American version impressions thread

[poorguy171]

Galleon's flashback is officially the best scene out of any game I've ever played. On my second playthrough, I'm going to save right before that in a separate file so I can watch the scene whenever I want :D.

I was literally sobbing with tears rolling down my cheeks when I saw that scene.

Well, I'm getting ready to beat the game. I won't spoil anything, but let me say the story of this game has just blown me away. I'm really excited to get to the ending, but then again, I don't want this game to end either :(.
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[Himuro]

If there's one thing I don't like about Suikoden V's plot it's the villians. They are mediocre, one dimensional, and feel like some villian you'd see in other rpgs where the villians just seem kinda..there.

What makes Suikoden so great is that the villians are so totally non cliche. They have their goals, reasons, and motivations for doing what they do. In SV it's like...wow, (spoiler)let's take over the Queendom because we hate the way they run it, but let's do it in a less unappealing way than we should.(spoiler)

(Suikoden II spoiler)

Even Luca Blight, the most tyranical villian I've ever seen felt realistic because of his history. He wasn't really that much of a madman, he just hated people from Jowston. He was racist, in a way, and he'd get rid of Jowston "pigs" any way possible, even if that meant manipulating his own country to do it. But then you would too if you were a little kid, and saw Jowston bandits rape your mother repeatedly, causing the birth of your half sister. Since he had the power and glory of a prince, he could easily manipulate the Jowston people and fight his own war. Add to the fact his father was scum, and that led Luca even further down a path of turmoil and hate. You could emphathize with what Luca did, despite his "evil" intentions.

There is no good or evil in Suikoden, and in Suikoden V it's like the line has blurred. They aren't evil, per se, but their reasons and motivations for doing what they did feel so unrealistic to me. Kinda "let's take over the world" bullshit fluff nonsense...except it's not. But then, people have led revolts before so...I don't know.

So I guess, on that note, I'd say they're weaker than Barbarossa and Windy. Graham Cray not be included as they're definitely better villians than him and Troy from SIV. I won't fully judge the villians until I beat the game but I just wanted to make this note. In past Suikoden's it was more about the other army's side, their views, and fleshing out the villians and everything around you. In this one it's more about fleshing out your army, and the people that are effected from this war, rather than the plot to start the war in the first place.
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She knows stuff.

[Aile]

I somewhat agree with that, Himuro, at least insofar as some of the villains being a little boring and cliche this time around (Childerich, i'm looking at you!). And i do especially agree with your thoughts on -> Luca Blight <-, which is why i thought he was one of the best villains in any RPG i've had the pleasure of playing.

As far as the rest goes, i don't know. Personally, everything you seemed to dislike were things i loved about Suikoden V. Everything seems a lot more ambiguous this time around, people aren't really willing to join you right off the bat just because you're "on the side of justice" or "it's the right thing to do". Things are very political. It's not a matter of just "taking over the world" or "gathering runes/weapons of great power to subjugate everyone", and even their reason behind their revolt wasn't so much that they were "bad guys" (though, let's face it, the Godwin's aren't exactly great, and they have done pretty evil things).

You can even go so far as to say that, while they may have been powerhungry, the House of Godwin did the things they did out of a sincere love for their nation and a desire to put it on the path they thought was right, at any cost. Still, doesn't redeem them or make them any less "evil", but gives them a bit more detail, a bit more development, further blurs that line between being good and evil. They didn't start a war just to completely annhiliate the other faction (Luca engineering the Unicorn Brigade massacre so Highland was free to destroy Jowston). And it really, at it's heart, wasn't about runes (i personally thought they're desire for the Sun Rune was just to utilize it as a means to keep control, not being the ultimate goal of their conquest). Just a grim, brutal political story, it seemed to me. For those reasons, i just completely loved it.

I can agree that at times it seemed like the villains were just "there" so that you had something to fight against. A lot of times it even seemed like they didn't really care about anything that was going on, but in a point you brought up, i also think that it was because a lot of the focus this time was on your army and the people of the nation you were trying to save, as opposed to the enemy (another thing i quite enjoyed, despite the lack of development for the enemy).

Anyway, this probably made little sense and i likely screwed up a lot of facts or details, so i apologize in advance.
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"Our blades shall speak with eloquence what human words cannot."

[Hawk Thanatos]

Gizel Godwin's different for the fact that apart from helping his father his main motivation is just to mess with people and see what happens. Alenia was well done, well done enough that I hated her blind devotion and obedience to the Godwins. I think Zahhak was in it for the power but I can't remeber, I've got to read his Portrait of the Enemy again. Mascarl (sp?) is the only one who I thought needed a lot more development, for the most part he's just there going along with Gizel's plans, but I've still got to do the final dungeon so we'll see what happens.

[Himuro]

[poorguy171]

SPOILERS FOR SUIKODEN II, III, and V)


Personally, I thought they did the villains really well, and they're just as good as in the other Suikoden games (except for Luc and Luca Blight, those two are pretty much untoppable). Most of the generals and Queens Knights were helping Godwin out of honor, and many of them revealed their true reasons when they died.

But for a while, I didn't think Gizel or Marscal had a lot of reasons, and it seemed like they were undeveloped and cliche villains. And then I got to the end of the game. I haven't beaten it quite yet, so I can't say much about Marscal yet, but Gizel makes a lot more sense now. When you duel him for the last time, he talks about how all these people were just trying to help Falena, but in different ways, and for their own selfish reasons. Sialeeds, the Godwins, and Barows, even the Prince himself all just had different ideas of what was best for Falena. This made a lot of sense to me, and I appreciate Gizel at least, a lot more.
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[Blackjack]

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

I? hate this game. It is my least favorite in the series (the ranking, if anyone cares, is III > IV > I = II > V).

It is just incredibly not fun for me. The horrible loading times--16 seconds to get into a battle, 5-8 to get out of one, and a battle every ten steps? That's just plain unacceptable, Konami. (And it's made worse by the absurd cost of...everything, coupled with the low amount of money the enemies drop, thus causing you to have to fight even more if you want you party to be decently equipped).

None of the characters were interesting to me, except for five. That has never happened in a Suikoden. There are five characters, out of 108 that I care about in any way, shape, or form. If I were to play through the game again, I would be forced to use the exact same party. I also found that the character development was completely absent save slight mumblings for Sialeeds, since she at least surprised me (or would have, if I hadn't accidently been spoiled -- And if anyone here says Lyon was developed, I will laugh in your face)

As has been said, the villains have no motivation. It basically becomes a cliche "Save the World" game because, if Papa Godwin had his way he was fully intending to use the Sun Rune to take over the entire world. The thing that I have always liked about Suikoden is that it's not a "Save the World" game. It's always been a much more personal affair for the characters.

Also, this Tenkai and his Rune, by far, are my least favorite in the series. I think I used each Dawn Rune spell once, just to see what they looked like. It was just absolutely useless to me. Well, the fourth level spell wasn't too bad, actually. I never needed the third level spell, because the game was far too easy. Zerase with a Shield Rune and Lun with a Flowing were more than enough to take care of any healing I needed (Hell, I hardly even used Lun to heal, Zerase with a Shield Rune was more than enough, really).

Plot wise, I just felt the game was completely hollow. The world was so big and it had so much that could have been done with it, but nothing was. There was nothing about the people of Falena, about their customs or traditions, it was just "GODWIN SUX" "NO BAROWS SUX" "NO TEHY BOTH SUX" for the entire game.

Anyway, yeah. That's just what I think. Let the flames commence.

(Also the voice acting is mediocre)
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Can your science explain why it rains?

YES. YES IT CAN.


"Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming." -- Myrna Loy

[Sage]

I agree on the load times. Walking around the HQ was quite the chore sometimes. As soon as I found the champion orb, I always had that equipped. My characters were strong enough not to need to fight that many battles. I'm still not sure what the Godwins' overall plan was. Gizel kept plotting while daddy didn't do anything that I could see. But that brings up the question why? I don't quite buy the "make a strong Falena" reason. I also rarely used the dawn rune until the very end of the game when he got his level 4 spell. It was rather useless since lightning and water runes made up for what the dawn rune could do.

However, I never had trouble with money. I got lost and went star searching so often that I didn't need it. Plus, I was content with having only a few characters fully equipped. I also have not cared for more than a handful of characters in any Suikoden, so I can't sympathize with you on that. And there were several bits of info on Falenan culture, but they were always overshadowed by the anti-noble plot. Falena is a bunch of subcultures, just like Grassland and after playing both III and V, you know about as much collectively about of the cities in V as you do the various tribes in III. You can't expect an encyclopedia. Well, you can but you'll always be disappointed.

The battles, duels, and wars outclass those in the previous games as far as I'm concerned. Real time battles make it more fun and the game can be downright harsh if you're stupid. I would have preferred the III skill system, but V's is ok.
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[Sami]

I agree with a lot of what Blackjack said. Most notably, during my playthrough of the game, I've grown weary of the loading times and neverending battles. The locations in Suikoden V are huge, but they're also hugely empty, and the huge loading times make them very tedious to travel. This last week, I've had to struggle to keep playing... it all started going downhill after getting the HQ, usually the high point of the game, and while there were a few touching scenes, most notably the Galleon flashback, the latter half of the game as a whole has been quite unmotivating.

There is still a lot of good in the game. It is a shame that it is plagued by technical limitations and some poor design selections, but they don't ruin it. However, the feeling of Suikoden isn't really there, and for that reason, the game isn't as good as Suikoden, Suikoden II and Suikoden IV.

[Himuro]

[kuwaizair]

[red stuff]

I'm 18 hours in my second run, and I still say that this is my favorite in the series. Sure II has a better plot, but I don't really play games for the story anyhow. I care more about things like setting and characterization, and V blows the rest of the series away in those respects. The game's a little too easy, plus the main quest runs a little overlong, but those are my only real complaints.

[Parallax]

I find myself agreeing alot with the points raised by Blackjack and Himuro about the negative aspects of Suikoden V. By no means do I hate the game or think that it's worse than the other games in the series. I like it better than I like Suikoden I or Suikoden IV, but it's not really out-and-out better than Suikoden II or Suikoden III. I haven't actually finished the game yet, but my progress is stalled because I evidently forgot to save my game, and can't be bothered to run through another series of cutscenes and major army battles again yet on my limited time budget.

Suikoden V has some very strong points. I think the gameplay is excellent, in all aspects. The normal battle system brought back all of the previous games' strengths, and added the tactics, which I think are an excellent addition. They seem to fit quite well with the Suikoden game. The duel system is about what it always has been, and the addition of a timer doesn't really make much of a difference, it probably won't take you several seconds to interpret what your enemy has said, but I've always been very fond of the duels, so that works for me. The major battle system is easily the best one in any of the games so far, in my opinion, vastly superior (in particular) to the Suikoden III point-by-point system.

I think it was a good choice to return to the classic overworld map. It's still a pretty big nation, but not nearly as absurd as floating around on the Lino En Kuldes for hours fighting jellyfish men like in Suikoden IV. Other people have complained about the encouter rate, but I personally didn't find it to be all that bad. (But then, I also don't mind the load times...they're a bit lengthy, but the PlayStation 2 is a very old piece of machinery at this point, and I'm quite forgiving).

I take an issue with some of the voice acting, and some of the music, and the sound effects. Much of the voice acting is pretty good, with a few examples that stand out (like Georg, who's voice I thought was about perfect for him). Much of the rest of it is much better than Suikoden Tactics, and about on par with Suikoden IV. That is to say, it's decent, not great by any means.

Mostly I take issue with the villains. I don't think it's necessarily as terrible that Godwin wanted to use the Sun Rune to take over the world as others have stated. Yes, it makes the game a bit more 'save the world' than previous installments of Suikoden, but at the same time, you're not really trying to save the world at all. You're trying to reclaim the throne of your own nation. I have seen very little so far in Suikoden V that leads me to believe that the people would care much if Godwin conquered Armes, for example. The unacceptable part is that it's Godwin doing it, and not Lymsleia. That having been said, I still think the Godwins and their allies are...sort of boring. They don't really seem to ever do anything. Relative to previous Suikoden games (well, they're unquestionably better than the completely undeveloped villains in Suikoden IV, to me) it feels like they spend a lot of time sitting around...and...once and a while, sending soldiers to die fighting you. I feel like most of the game is running around fighting monsters and recruiting SoDs, and though the main quest is long, not much seems to actually happen during its course.

I still think the game is rather good, though.
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He's a victim - not a perp - and I'm choosing to let him go.

[Sophita]

I wonder if the load times depend on the age of your console at all? I bought a brand new one one since mine decided to die right before Suikoden V came out, and I haven't had any problems whatsoever with load times - I would estimate between 4-6 seconds at most. the only one that annoyed was getting a menu up, where there was an odd 1-2 second delay.

Although admittedly, I'm not the most observant person, I'd be surprised if I didn't notice a 15+ second delay.
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