[General Discussion] Regarding Suikoden...

Suikoden III is a very slow, methodical game. If you're a fan of tried and true formulas in RPGs, Suikoden III is stellar. It introduced a lot of the battle customization options the later games in the series used (the Skill system, in particular), and the game remains pretty popular still. The story's biggest plot twist are common info around Suikoden forums, so I suggest you stay away from those for now. Thomas is also the best Tenkai Star in the entire series.

Suikoden IV happens to be my second-favorite game in the series. A lot of people fail to notice that it's a dungeon-crawler that's light on story and heavy on fast-paced combat, so some longtime fans are a bit butthurt. The story is... redeemable with the fleshing out Suikoden Tactics did. Lots of nostalgia nods, which I was fond of (overused in Suikoden V, though).

Suikoden Tactics is mainly a introduction to the Strategy-RPG series. There are some legitimately hard stages, but most are cake when you properly use runic tiles (which are extremely fun). The story helps patch up some loopholes that Suikoden IV left, like why Rune Cannons have disappeared from the Suikoden world by the time of the first Suikoden. The game tacks on a hilariously dumb plot twist right at the end, though.

Suikoden V, meanwhile, is my least-liked game in the series.

Jam it back in, in the dark.