Goofy issues with Suikoden V

[LeSquide]

Let me begin by saying that I love Suikoden V. I thought it was a wonderful game after my first playthrough, and I'm eagerly awaiting playing through it a second time and getting a less depressing ending.

That being said, there are several minor quibbles I had with the game that would have made for a slightly more entertaining game, and some features I would have liked included that they did not.

First of all;

...Let me use freakin' Georg and Zweig in the final battle, durn it! Two of my favorite characters, unusable in the game's ultimate contest due to silly story fiat.

Speaking of Georg...no Georg duels!? One of the most impressive characters in any Suikoden game, both physically and for sheer badass points, and there's not a single duel one can use him in? I don't care if it's him beating the motherloving fuzz out of a giant Furball; the man deserves some more spotlight time! (Note that I am a huge fan of the duels, and would liked to have seen some optional ones, as well as more duels with alternate characters. Belcoot's was one of the niftier moments in the game, I thought.)

If you're going to imply character relations...give them a little more grounding. Lelei's words to Lucretia after the last 'night' scene would have been a bit more effective with a few other mentions throughout the game, or perhaps a love not left around. (I'm of two minds in this particular case, however; the subtly of Lelei's fanatical loyalty blending into implied romantic love was also pretty neat.)

I miss the funny alternate possibilities that used to crop up in combination attacks. Now, if they had them in five and I missed them, please point them out to me! But there was something charming about them in the previous game's. Nanami's break midst her unite with the Hero was a hilarious in-combat repraise of their relationship, Thomas's unite with Ceclie turning into a strange explosion, and his bewildered look at his own strength was precious, and even Lino En Culdes being shot in the rump by his own daughter was worth a laugh. The lack of a different ending to the Sindar Surge (perhaps rotating snotting comments?), Ax and Nick failing to commence a maneuver properly or even the beavers wandering off to build something was a missed opportunity.

The final dungeon had a criminal lack of save points.

I would complain about the eternally reviving Spirits that accompany the Sun Rune...but after the Fiends from SMT: 3 Nocturne, I really wasn't too outraged over that.

Let me skip through and/or pause cutscenes, by gum! No excuse for that in this day and age.

I'm not a big fan of time limited duels.
I'm a seething, frothing hater over realtime battles. I have serious beefs with these, but that'll be posted somewhere else. On a lighter note, though, let me compose my own mixes of forces! I would have liked more freedom with who I fielded for which battle, and where.

Oboro is a pretty crappy detective. I need useful advice for recruiting characters, damn it! (The no-FAQ first walkthrough bit me in the bum. -.-)

...I would've liked some advice for gardening, so Goesch didn't end up with a dirt farm.

By the end of the game, give me some easier way to get the rune pieces that I missed along the way!

I hate Doremei Elves.

Admittedly, that's a personal problem.

I really didn't like the changes they made to physical attack runes. I understand that unlimited better attacks might be overpowered without some sort of drawbacks...but one use per battle?! WITH drawbacks!?

And speaking of physical attack runes...those were some boring special attacks.

More on visual elements: I understand that they were going for a Suikoden I/II look...but let me zoom in more. And let me stay zoomed in for long character conversations, and give me a few interesting character mannerisms to look at. You had great character design...don't hide it with bizarrely far out camerawork!

GIVE ME BACK MY MINIMAP!

And, finally, the most picayune objection of them all...

The Prince had some nifty costumes. Is it really that hard to let me switch between them after I first get 'em?


I love this game, and the series, but oh! If only the world worked the way I wanted it to...

[jjrrs]

[Rune hunter]

[Masa]

Except that attack ALWAYS fails as far as I know.
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[Archy]

That attack might fail all the time, but it's completely funny. It's Sheer Awesomeness makes up for it.

Some points in the first post:

- Realtime Duels = GOOD. It just won't make sense if it isn't timed. You could wait there for ten minutes and not do anything. Take the Luca duel for example. Would somebody as bloodthirsty as that freak be standing around for such a long time? I don't think so.

- Georg duel? Good. But who will he duel? Miakis after accusing him? Dolph at Gordius? Prince, just for damn kicks?

- Cutscene-skipping? Agreed. Especially the beginning. And every other cutscene tha isn't sad or funny.

- Oboro was good. His war ability is great, he gives you the whereabouts for the unrecruited ones that you met. Try have him investigate Sagiri's whereabouts if she's not yet with you, it's tech.

The only issue I had with it was no cook-off.
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[Sophita]

Yes, but it never gets old. Hehe, Killey lost his hat! (The downside to SII having been made so long before SV, of course, is that we'll never get that unite attack between the quartet where things actually go right.)

[Rune hunter]

Actual i think what happens with the is RIGHT. Lorelai and killey both get a certain status effect although I dont know what status effect it is.

[VikiFanatic]

[Sophita]

It's an angry/unfriendly one. Neither will participate in co-op attacks again until it wears off.

Both of the unite attacks Lorelai and Killey are in wind up with them having it, which kind of suggests they might be a bit thin skinned to me. :p
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SCII month continues! DueFiumi.com

John Layfield wrote:

But bubbles... children love bubbles! XD

[LeSquide]

The reason that I called these things "quibbles" is that they're not serious issues, and are often just personal gripes. The fact that I think about them at all is because I really like the game. ^^

Regarding the minimap: I was referring to the in-dungeon/in-town minimaps that III and IV had. I always thought they were a nice touch, and was rather disappointed that they didn't have one in V.

And I did have Oboro try and find out Sagiri's wherabouts...and he told me nothing useful at all.

I'll have to check out the Georg/Killey/Lorelai/Viki attack on my next run-through; I didn't use Viki, so I never saw it.

[LeSquide]

[VikiFanatic]

[LeSquide]

[Acheron]