I too can't bring myself to play it for a second time. Maybe now, after a longer pause, i can, but I don't really feel the urge to do so. If you play through the game once with all 108-characters, that's it. There is so little replay-value (and even if you didn't get the 108 SoD-ending you don't really want to play through it for a second time).
Characters are fun and interesting
Uh do you REALLY think so? To me most characters were just fillers. This was a great step back imo. Most characters just join you because... well, there is no real reason behind it. And after you have recruited them, they just stand at your castle. Well, that's just stupid and annoying.
I just think it's so uninteresting to play. I think the DS has the best options for implementing interesting and fun mini-games. But there wer NONE. Not a single mini-game. Even the so much hated Suikoden IV had a lot of them.
And these things annoy me most. I can live with the game being in another dimension/world, but it feels so poorly made. If I want a Suikoden in another Universe, I play the RPG-Maker game Exit Fate which feels so much more like a Suikoden...