Something Edible
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 Posted: Sun Mar 19, 2006 11:19 am Post subject: French Suikoden V Review |
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There's a French review of Suikoden 5 here: http://www.rpgsoluce.com/reviews/ps2/Suikoden-V.htm
It got a 19/20 score :)
Here's a rough translation (used babelfish a bit because there's tons of text)... here's the first part:
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It took a while for the first Suikoden saga to become well known in Europe. Moreover, the second episode quickly became well known to many RPG players shortly after it's released. However, we had to wait 5 years for the 4th game to be able to experience the series again. Unfortunately, in spite of some success, the 4th game was a disaster compared to the preceding game. Konami announced that it'd return to the series roots with this episode, and that the game would be directed by Junko Kawano (Suikoden 1), but the result was rather an enormous step backwards. Suikoden 4 featured a battle system of 4 characters and an extremely short game; add to that a bad beginning, characters without the least depth, and a poor scenario. As a fan and a player, I was greatly disappointed by this episode. Suikoden Tactics did a bit better, but it wasn't really anything outstanding. So, how well does Suikoden 5 fare?
Suikoden is a saga that takes place in an imaginary universe that's connected with deep and rich chronology. Just like the 4th game, this one is a prequel to the first 3 games. Taking place around 6 years before Suikoden 1. This makes it hard to build on the story given by Suikoden 3. Nevertheless, Konami doesn't forget its fans and this game has many references to all the games in the series. The initial concept of the game was about a mystery first mentioned in Suikoden 2. Note: The following part might contain scenario spoilers, don't read except if you want to know the information that was provided in Suikoden 2.
ATTENTION, INFORMATION ON SUIKODEN 2
In Suikoden 2, we learn about the great mercenary Georg Prime, who took part in the war of Succession (Suikoden 1), traveled to Grasslands (Suikoden 3), and it was also implied that he murdered the Queen of the Queendom of Falena. Furthermore, we learned about two other characters, Killey and Lorelai, two adventurers who're interested in the civilization of Sindar, and who also seemed to have had a part with the assassination of the queen. But that's all we learned about that, and many theories were found to explain the mysterious back story.
END OF INFO
Welcome to Falena:
Suikoden V is located in the Queendom of Falena. You control the prince of the country as he returns from a mission. He's accompanied by Lyon, his loyal bodyguard and the apprentice Queen Knight, along with Georg Prime, a knight who joined by request of the captain of Queen Knights, as well as the prince' aunt, Sialeeds, the little sister of the queen. Falena being a matriarchal kingdom, only women can inherit the throne, and their male husbands or children are relegated to the country's defense. The country was protected for many centuries by the True Sun Rune, which grants the Queen eternal youth and great power. Unfortunately, a noble family is suspected of having recently concealed one of the major Runes in the Kingdom, and stirring trouble. The situation is even worse as the Queen sometimes seems possessed by her True Rune and showing an aggressive personality.
Average technical quality:
Let's start with the game play defects because that's what the player would notice first. The series never presented great graphics, and that's the case in this game as well. There are certainly better facial animations, more detailed decorations and more colors than the uninspired Suikoden 4 for sure. However, the game remains on an average level. Personally, I don't really care for graphics quality in games, but those remain important to note. Technically, the player won't be able to mark the spirits(?). The cities are pretty and have good design in general. They are very large and are scarcely populated in terms of density. Moreover, the camera angle is likely to displease some people because it can't be moved and has a skewed top view that doesn't allow the player to be seen behind many buildings. Although it's not particulary awkward, but sometimes it hides an exit which one could take for a simple wall. This is, nontheless, is rather rare. The camera makes it possible to hide treasure chests, forcing the player to explore places more carefully. For my part, as much as I liked to re-examine the series in 2D, especially those little sprites at loading times, the loading times prove to be very long, taking from 5 to 10 seconds to change maps or to enter a battle. It didn't really annoy me a lot, but that's mostly because I got used to it, but I guess it'd annoy certain players.
This reduced experience also feels the same for combat or the spells. In that regard, the game is not much better than Suikoden 4. Moreover, I find that many spells in Suikoden 2 were much more beautiful as compared to this game. The battle scenes are also less detailed and suffer from a feeling of emptiness. Fortunately and following the example of Suikoden 2, characters in 5 have different battle animations that are different from a character to another. Another good point is that the battles are very dynamic and fun. The cut scenes which are, without being exceptional, well made. Nevertheless, as I said, all this turns out well at the end, but one could find it unfortunate that Konami didn't invest more in the development of this series when compared to other Konami games' graphics. I'm not completely against 3D, especially if it serves the game, but when you see the 2D of splendid games like Tales of Rebirth or Baten Kaitos, it's a bit sad that Suikoden 5 doesn't have such good graphics.
The music is of a rather good quality, and it easily outclasses the last 3 games (Tactics, Suikoden 4, and Suikoden 3). The music is best at the time of cut scenes, reinforcing the tragic and emotional character of some of those scenes. In general, the music fits well with the various locations in the game. Certain tracks are taken directly from Suikoden 2 or 4 as a wink (to the fans?). The musicians did a beautiful job in any case, which without being exceptional is much more pleasant than the graphics.
A complex and fascinating plot:
Of course, graphics remain a minor issue for RPG players, and they know to look beyond the appearance. One of the major qualities in the game is the level of the scenario. Although Suikodens were always traditional RPGs when it comes to stories, their originality was always marked by a scenario that approached that of T-RPGs (Tactical RPGs?) rather than normal ones. The games aren't about saving the world, or the quest of the hero to save the beautiful one who he just met. In Suikoden, it's already rather hard to save your country, let aside the world. The world where the series takes place also had political plots, friendships, treason. This is the level here, Suikoden 5 has all that and in my point of view has the best scenario in the series. As I personally continue to prefer Suikoden 2, I must acknowledge well that the plot proves much more complex and absorbing. The game has many story twists that hold the player in their breath. The political ideas and plots, and the deeply written background, all blend perfectly in coherence without flaws. The military aspect, another feature of the series, is always important and proves as clever and as cruel sometimes, showing immoral strategies used by both your and your enemies' camps. Certain battles are clearly inspired by Chinese history and there are many references to be found regarding that. Lucretia, the strategist of the game, being largely inspired by famous Asian strategist and influenced by Chinese history, is one of the best, most interesting, and important characters in the game. As the player plays, they'll be immersed completely in this history style. People interested in Chinese history would like this game.
The characters are well designed; it's a huge improvement over Suikoden 4. Their designs are fabulous, and you can easily see how they are some of the best designs in the field and are much better than Kawano's work in 4. The effort put in the artwork of each character is pleasant to see and you'll quickly find some characters that make you laugh. It makes choosing a team a lot harder. It's a fantastic job especially when you see the number of protagonists. Even with this number of character, the minor ones are well designed too. Almost every character has at least one strong feature, a valid reason to join the hero, or to leave him. There are all kinds of recruits, but, and as with every Suikoden, there are all kinds of marginal characters and outlaws like vagrants, criminals, gangsters, robbers, or assassins. Some have an obviously deep past and personal background. Sometimes this background is optional and not part of the main scenario, which is very interesting and enriches the world of the game.
The work on characters is great. A great effort was put into making their expressions change with the dialogue, although it'd probably have been more humorous if it was 2D like Suikoden 2. At any case, this gives you more characters to like. The return of the detective makes it possible to develop the history of each character and the life in castle will help you know the state of your army, talk with them, and know more about their feelings. What they say also change along the adventure, not only in your castle, but the world also evolves. Politically speaking, people would be aware of the changing events and won't say the same line all the time. Your enemies and other NPCs are also very well made and their various motives are as interesting as they're rational. The hero is still a silent character, but fortunately, the game offers him many occasions to be expressed by the choices the player makes. You can see him growing and affirming himself in spite of the worrying beginning. This is reinforced with more than enough facial expressions, in contrast to the hero of Suikoden 4 with only one facial expression under all circumstances.
Edit: More:
The Battle System:
Suikoden 2's turn based battle system returns with this game. You can finally control 6 fighters again. Each character has a letter according to their attack range (S, M, or L). In Suikoden 2, if a character's range was S, they could only be placed in the front line to be able to attack. Suikoden 5 keeps that system but this time this character will still be able to attack but they'd be more likely to miss. Other than that, the battles are traditional and similar to other games in the series. As a battle begins, you'll be prompted by several choices. One of them is to escape, bribe the enemy, or to make the characters automatically decide their actions (they'd only attack). There's also a new option available to change your formation. Using this option, the player can modify the character formation to get a better chance to win. These formations allow you to increase the effectiveness of the fighters (magic or defense for example), but also has different penalties. For example, you can have a team of damage dealers without fearing the decrease of accuracy, or you can have a team of magician without being afraid of physical attacks. Those formations prove very useful during certain hard battles. The game gradually becomes harder as you meet powerful enemies in frequent random battles. It's true that you can beat the game with the default formation, but this system brings more freedom to the player. Other additions to battle systems is an attack similar to 'Rush' in Suikoden 4 but which you can use after each battle. The effects of that attack vary depending on the formation of the party, there's a price to pay, but sometimes it's worth trying.
Edit: Even more:
More About The Battle System:
There are several options when fighting, there're the traditional attack, defend, magic, and combined attack. These union attacks are available from the very start. There's also a new order system like Breath of Fire 4 or FFX making it possible to change character during battles. You can have 10 characters in your team, 10 fighters and 4 characters in support. Those support character either provide passive support (like healing), or can replace a character in battle. To change a character you'd waste a turn. This system makes it possible to remove scenario characters from your fighting party. You can also take characters with strong magic out of random battle and only use them when you get to a boss battle. Considering the difficulty and the frequency of most of those random battles, that proves to be a good practice.
Another new element is skills. The system first appeared in Suikoden 3, and also made its return in Suikoden Tactics with some changes. There are changes here too: skills like "Swing" and "Battle Lust" are no more, but instead you have skills like "Strength" or "Magic". This new system makes it possible to increase the stats of a character as well as their combat skills. However, the system imposes a limit of only being able to equip 2 skills by each character. Moreover, to increase the level of these skills, you'll have to find certain items or else their level would never exceed C. As you progress, new skills will appear according to the character and its level. Some skills can be classified as 'elite' because they increase several stats at the same time. On the other hand, you'd have to find special items to increase those too. To increase the skill level, you have to gain SP at the end of battles. Part of the SP goes to a shared pool making it possible to give them to characters that just arrived. It's also possible to transfer SP from a character to the shared pool. The players will like this system as it'd allow them to see their characters improving and exceeding their limits.
Edit: Almost done!
Wars:
The wars, another fundamental element of the series, also changed. This time, battles are in real time. All the units move at the same time with the aim of defeating you and it's not important to quickly control your troops while preparing a good strategy. You could always halt the wars to think a bit, as units stop moving when you choose the destination of the unit. It's still nevertheless necessary to remain concentrated especially when you're attacking several troops at the same time. This is easy when the enemy is defending, but the enemies in this game are generally stronger and come in more numbers. The battles take place on land or sea, and having to fight on both makes it more complex and also more fun. Before each battle, you are allowed to set up your units. The first character defines the type of the unit, and 2 others offer more or less effective support to th character. There are 3 types of units on land. You can create new ones according to the formation of the characters. Certain characters also have special skills to help cure you. The rest of the system is similar to Suikoden 1. For example, archers are good against knights but ineffective against infantry who are good against riders(?), that's also similar for sea battles. When two units mean, an animation shows the unit leader and their soldiers fighting each other. Each unit has a certain number of solider and a life bar making possible to see its state. I find the system excellent; it offers much more freedom than the old system and proves to be more complex. These war phases are a great joy even if they don't really convey the feeling of true tactical battles. Be careful however, as your characters can die in war or surrender if they're wounded.
Duels:
The duels didn't change a lot. It's the same rock/paper/scissors system with a small change. The reaction time is limited and the selection of commands is done using keys instead of menus. Other than that it's the same, and it's enough to listen to what the enemy says to predict their next action. Like Suikoden 4, there are different animations depending on the actions you take; it's a nice touch without being exceptional. More dynamic duels are always a pleasant addition to the game.
Edit:
Good Gameplay Freedom:
The story is well written and shouldn't weary the player. The story outline isn't repetitive and the gameplay is less linear than many new games. It's great having the world map back, an element that became TOO rare in new RPGs, allowing more freedom to the player. The world map is immense, although you're limited at the beginning, soon it becomes more open allowing the player to explore as much as they like. Therefore, you can reach places with better equipment from the very start (although they're expensive). Unlike some games, Suikoden V gives you freedom early and not at the end of the game. You can freely follow the scenario but you could also explore the towns and your HQ, maybe to recruit allies, buy better equipment, forge your weapons, etc. There are many fun mini-games in Suikoden V, making it easy to make money. You'd probably spent a long time in castle, because it becomes huge in spite of a small beginning. There are also many activities offered in the castle. It's always nice to return home after your missions, especially following the great expansion the castle has the first time. You can also decorate your castle with many items you gain in battles. There are tons of things to find in the game. Mostly related to recruiting the 108 stars, which is hard if you want to recruit them all. The game has 11 endings. 7 of them happen during the game, and 4 at the end depending on your scenario choices and the number of stars you recruit. Further more, there's a New Game+ mode allowing you to play again while keeping your skills, money, and part of equipments from the last game. In conclusion, you're not likely to get bored in Suikoden 5!
A Briliant Success:
To conclude, this Suikoden revives the series and proves to be the best Suikoden. It's the richest and the deepest entry in the saga. Konami finally offers a successor to the quality of Suikoden 2 that even exceeds it. Lots of neat and charasmatic characters, as well as a huge, involving, and rich scenario that's rarely seen in other games. The game is also long, you could beat it in 60 hours straight without ever getting bored. If once again you want to explore the best runes, recruit everyone, discover all the secrets concealed within the game, you can easily add 20 to 30 hours of gameplay. Recruiting the 108 stars requires a great investment even with the detective (to be realistic, not many people manage to recruit all stars without external assistance). This game is a masterpiece, a wonder, and without a doubt one of the best RPGs of our times. Suikoden 5 is likely to become worshiped like 2, it deserves that especially with Konami who seem dedicated to reviving the series again. If you didn't enjoy the series after 2, then Suikoden V would without a doubt please you. I'd have loved to experience it in 2D... but it's still a great game!
Score: 19/20
Review by: Aciel at RPG Soluce (based on Japanese version) |
Woah... that was a lot... there are probably tons of mistranslations and grammar errors... but I'll check them later. At one point I feared that this is SARS review just translated to French, mainly because of many similarities (they both have a similar conclusion!). This was translated without the author's permission... but hopefully they wouldn't mind.
Last edited by Something Edible on Sun Mar 19, 2006 12:55 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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