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Solid, Addictive, Fun!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 18
Date: January 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Usually, I tend to dismiss a lot of beloved games as "Eh, they can wait", but not so with Suikoden Tactics. The Suikoden Series is one of my favorites, so about a week after the game came out, I snatched it right up. I was pleased to see Suikoden with a Strategy RPG turn since these sorts of games are a load of fun for me. This game is good on its own, but great if you're already a Suikoden fan and would like to see some of Suikoden IV explained more.

Sound/Music: 8/10

The music for the most part is just excellent. The songs used for the Kooluk Empire in particular(like El Eal and Graska) are just flat out beautiful and reminds of why Suikoden has some of the best music ever. The battle music is fairly decent too and suits the situations quite nicely. It tends to stick with you without being too much of a distraction. I generally liked the music and is a must for video game music buffs. The only song I didn't care for much was the beginning song as I found the singing rather grating, but I have no doubt that others will enjoy it.

This game does have voice acting and it's actually fairly decent. I've heard better, but I've also heard much worse. Kyril's voice can be very grating, but Andarc's and Seneca's really aren't that bad. I'd say it's farily average overall.

Story: 8/10

The story is more of a companion piece to Suikoden IV more than just a standalone(you can transfer data from Suikoden IV) and it actually does help improve Suikoden IV quite a bit since ST includes many of the returning characters, reveals parts of S4 that weren't quite explained(although I wish more was done with Troy), and has the same atmospheric feel.

Suikoden Tactics takes place before and after Suikoden 4, starting out in Raziel where a young Kyril and his group find young Snow and Siobahn(my name for hero 4). They discover a fish creature that had died because of a Rune Cannon and things go on from there. The entire purpose of the game is to find Rune Cannons, research them and destroy them. Of course, it's never that simple given the game is full of twists, turns(some you could see a mile off, but the twists are still there), emotional scenes, and political intrigue typical of the Suikoden series.

What really makes this game(and basically all of Suikoden) stand out is the characterization. Kyril might not be too dynamic, but he's powerful. Andarc and Seneca provide very interesting and oftentimes amusing moments. The same could be said for a lot of the characters there. Old favorites return and one of the new characters almost entirely steals the show(should have been a story character, but isn't, which is a shame). Overall, very solid and what I expect from Suikoden.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics of the characters could have been much better. The portraits are fine and look great, but beyond that, the characters look a little too distorted for my taste. Not bad, but far from the best Suikoden has had to offer. The sweeping scenes before the battles and the town backgrounds showed some beautiful scenery, but nothing that goes beyond typical strategy RPGs. The spells, however, look beautiful, which is quite usual in the series. Overall, just good. Nothing special, except for the spells.

Gameplay: 9/10

To put it simply, this game is crack. The battle system is fun and you can actually have conversations in battle that increase "good will", something that makes someone protect, assist and grow angry over another being attacked. "Good Will" also helps gaining Cooperative(or Unite) Attacks. The elemental grids, which increase or decrease abilities depending on compatability, help give this game a unique feel. The only real complaint is that if the character is not a "story character", he/she could die and be permanently removed from the game. Not a large complaint since it's fairly easy to avoid if you have the right strategy and this sort of thing has occured in all the Suikoden games. Beyond all that, it uses the tried and true methods of most other Strategy Games. Not a real flaw though since it works like a charm in Suikoden Tactics.

Replay Value: 8/10

When you complete the game, you have the opportunity to play a "Clear" game, which means that you retain Equipment (If they are not equipped on some one), Runes (If they are not equipped on some one), Potch and
Items. You get a new character and the ability to skip cutscenes. That, and the general fun of the game is enough to warrent a fairly high replay value, especially if you're a Suikoden fan already. What's more is that it makes me want to play Suikoden 4 again. Can't say any other game has ever done that, except Final Fantasy X-2.

Final Score: 40/50

Give it a chance....

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 10
Date: February 14, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I began this game having never played any of the Suikoden games at all, which would probably explain some of my discontent with it. First of all, there is little to no character development. Second, I found myself laughing at how stupid most of the diolague was... seriously, I understand now why square and enix got it right by not doing the voice acting... if you found the dialogue to be grotesque in this game then you will understand what I mean.

There were some good points about this game though after I gave it a chance and played it til the end. The whole Rune system was pretty cool in the abilities to use. More diversity would have been better and the ability to hire on demand like FF tactics would have been cooler too, but for the most part there was good characer diversity in the types of characters + the mounts you can use.

The Co-op special attacks and good will system was rather interesting and helps a lot when you time things right. Everything about the getting of items/money/skill pts was too easy though, fun... but easy.

All in all I give this game a 3 out of 5.... it lacked a lot, but was fun for the time it took to play it which was less than a week casually playing it.

another game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 10
Date: January 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game was blah at best. When I bought this game I was looking for a game that would last me a while and was interesting at the same time. What I found in this game was one with horrible character development, terrible graphics and the gameplay itself wasn't all that great. I have plenty of time to play the game but I couldn't keep my attention on this game for more than maybe a half hour. After that it was all the same. The plot was poor as well. I spent a total of 23 hours playing this game and still understood nothing but one thing, without telling what that one thing is for those of you who still want to buy it, that one thing didn't keep my attention. Just a friendly warning that the review in game informers was right on this game. (6.5) If you are desperate and really need to have something to play by all means get this game but there are plenty of other games out there that are much better.

Great Potential but Flaws in Gameplay

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 3
Date: February 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Suikoden Tactics is a turn based RPG that involves an odd collection of cel-shaded characters. Told in chapters, the story stretches through chance meetings and colossal battles.

Suikoden fans will really appreciate this venture into their world with new storyline and background filled in. The gameplay itself in battle is pretty standard for a turn based RPG. You have a grid overlaying your current map, and each character can move a certain distance each turn. Depending on the armor and weapons, the attack range and damage varies. You can set down an element on an area of the map - for example thunder - which would then affect people who are sensitive to that element.

While the graphics are not stellar, they are also not half bad for the PS2. The menu screens have a soft, colored-pencil look to them that is easy to work with. You customize your various characters, giving them skills and equipment as they gain experience and level up.

On the other hand, the in game graphics usually involve blurry figures nodding their heads at each other and striding through a room. It's almost a shame that they didn't spend more time on that aspect (especially the club-hands!) given how nice some of the character drawings are.

The real disappointment here is with the voices. They are some of the worst I've heard in a game. The dialogue is sappy enough, but every time someone speaks you have to see a dialogue box pop up, then wait for the voices to come in and speak the words for you in a less-than-dramatic fashion. The discussions seem to run on for HOURS. I love storyline, and some of my favorite games are story-heavy. However, there's a difference between compelling drama and long, inane, badly spoken conversations.

I think the game had great potential - the battle mechanics are fun and the menus are easy to nagivate and nice to look at. I'm not quite sure what happened here. It's like they had a great game near completion and turned it over to some group to finish the details like the voices, and that group ran out of time to do a good job on it. If you're a Suikoden fan and can tune out the voices and ignore the main action graphics, it's well worth playing for the gameplay and story, and once you finish the game you can replay it loaded up on cool items, skipping through the cut-scenes.

sukoden tactics

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 8
Date: August 28, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Enjoyed the game but ending is alittle long due to leveling to kill final boss at lv 40. Enemies that you fight to level are only lv 34 wasnt thought out correctly.

Not a bad game, but not a great game either.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: February 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Although this game did have alot of flaws, and the story was non existent I still enjoyed the game. However this was my least favorite suikoden game in the series, but it is still worthy of being played. Another bonus is that this game also includes a soundtrack of the music from the suikoden series which was very cool, because I love the music in this series. all in all its a decent game. dont expect a great game, but for 20 bucks its worth a play.

I have been waiting for a fun tactics game ever since shining force III

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: November 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Unfortunately, the wait got longer. This game has soooooo much potential. but just like the rest of the suikoden series, it falls short. You can't power level in this game. When your characters dies, they really die! The story is slow. The special moves are lack luster. The graphics are boring and sub par, and the music is very typical konami. The truth is, I keep getting suckered into these suikoden games with the promise of rpg goodness, and instead I end up putting 30 hours into it, quitting, and selling the thing.

If your looking for a top notch strategy game, this is not it. If your looking for a suikoden game, well this isn't it either. This is more of an experimental title that will leave you bored and constipated.

Have fun.

A fun diversion into the Suikoden universe...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

...but just not good enough as an SRPG. Suikoden Tactics is interesting, as it continues the story from Suikoden IV (incidentally, I find it amusing that the 1UP reviewers on this page called the game a "prequel," as the prequel aspect ends after the FIRST CHAPTER).
The problem with this game? It's way, waaaayyyy too easy.The offending culprit? Elemental squares. Your characters can control the elements of the squares on which they and the enemy. Of course, so can the enemy, in theory, but usually, they'll just waste their spells and items in the first two rounds, after which you can just change back the colors of the squares. And why does this simplify the game? While standing on an elemental square, your attack and defense nearly double, and you regain health every round. Yeah, that tends to make a game easy.

But any, here we go:
The Good:
1) The story - I think I'm the only fan of Suikoden IV in the world today, but I was very interested in the idea of a follow-up to that game. And Tactics delivers, sort of. Well, actually, the storyline is tangential to Suikoden IV, but it is nonetheless interesting (if incredibly strange).

2) Graphics - While not the stunning nature of FF or anything, for a game in the SRPG genre, these graphics are actually pretty nice. Yes, the strange flat hands, reminiscent of FFVII, rear their ugly, uhhh, head, but all in all, I thought the graphics showed more color potential than ANY of the 3-D Suikoden titles to date. Not flashy, but certainly sufficient for this genre.

3) Extras - Remember when you could load your saved data from one Suikoden game to the next? Well, Suikoden Tactics allows you to load data from Suikoden IV, and if your game has 108 stars, you get some pretty cool bonuses. I won't spoil them here.

The Bad:
1) Voice acting - while I have no particular disdain for the voices themselves, the delivery of lines leaves a LOT to be desired. As mentioned in another review, a dialogue window appears on the screen, followed by some of the most lackluster emotion ever experienced on a video game (and I played "Star Ocean 2"!). The more entertaining voices (such as Brandeau's) end pretty early, and the main character's voice is akin to the scraping of a chalkboard with fingernails. As for the rest, they are fine, but they deliver their lines with such little passion that it hardly matters.

2) Difficulty - one of the easiest SRPGs I've ever played.I've outlined the main culprit above, but there are plenty of others. In short, there is little strategy needed to win THESE battles.

Anyway, that's my thinking. In terms of gameplay, it's fine, but the battles are too easy, and the libretto in between is somewhat boring, which is too bad, really; Suikoden Tactics had a lot of potential. Here's hoping they try again and fix some of the problems.

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