Where are the people who's been paying top dollars for Suikoden games?

[jjrrs]

I started following suikoden later than many who got in on it from the very start back in 96/7. Around late 01, I got a vga setup so I can play consol video games in my room without making it obvious, after that I finally got some freedom to do play games while not having to get the approval of my parents; also at that time was when I started to buy games for it's content rather than cost, which lead me to find the suikoden games as I bought the only 2 releases at the time.

After buying the first 2 games I also picked up III on release in fall of 02 and a short time later realized the prices of all of them had gone up dramatically (for those that don't remember III was very short printed at first and was selling for $60-100 online until mid-03). Ever since then, everyone knows that suikoden's been selling for around $30-50 online, while II have been selling for $70-100 for almost 5 years now.

As far as I can tell, there is always a supply on ebay or where ever else to get games of the series at the marked up "market" price, maybe due largely to the fact everyone knows it's worth money so it will be the first thing anyone in need of money is looking to sell. I think it would be a solid estimation that about a dozen to 20 copies of II get sold on ebay alone every week (at any given time, there will be 6-10 live auctions for II lasting for 3-5 days, so I think 12-20 per week is pretty close) for close to 5 years at around $85 each.

I been thinking, lets just say 20 copies of II changes hands every week one way or another in north America alone, that's about 1,000 people a year paying that kind of money to get it. Not to label suikoden fans that's around here or on any other fan sites in a certain way, but it seems very few are willing to pay $80 for the game and not too many did, either by getting it back when it wasn't expensive or some just won't do it. If I had to guess, I'd think only about 25-35% of the people buying the game at it's present price really cares about it, so if the real fans are not a large part of the 1k people each year buying it, who is?

Personally, I won't over pay for any game unless I know I would enjoy it, so I maybe under estimating the number of people that just hears about a game and would pay close to $100 for it, but I still think that number can't be too high. Also if I did pay that kind of money for a game, I'm damn sure playing it and is either trying to find others to talk about it or would be really interested in learning about it; especially with the suikoden series and all it's connections, so I think there'd be more obvious activities of new members joining fan sites like this or more people asking about it... are there? Now I see every auction for V is easily selling at $30+ just for a complete copy and $40+ for a sealed one after only a year's time, while people are paying $25+ for sealed copies of IV, I keep asking myself: are there lots of suikoden fans that keeps to themselves? Where are these people at?
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[SolemnSound]

I have been into suikoden ever since the release of the original one. Although , I got to give props to my dad for finding and buying the game introducing me to it. Ever since I have bought every single suikoden game on the day of its release and have enjoyed every single one of them multiple times =)

I always paid retail price, but I woud gladly pay an overpriced amount via the internet to get my hands on a copy if I didnt have one. Although, some of the prices for these games are getting insane.

A couple of months ago I saw a copy of Suikoden II go for $366 US dollars on Ebay. I kind of wish I would have bought multiple copies of Suikoden II so I could make some massive profit on ebay.
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[jjrrs]

[AA]

I was first introduced to the series with the first game, but i rented it i didn't own it. A couple of years later i bumped into Suikoden two and bought it for £22, since then i have bought the other games on release.

Now as for my copy of Suikoden 1... I bought it on Ebay for about £80, i always wanted it and the game still works, i work hard for my money so i didn't mind spending it on something that i really enjoy.

Are the internet prices getting stupid? Well not really if people are still able and willing to pay them then it is all good.

[Eden]

The most I paid for a Suikoden game on the internet was 50 Euro... That isn't really much, but when I keep in mind how old the game is I bought... Suikoden I :mrgreen:
Well, I bought Suikoden II for ten Euro at the local shop and it was the first of the series and made me love it. Well, Suikoden III took 50 Euro as well from my wallet and the rest was bought new in a shop for... well, 50 euro as well. Okay, Suikoden V only costs 30 Euro... man, that was so great...
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The Fool

[ViktorFan]

I don't remember the price of Suikoden I, it's too long ago. I paid 50 Euro for Suikoden IV, 25 Euro for Suikoden V but 75 Euro for Suikoden II. I bought it 2005 and it was hard to get. But I wanted to have it so I paid the price. I bought it at amazon.de and there were other sellers who wanted to have 120 or 150 Euro for the game, so I think 75 Euro was okay. And it was worth it.

[Eden]

[Scott]

I was lucky enough to receive Suikoden 1 as a Gift.

I got Suikoden II like..the very day it was released, but eventually it "disappeared" at my best friend's house, But whatever. He kinda turned into a Douc--Jerk shortly after that, so Yeah. Thanks Mike. :x Anyway, I eventually found a copy at a Local Gamestop for $60, and bought it.

With Suikoden III...well, I had no idea it had been released, and I have yet to buy/Beat it. Instead I just borrow it from Phamex for a few months at a time. I just can't seem to get the motivation up. It sucks extra hard because from what I've seen (Chris 1-3, Hugo 1-2, Geddoe 1) it seems pretty enjoyable.

Suikoden IV + Tactics? Heh...I never did bother with either of these.

Suikoden V I bought on the first day it was available.

But yeah..it always seems like there are lots of copies available on Ebay. Least I ever saw was 3 Auctions I think. But it averages a lot more than that. It does seems pretty terrible that it still retails for such an exorbitant Price on there.

EDIT:

[Ujitsuna]

I remember I actually sold Suikoden II to a friend, and I wanted it back quite badly, and I don't think he wanted to sell it back again, that or I couldn't get ahold of him for a few weeks. I think I sold it to be able to pay for something else - because I was a bit desperate for money at the time. So when I wanted to play it again, I was forced to go to eBay, I'm not sure how much I paid for it, but it was more than for what I sold it for, so I ended up paying quite a lot more for a game I already had.

That was a long time ago, and I don't regret having all the Suikoden installments in my collection at all.

[Goldy]

Suikoden I $45
Suikoden II $70
Suikoden III $49
Suikoden IV $49
Suikoden V $49
Suikoden Tactics $49
Suikogaiden Volume 1 and 2 $30

Money well spent! Considering the Euro is stronger than the dollar it worked out even cheaper for me!

[jjrrs]

[Ikano]

[Vertius]

I got most of my Suikoden games either cheaply, as I did for Suikoden II the year it came out, or at retail price. However, I had to rely on the internet to get a copy of Suikoden I. I paid over €60 for it, and was happy to.

So, mostly, I paid what any normal gamer would for the games. If people are willing to pay more for it, that's really up to them. Thankfully, though, I was lucky enough to get them rather early.
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[Lyon Falenas]

I tend to get the games early simply because the game typically only gets a single print and becomes rare very quickly. Suikoden V for instance is already out of print and at most places the used price is pretty much stagnant. The only game that has significantly dropped in value is 4 as 1 and 3 have both kept their value reasonably well. If Suikoden ever were to end up really popular I would hate to see what the price on the older games will jump to.

However I have had to replace some of my games after moving and all that over the years. 1 is not too bad, but I draw the line on paying the ridiculous prices that Suikoden II goes for on e-bay. It's too much when the Japanese version is cheaper than the US version. Pretty much it is possibe to get Japanese versions of Suikoden II, and both Gaidens for the going rate of the game on ebay sometimes (I've seen it peak well over 100 bucks and the Japanese games average about 40 bucks). Just have to be willing to mod your PS2.

[Dew Dust]

I started the Suikoden series with Suikoden III and so I payed the normal price for that one which I think was about $50 or so. But I then fell in love with the series and a lot of people suggested to me to get Suikoden II. It was hard to find that game and so I had to get it off the net. Unfortunately, it was very expensive to do so. I payed $125 for the game-- the most expensive game out of all of my video/computer games. Will I do that again? Most likely not and so I plan to hopefully borrow someone's Suikoden I game that I still haven't tried yet and I do look forward to seeing it. I agree with Lyon Falenas in that the next coming up Suikoden games I am definitely going to buy to avoid this happening again so I am happy that I bought my Suikoden V game as soon as it came out. In fact, when it came out, some stores around me didn't have that many copies of it or even heard of it which was disappointing.
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