A unique and exciting game brought down by its relative simplicity and unfortunately short length. True S
The story of Suikoden is, on the surface, rather cliche. Young boy forms band to destroy evil empire, yadda yadda, we've heard it before. But Suikoden makes the cliche fresh again. Instead of painting a very clear picture of black and white as most RPGs are prone to do, we see extremely human people behind it all. This particularly goes for the Five Imperial generals and the Emperor himself, as well as a few of the main hero characters such as Gremio, Viktor, Flik, Odessa, etc. I was extremely impressed by the level of depth these characters presented, especially considering the fact that the protagonist is the early JRPG standard silent protagonist.
While some of the characters are extremely well done, others are not. As you may or may not know, one of the primary draws of the Suikoden series of games is the high number of recruitable characters (108) that may be searched out and found in each title in the series. Suikoden starts that entire trend out nicely, but as a result, a great deal of these characters are very poorly developed. They play a very nice role as merchants and warriors in your army (more on that later), but, as individuals, the majority are forgettable.
The gameplay is very standard RPG. Suikoden's twist to the battling aspect are the rows your party and the enemy are laid out in. Basically, each character is given a letter designating their attack length. S (for short) means that they may only attack from the front row of the battle to the enemies front row. These are usually your big, tough bruisers. M (for medium) means that they may attack from anywhere within your two rows of characters, but only attack the front of the enemies rows. These include your hero and various other characters. Finally, there are the L (long) fighters, who may attack anywhere and from anywhere. These are usually archers. It may sound complicated, but it really isn't. Other than that, character customization is rather dumbed down given the number of playable characters, with only five available weapon slots to customize, one slot for elemental attacks with weapons, and one slot for their magic, called "runes". Once again, I feel like I'm making the game sound complicated, but in truth the battle system and character customization aspects are some of the most user friendly I've encountered in an RPG, yet still combine to create a fun experience.
Other aspects of the gameplay include major battles, duels, and the collecting of the 108 Stars of Destiny. All three have their good and bad points. Major battles are quite entertaining and bring a lot to the game, but they also are too luck based and simplistic. These play out rather like a game of rock paper scissors, and can become very frustrating if you keep losing. Duels are much the same in that they bring a personal level of action to a conflict, but are very luck based at first and can be very difficult and frustrating to win. The collection of the 108 Stars is challenging and fun, but some of the characters recruited serve very little purpose. Essentially how it works is that, early in the game, you become the master of a fortress. Each person recruited into your army moves to your fortress, where they perform some purpose. Some of them perform useful tasks such as buying/selling, upgrading weapons, or whatever, but most are people who you can use in your party. This is mostly useless because the story often dictates a certain number of the characters who can be in your 6 man party at any given time, and you will likely just fill the remaining slots with your favorites. The only real services they provide are in major battles, where they join a battalion and increase that battalion's attack power, as well as counting towards the best ending of the game.
Graphically, as mentioned, the game is sprite based. It is very similar to an SNES game, but slightly better as the sprites used are larger and more detailed. While nothing 3D, the game manages to hold up far better graphically than games such as Final Fantasy VII.
The music in the game is quite good. There exist better soundtracks, but Suikoden's always seems to have it right. The music always suits the situation, and many of the tracks are quite memorable. For instance, during an exploration of an old gothic castle, organ music plays. It is quite atmospheric, and...very hard to describe. Suffice to say, I was quite pleased with this aspect of the game.
Now, for the flaws. As mentioned, the lack of character development is pretty frustrating, and the flaws inherent in the rock paper scissors style of major battles get on my nerves. But the game's most dastardly flaw is that of length. The game is just too short for an RPG. I went out of my way to do EVERYTHING that is offered in the game, collecting all of the little items for my fortress, recruiting all 108 stars of destiny, leveling up a great many characters for Suikoden II...and my clock at the final save point reads less than 25 hours. The game, despite its flaws, is very fun, and I just plain would like to have seen more of this land. Surely, with 108 characters and an immense empire to conquer, surely there could have been more direct character development, or tasks...something. Ultimately at the end of the game, I was left craving more. It was clear that they were banking on a Suikoden II.
Suikoden is great. Make no mistake. The only reason this game doesn't score in the 9's is because of its length, and the rather unsatisfying feeling you get after beating it simply because it feels too soon. Other than that, I'd highly recommend this game. If you're looking for quality in your RPG collection, look no further than this.