The series gets a new lease of life with suikoden 5, a fantastic game, though not without its flaws.
Suikoden 5 is arguably one of the best suikodens ever. A brilliant story, absolutely lovable characters, and great gameplay...it has it all. Music is decent as well, and a lot of suikoden conventions forgotten in 4 are brought back in 5. We can have 6 people per team now, but also 4 support characters, which is brilliant and so much better than s4. Also, unlike s3's rather stupid pair system, we can give individual commands to all characters. back are the 108 stars, the iconic music of suikoden, the castle, the bath, viki, jeanne, leknaat, everything that makes suikoden....suikoden.
The characters, in particular, deserve lavish praise. They are very well developed and rather lovable. what's more, over the game, you get to make a ton of decisions that can change some relationships, though not by much. Especially prominent are the prince's relations with his sister and his friends.
However, suikoden 5 slips on a number of fronts as well. Its funny...just like s4 forgot s3 existed and dropped all the improvements s3 had, s5 forgets s4 ever existed. Gone is the free camera angle, instead relying on a rather crappy fixed camera that makes pathfinding a nuisance, with the hero simply disappearing behind objects. it also gives the game a 2d sprite like feel....the game is too zoomed out for clear views of the characters, and the zoom levels though availiable...are unusable...as the game is impossible to navigate on closer zoom levels. The game looks considerably dated, much more than suikoden 3 even, though cutscenes are gorgeous (but all in game, there is not a single cgi or anime cutscene to be found).
Also rankling is the lack of a map, especially since the cities in suikoden 5 are perhaps the most complicated in any rpg..they are virtually mazes. SImilar is the case with dungeons...its too easy to get lost. This is surprising...both s3 and s4 had good minimaps. Hell, even dq8 has maps. Suikoden 5 however, emulates s2, a 10 year old game, in not even providing a proper world map...forget any minimaps for path finding. infact, you need to get a character to even dash in the game...like s2.
The spell graphics barely do justice to the game....being worse than even the horrible s4 graphics. I have seen prettier spells in gba games. Its underwhelming when you compare spells in s3 with s5..the pale gate spells, especially, seem out of the snes era, contrasted to the near cgi qual of s3. If devs want to cater to the "fast spells" groups, add an option to toggle short animations.....let those who enjoy pretty graphics have a go too.
Also gone are the changes in weapon looks of s4, and while the skill system of s3 makes a return, its much less useful and limited this time around.
Then come the strategy battles, a concept that has been drastically different in each suikoden. S5 improves upon the bland and boring s4 battles, but is fatally flawed. The "real time" battles can be frustratingly hard, as the enemies are almost always double your power, and you cannot afford to lose a single unit. Moreover, there is often no chance to save immediately before them, if you lose a battle, you often have to sit through a ton of scenes, organise your parties yet again (a rather complex process) and deploy. Moreover, even though this follows a rock-papers-scissors system, there is no chance of seeing the battle map before the fight, and so arranging your troops accordingly...nessesiating a restart almost always. Even worse, your levels and equipment make no diff whatsoever, and you cannot refer and understand new special abilities outside of battle.
Add to that the strategy bttle "retreat" system, which is rather flawed. The losing group always flees away from the enemies in a random direction..and players will find that while their comarades just love to flee into a stronger enemy, the enemies just love to flee to your weaker characters. As fleeing is a movemement during which you cannot move your troops......it almost always ends in disaster, as a stronger (as in rps stronger) enemy can easily anhillate your entire unit, nessesitating a restart.
In other words, the strategy battles are more frustration than fun, though they are required....and rely quite a lot on luck. In comparison, teh main game is rather easy, with almost no enemy/boss posing the slightest challenge to the prepared....much easier than s4 or s3. Even the strongest secret boss can be beaten rather easily.
But despite all that...its still anong the best games i have ever played...and is highly recommended for all suikoden fans. Other people however, may just want to play the earlier installments, especially s2 and s3, before this one.