PS1 - Suikoden

Haiku-Review:

a hundred and eight;
is it really that many?
absurd to keep score

Additional Comments:

Suikoden has taught me a wise truth: gamers are idiots who will easily buy into hype. Make no mistake, I include myself in the lot. Based purely on the praises spread across the internet and the overzealous raving down at my local vintage game shop, I had to snatch up Suikoden while the window of opportunity presented itself before some other game hungry hound sniffed it out and bought it from under my nose. After all, Suikoden is considered a magnificent gem of an RPG that has somehow snuck under the radar ever since its release. Take my money, please. But alas, I'm one of those very idiots that shelled out likely far more money than I care to admit for this game because others said I should.

But why all the grumbling? Suikoden truly is a masterful work from seminal publisher, Konami. They decided to take the tried and true formula that has been beaten to death by Square and put their own spin on it. Unique features include a ridiculously large cast of characters, most of whom can be used as player characters; the ability to build your own home base, and mass combat, something that is severely lacking in games in general. Lacking in the sense that it's handled as actual mass combat as opposed to representations of armies in turn based combat in games such as Civilization, Advance Wars, or other strategy games. Reading through the manual before popping the disc in, the mass combat seemed iffy. The card system sounded derivative of cheesy RPG card games, but at least the idea as a whole sounded fresh. Seriously, what other RPG could claim a fully functional mass combat mechanic in which the player was directly involved. At least for me, none that I've played - that I'm aware of. Then again, with the vast number of games I've played, it could be possible I've seen such a mechanic somewhere. Eh, doubtful. Only game that comes to mind is North & South and that's just assumption based on pictures I've seen years ago.

Here's the thing. Each of these ideas were likely great ideas on paper but somehow fizzled into nothingness upon translation. For example, the enormous cast. There's a reason why so many RPG's stick with so few playable characters. Never mind the confusion trying to keep track of so many characters, when there's as many characters as there is here, approximately eighty I believe, it's easy to loose connection with even a single additional character. Each one becomes nothing more than a face in the crowd. This is especially true in Suikoden since there's really no sense of specialization. Sure, different characters have different stats - some builds resembling strongmen while others resemble intellectual magic users, but honestly, they all feel fairly comparable with each other. It's just one big army of Joe Sixpacks.

Additionally, the multitude of character choices pushes the gameplay towards grinding if you wish to mix up the war party as often as possible, or general ease of play as you stick with the same relative six characters throughout the entire game. Why would I dare swap out my powerhouses for some new chum who can't even swing a sword to save his life? Oh! Their levels are proportionally set to give them a fighting chance upon recruitment. Erm...nope. They're still pretty useless. At least with Suikoden's wacky experience system it's relatively easy to level everyone up as your main character faces well over a hundred battles climbing a mere three points a round. Ugh.

Feeling a lack of empathy towards any of these numskulls or suffering battle after battle in hopes to boost any extra lackey's experience in the off chance I choose to use a third or fourth stringer - I'm sure Sarah's ability to do the laundry out on the battlefield will come in handy - is the least of my concerns over the player roster. What really irks me is we're offered some eighty different characters to choose from yet time and time again, the game force feeds certain characters down our throat at every turn. Worse still, at least half the party is always dictated by the game's whims. Why are there so many characters when I can only choose a third of my party? In the beginning of the game, I get it: Pahn, Cleo, Gremio, and Viktor are always at my side. As the game progresses, however, it becomes more of a nuisance, especially since my apathy towards all of these faceless assholes leaves a sour taste in my mouth when it comes to each principle character's story arc.

I don't know if the story as a whole is weak or it's just my frustration with the character system, but I felt no sympathy for anyone and I could care less where their convictions lie. Wait. What was Flik's objective on this particular leg of the journey? Why am I having to suffer Viktor's glass cannon equivalence yet again? Glass cannon isn't even a worthy epithet. His skill level is so piss-poor that he misses 90% of the time, yet I'm forced to drag his useless corpse around with me everywhere I go because other than two minor, inconsequential parts of the game, I can't choose a worthy party from the vast assemblage of playable characters on offer. What a stupid, frustrating application of what could have been a great mechanic - well, a decent mechanic. It's still way too many characters no matter how you try to pitch it.

Regarding the home base, there's actually little to complain about. It's likely the one feature for which I would tout this game. I wish there could have been a little customization, at least other than placing a few minor antiques in the bath house, but as a whole, it accomplishes its goal illustrating the continual growth of the Liberation Army. I feel obligated to remark on yet more of my own idiocy at this point, though I'm confident I can place a good bit of blame on the game itself. I was unaware there was a second opening on the west end of the first floor until the very end of the game. Before facing off against Barbarossa, I embarked on a final whirlwind tour of the world to find the last few potential recruits as well as a window setting that I somehow missed early on. Only, I had no idea what the window settings were for, or the sound settings for that matter. I had a good idea what they were for, but couldn't for the life of me figure out how to use them. I was both dumbstruck and horrified at my own ineptitude to make sense of the visual clues that indeed there's a door leading to the outside world. For the longest time I was wondering where half my recruits scuttled off to. Stupidly, I assumed their absence was due to some sort of sprite or hardware limitation, although we're dealing with the PlayStation, so.... Seriously, I had to walk away from the game to collect myself after I realized that splotch of white was a doorway.

That just leaves the mass combat as far as Suikoden's innovations. Like I said, I expected a pretty cheesy system. It's not bad, and is better than I expected, but it feels shoehorned into the game as though it were an afterthought to help enhance...I don't know, the story? The scenarios play way too easily. Unless you're a moron, you can't lose. Worse yet, while permanent character death is possible during mass combat, you almost have to strive for such an outcome in order for it to occur. Overall, strategy is minimal at best. Again, much like they mucked up the entire player roster, they mucked up the mass combat mini game. Is there any real reason for it? I found myself using the same three or four sets of cards every mass combat scenario and winning with flying colors. It's just more gaming bewilderment. Why couldn't the cards be shuffled every battle? Something to force some actual planning, or that matter, play. I'm glad they tried and that the system is there, but sadly, it falls flat.

There is one other element that rubbed me the wrong way and I already briefly touched on it. Experience. The experience system in this game is flat out bonkers. I can't make heads or tails of it. It's a flat system of a thousand points, but with each new level, the points gained after battle are lessened to simulate typical experience charts that call for larger goals. In theory, that's fine, and for the most part it works. However, mixed parties - having both high and low level characters - show how ridiculous the system truly is. You can have a party with level 50+ characters and a character who's only level 10. Within three or four rounds, he's level 50+ as well, only a few points off the others while they each gained fifteen points tops; if they're lucky. There's some black magic math going on here. I can accept that these low level bums will skyrocket through the levels, but how are they within striking distance of these other hard working Joes who have been putting in overtime since the very beginning? It makes no sense. And thanks to this mathematical mystery, grinding becomes more of an awkward straying from the beaten path. Thankfully, grinding plays a relatively low key role, if any until a couple spots late in the game, namely Floating Fortress Shasarazade - I swear there's three official spellings of that monstrosity within the game's text.

It must be another case where I'm just missing the obvious. Or perhaps it's further proof that the generally praised need not apply in my house. Shenmue can play testament to that. In the beginning, I had high hopes for Suikoden. True, it was just more of the same, but there was enough to make it stand out ever so slightly. Add the three unique mechanics of impressive roster, ever-growing home base, and mass combat, and it's no wonder the game is celebrated. But it's riddled with shortcomings, confusing and/or poorly implemented mechanics, and is simply boring. The story, while attempting to be epic in nature, feels so elementary. I neither felt concern nor attachment towards character or story. Claims of depth were mere scams trying to cover up the fact that the game is so one-dimensional. But then, I suppose there's a light at the end of the tunnel. After all, the game kept my attention long enough to keep going. I'll be damned if I know what to attribute that to. Perhaps its own unique charm was enough to win me over for the time being. But it wasn't enough to make me a believer. Although, songs like Peaceful People (personal favorite which often found me diverting my goals; needlessly visiting Antei for the umpteenth time for some aural enjoyment) and Gorgeous Scarleticia made me a believer in the game's fantastic soundtrack. In fact, I could easily manufacture a laundry list of gorgeous tunes from the game's soundtrack.

Nano-Rant:

Ah! But  I'm yet to retire from throwing jeers at this game. While I've touched up on various infractions and miscues, I still haven't  nailed down the defining failing in the game's architecture. Choice, or I should say the lack thereof. But wait. There is choice. I see it nearly every time there's interaction between characters. Not right now Mathiu, I have other pressing matters. I said not right now. I understand you believe it's in our best interest to act, but I must see to other affairs while I have the chance and I'm not overridden on my personal character choice. Oh my god, Mathiu, shut the fuck up! This isn't choice; it's just a grand illusion to trick us into believing there's far more depth in the game than there really is. Konami doesn't want us to see that they gave us nothing more than a shallow, linear imitation of a game worthy of the name RPG. If my ability to choose the outcome of a given situation is moot because you're just going to hound me until I make the appropriate decision, remove the mechanic. It brings nothing to the table other than rash irritation. It gives the game an overall phony atmosphere and discredits the story on multiple occasions - perhaps not so much with my example or any of Mathiu's bids for strategy, but with many of the casual encounters throughout the world. What should be a tool to help enliven the backdrop of the game ends up making it feel far more mechanical than some of the earliest and most linear RPG's out there. Point is, don't take your players for fools. We can see through your thinly veiled tricks.

There's so much more I would have liked to discuss such as the seemingly unbalanced difficulty progression, yet another trivial monetary system - need I be surprised, or the odd death experience glitch, but I've hit the major talking points and that's enough for me. Besides, I've yammered on for far too long as it is. But there is one last thing I must question. Perhaps I can sneak it into my rating and no one will be the wiser. Wait. Am I pulling my own thinly veiled tricks? Oh no!

Rating: 2.5 binoculars out of 5*

*What is the point of this item, and why do I have to use the second controller to use it when there's so many free buttons on the first controller? Useless.