In order from your personal favorite to least personal favorite.
II- One of the greatest RPGs of all time. It ranks up there with FFT in terms of Narrative. As I think about it, it may be better just for the better translation. Luca Blight is one of the most evil villains, ever.
III- This was the first one in the series I played, and it was the early turning point in Hugo’s scenario that made the game click with me. It was also the first RPG I broke 100 hours on (the others being FFXII and Blue Dragon). I haven’t played it since I first got it and played through it, and I’ve played almost each one since, so I don’t really know how it compares. I understand it’s lower on Suiko-fans lists, but for me it’s an experience.
I- I played this after III, and I remember enjoying immensely. I couldn’t tell you a damn thing about the story though, only because it’s been so long.
V- I don’t know if it was just the early snail-like pace and the constant back track, or the fact that it had been about 3 years since I last played a Suikoden game, but it just didn’t click with me. I started it after hearing it was a return to form (I, II) as far as gameplay and narrative goes, and I tried so hard to stick it out because I know there’s that “moment,” that twist that throws the story into first gear, usually that moment that drives the hero to get the castle and start standing up against the bad guys, but in this case I couldn’t even make it that far. I’ll try it again sooner than later, just because I know the story gets better.
Tierkreis- 108 stars and basic musical themes aside, there isn’t a single thing that makes this game feel like Suikoden. Well, I already have a thread here where I describe my feelings towards the game, so I won’t repeat myself.
IV- After barely being able to navigate the damned ship 8 hours into the game, I just gave up. Nothing more I can say about it.
Never played Tactics.
Suiko 2 - Easily the best game in the series, and possibly one of the best games in the genre.
Suiko 5 - Even though the game starts out really slow - not to mention sets you up to believe the game is about one thing and ends up being about something else - this was an exciting adventure.
Those are the only two worth playing imo. But
Suiko 1 - I think this game had too many little obnoxious things I didn’t like. But, it’s not a bad game; it just has too many dealbreakers for my taste.
Suiko Tierkreis - This game started out SO_BAD. Then, it got okay. Then it got really boring again. This game drags on for waaaay too long, contradicts its own story themes, and sort of throws away the more interesting villains to make room for the stuuuupid-ass villains. Bleh.
Suiko 4 - I didn’t actually dislike this game. I think I found the sailing to be way less obnoxious than anyone else. I also appreciate Suiko 4 for having quite possibly the smallest number of missable characters in any game in the series. The only reason I put Tierkreis above this one is because Tierkreis was at least kind of stimulating for about 4-5 hours of gameplay. Suiko 4 is barely not-boring enough to play.
Suiko 3 - It’s been a long time since I’ve played a game that made me feel like my time was so thoroughly wasted. Why did this game need to be 60 hours? This game is a huge disappointment, and the combat has to be some of the worst I’ve ever seen.
Suiko Tactics - …God. At least it’s short.
Could you elaborate on that? I like Suiko 1 more than 2, but then again I only just got neclords castle.
Slightly off topic, but do bosses get easier if you fail the first time?
The main reason I dislike Suikoden 1 is because every non-combat aspect of the gameplay seems tailored to take as much time as possible.
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Wanna go to a new town? Teleport back to base, and then teleport to the new town!
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Need to get items off of a character that isn’t in your party? You have to go back to the base, go to the item vault, make them drop ALL their items. THEN, you can pick out the items you want. This is something you may need to do a lot, since characters force their way into your party all the time. Even more frustrating is when you take the time to prepare that character…and they can be removed if you just play for like 5 minutes.
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Think about how much freaking money you need! At about halfway, I can win at the Dice game until I have the max possible money, and still spend all of it without getting everything I need. On only six characters. Six. Out of 108. The MOST amount of money you can carry.
Then, there are tons of other small annoyances:
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Why do I need to recruit a character just to have a map!?
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Why do I need to waste someone’s rune slot just to be able to run?
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Why are some of the characters’ recruitment methods soooo obscure? Who would think to go back to a dungeon they’ve finished a long time ago on the off chance that a recruitable character might be waiting at the very end?
Now, none of these are terrible on their own. In fact, Suikoden 2 had quite a few of the same problems. But, many of them were removed, or the game made it so that these problems weren’t always staring you in the face the entire time. But, when you combine this multitude of tiny problems with a game which is otherwise cookie-cutter in story and gameplay, I see no reason to play this instead of Suikoden 2. The only thing the original Suikoden had going for it was its style, and Suiko 2 has the same style, with far fewer obnoxious gameplay mechanics and one of the most wonderful storylines I’ve ever seen in an RPG to boot.
I’ve only played 1 and 2 and have not heard many good things about the rest, so my list is simple:
II.
I.
I can’t imagine playing Suikoden in 3d. It just wouldn’t feel like Suikoden.
You should try Suikoden 5. A lot of effort was put into making the feel of that game similar to the first two.
I liked all of those things you mentioned…
I don’t like games that waste my time. Teleporting could cut out the middle man, and I could just go wherever I wanted. The system for managing equipment for characters not in my party could be 1000 times better, by allowing item exchanges. Things could cost less money, that way I could actually USE more than six characters without wasting hours of my life on the dice game. I could be allowed to RUN without using a Rune, so that one character is useful for more than hitting stuff. I could just HAVE a map, instead of flirting with the possibility of missing that character and having to be SOL.
All of these things could have made the game so much better, but they instead make it feel like you’re never making any progress. The little things add up, and in the end, that’s a lot of your time that’s wasted doing virtually nothing important.
II - Probably my third favorite RPG. I loved it for the continuity with the first title, the relationship between Jowy / Nanami / Riou, the outstanding music, and of course more Flik and Viktor is never a bad thing.
I - I enjoyed playing this when it came out, but I didn’t rate it very well. Was a bit hard to get past the SNES graphics, no diagonal movement, limited combat system, etc. But I replayed it last year as a PS3 download and really enjoyed playing it over again. It was awesome seeing all the characters reintroduced, and I simply couldn’t put it down. Fun game, albeit flawed for a PS1 title; did a nice job setting the stage for the series.
V - I don’t really remember much about the game, but I enjoyed using Lorelai again and it was a thrill to see her play a bigger role in the story.
III - I really hated this game. Instead of bringing back some key characters as I was expecting, we got fucking duck people. Probably my biggest gaming let down since Atari E.T.
IV - Haven’t played, heard it was much worse than III. Actually just bought this so I can sell all my Suikoden games as a set. Probably won’t play as I will be working on FFXIII for awhile.
II and V: My favorites by far for the same reason SG mentioned. I have considerably higher tolerance for the leeeengthy prologue though, so I liked V even more still.
I: Nice enough for its time. Sure as hell could have used a bit more polishing. Also was clearly unfinished. Like that time Mathiu took care of those guys in that place by tricking those other guys while you weren’t looking.
IV: Dull. Can’t say much else. It did nothing to make me angry, or irritate me, or even hint at wasted potential. It just… did nothing. It was over really quick, so I can’t even say I disliked it. Or liked it. Whatever.
III: Good LORD I hated this game with passion. It’s like they took everything recognizable about the franchise and desperately scourged for ways to trash it. The worst part is that I LIKED the characters and the plots that were set up, it just went absolutely nowhere with them for HOURS UPON HOURS, had you wandering in circles doing pretty much nothing, crapped thoroughly on any hint of the political angle the games are known for, and then just threw a hasty resolution as the cheating sociopath of a strategist that worked for your enemy drops the ball and it’s up to you to fight an army of evil monsters to stop the evil wizard from blowing up the continent. I also have a beef to pick with how little respect it pays to ANY of the franchise’s established conventions. The tablet of stars just laying somewhere in the countryside completely devoid of purpose is like a big Fuck You.
That’s kind of an understatement. The entire graphical style as much as the gameplay and general plot seems to be screaming “Sorry for the last two games, we were drunk”. Pretty much nothing but a heavily redone version of the skill system was left from III and IV.