Suikoden Series!

[WindFalcon]

108 Characters, detailed world, and the power to alter destiny through the power of a True Rune... Isn't that what Suikoden is all about?

This thread is where you can talk about any of the Suikoden series, be it talking about how much you loved the first ones, how much you hated the newer ones, and what you expect of the ones to come ^^ I'll also do my best to update this thread with information of the upcomming Suikoden V! SUN RUNE BABY!

This is also a place where you can learn all about the world of SUikoden... and, if allowed.. perhaps we can even have a Suikoden RPG of sorts >.>

Anyway people.. lets keep this one alive and kicking ^^

[WindFalcon]

This post will be editted as more info comes my way. All of the stuff I post here will be OFFICIAL, and by no means speculation on my part. I will also list my sources, but unless stated, all sources come from http://www.suikosource.com/

And now, on with the official info.

Timeline

Suikoden 5 will take place after Suikoden 4... but before Suikoden 1, at a point in time where MANY familiar characters will be seen. The place is the Queendom of Falena, and will revolve around the Sun Rune, one of the 27 True Runes.

Characters

Protagonist(male)
Eldest son of Queen Arshetat Falanas and Queen’s Knight Commander Felid, our nameless hero will wield a Falenian national treasure as a weapon, a connected three-piece rod. According to what is known in the game, males do not bear the right of succeeding the throne In the Queendom of Falena, and as such the main hero will not be next in line to the throne. It will be interesting to see how events will lead to the True Rune. Like all heros, he does not speak, though the game still allows you to choose between two different voices and mute.

Rionne(female)
Queen's Knight apprentice, Rionne is responsible for protecting the prince.
Like many good sidekicks, Rionne is undyingly faithful to the prince. Also, since the hero doesn’t talk like all Suikoden Heros, she takes his place in developing the story; so hopefully, she will be a likeable character. When it comes to speaking in towns, she appears behind the hero, while others in the party do not. This probably means that, for a long while in the game, she will be a constant character in your party. According to the source, the voice actor is Sendai Eri. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eri_Sendai

Georg Prime(male)
A character first seen in Suikoden 2, Georg Prime gained entry into the Queen’s Knights through his long-time friend, Knight Commander Felid.
He dons a black outfit(uniform of the Queen’s Knights), and an eyepatch over his left eye. According to official statements, Georg uses a katana for his weapon and a battou-jutsu style. He also speaks very casually to the hero, despite the fact that the hero is royalty. *Special Note* In Suikoden 2, Georg was accused of killing the Queen of Falerna. It will be interesting to see what the truth of it is.

Arshetat Falenas (female)
Queen of Falerna and the Hero's mother, Archetat is well respected by her people. She has been making a great effort to erect a peaceful nation, but… let's just say things won't turn out well.. (since we know for a fact they never do) The Sun Rune appears to be attached to her forehead.

Syaries(female)
Arshetat Falanas's sister, she is the aunt of the prince and she lives her days at her fancy. She has golden hair, which covers her left eye, and wears a purple outfit, and her apparel within is quite small. She uses a “sphere” weapon type of the same descent as Akagi’s. Voice actor is Orikasa Ai. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ai_Orikasa

Felid(male)
The Hero’s father and Arshetat’s 'wife', he is the Commander of the Queen’s Knights. Renowned as the hero who saved the kingdom, for fending off enemy invasions at the front lines, he is said to have a large build.

Limslair(female)
Sister of the hero and eldest daughter of Queen Arshetat Falanas and Queen's Knight Commander Felid. With the Queendom laws as they are, chances are that she is the next in line to succeed the throne. In addition to golden hair, she wears a necklace on her left ear. She is short of stature, and her outfit has a very Asian flavor.

Maikis(female)
A Queen’s Knight just like Georg, Maikis is Limslair’s personal guard. She wields a small two-handed katana and is approximately the same age as Rion.

Kyle(male)
The most elegant of the Queen's Knights. He tends to be seen as superficial, but is actually deep-seated in his beliefs. Kyle is disciplined in a formless sword style; it's impossible to predict his next move from his loose sword stance.

Gahleon(male)
An old general who's also the eldest among the Queen's knights, he's a stubborn one who considers himself a Queen's Knight before anything else.

Lucretia(female)
A genius strategist, who along with Felid, endeavored to defend Falena. Although always smiling; underneath that mirthful countenance, Lucretia is constantly making decisions composedly.

Sius(male)
Born of a bloodline who has been serving in the military for generations. Sius holds great respect for law and order. However, he is a frank, good-humored man.

Lelei(female)
Soldier who is a close aide of Sius. Her facial expression rarely changes making it seem like she possesses a cold demeanor; but she's actually very sensitive.

Dzerassa(female)
Beautiful woman clothed in a black robe who appears near the Queendom of Falenia's runes. She hides terrifying magic power. The respect for her every action is unparalleled.

Fwalafwal(male)
Chief of the Beaver Clan, whose members are known for their sincerity and gentleness. He detests war and lives quietly at Faytus River.

Talgeyoo(male)
Leader of ruined village Lordlake. Two years ago, Duke Rovel’s close aide Talgeyoo was entrusted with the management of Lordlake in his stead.

Other Characters

Other characters announced for this game are Viki, Killey, and Lorelai.Viki needs no introduction for fans of the series, since she is that cute Blink Rune using girl! Killey was from Suikoden 2, same as Georg, and Lorelai was in both the first and the second Suikodens.

Races

While it is unknown if elves, dwarves, kobolds, nekobolds, duck clan, lizard clan or winged horde will be in this one, as stated above a new race shall be introduced. The Beaver Tribe. What rolls they play or if they use weapons are currently unknown, but it shall be interesting to find out in the future.

SPECULATION

As with all Suikoden Games, some givens are bound to make their appearance... Viki has already been stated, but Jeanne should most definitely be making her appearance. Also making an appearance should be someone who uses the Rose Rune and whom you need to find a Rose Crest for, followed by a close, foppish friend. The battle system is currently unknown at this point in time, but apparantly a weapon's range shall be playing a roll once again in a team line-up.

That is all for now, I shall update this in the future as i find more information ^^

[seefutbow]

The original was one of my favorite games for the Playstation. I have the fondest memories playing that one compared to the 2nd and 3rd. I didn't get the 4th one based on some reviews I looked over. The first was also the original, and the whole 108 characters seems to be getting watered down.

[bloodygore]

suikoden 2... just because it was my first suiko game...
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~you only learn your limits when you go beyond them~

[WindFalcon]

What did you guys like best about them?

[Ghettoblasta777]

Does anyone else think it's wierd that in Suikoden 2, Georg Prime is this olden swordsman/knight looking guy, but in Suikoden 5 he's a complete badass samurai looking dude? I have to say though, my favorite aspect of Suikoden is the fact that it has some continuity that makes sense. I love checking back with characters to see how they evolve over each game (I'm excluding 4, I disown it as a Suikoden). Seeing Futch grow from bratty kid, to angsty teenager, then becoming a badass dragon rider, that wields Humphrey's sword!! It's satisfying. I'm not too keen on the prequal stuff though, even if it is a chance to see Viktor or Flik as little kids. All this prequal better be set up for something really grand, like the final Suikoden, where all the true runes come together and have an all out war. It'll be the Suikoden all stars.

[Unlucky_Sevyn]

3's the only one that I really got to play. I quit playing 4 early on when I started leveling to fast. 1 and 2 I've seen, but didn't get to play for long. I really liked the way that Suikoden 3 was presented, and it was the first game done in 3d as well. I actually like 2d alot, but the game looked pretty well done here.

Either way, it's 3 for me.
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Running from your problems only wastes time... They always catch up either way.

[Edvin]

Why do you make me chooooose!?!?
I love 3 the best because the combat system was so addictive. (I mean..I took my Hugo (the little kid) up to level 70 unintentionally...by chapter 3. (that translates to roughly what? half the game?) On a game with a 60 soft lvl cap...having a bunch of lvl 70s running around is a testament to how much I intentionally go places I don't need to just to fight things.

I've played Suikoden 2 and 4 as well..I love 2. In fact, my login name here is the same name that I started using in the game. Suikoden 4 is..a little weak. It's just too easy, I think. I still like the storyline, but it doesn't feel as epic as before because it's so easy to beat.

[p4lad1n2000]

I prefer suikoden 2, coz it's my first suiko game
I still remember how frustating to find all those 108 characters

[zugzug]

sui 3 was my first one, i thought it was too boring, didnt find anything interesting thats not already in other rpgs. Never gave the earlier ones a try even though i heard it was much better

[shoryuma]

I prefer Suiko 2. Yes I know Suiko 1 and 2 are much alike (in the story have too much coincidence) BUT Suiko 2 have a lot of improvements...
For me Suiko 3 and 4 doen't have the charm of suiko 1 and 2...

[Gemseer]

I'm placing my vote for Suikoden 1. I have all the games (except five) and I have to say nothing quite stands up to the experience of the original. I've completed it three or four times. Everytime after it seems that the game lacks in one department or another. The 108 stars become more and more obscure an unimportant to hunt down.. the castle/hometown etc is just not worth filling with the different characters etc.

[WindFalcon]

I'm glad people are keeping this thread alive ^^

Each game has had its strengths and weaknesses... and while many people don't like the 'continuing before the beginning' paths that 4 and 5 will take... all good stories tend to have interesting bits before the main story starts, no?

Another thing is.. I'm guessing that in a future installment, the Island Nations and Queendom of Falena will become major parts in a future Suikoden, either the characters themselves or some part of their legacy... as such, explainations are needed. I'm guessing that, instead of having some long and complicated backstory... they want people to experience most of the stories involving the true rune bearers.

For example... Say in some installment, like Suikoden VII or so... the main hero, who wields the Dragon Rune for example, is facing off against Holy Harmonia and Hikusaak's small collection of True Runes. In order to combat this, the hero would need the aid of True Rune wielders himself (or herself if we ever gain a main female true rune bearer aside from Chris Lightfellow). Those who skipped IV or didn't bother with III would be lost as characters like Hugo, Geddoe, Chris, and Lazlo En Kuldes are introduced are mentioned. Those who never played I or II, being born in the PS2 generation, would scratch their heads and wonder who that old man bearing the Bright Shield Rune is, or who that guy with the stick and green bandanna is and why he carries and axe but doesn't use it.

Even if each games had their ups and downs... like lack of spell fusions in III or slow boat movement in IV, it's really about the story in of itself. That.. and I have one good thing to say about IV, for those of you who didn't like it. If you put Jeane in the first slot of the party, she'll be the one running around >.> Since she's also a powerful Magic User, and able to use the Beautiful Attack with Kika and one female swordswoman... well.. . You get the idea ^^

And Ghettoblasta... I also find it weird that Georg Prime not only looked liek an average knight in II, but apparantly in V he also has an eye-patch and uses battoujutsu... either he wore the eye-patch ti give everyone else a fair chance against his sword skills, or Konami decided to make a character that would attract lovers of Kenshin and Yagyu Jubei.

Personally.. I want to see a non-human True Rune Bearer.. like a winged horde, or Duck Tribe. If not that, then I'd like to see a main female character be the true rune bearer outside of Chris Lightfellow >.>

And more of each race they introduce too! Elves are always represented in these games in one form or another... but Dwarves, Winged Horde, Kobolds, Duck Tribe, and Lizard Tribe weren't even mentioned in IV (which could be understandable considering the setting....). I hope they mention them more in V... and not completely forget about them. Course.. I also hope they don't forget about the Nekobolds too.

Edit *Feb 25, 2006*
Little update to news, in case anyone is interested.. Suikoden V is slotted to come out March 28th in America! Reserve your copy today! I was shocked to find out I was the only one to reserve their copy at my local game store O.o

ALSO! TO ALL OF YOU WHO OWN OR ARE PLANNING TO OWN A PSP

Suikoden 1 & 2 are soon so be released on PSP! Japan is releasing them the same day as Suikoden 5, which is cool since you get to compare characters and such. If America follows this, expect to see it in March, if not...we may have to wait a bit longer. Seriously... this here makes me wish to buy a PSP.... does anyone know of a way to put PSP memory into a PS2 Memory Card? Cause that would be REALLY useful for when I plan to replay Suikoden 3.

[v-boi2002]

Windfalcon, try not to double post at all. I just combined your two posts together, but next time it won't be for free.
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[WindFalcon]

Sorry about that >.< Thanks for combining them though ^^ I'll remember not to double post next time.