Why are there so many useless Characters in Suikoden I?

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Dark_Kain_24

Why are there so many useless Characters in Suikoden I?

Post by Dark_Kain_24 »

I was just wondering why there are so many useless characters in Suikoden I. Honestly boat loads of Characters but only Half of them at the most served a purpose the others were just plot fillers and people to put in your Castle.
Siel Avadon
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Post by Siel Avadon »

That proably was at the time when Konami didn't know what to do with everyone. And still there is useless charachters in Suikoden. Setsu someone? The fat guy which is the kings helper.
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Kasumi
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Post by Kasumi »

Qlon, who just says welcome to your castle, and Onil, who just says... almost nothing, are useless for sure, but it's teh fun to look for them all around the world !
Well, in the end I should have dated Tir before the end of the war...
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Post by Jowy Atreides »

As with most people that seem to serve no purpose, both of those characters are only usable in the strategy battles. Although, the groups that they are a part of are some of the weakest out there, so they are pretty useless.

Setsu (the king's attendant) is also another one of those seemingly useless characters; he can be used in the naval battles as a user of the rune cannons, but his skill is so low that most people would over-look him in favor of others more suited to the role.

The only truly useless character (in a game-play sense) would be Marlowe Cody from Suikoden II. In a plot-related sense, however, he wrote the play "Neclord's End," so he at least had some purpose as one of the 108 SoDs.

Edit: after looking through the Suikoden IV guide some more, it seems like there are many plot-related characters that do absolutely nothing in a game-play sense. Ramada, Oleg, Nico, Elenor and Gareth seem to do nothing in a game-play sense. I've heard some people report that Gareth actually does build you a statue if you pester him enough, but I've yet to see that actually happen. The other mermaids also become redundant, but the other groups of five in the other games were the same (blacksmiths, squirrels and dogs).
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Post by Nash L. »

Well, he really made a statue here. ... And isn't Nico useable in battles?
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Post by Jowy Atreides »

Yeah, but you can't actually interact with Gareth and choose what the statue looks like, like with Jude in Suikoden II. In a plot-related sense he built a statue, but there's no interaction with the player, and so there's no game-play there.

Nico is basically captain obvious, pointing out that ships are coming and such. Although, he does attract one of the best characters to join you: Wendel.
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Post by KFCrispy »

i feel that many characters that actually do fight seem so useless because so many are not unique in Suikoden 1 and 4. don't think i need to explain further other than pointing out that Suikoden 2 had very obvious affiniities (not so obvious nor important in 4), ranges (something not present in 4), abilities such as turning into a Werewolf and Double Beat (not in 4), and personalities (not in 4!). 3 had the skill system and a very unique battle system.
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Post by Ska_Kitti »

I noticed that too.. not many useful characters in GS1. When I first played the game and saw Lukian on my roster list, needless to say, I was in the "WTF?" mood. After that, I looked to the other characters knowing they should not be touched. Good grief...
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Post by Siel Avadon »

Well, I dont care so much for the charachters. Atleast there is some with intresting background and personality, What I dislike "atleast in S4" is the small world. 4-5 citys (Some only villages!) A elf village, which is only a tree, a prison and a small room.

But try and make 108 charachter intresting yourself, its really hard to make 10 once intresting! (And I should know, I write adventurers for Pen and paper games)

All those gamers in s4 are pretty useless to except there damn games, which annoy me a lot! Also that shows that they didnt know what to put in for personality so a ton of people became people with games.

Conrad or what now his name is. His the most useless guy, He just stands looking in a wall in the "market" doing nothing then replying "This place is full of life, I like it..."
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Post by Jowy Atreides »

Konrad is usable in the four-on-four battles, and he just happens to be one of the best mages in the game.

He is also available for the naval battles in all three positions: rune cannon user, captain and boarder.
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Post by Siel Avadon »

Jowy Atreides wrote:Konrad is usable in the four-on-four battles, and he just happens to be one of the best mages in the game.

He is also available for the naval battles in all three positions: rune cannon user, captain and boarder.
Still he isnt so exciting like Chiepoo or Lino. Except in the end he babbles on about "I and Glen"
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Post by highwind44029 »

But Chiepoo and Lino are part of the storyline. That's like comparing say... Gantetsu to Shu and Fitcher.
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Post by Jowy Atreides »

Perhaps more clarification should be given to what we're discussing. We're not discussing usefulness in specific aspects, but usefulness overall. There are almost no characters that do something in every aspect of the game, and using your logic we could say they are "useless." Georg Prime is "useless," because when you talk to him, nothing happens. See what I'm saying? That just doesn't make any sense. He may be useless in that one specific aspect but that doesn't make him a completely useless character not worth looking into. Konrad may not have any worth when it comes to talking to him, but clearly he is not a useless, filler SoD.
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Post by Oppenheimer »

What they did a lot of in Suikoden I is have "useless" support characters battle ready. For example, the chefs and the blacksmiths. This is interesting as you can level up a frying pan.

However, the fact that you rarely get to choose very many of your party members during the plot advancing portions of Suikoden I and its general short length make using these characters for interests sake difficult to do. Unless you replay it many many times and use a different set every time or wander aimlessly in old dungeons just to use those characters.
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Post by Mymiridion »

maybe they just had them in it so you could recruit them. I know when I was a young one playing this game I got excited everytime it said "____ has joined your team!"
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