How do duels work?

[KFCrispy]

The duel system is a little odd compared to Suikoden. I feel like they're pretty much fixed battles where you are supposed to build up the "Break" command and run a cinematic to end the fight.

I think Break will bring the enemy's HP to 0 unless they have a "break" line in their health bar, in which case Break will bring their HP to that line. So you can either use attacks (or counters, maybe) to try to bring their HP down past the break line and then use Break. Now in order to use Break, you pretty much need to spam the Counter command until it fills up.

Thoughts?

[Julian]

That's my impression as well. Use the two commands until you unlock break, which moves the fight forward.

Kinda disappointing mechanically, but the upside is they're really pretty and look amazing.

[Antimatzist]

Just finished my first duel. I think the weak point of duels in Suikoden was always that they are super easy and basically no challenge at all. So I prefer this more cinematic approach which puts visuals first, because that's always how Suikoden duels felt to me anyway.

When the vocals in that first duel started, I got goosebumps lol

[patapi]

The problem with Counter is that you continue to lose HP if the opponent hits you, while theirs remain unaffected.

Even if you hit Break faster, I can't say for sure if it's a better option over simply spamming Attack.

[Neclord X]

Just finished my first duel. I think the weak point of duels in Suikoden was always that they are super easy and basically no challenge at all. So I prefer this more cinematic approach which puts visuals first, because that's always how Suikoden duels felt to me anyway.

When the vocals in that first duel started, I got goosebumps lol

Well, it could be this cinematic and still be a bit more playable.
Ihave not seen every duel, but all the ones I saw were just indeed cutscenes. Very pretty very visual, bu I honestly see no reason for them to be actually playable as well.