Suikoden

Developer - Konami
Publisher - Konami
Players - 1
Extras - Memory card

The bit on the box

"Treachery is eating like a maggot at the heart of the Scarlet Moon Empire. But is the Empire corrupt or the people just disloyal? Only you can find out. Take the role of an Imperial Guard in this epic tale of betrayal, greed and honour as he struggles to find the truth. Head teams of fighters and magicians in battles against weird monsters then lead an army into battle against awesome opponents."

Graphics

By todays standards the graphics in Suikoden don't look that crash hot, and although they are well detailed (and use better angles than Alundra), they are essentially 2D sprites in a scrolling static background, viewed in bird's eye view. The people in the game are done in cutesy japanese style, which is there for it's practical use more than cosmetic use, but can be off-putting for the older gameplayer. Suikoden also uses those annoying scrolling text boxes for conversation, but at least with a few clicks of a button they can be sped up if they have been read before (a lesson to be learnt there for the Clock Tower programmers, hissss). The world map screen is pretty simple to use, just walk to a location and touch it, and voila you're there. If you should fall into combat the view changes to a 3D isometric view, and while the graphics don't improve much here, the spell effects are really something special.

Sounds

Though the graphics in Suikoden are nothing to write home about, the sound in the game has to be it's weakest point. There is nothing too inspiring in the way of sound effects, and some even sound silly (the dragons sound exactly like elephants!!). The music is pretty good to start with, but I get the impression the designers ran out of ideas for the score later in the game, so much of it is re-used constantly which can get very monotonous at times. This being a conversion of a Japanese RPG though, there is still the usual "sad" guitar music used when someone important dies, which is used to great effect here to make the player actually feel the loss of a character.

Gameplay

Unlike Legacy of Kain and Alundra, Suikoden is more of a purests RPG. It is turn-based rather than action oriented, and what it sacrifices in graphical quality it more than makes up for in gameplay and storyline. There is the usual lists of stats for the characters and much inventory juggling and spell casting to be learnt, and the combat system is excellent. The one thing that sets this game aside from the rest is it's massive cast of characters involved in the story, over 100 in fact, and you have to literally build armies as you go. This can cost each character some development in their personality though, which of course can be a key point in RPGs. As far as script is concerned, Suikoden starts off badly but really redeems itself as you progress, with silly child-like remarks early on, to more mature actions later. Also, is it too much of a problem to have better save systems than using checkpoints all the time?

I feel a verdict coming on

Graphics and sound  aside, what is left is a great RPG adventure with an even better storyline. The fact that you even get to control large skirmishes in the war adds to the fun, and there is alot of gametime here for those players looking for something to last them more than a couple of days. The retro look to it will immediately turn some people off but those that make the effort to have a go should not be dissappointed, as long as they don't go into it expecting Final Fantasy 7. I myself got great enjoyment from Suikoden, though like so many other RPGs, once you have finished it it may be a long while before you ever play it again.

Review by D.R.T.Barrett