What sub game would you like to see in a future suikoden?

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sticky-runes
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What sub game would you like to see in a future suikoden?

Post by sticky-runes »

By sub game, I mean like the cook-off in Suikoden 2 where we see characters taking part in different activities or contests besides what we normally get up to in Suikoden games.
In Suikoden 3 we had the theater which was kind of nice putting characters into different roles and watching the outcome.
Suikoden 4 had the confession room which was interesting because it gave the player the opportunity to judge characters instead of being judged.
Suikoden 5 didn't really come up with anything to replace the cook-off as far as I remember, the fishing game was quite good but it only involved fixed dialogue between certain characters, we didn't see participation from any one else.

So, what sort of sub game would you like to see where characters give us a laugh as we take a break from the main story? any crazy ideas? Drinking competition? Chinese whispers?

I think a dance contest would be quite good. It would require a LOT of animation work to have all those different characters dancing, but I can always dream. We haven't had any dancing SODs since Karen and she only danced with the main hero, but watching how different characters would approach dance, maybe some characters would be clumsy and tripping over while some would be surprisingly good, and the player can sit back and judge the performance. Strictly Suikoden!
Wolkendrache
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Re: What sub game would you like to see in a future suikoden

Post by Wolkendrache »

Well, the dancing competition in S2 actually had some potential. Add more dance songs, make it more complex, involve more characters, and this could be fun.

I would like to see an epic dance choreography performed by several characters at once. I mean, watch the video below, but imagine it is the hero in the front, and characters like Valeria, Lorelai, Rina, Jeane, Anita, Cleo, Sonya as first row dancers (or any characters you like to have there); wouldn’t that be an awesome, sexy and funny Suikoden scene?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG_pNHQleIQ (the real epicness starts at 4:04)
"Within the four seas, all men are brothers" Shuihu Zhuan
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Pyriel
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Re: What sub game would you like to see in a future suikoden

Post by Pyriel »

I hate rhythm games in general, and Suikoden 2's was buggy and fiddly enough to make it something I routinely forget about. Frankly, introducing a rhythm mini-game feels like peeling away everything that makes games seem fun, in favor of letting you interact with the underlying logic of it. When you get down to it, many action games can be reduced to a rhythm game if you like. For example, Punch-out, especially when you've learned the patterns of the other fighters. Only during certain frames are they vulnerable, and only during other frames do you get bonuses for landing. Once you learn a pattern, the whole thing can be reduced to punching buttons in the right order at the right times. In theory, you could remove Little Mac and the other fighters, and just have the player respond to certain prompts with a limited set of actions based on their preferences. However, doing so would remove even the illusion of a fight, and rob the game of any fun. Rhythm games do exactly that, often replacing the fictional struggle with nothing but blinking lights and fascinating sounds. I guess what I'm saying is I want designers to put more effort in, if they want to fool me into thinking that I'm accomplishing something fun.

I could go for more battle arenas. I sort of wonder if this franchise would have benefited from having its own Sephiroth. A popular, malignant, and enigmatic figure who could appear in multiple titles as a legendary side boss or something. I felt like Yuber was approaching that territory at times, but they never explored him enough for it to quite materialize. Given the original vision, where he can only be properly explained as part of the last game's plot, they probably couldn't.

One thing that could be cool is something along the lines of a Where In the World Is Carmen San Diego game. I haven't really thought it through too far, but the general idea is that you'd have to backtrack through locations you've previously visited, trailing a criminal or fugitive of some sort. And the clues would be based on information you could gain about the towns by talking to everyone or by examining landmarks, signage, and so forth. It would give you a good reason for talking to everyone, aside from hoping vainly they'll say something funny, or give you money or items.
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BrucePrintscreen
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Re: What sub game would you like to see in a future suikoden

Post by BrucePrintscreen »

Oh I hate dancing games, like Pyriel said they are so approximative and annoying, I would not want that again, ever! Rythm based games are always a pain in the butt.

There could be a sort of Sim City-like simulation to build your own castle. Like, when it expands, you have to chose where you want to put this room or that room, where characters should reside or work, etc. That would be a fun addition.
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sticky-runes
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Re: What sub game would you like to see in a future suikoden

Post by sticky-runes »

A dancing game doesn't necessarily have to involve button mashing in a sequence, it could just be a unique animation for each character, or perhaps a selection of dance routines that you decide, and then the animation plays out accordingly. I'm thinking of it as more like an alternative to Suikoden 3's theater, or those performance events in some of the Final Fantasy games, where you decide what character will perform which dance, then watch the performance play out based on your decisions, rather than a tedious button mashing game. If a character is a crap dancer, then the fun will be in watching him or her attempting the routine, we don't have to worry about our own timing skills.

River Dancing would be a good excuse to bring in the Celtic Suikoden tracks! :wink:

How about word association games? Get characters in a circle and come up with words related to a subject in the Suikoden world (town names, spell names, weapon names, types of armour, etc.) and when it's the player's turn you get a selection of words (one is a correct answer) and if you get it right every time you win... something. If you get it wrong, something hilarious can happen.

Perhaps this could be a drinking game that takes place in the tavern, and a character takes a swig every time he or she gives an incorrect response.

A drinking game can include a booze meter for each character, and when the booze meter is full, that character is out.
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Re: What sub game would you like to see in a future suikoden

Post by Wolkendrache »

I love the idea about giving the player some editing options...

- As for the castle, it's a great idea, a little hard to imagine though. A mere placing of characters and objects is boring imo, but it would be awesome if you could design the whole structure of the building. Great idea, Bruce.
- You could do the same for dancing choreographies. Actually I just want to see various characters dance. Suikoden has so many different cultures, music and dancing is a great way to express/display them. The dancing Kobolds in S2 wa a good idea (it actually looked koboldish), but I never understood why they were dancing to the winger theme instead of the kobold theme. Anyway, the songs for dancing should be exclusive dance songs, not a theme you already got sick of, and it should be in the style/culture of the performers.
- Another idea for editing would be some kind of paint editor, where you must design your own banner, which will then be displayed on your castle walls etc. This means you have to prove your skills before laughing about Viktor ;-)
Pyriel wrote:I could go for more battle arenas.
A battle arena with several modes like in Star Ocean 2 would be nice. Great way to experiment with character compositions etc. without having to leave/enter the castle all the time.
"Within the four seas, all men are brothers" Shuihu Zhuan
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sticky-runes
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Re: What sub game would you like to see in a future suikoden

Post by sticky-runes »

Actually I just want to see various characters dance. Suikoden has so many different cultures, music and dancing is a great way to express/display them. The dancing Kobolds in S2 wa a good idea (it actually looked koboldish), but I never understood why they were dancing to the winger theme instead of the kobold theme. Anyway, the songs for dancing should be exclusive dance songs, not a theme you already got sick of, and it should be in the style/culture of the performers.
Oh yeah, humanoid races and tribal characters could have some interesting ritual or celebration dances. And knightly/noble/royalty class characters would likely have some ball dancing experience. The towns always do have their own anthems, so the music could include different renditions of them.
Maybe it doesn't even have to be a dancing sub game, but just something that occurs when you access the dance floor with certain characters in your group, much like the bath scenes. there can be some graceful elegant dances between some characters, and goofy dances with others.

Castle designing could be like the Hearthfire content on Skyrim, where you decide which room goes where, and you'd need access to materials to build each room. As it's Suikoden, then you'd have to choose your rooms carefully, depending on which characters you've recruited. So if you've recruited a blacksmith, you won't be able to have him work on your weapons until you've built a smithy for him to work in. And if you build a diner early, you won't be able to start making profits from it until you've recruited a chef, that sort of thing.

Banner designing is a nice idea. The game could provide different elements to add to a banner of your choice, but another nice touch would be, with the way gaming technology has advanced, we could import our own imagery to be used in the game. Maybe when we've recruited an artist like Ivanov or Jude, and built an art gallery in our HQ, we could access an online gallery that lets us view other players' artwork and buy images from each other! I don't know if there are any modern games that currently allow this sort of thing.

Of course, this is going into network gaming territory, which is all good I suppose, but I'm thinking more about gaming features related to the storyline and where we can have fun with the characters.
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