Suikoden
III is probably one of the most... different... RPG's I
have ever played. The Suikoden series began with, (obviously),
Suikoden, which was a lot more in the traditional style
of an RPG. You had your plot, and went around visiting places
on he world map. However, both Suikoden I and III are full
of side quests. In each, you can play with over 100 characters,
whom you recruit during your travels. The magic system,
essential for most RPG's, is based on runes which you can
affix to different characters. They are similar to Final
Fantasy VII's Materia, but have much more varied effects.
Thus
lies the world. In the beginning of the game, your characters
are key players in a threefold war - the tribal people of
Grassland are battling the knigtly Zexens, while the armies
of Holy Harmonia are poised to move in. One of the most
innovative aspects of the game is the three-view system.
If you played Final Fantasy III (VI in Japan), it's similar
to when your party splits into three groups. The entire
game works like that - you play from the views of characters
from Grassland, Zexen, and Harmonia. It's really awesome,
as you can see the actions of your characters from everyone
else's perspective. It's really hard to tell who the true
enemy is once you play from each person's side. It's like
real life, only... with more ducks...
The
characters are also really detailed, each with his own inner
conflict. Chris is the female captain of the Zexen Knights,
who has to struggle with justifying the actions she makes
in her duty to protect her country. Hugo is a young Grasslander,
who has to resist his urge to take revenge on the Zexens
at every turn. And Geddoe is just sort of mysterious; he
is a mercenary who fights for the Harmonian army, but has
hidden motives for everything. These three are the main
characters, and I doubt I could discuss every character
unless I went on all day.
Finally,
those who hated Suikoden I probably did so because of its
graphics, which were indeed horrible. Suikoden III greatly
improves on them, with nice 3-D animations. Unfortunately,
they aren't nearly as good as many other games for the PS2,
and I personally disapprove of the choice of using anime
for the opening movie.
A
couple of the downfalls of the game:
1) The world map was eliminated. This makes it more convenient
to get to places, but unfortunately, the game developers
apparently took this as an excuse to send you running from
city to city, and the intermediate zones, where the random
monster encounters occur, are quite annoying. These zones
are also bounded, so you can only go a few yards off of
the roads.
2)
The pacing of battles was often messed up. There would be
many average difficulty battles, followed by a huge boss
who was completely unbeatable because of your inadequate
level. Also, armor is quite expensive, and you are always
short of money in the beginning of the game, up until Chapter
3 or 4. This makes battles even harder.
3)
You cannot select the names of any character but one. (Who
that one is I won't reveal - you don't find out until Chapter
4.) This can be annoying, because I didn't like many of
the names thrown out during the game, such as Hugo and Lulu
(who, by the way, is male). I think you should at least
be able to name your three main characters.
4)
You get a castle. This is awesome. The castle is very confusing.
This is not awesome. The castle, which you can name eventually,
is a really large place where you bring all of your allies.
Unfortunately, even I can't always find my allies. The castle
is much more detailed than Suikoden I's, but it is also
that much more complex. Beware!
I
think this game was certainly worth a 7 without the triview,
but that dynamic makes the game much more interesting and
playable. I haven't quite beaten it yet, but I'm definitely
looking forward to doing so, and then doing it again.
