Major Spoilers for the Suikoden games ahead
Do you know how gamers from the original PlayStation generation constantly talk about the first two Suikoden games? How these games supposedly some of the best JRPGs ever made? To the point that these gamers are begging JRPG fans to pick up the upcoming remastered collection with the convoluted title?
They’re right, so shut up and buy them already.
One common complaint about JRPGs is how many of them tend to follow the boilerplate shonen anime trope. No matter how some of these games start, they usually end with the lead character defeating God with the power of friendship and free will. Granted, this doesn’t diminish games like Persona 5 or Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth for using these tropes, but those complaints are valid.
Both Suikoden games don’t do that at all. Sure, mystical runes give the leads all kinds of power, but they don’t diminish the overall theme here: war is hell. While the Call of Duty games try to tell you how “cool” war is, these Konami RPGs are more than willing to tackle these subjects seriously.
The second game, in particular, is aware of how heavy and traumatic war is. At one point, players rescue a child after her village burned down, getting traumatized after watching her parents die. She doesn’t get over this quickly, as the character becomes mute and takes a while to become a bubbly kid again.
Even the first Suikoden title has a ton of stakes, with characters who seemed too important to die, well, dying. Fans still miss Odessa Silverburg, who was in love with fan-favorite character Flik, as she was young and had a whole life ahead of her. Flik and Viktor were more serious in this game, so having one of them lose someone important hit hard.
For players who don’t want to be spoiled anymore, let’s talk about one of the addictive qualities of these two games: recruiting 108 characters to your side. That’s right, as the narrative of these games goes on, players will encounter many characters they can recruit to their side. While spotting these characters is easy, they usually have a portrait in their text box, so recruiting them can be pretty difficult.
Still, finding out the conditions to get these characters is fun, as it usually means a side quest or someone on your side. While not all of these characters will be in your party, they still have important roles, and players should try to recruit them all. The best ending for both games depends on them.
Let's talk about combat while discussing the parties in these Suikoden games. Fans were shocked to see these two games allow six party members, as most JRPGs would limit that number to three or four. Six party members are great for experimentation, especially since certain combinations can lead to team-up attacks.
Yes, these classic Suikoden games have team-up attacks. How’s that for something special?
If we want more of these games to get re-released, fans should do themselves a favor and buy the Suikoden HD collection coming out this week. Considering how Activision is releasing the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 collection, we could get the PS2 games soon. We’d love it if they included Suikoden Tactics and Suikoden Tierkreis from the DS.