| Peter |
Mar 23, 2006 03:48 AM |
I'll be getting the game soon, but I first want to finish the new Shadow Hearts (which I've only just started), I'm really anticipating this one.
In other news, I recently finished Suikoden Tactics, and I've taken the liberty to review it:
Quote:
I’ve been interested in the Suikoden Series since the third game, and after tracking down the first two, it has quickly grown to become one of my favourite RPG series. Unfortunately, IV was a disgrace in comparison to its predecessors, and for a moment, I feared that this would be the start of the decline of the Suikoden world. Now that Suikoden Tactics, the first strategy RPG set in the Suikoden Universe, has been released, it looks like there are steps being taken towards the old glory and epic view that I loved in the first games. It’s already a huge improvement when you compare it to IV, but alas, there are still some flaws to be found. Please note that this review will contain inevitable spoilers for its predecessor.
The story is a direct sequel to Suikoden IV. The Island Nations have declared their independence, and Fort El-Eal has been destroyed, together with the Giant Tree, one of Kooluk’s symbols of power. Now, a group of adventurers from the Scarlet Moon Empire is investigating the Rune Cannons and their main power source, an entity from another world called the Evil Eye. It’s not for too long that they discover that the Kooluk Empire is making manoeuvres again, and gathering the remaining Rune Cannons for a mysterious purpose.
Suikoden Tactics’ story is surely a step up from the one we had in IV. From the first hour or so, it already managed to captivate me more than its prequel. The game starts out with a flashback, which teaches you the characters motivation to search for the rune cannons, and from the scenes following that, you get an epic feeling that IV was lacking. The few naval battle scenes that the game has look a lot better than the boring strategic battles. The story also concludes the start that IV made, by giving an answer to some of the unresolved connections between certain characters, and even better, it gives us a lot more insight in the Kooluk Empire. Despite being the main enemy in IV, you barely get to see a glimpse of its motivations, and you don’t know who’s pulling strings behind the scenes. Tactics manages to give more insight in this, and it provided me with a satisfying conclusion.
Unfortunately, the story has its flaws. For one, some of the plot lines are too predictable, and feel forced. It’s clear that Tactics’ story was thought up after IV had already been released, and they had no choice to force a few changes through. The biggest problem I had was the Evil Eye. You know where it’s coming from, what it can do, but there’s still something lacking. I personally would have found it much more interesting if the Rune Cannons drew their power from a True Rune, which would make Tactics important in comparison to the other Suikoden games. Now it feels like nothing major has been accomplished, and the story is overly insignificant in the Suikoden universe. It is nice to see a glimpse of the higher forces that are controlling the world, as was hinted in IV before.
The three main characters, Kyril, Andarc and Seneca get more than enough screenplay and are developed pretty well, and some of the other major story characters (Kika, Simeon, Corselia), also get more than enough light shed upon. A great feature is the rest option when you enter the caravan, where you can see various interactions between the members of your group, which gives you more insight in their relations. You’ll also see some familiar faces, not only from IV, but also from other Suikoden games, like Jeane, the mysterious runemaster.
A problem is that most of the character development happens before you actually recruit them, after which they are hardly shown at all. Take Kika for example, she has a rather big role in the flashback in the beginning, and in the first hours of the actual game, but afterwards, she only makes one or two insignificant appearances. This is the understandable nature of strategy games, something that also bothered me in Final Fantasy Tactics, but I guess it can’t be helped.
As for graphic, it’s obvious that not much time and money was spend on this, which is the main complaint that people will have. Personally, I really like it. While you can’t actually walk around cities or fields, you are presented with some nice artwork, which will be familiar to those who played IV. Battle Maps also look great, although it would be nice if they were a had a more complex design, since they are pretty straightforward now. Character animations look awesome, in my opinion. They are not too detailed, but they move fluid, and look nice with overall bright colours. I generally don’t care about the graphics, so it really doesn’t bother me that much that there isn’t as much detail as most gamers would expect.
The only minor disappointment is the character artwork for Kyril and Andarc, which makes them look incredibly dull, and the spell animations, which have been imported straight from IV, and don’t really have the majestic feeling that was shown in II or III. I doubt that we’ll ever see CG used for spell effects, like it was in II, in a next Suikoden instalment.
As for music, there isn’t much variety in the chosen tracks. Most of the tunes are pleasant, and some of them even remind me of FF Tactics battle themes. There is one theme in particular, that plays during sad scenes or during resting that I really like, and it reminds me of the old favourites from the Playstation Suikoden games. I wish I could say the same from the main opening theme, but it’s just not as good as Transcending Love (III) or La Mer (IV).
Voices are a mixed bag for this one. While most of the characters have decent voices, there are some moments in the game where they can sound incredibly dull. This is not to say that they are bad, in fact, Kyril’s voice actor does an excellent job in some particular scenes, but the quality isn’t consistent. There have also been changes, Lino El Kundes, the king of Obel has a new voice, which I don’t understand since the one in IV was perfect for the job, and one of the better voices in the game.
The gameplay is the biggest factor that can make or break a game. The first steps that Suikoden takes in the tactical RPG genre are done pretty well. While the system is not as complex as Final Fantasy Tactics, you still need to carefully plan your manoeuvres. One of the main factors that can decide the outcome of a battle is the terrain element. Each character has a specific element (thunder, fire, water, wind or earth), and when they step on a tile with that element, they recover health, and their stats improve. But if they step on a tile of the opposite element, their stats decrease and take damage. The game gives you items that let you change the terrain elements, but the enemy can also change this. The best tactic in battle is to set up a good terrain defence, but keep in mind that the enemy will do the same.
Aside from that, it’s a nice combination of traditional Suikoden gameplay elements, like the use of Runes, each with four different levels of spells, blacksmithing to improve your weapons, and typical Tactical RPG elements, doing more damage from behind, limited move range, etc. The overall battle system is enjoyable, challenging for some specific battles and easy to learn. I don’t see a lot of flaws, except for character deaths. Characters that play an important role in the story don’t die when their health hits zero, but they withdraw. Characters that don’t have a significant role and can be recruited optionally, will only rarely withdraw, instead they’ll die for good. This can be incredibly frustrating later on in the game, when you’ve spent hours powering up a character, only to have them die in a few seconds. This is the main reason that I often have to restart battles, and it made me throw around the controller in frustration.
Aside from the battle system, the main gameplay comes from the quest guild. You start out with some easy fetch quests, but as you do more quests, your rank increases and you get harder missions. The common reward for a completed quest is money and skill points, used to activate skills that can fine tune your character, and the occasional piece of armour or recovery item. The most time-consuming quests are the one that force you to explore the Ruins of Obel, which brings me to the next point. The Ruins of Obel is a 6 floor dungeon, with an elemental chamber at the bottom, that offers some of the strongest enemies in the game. The levels get progressively harder, and the Elemental Chambers are the hardest battle fields in the game, that will require careful planning and positioning, but the rewards can be huge.
One last point of criticism is the overall localization. While translations were okay in the beginning, near the end of the game it looked like they just wanted to finish the job, and the translations got progressively worse. It would be understandable if the written text contains some errors, but when the voice actors just repeat the errors without noticing the mistakes, I have to question the efforts they put into the localization.
The game offers a New game+ option, which I have yet to try out, and aside from that there’s always the Medal challenge. Depending on your performance in battle, you get a rank awarded in battle, ranging from C (worst) to S (best, and incredibly hard to achieve on a first playthrough), and you receive a unique item that will boost some stats. It’s an extra challenge for those who can’t get enough of the game, although I myself haven’t really bothered much with it, except for a few battles.
In conclusion, Suikoden Tactics is a highly enjoyable game, that will give you at least 30 hours of entertainment. It’s a shame that it’s rather insignificant in the Suikoden universe, since it would earn a place there a lot more than IV. If you’re a fan of Suikoden and Tactical RPGs, I’d really recommend checking it out.
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I'd be more than happy to participate in the Suikoden week, if any would be kind enough to provide me with a ava/sig set. |
