How is it that game reveiwers give Suikoden bad reveiws

[kratoscar2008]

The problem is that most reviewers likes the already stablished series like FF and dont give a damm for other Series like Suikoden or Growlanser and at the end they compare it at say "Its not like FF, screw this".

Sadly it happens my sister is like them i said to her to play Suikoden 5 or Growlanser, and her comment?

Its not like FF, and stopped playing it, its sad.

[Antimatzist]

Well, but what's "like FF"? I think the games are very different from each other, and newer games have few to do with older games in gameplay...

[kratoscar2008]

Well, but what's "like FF"? I think the games are very different from each other, and newer games have few to do with older games in gameplay...

I cant explain it, its a kind of feeling that FF games give when you play it that make them apart from other franchises (except XIII that isnt anything like FF)

[Antimatzist]

I rather guess that gaming magazines give FF better scores than other J-RPGs because Square-Enix is putting a lot of ads in these magazines, and the magazines don't want to lose that money. At least in music magazines, most reviews are bought by the labels, I guess it's similar in the video game business.

[kratoscar2008]

I rather guess that gaming magazines give FF better scores than other J-RPGs because Square-Enix is putting a lot of ads in these magazines, and the magazines don't want to lose that money. At least in music magazines, most reviews are bought by the labels, I guess it's similar in the video game business.

It could be, maybe since most reviewers give ff good scores, if someone doesnt agree too then they can be judged as a bad reviewer and you dont want that.

It doesnt explain why games like suikoden are given bad reviews in general.

[Antimatzist]

I rather guess that gaming magazines give FF better scores than other J-RPGs because Square-Enix is putting a lot of ads in these magazines, and the magazines don't want to lose that money. At least in music magazines, most reviews are bought by the labels, I guess it's similar in the video game business.

It could be, maybe since most reviewers give ff good scores, if someone doesnt agree too then they can be judged as a bad reviewer and you dont want that.

It doesnt explain why games like suikoden are given bad reviews in general.

Because publishers of lesser know games dont pay that much, and I highly doubt that Konami is buying their Suikoden reviews. Of course this is all speculation, but I guess nowadays thats one possible explanation..

[Ernst]

I agree. I played Suikoden II long before I read reviews, and when I did read reviews, I was stunned at how poor the scores for Suikoden II were. In my mind, it was a masterpiece, and I really was just shocked. This coming from someone who only played Final Fantasy RPGs before Suikoden.

[Hirathien]

Well. Just take Final Fantasy XII as an example. The critics really loved that game and the fans were divided, some people liked it, some hated it's pure existence. Not always will the reviews and the people playing it agree with each other.

Here in Sweden we got some really bad reviewers, who basically will laugh at anything that's out of their field. Should you trust those reviews? Maybe. But it's better to ask the general players, what they thought of something. Player reviews > Other reviews

[kratoscar2008]

Well. Just take Final Fantasy XII as an example. The critics really loved that game and the fans were divided, some people liked it, some hated it's pure existence. Not always will the reviews and the people playing it agree with each other.

Here in Sweden we got some really bad reviewers, who basically will laugh at anything that's out of their field. Should you trust those reviews? Maybe. But it's better to ask the general players, what they thought of something. Player reviews > Other reviews

thats why i visit forums, to see what the general view on games, I like erns have come out from the grip of FF and found a lot of awesome games, including suiko 5 so far.

I played FF 12, i liked the game but it doesnt lived up to the hype.

Professional reviewers arent true gamers, their opinion is biased and dont play games on their totallity.Is sad how much people discard a game just because those reviews

[LanceHeart]

I'd love to trust either professional reviews or forums/user reviews, but both are far too biased for my liking.

Professional reviews tend to be good or bad depending on the likes of the individual reviewer, leading to far too good or too poor scores depending on who's reviewing the game at a publication.

Forums/users/fans tend to be hardliners in what they believe a series/franchise should be.

Take Suikoden as an example: Tierkreis is by far the worst game in the franchise to call itself Suikoden, but it's still a solid and classic JRPG with decent storytelling and fun gameplay. It was almost universally reviled on the many boards that were devoted to Suikoden at its release, but reviewers who weren't specifically fans of Suikoden tended to give the game fairly high marks because of how good it is within its genre and on the platform it was made for.

[Antimatzist]

For reviews, I mostly check gamefaqs and look at the best, the worst and a medium review. So I get quite a good understanding if I might like the game.

[kratoscar2008]

For reviews, I mostly check gamefaqs and look at the best, the worst and a medium review. So I get quite a good understanding if I might like the game.

exactly, i dont see the score to decide a buy i see multiple user review see what the game offers and if is good enough i test it and if i like it i get it. In suiko 5 case i didnt do that given the slow introduction since it had my favorite archetype in any game, the silent protagonist.

[ninjaluc79]

Well, but what's "like FF"? I think the games are very different from each other, and newer games have few to do with older games in gameplay...

- Multi-pool MP, which threw off some FF players.
- Mages don't get to use all the spells at the same time, and you have to equip a specific rune to get a specific type of spells.
- You can't use Phoenix Down, you have to equip something to be able to revive when killed, only two spells can revive dead allies: a Full-Revive that comes way too late into the game, and a 25% Revive spell from THE most useless rune in the game.
- Spell order sucks.
-- Lv1 spell = Useful early game, useless end-game
-- Lv2 spell = Useless for the entire game
-- Lv3 spell = VERY Useful
-- Lv4 spell = Some Useful (Thor Shot), Some Useless (Storm Warning from S2, Silent Lake)
-- Lv5 spell (Lv4 from high-tier rune) = OVERPOWERED
-- Rune Unite = GODLIKE
- A LOT OF CHARACTERS. Which isn't really a problem UNLESS you assume they have to be usable in random battles and you have to level up everyone. YOU DON'T. You only level up plot-critical characters + whoever you want and leave the rest alone. Non-combat characters are actually useful because they run the mini-games.

[sticky-runes]

One thing I'm glad the suikoden games steered away from is those summon spells. Yes, we get the Blue Gate rune, but they are not those long-winded fancy animated cut scenes of some dragon descending from outer space or a slutty goddess emerging from the ice. Those summon spells may look impressive, but they really don't add anything to the over all story. I would rather the game keep it's budget to creating cut scenes that help tell the main story.

The suikoden games are very centered around their own story. Even when you meet minor characters, they are there to give their own input on the war that's going on and how it affects them. They may or may not be the best games in the whole world, but they are consistent and they give me the experience that I'm looking for.

[Antimatzist]

Well, but what's "like FF"? I think the games are very different from each other, and newer games have few to do with older games in gameplay...

- Multi-pool MP, which threw off some FF players.
- Mages don't get to use all the spells at the same time, and you have to equip a specific rune to get a specific type of spells.
- You can't use Phoenix Down, you have to equip something to be able to revive when killed, only two spells can revive dead allies: a Full-Revive that comes way too late into the game, and a 25% Revive spell from THE most useless rune in the game.
- Spell order sucks.
-- Lv1 spell = Useful early game, useless end-game
-- Lv2 spell = Useless for the entire game
-- Lv3 spell = VERY Useful
-- Lv4 spell = Some Useful (Thor Shot), Some Useless (Storm Warning from S2, Silent Lake)
-- Lv5 spell (Lv4 from high-tier rune) = OVERPOWERED
-- Rune Unite = GODLIKE
- A LOT OF CHARACTERS. Which isn't really a problem UNLESS you assume they have to be usable in random battles and you have to level up everyone. YOU DON'T. You only level up plot-critical characters + whoever you want and leave the rest alone. Non-combat characters are actually useful because they run the mini-games.

And that's my problem with "Like FF".
- The first game has the same MP system (even more divided and utterly compicated)
- every game has, inf act, a different magic system so you are in a lot of games even more restricted than in Suikoden.
- iirc most good revive spells come also really late in FF. And to compensate for that, dead characters are revived with 1 HP after battle (except for Suikoden, but iirc you can heal dead characters normally)
- the character-amount... well, how's that a problem with a systemthat is so grinding-free and playerfriendly lie Suikoden? I stopped playing FF VI because I had a main party and the rest was underleveled, but there are some dungeons where you have to split your group. I needed to grind, and that was a pain. in Suikoden, leveling up a second party takes, I don't know,5 minutes (and 20 minutes to gather enough money for max. equipping them. At least midgame,the blacksmith gets really expensive)

You know, I just think that FF is a bad choice to compare the games with since FF games are in itself too different from each other.

I hope future games give Suikoden more attention. I recently played the Epic Micky demo on 3DS and the HQ system looks fun, I think they even call it "The Fortress" or something.