Suikoden--another Final Fantasy?

[Hawk Thanatos]

In my opinion Suikoden should go on as long as it stays good. Once the story part of Suikoden is no longer any good that's when the series should stop, as their will be nothing left to say about the Suiko world. What's the point in ending it soon if there's more to tell?

Revealing all 27 true runes won't be enough, they'll need to develop those runes, I don't want at the end of the series to go "well we know rune X existed, but what did it do?" and the same can be said for the many conflicts that have been created - Killey and Lorelai, Yuber and Pesmerga and there's some others but I can't think of them right now. You could also say that the true runes aren't what's important but the conflict which creates the need for those runes to surface.

But I wouldn't compare Final Fantasy to Suikoden, not until Suikoden can stand on an even footing with Final Fantasy and apease (is that a word?) all those graphic whores out there, then there is truly a chance of Suikoden being corrupted by the demand for Suikoden to become more focused on eye candy then it's gripping story. But that's a worst case scenario.

[RavenJonny]

Personaly i think Suikoden is an amazing piece of work i loved the 2d Graphics of SuikI,II and the 3d Graphcis of later titles. I love the stories being told in each title.And the way the Characters are ever evolving in their era. I'd rather not think of the end but think of the present. Props for such unique gameplay and keep them coming.

[Elzamine]

I'm going with what the author said about the comparison between the two games to be based solely on running time.. well, to do such, FF would have to be done, which it isn't.. So yes, Suikoden will be like FF in the way that they are going to continue making games, at least for now. However that's the start and end of the similarities in that respect really.

Like it's been mentioned, the main difference between the suikoden series and most over rpg series.. is that Suikoden continues a story that ties in directly to the others -plot, characters, basic battle. Where as FF just keeps the basic battle concepts and then changes the world and characters completely. FF is more a collection than it is a series.

As for where suikoden will end.. I can agree with most opinions people have given.. after all the 27 runes are revealed it could easily be completed. if it were to go that way though it'd be nice to have a final game of a collection of past characters, obviously those within the certain time limit and then those with true runs gathered to fight in one high end battle. I always assumed there's be a united collection of the hero's and stars against Harmonia and Hikusaak since the nation is always this intellectual and military based powerhouse. I find the nation is almost always considered a major threat, and apart from the harmonians you do get as stars of destiny, the nation always seems like the end series 'bad guy' for some reason. Some possibility there anyhow.

At the same time, while the 27 runes do need to be covered, the ongoing plots that span between games need to be concluded as well. That said however, it leaves a lot open. While the true wind, beast rune and sovereign rune have all been revealed to us, their current whereabouts are unknown.. those could easily be redone in another. Not that it would be a good or bad possibility, it could easily go either way, but it is a possibility none the less. In the end, it really comes down to if they can keep producing games that have the quality the past games did.

The only Suikoden that has felt remotely like FF to me.. was suikoden 4.. While I still felt it had some really good qualities.. there was just so much they could have done with it. Plus the 4 person team really rubbed me the wrong way, definitely a ff thing, which I did not like. Suikoden 4 was a step back, getting rid of some of the advanced systems from previous games, like the skill system from 3.. when the series should be gathering what worked in previous games, and putting those into the current. That's all I have for that comparison however.
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[amadeusx]

i hope suikoden won't turn out to be final fantasy. and i can't believe i said that to be honest i was a ff fan until i playing suikoden 3. i even bought ffx-2 which was a very big mistake. the reason why i say i hope it won't turn out like ff is because one it seems as if square-enix went with better graphics and lesser gameplay and 2 is because suikoden is great as it is. ff 5, 6, 7 was great ( i think it was 5 =/ ), but after 7 it just went downhill slowly. ff 8 and 9 was ok, and i liked the sphere thing from 10 but thats it. my rating for the ff games went down when graphics started getting better and better. suikoden graphics are just fine and dandy for me i like great graphics as much as the next guy but to make the game less fun for better looking it just isn't right. it might just be the computer user in me since i stopped playing console games and played comp games for a few years when i lost my ps1. suikoden 4 was like that, it was a good game to me but not great. just like the few latest ff games such as ffx-2; good graphics, bad everything else, it got so boring i just went look up the ending for it to see whats going to happen. i know i've been bad. as for

as for making new games. everything good has to end sometimes. much like ff games if you lengthen the series/game out just to make more money people aren't going to like it as much as they like its predecessors i havent playing s1 or s2 but i played ff7 and i know a lot of people who would rather play ff7. why does people still talk about s1 and s2 ? because they were great or so i hear. for me ff games are going down hill and i hope ff xii is going to be better then its predecessors. and i hope s5 will be as good as s3(s3 was a great game to me alright !). my point is if suikoden is stretched out game after
game after game its going to turn out like ffx-2 and no one wants that i don't think
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[Ryusei]

I'd rather not turn Suikoden into a never ending series.

Suikoden, with its (currently) five installments is a very great series and is bound to end its story. Final Fantasy, on the other hand is currently still alive with its many installments and might never end at all.

But let's take a look on the quality of the games in each series. In Suikoden's 5 games, all games are great games (with the possible exeption of Suikoden IV). There is this thing that Suikoden has that keeps us from being bored even though the same concept is applied in each game. Final Fantasy, on the other hand, was just like Suikoden in its early days. The games were very great, even heralded as the best RPG ever made. But look at Final Fantasy now. In each of the series' recent installments, Final Fantasy's quality has clearly deteriorated. The game eventually turned into a crappy series which is still known just because it is heralded as the "best RPG in existence" and by its fans.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not bashing Final Fantasy. To tell the truth, I was a Final Fantasy fan until Final Fantasy X was released. That's when I realized Final Fantasy was just being milked by Square. It's fanbase and history was the source of its existence. If not for the fans and if its name wasn't Final Fantasy, is would just be an overdragged series with no direction.

I don't want to turn Suikoden this way. Suikoden is a young series (speaking in terms of number of installments) with a great potential of giving a great gaming experience. But if the game would be dragged far too long, Konami would eventually run out of ideas to create a good Suikoden game.

Everything in this world has to end someday. Suikoden and even Final Fantasy will also come to an end someday. The difference is on how each series ends. I just don't want Suikoden to end with a crappy game. I would want it to end with a bang.

[Sailor Sexy]

I agree. Suikoden, hopefully, will end after the story has been told and it won't continue on just because it makes money. I know from a business perspective that it's in a company's best interests to milk something for all it's worth, and there's no reason to think Konami wouldn't, but I'd hope this is not the case. Suikoden has a definite direction, so it's possible to end it on a high note. With Final Fantasy, I think we can all agree that the only way it's going to end is when the fans finally get fed up with it and stop buying it, so it can only go out on a sour note.

Suikoden, while having a very dedicated fanbase, does not have as large a fanbase to prop it up if they rattle off several bad games in a row, so the quality must remain at a good level for it to continue on.
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~Uguu!~

[Yvl]

I actually have release information on one of the later games: Suikoden XXIV: The Rune of Repitition...

But really, Konami isn't that stupid to let a singe story drag out longer than it needs to. What they'll do, however, is when the series is finished, they'll release a new series "from the makers of Suioden."
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[Zelphiel]

I don't think the series has to end when all the runes are revealed. Even after that happens there will be lots and lots of backstory for them to make games about. It could keep going for a very long time.
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[Yvl]

[Ryusei]

Yeah, if Konami would ever try to milk the Suikoden series, I'm out as well. Zelphiel, what you're saying is what I don't want the Suikoden series to turn out to. Sure, I'm fine with Konami releasing a Suikogaiden or a Suikoden Tactics or some other way to close the Suikoden series out for good. But if they ever try to do something to try to ressurect the series after it has officialy ended, I won't agree with it. It's basically the same as milking the series. I don't want this to happen. Yvl is not the only person who knows what a filler is when he sees it. I know what a filler is as well.

[granpaturtle]

The 27 True Runes are only apart of a single story line. I see the whole series so far moving towards a single, potentially cataclysmic (sp?) end, but that doesn't mean the last suikoden game will have been made.
I've always thought the most important things that make up a Suikoden game are the 108 stars of destiny, since that was the big thing in the old Chinese myth. You could make an entire Suikoden game that didn't have a single rune in it, but had 108 stars, a place to keep em and a solid storyline no doubt rife with political intrique.

As far as being like Final Fantasy, I find both series to be remarkably different for pretty much all the reasons stated above. Plus, no stupid card game that doesn't make any sense (see FF9)

[Aurelien]

[Ryusei]

What I meant with "after it has officially ened" is when Konami gives Suikoden a proper ending and then after a few years, make another Suikoden-based game. I wouldn't like to see a, let's say, "Suikoden the 1st person shooter" or a "Suikoden III: Dirge of the Beast Rune." If the entire Suikoden world has already been revealed and the tale of the true runes has already been told, I believe it's nigh time to end the series. I don't want this series to be milked. Once it's over, I don't want to see any more fillers, regardless of it still being a Suikoden game.

[Aurelien]

I personally don't see the end with Suikoden series simply because there are always more questions than answers when a new game is introduced. So even if say Suikoden XXV is the one to reveal the last True Rune, I'm sure that there would still be questions that showed up from that very own game. While I understand that the True Runes had been revealed, I don't think that it's necessary the end of the series.

I'm not saying to milk it and make ridiculous spin-offs, but I don't think there's any problem if they continue with the RPG as long as it maintains good quality. But then again, that's just me.
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~City-States of Jowston and Tinto Republic~
06.06.2004 - 20.01.2008

[Sophita]

Eh, I think there's an important difference between the two: history.

Each of Suikoden's new installments builts on what was there before; even the ones that travel backwards in time still have connections with those taking place later in the timeframe either through use of long-lived members (Ted) or ancestors (Ema & Gary).

Final Fantasy, on the other hand, effectively "reboots" every game. There's no history to any given world beyond what's in it's game - FFVII does not at all tie in with FFVIII, for example.

As far as the series having a definate ending - perhaps I'm a pessimist, but I think it will end when it stops making money/prestige/etc for Konami, whether that's after the 27 true runes have been revealed or not. I also don't think a Suikoden game necessarily needs to have 27 true runes to continue on in some fashion; side games like the gaidens and Rhapsodia/Tactics show Konami is wiling to experiment with usin side games to tell stories.
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