Current Events > Is Suikoden 1/2 any good?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've always been dissuaded by the whole "100 party members" thing since I hated Chrono Cross and that was only like 40 party members, since most are garbage besides the ones directly involved in the story or have a necessary ability.

Is it just a typical turn based rpg?
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2 is the best game ever made

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Recruitment makes sense given the nature of the series

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Suikoden 1 is decent, Suikoden 2 is a big improvement though I haven't finished it yet.

It does have a lot of characters and you need all of them to get the true ending for each game, which is pretty different from the normal ending.

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With so many characters to recruit, I'd hope battles feature at least like 5 party members on the screen at a time to really take advantage of such a feature.
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saspa posted...

With so many characters to recruit, I'd hope battles feature at least like 5 party members on the screen at a time to really take advantage of such a feature.

All of the main ones but 4 has six-person parties. 4 has four people.

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It feels almost Pokemonish to have so many fighters to collect.

Oh I just remembered something. I've actually played a Suikoden game before it was on the DS, Suikoden Tekries or something.
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Great games, especially 2. I need to try 3 and 5 (4 apparently isn't so good).

Characters aren't just for battle (most aren't, in fact); they have various functions like warping, shops, etc.

saspa posted...

With so many characters to recruit, I'd hope battles feature at least like 5 party members on the screen at a time to really take advantage of such a feature.

There are 6 per battle.

BlueMage279 posted...

Also the characters amount in Suikoden doesnt seem nearly as wasteful as CC because the characters your recruit actually have a function in war battles (even if you never use them in your party), and they come to live at your base and feel like actual living people instead of just character portraits like they do in CC.

This. I didn't like it in CC, thought it was pointless, but in Suikoden it feels like you're building an army.

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KiwiTerraRizing posted...

2 is the best game ever made

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BlueMage279 posted...

Also the characters amount in Suikoden doesnt seem nearly as wasteful as CC because the characters your recruit actually have a function in war battles (even if you never use them in your party), and they come to live at your base and feel like actual living people instead of just character portraits like they do in CC.

A base huh. Is this series RTS like or anything like that, or purely traditional jrpg?
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Leanaunfurled posted...

All of the main ones but 4 has six-person parties. 4 has four people.

6 wow, that's better than I was expecting. I hope battles aren't as slow as FF 9 though since they're both ps1 games... If 1 and 2 are still on psn I'm planning on buying those before the store closes.
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saspa posted...

A base huh. Is this series RTS like or anything like that, or purely traditional jrpg?

Traditional JRPG, although there are larger battles too (and some one-on-one Rock Paper Scissors type battles). They're more involved in 2, but the annoying thing is that control is often taken out of your hand (e.g. there's a powerful guy you can't defeat and the battle ends automatically).

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Yeah, that.

I only played through them once, during a college vacation in I think like 2010. But man they were fantastic

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literally the only good ones

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I hear 5 is also really good

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1 is great and 2 is basically an upgraded sequel that works as a standalone game but really rewards you for playing through 1 first.

108 characters in each game (or a bit more, but a few are optional) but not all of them fight, some have other jobs at your HQ like item shop, armor, blacksmith, inn, old lady having tea and telling you what you could do next if you're feeling lost, cooking mini game, fishing, private investigator, etc.

And of those that do fight, some join early others join later so you can have some diversity in your team while you figure out who you like more.

The games are incredibly grindless too, unlike many or most jrpgs.

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While there's convo going on here, I'll go ahead and ask my own question:

I'm really keen on this series, I really liked what I played of 2 and liked 1. The main thing for me is it got to be a pain to be constantly hovering over a guide so I could recruit everyone, but I felt obligated to for that true ending. That's pretty much why I ended up wandering away from 2. Is it still fairly enjoyable if I let go of the character recruitment guide? I'm the type that tends to play a game just once.

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Can't wait for Eiyuden Chronicle!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rabbitandbearstudios/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes

Also, one thing to note about 2: you have to recruit all 108 characters before a certain point for the "good" ending. I got burned by that.

Leanaunfurled posted...

While there's convo going on here, I'll go ahead and ask my own question:

I'm really keen on this series, I really liked what I played of 2 and liked 1. The main thing for me is it got to be a pain to be constantly hovering over a guide so I could recruit everyone, but I felt obligated to for that true ending. That's pretty much why I ended up wandering away from 2. Is it still fairly enjoyable if I let go of the character recruitment guide? I'm the type that tends to play a game just once.

I never tried to 100% it because I had the exact same issue. Still great

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Leanaunfurled posted...

While there's convo going on here, I'll go ahead and ask my own question:

I'm really keen on this series, I really liked what I played of 2 and liked 1. The main thing for me is it got to be a pain to be constantly hovering over a guide so I could recruit everyone, but I felt obligated to for that true ending. That's pretty much why I ended up wandering away from 2. Is it still fairly enjoyable if I let go of the character recruitment guide? I'm the type that tends to play a game just once.

It's not a huge loss to miss the true ending (the same happened to me as mentioned and it's still one of my favorite JRPGs). The game is mostly still the same otherwise.

This topic reminded me to buy Suikoden 1 and 2 off PSN before PSN shuts down. Thanks tc

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BlueMage279 posted...

This. And Im not joking

Im not either

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Huh. Suikoden 2, a ps1 game, costs the same as Suikoden 3, a ps2 game.

I think I'll get Suikoden 1 and 2 and play those, hope they're good. Battles don't seem slow on youtube so here's hoping. Random battles certainly takes me back.
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@luigi13579 posted...

Can't wait for Eiyuden Chronicle!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rabbitandbearstudios/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes

Also, one thing to note about 2: you have to recruit all 108 characters before a certain point for the "good" ending. I got burned by that.

JP only?

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The original game is pretty short and simple but still really good. Suikoden 2 literally improves on everything-- it's the perfect sequel. There's a reason why several people are saying it's the best game ever here. It's probably my fave JRG.

Grinding is also pretty minimal, which speeds up the gameplay. It's really easy to get at a decent level even if it's a character at level 1. Lower leveled characters level up faster.

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Suikoden 1 = okay
Suikoden 2 = awesome

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Any other tips to keep in mind, thinks to break the game? Heard there were some exploits I could take advantage of
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Only one I can really think of is remember to save scum for the betting minigames. I'm pretty sure you're meant to do that, too. >_> Otherwise all the money I need to buy and upgrade things would've driven me insane getting normally.

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1/2? Sequel numbers are getting ridiculous

Both are amazing RPGs and both are still possibly the best games out there. Attempting to recruit everyone is up to you. You'll likely need a guide if you do want to recruit everyone as a couple of characters are always obscure.

You can get yourself toooons of money early in the game by playing the betting game in Rockland.

I look forward to your progress! Both games are amazing, although I think the 1st game is a little better than the 2nd.

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They're two of the best games on the Playstation.

2 is generally regarded as the better between the two but I'd recommend playing 1 first.
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2 is an all time classic. everything holds up well to this day except the battle system which is a tad simplistic and the game's difficulty is a bit on the easy side

108 recruitable characters is fun, tho most of them are immediately sidelined by the plot once you recruit them

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Both are amazing. Love the character diversity

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Both are fantastic games with wonderful music and memorable characters.
*Battles are blazing fast since you can just auto or let weaker enemies go.
*Also if you get a new character at level 1 and stick them in the team it will take no time at all to level them up: depending on your overall levels, but it's very fast levelling.
*Play Suikoden 1 first. It's very short and since some characters return in S2 it will be even more fun when you play S2.
*Also, if someone asks to join always say yes, even if they were an enemy! Potential recruits have a character portrait.
*In S2 there is an exploit which allows you access to a walled area of the map early on. This means you can recruit characters early and level up your team high before you were meant to, which makes the game a lot easier. (Basically, go north to the door in the wall and push. )


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1 is decent but outdated, 2 still great.
it kinda sucks they never translate the PSP version which added Suikoden 2's triple rune slot into Suikoden 1.

i personally prefer 3's atmosphere (?) and 5's gameplay.

also Suikoden 1 and 2 is perfectly playable with your left hand only because L2 is also work as cancel button and L1 for confirm.

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Suikoden II is amazing and honestly one of the best JRPGs ever made, even with all the bugs and glitches.

But you should also play the first one, it's not as good but still solid.

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DuranOfForcena posted...

i don't remember if it's in 1 or 2, and i don't remember what rune or whatever that it was exactly, but there is a very powerful rune that has a small chance of dropping from an enemy in like one of the very first areas, that you don't get access to past a certain early point in the game, and you can outfit your whole team with this very powerful rune if you want by grinding for it in this starting area before moving on with the game. maybe someone with a better memory than i can fill in the specifics. i tried looking it up based on what little i could remember, but didn't find what i was looking for.

Suikoden 2, double beat rune, blade rabbit on sparrow pass?

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Ricemills posted...

also Suikoden 1 and 2 is perfectly playable with your left hand only because L2 is also work as cancel button and L1 for confirm.

I thought I was the only one that noticed this lol. Id read or something during grinding for money.


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TheBlueMonk_ posted...

literally the only good ones

Nah. Suikoden 5 was about as good as 1 and 2.

3 is okay, but the changes were questionable.

4 is the one that can be safely called bad.