Ugh, why is this game not out yet in Australia? The first release date was late September (the 29th to be exact) and then October 6th...13th (?)...20th...25th! I went to my local game outlet today and they said their shipment still hasn't arrived. I was tempted to import from the UK around the start of the month, but I'm just so gullible when it comes to release dates. /rabble

Does anyone else in Australia have this game? Or am I just really unlucky? :(

^^ got it now. It really lives up to the hype, I think. Very Suikoden I&2-ish. I don't even think the load times are that big a deal. The only problem I do have is the towns, they are humongous. I've gotten lost in Sol-Falena several times.

The storyline's great; the graphics are wonderful, I believe, much better than it's predecessor's. And the soundtrack that accompanies the game is one of the best I've heard in a while. Good job, Konami.

I agree, the load times where not as bad as the reviews make it out to be... you get used to them.

I remember the only thing that sort of annoyed me about the load times was when I had just finished (or ran away from) one battle, and then suddenly it felt like I had taken all of two steps and was being thrown into another one. That just gave me the dreaded, "it's a battle......again" feeling.

Okay, I'm bumping this thread up to ask if anyone has heard anything about Suikoden VI?

Last month, Suikoden-producer Takahiro Sakiyama mentioned that developement op Suikoden 6 had already begun and that the game may have ties to other games in the series. No additional info has been released at this point .

Well, that sucks. I hope they stick with the style of Suikoden V.

This game got all the elements right.

I really hope I've come to the right place posting this...Anyhow, I picked up my Suikoden II playing, and when I sat there in the fight against the Silver Fox, I first remembered why I stopped playing (since I'm getting slaughtered by that thing) and soon I understood that I don't remember anything about what I need in order to kill it and how to fight it. Anyone who wants to help?

Silver Wolf... the final boss, right? There's not much to it, if I recall correctly. Just keep whacking the paws until the Rune weakens on its heads, then pummel them.

Or was it hit the heads until the Rune weakens? I dunno, just keep hitting the damn thing. There's no gimmick to the boss.

Just try to whack the arm/paw with the healing effect, since it would be an ass if it kept on regenerating.

Train up a powerhouse, such as Killey (who gets three rune slots and has a double attack). Put a Fury rune, Double-beat rune and a Double-strike rune and watch him pwn the battlefield. You could even add a Violence rune if you're patient enough (After losing half their HP, the user becomes Violent. Damage x5.)

As you can see I prefer a powerful physical fighter rather than a powerful magic fighter.

I may as well post about Suikoden V while I'm in this thread. I really liked it; good graphics, great music, great (as usual) gameplay and an awesome storyline. It's one of the best stories I've ever played through, with it being filled with such poignant scenes and plot twists (I loved the whole "Queen's Campaign" thing). My only nit-pick isn't regarding loading times but the frequency of the battles. It just got a bit out of hand sometimes. It would have been convenient if there were a character who had a skill which, say, halved the total encounters. Maybe Konami can do better on that next time.

Another thing which I found annoying was the difficulty of the same. I found it to be incredibly easy. Not a single game over in the whole playthrough, and I was sorely disappointed at the simplicity of the final battle. If I go back to playing it again, I think I'll use some mediocre characters in hope of a greater challenge.

Overall: 9/10

II>V>I>III>IV

I have played and finished only 4 Jap RPG's in my life. FFX,DDS1 and 2 and now SuikodenV.

SuikodenV anime looks theme,setting got me attracted at first but i never knew it will hook me up so much.

This game simply has best story of this year. Strong characters,each oozing out with respective personas, all welldesigned.

Agent to find about history of characters , one on one brawl/duels , melodious music and tight script etc all interweaved into a Great Story Epic.

Where other hated the long initial building of story,with only running from town to town and fewer fights, i loved it on other hand.


All 108 stars have more story/background than MGS3 cobraunit bosses(pun intended).

What i most found amamzing about story is that Betrayals ,Deaths and manipulations kicked in where i was least expecting. Took me off guard sometimes, and thus shocking.
These elements are placed perfectly on right character and righttime.

Cons

I found loading times really bad, specially in room to room, inside buildings.

Where environments are very artistic, there is no camera control to explore them totally. You only get one complete view when you first visit them and in cutscene,also its for few places not all.

That is true about the camera...I liked the overhead view well enough, but the world is so pretty, it would have been nice to see it from various angles. A couple towns pan around when you first enter though.

How about that...Something positive SIV has that V doesn't. Nevermind SIV's camera controls were annoying as all hell though and the enclosed, claustrophobic areas kind of defeated the purpose at times.

It's been awhile since I've played this and I can recall much of the adventure quite well and fondly. I really would love to see this entry get it's own anime, even it's just a cheap cash-in retelling of everything.

My brother and I finally completed IV tactics, and for me, it thoroughly brought my opinions on IV even lower.

I don't think I'll bother writing a full fledged review on a yawnfest, but here's a rundown on bad points.

Story: What? Who? When? WHO CARES. It was terrible. I remember this stretch where I just fell asleep when my brother was playing. I missed out on something with Lino, but no one really cares. The ending was

Gameplay: The battles were long and arduous, where each progressive battle resulted in your party being badly outnumbered. It wasn't exactly difficult, just annoying. Enemies will pop up, they will throw more elemental changes, yadda yadda. It was slow too, and it was hell of annoying to start over when someone dies permanently.

Sound: The voices were HORRIBLE. For me to say that they are as bad as Wild Arms 4 is stretching it, but it's pretty bad. Think about VAs reading dialogue in the most slow, boring tone of voice they can muster. The music is the same five battle songs over and over. And the chanting spell mutterance? What the heck is that?

Overall, bad game. Short game if not for the long arduous battles. Terrible voices. And it doesn't add ANY value to the Suikoden series, especially IV.

I also agree with you. I think the only weakness of the game is the easy battle. I don't train my party much but I can defeat the final boss not too difficult

Not to put a damper before anything officially has been stated but RPGFan ran a headline today saying Konami terminated development on several next-gen games including the rpg's it was working on. Suikoden VI I have a feeling might have gotten the axe since it was announced earlier in the year it was in development. I honestly hope that didn't happen but it wouldn't shock me as the sales in Japan for V were terrible. Thanks mostly in part to the unfortunate black sheep of the series being IV.

No, the series has always been a low-seller in every region, and had nothing to do with the quality of IV. Konami continues to develop them because it's the only RPG series that they have had any success establishing, and it's always a good idea for jack-of-all-trade developers to have flagship series for as many genres as possible.

That said, I'm fairly certain that VI is still alive and well. The producers have talked about their plans for the series in the long-term for way too long to have it axed.

That's if we were to assume that Suikoden VI is for the PS3. But, even if it were, I doubt Konami would stop making its most popular series. The company would be overrun with Suikoden zealots.....demanding to know the Yuber/Pesmerga story!

Is it fact or fiction that the series has usually sold better outside of Japan than inside of it? I heard that one time, but never really knew how concrete of a statement that was.

I am almost sure they never even announced what platform it would be made on. I think everyone assumed it would be PS3 or at worst PS2. Maybe they are taking everyones discontent with the series at heart about the loss of 2d sprites and going to develop it on something like the DS. It requires alot of money to develop now on the next gen and it hasn't ever felt comfortable in 3d. We'll see how it goes. It seems unbelievable they would terminate a series without something ala Xenosaga Episode 3 to finish the story.

MGS4 is taking all of Konami's money.
I have purchased Suikoden 3 and 4, and can't wait for suikden6.

Havent started playing it, comparitively how is the story of part 3 and 4.

Dude, 3 and 4 are the weak points of the series. SERIOUSLY WEAK POINTS.

Suikoden 3 is really bad. But i think the Suikoden 4 is good at the story, the music and the characters too. 4 is the series i like the most after 5.

Good news

Update : Konami announces officially on its Internet site that this information is erroneous, only the play Coded Arms: Assault was cancelled. The other listed plays do not have simply yet a date of exit. Famitsu also confirmed the error in its turn.

The other titles include new RPG and new Action/Adv. game for PS3. Also Grandia PS3,

I agree with the music part, Suikoden IV had really good OST compared to the III's OST. And the story wasn't that bad in IV, I agree. But for the characters, well... Most of the recruitable characters were faceless to me. It's like they were trying to fill all the places in SoD, and they had few hours to do so. Of course there were few memorable characters, like the first female Silverburg strategist, and Lino en Kuldes. It's just that I can hardly remember all of the IV's characters, compared to that fact that I can name all of the characters in other games in this series without thinking too much.