Suikoden Piracy

[darkphoenix]

So that s some good news for European players: we ll be able to play Suikoden in the same time as you guys in America !

[KC_MCDOHL]

Oh yea! I forgot all about this topic! I actuly went on a few torrent sites and tried to persuade Suikoden fans not to download Suikoden V unless the had the full intention of buying it afterwards. lol me and my passion it didn't go down too well!

[anokosa]

I refuse to touch pirate copies of Suikoden..

Someone offered me a copy of the first one, and I'd never played it before.. Turned it down, couldn't bring myself to do it..


Which actually reminds me.. I did eventually get it, but the disc got broke when I moved house.. Is there anyone willing to sell a copy??

[Runemaster]

Me? I thank piracy for making me discover Suikoden.
Played pirated copies I, II, IV, Tactics, V and Tierkreis first.
But now I have orig copies of them. Except for I. My seller offered a used copy for PhP10k or more than $200. Pricey. I didn't like I anyway. Got bored so didn't finish it.

[Raww Le Klueze]

I find the whole notion of "I like the series a lot, but I won't actually support it" very fascinating.

Buying the games used is in Konami's eyes no different from pirating them as it still gives zero revenue, so going "durr... I pirate first then I buy them used" doesn't really do that much for you so might as well just keep on pirating unless you have a collection purpose.

And if you managed to get through I to Tactics without being put off, is it really such a stretch to assume V is going to give a similair experience without the need to try it first? Yeah sure, for a garbagefest like Tierkreis I'd advice a lot of caution before buying but seriously, a main installment makes you hesitate? And you're supposed to be a Suikoden fan?

Not that it matters one lick at the moment as all the games are out of circulation so even if you find one new it still wouldn't matter if you bought it. Unless you get Suikoden off the PSN.

[Runemaster]

Trying and making sure it's good before buying isn't my case. I played all those games on pirated because nobody sells original Suikoden games anywhere. In fact, you'll find more pirated games here than orig ones. twas just last 2008 when I discovered eBay and bought the games for collection even if I've played them all.

[Noraibah]

Piracy was quite acceptable in South-East Asia in the early half of the 21'st Century; but no longer. Quite sad for the Middle Class and Lower Class,actually.

[Acrylic7]

I understand that piracy is difficult issue for any developer. But I don't think piracy is what ruined Suikoden. There are many other games that have been heavily pirated and still survive until today. For example Persona. I think what ruined Suikoden is the failure of Suikoden 4 and in effect make people less enthusiast to buy Suikoden 5. Not too mention if I am not wrong at that time, Suikoden 5 have to compete with Final Fantasy.

[Jastreb_J21]

All games are massively pirated, especially (but not only!) PC ones. The developers may spend time and money to make the game more secure, but there's always some handy little guy somewhere in Brazil or Ukraine who's going to crack the system and put the game on torrenting platforms.
Suikoden was killed by Final Fantasy; if piracy did kill games, there would be much more "dead" franchises.

[Rooks]

Well, I have some experience in this area, but first, an explanation:

So, I legally purchased the games as they came out here in the USA, but, they were all stolen from a storage unit that I had rented. As such, I ended up in something of a legal limbo here in the US. I was still the legal owner of those games, but, in order to play the games I legally owned but no longer had in my possession, I had to "pirate" them. See, US law allows you to have a single backup copy of media that you own, according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but you must produce that copy yourself.

So, in emulating the games I ended up in a weird legal limbo. Also, I could not afford to purchase physical copies of SI or SII at that time. While possessing Disc Images was technically legal for me, possessing the PlayStation BIOS code necessary to emulate the games was not. See, the PS BIOS is considered "hardware" not "media" under the law. . . so, I ended up half-pirating half-not.

In 2012, I helped found The Suikoden Revival Movement, in part because I literally wished to give Konami my money and acquire full-legal versions of the games. Because, obviously, I was not pirating for the sake of screwing over anyone. But, that's the rub here: I don't think that very many people at all "pirate" for the sake of screwing people over selfishly.

When it comes down to it, "Piracy" is largely about Price, Service, and Availability. In Indonesia and Malaysia, one reason Piracy was so commonplace in the 90s and aughts was because of Availability, Price, and Format. And in these days, State Censorship in, say, China and Russia plays a massive role in piracy. Very few people who pirate games do so totally maliciously. They do so because of economics, availability, censorship, and a boatload of other factors that are totally beyond their control.

Piracy does not kill games or franchises. In fact, we at the SRM saw the Suikoden Titles frequently rise to the top of the sales charts on the PSN, because people wanted legal, affordable, and available copies of their games.

[alberto90]

A bit late to the conversation, but I must agree with Rooks's comment. Although, there is a community of pirates that do it just so they don't have to give their money to companies that use intrusive anti-pirate programs like Denuvo that actually hinder the performance of the game (Resident Evil: Village had that issue, the pirated copy performed better than the legitimate one).

For the most part, however, I've noticed pirates mainly from countries like those listed above for the reasons listed above.