Topic says it all, really.

Yes, though it's not absolutely neccessary. it's an introduction to the series, so you can get a feel for the mechanics [the runes system, combat, character recruitment, etc]... plus, playing S1 before hand allows you to transfer data over- for some characters will return, even with their previously equipped armor.

S1 shouldn't take too long [20 hours, approx.] where S2 will take about 60.

Wow, Suikoden 2 is really that much longer than Suikoden 1? That's good to know. I just finished Suikoden today, and as much as I enjoyed playing it, I was a bit disappointed by how short it was. I guess these days I'm a bit spoiled by the sheer length of some of these PS2 games (Tales of Legendia, Wild Arms 5, Suikoden 5, etc). Still, looking forward to getting Suikoden 2 one of these days.

go in order.. please!!! it makes the gaming experience that much sweeter

Sigs gave a bit of incorrect information, Suikoden II can be finished in 12-13hours if you know what you're doing and doing the Clive quest.

Anyway, play in order, it makes Suikoden II so much better, as characters from Suikoden I return and several other things are a reference from Suikoden I as well.

Yeah you really should play these two in order, Suikoden II is a great game regardless but you'll enjoy it all the more for having played Suikoden I first, as you'll understand everything thats going on as well as see how the two games are connected

Not to mention you'll ruin the storyline of Suikoden I for as Sigs and Pesmerga say there is quite a bit of reference made in Suikoden II about the first game so there are loads of spoilers with regards to the general plot and the fate of specific characters.

So in short play Suikoden I first - this way you'll appreciate both games as much as possible.

Alright, thanks for the many answers! I put my Suikoden II disc in yesterday, just to get a feel of the game again. I'm supposed pick up some flour in a near-by village, but wasn't sure wether I should continue playing, or play Suikoden I first.

I'm just finishing FF9 (I'm on disc 4), then I'm either gonna start playing Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, or Suikoden I. Will most likely be Suikoden I.

It took 30 hours for me to beat Suikoden 1, while it took 65 to beat to Suikoden II. If that says anything .

Beat S1 first so you can unlock a neat little side quest in Suikoden II.

I am glad I am not the only one. Suikoden I took me about 40 hours while Suikoden II took me around 60 hours. Of course, I am not the fastest player as I usually over-level, but I didn't think those times were too bad.

ALWAYS play the first game in the series first. I try to do that for EVERY game. Even if it is something that has no story like Gran Turismo. You can really appreciate a series if you start from the beginning because you learn and understand the roots. Sometimes its hard to find/play the earlier titles, but I always try to go out of my way and play them first.

Suikoden 2 is a direct sequel to Suikoden 1, in the sense that some characters are recurring in Suikoden 2 that were in Suikoden 1, and it shows you what they did with their lives after the huge conflict in Suikoden 1.

This thread just reminded me that I have Suikoden 1 somewhere and I never finished it.

The blasphemy =O

"Incorrect?" He only said it should take about 60 hours, which is very much true for a typical player's first playthrough, as most others here have proven. Sure, it's possible to beat it in the kind of time you mentioned (I almost did, until I messed up the last part of Clive's quest), but he was only saying that that's about the average for a first playthrough. <.<;

Anyway, as the others have pointed out, Suikoden II is indeed a direct sequel to the first game. Several characters make reappearances (some playable, some not), and if you've uploaded the data from the first game, you may get some additional dialogue (just for the sake of nostalgia and such), and certain playable characters can carry over some equipment. Also, if you have the data from the first game uploaded, you can unlock a certain character (not as a Star of Destiny, but really cool unlockable character nonetheless) through an additional sidequest. (If you gathered all 108 Stars of Destiny in your original game's save file, then this sidequest will involve another certain someone from the first game as well, and you will be able to receive an item from that character.) Also, if you play Suikoden III later, you can carry over data from Suikoden II, and if you uploaded data from the original Suikoden for Suikoden II, then that will also affect the Suikoden III data. (All I know of is a particular item, though it may do more. Suikoden II's data does more, I think.)
Don't want to spoil the character reappearances, so just take the hint that "a certain character/someone" refers to a particular character from the first game. ^^;

Aside from the stuff that carries over, the Suikoden experience is just more enjoyable when you play in order, due to the reappearing characters and references to previous titles' stories, among other experiences. As others have said, it is not required to play the first game before the second, but it's highly recommended.

Actually, my first Suikoden II playthrough was 40 hours and my Suikoden I playthrough was 30 hours. So I do not know where the 60 hours come from. As far as I know, only Suikoden III and V take a long time to finish, with Suikoden V being the cherry of the cake with easily 60 hours and most likely 10 hours more, if not 20.

On that note, I am not a speedrunner at all and I often slack around, or leave my PS running while the game is still in, racking up time. I still managed to get 40 hours, because Suikoden II isn't that long of a game.
So no, I disagree. Suikoden II should not take 60 hours. Sure, one can play that long if he wants, but on a first playthrough, it shouldn't take that long.

This reminds me. . I didn't get Suikoden 1 til 4 years after I bought Suikoden 2.

So just because it took you 40 hours, it should take everyone else the same? Personally, my first game or two took 60-something, I think, though I do a lot of wandering around. After the first game or two, I knocked it down to about 50 and then around 30-40. Anyway, you can disagree all you want, but the fact of the matter is you've got a ratio (of 60-hour people in contrast to your 40 hours) of at least 3:1 in here so far. Fact. (Not to steal that from Bomb, heh.)

Though I may have worded my previous post poorly, anyway. I didn't really mean that it "should" take someone 60 hours to beat. All I meant was that, on average (from the game times I've seen others mention, as well as my own), Suikoden II would probably take a typical gamer about 50-60 (which I personally think sounds more accurate than to say 60) hours to complete for their first time (especially if they're actually aiming for all 108 SoD, and especially without any kind of guide to refer to). Each gamer that plays will obviously have varying times, so all I'm saying is based on an average time.

In any case, nothing was "incorrect" about what he said, since the 60-hour remark already has support from a few people here, myself included. Your statement was certainly no more "correct" regarding the play time of someone's first file, since you simply pointed out a possibility (one that is highly unlikely practically impossible for a person's first file). Is it possible to beat it in 12-13 hours? Of course, but sure as hell not in someone's first time through the game, without any sort of guide. That'd practically be like expecting someone to get the Excalibur II in their first file of FF9. =\


Ultimately, I think 50-60 hours is a very fair estimate for a first file, with an attempt to gather as many of the SoD as a person can manage in their first file. (With or without a guide.) If you manage it in 40, then good for you. The point here, ultimately, is that Suikoden II is a longer game, and potentially by more than just a few hours.

Hey, stop arguing! Each to his own, yeah?

I actually, I let several friends of me play Suikoden II as well and all of them were around the 40 hour border, so this only makes it logical for me to see 40 hours as the standard for Suikoden II.
Heck, 2 of my friends that played this game never played any RPGs for that mater and still got the 40 hours and were way under 60 hours.

Anyway, maybe the American version has 20 hours of extra gameplay the Europeans don't have, but as far as I know, this is not the case.
Personally, I had never heard anyone taking 60 hours to complete this game, other than the things said in this particular topic.

I have always thought 40 to be the norm, as everyone I talked about all had around 40 hours gameplay before they finished the game and not the 60 hours claimed here.

I finished my game for the first time just over 40 hours and so did my friends and people I asked and most of them even had all the characters. Sorry for me thinking 40 was the norm, I am so foolish.

This is going off-topic anyway, so I'll take this into a PM.

Ultimately, though, the game can take between 40-60 hours for your first time playing, depending on your own experience with the game. Whatever the "norm" may be, that's a possible range. The point is, depending on your play speed, the game can potentially be up to twice as long as the first, or even just a few hours longer. It'll likely be longer, though, by some amount.

Meh, it took that long for me because I did just about everything, including farming for that stupid double-beat rune(that would take 1-5 game hrs in itself) and that cooking and wall climbing game. Second playthroughs are always fast because you know where everything is, what areas are best for lvling. And suikoden II had a lot of "glitched" battle areas where soldiers will keep spawning .

so i overexaggerated a bit.

i remember finishing S1 is under 20 hours, after all- there's not alot to do.
S2- probably 40 hours.
S3- 40-50 hours to beat
S5- i got to 60 hours when i got to te final part.

Makes no difference I played S2 first loved it then went back and played S1 and loved it and then replayed S2 and was blown out of my mind about just how great those first two Suikos are

I'm playing Suikoden 2 now and although it stands perfectly well as a game on it's own I'm glad I played the original first. There's a real effort made in the history and back story of the Suikoden series and there's a fair amount of depth in there to take in, so starting from the beginning certainly has it's advantages as it does any long running series of stories.

Also to the naked eye judging from screen-shots there looks like there isn't much of difference between the two games but when you play them back to back the improvements in the presentation, artwork and animation really are noticeable.

Yeah, that is something I always thoroghly enjoyed in Suikoden II. Whenever I play Suikoden I and then II and see the diffirence in animations, spells and overall graphic update, it is such a nice improvement.

Actually my first playthrough of Suikoden II also took 60 hours.
You can technically get through it much faster of course. For example, I got through it in 12 hours and got all 108 stars to get the scenes with Clive and Elza. But during my first playthrough, my last save file was a bit above 60 hours.


Oh cool, so you're playing Suikoden 2 now? Are you playing it on a PS/2/3? Or on a pc screen? Personally I think that is a bit uncomfortable for these type of games myself.

And yeah, while it's not neccisary to play Suikoden 1 first, it does have it's advantages and adds to the feel when you encounter familiar names or situations. I don't know how far you've gotten, but if you had an opportunity to transfer over your Suikoden 1 save file, I hope you did. You'll get something nice from Suikoden 1 available at about halfway through the game.


Yeah, the artwork especially is noticably different in S2 compared to S1, and for the better I think. But I think (and hope) that you'll appreciate the new story though, because I think that's the main reason most Suikoden fans hold this particular game as their favorite Suikoden game. And some times favorite rpg in general. I'm one of those, even though it's very hard to put one particular game above some other rpg favorites.

I'm playing it in up-scaled glory on my PS3 I was originally playing it on my PC a while back but you're right it's not quite the same unless you have a decent sized monitor and compatible d-pad(although my 360 pad worked quite well), and I missed so much playing it that way I wasn't concentrating properly. I am occasionally resorting to playing via Remote Play on my PSP just so I can get a bit of peace lol!



I did indeed transfer the file I'm not very far though I've been running around the ruins (by the White Deer Inn) like an idiot for ages lol!



Yeah, it is absolutely for the better in every aspect. The story so far is definitely keeping me going and sane lol! I'm playing it during the few quiet occasions in my life - I'm in the process of moving house so that combined with a teething baby there aren't many right now.

Ahaha, White Deer Inn, huh. Lemmie guess, couldn't find the entrance to the Sindar Ruins? I know I was struggling with that. Doesn't help that I hate that place anyway ><.

Btw, speaking of graphic updates, have you tried Thunder Runner? It is a spell on the Lightning Rune, it is level 2.
I fell in love with that spell when I first saw it. Of course it sucks, once you grow stronger, but it is awesome to use in the beginning =P.

*BZZZT* *FWOOOOOOOSH* heh heh =P

Some of the spell animations are simply so ##### awesome. Once you get Kahn (can't miss him), use Charm Arrow on his Resurrection Rune. Made me gasp first time I saw that one, plus you are not very far away from him anyway.

Make your topic, so we know where you are =).

Anyway, for nostalgic reasons, play Suikoden I first, then Suikoden II. The returning characters simply give you that nice moment of nostalgia and you'll be thinking back, when you recruited them in Suikoden I.

One of the best moments, without spoiling you cc, is when Freed Y comes with you on a certain "mission", where you later get a nice Suikoden I "present", provided you uploaded Suikoden I data. Once you arrive at the destination, the first thing you'll do say is: "##### the mission, I am going to check this out!" Trust me, once you get there, you'll know what I am talking about and you know what I mean. This only counts for players who played Suikoden I. I think most of us, who have in fact played Suikoden I, know what I am talking about.

I'd recommend playing through the first game in order to get a back story to some of the characters past interactions (for instance, Flik and Viktor, Hix and Tengaar, etc). Also it's plus to have the data that allows you to see Tir, more importantly interaction between Kasumi and him.

When I played Suikoden I it seemed like a prequel to me because I played Suikoden II first. But it was still fun.

Suikoden II is for what game console?

i only have Xbox360 and my bro have PS2.

Suikoden II is for Playstation 1. It can be played on PS2 and PS3 as well.

1 should be played first if at all possible.

I dunno what it was but 50 hours seemed to be the norm for me on my first playthrough. It took me 50 hours for 1, 2, 3, and 5. Don't recall my time on IV, but 50 hours seemed normal on my first run around.

Don't try to argue with Pes though, he simply refuses to believe he's ever wrong.