A good RPG that misses on a few notes to keep you glued
A decent cliche story begins putting the main character in a position to lose himself albiet saving the kingdom. It plays through well, although it can get very tedious picking up all the character's throughout the world. It takes a great deal of time and wandering around to complete your time spent in Suikoden IV.
The battle system is characteristic of the suikoden style and does a good job of it. The option to 'auto' in battles can make it a yawner while getting either money or experience. The action in battles can get difficult but will shortly get boring and downright monotonous for the most part.
A big negative was certainly the traveling with the boat(s) through the world. Although there is a quick way to move around from island to island at a later time to get many side quest items you needed to take the drawn out time and sail around from island to island.
If you enjoy leveling up characters (who doesn't in an RPG) there is a great addition with the training on the ship. This is a great way to mow through the multitude of characters you obtain through out the game to top them all off. Of course, you'll need money (not the easiest to come by) to reach each character's weapon skills. Along with the normal console style rpg fights you also get a bit of turn-based strategy thrown in through the game. It would be a better part if it were actually challenging. Not a whole lot of meat on this part.
With only a few mini games that do not bring the excitement they should leave you wanting for more and also looking for more out of them when beaten.
Graphics:
This may be the best part of Suikoden IV. They do a great job of going between cut scenes, gameplay, and battles. The visual effects are about par, although they could have used a bit more 'oomph' for some excitement, considering all the battles required for leveling up that are required. With the option of progressive scan a little bit better graphic option is available which also gave me the impression they put a little more into the game for some polishing touches.
Sound:
I've heard better things out of worse games. The voice acting was sub-par for the most part. Many of the additional characters had some moments but not what was needed throughout the game. The music throughout the game was at least decent but i certainly do not find myself humming them after hitting the power button.
Value:
With some of the items only attainable in the last stages and the options these items give you require another playthrough to utilize them does give the hardcore fans an option to get everything out of every character and every item. The availability of armor sets and characters could certainly make it interseting for multiple playtrhough's as well. Sad thing is, the time spent the 1st round may not keep you glued to your seat for another onslaught of average rpg gameplay.
Tilt:
I've only dabbled in the suikoden series and this being my 1st completion of one does not give me high hopes of the other games. I'm sure i'll get my chance on 'V' and certainly 'III' when i finish out a few others. I do like the depth availability in this series and do hope some of the falters with this release are due to its storyline and not inheritant.