How You got into Suikoden

A forum for all general Suikoden related topics.
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BrucePrintscreen
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Joined: Sun Dec 15, 2013 2:58 am

Re: How You got into Suikoden

Post by BrucePrintscreen »

Despite being from the generation that grew up with videogames, I was not especially big into them. My little brother wanted a Super Nes so I played some. My father brought a computer home because he thought if he could train himself to use one he would find a better job (it worked), so I played some. But it was never my biggest hobby. I was more into playing music and reading stuff.

One summer, a friend of mine came to visit with a cartridge of Secret of Mana and said it was like Zelda but multiplayer, so with my brother and him we decided to play the game. It was a wonderful experience as we had the feeling we were a team embarked in an adventure. I have a wonderful memory of this summer, playing with the windows wide open and alterning between the game and a fresh drink in the garden. I also cherish this memory because, for some reasons, it is practically the only occasion I ever had to really bond with my brother (even today in our thirties, on the rare occasions when we meet, Secret of Mana is one of the rare things we can talk together about).

A while later my brother updated to the PlayStation. I was more interested in playing another kind of videogames: the adventures games of Lucasfilm/LucasArts. I enjoyed the Maniac Mansion and Monkey Island series a lot. There was the storytelling and the humour I enjoyed.

Then there was Final Fantasy VII announced everywhere as being the next Secret of Mana, made by the same guys, etc. So I played it. I really enjoyed it, I felt for the characters, I enjoyed the complexity of the storyline, the music, etc. But although it showed me how much potential there was in RPG games, there was still something that was impeding my experience: too fashionable, some nauseously kawaii stuff, a bit confusing at times, a lot of stereotypes in the end. When Final Fantasy VIII was out, I played it only a couple of hours before stopping: to me it looked like a bad parody of FFVII.

And then I saw on a magazine an add for an upcoming game: Suikoden. Funny enough, I remember very well the add for Suikoden said it was about "the cities of Jowstone", which in fact barely are mentioned in Suikoden 1. Anyway, the fact that it was made in 2D with sprites was more appealing to me than the recent trend of doing everything with horrible polygons for the sake of being 3D. And above all, the blurb for the story seemed really interesting.

Once again, I bought Suikoden in early summer. There was a distant cousin staying with us this time, he was older than I was, finishing his studies and doing an internship nearby so my parents hosted him. I remember being surprised that he would spend hours just WATCHING me play, and getting into the story. That's how powerful the story was.

The game really got me. Soon after, however, it was my turn to get into university and to dive head-first into poverty and struggle. This put an abrupt end to any videogaming ventures in my life. Only years later when I found myself with a few months between two jobs, did I downloaded a playstation emulator and played Suikoden again. By this time I discovered there were two sequels and I downloaded Suikoden 2. I found it absolutely awesome, and it remains my best gaming experience to that day.

Years passed again of making a life for myself and now I get into it again. I just played S4 and I have to find a way to play S3 and 5.
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ChannelF
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Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2014 8:33 pm

Re: How You got into Suikoden

Post by ChannelF »

The ad I spoke of mentioned you were fighting against the Red Moon Empire. While it was referred to as Scarlet Moon in SII and the unofficial strategy guide, it was only ever referred to in-game as the Empire.
zqrahll
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Joined: Thu Dec 15, 2005 5:10 pm

Re: How You got into Suikoden

Post by zqrahll »

I grew up with videogames-- had a Coleco with Pong back when I was about 5-- but had sort of put them aside by high school. Then the PS1 came out & my friends & brother all got me back into them. After FF7 got me hooked on RPGs, I asked friends for recommendations of other games to play. Suikoden 1 & FF6 (then called 3) were the games that I played next-- Suikoden 1 was one of the few disk games I ever rented that actually wasn't too scratched to play. A few days later, I bought a new copy for pretty cheap (I think I found it for about $20 back in 98) and played it a second time with a printed off walkthrough in order to get all 108 stars.

By the time I heard about Suikoden 2 coming out, I had the release date marked on my calendar & got it day 1 for $39.99. Does anyone else remember when brand new games cost something less than $60? The PS1 era was a great gen for JRPGs, with the first 2 Suikodens, 8 of the 9 FF games were released or ported to it, Chrono Trigger & Cross, Star Ocean 2, Jade Cocoon, Lunar, etc. For about 3-4 years they occupied most of my free time & helped me battle depression.
ABackdatedFuture
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Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:35 pm
Location: United States

Re: How You got into Suikoden

Post by ABackdatedFuture »

I heard one of my classmates constantly talking about how great the Suikoden series was back in 2003, so I asked for both I & II for my birthday. However, my mother could only find Suikoden II, and got me that (from a neighbor, who sold it to her for $5. I bet he's still kicking himself for that. :P)

From there, I played 2, then 1, then 2 again... and again... and again...
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