Favorite game of the main series?

[sticky-runes]

Of course, another thing that hurts 3's reputation is the fact that we never got a european release. So all of us PAL users had to either miss out, or go to some round-about methods to get our own bastard copies of the game. Konami kind of fucked us up the ass with that one, so as amazing as the game is, I think it's fair to say it loses a few points with a lot of fans for never having an international release in the first place.

Excuse my language.

[EstrangedIX]

So true. I'd say that most if not all of any lack of Suikoden's success is due to Konami's craptastic marketing. Their more recent attempts to attract new fans with unrelated spinoffs was made of fail because they weren't even remotely concerned about keeping older fans when it mattered most. If III had been released properly these votes would be a bit different. I still don't think it would beat II, for that game's nostalgia alone, but it would be much closer.

[Punkaiser]

S3 has another major problem as its system is quite user unfriendly, of course now that we understood, we love it, i gotta admit it took me longer to grasp the mechanics in S3 than in other entries even I consider myself good with jrpgs, and this series lack a whole lot of tutorials, it leaves players to figure everything out on their own, what if the players weren't familar with jrpg in the first place?

[sticky-runes]

S3 did have some awkward mechanics, didn't it? I even found some of the menus quite difficult to follow compared to the other games. And the battles were a bit clumsy, I often had characters doing things I didn't want them to do.

I know what you mean about the series lacking tutorials. The first suikoden was my first ever experience with a turn-based RPG, and the lack of descriptions for items and spells was ridiculous! There were status effects that didn't have any icons (particularly with the earth rune) and there were some things I didn't figure out until after I had played other JRPGs and thought "oh, that must be what that thing means in suikoden!"

[Aerolithe Lion]

All the characters in your party act in a specific way to specific commands, whether they defend casters when you expect them to attack or still auto attack even when you fail to run away (Landis does, Wan Fu I think too), but it does take some experience to figure it all out

[sticky-runes]

I love what they did with the mounts in suikoden 3, though. Futch fighting on the back of his dragon is how it SHOULD be.
Totally sucks that Suikoden 5 went back to having the beasts taking up 2 whole slots.

And the ninjas using shurikens from a distance and swords up close - that was an awesome idea.

[Hirathien]

I'm really surprised by how many people feel 2 beats 3 in every possible way. (Also surprised by people who don't beat 3 but are able to beat 4...).

I know it's all opinion, but the masses choosing 2 overwhelmingly over 3 is a bit surprising

I don't think it should be too surprising. Suikoden III felt like a mess. Graphics, mechanics and plot all accounted for. Critics seemed to like it, at least the has-beens on Gamespot did. Another game they liked was Final Fantasy XII, and you know what happened with that one. Divided fans into two camps. Some people hated it with a passion, others would wed it given the chance.

So how this could be "surprising" I really have no idea.

[Aerolithe Lion]

Another game they liked was Final Fantasy XII, and you know what happened with that one

It sold more copies than Suikoden II and III combined?

Divided fans into two camps.

So you understand why people like and pull for FFXII, but you "really have no idea" why people do it for SIII? Even after citing they had similar reviews?

[Hirathien]

Suikoden III felt like a mess. Graphics, mechanics and plot all accounted for. Critics seemed to like it, at least the has-beens on Gamespot did. Another game they liked was Final Fantasy XII, and you know what happened with that one. Divided fans into two camps.

Did you ignore this little piece here? Both got positive reviews and they BOTH divided fans into two camps.

I personally don't like Final Fantasy XII or Suikoden III, granted I like Suikoden III about ten times as much as I like Final Fantasy XII, but that's a personal opinion and not a fact about the game itself.

[tjefuk]

Well, actually i like all of the main series.. but my favorite one is Suikoden II
i like the game plots,and the characters too..

[Sasarai10]

Shall i take my vote back because i've changed my mind since then?

I voted S5 as my favorite,because when i first played it,it blew me away,but unfortunately after some playthroughs in the same year,it becomes boring...On the other hand S1 and S2 are classics and can be played pleasantly,even after 10 playthroughs in a year. S2 especially reminds me of my childhood...plus that you need not months...but YEARS to do EVERYTHING in this game.

S4 unfortunately,doesn't share the same replay value with the first 2 Suikodens,not even with the 5th one...strangely,it has the best mini-games among the series.

S3 is far more different than the rest,and it's very repetitive during the 1st 3 chapters of each character. If we had one single main hero (Thomas for example),but with the same story...then it would be as good as S2,or even better because of the unique battle system.


So now i'd place them in this order:

2,1,3,5,4

[sticky-runes]

1 and 2 have a good balance of gameplay and story telling, especially during the early stages. 4 and 5 didn't quite have the right balance. 5 had too much dialogue at the beginning and not enough exploration and combat, and it took ages for the action to kick in. On the other hand, 4 did not have enough dialogue and the quests were too short, so we didn't get to feel as connected to a lot of the characters, as we do in the other games. But I'll always rank 4 more highly than 5, mainly for visual reasons.

[Silverberg]

I love 3 mostly for that final full scale battle. I like to beef up my characters as much as possible before hand and try to sweep through the enemy's units with as easily as possible. I wish these games incorporated some kind of war simulator like a mini game.

I never did try the S4 mushroom war stuff. Was that fun at all?

[LogaN]

Suikoden III - Second Fire Bringer War

so nice and so startegies...

[gildedtalon]

I wish these games incorporated some kind of war simulator like a mini game.

Talk to Elenor in Suikoden IV, she has this war simulator