Regarding Rune Spells

[Orion the Mage]

Regarding Rune Spells



In s3 the rune spells were very in depth, you could say, i feel that all of these spells lack what the last game exceled in. They made the graphics better in the entire game but left them out were i thought they would have improved.


Comments......

[Noot]

It doesn't bother me, because a) it speeds up the battle b) the high level spells are still powerful and c) it's a return to the first Suikoden where the rune animations were pretty simple (except for the combos and some of the higher level ones).

It doesn't take anything away from the game for me. Really, the strength of your team focuses more on the sharpness of your weapons. Which I like! Faster battles, faster level ups, etc. Besides, the best runes in the game (Fury + Double-strike) remain potent and that's all that matters to me. ;)
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~~Harmonian Tenhei Star~~

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

[kagematsuri]

I absolutely hated it at first, but then I realized that Konami is still obsessing over that "speedy battles" thing. This time around, it worked out extremely well (IMO) and the rune animations fit in with it. I actually really, really like the battle system in this game. It's extremely simple, but I still find it pretty to look at and fun. Besides, there are a couple more elaborate spells. Final Flame has a cool dragon swoop down and Silent Lake is pretty much the same as it was in 3. Overall, my only gripe is that the DEF/MDEF up and status effect bubbles look ridiculously out of place.

[Beecham]

I agree with your comments on the bubbles. One of them [unfriendly, I think it was?] was pretty humorous though.

What do you mean about "speedy battles" thing? What other games did they implement such a thing [and, going by your comments ultimately fail]? I don't have many Konami games, myself. I do agree though that it worked out rather well in this game. This would be a possible favorite, except that I miss the six person battles of GS1 and GS2. I like being able to put people into the back row; it only makes sense, to me. Why -wouldn't- you protect Warlock in battle, for example? Not only is he a magic-user, he's a frail old man! And you'd let him get battered around by any old monsters? His heart can't take that sort of excitement anymore ^_^

[Kobold]

On the under animated rune spells, although we're missing the fancyful animations from powerful spells, i actually like this change since it makes things more sensible. I mean, yeah, they're magic, but doesn't mean they have to be uber powerful and devastating in appearance. Like for example, i couldn't stand S2's battle with Lucia in Hero2's room because in there, you cast something like explosion, and you see all the fire and stuff all over your room, but of course, your bed, tables and other furnitures remain intact.

My point is, overly bombastic rune animations makes things sort of unrealistic game play wise. Like now, i no longer have to ponder about how come casting explosion in the woods doesn't result in a forest fire. Or not even explosion.. Heck, even flaming arrows can cause a forest fire. But the reduced animation, makes things more realistic.

Another point is that i'd rather not having any normal human being to have the power to blast structures freely simply by buying a rune and slapping it on your hand. So yeah... Something like that.

What i'm disappointed with the runes is the weakness of both true runes featured in the game. Sure, i'm not expecting some uber overpowered True rune, but IMO, they're quite under powered. Why i say that is comparing the true runes to second tier runes such as rage and thunder.

Look at punishment... It's an almost worthless rune when used against bosses. It could be useful with the first and second spell, and the third spell could be useful against large random encounters, but all in all, the usefullness dies out quickly. A thunder or rage rune would be so much more useful. And with the weakness of punishment in battle, it becomes so friggin uber powerful outside battle... Capable of destroying fleets of ships... Well, that is something rather annoying...

And then there's soul eater. Well, soul eater has always been uber powerful. And i don't quite mind them lowering it's powers a little. But the level 3 spell has becomed almost useless. Sucks HP from all enemies. Well, what's the point? Ted doen's need that much HP... And the damage it does isn't that impressive either. I'd have rather if it said sucks HP from all enemies and distributes among party members or something... I also don't like that fact that soul eater didn't have a single instant death spell. Come on, it's called SOUL EATER meaning it eats souls... Konami should have at least kept one of the single kill spells...
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Kobolds are great!

[GrosserFluss]

Yes, I was extremely disappointed by how weak the Rune of Punishment was. Soul Eater didn't bother me as much, but I would have rather had both of them be better than any of the rare runes like Rage and Thunder. Level 4 Punishment spell is just a little better than the Cyclone Rune level 4 spell, that's annoying.

[Suikomaniac]

Eh, I liked that about the Suikdden Series that the Magic was huge and Devastating. I really enjoyed alot of the Spells in the earlier suikodens (Even S1 had huge spells) But in S4. They all were the same thing. I mean FF5 had better looking spells. I should stop whoring the spells now. But I was dissapointed. And the Punishment Rune was too weak. But he did just get it. And Ted has 150 more years until Hell comes along.

[Orion the Mage]

i agree that the spells speed the game up, because in previous games even simple battles took forever. This lets you get on and get going. I was mainly dissapointed at the fact that there werent many dragons and especially the fact that they left out pale gate, and they changed the ligthning rune so that it only attacks one character bugged me a little. I am by no means saying i dont like them, but it is changed from 3. Not that in order for a game to be good, it has to follow its predisessor exactly.

[kagematsuri]

[Matheau]

[Beecham]