Falena's original interpretation?

Questions about the locations mentioned in the series; and those about the backstory not seen in the games.
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Xelinis
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Falena's original interpretation?

Post by Xelinis »

Prior to the unveiling of Suikoden V, I had always envisioned Falena as a desert-like nation with a cruel sun and where women had authority in almost all aspects of their social structure, not just the monarchy. Imagine my surprise when Falena was revealed to be a lush land where, with few exceptions (like Raja and the Queen), the role of women were similar to other nations.

In recent days, I've wondered just how closely the Falena we saw in Suikoden V matches up with the Falena that Murayama originally conceived. In fact, I even wonder if Murayama intended Falena to house the Sun Rune in the first place.

As I can't read Japanese, I haven't had the opportunity to play the Suikogaiden games or read any of the short novels that were written during Murayama's tenure as Series Director. So I ask all of you, do any of these (or other) sources lend support to how Falena was interpreted in Suikoden V or does there exist a lack of data on what the original ideas were?

Just to get these out of the way, I believe that we all know that the following concepts were indeed in the original drafts:
- Nether Gate
- Queen's Knights
- Gladiators
- Queen's assassination at the hands of Georg Prime
eldrasidar
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Re: Falena's original interpretation?

Post by eldrasidar »

I'd say the role of women is actually much more prevalent in Suikoden 5 than in previous Suikodens, although it could certainly be more in your face about it. You have the Queen, Raja, and Lucretia in key political and military roles, which are probably the most obvious, but Sialeeds and Haswar are also pretty important people. Of the queen's knights, not including the commander, 3 of the 6 are female, compared to previous groups of six in the series, this is a major development(6 generals were 1 and 5, 6 knights of Zexen, were again 1 and 5). I think there's also more strong tertiary female characters in general in Suikoden 5.

I don't know if suikoden 5 exactly matched Murayama's conception for Falena, but I'd say it's definitely got a much stronger female presence than previous suikodens.
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patapi
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Re: Falena's original interpretation?

Post by patapi »

In the first place, I wonder if Murayama ever meant for the player to visit the Queendom of Falena eventually, let alone anything south of the Scarlet Moon Empire.

Having said that, it is unfortunate that matriarchy wasn't as prevalent among the nobility.
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Vextor
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Re: Falena's original interpretation?

Post by Vextor »

Xelinis wrote: Just to get these out of the way, I believe that we all know that the following concepts were indeed in the original drafts:
- Nether Gate
- Queen's Knights
- Gladiators
- Queen's assassination at the hands of Georg Prime
This is correct, however, "Nether Gate" is a term that never existed before Suikoden 5--
before then, they were simply referred to as the queen's assassins.

About whether Suikoden 5 encompasses what Murayama originally had in mind-- it likely doesn't.
One indication is that pre-Suikoden 5 information strongly hinted how Georg Prime is being pursued by
the "queen's assassins," and Killey also mentions how ruthless they are.
However, Suikoden 5 shows that the assassins (Nether Gate) were with the bad guys and were wiped out by the end.
It's pretty hard to imagine how Lymsleia would send assassins after Georg, too.

Another indication is involves Killey's imprisonment and his altercation with Lorelai.
Publications pre-Suikoden 5 mentions how Killey was imprisoned in Falena until "recent" and "until before the Dunan Unification Wars."
The reason for this imprisonment was supposed to be some kind of treachery committed by Lorelai.
However, in Suikoden 5, he was simply imprisoned by the villains (unless Lorelei tricks him into imprisonment later,
and somehow Lymsleia does nothing to save a former comrade.
It all seems like Konami "fudged" the plot a bit so they can create their own version of Falena.

Furthermore, one event that happens in the Sindar Ruins in Suikoden 5 is supposed to be something that also happens
in Genso Suiko Gaiden Vol.2 when Nash, Millie, Viki, and Meg get time-warped into the past.
However, Killey and Lorelai look like they're in their late 20s at that time, and Killey has his trademark scar on his face--
which he didn't have in Suikoden 5.
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Raww Le Klueze
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Re: Falena's original interpretation?

Post by Raww Le Klueze »

However, in Suikoden 5, he was simply imprisoned by the villains (unless Lorelei tricks him into imprisonment later,
and somehow Lymsleia does nothing to save a former comrade.
Indeed, his ending says she tricked him back to Falena where he was imprisoned after a riot.

There's also the fact that in Suikogaiden Vol.1 Nash claims that he was a strategist during the Falenan 'dispute'. He's telling a lie to get Greenhill to trust him, but it's rather boldfaced since he was 10 at the time, unless Falena had another civil war after V I'm not sure how he pulled that off. It seems likely that Konami moved Falena's conflict back further than Murayama intended.

Of course they can explain that away by saying that Falena has had some other dispute more recently, but I doubt Murayama thought that far ahead. Could also be that the people of Greenhill are really thickheaded.
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Re: Falena's original interpretation?

Post by freshmetal »

I wonder how the Island Nations stack up to Murayama's vision as well. I personally found the Island Nations seen in Suikoden IV very different from what I pictured way back in Suikoden II, at least geographically. In my mind, I saw the Island Nations as a large closely clustered group of islands much like like the South Pacific(Philippines/Indonesia/Malaysia), but instead, they're actually just a few tiny islands spread fairly far apart.
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Re: Falena's original interpretation?

Post by Xelinis »

While not exact, it's likely that the interpretation of the Island Nations was a lot closer to Murayama's original vision than Falena was. Murayama didn't leave Konami until Suikoden III was almost complete. By then, Suikoden IV was no doubt in preproduction.
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