Poll of the Day > I'm replaying Suikoden right now. It's such a fun game.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Probably the third or fourth time I've beat it. Will actually go for the 108 stars this time. Normally I let Pahn die... Because fuck him. so I never got the 108 stars.

And I'll likely just move right into replaying Suikoden 2 after I finish it. I'm about halfway through Suikoden, give or take.
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I tried to replay Suikoden some years back and but kinda killed my interest when I was grinding for Water Rune pieces. I had hoped to stack my main characters with them and never worry about healing ever again. I might give Suikoden III a chance some day but am not sure about IV and V. Pity Genso Suikogaiden 1 and 2 were never officially translated.

I don't know why but I was obsess with the world of Suikoden for a while. Maybe it was because of the various plots and conflicts that were going about and how many of characters returned to continue their story. My friend mentioned that it was based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story.
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i was tackling Suikoden 1 recently with the intention of playing 2 as well, but started getting bored right around Seek Valley. kinda got sick of having to abuse the dice game to upgrade characters that i was only going to need for 10 minutes every time something happened in the story. I've hear Suikoden 2 greatly improves upon S1's many glaring flaws but i have to get my motivation back to finish off 1 first since i know i'm really close to the end.
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InfestedAdam posted...

My friend mentioned that it was based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story.

about as much as DragonBall is based on Journey to the West, but yeah, kinda.
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WhiskeyDisk posted...

I've hear Suikoden 2 greatly improves upon S1's many glaring flaws

In pretty much every way, yup.

InfestedAdam posted...

I might give Suikoden III a chance some day but am not sure about IV and V

I've played Suikoden 1, 2, 4 and tactics.

I don't remember much about 4.
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Love the music.

Great game.
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InfestedAdam posted...

I might give Suikoden III a chance some day but am not sure about IV and V.

Suikoden II is my favorite but V might be my second favorite. Great game.

Actually, yeah. I'd go 2 > 5 > 1 > 3 > 4.
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Far-Queue posted...

InfestedAdam posted...

I might give Suikoden III a chance some day but am not sure about IV and V.

Suikoden II is my favorite but V might be my second favorite. Great game.

Actually, yeah. I'd go 2 > 5 > 1 > 3 > 4.

That seems to be the general consensus.

I might have to replay 4 just to remember why everyone considers it to be bad. All I really remember about it are the naval battles.
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Interesting, thank you for the suggestion. I thought after III was when the series went downhill but didn't realize V was well received. Pricing on eBay and Amazon doesn't seem too crazy.
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InfestedAdam posted...

My friend mentioned that it was based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story.

Dynasty warriors is romance of the Three kingdoms

Suikoden is water margin/outlaws of the marsh
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WhiskeyDisk posted...

InfestedAdam posted...

My friend mentioned that it was based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story.

about as much as DragonBall is based on Journey to the West, but yeah, kinda.

Is it? I thought Suikoden was based on Water Margin?
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Krow_Incarnate posted...

WhiskeyDisk posted...

InfestedAdam posted...

My friend mentioned that it was based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story.

about as much as DragonBall is based on Journey to the West, but yeah, kinda.

Is it? I thought Suikoden was based on Water Margin?

I'm hardly an expert on classical Chinese literature, but its very loosely based on whatever it is claimed to be based on is the gist of what i was trying to convey.
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Krow_Incarnate posted...

Is it? I thought Suikoden was based on Water Margin?

I had to look it up again and I believe you're right. We mighta confused that with Shi Nai'an's student who wrote Romance of the Three Kingsdom.
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Dynalo posted...

Probably the third or fourth time I've beat it. Will actually go for the 108 stars this time. Normally I let Pahn die... Because fuck him. so I never got the 108 stars.

And I'll likely just move right into replaying Suikoden 2 after I finish it. I'm about halfway through Suikoden, give or take.

Oh yeah man if you like the first game you will LOVE part 2. It's way better and as a bonus you can import your hero McDohl over from the save of the original.

Try to get the five squirrel team!

Super spoiler about a S2 character that's super B.S:

During a late cutscene somebody shoots your sister with an arrow, and if you don't press the button fast enough when you see it she will die from the wound. I GUESS this is supposed to represent the player reacting fast in a bad situation but it's complete crap and totally unexpected.
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InfestedAdam posted...

Interesting, thank you for the suggestion. I thought after III was when the series went downhill but didn't realize V was well received. Pricing on eBay and Amazon doesn't seem too crazy.

I didn't like 5 at all.

I think it gets a lot of praise for bringing back the 6-man teams but honestly many battles are too easy and it's kind of boring.
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Black_Crusher posted...

Oh yeah man if you like the first game you will LOVE part 2.

I've beaten Suikoden 2 at least a half dozen times <_<
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Dynalo posted...

WhiskeyDisk posted...

I've hear Suikoden 2 greatly improves upon S1's many glaring flaws

In pretty much every way, yup.

InfestedAdam posted...

I might give Suikoden III a chance some day but am not sure about IV and V

I've played Suikoden 1, 2, 4 and tactics.

I don't remember much about 4.

IMO 4 had promise, but failed to deliver on most counts, it's the weakest game in the series. Luckily enough Konami redeemed themselves with Suikoden 5, then fucked up greatly when they cancelled the series after Tierkries <_<
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Just introduced my brother to the first game a week ago. I think he enjoyed it.

We might race through Suikoden 2 this Summer.

Never played a Suikoden. I have a ps2 copy of 3, but no ps2 to play it on.
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InfestedAdam posted...

I tried to replay Suikoden some years back and but kinda killed my interest when I was grinding for Water Rune pieces. I had hoped to stack my main characters with them and never worry about healing ever again. I might give Suikoden III a chance some day but am not sure about IV and V. Pity Genso Suikogaiden 1 and 2 were never officially translated.

It's really not that hard of a game, you don't need to grind for stuff. I actually love how much Suikoden is anti-grinding, what with its XP system. Quickly reach a point of diminishing returns where you're only getting 5 or 10 xp a battle if you grind the same characters in an area but on the other hand, you can have a low level newbie tag along and he can shoot up 30 levels in a couple fights and be only a few levels behind the other people.

ReggieTheReckless posted...

InfestedAdam posted...

My friend mentioned that it was based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms story.

Dynasty warriors is romance of the Three kingdoms

Suikoden is water margin/outlaws of the marsh

I always wanted a Dynasty Warriors style Suikoden game, even more than I wanted a Zelda DW spinoff (which I was very happy for, and it was awesome!). Just seemed like the two would be a great match.

WhiskeyDisk posted...

i was tackling Suikoden 1 recently with the intention of playing 2 as well, but started getting bored right around Seek Valley. kinda got sick of having to abuse the dice game to upgrade characters that i was only going to need for 10 minutes every time something happened in the story. I've hear Suikoden 2 greatly improves upon S1's many glaring flaws but i have to get my motivation back to finish off 1 first since i know i'm really close to the end.

Again...the game's pretty forgiving. And weapon upgrade costs go up exponentially, so if you stop a few levels short of the max you can upgrade, it would probably halve the amount of bits you need for those characters and you wouldn't lose *that* much damage.
I don't think S1 had "many glaring flaws," but S2 is pretty much the ideal sequel in that it took everything great about the first game and made it better. And the fact it has so many returning characters and plot continuity including the S1 main if you import save data.

The original Suikoden is underrated. I use it as a unit of measurement for JRPG length, these days, since it takes me exactly twenty hours to beat. For example, I am currently about four Suikodens into Persona 5.

Suikoden II is PS1 JRPG god tier, of course.
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Is it pronounced Sookoden or Sweekoden?

Or some other weird way? Sewykoden?
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Soo- (rhymes w/ true)
E- (long e sound, like sleep)
KO- (rhymes w/ so)
DEN (pronounced like you'd expect of "den")

streamofthesky posted...

It's really not that hard of a game, you don't need to grind for stuff.

I know but I just wanted to stack Water Rune pieces on my characters in my second playthrough. Overkill but I wanted that sense of being "Godlike". I recall a few boss fights where only my main character was alive but his 4-5 stacks of Water Rune pieces kept him alive.
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If you want to grind, that's fine. If it kills your interest in playing the game at all and you don't want to finish it, it's time to step back and rethink your priorities. Just saying...
Hero and Kai's unite attack is god mode enough, generally.

Oh, as for Suikogaiden...I thought there was a fan translation being made a few years ago. I should check on that.

streamofthesky posted...

If you want to grind, that's fine. If it kills your interest in playing the game at all and you don't want to finish it, it's time to step back and rethink your priorities.

For some odd reason this varies between games. I lost interest with Suikoden but for Final Fantasy Tactics somehow I found joy in grinding out the levels and maxing out the classes.

streamofthesky posted...

Oh, as for Suikogaiden...I thought there was a fan translation being made a few years ago. I should check on that.

Aye, there's fanmade one. I was just hoping for an official translation.
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streamofthesky posted...

Again...the game's pretty forgiving. And weapon upgrade costs go up exponentially, so if you stop a few levels short of the max you can upgrade, it would probably halve the amount of bits you need for those characters and you wouldn't lose *that* much damage.
I don't think S1 had "many glaring flaws," but S2 is pretty much the ideal sequel in that it took everything great about the first game and made it better. And the fact it has so many returning characters and plot continuity including the S1 main if you import save data.

the entire first game suffers from a major case of "Guide Dang It!" with recruiting many of the stars. also i find the number of times where either a character with stuff i needed on him is forced out of the party, or the number of times a short range party member is forced into the back row right before a bossfight to be unacceptable. with the the rapidly diminished returns for grinding, the game practically forces you to abuse the dice game. backtracking to areas you have no reason to even backtrack to or hiding Stars to recruit behind walls with no indication they're false or forcing you to leave and reenter areas several times are all also glaring flaws. most fights become straight up meaningless thru a small number of Unite techniques. having to grind for drops with zero indication they're needed for recruits or what even drops the item...

i like the game, but the first installment severely lacks polish
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Started playing Suikoden 2 because of reading this, and while I'm liking it a lot, I'm surprised by how easy it is

So far I'm up to going to Matilda for the first time, and I think I've only died on one boss and then random battles are clearly before Jowy leaves and then still easy with the auto command even after you lose buddy attack

Really fun though, but I'm kind of thrown off by the random vampire insert.... And the rune stuff in general

Kind of detracts from the glorious war/battle plot when all of the high fantasy starts popping up

Oh well

I'm guessing I'm halfway done or so, that right?
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ReggieTheReckless posted...

Started playing Suikoden 2 because of reading this, and while I'm liking it a lot, I'm surprised by how easy it is

So far I'm up to going to Matilda for the first time, and I think I've only died on one boss and then random battles are clearly before Jowy leaves and then still easy with the auto command even after you lose buddy attack

Really fun though, but I'm kind of thrown off by the random vampire insert.... And the rune stuff in general

Kind of detracts from the glorious war/battle plot when all of the high fantasy starts popping up

Oh well

I'm guessing I'm halfway done or so, that right?

First trip to Matilda? I guess about halfway....been so long since I actually went there when the plot expects you to, lol (Matilda Glitch ftw)
Suikoden's never been considered particularly hard, even for a RPGs, the challenge is more about recruiting all 108. I never saw the appeal of a game where you die a lot anyway, though. I guess if they pump the enemies' stats up so that they do outrageous damage and you get some bad luck sequences and die a ton, it makes it feel "challenging?" It's a turn-based RPG, it's not like you'd be dying to intelligent enemy tactics or anything that requires real skill to overcome anyway.

Personal tastes, but I like the mix of fantasy w/ the runes and such and the drama and interaction between people thrown into a war. I don't think the fantasy elements are overwhelming...Luca Blight's the most incredibly evil monster in all of video gaming if not all media and he's pretty explicitly "just a dude" with little to no magical ability.
The vampire's not a "random insert," he was in the first game and has at least a bit of backstory, which Suikoden II gets into later on, plus his history w/ Viktor.

Finished Suikoden.

https://howlongtobeat.com/game.php?id=9301

This site isn't even remotely close for Suikoden... though I play most games faster than the average time on that site... but still. It took me 15.5 hours to complete the game with all 108 Stars of Destiny. The fuck is everyone doing for the other 10 hours they're supposedly playing it for.
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Dynalo posted...

The fuck is everyone doing for the other 10 hours they're supposedly playing it for.

*shrugs*

It takes me twenty hours because I spent a fair amount of time grinding for cash and experience towards the end, usually in the area where Leon is hiding.
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Beat Suikoden 2 and loved it overall. While there were parts I didn't like so much, everything together felt great overall. I really like the iron chef battles tossed in there lol
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Dynalo posted...

The fuck is everyone doing for the other 10 hours they're supposedly playing it for.

getting stuck in that one castle at the random spin wheel thing and grinding for the oddball drops you need for recruiting and your fortress? leveling up all the useless characters nobody ever uses?
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WhiskeyDisk posted...

Dynalo posted...

The fuck is everyone doing for the other 10 hours they're supposedly playing it for.

getting stuck in that one castle at the random spin wheel thing

I watched my brother play through that part a few weeks ago and he was stuck there for 20 minutes. I don't remember getting that unlucky when I played it, but man they made that sliver way too small.

I was also cackling like a mad man when the kid with the three cups minigame swindled him out of 10k gold. I love how they make the 1k bets too easy to make you feel like you're taking advantage of the poor kid, stealing his life savings, and then it becomes impossible at 10k and you lose everything.