Initial impressions and rankings for Suikoden V
The triad of games (Chrono Trigger, Gensou Suikoden II, and Xenogears)
might not remain a triad, depending on where my feelings for Gensou Suikoden
V finally settle. The music is imprinting nicely, and in case I haven't
dropped enough hints about this so far, the soundtrack is absolutely
beautiful -- with a couple of glaring blemishes, but it's hard to find
a soundtrack that spans four discs that is perfect. Which reminds me:
Thank you, Konami, for releasing the soundtrack in full glory on
four CDs! Aaaaand...
Curse you, Konami! All that space, and you still truncated
Snow and Ice to a single iteration! Gah, time to break out my
waveform editor...
At the moment it's proving difficult to rank GS5 overall with respect to
the other (mainline) Suikodens, but I'm getting a sense of how specific
aspects rank; for those who are interested, they're listed below. I don't
think there's anything particularly spoilery for Suikoden V in the
listings. This ordering is still subject to change...
I should note that these ranks are absolute -- many of the attributes
that make GS5 so strongly appealing for me were present, indeed inherited,
from either GS1 or GS2, and a "credit where credit due" style of ranking
might rate the ancestor higher accordingly. In my mind though, absolutes
are what count -- if a later game is largely derivative and the differences
are improvements, the later game wins.
Battle mechanics
GS5 > GS2 = GS1 > GS4 > GS3
GS5 inherits largely from GS1/GS2 and adds the switch command (switch
characters during battle); because the entourage is limited in size, switch
isn't as overpowering as one might suspect. But it is enough to give me the
level of control and challenge I want in a game. As a result, GS5 wins.
GS3 is last because of the way it groups characters in battle. The
system is innovative and has its strengths, but I prefer the historic
(GS1-based) battle system.
Artwork
GS2 > GS1 > GS5 = GS3 > GS4
Sprite-based art has always been more appealing to me for fantasy
settings; all the advances in graphics so far have failed to sway my opinion
on this one. Sprites always come across as more expressive to me, and
sprite designers seem to enjoy more creative leeway than 3D artists -- I
can't imagine a 3D designer getting away with the mid-battle Nanami picnic
sequence :)
Music
GS2 =? GS5 > GS1 > GS3 = GS4
One word for GS2: Currents.
GS5 has a couple of blemishes on its soundtrack (and no, I'm not counting
Haud here), but also some very effective themes. At the momen
I'm partial to Sealed
Room, Purification, Snow and Ice, and
the two City That Forgot
themes. I'm also strangely drawn to a late-game battle theme used in the
central plot battles, and I even like the Dragon Horse minigame theme.
Almost all of the town themes feel right, as well -- but that's something
this series has always been very good at, in my opinion.
Don't know how this one will turn out.
Character design (major plot characters)
GS2 = GS1 > GS5 > GS4 > GS3
The Hero/Nanami/Jowy character group is easily my favourite in all of
Suikoden. Silverbergs are a close second, and GS1 captured them the best in
my opinion. I think GS5 has strong lead characters, but not quite as strong
as in the original games. From there it's a blur; I wasn't terribly
attached to most of the characters in GS4, and character design problems
(ahem, Hugo) in GS3 work against the entire game.
Character design (secondary characters)
GS5 > GS1 = GS2 > GS3 > GS4
Here is where GS5 shines for character design and in-game development. I
really like how they handled the Oboro Detective Agency group (could you
tell?), and I'm rather fond of the beavers as well. Character interactions
for the Nirva group were excellent, and random townsperson development is
pretty good (but it still seems like GS3 handled townspeople the best).
Plot/Story design
?
This one's still completely up in the air. Also, I cannot rank GS4's
story without including Rhapsodia.
Explorability (how much fun is it to wander)
GS2 = GS5 > GS3 > GS1 > GS4
I loved to wander aimlessly in towns in GS2 and GS5, and my game clock is
so high in GS3 because of all the time I spent visiting towns to see what
the townspeople were currently saying (they updated their scripts
frequently). I spent less time wandering in GS1 for some reason, and I was
less than thrilled with navigation-by-ship in GS4.
Clear time on game clock
GS3 (119 main, 123 Luc) > GS5 (96) > GS2 (67?) = GS4 (66) > GS1 (~30)
Most of GS3's time was spent in random wandering. I feel like I was
wandering a lot of the time in GS5 as well, but I felt more productive at it
(maybe because I was more aggressive with investigations, trading, etc). I
wish I could say I was wandering aimlessly in GS4, but no -- it took me 20
hours to realize the plot trigger for endgame was on the deck of the
Arcalath. I wish I were kidding -- I made it to 108/108 in that game by
accident.
Replayable
GS2 = GS5 (partial replays on both) > GS1 (plan to replay) > GS3 > GS4
I want to replay 1 and 2 soon, and I'm half-inclined to go through New
Game+ in GS5 now (but FF7 is on the queue...).
Game bugs
GS2 > GS5 > GS1 > GS4 > GS3
GS2 has the only unrecoverable, repeatable hard crash I've experienced in
the series (the Banner
Village crash). GS5 has a number of minor annoyances and state glitches
that put it in second place. GS1 has the warehouse duplication bug and some
other minor glitches. GS4 has the "wanna play ping pong between the coast
and Razril?" error that is nearly impossible to recover from (but
is recoverable). I'm failing to recall any serious problems with
GS3 at the moment...
And because it's no fun to complete the game without creating a list of
bugs and annoyances, I present to all of you my spoilerific list of the bugs
that I recall encountering (not terribly spoilerific, but there are some
plot trigger hints in here):
- Reflective surface framerate/render bug
- Base of Tower elevator hang (recoverable and unpredictable)
- Raftfleet battle bug (state reset repeats battle)
- Taylor recruit bug (state reset repeats recruit sequence)
- Other minor inn reset state bugs (presumably related to legitimate inn resets on certain recruits)
- Unexplained disappearing/reappearing characters (Egbert in particular)
- Slow scroll
- Lunas trigger overlap
- Waterfall Basin trigger overlap
- Isabel/Mathias and Alhazred quest conflict
- Hazuki/Marina bug