For the release of Suikoden Tierkreis, the Suikoden team at Konami (via Konami of America) agreed to answer some questions from fans. We asked you for questions, and compiled twenty of the best ones from the forum. Thirteen came back with answers. Here they are.

1. Will Suikoden II make it to the PSN as Suikoden I did?

We definitely hope so as it provides a great chance for old and new fans of the series to experience on of the original games in the series but unfortunately nothing can be confirmed at the moment.

2. Will a non-promotional compilation of Suikoden songs finally be released commercially outside of Japan?

After hearing the many voices and requests of our customers and fans, we are looking into all of these options in the future.

3. Why do not you expand and complement the Suikoden plot with an anime series? The Japanese market has been shown strong interest in printed and mobile comics since the release of Suikoden V. Moreover, many Suikoden fans loved the anime introductions in Suikoden III and the gaidens.

We are considering many of these kinds of developments for future promotions.

4. Has any thought been given to licensing graphics/rendering engines used in other RPGs to decrease the cost of a full console version of a Suikoden game? Square Enix's multiplatform "Crystal Tools" engine, used for Final Fantasy XIII, and Sega's "CANVAS" engine, used for Valkyria Chronicles, are two that immediately come to mind. Anyone who has seen Valkyria Chronicles in action should see the visual possibilities of a Suikoden game built on the CANVAS engine.

We’d like to use a detailed graphic engine to express the world of Suikoden, but without it being prepossessed, whether it is in Konami or outside.

5. I'd be interested to know if the current writing team are sticking to any plotlines (I.E. The Pesmerga/Yuber mystery, Hikusaak's status, post-Suikoden III developments, etc.) laid out by Murayama when he was in charge, or if the answers to these questions have even been decided already or not, by Murayama or otherwise.

We try to never ignore the former series and we have various ideas on the story developments after Tierkreis that may reveal answers to certain questions but we can’t get into any details at the this time.

6. I noticed you've brought new composers to join Norikazu Miura in creating the sounds for Suikoden Tierkreis, but not Miki Higashino despite the team hinting at wanting to bring her back. Any immediate plan for this, like in the next game?

Ms. Higashino is working freelance now, so there is a possibility.

7. Suikoden Tierkreis may be a spin-off, and a handful of fans may wish it be forgotten from the rest of the series, I think it also brings interesting elements to the series. I've played the game and see virtually no linkage to the main series despite the production team claiming that this is set in a parallel dimension. So, any plans to link Tierkreis' plot back to the future installment in the main series?

There isn’t a direct connection to the former series, but Suikoden Tierkreis and the former series both are on the same "Infinity." In Tierkreis, we focused the "Infinity" concept, so we could look at whole Suikoden worlds, and developed a completely new story from there. This is because we wanted to expand new "Gateways" and new "Possibility" for the future of Suikoden. It’s a bit too early to say exactly how the series will progress but please look forward to future announcements.

8. If money and other business issues were not present, would you rather develop new locations/worlds with minimal connection to the previous Suikoden areas, or stick to expanding previously known settings?

As a developer, we enjoy creating new stories, and we think Tierkreis is a great new story in the Suikoden universe.

9. What is the thoughts on sprites used in Suikoden? A lot of people said that the series went downhill after Suikoden II mostly due to the game becoming 3D and no longer having the same feel in terms of art. And how do the developers feel about people ripping the sprites of the old games?

It’s important to consider the trends in the market, the platforms’ capacity, and which method is most appropriate to express a view into the world of Suikoden. On this point, I think the former games chose the proper platforms to push the limits of the time, and Tierkreis also challenges the limits of the DS platform.

10. The Narcissist characters have been decreasing in importance throughout the Suikoden series (one of the two narcissist characters, Milich Oppenheimer being a primary character in Suikoden I, Suikoden V having only a single unimportant female narcissist, and no narcissist character present in Suikoden Tierkries). We often find their presence to be an original aspect to the series and often also welcome splash of color and comic relief. Do you plan on reintroducing prominent narcissists into future titles?

Thank you for your interesting opinion, we will consider this in future development of Suikoden games.

11. The trinity sight system from Suikoden III received rave reviews from critics in the past due to its originality and depth of story line. Do you plan on using multi-perspective story telling in any future Suikoden games?

We are planning many different appropriate methods to tell the story of Suikoden, not only Trinity system.

12. Branching dialogue choices have been a part of Suikoden since the early games in the series. It is refreshing not to be limited to too many "But thou must" dialogue loops created from false choices. Besides the ability to recruit or miss the 108 stars, there are other examples such as in Suikoden V when we saw a behind the scenes "likeable points" system which made choices have impact on future cinematics. Are there any plans to build upon this flexible and interactive system in future Suikoden titles?

Tierkreis has the largest amount of choices in the Suikoden series, and also has a "friendship point" system, which is different from Suikoden V. That parameter is important to express the differences in unique characters of a group. We are always trying to develop new things to make enjoyable games.

13. Suikoden IV and Tactics are, generally, not esteemed as highly as the rest of the series, but most players agree that they had many good ideas. Has any thought been given to extracting gameplay mechanics that were thought to have 'worked' in those games, and applying them to other Suikoden games? For instance, the tailor system from Suikoden IV, or the isometric grid-battle system (which could be used for moving battalions in war battles) from Suikoden Tactics.

We’re not looking to remake the previous Suikoden games at this point, as we’d like to provide new experiences that appeal to both long time fans of the series and people that have never player a Suikoden game before.

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