Is Suikoden Educational?

[Runemaster]

Linguistics? No...

At least for some people with their nation having English as their primary language.

[amelia108]

politics maybe? a bit? a lot of the characters tend to do things that don't make sense, but they work out for the greater good. a lot of the strategists for one, several villains, etc.

[Sagiri]

I'm more strategic. I can figure things out quicker, so if I was ever in a war with archers infantry and cavalry I would know what to do

[Icegryphon]

I didn't bother reading all the subsequent posts after the first one as I'm getting into this topic late.

But yes I think that Suikoden caters to the usual gamer but also the smart gamer who likes to complete a lot. So yeah, if you do everything necessary in the game, and really pay attention to the story...well not sure if it makes you smarter, but definitely takes a smarter person to appreciate it all. There's way too much going on I think.

[Bernadette Egan]

I learned a few words from it... I was talking with someone the other day about how we learned new words from video games when we were younger.

[Belcoot4]

Suikoden can be very educational on many levels. The dialogue is very lenghty and usualy contains advance vocabulary for the most part. It teaches team work, a number of people coming together to reach a common goal with life and death as the consequences. Also equality, each series introduces a number of different races may they be fictional or not the moral of the story is 'beings' of various races, religons, and creeds all interacting with one another. As mentioned above it takes an above average educationed person to fully grasp all the points of the story, wheather it be the symbolism, sarcasim, or irony. I'm not saying playing Suikoden is going to make anybody a genius but it does take a little education and common sense to understand it.

[lungfish]

i would say most great RPGs are.
Suikoden fits in perfectly.

[Icegryphon]

You don't have to learn something specific for something to be educational. It doesn't have to increase the size of your vocabulary or something. I think Suikodens are "Educational" in that it makes you think dynamically, outside the box, otherwise you wouldn't be able to get all characters or follow the story.

[Lord Awesomeguy]

Let us define for a moment what it means to be educational.

First off, I would argue that Suikoden, and video games in and of themselves, are NEVER capable of being educational if you look at them from anthropomorphic the point of view. Suikoden is an inanimate object. Playing through Suikoden can be educational.

Second, I believe that doing anything can be educational if you allow it. I think a better question is "Could playing through Suikoden games yield educational results?"

Those that have learned or have had their English-speaking skills affected by playing through Suiko would likely attest to this. Others, myself included, would site different examples of how playing through Suiko has taught them something in some fashion. Much have I learned by playing through and studying the elements of an effective strategy battle. If someone traveling in an adjacent vessel were to cast me off discourteously, I simply blast them to hell with my RUNE CANNON OF DEATH!!

Or... take Egberts memorable ejaculation, "BASH HIS EXECRABLEMALEFICENT RANCOROUSDAMNABLEFACE! DEVIL! PERFIDIOUSMISERABLEODIOUSWRESTCH!"

Short answer, no with a but. Long answer, yes with an if...