Full Version: Suikoden 3 & 4 Comparison
how is part 4 compared to part 3?
Part 4 is known as the black sheep of the series by many. They tried to go back to the roots of the series, but imo they didn't do many things right.
First of all, one positive aspect is that the battles are fun, and you can level up team attacks to get stronger and change appearance by using them often. But in this game you can only use four people in battle instead of the usual six. That's a bit annoying when you have 108 characters to pick through and chose your favorites.
Another bad aspect is the sailing. You'll spend a lot of time out at sea, much like Zelda: Wind Waker for GC, and there is an annoying "invisible wall" that bounces your ship back if you approach an island from just slightly the wrong angle. And the random enemy encounter out at sea is quite high, so it gets annoying.
The game is pretty short. I did everything, including getting all 108 characters and the special costumes and beat the final boss in under 24 hours. (Compared to that number usually being around 60 hrs in the other games) The story itself starts to get interesting just when the game ends.
The main character lacks character development badly. As familiar, Suikoden main characters are usually mute heroes (except for Suikoden 3) but that's usually fixed by having friends and family close to the main hero help build up his character. In this game, you pretty much get no such people on your team. The ones that follow you from the beginning are actually optional characters, and throughout the game the hero remains a stranger to me.
The towns are another problem. For some reason there are hardly any houses you can enter in Sui 4. Even most of the shops are now outdoors, so there's not much exploring. In fact, the towns don't get much more interesting than the one you first start out with.
The game has a few interesting characters as per usual (Kika for example), mainly the return of Ted, who played a major part at the beginning of Suikoden 1. This game explains some more of his story.
But the dungeons is another gripe I have with the game. Because throughout the whole game, there are only three or so dungeons, including the last one. It's not like there isn't plenty of fighting in the game, but mostly you fight out at sea, or in the streets of towns, etc. so there isn't much exploring.
Suikoden 3 had a different battle system, but the story and characters were far more epic than Suikoden 4.
Suikoden 3 is loosely tied to the first two games in story, and is a very important chapter in the Suikoden story while Sui 4 doesn't really seem to have much of an importance to the Suikoden story (besides the re appearance of Ted) and even takes place far away from the other nations that were in Sui 1 - 3 and 5.
And the main Hero's true rune is the worst one ever. Even a Level 2 Lightning rune is better, since the true rune does damage to the user as well.
But Suikoden 4 does have it's importance, if you want to play Suikoden Tactics, which is sort of a sequel to it, and from what I heard, a better game than 4.
Basically, it's not as bad of a game as it may sound, if you can put up with the sailing mainly, and the battles are fun. But compared to the other games in the series, it leaves some things to be desired. As a Suikoden fan, it's worth playing the game for its story though.
First of all, one positive aspect is that the battles are fun, and you can level up team attacks to get stronger and change appearance by using them often. But in this game you can only use four people in battle instead of the usual six. That's a bit annoying when you have 108 characters to pick through and chose your favorites.
Another bad aspect is the sailing. You'll spend a lot of time out at sea, much like Zelda: Wind Waker for GC, and there is an annoying "invisible wall" that bounces your ship back if you approach an island from just slightly the wrong angle. And the random enemy encounter out at sea is quite high, so it gets annoying.
The game is pretty short. I did everything, including getting all 108 characters and the special costumes and beat the final boss in under 24 hours. (Compared to that number usually being around 60 hrs in the other games) The story itself starts to get interesting just when the game ends.
The main character lacks character development badly. As familiar, Suikoden main characters are usually mute heroes (except for Suikoden 3) but that's usually fixed by having friends and family close to the main hero help build up his character. In this game, you pretty much get no such people on your team. The ones that follow you from the beginning are actually optional characters, and throughout the game the hero remains a stranger to me.
The towns are another problem. For some reason there are hardly any houses you can enter in Sui 4. Even most of the shops are now outdoors, so there's not much exploring. In fact, the towns don't get much more interesting than the one you first start out with.
The game has a few interesting characters as per usual (Kika for example), mainly the return of Ted, who played a major part at the beginning of Suikoden 1. This game explains some more of his story.
But the dungeons is another gripe I have with the game. Because throughout the whole game, there are only three or so dungeons, including the last one. It's not like there isn't plenty of fighting in the game, but mostly you fight out at sea, or in the streets of towns, etc. so there isn't much exploring.
Suikoden 3 had a different battle system, but the story and characters were far more epic than Suikoden 4.
Suikoden 3 is loosely tied to the first two games in story, and is a very important chapter in the Suikoden story while Sui 4 doesn't really seem to have much of an importance to the Suikoden story (besides the re appearance of Ted) and even takes place far away from the other nations that were in Sui 1 - 3 and 5.
And the main Hero's true rune is the worst one ever. Even a Level 2 Lightning rune is better, since the true rune does damage to the user as well.
But Suikoden 4 does have it's importance, if you want to play Suikoden Tactics, which is sort of a sequel to it, and from what I heard, a better game than 4.
Basically, it's not as bad of a game as it may sound, if you can put up with the sailing mainly, and the battles are fun. But compared to the other games in the series, it leaves some things to be desired. As a Suikoden fan, it's worth playing the game for its story though.
from what you said 4 sounds better than 3.
QUOTE
Suikoden 3 had a different battle system, but the story and characters were far more epic than Suikoden 4.
Suikoden 3 is loosely tied to the first two games in story, and is a very important chapter in the Suikoden story while Sui 4 doesn't really seem to have much of an importance to the Suikoden story (besides the re appearance of Ted) and even takes place far away from the other nations that were in Sui 1 - 3 and 5.
Suikoden 3 is loosely tied to the first two games in story, and is a very important chapter in the Suikoden story while Sui 4 doesn't really seem to have much of an importance to the Suikoden story (besides the re appearance of Ted) and even takes place far away from the other nations that were in Sui 1 - 3 and 5.
How does 4 sound better than 3??? lol
3 is my favorite Suikoden. It's WAY better than 4 in every way shape and form. In it's mystery, it's action, it's characters, it's importance in the grand scheme of the series (8 True Runes or so in the actual story). The battles are fun, the graphics aren't bad, the music is better, the 108 SoD are better, and the strategy battles I like better
3 eclipses 4 in every aspect.
i havent played it but i'll write a full review upon beating it
QUOTE (Va1idus @ Jul 13 2008, 06:30 AM) 
from what you said 4 sounds better than 3.
From what I said, in what ways does 4 sound better than 3 to you? Just curious.
lmao that's what I was wondering hahaha
Suik 3 is probably my favorite Suikoden, 1 and 2 were amazing, but something about 3 felt so EPIC. Maybe that's why I've been disappointed with the recent games, because 3 was just so climactic.
Suik 3 is probably my favorite Suikoden, 1 and 2 were amazing, but something about 3 felt so EPIC. Maybe that's why I've been disappointed with the recent games, because 3 was just so climactic.
Haha, oh my ##### god. That just made me laugh.
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