Let's Give 108 Stars to Suikoden 2
Written: Sep 10 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Rich story, unforgettable characters, more minigames
Cons: Awkward group battles
The Bottom Line: Suikoden 2 is a game that any CRPG fan should not pass up.
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| gorocco's Full Review: Suikoden II for PlayStation 1 |
How do you follow up a great RPG? Give it a richer, deeper story. Fill it with fun characters that the gamer will remember. Put in enough goodies to keep us preoccupied. And throw in a couple of secrets that will have you replaying until you find them all.
Need an example of how to do it right? Take a look at Genso Suikoden II, Konami’s follow up to their underrated game Suikoden.
The Adventure Starts…
Step into the shoes of a young boy who is finishing up his training with the Blue Unicorn brigade. With your friend, Jowy, you await the day when you can finally return home to your late grandfather’s home and see your sister again. Without warning, your unit is ambushed by the vile forces of Luca Blight. By some stroke of luck, you and Jowy manage to escape; although you are separated from each other. Thus begins the most amazing journey of your young life.
Gameplay
Fans of the original Suikoden will be right at home here. The world is depicted with lush, 2D graphics as you explore it from a bird’s eye view. Controls have not changed; they remain very simple and unobtrusive.
The world of Suikoden 2 is huge and encompasses a portion of Suikoden 1 as well. From a simple plot device, Suikoden explodes into an amazingly deep story with plenty of plot twists. There are moments of grandeur, plus a share of tearjerkers. I can't spoil any of that here, you will have to try it for yourself.
In addition to your quest to defeat Luca Blight (and more), you will gather the 108 Stars of Destiny. Old friends are aplenty with the return of many beloved characters such as the rebels Viktor and Flik, the odd warrior couple of Hix and Tengaar, and super ninja Kasumi. This is balanced by a ton of new characters whose individual stories and personalities are not easily forgotten. How could anyone forget Nanami, the hero’s sister?
Once again, battles play an important part is Suikoden 2. Once again, they come in three flavors. First is the tried and true turn based combat. Your party will encounter many hostiles and tough bosses in its quest. With Suikoden’s traditional combat system, you select each member’s actions before the combat round starts. Then each action is performed based on each participant’s speed (and a bit of luck too). The usual options are present (i.e. attack, defend, magic, use item). The unite attacks in which matched characters join together to execute a devastating attack or series of attacks returns. This gives you a lot of incentive to mix and match your party to see the different group attacks.
While combat is not as exciting as in the Final Fantasy series with its Active Time Battle meter, they are nevertheless entertaining as you try to maximize your party’s abilities. On the whole, battles, especially boss battles, seem to be much tougher this time around. I was able to get through 90+% of Suikoden 1’s battles fairly easily. In the sequel, there were quite a few bosses that had me glued to my TV in anticipation as my hero launched that [hopefully] finishing blow.
The second type of battle system is the one-on-one duels. These matches are played out in paper-rock-scissors fashion whereby you can guess your opponent’s next move based on his boasts. This was never my favorite part in Suikoden 1, but duels are few and far between.
The third type is the group battles. Your companions are divided into teams of three, each leading a platoon of soldiers. Unfortunately, they overhauled the system from Suikoden 1 (which I enjoyed immensely). Battles are depicted on a large tile set, with both your forces and that of your opponent shown. You must navigate your forces on the tile map and engage the enemy. Ideally, this could have added a great deal of strategy to the large battles. But instead of making you feel like the armchair general leading his forces to glory, you are left bored by the slow pace of these battles, frustrated by the complete randomness of the effects of battle, and dumbfounded by the lack of pizzazz in the graphics. At least before you could see lots of little men run around and beat the tar out of each other. Now, you don’t get that much. Thankfully, group battles are not a common occurrence.
Suikoden 2 gives you lots of motivation to find all 108 Stars of Destiny. In addition to letting you change the ending of the game, by gathering up new friends, you open up a host of mini games. You can gamble with dice games. You can play “whack-a-mole.” You can even engage in an Iron Chef-like cooking competition (with special guest judges). There is so much to do if you want to avoid the main quest for a while.
And as fan service, Konami has included a special treat for those who completed the first Suikoden and found all 108 Stars of Destiny. I won’t spoil it here, but maybe it is motivation enough to read my review of Suikoden 1:
http://gorocco.epinions.com/content_27811614340
Graphics and Sound
The visuals are colorful and well-detailed 2D sprites, all of which are much more colorful and detailed in this go around. Characters and portraits are drawn in old school, anime style. While the graphics will not blow you away like the 3D worlds and full motion video presented in the PS Final Fantasy games, they more than do their job in creating a beautiful and imaginative world. The few FMV in Suikoden 2 look like they were thrown in at the last minute so as to compete with the Final Fantasy series.
Suikoden also features a beautiful soundtrack, amongst the best in a CRPG. The music ranging from the upbeat, very catchy travelling music to the tense battle hymns match well with the moment and will have you humming them while you are away from the game (whenever that is!). Konami has done a truly outstanding job in this department.
Final Thoughts
Genso Suikoden 2 is a marvelous game. If it weren’t for the overhauled group battle system, I would have given it five stars. Nevertheless, as it stands, this is one game that CRPG fans should not pass up for their PS1. Give it try! You will not be disappointed!
Recommended:
Yes
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gorocco
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Location: Stony Brook, NY
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