The 108 Stars of Destiny gather once again to retrieve the peace stolen by a cruel past and an even more cruel fate...
To begin with the story: you're in the role of Riou, a youngster who is part of the Highland Army, along with his friend Jowy Atreides. Soon in the beggining of the game they're betrayed by their own general and are forced to run away.
Soon enough you'll reencounter some good old figures of the first Suikoden, like Viktor, Flik and Apple. There are a lot more known characters, you'll just have to play to figure them out.
Riou is held being prisoner of the fortress, but he and Jowy manage to runaway and return home. Next, the city considers them both traitors of the state and both of them are forced to runaway once again. That's when you'll form an army on your own and fight against the ones who betrayed you: your own state!
All the good elements of the first Suikoden are in this game. The graphics were softly improved and seem to be more detailed. There are also some 3D cutscenes, even though they're somehow rare. The game controls and the battle system still work the same way as it's predecessor. The duels are also present in this title.
The battle system, which gave the Suikoden series a unique style was kept. For those who didn't play the first game: you have 6 characters and you must plan the moves they'll make (weapon attack, rune - a.k.a. magic - attack, defense, use of items, flee from battle, shift with the person who is in the front/back raw) and then execute the actions.
A good thing in this game is that if you finished Suikoden 1 and made the last save in the right place, you can load the save data onto your Suikoden 2 new game and take all the Suikoden 1 characters who appear in Suikoden 2 with better status. Besides, you can also take Tir McDohl (Suikoden 1's main character) and drag him to your party.
The bad things about the game? There is a bug in a certain part of the game which can make you reset the game and restart from the last save point, I'm not sure if it was fixed in the PSP version.
Well-planned plot, improved Soundtrack and a very large amount of fun minigames spread through the game, as well as the search for the 108 Stars of Destiny can keep you busy for several days. Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best games for Playstation One. Definitely worth playing!