Animation of Spells

[Runemaster]

I'd like to hear other players' opinions on how rune spells are animated through the series. I just felt really disappointed about the dull and cheesy graphics of many spells in Suikoden V especially the resurrection rune. Flaming Arrows, Final Flame, Silent Lake, Earthquake and some other spells are great but Explosion? First Ray? Every Lightning Spell? I can see they're trying to reduce time ( maybe to make up for the excruciating loading times) but still, they could have made it look cooler. It was a huge letdown from Suikoden IV and Tactics' spell graphics which are simple yet clean and beautiful. Even Suikoden 2 defeats a game it precedes by 8 years!

I think another problem is color-coding for the basic elemental runes. In SUikoden 2, Lightning, Water and Wind spells cast blue-colored attacks. In V, they try to distinguish the elements by assigning a particular color for every spell of the rune. Disappointingly, a cheesy (and unfairly more powerful than ever) purple lightning strikes the target. The Resurrection Rune! Arguably II's rune that has the most amazing graphics! It has downplayed to a cheap, short stupid Charm Arrow that pains the eye.

So obviously I focused on Suikoden V because it has a huge disappointment for me. What are your thoughts?

[Raww Le Klueze]

Suikoden IV? Really? Suikoden V was certainly a step up from that. The Soul Eater is just black orbs, compare that to the pentagram summoning grim reapers in Suikoden II.

Just about every spell in IV is boring and plain, the only one that stands out is the Rune of Punishment's final spell and even that isn't all that great. I widely prefer Suikoden V to IV's animations.

But II has the best hands down. III does some pretty nice ones, but many medium-level spells take way too long.

[Runemaster]

Well yeah IV has plain graphics but they looked more realistic and somewhat cleaner than V. Plus, summoning dragons, fairies and all that for final spells is still more amazing than V. Punishment spells, though dull, is definitely better than V's Condemnation spells. I was really expecting a lot from Condemnation when I read that it is a child of Punishment. But those graphics.. Holy smokes. Just individual black thorn thingies coming out of the ground on each individual involved one by one. So much for a time-saver.
Why have they failed in replicating, even improving II's spell graphics?

[Piisuke]

Oh my god, IV has easily the worst animations I've seen in the entire series. The Shredding, in II you see two big tornadoes whirl around the field, in IV it is a tiny whirlwind crossing the field from left to right. That's it. You call THAT clean and beautiful?

IV's graphics are boring and plain, just like Raww said. V did a much better job, especially the unite magic animations look pretty impressive.

As to why they're not as good as IIs? Personally, I just don't think the team is very good with 3D animations. Everything in IV in regards to animations was quite limited and despite V being an obvious improvement, I still don't think the animations are that great. I've gone through the unites of V and they're all fairly similar and not very animated. They clearly were a lot more into their stride with the way Suikoden II was graphically, which is a mixture of 2D/3D.

[Antimatzist]

I think IV's higher spells look pretty ok. I thing Rage Runes final spell looked the best.. but not too sure.

Still, I think V wasn't too cool concerning the spells graphics. I think II hat the best, just loely, and even a cheap spell like flaming arrows has a cool animation.

[Runemaster]

Speaking of SII, which also is the best imo, there's only one spell that I find bad: Earthquake.

[Piisuke]

As I said, I personally thought the animations in V were cool. Sure, several animations were the same as others, but the unite magic was definitely impressive.
In IV's case, I just thought it was poor throughout. There simply wasn't a spell where I thought: "wow, this looks amazing"

As for SII's Earthquake, I think it is pretty cool. A whole lot better than Earthquake in SI where boulders drop down.

My favourite remains Thunder Runner though. I just love the sizzle before the animations (the electricity on the character) as well as "screaming" sound of electricity.

[Runemaster]

I've forgotten how some SV unite spells looked like so I watched them on Youtube. Generally they are an improvement from unite spells from SIV. But then again, SII wins in Wind-Earth unite.

[7deuce]

jmo...suikoden 3 had the best animations

[AlOnZo]

Suikoden II's animations will forever remain my favorite, with the lightning rune leading the charge...

The animations of V were pretty average to be honest; IV's were better than that!

[Piisuke]

I would like to know as to why people think the animations of IV were better than V. IV mutilated the Soul Eater with its orbs. The Rune of Punishment wasn't memorable. The Wind/Cyclone Rune wasn't brilliant. I found the Earth Rune terrible and same goes for the Fire Rune. We're talking about animations right? I like the red haze of the Fire Rune, so in terms of graphics, I can say both have their strengths and weaknesses, but in terms of animations, I thought IV was woeful, so unless I'm remembering things different, what makes you feel the animations were better in IV?

[KFCrispy]

i really hated how many spells in IV that hit all enemies would go through each target (or group?) one by one. i hated the whole lack of formations in general.. Suikoden V's spells are definitely a let-down. I was thoroughly impressed by 2's, and 3 had the same quality in terms of art/animation. i feel the "directing" 3's battle system was the best, giving spells the correct amount of 'drama'.

[Runemaster]

I would also like to state how V ruined Pale Gate with its recycled animations. I am pretty sure that summoning a snake will not make icy winds, and both do not satisfy the spell name Pale Palace.

[Raww Le Klueze]

I am pretty sure that summoning a snake will not make icy winds, and both do not satisfy the spell name Pale Palace.

I'm pretty sure it does when the "snake" is actually the Water Dragon that blocks the path True Water Rune.

And I can't claim that summoning a pirate ship to fire at enemies has much to do with "Pale Palace" either. In fact, I can't really say I associate anything in particular with the words "Pale Palace", short of an actual pale palace dropping in.

[Runemaster]

Now, that you've mentioned it, it may have been the water dragon. Always thought of it as a Byakuren. Still, the animation of just wiggling there for a second and then disappearing followed by Breath of Ice is a little too lazy for the developers(or whoever decides these things).