Best Suikoden on the PS2?

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Zache

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I am torn between Suikoden V and III, since both seem to appeal to my RPG needs. So I ask of you, my fellow CAGs, which do you believe is the best?
 
Suikoden V IMO. I tried several times to get past the first 5 hours of Suikoden III and failed - the pace was too slow, music irritating, and slow battle system.
 
hmm so do you have to play III to understand V or is it completely unrelated?

III got better scores in reviews overall than V IIRC, but if more people vouch for V i'll have to play it first
 
I just can't get back into III's battle system anymore, but still has a great story. Back in the day the battle system was fine though. V is awesome once you get past the beginning of the game.

No, you don't have to play V to understand III, especially since V takes place before I.

Edit: Suikoden V takes place 6 years before I.
 
From what I recall...

III takes place 15 years after II.
V takes place a few years before II.

Having not had the time to play more than a few hours into V I can't vouch that it won't ruin anything for III, but I would imagine if there was they may tend to be slight nods towards what's to come in the future rather than anything else. Then again, I could be totally wrong.

So I'm of no help. ;)
 
Suikoden V IMO. Best overall. Great story, great battle system. Only problem is that it takes a while to get going and the battle loading transitions suck. Best Suikoden since the 2nd IMO. The third is good, but the battles are kind of boring IMO. The 4th one has fun battles, but lacks polish and the story isn't that great.
 
Suikoden 5 has the best story and main characters of every PS2 RPG I've played so far. The only other game that comes close would be Shadow Hearts: Covenant.

Suikoden 3 starts out pretty good but became cliche and boring about halfway through. I still haven't finished it yet. I think it was all the endless backtracking which finally got me to quit.
 
Heres a question. I quit the series after 3. I loved 1 and 2 was one of my fav games ever. However I couldnt even make it very far into 3 because of its horrid battle system. Should I give IV/V a chance? DId thy improve much? I know they altered the battle system around....but they still just didnt look that great.
 
3 was the only one with that battle system. Unfortunately 4 was terrible, so don't bother. V was amazing though. Definitely check that one out.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']3 was the only one with that battle system. Unfortunately 4 was terrible, so don't bother. V was amazing though. Definitely check that one out.[/QUOTE]

Thats kinda what iv been thinking since iv heard similar all the time. I hate to skil over IV but again everyone says its not worth it....but V iv heard alot of people say to actually take a look at.
 
I liked three a lot over IV but haven't even had a "V" come to any of my stores yet (just checked Gamestop locator and surprise...one store has it but curious if it's complete). Anyway, three was differently unique and fresh. Still haven't played Suikoden Tactics either.
 
I would definitely recommend V, as it's my second favorite title behind II. III still ranks pretty well for me, but if I would have to choose between the two, I would most certainly pick V.
 
Arghh...again, both Tactics and V came to my area to find out that Tactics ends up being the soundtrack and V is not complete and muffed up. I think I've waited and been patient for too long to see if the game would drop in price or at least see it in retail (III and IV were so easy to find, so thought V would be the same). Probably need to buy these two new.
 
Suikoden V is the best IMO. I enjoyed III and thought IV was decent, though not as good as the others in the series. I'd rank V right up there with the PS1 games.
 
Damn you all, after all this hot & Sweaty Suikoden talk, I had to go to Gamestop and get Suikoden V (I just got back, and its mint/Complete) :)

I love Suikoden 1 and 2, Suikoden III had a very slow battle system

P.S I traded in FarCry: Predator 360 $5
Prey 360 $1 (WTF, that draoped quick)
 
for the ps2, hands down it has to be V, it brings back all those old school battle memories from 2, besides V imo had a better story than 3 and 4.
 
[quote name='mowmow']for the ps2, hands down it has to be V, it brings back all those old school battle memories from 2, besides V imo had a better story than 3 and 4.[/quote]

If you play 1, 2 and 3 in a row, Suikoden 3's story actually has a lot more poignancy than if you just play 3 on its own, because you won't know who the main villain is.
 
I just bought Suikoden V yesterday, and damn I hate GameStop. I called earlier to make sure the copy was complete, and he said yeah. So, I asked him to check the disc, and he said it only had one scratch.

The disc had about 15 scratches(didn't count) and was missing a manual. I bought it anyway.


Now, I'm about 7 hours in, and I ask, does the story start to pick up anytime soon? It's awfully boring just running around everywhere.
 
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[quote name='Zache']I just bought Suikoden V yesterday, and damn I hate GameStop. I called earlier to make sure the copy was complete, and he said yeah. So, I asked him to check the disc, and he said it only had one scratch.

The disc had about 15 scratches(didn't count) and was missing a manual. I bought it anyway.


Now, I'm about 7 hours in, does the story start to pick up anytime soon? It's awfully boring just running around everywhere.[/QUOTE]

About 3 more hours then it'll start to pick up.
 
[quote name='The Mana Knight']Suikoden V IMO. Best overall. Great story, great battle system. Only problem is that it takes a while to get going and the battle loading transitions suck. Best Suikoden since the 2nd IMO. The third is good, but the battles are kind of boring IMO. The 4th one has fun battles, but lacks polish and the story isn't that great.[/quote]

Heh, wouldn't have expected that considering your avatar. Haven't played V yet, but the criticisms of III are valid. It definitely is slow to get started, but I enjoyed seeing the story from multiple points of view - it did a great job of fleshing out the plot.
 
I really liked III, but I had a lot more time to dedicate to it when it came out. I actually didn't completely hate IV--it's definitely the worst of the series, though. Thankfully it's pretty short (about 30 hours, even getting all the Stars).

I only managed to put about an hour into V, but it's high up on my to-do list.
 
Once again I must kick myself for bypassing all those $28 copies of Suikoden II at the Circuit City near my house in San Diego ~2000-01.

"It'll drop more, I'm not paying $28 for a PSOne game!"

*sigh*
 
I remember back when my CC had a whole endcap full of Suiko II copies for $9.99, just sitting there for weeks and weeks. I picked one up for myself but I kind of wish I'd nabbed a few more.
 
I'm really enjoying Suikoden V. I believe I have about 10 more hours to go before I finish the game. Since this is my first play through, I'm not going to worry about getting all of the 108 stars of destiny.

How many endings are in Suiko V anyway?
 
Not having played the series since the fantastic II, I often hear comments similar to the ones here, especially in regards to the seemingly terrible IV. What is it that makes IV so bad? Is it bad compared to some of the more brilliant, earlier efforts? Or is it just a bad game in general? If so, why?
 
[quote name='DanteMayCry']Not having played the series since the fantastic II, I often hear comments similar to the ones here, especially in regards to the seemingly terrible IV. What is it that makes IV so bad? Is it bad compared to some of the more brilliant, earlier efforts? Or is it just a bad game in general? If so, why?[/quote]

IV was bad on so many levels. One of the biggest for me was the characters. To me Suikoden has always been character driven, having 108 unique people woven into the story. SIV just droped them into the game. In the end I could care less about any of them. The story was boring, combat allowed only 4 characters (as opposed to the usual 6) and the world map had you sailing everywhere, it took forever and it wasn't fun.

I think Suikoden V is the best in the series. SII comes close but I've always thought SV surpassed it in every way. Great story, characters and simple but fun gameplay. However it did take a while for the story to pick up.

I think most people pick SII due to nostalgia and the 2D charm factor.
 
[quote name='DanteMayCry']Not having played the series since the fantastic II, I often hear comments similar to the ones here, especially in regards to the seemingly terrible IV. What is it that makes IV so bad? Is it bad compared to some of the more brilliant, earlier efforts? Or is it just a bad game in general? If so, why?[/quote]

Partly it's the frustratingly high level of random battles while you're sailing - almost as bad as Skies of Arcadia, partly it's the fairly weak story.

They tried to do a rehash of Suiko II and it just didn't work.
 
[quote name='Nephlabobo']Partly it's the frustratingly high level of random battles while you're sailing - almost as bad as Skies of Arcadia, partly it's the fairly weak story.

They tried to do a rehash of Suiko II and it just didn't work.[/quote]

On the other hand, V is an homage to II (the story even features some minor II characters in major roles) and it works brilliantly.
 
[quote name='Agrippan']On the other hand, V is an homage to II (the story even features some minor II characters in major roles) and it works brilliantly.[/QUOTE]

I really need to get Suikoden V. I was waiting for more price drops but im wondering if we arnt going to see anymore and if anything the price is going to go up......

I had kinda given up on Suikoden after how meh III and IV were.
 
I think down the road Suikoden V will be a sought after RPG. It was for a few months then it got re-stocked with a price drop.

Just remember the first 15 hours is build up for the story. Not a lot of action, pretty much all story.
 
I started a game of Suikoden 3 last night, and it left me with all sorts of questions:

-Can you move the camera manually at all? Holy crap does the default camera suck.
-Why is the walking movement so clunky?
-Who on the localization team seriously thought Fubar was an appropriate name?

I've played every other Suikoden, but this just baffles me.
 
[quote name='Dead of Knight']I started a game of Suikoden 3 last night, and it left me with all sorts of questions:

-Can you move the camera manually at all? Holy crap does the default camera suck.
-Why is the walking movement so clunky?
-Who on the localization team seriously thought Fubar was an appropriate name?

I've played every other Suikoden, but this just baffles me.[/quote]

Yea, the interface is really annoying to work with; I chalk it up to it being the Suikoden team's first 3D game. I haven't played IV, but with V they return to an isometric perspective that is much more fitting for the series.

For what it's worth, the alternate to Fubar would have been Hoover - not really sure which is worse.
 
[quote name='Agrippan']Yea, the interface is really annoying to work with; I chalk it up to it being the Suikoden team's first 3D game. I haven't played IV, but with V they return to an isometric perspective that is much more fitting for the series.

For what it's worth, the alternate to Fubar would have been Hoover - not really sure which is worse.[/QUOTE]

I quit the game because of a mix of the slow walking and the slow crappy battle system. Between the two the game felt a chore to play.
 
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