Future Five Animal Group

[vanyelvor]

Me id say owls.owls are my fav

[JanusThePaladin]

And besides those animals, how many have we been introducd to? We've met Dogs, Cats, Ducks, Beavers, Lizards, Griffins and Unicorns. The dogs and cats dont talk, but we have Kobolds and Neokobolds who are human versions. Thats atleast fantasy without incredulity. They are obviously animals that have evolved to the point of being able to talk and form civilized society, as shown by their body structures. However Beavers and Ducks show absolutely no change in body or physical construction, and obviously are ill-equipped to the task of speaking accepting under "magical wonderland" situations. In this instance bringing in another talking animal would not show in anyway a believable world, but pull Suikoden further from a serious minded series showing a believable and powerful story, and transform it more into something to be accepted by mainstream players. It would be another way of catering to the fads rather than the long time fans.

Atleast thats my take on it.

[LanceHeart]

In case you never really noticed, the artwork, basic storylines and overall feel of the Suikoden games aren't exactly aimed at scholars.

While yes, there are some very heavy themes in the Suikoden games, there's always comedic relief and very obvious reminders that you're in a fantasy world:
Suikoden had Elves, Kobolds, Dwarves and Dragons.
Suikoden 2 introduced Wingers, Flying Squirrels, and a slew of large beasts like Octopus, Griffon, Unicorn.
Suikoden 3 introduced Ducks, Lizards (albeit in order to contribute to the drama), Flying Beetles, and various other minor animals.
Suikoden 4 & Tactics introduced Nekobolds and Mutated Fish People (I haven't completed the game yet, so don't know all of them).
Suikoden 5 introduced Beavers, "Mountain Dwarves", and even a person "permanently" into an animal (Ernst). It also established an in-universe monster type as a five-creature squad.

I fail to see how they have been trying to exclusively cater to "fans" who like "realism" in the series.

Since you also mentioned mainstream gaming, I have to persist with this: The goal of any game is to appeal to the mainstream or get more *new* fans if the renown of the game isn't big enough. If we take Suikoden 5's sales into account, that may just be what Suikoden 6 will aim for.

As for the topic at hand, since we're off course on a massive scale...
While it depends where the next game will take place, I still stand by my mention of the Platypus. It can incorporate and even intertwine two already-existing races (yes, the result of some Beaver/Duck fusion) as well as provide what I would image as being a metric ton of comedic relief.

[BlackKnightYuber]

Perhaps they should take the Suikoden III route in the next installment. The Lizard Clan were the more serious of the animal races, playing a fairly large part in the plot. Meanwhile, you had the Duck Clan, which fit in more with the light-hearted side of things. Say we have the Platypus as our comic relief and a race of Centaurs as a more serious, plot-driven clan. Of course, these are just 2 random suggestions. They can be other types of animals. But you know, I'd really like to see Centaurs at some point. It's such a classic mythological beast.

[vanyelvor]

BlackKnightYuber: Perhaps they should take the Suikoden III route in the next installment. The Lizard Clan were the more serious of the animal races, playing a fairly large part in the plot. Meanwhile, you had the Duck Clan, which fit in more with the light-hearted side of things. Say we have the Platypus as our comic relief and a race of Centaurs as a more serious, plot-driven clan. Of course, these are just 2 random suggestions. They can be other types of animals. But you know, I'd really like to see Centaurs at some point. It's such a classic mythological beast.

I like that idea centaurs have been serious in all the stuff ive seen and or read i think it would be cool

[Mio]

ooohh i love centaurs

although i don't think Suikoden is keen on adapting Greek Myth creatures

anything aside from Unicorns?

[JanusThePaladin]

In case you never really noticed, the artwork, basic storylines and overall feel of the Suikoden games aren't exactly aimed at scholars.

While yes, there are some very heavy themes in the Suikoden games, there's always comedic relief and very obvious reminders that you're in a fantasy world:
Suikoden had Elves, Kobolds, Dwarves and Dragons.
Suikoden 2 introduced Wingers, Flying Squirrels, and a slew of large beasts like Octopus, Griffon, Unicorn.
Suikoden 3 introduced Ducks, Lizards (albeit in order to contribute to the drama), Flying Beetles, and various other minor animals.
Suikoden 4 & Tactics introduced Nekobolds and Mutated Fish People (I haven't completed the game yet, so don't know all of them).
Suikoden 5 introduced Beavers, "Mountain Dwarves", and even a person "permanently" into an animal (Ernst). It also established an in-universe monster type as a five-creature squad.

I fail to see how they have been trying to exclusively cater to "fans" who like "realism" in the series.

Since you also mentioned mainstream gaming, I have to persist with this: The goal of any game is to appeal to the mainstream or get more *new* fans if the renown of the game isn't big enough. If we take Suikoden 5's sales into account, that may just be what Suikoden 6 will aim for.

As for the topic at hand, since we're off course on a massive scale...
While it depends where the next game will take place, I still stand by my mention of the Platypus. It can incorporate and even intertwine two already-existing races (yes, the result of some Beaver/Duck fusion) as well as provide what I would image as being a metric ton of comedic relief.

The introduction of kobolds, elves, and dwarves in S1 was a way to show diversity in people living in a single land. Granted its a fantasy world, but it deals with very real aspects of humanity, such as racism. Kobolds, Dwarves, and Elves were not treated as creatures but as seperate human races.

The same goes for the Wingers in S2, and the Lizards and Ducks in S3. However, the mermaids in S4 were nothing of the sort, you simply saved them from poachers. And you fought the fish men. S5s attempt to push their races into the same as it seems they are now pushing for Narnian fantasy rather than atleast a little bit of credibility.

Centaurs would be a good idea, and as for Suikoden touching on Greek Mythos, Mermaids are Greek as well as Centaurs, Griffins, Hypogriphs, and Unicorns. I'll talk more about centaurs later, i've got to go to work...

[EternalOnslaught]

Some good ideals, maybe Konami will implement some of them. I really don't care what kind of animal races are introduced as long it doesn't remind me of the Jungle Book.

[JanusThePaladin]

If they introduce centaurs, i wonder how they would represent them. Most modern representations of Centaurs, atleast fromthe books i've read depict them as intelligent, sometime more intelligent than humans, and skillful. But according to Greek and Roman mythology most Centaurs were brutish, riotous, and given to acts of debauchery, with the notable exception of Chiron, who is not truly a Centaur in the original sense as he is the son of 2 titans.

[Mio]

In case you never really noticed, the artwork, basic storylines and overall feel of the Suikoden games aren't exactly aimed at scholars.

While yes, there are some very heavy themes in the Suikoden games, there's always comedic relief and very obvious reminders that you're in a fantasy world:
Suikoden had Elves, Kobolds, Dwarves and Dragons.
Suikoden 2 introduced Wingers, Flying Squirrels, and a slew of large beasts like Octopus, Griffon, Unicorn.
Suikoden 3 introduced Ducks, Lizards (albeit in order to contribute to the drama), Flying Beetles, and various other minor animals.
Suikoden 4 & Tactics introduced Nekobolds and Mutated Fish People (I haven't completed the game yet, so don't know all of them).
Suikoden 5 introduced Beavers, "Mountain Dwarves", and even a person "permanently" into an animal (Ernst). It also established an in-universe monster type as a five-creature squad.

I fail to see how they have been trying to exclusively cater to "fans" who like "realism" in the series.

Since you also mentioned mainstream gaming, I have to persist with this: The goal of any game is to appeal to the mainstream or get more *new* fans if the renown of the game isn't big enough. If we take Suikoden 5's sales into account, that may just be what Suikoden 6 will aim for.

As for the topic at hand, since we're off course on a massive scale...
While it depends where the next game will take place, I still stand by my mention of the Platypus. It can incorporate and even intertwine two already-existing races (yes, the result of some Beaver/Duck fusion) as well as provide what I would image as being a metric ton of comedic relief.

The introduction of kobolds, elves, and dwarves in S1 was a way to show diversity in people living in a single land. Granted its a fantasy world, but it deals with very real aspects of humanity, such as racism. Kobolds, Dwarves, and Elves were not treated as creatures but as seperate human races.

[/quote]
ehhhh... what is fantasy and what is real anyway? (flunked philisophy twice)

the characters are all out of fantasy right?

the issue they tackle are very much real... right?

but won't these issues, racism etc, possible to also appear in a fantasy world

just because we have the same issues in our real world we are to conclude that any other world (fictional or not) that have the same stuff 'real'?

are fables included in 'realism'?

ontopic:

i would love a centaur modelled out from the centaur of Monster Rancher

dashing and striking

so far i've not seen any other more impressive centaurs (Hercules and Harry Potter)

[Paler than Moon]

OMG five Vikis XD
I can't stop laughing when I think about that!

There were a collection of blacksmiths in S1 so, why not Vikis? XD

Oh well, at least the animals should be unique. Monsters from the game should be fun too. We have doremi elves in SV right? I want to see BonBon (or whatever you call those furry things that exist everywhere) and holly berries. But holly beries are small, I'm afraid people could stepped on them easily

What about 5 talking swords? Not necessarily each one of them is foul-mouthed

[Mikain Clan King]

Bon Bons sound cool, but if there were holly berries then they could have a whole extra part where they have a problem with people stepping on them everywhere they went.

[Cuteboys_fangirl]

To many to think of.But I I had to pick on it would be dragons.

[TrueWater00]

hahhaha stepping on holly berries, I just cracked up! Well I for one like how they always put 5 characters with similar names in each game. They usually have the A,E,I,O,U to differentiate between them, like the blacksmiths in 1, squirrels, beavers etc. I hope they continue doing this in each game! its just another little thing that makes suikoden, suikoden! hell, even tierkreis had the porpos-kin! and that game is well.....not even a suikoden game! I think its hilarious how tierkreis threw out almost everything we know and love about the suikoden series, but STILL had a 5 character thingy haha, crazy. But yeah, howbout some armadillos! woo! or turtles!! ;p

[Hirathien]

I dunno about you guys, but i'd rather see something that actually fits into the plot rather than 5 random sinister looking Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on my team.... Ok scratch that, the kid inside me wants TMNT, regardless of plot or not.