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Brilliant game and I'll tell you why...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: November 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

There are several reasons this game is ingenious. First of all, the plot. With three major characters (and three additional characters that are unlocked during the game), you play most of it through different points of view. You see some of the conflicts played from both sides, actually fight against one of your other characters at times. Aside from that innovation, the plot is amazing. Almost half the game is in story mode (I'm guessing the reason they didn't do voice acting in this was because it would have been way too much memory or something), and it's an amazing story for an RPG. Hell, it's an amazing story period, which is something I can say for almost no non-Suikoden RPGs. There are many surprises and it really gives you a feel for all these different characters. Some reviews I've read I think are clinging a little too much to RPG tradition. If you're looking for an RPG where, after you kill the villain, a big demon comes out and you have to kill Satan at the end, this is NOT your game. This one actually has a story.

Also, there are about 85 or so playable characters, and it manages, using a relatively concise number of skills, etc., to make them all fairly individual.

ANother AMAZING aspect of this game is its brilliant design. Everything is designed to be convenient, non-repetitive, etc. Like old Suikoden games, there really isn't the necessity of fighting a bunch of pointless lengthy battles to build your characters. It pretty much happens along the way. Unless you want to build up all of your 80 or so characters, in which case, it may take you a little longer. Also, like the older Suikoden games, the teleport and blinking mirror function you can get later in the game make it so once you've already went through an area a few times you don't have to drag it out by walking through it again and again. Even so, the dungeons and plains are fairly short. The game is a challenge at times, but mostly you'll be in it for the incredible story.

The extras are another huge plus. I did miss the cooking competitions from Suikoden 2, but the theater function (make your characters act in a play), comment box (the other characters write you notes), horse race, card games, etc. etc. etc. well make up for it.

I don't play a whole lot of FF (see role-playing games where a big demon comes out of someone's body at the end and you have to kill Satan), but to me Suikoden 3's graphics were pretty damn cool. Music is prettty good (I ended up not turning it off and playing records during gameplay).

The fighting system is good and strategic though, as I said, not that hard. Dungeone are re-used very succesfully (for instance, you come back to the same dungeon with a different character, it doesn't feel repeated). Numerous battle functions (normal, one-on-one duel, war style battle with armies and such (kind of))

All in all, if you're looking for a clever RPG that won't insult you or put you through too much run around, you all know Suikodens are your best bet. I'm not really a hard-core RPG fan because of the usual ba story-lines, abusive repetition, etc., so I don't know what expectations you all have. I've heard some Suikoden fans say it's too different for them. With any new addition to a series you're going to be giving up some of the old, but what they replace it with is well worth it.

Finally, a game that uses your brain

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: November 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I'd just like to start this out by thanking the makers for the first ever RPG that made me think. I'm hours into the game and actually still consistently thinking. All of my life I've been sick of those boring, dull, just push a few buttons, everything's already done for you video games that they cleverly nicknamed RPG's. This makes any other RPG a disgrace. Never before have I used a brain cell in a video game, and I'm willing to guess 4 year olds have beaten many of the top named RPG's. You're probably thinking this guy is so full of it, but you know the truth. They are all so pathetically easy. Suikoden 3 offers a very sophisticated system with the Trinity Site System, which offers 3 main characters and 3 minor characters in the middle pedestals. It's amazingly done and involves a plot thicker than it's predessors. I will complain about the no alternating camera angles, the cheesy background music, and the lacking of noise during long dialogues. Everything has to have something wrong with it, otherwise all of us gamers would have no lives and constantly be playing that game!!! I give you my best recommendations for Suikoden 3, but some advice beforehand. If you didn't get Suikoden 2, you best do it, because Suikoden 2 makes things so much better!

Well, this Suikoden is...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: May 25, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've never given four stars to a game I liked, so I won't but this Suikoden has a few problems that may tick Suiko fans off. I especially got hooked on this Suikoden solely because of the Lizard Clan. They are actually what convinced me to give this game five stars, otherwise...it would have received a dreaded four. In any case...

Story: The Suikoden series has always followed an intricate and amassed story of a leader gathering an army to fight against a great threat. This Suiko does not fail here, especially since you play the story roles of not one, but four people. In each story, you guide the central character through a series of events that makes him/her meet up with the other three main heroes. Also, the story of the True Runes is brought into the spotlight more in this Suiko than the previous volume, so if you've been wondering, you should be satisfied with what you learn. However, the whole gathering of the Stars of Destiny bit has taken a nap and is not even mentioned in this game and Leknaat will not be there in classic form to explain it to you.

Characters: The four main characters are Geddoe the Harmonian mercenary, Hugo the Karayan hunter, Commander Chris of the Zexen Knights and Thomas the soon-to-be castle manager. Each of them have their doubts and reasons for being involved in the game's events. Each of them, along with their most trusted group members, are developed enough to not to appear boring. At one point, you will have to choose someone (not Thomas) to be the final leader character to guide the 108 Stars of Destiny and their army to victory. Although, if there are characters who deserve praise, it's definitely the Lizard Clan and the Duck Clan party members. They along with the members of their Clans make for another classic Suiko experience since the previous games also had non-human allies.

Music: Uh-oh. Well I'm not one to complain about music, but I find some songs in this game a little lackluster. The boss, event and town themes are great, but the standard battle themes are very mediocre because they sound either too perky or too lacking. The standard battle theme is very important in RPGs, so if it stinks, it's hard to enjoy combat. This game also seemed to lack a good song of sadness, which is surprising since the other two Suikos had heartbreaking sad themes.

Gameplay: Another gripe here. Map travel is quite annoying in this game since in order to get a certain area, you are required to go through a rather unnecessary hike along a meadow road to get back on the main road. This is something you will end up doing a bit too much and it may bore the heck out of you. Gathering the Stars of Destiny seems to have remain unchanged as you either receive people by story automatically or you go on some errand to earn their aid.

Battle: Double uh-oh. What happened here? The battle system is somewhat of a joke in this game. Thankfully you still can have six people at a time, but you pair up the characters into three teams. What this means is you have three teams of two people who are responsible for each other only. For example, Alanis the mage girl is teamed up with Dupa, the Lizard Clan chief. Alanis can use medicine to heal Dupa but she can't use it on Koruku the dog or Geddoe the mercenary. Also, if you want double combination attacks at all, you must always pair up those same two people (can be annoying if your setup is composed of various characters). Magic also has a new system where there is an actual charge time to spells before they can be cast. The speed is determined by skill level (which you can raise at schools and libraries) and if the character is generally very good with that elemental rune. What makes this bad is that one element has to be cast with caution: fire. If you're not careful with the spell's actual execution, you can end up cooking your teammates instead of the monsters. Thankfully, a turn meter is available during battle to show you the point at which the spell will be cast. On a final note, there is no longer a Rune combination feature for the big spells, so don't bother trying to cast two spells at the same time for a big Rune attack.

System: Well the newest system in this Suiko is the skill system. Skills are the abilities of characters that improve their combat efficiency. Skills are either innate (by level) or bought at learning centers to add to a character's list. Each character can reach a certain grade level with skills. Anything from B+ to S is great while B and below is average/horrible. Skills cost skill points (which are earned after battles) to first attain from a center as well as upgrade. Depending on what the highest letter grade they can attain, the point cost for upgrading can either be grossly high or happily cheap. You can also tell how good a character can be with a skill by reading the skillmaster's comment. If the master says you need way more practice, skip it; if he says you have unbridled potential, grab it. These skills greatly improve your fighting and spellcasting to the point monsters may not ever get a turn in, so you should definitely invest in skills to get anywhere.

Overall: Suikoden 3 is cool in some ways, while quite lame in others, and because of this odd contrast, Suikoden 2 will seem way better to fans of the series. Give it a try if you're a fan, otherwise beware the downsides. For completing the game, you do get a nice extra which will please fans of a certain character who has been in all the Suiko games to date. If anything, the game's ups outweigh its downs.

Great Game..

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 13
Date: January 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

It was very werid playing the 3rd game of the Suikoden Series since they switched to 3D graphics but game play was everything. It was a big risk but it became a success.

The Suikoden 3 lived up to be very good and interesting,(but i haven't beaten the game yet) but all the esstials were included into the game just like the Other Suikoden games, Hate, Romance, Beteraly, War, and everything to keep the game alive.

The new trinity sight system game was a bit boring to play but great to see all the points of the story from 3 (2 bouns characters! are hidden untill a point to the game and the other is that you require all 108 stars)
characters. Although i have played through i think 20 hours of Suikoden 3 and now iam just getting to the point where i choose my Flame Champion.

The Battle System is new and more challenging, unlike the clasic turn based fighting style, with the new chanting addition and skills option to boost your characters to what ever u like them to be. Also the new "mounted" attacks, example: Hugo and Fubar in the same Attack group makes them mounted and their attack power is more deadly than before.

I give it a 4/5 personaly since the story is kind of the same, but with more unique twist and turns.I recommend to buy this game if your a Suikoden Fan.

Also you can load your Suikoden data which supposeidaly give u 2 extra plays and iam not sure if there is any more

Not Quite as Absorbing as the Previous Suikodens

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: July 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I was late to get this game and have only played it for about four hours now. I enjoyed Suikodens 1 and 2 so much that I bought this one without hesitation. The storyline is engaging once it gets going, and some of the music and characters are familiar if you've played the first two games. The menus are easy to access and logically laid out as is the battle system. The only thing I don't really care for is the clumsiness of the character control when you're in a village or town. You can't alter the point of view of the camera, which makes things awkward sometimes when you're trying to get in or out of certain places. I also have never cared for the 3-d polygonal characters that all the games seem to use nowadays, but Suikoden 3's characters have a little expression and personality and aren't too bad. Overall, I'm enjoying this game based on my past Suikoden experience.

Serious game, thought provoking storyline.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: October 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

If you're a fan of the Suikoden series, you'll be bound to love this. New comers should be impressed by the original storyline and game play as well. Suikoden III let`s the gamer play how he or she wishes with the trinity system. At the very start of the game you are able to pick between three very different characters, who will look at the same events happening around them from their point of view. It's really interesting to see these different angles, and adds a great deal to the storyline. Because the Trinity system is broken down into chapters, you aren't forced to stick to the one character that you choose in the beginning, you can play all three if you wish. Since I've been alternating characters every chapter I'm not sure if you can just play one character the whole way through, but you probably could. I find the chapter system very helpful, like reading a good book. It pushes me to want to finish that section of the game, and it prevents the overwhelming feeling of too many quests at the same time, dishing out just the right about of game at a time. Also, they provide a chapter summery at the end of each section so if you go on to another character and forget what happened to the one you were playing before it will tell you what was taking place, and what they were about to do before the end of the chapter. Moving on to other aspects of the game, the music calls back to the previous Suikoden titles style, making fans feel right at home with the game. The opening title music and cut scenes are absolutely haunting and really give you a feeling for the seriousness and heartbreak of the game. In so far, I haven't seen any in-game cut scenes, (I'm about 13 hours into the game) but from the quality I saw from just the opening title I certainly hope some are included. As for the graphics, some might say they would prefer more realism for such a serious game, but the large faces on the characters really allows for a lot of facial expression lacking from other games. The only same qualms I have with the game is the inability to turn the camera around and extensive silence when characters are talking for an extended period of time. Otherwise, this is a splendid game that will provide a lot of enjoyment to many RPG fans.

My 6 yr old loves this game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 19, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game originally for myself, but my step-daughter loves the graphics and the music and the characters. As with most RPG's, the gameplay is slow-paced, so she can actually play this game. From exploring all the gorgeous and lively locales, to engaging the party in battles, to following the map to the next destination, my 6 yr old can do (most) of it all.
We also take turns reading the dialogue between all the imaginative characters, so this helps with her reading skills.

But if you don't have kids, DO NOT be put off by this review! This is still a fantastic RPG by any of the highest RPG standards.

! Great storyline(that makes sense and you are interested in seeing it to the end)

! Not overly complicated battles or controls(some die-hard RPGers may actually be upset by this)

! Fantastical graphics, characters, and environments(my step-daughter wasn't at all interested in Final Fantasy X, mostly because, I think, the graphics were TOO good.) Suikoden 3 graphics are great - the characters have a cartoony fun feel to them(which is a good thing).

! Length of game will be good, I think. I/we are almost 20 hours into it, and we've only completed the Chapter 1's of the 3 main characters. We are close to completing the Chapter 1 of a secondary character, but it looks to be a long haul to finish because my party of 4 is too weak to take on the Giant Boar that we must defeat.

! Random battles/wandering monsters is not annoying, as they do not happen CONSTANTLY. And the way the fighting system is set up, you can usually go to Auto to slay quickly.

! I think we will be playing this for quite some time to come, and I/we look forward to finding and meeting as many of the 108 Stars of Destiny as we can(in almost 20 hours of gameplay, we've only recruited/found ONE so far).

Why is this game already UNavailable on Amazon?

I grew bored with FFX quickly, and wasn't at all hooked by Wild Arms 3, but Suikoden III snagged me hook, line, and sinker from the beginning(I'm not an anime fan at all, but the opening collage of very well done anime of characters from the game, along with haunting and lovely Japanese J-Pop is simply GREAT).

A Masterpiece of the PS2

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 11, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is one of the few games I put on par with such titles as Chrono Trigger and Grand Theft Auto. After hearing a great deal of good reviews from people, I decided this would be a hit or miss chance(like so many RPGs) since I had not played the previous two games. What I got was Zelda mixed with Final Fantasy Tactics that has been horrendously hard to put down.

Story is sophisticated and full of twists and turns. However, it's not exactly orginal, but the way it unfolds is masterful. The 108 Stars is one of the greatest aspects, because of the wonderful personalities and interactions. You get a great sense of feeling from 40 or some characters, and have 60+ more that while not intrical to the plot have little stories to go with them. The Trinity Sight System for the msot part did it's job. It worked better as giving you parts of the story with each character, but I would have liked to have seen more interactions through someone elses sight. The only dwonside I found was what I have labeled Final Fantasy Syndrome. Basically, the game starts out with intangible forces fighting (Countries) but eventually leads up to the great super power battle. Aside from that the story is quite engaging and for al purposes gets a 5.

Graphics are awesome. With the amount of models needed 108+ its amazing that they kept everything running smoothly. Characters are well detailed, and very expressive(notice how they use their eyes often). Backgrounds are excellent, and have a great charm, and Magic is stunning. Now this is all great, however it lacks one great quality, mobility. Combat wise, everyone moves great, it's outside of combat that movements appear clunky. The little cut scenes often have characters walking incredibly slow, and the horse movement is terrible(it goes from a saunter to a straight run). This dissapointed in the fact that Zelda had mastered horseriding with Epona, but then again Suikdon really barely uses horses. Also, camera angles are fixed and sometimes confusing another price we pay for the sweet graphics. Overall, I think it justifys a 4.

Gameplay, where to begin. I'll start with basic combat. Basically, you team up guys in pairs with a total of 6 guys on the fields. Now you actually have to move your guys to the enemy to hit, which offers a great sense of tactics as opposed to mundane fighting systems. You have skills which act like Job Points from FF tactics, Runes that allow you to cast spells, and items. You also have duels, which plays out like Rock Paper Scissors, and Army Battles. Traveling is done like Tactics as well, but you msut physical go through land. It's usually not too tedious, they only are about one or two zones. Also, the experience is simple you need to only achieve 1,000 to go up a level, but the amount you earn is based on your level. So leveling up low level characters goes fast such as a Troll Dragon for a lvl 45 character is only worth 40 experience, but to a level 30 character he might be 3000, a total of 3 levels. Another great aspect was building a castle. You can have plays, make food, decorate it, gamble, ride horses or relax in the baths and see what people think(the three lizards conversation on how all humans look alike was halrious). The game also has some adventuring qualities, by going to places you dont really need to, but to find treasure or pick up other people(making it not totally linear). Aside from some cases of lengthy talking, you will be occupied most of the time and hardly find dull moments, defietly a 5.

Sound is a mixed bag. Some of the music scores were great, really good for setting the mood. However others(the Battle Theme)just struck me as out of place. The soundtrack obviously is no FF. Sounds are medicore, the game only has two sound bytes(Fubars KUEEEEE!, and Hallec UWAAAAAA). Some of the spells sound awesome(Funeral Wind at one point actually stops the msuic to make everything dead silent, then lets out an explosion a nice touch). But overall it's nthing extrodinary, recieving a solid 3.

Replay is better than any RPG I've played. With one charatcer, odds are your looking at 45 hours minimum, 60 if you find all the stars. Then you can go back to when you choose your Flame Champion and pick the other 2 characters(there is also a secret 3rd person if you get all 108 stars). With tons of mini games you can enjoy yourself for hours while mixing and matching parties. However, once you hit Chapter 5 you'll find theirs really nothing left to explore.I do like finding super hard dungeons with unbeatable bosses, but no such luck. The game had some great challeneges, but the main boss fell short I thought and was looking for somwthing to give my party a run for it's money. But if the game can boost something of 50+ hours then it's well worth it, and thus earns a 5.

The Playstation 2 has some great games, but few have sucked me in like this one. Even with the advent of new gaming machines, I will still come back to play this game again. If you haven't been satisfied with an FF game since 6, then this is the RPG for you.

3.5 stars. Good, but not as good as 2

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Suikoden 1 was decent. Suikoden 2 was excellent, perhaps my favorite console RPG of all time. Suikoden 3 was good and rich, but somehow, it didn't grab me like its predecessor.

This game certainly surpassed the first 2 visually. However, I didn't care for the battle system -- more specifically, I didn't care for the two-person team system. It was clumsy and made little sense (okay, I almost don't mind the challenge of only being able to do combo attacks once per fight, but not being able to control half my fighters?! Sorry, I don't go for that).

I had issues with replaying the same scenarios OVER and OVER and OVER. Yes, I understand the purpose of this was to get different characters' perspectives, but honestly, there was more annoying redundancy than variation, and when I found out the actual storyline was only 5 chapters deep, and that I was supposed to consider the first 3 chapters to be 9 chapters because I had to play them 3 times each, I felt very cheated. Still, I enjoyed the surprise about one of the characters in particular, and that ultimately grabbed me.

You'll see far fewer familiar faces in this game than 1/2, and I'll spare you the disappointment right now: your rewards for loading a fully completed, 108-star-achieved save file from Suikoden II are almost nonexistent. Certainly nothing compared to the pleasant little surprise that II gave you.

Finally, my biggest problem was that I just didn't care about any of the main characters of this game the way I cared about Michael, Jowy and Nanami in S2. Granted, the main villain won me over, but a game should not have its central character interest around the villain. I'll admit the characters in this game are varied, but I found the S2 trio to be far more lively -- in the first 5 minutes of that game, I felt closer to the three main characters than I felt to the multitude of heroes in this game after completing it.

Overall, If you loved S2, you'll find S3 to be decent. Where S2 snatched you right up, you need to hack and crack at S3 for awhile before it keeps your attention, but I'd say it's still worth the money.

Too much like FFX- take it or leave it

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 24
Date: October 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

...

BUT

Let me preface this by saying I am about as big a Suiko fan that you are likely to find.
Secondly, this is not a new gen vs. old gen bash post, or a 2d is better than 3d post.

I will say, however, that I chalk this on the list of games I liked better in 2d.

If they were insistent on copying FFX, at least make the 3d vibrant, interactive, and a lot less stilted than it is here.
Just like FFX, you know you are in trouble when you have a map with one, linear road, in every place you go. ....

I didn't know 3d could be so danged linear. I feel claustrophobic sometimes.
Guess what? Zero camera control. You are at the complete mercy of the computer, and believe me, you are going to be reaching for those shoulder buttons, wishing you could rotate the cameras.

Konami did what I was afraid of: They looked at Final Fantasy X, saw the sales figures, and responded in kind. Usually, Konami is a industry leader, but here, they decided to be a follower. I know Final Fantasy is popular with a lot of people, but I partially blame it for spawning off responses from other companies like this game. This is why the RPG genre is dying, folks. These games aren't fun anymore!
There's something to be said for the old adage: Less is more.

FF's have become so overrated and watered down...why did they have to imitate this yet again?!

Here's yet another RPG with NO world map! That's big kiss of death number two!
That's disgraceful on Next Gen systems. No excuse!
The environments were more interactive in the old Suiko games than they are here. And that's saying something!

The fighting is pretty good. More or less an upgrade of the same old, faithful Suiko fighting engine.

The music is the big disappointment of the year, right along with Xenosaga's music. ...

Bland, new agey muzak that is completely indistinct.
An uninspired effort FOR an uninspired effort.

I wish Konami had had the guts to release a Suiko title in the vein of their new Contra game and their previous amazing hit Castlevania:SOTN. Release a title true to its roots with the bells and whistles of present day. Don't change the whole freakin' thing!

Suiko has lost all its charm in this conversion. I can't even really call it a Suiko game because it just doesn't feel like it at all.

What should have been:
Imagine a lush, gorgeous looking Suiko with 3d type graphics in a 2d or pseudo 2d/3d environment. You all can imagine in your minds what you wanted this to look like.
Why couldn't that have been done?
Maybe the camera wouldn't be completely overhead, but as is, everything is eye level, and I sure miss being able to see everything from overhead like in the old games.

I understand that they wanted to bring it out of the Stone Age. That's fine. But after playing good, vibrant 3d games like a Kingdom Hearts...this is simply unacceptable. I am not against 3d, but this game is another example of why I hope 2d doesn't get killed off.
Game designers: If you are insistent on jumping to 3d, make it worthwhile please.

I guess this will be another series that hopefully gets a GBA incarnation, so I can get my true sequel that way.

It is a big game. I have heard figures as high as 200 hours of gameplay. I doubt that, but...if you have the patience to stick through it, the story is amazing and deep.

I advise everyone to rent this first.

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