Did Konami give up?

[luc]

Does any one think that Konmai has given up with making new chacters for Suikoden. Cedric was just like Stallion, Rachel was exactely like Camille, Tal and Pahn and so on.
Although some people may share things because they are the same star like how Ted and Luc were both brats. But it is kind of sad that they don't give each person the attention and background they use to.

[Meruhesae]

[Alseid]

Like they didn't do that on the older Suikodens.

Think about it. Camus and Miklotov are much like Alec and Grenseal, Mazus like Crowley, all the tricksters, the elevator makers, Ace and Viktor, Futch (in Suikoden3) and Flik... There are many others, some justified, some not. But they've been reusing character concepts and personalities since the beginning.


EDIT: Damn, i was beaten to it. Blame my overall slowness.
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All the way to the edge of this world

[Barbarossa Rugner]

I don't think that by any means they have given up on new characters, i just think with 108 characters in each game you can find similarities with many of the characters. I agree that certain stars of destiny seem to fit a similar mold but that also brings a sense of familiarity to the game.
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The Rune on my Sword, the Dragon King Sword, is protected against any form of magic, Even the rune of the Gate - Barbarossa Rugner

[Horned Loa]

Thing is, whatever they do people will complain. If they completely replace the old characters it won't be the same since suikoden was tied to one another. I can see many Fliktor fans complaining that the two of them didn't come back in III. The thing is if they don't change all the characters then they have people complaining that its the same game.

What they do is replace gradually and copy some of the traits the old characters had with the new ones. Keep in mind that all those games have over 108 characters on your side alone so there is a lot of room for comparison.

[kuwaizair]

they are character/personality types....you know, hey, they could make them differnt, like a female Victor...or does S4 have one?
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few runes short of a set of 27

[Wolf Stew]

Kika is sort of like a female Viktor, in some ways. Except she isn't as funny as Viktor.

Just be glad Konami didn't feel the urge to create new versions of Kenji and Jefferson.

[Meruhesae]

[Beecham]

I'm of two minds on this topic. On one hand, the games themselves never told -that- much about a character. The ones we know the most about either appeared in multiple games, or had backstories written, or both. Fliktor had how many stories in the compilation of short stories? One each, at the very least, and I think I remember more? And then there's that magazine of SARS', that seems to tell more information and backstory; their participation in putting down the Higheast Rebellion was mentioned there, I believe.

Yes, some characters get developed, but most don't. That's a hundred eight friggin characters we're talking here. While I'm playing, I've had moments of disappointment of large chunks of characters joining in a lump, but, then, when I really think of it, they aren't that many, and the same thing has happened in the other games.

There're also some charaters for whom it'd be a waste of time to give more information. I'm not sure about you, but I don't think I care about the shop keeper's or the lottery guy's life stories.

[Thief]

The Trinity Sight System greatly helped with mass character development. That by itself ensured that more than half of the Stars were involved directly with the plot, and it's exceptionally well done. Geddoe's team, the Six Clans, and the Zexen people. Not forget to mention, they even provided decent storyline to shopkeepers in Budehuc who, as you said, fans don't care much about.

THey shouldn't have gotten rid the TSS. At least, they could have improve it.

[Noot]

True, the Trinity system made it so about 50-60 of the characters up through Chapter 3 were important to the story and had some involvement directly with what was going on. Some people hated III because it wasn't II, but I thought it did a great job with the characters if nothing else. I felt I cared more for them than about 80% of the ones in IV. Hell, when I make up my party in III and I go through the lists, I see so many characters that I regret having to skip over for someone else. In IV, I've been using the same 5-6 characters the whole way through (leveling is such a chore in IV).

I don't know if Konami "gave up" on the characters, because there seems to be many interesting ones in IV--just not ones I care about. I think if they gave up on anything it was the Kooluk/Cray Trading Co. development (at least where I'm at in the game).
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~~Harmonian Tenhei Star~~

It's hard to bargle naudle zauss with all these marbles in my mouth.

[Beecham]

Levelling isn't a chore for me; less than fifteen minutes with any party can bring them from level 1 to level 40, with moderately sharp weapons and the money to fund sharpening the next groups' weapons. *shrugs* Seems to go quick enough, since there aren't that many people who need levelling where I am.

I agree though, thinking back now that you mention it, the Trinity system allowed the game to focus more and more on the characters early on. I don't quite agree with what you say about using the same chars in GS4 [though I did use the same three for a good ten to fifteen hours at the start of the game; I started changing parties around the time I named my group], since I now have quite a few people I like a lot. There's an unbloodybelievable number of magicians with 101+ magic stats for me to pick, a couple of whom came with second-level elemental Runes. And I've got any number of fairly good fighters to chose from [by sheer accident, two of those three I used forever are now my highest level characters, so if I need a strong warrior, it's them I'll pick... what happened was is that I happened to have them when I went to get the character with Crowley's Star... the monsters there are a high level, and they were pretty low, so they jumped like ten levels after one fight and overtook my Hero ^_^].

Ah well. I'm enjoying myself thus far. I'm looking forward to meeting Luc's Star; I know who it is, but I don't know where he is, nor do I wish to be told. I wanna find him on my own if I can. He's the one I want to see most.

[Adversary]

[jowy]

*edited for babbling, rambling (insert desired term here) text which added nothing to the discussion. suggestion to you, and by suggestion, i mean directive: use the following grammatical aids-paragraphs, punctuation and dear god, write like you have some ability!*
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i am the voice of reason let my hand guide your destiny, within me resides destiny
(beginning rune)
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c118/runeofbeginning/main.jpg

[Kikito]

I'm more interested in the whole Hikusaak-Harmonia story and hope they elaborate on it sometime. I'm one of those people that are inclined to thinking that they are saving this story for the final Suikoden, where I hope there will be a gathering of the 27 true runes and the final battle for their control takes place.