Suikoden Tierkreis (NDS) Review

So I just finished Suikoden Tierkreis. 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.

But 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. Basically, the game puts you and the other 107 Stars of Destiny up against a menacing group known as "The Order (of the One True Way)", a group which declares that the future is "predetermined", hence attracting a cult-like following which the Hero's company thoroughly opposes. The story encompasses the entire continent in which the game is set and all of its interesting animal and human cultures, and things throughout the game progress with solid fluidity and reason. However the way the plot intricacies themselves were structured revealed inherent flaws, particularly in the way everything was brought together and resolved at the end (a lack of a substantial "reward" for recruiting all Stars of Destiny is an annoying, un-Suikoden like niggle on top of everything else) But throughout the game, when not considering the world in the context of the Infinity (the collection of millions of Suikoden worlds as a whole), 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 liked the detail on lighting, and the look of some of the 2D backgrounds and environments. The battle graphics were basic and a tad unremarkable, but some magic techniques and sound effects looked and sounded spot on. 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. Further examining the sound department, I actually, contrary to most who have played the game, wasn't too annoyed by 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. Plus, I don't get why people are so rage-filled over the somewhat fast-speaking Hero...he's a 14 year old kid with a bright personality, and I thought the voice actor did well to address this without sounding too childish or...well, stupid.

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. Unlike other Suikoden games, though, there wasn't much interaction with the characters at all, in terms of mini-games and fun side-quests. The missions didn't bring too much fun to the table in this respect, and I was sorely disappointed when, for example, the gambler recruit didn't have any mini-game to speak of. In relation to this, there was no war system like the fun ones you can find in the main series; instead, sieges were tediously executed in a restricted, linear and computer-run fashion.

So overall, an enjoyable 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, in spite of some inherent flaws in plot structure and gameplay.

7/10

Jam it back in, in the dark.