Party management ideas

[KFCrispy]

With more than 50 playable characters, party management is quite a chore. Suikoden I and IV didn't even let you buy/sell things for characters not in your party, what gives (particularly IV, since every other game since II allowed some non-active party management)? Here are some ideas that would definitely add value to the series...

Dresser: this can be run by a narcissist character.. Josephine would have been perfect considering her obsession with fashion. Milich's house is all closets.. Shops and Vaults let you equip items to characters, but generally the screens don't show all the stat changes. The Dresser would give you access to both the Vault and Shops (and all playable recruits) at the same time so you can pull equipment from anywhere and give it to anyone. This may "ruin" the experience of having walk back and forth between shops, vaults, and adding members to your party, but who cares....
Combining functions can streamline the entire character management process. How about a general who "prepares" characters so you can pick your party, equip all characters, sharpen weapons, embed runes, upgrade skills, etc? Or even broader might be a scientist who "invents the internet" that links all services "online" (maybe you can trade commodities online, but considering the virtual Trade system, it would allow for instant easy money.. the Trade system would need a big upgrade O_o)...

Obviously your Dresser or whatever it is would be limited by what recruits you have. If you do not have an Armor shop, the Dresser won't have it available either.


Omnipotence: while you're in HQ you should be able to just pull up your menu and access the status of all your characters. why do you have to go visit the Tablet of Stars? Suikoden III again created an inconvenient Tablet that 1) appears extremely late, 2) is not located in HQ, and 3) there is no freakin announcement to even tell players it's available!!!
When visiting the Tutor, I often forgot if a character not in the party would be better for a physical skill, but the only way to check would be to put the character in my party, visit Juan like 4 screens away, or consult guides. A full-blown combination of this along with being able to use the vault, shops, etc from your menu while in HQ would be the most convenient method, but again it can take away from the experience and you won't bother to walk around HQ any longer.

well another thing would be to allow the HQ shops to be shuffled around so you can put the shops, vault, etc in 1 single location instead of having to enter one room then another to get where you want.

[Kagiya]

I like the idea with dresser but I'm not sure if I would like one npc that handles everything. It just makes having a blacksmith, etc obsolete and I kinda like having those specific roles. I would like to have the option of altering locations of shops locations and looks. In suikoden V all the shops were in one easily accessible region and that was nice. I would like more customization of the homebase though like more areas to put up vases, paintings, and maybe even allow us to select flooring and paint. It was cute in suikoden III that buildings would pop up as you recruited the shop keepers, I wouldn't mind seeing that again with castle expansion as well.

[KFCrispy]

Suikoden III had one of the worst layouts in my opinion. the party management was in the inn, which was fine, but then the only place you can switch parties after chapter 4 is the tavern. Ernie the tutor was way up on the top floor in the furthest room while Juan was on the opposite end of the grounds. the shops were in the front, while the vault was in the back. and i usually simply forgot about Jefferson's titles because he was not even visible in the routes i took traversing from one function to another.

Suikoden V's had everything in one place but you still had to walk into the warehouse/vault room to open it up... why couldn't Chuck stand outside of the room where everything else was?


I'd also appreciate it if you can just see all characters' stats from you menu if you were in HQ. It's a hassle to go see the Tablet or visit a shop or change characters just to look at something... sorry, I'm a management freak when it comes to Suikoden characters!

[Runemaster]

Suikoden III had one of the worst layouts in my opinion. the party management was in the inn, which was fine, but then the only place you can switch parties after chapter 4 is the tavern. Ernie the tutor was way up on the top floor in the furthest room while Juan was on the opposite end of the grounds. the shops were in the front, while the vault was in the back. and i usually simply forgot about Jefferson's titles because he was not even visible in the routes i took traversing from one function to another.

Suikoden V's had everything in one place but you still had to walk into the warehouse/vault room to open it up... why couldn't Chuck stand outside of the room where everything else was?


I'd also appreciate it if you can just see all characters' stats from you menu if you were in HQ. It's a hassle to go see the Tablet or visit a shop or change characters just to look at something... sorry, I'm a management freak when it comes to Suikoden characters!

Yeah, I couldn't say more.

And one more thing, at Suikoden V, near the end of the game, Luserina is inside the Sun Palace and you have to pass through that extremely long bridge and everything just to change your party members. Worse thing is, you have to train many fighters since 3 fights are up ahead.. Dunnow if there are shortcuts...I hope there aren't.. Don't wanna be pissed off, you know! hahaha.

[KFCrispy]

And one more thing, at Suikoden V, near the end of the game, Luserina is inside the Sun Palace and you have to pass through that extremely long bridge and everything just to change your party members. Worse thing is, you have to train many fighters since 3 fights are up ahead.. Dunnow if there are shortcuts...I hope there aren't.. Don't wanna be pissed off, you know! hahaha.

Luserina is only at Sun Palace for a short moment. You can head straight to Lunas with a party and once she shows up to form your 3 parties, she will be based on HQ if you leave.

[Runemaster]

And one more thing, at Suikoden V, near the end of the game, Luserina is inside the Sun Palace and you have to pass through that extremely long bridge and everything just to change your party members. Worse thing is, you have to train many fighters since 3 fights are up ahead.. Dunnow if there are shortcuts...I hope there aren't.. Don't wanna be pissed off, you know! hahaha.

Luserina is only at Sun Palace for a short moment. You can head straight to Lunas with a party and once she shows up to form your 3 parties, she will be based on HQ if you leave.

whoah.. never knew that.. coz everytime I enter the ruins where you form 3 groups is the time where I'm gonna finish the game off finally.

[Kagiya]

Never said I liked the positioning of the buildings in suikoden III but I like how they showed up individually. To be honest I though suikoden 1 was worse for me. Never could remember where crap was and it could be hard to see exits and entrances. Suikoden II was okay but I wish it was in the same room as Viki's mirror instead of outside. But anyways, suikoden V had the best placement right off the elevator, though I agree, Chuck could have just stood outside it.

I suppose appearances are still important to me though, I still like the idea of individual shops rather than having people just stand there.

[Mio]

i would love to add a 'Costume' function that goes with that dresser which is a brilliant idea btw

though i am against the SoD status screen accesible anywhere idea

it just made the Tablet of Stars obsolete

its enough that the guardian of the tablet is worthless (as you can just click on the tablet itself)

to make the tablet entirely disfunctional or discarded is something i am not for

i still like the idea of the Tablet of Stars, holding the infos of all SoD

the problem as already addressed is accessibility

why not suggesting a more accessible place for the Tablet

the positioning just got horrid and horrid from SIII onwards

[Runemaster]

i would love to add a 'Costume' function that goes with that dresser which is a brilliant idea btw

You mean the equipments they have will be actually worn to them in battle?

[Mio]

custom outfits were what i meant

if they have an available alternate outifit

i'd love to be able to switch out which kinda helpd in the whole 'role playing' feel of the game

ie. SV (but you can't control the outfits)

hmm kinda like having one Battle Outfit and one Casual/Civilian Outfit

like the Prince and Chris Lightfellow

(my mind is wandering what those alternate outfits would look like to already existing SoD)

[Runemaster]

Oh yes. love Frey's disguise outfit.

[JanusThePaladin]

I would love to see them wear their equipment in battle. It makes no sense that Cleo wears a horned helmet but in battle has a circlet on. Ever played Legend Of Legaia? All the characters wore their equipment in battle. I thought it was pretty cool, i think it would be awesome if suikoden had that.

[Runemaster]

I would love to see them wear their equipment in battle. It makes no sense that Cleo wears a horned helmet but in battle has a circlet on. Ever played Legend Of Legaia? All the characters wore their equipment in battle. I thought it was pretty cool, i think it would be awesome if suikoden had that.

Yes it's more realistic but how about if the equipments looks stupid and weird but has fantastic status increase? It would just ruin their fashion, especially the narcissists' and Jeane's.

[KFCrispy]

seeing equipment in battle on all characters would not work for this type of game because there are way too many characters and a good designer would have to make equipment fit on anybody that can wear it... from a small dwarf to a big fat guy. either that or they would make every single playable character use the same generic shapes (use some template bodies) and just have different hair/face. You would end up seeing a whole lotta Flik/Alen/Grenseals or Scorpion/Sub-Zero/Reptile themes.

i think costumes would be fine for your Hero and maybe main secondary character..

[BlackKnightYuber]

Another problem with seeing the equipment you have on is that a lot of people may choose style over effectiveness. I'd want to wear my chain mail for the entire game because it looks so much cooler than the uber-armor of defensive awesomeness. You know what I mean.