Suikoden V thread - Post your impressions, reviews and etc here!

Well, I think one reason it is easy for most of the way, anyway, is because of all the flexibility you have in your traveling companions. I mean, facing the area I was just in with Hero and Lyon and then the 2 chars you pick up would have been tough. But I had 2 other strong fighter types with me. So I guess they can't make it too hard because you might not have the best party with you. However, it probably could have used some sort of adaptive difficulty for the random encounters, anyway. It could change based on who you have (and how many chars) and what level they are. I'm still running into those ridiculously easy rabbit things when I'm cruising around with my 6 level 25-30 characters.

But overall, especially compared to the last game I played (Grandia III), this game is very easy when it comes to the regular battles anyway.
 
[quote name='Blind the Thief']Maybe it feels easy because the last RPG I played before this was DQVIII, and any random battle can kill you in that game...[/QUOTE]

Hehe, before Grandia III with it's difficult battles, I played DQ8 also (and Fire Emblem on GC). Definitely Suik V is easier than those two.
 
I thought Suikoden 5 was harder than Grandia 3. Grandia 3 was really easy. Granted Suikoden 5 wasn't that hard either. Only the last boss gave me any real trouble.
 
[quote name='Blind the Thief']No, that voice is mostly for the yells he makes when he's hit in battle, as far as I know.


And yeah, after that HUGE twist there's standard Suikoden plot (we need to help this town, how we gunna do it? etc.) for awhile...but just when I was thinking it would kinda settle itself, there was another big twist (I'm about 35 hours in).

So yes, the story stays good. :)[/QUOTE]

Hmmm... I'm about 45 hours in and still haven't seen another huge twist, though something seems to be brewing with one of the main characters. I've been busy recruiting though. I think I have nearly all the optional characters rounded up. I'm just about to head into that 3 party battle section.

Couple of questions - obviously for this 3 party battle it would be good to have a bunch of characters levelled up. But, in general, I've been sticking to the same 7 or 8 chars. Is there any good in taking more out to level them up? Will this make any difference later in the game, or is it just a waste of time?

Also, when I'm done with this I was thinking of playing III or IV. III has pretty good reviews but I think some of that was just because it came out early in the PS2's life cycle and it might not get so highly reviewed now. IV, on the other had, seems to be widely panned. Now, having played through much of V and having enjoyed it quite a bit, what is it, specifically, about IV that makes it worse? Is it really as bad as people say, or would some of these people not have liked V either?
 
Couple of questions - obviously for this 3 party battle it would be good to have a bunch of characters levelled up. But, in general, I've been sticking to the same 7 or 8 chars. Is there any good in taking more out to level them up? Will this make any difference later in the game, or is it just a waste of time?
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There's only one other time you need to split like that, and it's in the last dungeon of the game. The first time you only have to fight some easy bosses, so don't worry about levels. Just make sure you have 1 or 2 good people in each party, and you'll be fine.

Also, when I'm done with this I was thinking of playing III or IV. III has pretty good reviews but I think some of that was just because it came out early in the PS2's life cycle and it might not get so highly reviewed now. IV, on the other had, seems to be widely panned. Now, having played through much of V and having enjoyed it quite a bit, what is it, specifically, about IV that makes it worse? Is it really as bad as people say, or would some of these people not have liked V either?
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I adore V, and I despise IV. My hate for IV is as if a massive star made out of hate collapsed on itself, formed a black hole of hate and sucked up all the hate in the universe. The game is awful. Some of that is due to the fact that it's a Suikoden game, and held to a higher standing.

The problems? Party is reduced to 4 and certain runes were left out. All traveling is done on a boat that moves so slow that you'll have trouble staying awake inbetween towns/dungeons. Not to mention the boat controls like a dead whale. Just trying to navigate that thing into a port is a pain in the ass. The story blows. It jumps all over the place with no transitions, the main villian has no real motivation, and the characters are bland as all hell. They join your party for no apparent reason, most of the time, other than the fact that you talked to them.

The whole game is a mess. Luckily it takes place so far in the past, it doesn't really affect the other games. Do yourself a favor, and don't play this unless you can find it real cheap. Even then, you've been warned.

On the other hand, play Suikoden 3. While the gameplay wasn't too great (I didn't like that partner system), the story is still really good. Not as good as I, II, and V, but still good.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']
The whole game is a mess. Luckily it takes place so far in the past, it doesn't really affect the other games. Do yourself a favor, and don't play this unless you can find it real cheap. Even then, you've been warned.

On the other hand, play Suikoden 3. While the gameplay wasn't too great (I didn't like that partner system), the story is still really good. Not as good as I, II, and V, but still good.[/QUOTE]

Well, I got a sealed IV for about $6 (TRU clearance + Buy 2 Get 1 free) and a complete near mint III from GR ($19.99 used, but also bought during Buy 2 Get 1 free). I'll play III next then!
 
Well, it seems everyone has moved on from this game. I finally finished it last Friday - put in about 80 hours and there was a lot I didn't do (in terms of minigames, buying/selling commodities, etc). I did get the 108 stars and got the "good" ending - I didn't know I had a choice at the end. The FAQ's are pretty bad on this point - one just mentions one of the endings (and it ain't the one I got) like that is THE ending of the game. The other mentioned 2 endings and said you got to choose. Didn't seem like I got to choose, but that's OK. I'm also curious as to what the non-108 stars endings are - one article made it sound like there were numerous ones for that scenario as well.

In any case, I'm a bit Suikodened out, so I will probably hold off on III or IV for a while. I am going to play some non-RPG fare for a bit (e few DS games maybe), then probably start on Legendia. Though I probably ought to go back and finish PopoloCrois which I only got about 5 hours into.

Overall, Suikoden V was an excellent game - well worth the $30 preorder I dropped on it at Gamerush. So far I've liked all 5 of the RPG's I've played since last Fall about the same amount, but for different reasons. I'd probably still keep DQ VIII a bit ahead of the rest though. But since October or so I've completed Radiata Stories, Dragon Quest VIII, Fire Emblem Path of Radiance, Grandia III and Suikoden V. And I haven't even made a dent in the RPG's I've acquired thanks to CAG (still have Tales of Legendia, all 3 Shadow Hearts, FF X/X-2, Xeno I/II, Magna Carta, all the PS2 strat RPGs, Baten Kaitos, Skies of Arcadia, and many more)
 
I finished it awhile back myself, only took me about 50 hours though.

As for the endings, you can't choose. You either have all 108, or you don't. That determines the ending. Also the other endings people talk about are the premature ones.
Like when talking to Barrows, and he asks if you want to be king. If you say yes the game ends.
 
Actually no.. that isn't entirely correct.. there are two endings possible if you got all 108 stars..

One is considered THE ending.. but there is another one.

THE ending is:

Pick "Help Lym Rebuild" during the scene with Georg and Lyon and you'll see Prince become head of the Queen's Knights and Lyon become a full fledged Knight

the OTHER ending is:

Pick "Nothing in particular" during the scene with Georg and Lyon and both of them will leave with Georg

If you didn't get a choice in the above scenes, then it will default to the "Nothing in particular" answer, which gives the ending above

If you were mean to Lym during the game and didn't get the scene where:

Lym comes to Prince during the night at Lunas and asks if she can sleep with him that night.

Then I've read it defaults to the other ending.
 
Yep, I got the first ending. It's funny, because one of the FAQ's mentions the not nice to Lym ending as THE one and only ending - he must have been mean to her and didn't get the choice. I guess I had the choice but I picked the first option (it seemed like a small question at the time and I didn't realize it changed the ending!).

in the first ending:

If you say you want to rebuild you go back to the Sun Palace and become the commander of the Queen's Knights, and Lym says she is changing things and will marry who she wants to. It also is implied that you and Lyon are a couple - holding hands, etc

In the OTHER ending, from what I managed to gleam from another message board:

You go off with Georg and see your allies on ships waving at you as you leave

And the one ending I read about with non-108 stars (not counting the premature endings of course):

When the final battle is over and Lyon collapses Georg runs in and Lyon dies, but DOES NOT get revived by the Sun Rune. In the "where are they now" part it simply says Georg disappeared without a trace or something. Man, I'm glad I got the first ending after all that work!

I wish there was somewhere that posted videos of all the endings though. There's very little chance I'll ever play again just to see the different ones. Too many other games to get to!
 
I'm half way through on my New Game +. I missed one star on my first play through.

I've been using characters I didn't use at all in my first play through, like Gosech, Sornnsen, pretty much all of them. And I'm not using the uber strong characters like Richard and Belcoot too much. But it's become pretty expensive testing out everyone, gotta upgrade weapons, buy armor and all that jazz. But the carry over money and storage for the new game + helped alot.
 
I just finished it a few days ago and had a blast going through it. Got all 108 stars in a little over 51 hours (with the help of guides. I missed one Star of Destiny in both Suikoden I & II. Like hell I'm going to let that happen again! Especially considering that this quest is the length of those two combied!)

I do have two serious gripes with the series:
Lucretia was too smart! I never really felt like my side could lose a battle as she seemed to know EVERYTHING. Took away from the "underdog" feeling that I loved so much from Suikoden I & II. Also, the RT battle system was interesting but too easy. I loved Suikoden II's when some really unpredictable stuff could happen during those war battles.

On a minor point, Gizel wasn't bad ass enough for me to hate him. Luca Blight - now THAT was one psychotic mofo and a person I really wanted to take out.

Otherwise, it was a great game and definitely one of my favorite RPGs of this generation.

My Ratings:
II > V > I > III (Never finished III)
 
To those who've played through the game or are a ways into it:

Does the game pick up after the beginning? I'll preface the rest of this by saying the only previous Suikoden game I've played is 3 and I absolutely loved it. I loved the characters and the environments and so far it's been hard for me to want to keep playing through. Why is this game so terrible looking? Usually franchises get graphical upgrades in newer releases but the graphics in this game are absolutely abysmal, they look like a PS1 game. Usually I'm not a graphics whore, but between the boring story thus far and the poor graphics, I've been considering shelving this game to finish my 2nd playthrough of Nocturne (all I've been playing the last week or two) or start a new playthrough of Jade Empire or MGS3.
 
[quote name='jfunkdpg']To those who've played through the game or are a ways into it:

Does the game pick up after the beginning? I'll preface the rest of this by saying the only previous Suikoden game I've played is 3 and I absolutely loved it. I loved the characters and the environments and so far it's been hard for me to want to keep playing through. Why is this game so terrible looking? Usually franchises get graphical upgrades in newer releases but the graphics in this game are absolutely abysmal, they look like a PS1 game. Usually I'm not a graphics whore, but between the boring story thus far and the poor graphics, I've been considering shelving this game to finish my 2nd playthrough of Nocturne (all I've been playing the last week or two) or start a new playthrough of Jade Empire or MGS3.[/QUOTE]

How many hours into it are you? It gets magically better at around hour 9 or 10 - just read back a bit in this thread. I complained about the graphics a bit too at first, but you get used to them. They didn't seem bad at all towards the end of the game.
 
[quote name='jfunkdpg']To those who've played through the game or are a ways into it:

Does the game pick up after the beginning? I'll preface the rest of this by saying the only previous Suikoden game I've played is 3 and I absolutely loved it. I loved the characters and the environments and so far it's been hard for me to want to keep playing through. Why is this game so terrible looking? Usually franchises get graphical upgrades in newer releases but the graphics in this game are absolutely abysmal, they look like a PS1 game. Usually I'm not a graphics whore, but between the boring story thus far and the poor graphics, I've been considering shelving this game to finish my 2nd playthrough of Nocturne (all I've been playing the last week or two) or start a new playthrough of Jade Empire or MGS3.[/QUOTE]

yea the first 6-10 hours really suck. its just too bad cause many people will turn the game off before it really gets good.

i buy it when it falls to 20. NOt worth a rental cause there is no way to beat it
 
I found Suikoden III to be very boring until around hour 20.. but I was immediately interested in V.. different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Anyway, the consensus is that it "picks up" around hour 9-10.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']Same here. I never understood how people found the first few hours boring. It interested me the whole time. I guess I like my stories to have a nice setup.[/QUOTE]

Cause there was no fighting, all walking and talking. And if you were exploring everything the first couple towns were huge and the towns folk didn't really say anything all that intresting. Kinda tedious. I think they could've done something to make the start more exciting.

With that said, I have to say this has been the best RPG experience I've had in years. Anyone else started a New Game + yet?
 
Imo the battles in Suikoden games are the most boring parts :lol:

I enjoyed the back story and character building during the opening hours of the game.. afterall, if I'm going to form an attachment to these characters over the next 60 hours, I'd like to know about them and learn about what their typical lives entail.. then it is more fun to see how their lives change after the big events of the game.
 
Imo the battles in Suikoden games are the most boring parts
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Exactly. I play RPGs for the story. Good gameplay is like a ncie extra.

I plan to start a new game+ soon, but I want to finish other games first before I replay another.
 
Well, that was my opinion, I don't expect everyone to agree with it. And I enjoyed the battles. It's so simple I can play with one hand, while enjoying a beer, and trying out diffrent characters. Plus the duels are always fun and war battles take strategy.

If you liked the slow start good for you. But I really think most people agree the start was a bit slow.

But hey, we all love the game, for whatever reason, that's the important part.
 
now.. Grandia III for example... that is a rpg that I played for the battles.. story wasn't very good, but it sure was a lot of fun :)

anyway, I'm not trying to claim that anyone's opinion is wrong, I was just sharing my own in a little more detail.
 
[quote name='Robobandit']now.. Grandia III for example... that is a rpg that I played for the battles.. story wasn't very good, but it sure was a lot of fun :)

anyway, I'm not trying to claim that anyone's opinion is wrong, I was just sharing my own in a little more detail.[/QUOTE]

It's cool, I understand. Anyways I beat Grandia III also and "WOW" what a crap story.
 
Yeah, Grandia always did have a good battle system. Thank Rei huh? That story was horrible XD Also it was pretty to look at it, and Miranda was quite the MILF.

I just need to finish Atelier Iris 2, then I can replay Suikoden 5. Btw, is it just me or is Miakis great? Definitely my favorite character in the game.
 
Hmm... so I finished off Final Fantasy IX and I'm debating whether I should play Suikoden V next or Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne... any suggestions?
 
Suikoden 5 all the way. While I liked Nocturne, as I mentioned earlier I value story more so Suikoden 5 is more appealing to me. Nocturne has a very minimal story, and is pretty much all gameplay.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']Yeah, Grandia always did have a good battle system. Thank Rei huh? That story was horrible XD Also it was pretty to look at it, and Miranda was quite the MILF.

I just need to finish Atelier Iris 2, then I can replay Suikoden 5. Btw, is it just me or is Miakis great? Definitely my favorite character in the game.[/QUOTE]

I didn't get Grandia - Miranda looked like she was 16-20 years old, yet she was the mother? :D

As fur Suik V, Miakis is good, but I'm more into Bernadette and Nikea myself. Not that I make a habit of being into video game characters :lol:.
 
Finished Suikoden V last night in around 55 hours. The game is amazing and if it wasn't for the insane load times, I would've put this on par with II. I liked the villians and how Konami brought the gamesback to its roots. Konami also gave us a Jowy, Barbossa, and Luca equivilants in this game, which I think brought the series back to form, as the villians have always been this series (as long with most RPGs) strong point. If your a Suikoden fan and haven't played this yet (I know a lot of people were turned off by III & IV) your really missing out. The characterization of Georg Prime alone made it worth it.
 
It's good to see some intrest left in this game. Besides the load times and slow start this is one of the best Rpgs on the PS2.

And I know some people will complain that the "slow start" wasn't bad.
 
[quote name='Otherguy676'] Konami also gave us a Jowy, Barbossa, and Luca equivilants in this game, which I think brought the series back to form, as the villians have always been this series (as long with most RPGs) strong point.[/QUOTE]

Maybe I`m in the minority, but I didn`t hate Gazel that much. In fact, I thought he was extremely tame compared to Luca Blight (that guy was freakin nuts and I had a blast beating the hoo-ha out of him).

Otherwise, the game was great overall and ranks somewhat far behind II but a little better than I. The voice acting was surprisingly good!
 
I haven't read any of this thread or finished the game, but I'm about 30 hours in. I can say V is a total redemption from 4. The only reason it is not as good as 2 is because it doesn't have the 2d 'charm'.

II, V, I, III, IV
I don't know where tactics fits in because I haven't played it yet and I don't have any idea about Suikogaiden.
 
[quote name='Kayden']
I don't know where tactics fits in because I haven't played it yet and I don't have any idea about Suikogaiden.[/QUOTE]

I bought Tactics after I beat SV for the second time. But I really don't like it. Then again I really don't like strategy RPGs in the first place. But if you like those games, give it a shot.

I do have Suikogaiden Vol. 1 and it's a just text adventure game, plus it's all in Japanese. My wife could translate for me, but she doesn't want to sit and read the entire game for me. If you want to know the story you can always go to suikosource.com. They have screen shots and all that jazz.

Here's my Ranking of the series:

Best - V, I, II, III, IV, Tactics - Worst

I know I wierd, I didn't place II as my favorite.
 
[quote name='Rei no Otaku']Almost anyone is tame compared to Luca Blight. That guy was insane. Remember the "pig" scene?[/QUOTE]

How could anyone forget that insanity? Definitely a villian I loved to hate.
 
I'm really trying to like this game, but my interest is dwindling. I'm about 22 hours in, at the lake ruins,and I dunno, the minimal game play is just killing it for me.

I also don't like how all the optional characters seem so mysterious to get. I definitely won't be playing this one through again.
 
[quote name='io']Yep, I got the first ending. It's funny, because one of the FAQ's mentions the not nice to Lym ending as THE one and only ending - he must have been mean to her and didn't get the choice. I guess I had the choice but I picked the first option (it seemed like a small question at the time and I didn't realize it changed the ending!).

in the first ending:

If you say you want to rebuild you go back to the Sun Palace and become the commander of the Queen's Knights, and Lym says she is changing things and will marry who she wants to. It also is implied that you and Lyon are a couple - holding hands, etc

In the OTHER ending, from what I managed to gleam from another message board:

You go off with Georg and see your allies on ships waving at you as you leave

And the one ending I read about with non-108 stars (not counting the premature endings of course):

When the final battle is over and Lyon collapses Georg runs in and Lyon dies, but DOES NOT get revived by the Sun Rune. In the "where are they now" part it simply says Georg disappeared without a trace or something. Man, I'm glad I got the first ending after all that work!

I wish there was somewhere that posted videos of all the endings though. There's very little chance I'll ever play again just to see the different ones. Too many other games to get to![/QUOTE]

I beat the game a few days ago.
I got the 3rd ending and almost burst out in tears.
Suikoden V is now one of my favorite game. Easily one of the greatest RPG I have played (and I have played a lot of them).

SO...............
How many people here got 108 stars without reading a guide?!?!
I think I missed about 15 characters or so.
Time to replay it later this month but I need to buy the guide first (I know.. there is gamefaqs but I want the real thing).
I still need to play Suikoden IV and hunt down I + II eventually.
 
[quote name='wbc1228']I beat the game a few days ago.
I got the 3rd ending and almost burst out in tears.
Suikoden V is now one of my favorite game. Easily one of the greatest RPG I have played (and I have played a lot of them).

SO...............
How many people here got 108 stars without reading a guide?!?!
I think I missed about 15 characters or so.
Time to replay it later this month but I need to buy the guide first (I know.. there is gamefaqs but I want the real thing).
I still need to play Suikoden IV and hunt down I + II eventually.[/QUOTE]

Well, I did it with gamefaqs. I just printed the part about the hard to get characters and did the rest of the game (battles, etc) on my own. I have so many games to play there was no way I was going to play through again, so I wanted to make sure I got all 108 the first time. It was well worth it.
 
I got 105 without a guide. I cried because I was so close. I've been playing this series since the first one came out, and I have a 6th sense for those SoDs. Too bad it failed me for the last 3 >.>
 
There is no way I could get all 108 SoD without the Guide. Like many others, I would have liked to try it without a guide - but after missing 1-2 SoD in both Suikoden I & II, I refused to repeat the same mistake.
 
I'm way to lazy to get all SoDs without a guide.

They're time sensitive, move randomly, require stupid shit to get, etc.

You almost have to check ever single area after every event. Its not worth the time if you don't have a guide, which even then take a long damn time.
 
[quote name='daschrier']I'm really trying to like this game, but my interest is dwindling. I'm about 22 hours in, at the lake ruins,and I dunno, the minimal game play is just killing it for me.

I also don't like how all the optional characters seem so mysterious to get. I definitely won't be playing this one through again.[/quote]

I'm having the same problem. I'm about 30 hours in (Ranro Mountain) and I've quickly lost the motivation to pick it up again. While the story has been fantastic, the gameplay is just so...... meh. Not even the great storyline is enough to get me to plod through the boring gameplay. I'm trying really really hard to like the game, but so far I really havent :cry:
 
I'm at like 50 hours and just took Doraat.

The biggest thing that discourages me is that I found out too late that I had limited time to get Oboro. =( You need him to get about 6 other people.
 
Finally got around to this game... I'm at the part where
Godwin has some assassains enter Sol Falena castle
and I'm pretty underwhelmed at this point... does the game get better and turn into something truly amazing, or is it like this (or maybe just a little better) for the remainder of the game? The story's good and all, but the actual gameplay is just so unremarkable... and the complete lack of any challenge whatsoever is kind of stupid especially given all the customization options available...
 
[quote name='Chacrana']Finally got around to this game... I'm at the part where
Godwin has some assassains enter Sol Falena castle
and I'm pretty underwhelmed at this point... does the game get better and turn into something truly amazing, or is it like this (or maybe just a little better) for the remainder of the game? The story's good and all, but the actual gameplay is just so unremarkable... and the complete lack of any challenge whatsoever is kind of stupid especially given all the customization options available...[/QUOTE]

I haven't beat it, im actually at the last dungeon.

But it gets much better past the 10 hour barrier. I don't think you're past that yet, so a lot more to look forward too.
 
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