Seems like as good a place as any to talk about-
The first game was one of the first things I bought on the PSX! I had a Gamefan with a guide to recruiting all 108 Stars of Destiny, and I was damned curious to find out what kind of game let you draft a whole army. It's a really fun mix of fantasy and war, with a surprisingly grounded take on the political situation. Yes, you're a little bit of a Chosen One, with a cool magic stone in your hand that *literally* eats souls; that said, your insurrection can't be won with cool magic and kung-fu.
View attachment 37143
They *can* be won with bloodthirsty strategists with great hair, though.
The bulk of
Suikoden - and the series at large - revolves around establishing alliances, winning over hearts and minds, and relying on the strategies of your staff officers to survive open war with a superior force. Yes, there's magic and Capital D Destiny afoot, but the writing tends to treat those as symbolic. The most powerful magics, the True Runes of the world, represent ephemeral forces like Life and Death, but like the abstract conceptual beings of Marvel Comics - Death, Eternity, etc. - they have no real agency. The heroes and villains of the story drive the events of the plot, there's never a higher power or existential threat.
(Which is wild, considering we still have vampires, werewolves, a literal fuckin' unicorn, and flying squirrels with capes.)
View attachment 37144
You can get a whole party of these guys, with different colored capes like Pac-Man ghosts!
The second game became something of a collectors item, at least in America. The name was kind of a non-starter, but it also had the temerity to release the same month as the
extremely anticipated sequel to
Final Fantasy VII. I still got it the moment it hit shelves though, being probably the only person in my small town who had played the first one. I've sold a lot of games over the years, but Suikoden II is still sitting pretty as a picture in my closet.
(I did actually want the hot new Final Fantasy, but Wal-Mart had them priced at $25 and $50, and my day job was getting paid under the table as a mail sorter sooooooo)
View attachment 37141
The mix of battle types, like standard squad battles, large-scale military engagements, and dramatic duels is still a great hodgepodge of ideas that I'd love more games to steal take inspiration from.
Anyhow, just saw most of the conversation was about Final Fantasy, wanted to shake things up.
Oh, and I have that seen the new game announcement, my eyes lighting up looking at the screenshots just before the words "mobile game, *light* gacha elements" sucker punched the taste outta my mouth.