Suikoden 1

by: Beck

The game Suikoden is loosely based on the Chinese legend of the same name.  I do not know much about the legend itself, other than it tells the story of 108 bandits that rebel and fight for the rights of the common people.  I have seen people that compare the original story to Robin Hood, although I am not quite sure how correct this observation is.  This game in particular follows a young man, Tir McDohl (you), and his friends and servants, Cleo, Pahn, Ted and Gremio.  As the hero of the game, you start off going to work for the Emperor, just like your father the great General McDohl.  From there you are pushed into the underground world of the rebel army and upon the death of their leader, you become the new liberator.

The story itself is rather straight forward, with only a few twist and turns.  Most of the game is spent fighting the great generals under Emperor Barbarosa and collecting the various stars of destiny.  Not all 108 are playable, but many can join your party, while others stay in your castle to perform specific tasks.  The more characters you gather, the larger your castle will become.  The characters range from humans, to elves, to kobolds (who look like large dogs).  You run into other fanciful creatures including a vampire, dwarfs, and dragons.  With so many characters in the game, it is hard to develop all of them as fully as some would like.  However, the "main" characters all have attention, and we learn enough about the most important characters.

There are three different battle systems in the game.  The first you will encounter is a turn-based one that is used for random monster battles and a few of the larger boss battles.  During these fights you have different options - you can attack, use magic, use an item, defend, run away (does not apply to some battles, such as boss battles).  Certain characters can work together to do a combination attack, some attack all enemies, other do extra damage to one.  The random encounter rate is high enough so that you can level, but it is not set so high that you get tired of fighting all the time.  In fact, there have been times when I wanted to fight and could not do so.

The second type of battle is a duel.  Here you will fight a boss battle alone.  There are three options - defend, attack and wild attack.  Each option works well against another, and strategy (or reading a FAQ) comes in handy when fighting this type.  The final battle type is large scale, where you control thousands of people below you.  There are numerous options in front of you - you can attack by arrows, magic or infantry.  However, you can attempt to bribe the enemy, use spies to determine their next move or charge up certain attacks.  Again, strategy is incredibly important at this stage, and certain members of the 108-characters are more helpful at specific tasks than others.  Knowing what the enemy will use to attack you with can enable you to counter and save your men while destroying theirs.

The music in Suikoden is rich.  The soundtrack covers two disks and features some of the best game music I have ever heard.  Some of the music is very memorable, and I never really got tired of hearing the random encounter music.  Each town has a different feel and sound to it, and some have better BGM than others.  I have seen some negative reviews of the music, but I always felt that it was appropriate and it never really bothered me.

For the most part, the graphics are nothing new or groundbreaking.  Unlike other RPGs of and after its time, Suikoden does not heavily rely on FMVs.  The story unfolds much like it would in older games, with text that you read and click through.  The backgrounds and environments are pleasing, but nothing to write home about.  When a battle starts, the new scene rolls into view in a rather pleasing manner.  Occasionally the camera will zoom in on the action (usually when a character delivers a critical blow), but often stays far enough back to see both your party and the opposing side.  The larger scale battles use tiny sprites that move at random until given a command.  The sprites during the rest of the game look more like humans and less like SD characters than found in other RPGs.  The magic used in battles can be stunning.  And the colors are bright and crisp, taking advantage of the new hardware at least in that aspect.  By using that system, at least, the game avoids some of the major flaws with the system and there is less pixelation and rectangular objects (a la Lara Croft in Tomb Raider).

The magic system in this game is also unique.  Each character can have one rune - and each rune has certain spells that go with it.  Some runes do not even have spells and instead are weapon specific or work to increase your speed while others do a special attack that causes more damage to a target.  Certain magic is good against groups, others against individuals.  There are some that use healing, and many others that can do different combinations.  Some are unique to specific characters, and those are part of the True Runes.  Others you can find or buy at various places through the game.  Most of the general runes (fire, water, etc.,) have a version that is stronger and uses some of the same spells with at least one stronger addition.

Your castle becomes a mini-town as it grows and develops.  You get an inn, an item shop, an armor shop and more.  You can even find and recruit different blacksmiths that upgrade your weapons.  Instead of purchasing a new weapon at various areas, you pay more for the blacksmith to "sharpen" and thus strengthen your weapon.  You can also place rune bits on your weapon and thus add a bit of magic to your encounters.  One bit might increase your attack power, another might heal you.

The game also has a few mini-games and "secrets" that make it enjoyable.  The first is painting.  Once you collect a specific character, you can take the paint that you find throughout the game to him and he will make a mural.  The mural is what you would expect to see on the cover of the game, a nice drawing of the main characters.  There are two different games you can play when you recruit specific characters - the dice and the cup games.  Each are fun, but for the most part not too enjoyable for most game players.  The last aspect is the bath.  Once it is built you can take your characters inside for a dip.  You can decorate the bath with the antiques you find.  There are other small secrets in the game, such as taking characters to different spots for a small scene.

All said, the game does have a few problems.  The first is the story.  Some of the characters are nothing to write home about, and some of the plot is straightforward.  You are often presented options that you cannot chose, no matter how hard you try.  And while that it is not necessarily something bad, it can get frustrating.  There is some rehash with other RPGs and stories, such as the use of a vampire.  However, many of the elements in the story tie together so it does not overuse certain elements.  There are some translation errors, and some characters say things that don't really seem to fit right.  However, no game or translator is perfect and for the most part it isn't too obnoxious.  The ending is a little disappointing, but I don't know if anyone would have been happy if it had ended any other way.  Some have complained that the game is not long enough, but I felt that it lasted as long as it needed to, and sometimes not having tons of hours of gameplay can be a good thing.

Overall, this game is one of the finest RPGs ever created.  For something that only occupies one disk, it provides hours of game play, and the replay value is high.

Rating: (out of )