There’s no box shot to accompany this post, but if there were, the mouse-over caption might read, “Game of rarity and greatness, maligned by cover art”. Anyone who has seen Suikoden knows the truth when I say that a textual testimony really is for the best: then was still the age of the He-Man-inspired, Americanized cover art, and I don’t want you to get such a grossly inaccurate impression of today’s subject. It was one of the last Playstation RPGs I would discover, albeit one of the first to be produced–and yet, all those years after its 1996 release, several aspects of Konami’s strat-slash-traditional RPG timelessly endured. To this day, I challenge you to find a game that can match the extent of its character development, the charms of its mystical-but-politically-torn world, and the depth of its two battle systems, 108-character recruitment system, and the branching paths by which the player ultimately decides life or death for many of them.

By not prematurely funneling the bulk of their resources into CG graphics on a 3D-unready platform (as was the case of many early PS1 RPGs, I feel), Konami may not have produced the most elaborate 32-bit visuals (think slightly above SNES level), but an expansive and cohesive game instead. The ever-intriguing Suikoden–which spawned several sequels, these continuing to attract much attention on every release–also boasts some of my favourite music of all time.

Posted on June 21st, 2008 by katie