title. We could bring 10+ characters for most battles in that game, and the challenges stayed more or less the same regardless. There wasn't obvious game-breaking elements in that game, as compared to some others (coughZeraseRichardcough). I'd like to see that emulated in a main Suikoden installment someday.

[JCreed]

It could be a good idea. There would be more strategy in battles. Of course they'd have to make the battles bigger and harder. I think 9 would be better though. (3 in front, 3 in the middle and 3 in the rear.) The thing that always annoyed me in the Suikoden series, is that there were so many characters who I wanted to be in my party but I couldn't use them because I wanted to keep my favourite characters in the main party. Also it would be kinda cool if you could put the main character in reserve.

[Shikton]

10 is overkill imo. I think 6 is perfect, as long as you can choose the whole party during the end-game and not only have 2-4 free spots due to being stuck with someone because of the storyline then you're all set to go bananas with everyone you've recruited. Makes it more replayable too.

[patapi]

Which was why the 4 entourage slots introduced in Suikoden V was a perfect addition.

Don't like the use Lyon or Miakis? Throw them aside!

[KFCrispy]

controlling 10 individually could work in a large-scale SRPG, but i don't see how it would work with the traditional random-battle RPG style. that's just too much input for each battle. the game should have less random battles in general or they would have to implement a system where you simultaneously command multiple characters (a la Suikoden III's Buddy System)..... or go in a direction of the action RPGs with AI-controlled allies (booooooooo)

[27x4=108]

sorry for open this, i was offline some time xD

what if we have the 5 main chars fighting, and 5 of support in the battle, like suikoden 3.. you give orders to 5 man, and have another 5 doing another role, like only atack, or tanking and taking damage

[thcrock]

I like the three rows idea, with 3 in a row, maybe +1 strategist (like a support position). You could either control them by row - have the front attacking row do one action, the middle row do another action, and the rearguard do another collective action, like Suikoden III's buddy system. But then for boss battles, you could individually pick each action.

Idea: Maybe the 10th position (strategist) could be vital to the party, for instance without him you can't individually pick each characters' actions - or even worse, control everyone at all (everyone is set to auto). Or perhaps assign a leader to each row - if that leader is killed, you can no longer control the surviving members of the row. Structure enemy parties this way, and you have more strategic options. Is there a bad spell you can't handle? Assassinate the strategist, or the leader of the row that mage is in.

All this might still be too strategic for a mainline Suikoden. Just throwing ideas out there.

[Ifreet]

All this might still be too strategic for a mainline Suikoden. Just throwing ideas out there.

I agree with you. It would certainly kill the fun if you had to strategize for EVERY party character for EVERY battle.
Just keep it simple.

Although.....

I think it might work if you were able to make it challenging or only make it available for boss battles in stead of regular battles.

[thcrock]

I'm thinking more of a hybrid strategy/classic RPG. My beef with most sRPGs is that there isn't enough macro strategy in them. Take FFT, for instance - you can have one character clear the battlefield with good customization. Same with Suikoden Tactics, though to a lesser extent (I often had one or two characters do all the work while 10 people lagged behind). They often seem to be like a regular RPG, but on a grid.

I think Suikoden V's army battle system was a really good start to actually incorporating strategy, but it was too easy to get an advantage, and real-time made it hard to control. They kind of balanced out - I couldn't ever command my units as much as I would have liked because battles moved too fast, so if winning wasn't so darn easy with one well-placed 5-star general, then I never would've won. That isn't real balance, though - just two opposing shortcomings.

What I'm trying to describe is a strategy RPG with two modes - a 'regular' mode like we've been describing with ten-character parties, and then the strategy battles are somewhat like the war battles in the games, but on a bigger scale and more focus on strategy as opposed to customization/reflexes. Because there's no reason why sRPGs can't have two modes - classic RPGs do, as well.

[KFCrispy]

ok but you shouldn't have to have a strategist giving commands to a single unit of 9 or so fighters.. that's really sad when a strategist has to tell a person who defend himself or attack something. Suikoden's large scale battles can include a lot more large-scale SRPG elements but i doubt they would because it's not the focus on the game and normal gamers can get peeved at how complex they made strategy battles.

i am really enjoying the Growlanser battle system. it works like an action rpg when you don't have to care but you can switch it to manual commands when you need. it's similar to Grandia but you can control where everyone moves... it's got real-time turn-based elements and uses a full map.. i think Suikoden can go in the same direction.. with 6 characters though, all maps would have to be a lot bigger or they can make it so individual characters can't be all uberized.

also with Suikoden elements used in Growlanser's system, support characters can replace party members and also work directly on the map - they no longer have to be invisible powers... if someone can heal your party continuously they should be in a chanting mode and you have to protect them from getting attacked/distracted/killed. also, a lot of support characters should also be able to fight with the Growlanser system so they aren't completely useless.... having unique characters with unique abilities would make a Growlanser battle system even more interesting. right now in Growlanser most of my characters have the same abilities because i find they're the ones i usually need.... with a large number of characters like Suikoden and many of them having unique abilities, it would be awesome.

[Benthos]

sorry for open this, i was offline some time xD

what if we have the 5 main chars fighting, and 5 of support in the battle, like suikoden 3.. you give orders to 5 man, and have another 5 doing another role, like only atack, or tanking and taking damage

Following this idea, I would like it to be 5 main characters on the front and 5 support characters way on the back, on a formation like the one Breath of Fire IV, acting only when your party is on critical situation, healing them or attacking the foe. The support character could be anyone you recruit, but only some of them would be playable on battle.

[ninjaluc79]

10 may be too much. If you are considering a 3+1 per row setup, you can have 8 characters: 6 as your battle types, 2 as your support types. That way you can have easy battle gameplay + additional perks such as extra potch, EXP, or back-up healing or buffs.

[Neclord X]

That's too much characters for a random encounter rpg, battles would take too long.

In fact i think 6 are already lot of chars, i would prefer 4 with 2 on backup like Bof4 or Atelier series.

[Hirathien]

I don't mind 6, more than that however would take too long. Since the enemy would have to be adjusted for that.

Speaking of time it would take, just see the stupid thing in Suikoden V, they have to get their pose right before you can issue commands, like, really.