the Empire of the North Star. Zenoa is said to have traveled there (and considering what she has with her, that counts for something), and Yula returned after hearing news of a civil war breaking out. The only other explicitly mentioned locations outside of the continent, the Chiefdom of Lonomakua and the United Kingdom of Ritterschild, are both said to be in good shape. No hint of war coming to those places, but it's certainly not out of the question. So there you go.

I just finished the game, in a very meticulous fashion mind you. I made sure I got all 108 stars (without resorting to a guide or anything), which meant I was frequently revisiting places after major plot advancements. But I love the Suikoden formula, so I largely enjoyed the star hunting.

Sadly, Tierkreis throws much of the Suikoden formula out the window. I very much join the consensus that this is a good game, but not a very good Suikoden game. The plot admittedly engaged me, since I'm a sucker for stories involving corruption. However the way the plot was structured, and the way everything was brought together was a tad irksome, like GB pointed out. But throughout the game, when not considering the world in the context of the Infinity, thereby eliminating all Suikoden connotations, I enjoyed the story.

The random battle encounters were extraordinarily frequent and insipid. I don't mind it much when there are heaps of random encounters, as long as the battle system is, well, fun enough to complement such potentially long gaming sessions. And the lack of an escape rope for those times when you venture deep into a monster-filled cavern to trigger a scene? Very, very frustrating. To briefly gloss over another element, the "mission" concept to the game was decent, if a bit monotonous and unrewarding. The game didn't pose much of a challenge, too; it's true that Suikoden games aren't known for their difficulty, but this game was almost laughable. I only had to use a revive spell or item three times during the whole game, and my Hero became such a powerhouse he destroyed almost anything in his path with little difficulty and minimal level grinding (and if you take Marica, Jale and Liu with you to the final battle, their co-op attack completely dominates).

Presentation, on the other hand, was detailed and enjoyable on every level for me. The menu interface was sound, and the graphics and music were wonderful. I especially like, as I mentioned before, the detail on lighting, and the look of some of the 2D backgrounds. The musical score is up to the high Suikoden standard, with a diverse range of cultural and dramatic pieces helping to emphasise the gorgeous locales and emotional scenes with skilled finesse.

I actually, contrary to most who have played the game, wasn't too annoyed by any of the voice acting. Occasionally I'd get a bit frustrated with certain lines or pieces of dialogue, but overall I thought that the voice acting was serviceable. Vaslof is one in particular who annoyed me though, and Nimni's voice was as ambiguous as it was irritating. Characters like Chrodechild and Diadora, however, had restrained voice actors who delivered every line, while not outstandingly, with great clarity of expression and tone.

The dialogue was mostly fine, though quite often it was way too cheesy and mundane. Occasional sparks of humour and wit (such as any scene with Macoute, Zenoa and others) were too often overshadowed by mindless praise of the Hero and his way of dealing with situations. He's your leader, you respect him; we get it. And on that note, albeit not in a negative sense, the characterisation was overwhelmingly solid, with a great fleshing out of each character's personalties and idiosyncrasies, as cliche as some of them were.

So overall, a great DS traditional RPG experience, one which had me for a good 50 hour playthrough. Suikoden purists will either dislike this or will have to overcome a huge obstacle to extract any enjoyment. Thankfully the presentation and story were good enough to hook me.