Poll of the Day > Celestian Tales: Old North is A Suikoden-like JRPG

(+) Yeah! (+)

This game is a PC exclusive, but it can run on a toaster, and I imagine can be played with a controller.

So when I think Suikoden, I don't think "oooh, you can have over 100 people join you. I get to watch the number of my collection go up!"

What I think of is a really beautiful looking PS1 game with a great soundtrack, and dialogue that is way above the curve of what you'd expect from a JRPG, that also doesn't outstays its welcome at the same time. I also think mercifully short for an RPG.

I'm about an hour or so into what is indeed a mercifully short rpg(reviews kinda suggest that it's over in around 5-6 hours) and I'm really impressed so far. It's got a mixed rating on steam, but I think like the OG Suikoden, and titles like Planescape Torment, it's probably one of those games that is better than the sum of its parts, and is probably worth picking up.

It's also on sale for less than 2 dollars, and unlike the switch you can refund it if you play it for under 2 hours and find that you don't like it.

Please, consider it, I'd really like to have people that have played it that I can talk about it with!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/315860/Celestian_Tales_Old_North/

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Own it, and still got a spare bundle key, but I haven't played it. Sorry.

Can you be recruit people into an army and build a town? That would make it Suikoden-like to me.

I've owned it for awhile but never played it. I think I paid something like $3 for the complete version.

EchoBaz posted...

So when I think Suikoden, I don't think "oooh, you can have over 100 people join you. I get to watch the number of my collection go up!"

I think if you're going to compare any RPG to Suikoden, it kind of needs that. Otherwise, it's not Suikoden-like at all.

Like Far-Queue mentioned, what most people think of when they think Suikoden is the recruiting an army and building a base of some kind. Whether that means recruiting tons of support characters (who live in your town and give you bonuses of some kind), or actual combat characters (who you can swap in and out of your active team), or both. You don't necessarily need 108 possible recruits - but there should probably be a lot. Games like Chrono Cross or Fire Emblem sort of fall into that vein.

A secondary trait that might make a game feel Suikoden-like would be if there was large-scale tactical combats involving rock-paper-scissors style combat. That's also pretty core to the Suikoden feel.

Without any of those things, I don't think I'd ever describe it as a Suikoden-like game no matter what the game looks like or the music sounds like.

And I don't think being a short RPG makes it feel like Suikoden either - Suikoden's always been a large sprawling experience that takes tons of time, even in eras when that wasn't as common as it is today.

Interesting, I'll look into it!

Suikoden's my favorite series and I'm looking forward to Eiyuden Chronicle (which I backed).

The most Suikoden-like game I've ever played is Exit Fate. I highly recommend it to anyone, it's a fantastic game and also is free.

https://exitfate.webs.com/about.htm

For my favorite game that "feels like" Suikoden w/o the staples like tons of recruits and army battles, Radiant Historia is one of the best games of all time. It feels like Suikoden in that it has a very detailed plot focused on a futile war between two factions both led by not-so-great people, with lots of political intrigue, betrayal, etc...

streamofthesky posted...

Interesting, I'll look into it!

Suikoden's my favorite series and I'm looking forward to Eiyuden Chronicle (which I backed).

The most Suikoden-like game I've ever played is Exit Fate. I highly recommend it to anyone, it's a fantastic game and also is free.

https://exitfate.webs.com/about.htm

For my favorite game that "feels like" Suikoden w/o the staples like tons of recruits and army battles, Radiant Historia is one of the best games of all time. It feels like Suikoden in that it has a very detailed plot focused on a futile war between two factions both led by not-so-great people, with lots of political intrigue, betrayal, etc...

I keep forgetting about Exit Fate.

DeltaBladeX posted...

Own it, and still got a spare bundle key, but I haven't played it. Sorry.

Ooh, if you don't want the bundle, may I have it, please? @DeltaBladeX

Not the whole bundle, a spare key for that game from a previous bundle. I have a lot of keys I keep for trading or gifts.
https://www.steamtrades.com/trade/cz8BI/w-missed-bundle-games-of-interest-console-games-h-steam-bundle-keys

DeltaBladeX posted...

Not the whole bundle, a spare key for that game from a previous bundle. I have a lot of keys I keep for trading or gifts.
https://www.steamtrades.com/trade/cz8BI/w-missed-bundle-games-of-interest-console-games-h-steam-bundle-keys

Aww, alright.

The first game is enjoyable. The second game drops the ball.

I_Abibde posted...

The first game is enjoyable. The second game drops the ball.

Good to know. Still not sure what to get or not get (both? first only?), but the 1st game is almost nothing so I'm willing to gamble I guess.
Definitely getting it and Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen (even though I own it on PS3 already).

Still debating Wrath of the Righteous pretty hard. I used to play PF a ton b/c my groups all moved to it...I vastly preferred D&D 3.5 b/c PF nerfed/removed all the fun non-caster stuff I liked or locked it behind a specific race or 10 fighter levels or such. Researching it has led me to pouring over the PF SRD again and repeatedly remembering why I couldn't stand PF so much. Almost every kind of build I would want to do is impossible/unavailable, or literally got nerfed at some point since I last played. They even nerfed Barbarian (it's "unchained" now and all the rage powers I liked are gone or nerfed into the ground)! I'm not much of a caster-player, but PF is basically Caster Edition...
I do miss playing D&D of some sort though. Just not sure I miss it enough to play PF rules...

streamofthesky posted...

Good to know. Still not sure what to get or not get (both? first only?), but the 1st game is almost nothing so I'm willing to gamble I guess.
Definitely getting it and Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen (even though I own it on PS3 already).

Still debating Wrath of the Righteous pretty hard. I used to play PF a ton b/c my groups all moved to it...I vastly preferred D&D 3.5 b/c PF nerfed/removed all the fun non-caster stuff I liked or locked it behind a specific race or 10 fighter levels or such. Researching it has led me to pouring over the PF SRD again and repeatedly remembering why I couldn't stand PF so much. Almost every kind of build I would want to do is impossible/unavailable, or literally got nerfed at some point since I last played. They even nerfed Barbarian (it's "unchained" now and all the rage powers I liked are gone or nerfed into the ground)! I'm not much of a caster-player, but PF is basically Caster Edition...
I do miss playing D&D of some sort though. Just not sure I miss it enough to play PF rules...

How good is it?

I_Abibde posted...

The first game is enjoyable. The second game drops the ball.

Yeah, that's kinda what I got from steam reviews.

Revelation34 posted...

How good is it?

Dark Arisen? I love it. My favorite part is the Bitterblack Isle dungeon that the expansion adds. You can skip to it in just an hour if you want and ignore the main game, though its intended to be post-game content and is VERY HARD.
Best part of the game is the combat and builds, it's really like no other game w/ the ability to climb on huge monsters and stab their eyes out. Game also has a very old school D&D kind of feel especially when dungeon crawling, with the pawns to make up a party and how the lighting and darkness works. Melee, archery, and magic builds are all satisfying to play as (though casters balance downright overpowered massive spells by having somewhat lengthy casting times, so if you're impatient, don't go that route or stick to lower powered spells and buffs).

Music/sound/voice acting is all good. Pawns infamously repeat their chatter a lot which annoys some people and others grow to love it (can turn it off if you're the former).

It's an open world game but honestly not that great in that regard. You can spontaneously walk into some epic battle or ambush and there's some cool things to find but otherwise there's not much exciting about it. Part of why I prefer BBI, where it's just a straight up super-dungeon.

Story in the main game is probably the weakest aspect of the game. Starts interesting, and the end portion is pretty solid. But the 70% in between is...non-existent. Just a bunch of (usually) disconnected quests to get some lore for the world and kinda just being left to your own devices. With tons of sidequests, some interesting... One of the unintentionally funniest side quests and the most perfect summation of what the middle of the game's plot feels like (spoilers, if you'd rather not be spoiled on it): you attempt to sleep w/ the Duke's wife without any real build up or prior interaction w/ her; get caught, thrown in prison, and escape... and nobody in the castle including the Duke react any differently to you afterwards and you're just like, "WTF even just happened?" But that kind of ridiculousness has a charm of its own, in a "so bad, it's good" kind of way...

Maybe I'll get it. Thinking about Pikmin 3 too since it's on sale.

I got it and Soul Nomad. Not getting anything else.