[Discussion] Reviews and Opinions of Suikoden II

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Oppenheimer
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[Discussion] Reviews and Opinions of Suikoden II

Post by Oppenheimer »

Reviews and opinions on certain games are generally disallowed at Suikosource. However, your friendly moderators and admins have noticed that there is a great love and need to discuss opinions and give reviews of the various Suikoden games in the series so these threads have been created!

In this thread you may discuss Suikoden II and give your reviews and opinions on it. You may refer to the other Suikodens but please keep the primary focus of the conversations about your opinions of Suikoden II. You may talk about plot, setting, gameplay or anything else.

Please keep all reviews and opinions to the stickies in each gameplay forum. This change in policy does not mean that the remainder of Suikosource is allowing opinions or reviews.

Enjoy!
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Simon M.
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Post by Simon M. »

I don't get it.. do I post it in here? And what do you mean by review?
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Oppenheimer
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Post by Oppenheimer »

Yup, you can post in here. By review, just a breakdown of how you think teh game went, they're usually broken into categories such as: plot, gameplay, music, replayability. See the GameFAQ reviews for more details. You don't *have* to post one if you don't want to. It's just now an option that wasn't avaliable before.
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Feldoon
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Post by Feldoon »

To me, Leon showed he could be an utter bugger when it comes to strategy. That and what's learned in I about the Kalekka incident, I consider him more "evil" (lax use of the word) than Luca.
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Kirkis
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Reasons why Suikoden II is so great

Post by Kirkis »

Here are some reasons why I think Suikoden II is everyone's favorite.

#1. Transfering Data, this was a HUGE thing and it was the first time I've ever heard of this being done between sequels.

#2. Seperate Main Character and storyline, yet favorites (and some unfavorites) from Suikoden 1 returned in Suikoden 2.

#3. Versatility of the Rune system with 3 slots and a LOT of crazy new runes to play with. As well as the embed system.

#4. Luca Blight and Jowy were very unique villains. You could really tell how evil Luca was and it gave you a good sense of 'Man... this guy's an ass, he's so dang strong... he needs to die.' and Jowy's betrayal was pretty crazy for it's time.

I think if any of the other suikodens could benefit from Suikoden 2, it'd be by doing the following:

Taking the Embed Rune system for weaponry instead of making you use actual rune slots for stuff like Poison, etc. (Like they made you do in Suikoden 5), and try to focus on returning characters more, but not like 20+ returning characters, but atleast 5 or 6. Suikoden 5 did a pretty decent job with this.
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Feldoon
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Re: Reasons why Suikoden II is so great

Post by Feldoon »

Kirkis wrote:and Jowy's betrayal was pretty crazy for it's time.
Aye, same here.

First time I played Suikoden II (as well as all the other Suikodens), I really put myself as the Hero and got attached to Jowy. Hell, I was initially shocked by Jowy's killing of Anabelle but later saw he had good intentions. I was so convinced of that that I was certain the game was about to end after I killed Luca. Seeing as I trusted Jowy to sign the peace treaty in Muse, I didn't expect him to turncoat there. And that's what made me hate him.
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Post by Destiny's Warrior »

When I first played Suikoden II, I was just a mere Graphics whore. When the screen came on with Jowy walking through the Highland Unicorn Brigade Camp, I was like "GTFO! Sucks..." Not those exact words obviously, but I immediatly judged the game on purely graphics alone. Luckily! I played into it, and fell in love with it, and thus I was ridded of my Graphic Whore ways! Huzzah!

The Storyline just captured me, and christ knows how much money I pent renting it out over my Summer Holidays from my local Video Store. (Too much.) I admit it was the first RPG I played and I was 11-12 (16 now). Being a first timer, and still in my Graphics phase, I took no notice of Music, Gameplay etc. But with replaying it a few years later I began noticing these things, and that just captured me more.

Obviously, if you're a die hard Suikoden II fan, you'd immediatly say, "Suikoden II is teh bst game eva!" Though in reality there were a few disinteresting parts in the game, which don't make this game quite invincible, and almost quell the fact that it could match FF VII (in somepeople's mind), cause that's just insanity...

Now, getting on topic with this review, which is my first. Gameplay. I was satisfied with the gameplay. It certainly kept me occupied and took my money... Music. Beautifully composed and well suited for certain events and areas it was used. It certainly creates an atmosphere in your mind if you like it.

Storyline! The big one! The core and heart of a Video Game. Suikoden II's storyline was ace. In some areas. Overall though you could conclude it was spot on. Superb. Amazing. Fantasmic or even mind blowing for some.

Jowy's involvement was great. And the way he was developed throughout the game was awesome. I was interested in his story, and craved more, heh. I liked the tension and friendship between him and Riou and I felt it was shown brilliantly. This, as it was meant, made this game, Suikoden II.

To conclude my short and not very good, if you can even call it a review, I bid you farewell. Heh. I've probably broken the rules somewhere along the line. :lol:
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Post by Kirkis »

Actually, I'd like to not steer entirely off topic, but, I think the FFVII reference is not needed. FF7 and Halo and even GTA are all in a category of their own, not because of their awesomeness, but because of something important they did... like Halo brought the FPS genre to the console for the first time ever (It was done before, but never really good, plus it was the first time people really did co-op/multiplayer on a console), FF7 made EVERYONE an RPG fan practically because Square did a good job marketing it, GTA was a lot of peoples first experiences with a sandbox styled game and it was violent to boot...

So... not to go entirely off topic, and if you'd like to talk more about it message me, but for the most part, Suikoden II isn't the best RPG game in the world, but it's plot line really makes it close.
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Post by Feldoon »

Kirkis wrote:like Halo brought the FPS genre to the console for the first time ever (It was done before, but never really good, plus it was the first time people really did co-op/multiplayer on a console)
Lies.

When the PS2 first launched a game called "TimeSplitters" was one of the launch titles. Albeit a tad rushed with an incomplete feel, it was sheer brilliance.

You could go even further back to TimeSplitter's "spiritual predeccesor", namely Goldeneye for the N64. Yes the control was a bit dodgy but it was well known and well played.

So although Halo might be iconic, it's not for the reason you described. It's more along the lines of one of the Xbox's first flagship titles. And was then ported to PC.
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Post by Destiny's Warrior »

Kirkis wrote:Actually, I'd like to not steer entirely off topic, but, I think the FFVII reference is not needed.
Probably not, but I was just expressing my view on that matter. I meant nothing against FF OR Suikoden with saying it.

I don't want to further it on through PM either. And I don't want to get too off topic here as well. It was just my small review.
Last edited by Destiny's Warrior on Sat Sep 02, 2006 3:27 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Kirkis »

Well, it's just one of those things, the gaming generation doesn't remember the good games of old, but only the 'big game' of the current generation, because as soon as video games hit 3D, a lot more 'older folks' jumped on the gaming bandwagon (Like 20-30 age bracket). It's why good games like Time Splitters, Doom, Any SNES RPG, and a lot of other games are just forgotten.
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Feldoon
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Post by Feldoon »

Kirkis wrote:Well, it's just one of those things, the gaming generation doesn't remember the good games of old, but only the 'big game' of the current generation, because as soon as video games hit 3D, a lot more 'older folks' jumped on the gaming bandwagon (Like 20-30 age bracket). It's why good games like Time Splitters, Doom, Any SNES RPG, and a lot of other games are just forgotten.
Text based RPGs FTW!
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Kirkis
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Post by Kirkis »

haha, you enter a room, there is a desk, you can go north, south, or east.

Obviously there is a lot more adjectives and stuff... but, yeah text based RPGs were pretty fun back when, unfortunately japan doesn't think games like those would sell well, and they probably wouldn't since most of the mainstream audience is graphics concerned gamers... :(
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Feldoon
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Post by Feldoon »

Look desk
"The desk appears tidy and well organised. There are three drawers; top, middle and bottom"
Open top drawer
"The draw springs open and a loaded boxing glove on a spring whacks into you, knocking you out. When you awake, you find yourself naked in a padded room."
Look
"There is nothing but white foam."
Get
"There is nothing but white foam."
Buttsex
"Your do not have the item "Vaseline" in your inventory."
Scream
"There is nothing but white foam."
</stupidity>
---
That's why you get the imaginative indy developers doing one.

Personally, I wish to head into the game business. If I were to make a game, I would always yell "TEXT BASED RPG MINI GAME WHEN THE MAIN CHARACTER FINDS A PC!!! ;>.>"

Why? Why not. Those games are awesome if done right.
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Post by Nemesis »

Feldoon... What is the point of your comment? I don't get the joke..
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