Hey Everyone

After a bit of a nightmare I managed to get hold of suikoden 1 and 2 which I am playing now, and i'm going to get 3 and 5, but with all the negativity that surrounds the 4th i'm a little undecided, I know there is some relaton to Ted but is there anything else worth noting about the 4th? Does it have any other relevance to the series?

Thanks in advance.

It introduces a new nations that plays an essential role in the fifth installment of the series. The Island Nations. If you want background information on it, its construction is told in the fourth game. Other than that not much, the battle system is pretty much the same as the first and second. Except it consists of four characters, and the war battles are fought by ship to ship battles.

Are the Island nations really in Suikoden V? Which one of them?

And great find on Suikoden 1 and 2. Suikoden 2 is one of my favorite games of all time. You have a lot of good gaming ahead of you.
Suikoden 4 isn't a must play, I can say that much. The part with Ted was the best part of the game, and while it's not a horrible game really, it seems to lack in almost every field except for the battles. There's hardly any character development. You'll finish the game with the main Hero still being a stranger to you. Short short short story that ends just when it feels like its getting started. There's like 3 dungeons in the entire game, including the last one. No joke. Hardly any houses you can enter in the towns, and pretty much none of the cities were interesting. The one you start out in was about as good as it gets. You're not missing out on a relevant story, nor an interesting one at that. I have no idea how they managed to get so many things wrong, but they really did.
I have many complaints about the game, but I'll say that as a Suikoden fan it was worth playing through. I did actually enjoy playing through it, because the battle system was fun, and while it had a pretty weak cast of characters there were some that were interesting, and I still wanted to see how the story would end. It's still Suikoden, and it still feels like Suikoden, even though it's the least memorable one in the series.

By the time you play the third game you'll know whether you want to play Suikoden 4 or not. If you're a Suikoden fan then you'll really want to experience the story for yourself.

Well I don't wanna spoil it, but they essentially lend you some sort of support during the game. Other than that, not much. Which is unlike the second game where you can go into Gregminster.

Hmm well at least Suikoden IV gets some purpose that way. I like that. But are there any recognisable characters from Suikoden IV involved in that part? I'd guess not since several hundreds of years have passed?

No not really, though you do get to see some minor characters come back to play a major role. Such as Killey, Lorlelai, etc. .

Well that much I know. (I played as far as getting Lucrecia so I ran into Killey, and I saw Lorelai in some scans.) But I was just wondering about the Sui IV references, and if there was anyone from the game involved or mentioned in the part with the Island nations. It reminded me of how the Dunan republic and Fitcher were mentioned in Suikoden 3 at one point. But I guess not.

i think if you play the other suikoden's and you love them, then pick up 4, its interesting and atleast gives you some good story and characters. I dont regret playing it because im a huge suikoden fan and anything that has to do with the world in suikoden gets a playthrough from me. I think it all depends on how the rest of the games leave you feeling

There are some things in Suikoden V that refer to Suikoden IV, quite an interesting scene aswell.
Also, the battle theme of Suikoden IV is remixed in V specially for that scene, aswell as some other songs.

Kudos on getting hold of Suikoden I and II, i've been trying to get hold of them but i just can't afford them - especially now i've blown a load on importing and Final Fantasy XII (at last)!

I played Suikoden V without playing any others in the series and i don't think i missed out on anything because of it. Yeah if you've played earlier games then you may appreciate certain characters more, but if you were playing the games as the timeline dictates by rights everyone should be starting with IV! So the short of it is, as Voyou San said, if you end up a fan of the series buy it, if not give it a pass - but play Suikoden V it got me completely hooked, i just hope III is as good as everyone makes out - i've gone through a lot to get it.

Just going to ask if Suikoden Tactics is worth playing - i've read that if you play IV and Tactics together you get a decent story - or is it just a shoddy Fire Emblem make over?

tactics is a good enough game, and yes a lot of IV and tactics tie in together. Tactics actually happens after IV and you see a lot of characters from IV show up in tactics.

and III is the best suikoden in my eyes, so you should love it

Hey thanks a lot a guys I appreciate it , I will very likely pick number four up while its still available to buy from my local Gamestation, I have a feeling its going to get rare very quickly and 95% of online shops I have looked at are already "temporarily out of stock" with V, and I have feeling that most won't be replenishing their stock anytime soon.

To be quite honest I probably will enjoy Suikoden IV, i'm really pleased with the first so far and i'll definitely want to see this series through. Aside from that, being a huge RPG fan I can be very forgiving and a RPG has to be truly awful for me not get into it, and from your descriptions Suikoden IV sounds like a decent game besides it'll be silly not have the complete collection:P(I forget how many times i've used that excuse on my wife with DVDs and games).

I hope you'll enjoy it, just don't expect a memorable story or interesting towns and you're all set.
Glad you like the first game so far. You're going to love Suikoden 2. It has such an epic story and... well everything. It's definitely my all time favorite rpg. Just remember one thing. You can transfer your save data from Suikoden 1 to Suikoden 2. If you get to the end of Suikoden 1 and save the game after getting all 108 stars of destiny, your transfered file will allow you to get McDohl to join your party in Suikoden 2. And with Soul Eater he's easily one of the best characters in the game.

Well now that i've put a few hours into it, i'm still really enjoying Suikoden 1,(i've hardly touched FF12) and from what I can tell i'm going to love the rest of series.

Suikoden V arrived on Saturday, I picked up Suikoden IV today for a bargain price and Suikoden III has been posted. So its certainly left a positive impression on me lol!

All that will be left for me to get is Suikoden Tactics and i'll be sorted. I loved Konami's Vandal Hearts so my hopes are quite high for this game, I'll get it anyway but can anyone let me know if this is up there with Vandal Hearts 1 and 2? -

Well it is good to see you are enjoying this game. I hope you have Suikoden II aswell, or at least can get a hold on it, because that is the holy grail for most of us Suikoden fans and it has everything Suikoden I has and even better.

Yeah, I managed to get Suikoden 2 at the same time Everything I keep hearing about Suikoden 2 almost makes me too anxious to complete the first.

Well, then you are a lucky guy.
Once you have Suikoden I you should really check out Suikoden II. It has a deep story about friendship, betrayal and corruption.
It shows better graphics than Suikoden I. Of course the graphics in Suikoden I are nice sprites, but the ones in Suikoden II are still my favourite up to this day.
The graphics of spells look so much better than Suikoden IV and even V.
Plus returning characters. I will not see whom, but you will see some familiar faces really quick in the beginning of Suikoden II.

Ok, so I just finished replaying 4 and started GRandia3, but since I'm a defender of 4 I'll tell you to get it for the music is good, and The variety is worse in 4 but It is to me the second best game(sui 3 is the best now), so it is the game that got me hooked so you should get it. To all of you that know I love 4, it has not changed I just played 3 and changed my ranking on it.

suikoden 1 is easy enough to get as I see it often enough in game stores. However since suikoden 2 was never made a greatest hits its such a pain in the ass to find. I ended up paying like $50 on ebay for it. Which was cheap considering what all the other sellers wanted. That game can go as high as $120

Suikoden I and II are hardly to be found in gamesstores around the world. None of the Suikoden games have made it to the Greatest Hits release and are therefore very rare.
Also, Suikoden II can go up to $250 mind you and sealed even up to $400.

How the hell did you find Suikoden II in the uk!? I would give my left foot for that game! Still at least I got to play Suikoden V (on of my favourite RPGs to date)...

I think he was quite lucky, just as I got a newer copy of Suikoden II quite recently because my older version was quite damaged and a bit buggy. Didn't cost me much at all =).
You should look at local biddingsites, you have a decent chance of finding one there.

the only suikoden i played was V, actually felt ripped off ny the battle system, it had so much potential, but the battles were way too easy - and the rune system restricted experimentation due to the fact that you cant change and equip them yourself, story was good, but the battle system was a big disappointment imo which ruined the game for me

Hehe, it seems I'm the only person who got the game when it came out and kept it, I wouldn't sell that game on Ebay if I had to pay for food. I love it, anyway, if you're just starting the Suikoden series, you chose a great place to start, but trust me, you need to get 4. I preordered the game and was uber-satisfied with it, despite the fact it was too easy and the sailing was tedious, other than that, it was a great game.

...Buuuut, then again, I couldn't say a negative thing about the Suikoden series if I wanted to...so yeah...

Hmmm 4 Huh? >.> Well... can't really say I liked the game but can't reallys ay I hated it either. It was definatly the black sheep of the Suikoden family. In a lot of ways, it sucked but in some ways it shined. Not to many though. For one, the moving base was a nice touch. You didn't necessarily have to go backa nd forth and back and forth to your base over and over. Which was a lovely addition. Unfortunatly, that cut down on the improvabliity of the base. I like to see my base grow with time and it didn't really grow and some of the characters that did things for the base were just stupid. (Why would i want to decorate just ONE room of the whole damn ship?!)

Hmmm, let see...the combos were decent although some were just down right disturbing (which is true in most of the game) Hmmm...now that I think about it...that's about all that the game shined in to me...Oh, some of the characters were alright but honestly, I don't remember half of them. Only like the main characters they forced down your throat over and over. Other than them....yea..everythign else is a blur.

Tactics is pretty good though. I'm a strat fan and so I enjoy it a good deal. You should like it too. 2 and 3 are still my favorites in that order.

Well I think i'm roughly halfway through the second and its definitely good so far, once I get FF12 out of the way i'll get back to it

I managed to get a hold of the whole series from one to five including Tactics so I have plenty of gaming to do.

I could name a few pointless things aswell, such as changing the outer look of your ship. Well not really, the only obvious thing that changed were the sails. Also some characters were utterly pointless. For example the mermaids. All they did was sell the same stuff in one shop. Why couldn't they have sold diffirent items or anything?

The things I did like were the one on one battles. They were very well animated and gave a new impact to those battles, which was later added to Suikoden V aswell. Also the graphics were pretty good (apart from the magic) and I enjoyed the scenes in where the Rune of Punishment was used.

I also enjoyed the music in Suikoden IV, including the final boss theme, which reminded me a bit of a mix between the theme song of the New Adventures of Johnny Quest and the boss battle theme against Olga Flow in Phantasy Star Online.



Take your time in playing these games. You do not want to rush them or anything.

Yeah, don't worry i'm not rushing I always take my time with RPG's, I found all 108 Stars Of Destiny in the Suikoden 1, and I am aiming to do that with the second. I'm not sure i'll succeed though its so much bigger in every aspect than the first and so far I am about 28 hours in on the second.

If you played Suikoden I & II, you'll come across the name Schtolteheim Reinbach as a comic relief. Well, in Suikoden IV you actually meet the person.

suikoden 1 has to be my all time favorite suikoden games it has some of the best characters it has a dueling system and the srmy battles were cool. i still play it and im a currently looking for suikoden 2 and 3 they are really hard to track down.

Hmmm, now that you mention it. I think the army battles of S1 were my favorite with S5 army battles being a close second. It seemed like they were trying to bring back a feel of S1's army system with new flair. I just like having a lot of control over how strong my army is. I know the first couple army battles you lose horribly. Or at least you have to do a survivle bit(and this is true in all Suikodens so don't feel bad). But I love when they finally give you the option of winning and you can actually build up your army by making the chaacters stronger in levels. I wish they would dos omething more like that. Maybe a squad training system or something. That would be fun.

They could make it to where every army squad you have, you can put them through specific training while your gone to increse their stats. NOthing complicated. Just simple stuff like accuracy, strength, endurance ect. I'd have some archers that can be all the way back in Two-rivers and snipe a fly off Luca Blights shoulder all the way back in the Highlands. XD

OH!! One more thing I forgot to tell you. This isn't so much a cheat as it is friendly advice.

When you start playing Suikoden 3, they'll introduce a new system called the skill system. Basically you gain skill points from killing mosnters then you go back to town and spend it at either the magic skill shop or the battle skill shop. Heres a little piece of advace. If you wnat to really start just hammering the hell out of folk with your physical fighters, ABUSE THE HELL OUT OF THE SWING SKILL!! I can't stress that enough, there are some people who do moderate to sub-par damage but they have really high Swing skill capability.

Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself, the Swing skill allows the person to attack multiple times per turn. Like instead of just swinging once, they may hit 2 or 3 times. Theres one girl on the game with red hair (forgot her name) but if you max out her swing skill, she can hit 6 TIME!! 6! And it doesn't help that she's aready pretty damn strong and fast to begin with. I abbused the hell out of her. Even a few archers can benifit from the swing skill. I know the girl you get from Hugo's clan can shoot 2 or 3 times on my game and that was back in the 20s and 30 lvls. So yes, in short, abusse that skill...abuse it like you've never abused anything else in your life.

Ok, I'm done.

well they basically have the same system in suikoden 5

Never let go of Suikoden I. It's like the only RPG I'd ever go back to after all this time. A rare jewel indeed.