Suikoden game criticism thread

Cafe Society
1

This is a criticism thread for the increasingly popular Suikoden series, for Playstation 1 and 2. This is not just a negative thread; it looks at what Suiko games do well and don’t do well. Put spoilers in boxes!

I’ve been playing Suiko 5 for a bit now. Good game, solid system. I’ve run into a number of odd mistakes and bad points which made me think about this.

Bad Points:

  1. Why is the screen zoomed out so far? The character models have some good detail on them and look good from all angles. Why are they so insistent about limiting the view angle and having only three zooms, none of which are ideal? They may as well have just used to “specific-camera” style from Suiko 4.

  2. The character designs are much blander this time around. Some are really nice, but then I run into some which are disturbingly bland. Very strange, given how nice they usually do the character art.

  3. Take a good look at the graphics; notice how fuzzy they are around the edges? What’s up with that?

  4. What, no full-body art shots? T3h suxx0r. All I get to see good art for is the character heads.

  5. What’s up with the opening. It took me 8 hours before the game started!

  6. Bad balancing in some sections of the game. Some of the common enemies I meet have insanely high hit points and keep doing powerful area attacks. I’ve got a lot of money, but not nearly enough to upgrade all my characters’ armor every stage.

8)The map sucks. Period.
Good points:

1)Skill system so much better than Suiko 3 or 4! Far and away improved. I wish you get get more skill slots, though. :wink:

  1. Storyline is very nice now. It rminds a lot more of Suiko 2, although the main character of 5 sometimes feels like a wuss.

  2. Euram Barows is hilarious. I’m so hoping I can get him on my side later.

  3. No Suiko game before has meshed major battles and duels nearly as well as Suiko 5. And the duels look so awesome it’s not funny. In most suik games, they were too rare to be anything but a diversion. Suiko 5 makes them feel like a real part of the game.

  4. So far, I feel a lot less irritated by finding and collecting the 108 Stars of Destiny. The game helps you move around a lot, although I wish there was more to explore and a better map.

2

Hijack: Coincidentally, I have a thread about a Suikoden V “problem” that may or may not be related to the gameplay. You should stop in and give your two cents. :slight_smile:

3

It always bugged me that the games are named Suikoden in English. They should have either translated the title into English or left them as Genso Suikoden. I own the first 4, but have only completed 1 and 2, so can’t really comment on the more recent games.

4

That is the exact position I am in, in terms of the previous games. I’ve made some decent progress in 4 (though it obviously hasn’t grabbed me enough that I’ve needed to finish it), but 3 seems to be a bit too frustrating to be fun whenever I pick it up. It doesn’t change the fact that 2 is one of my favorite console games ever, and that I’ll probably pick up 5 at some point because of all the comparison it’s getting to 2. Someone convince me to throw a hundred hours at 3 and 4, first :slight_smile:

5

3 si very, very frustrating (and disgustingly slow to play), and 4, while it got back to the series roots, is just not very special.

5 actually did kinda grab me, but the only reason the plot ever took an unexpected turn was because I’d given up ever hoping something would start to happen. However, once the game actually begins it’s pretty cool.