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Excellent!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Cliche story that is well conveived, with some delightful characters and some good dialogue. The story revolves around a prince trying to reclaim his kingdom lost in a coup. The fact that the bad guys are very human and that there is no ultimate evil, gives a nice flavor of realism. A little disappointingly the story turns too straightforward as it advances, and the prince experiences success too easily.
I've played Suikoden 3-5, and this one seems to have the most interesting characters to collect. Graphics are a little dated. There are a couple of good tunes, but overall the music is quite forgettable, but not annoying. Voice acting is mediocre. Load times are long, random encounters are many. Those with little patience, beware.

Don't waste your money

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I knew I was in big trouble with this game when the first 4 hours were nothing but cut scenes. Cut scenes are a necssary part of RPGs but 4 hours worth nearly killed off what few brains cells I have remaining. Then things got even worse. The characters in this game are simply boring to put it mildly, especially the prince who had no personality at all and he seemed to be just along for the ride. Now let me mention the character's clothing. Almost everyone wears pseudo samuri clothing that lookes like it was borrowed from one of the later Final Fantasy games. Very unnattractive. What happened to the cool outfits that people wore in the other Suikodens? I also have to mention the poses that some of the characters seemed to like doing and I hope I can properly describe it. They were kind of hunched over with their arms nearly touching the ground as they gyrated around. Also very unattractive and unnatural looking. The war battles are in real time thus hardly giving you time to set up any strategy so each war ends up in melee. I play RPGs because I like turn based combat and these war battles are really out of place and no fun at all. I also found the game to be very grim without the slightest hint of humor unlike Suikoden 1,2 and 3 which are quite light hearted in comparasion. Perhaps the worst feature of this game is the long load times whever you enter a new area or finish a fight with the monsters. 10 second load times every few minutes can test the enduance of even the most hardened game player.

On a brighter note the fights with the monsters, what little of them there are, are your standard turn based action in the traditional Suikoden style, but the monster slashing can not make up for the rest of the problems I have with this game.

If you want fun light hearted games please play Suikoden 1, 2 and 3 and don't waste your money on this turkey.

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Long time fans of Suikoden will be glad the game has returned to its original charm, but will note a few areas where improvements could be made. While it only takes a reasonable amount of time to acquire your HQ, it takes far too long to do anything with it, so you're stuck stockpiling way too much junk in storage. I miss the old "Iron Chef" competition... in fact, all the mini-games are pretty lame, this time out. (Why is it that in nearly every RPG series, the mini-games deteriorate in quality over time?) It's not a game that's likely to rock your world, but for those of use who fell for the first Suikoden's charm, it's great to revisit the Suiko universe once again.

Short and straight to the point

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Ask yourself one question, Did you love suikoden 2? If you did then you will love suikoden 5. Great story, great game, great memories. FIN

suikoden making a come back

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 04, 2007
Author: Amazon User

after great disappoint from part 4, suikoden really make a come back by bring back suikoden 2 like game play and with a new storyline in the kingdom falena putting this game in the standards as suikoden 2

My favorite Playstation 2 RPG!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The year was 2002. I was sorely disappointed by Final Fantasy X and even more disappointed by .hack. Then Suikoden 3 came out. I thought, "Well, this has to be good, right? I loved the first two, maybe this will give me a good PS2 RPG to play."

Well, in a nutshell, it too disappointed me with its dreadfully slow pacing and awkward combat system. Then came 4 and Tactics, which unfortunately weren't much better in either regard. I began to think that Suikoden would be another victim of the mentality that felled Breath of Fire - that is, that it has to be "original", regardless of the toll it takes on the fun.

But after all that, there came Suikoden V. What a great game. Combat returns to its familiar 6-man party roots, the story is well paced and almost entirely voice acted, and the characters are believably written and creative; for every character that fits into the typical RPG archetypes, there are three more that break the mold and end up being unique.

Most importantly, though, the game is just plain fun. You'll need to utilize a lot of strategy to make it through the tough boss fights and war battles, and sidequests (always a Suikoden staple) are plentiful and highly varied. You'll to do everything from turn profits in trading to matching opponents in fishing to clashing with monsters in abandoned ancient cities in order to fill out the ranks of your army. It's a game with a ton to see and do; it can easily take upwards of 100 hours if you really want to see it all.

So with its great storyline, characters, and gameplay, Suikoden V quickly rose through the ranks to become my favorite RPG of the platform, and has stayed there since even after I picked up Final Fantasy XII and Rogue Galaxy. It may have not look as pretty as some, but when it comes to what matters there's no comparison. Buy this game - you won't be disappointed.

Suikoden IV may have been a blessing in disguise...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: November 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Where to start...

Gameplay: 9/10
Back on form! Apart from a few minor problems, the gameplay in Suikoden V (SV) is excellent.

With regards to the battle system, SV simply expands on what Suikoden (SI) and Suikoden II (SII) did - Not that that's a bad thing. No longer do you only have the option of using the basic formation of old, you can now use various formations, meaning you can make a party with any six characters work. Simple as it may seem, the option of changing the battle formations makes battles much more fun.

Speaking of battles, the now famous Suikoden war battles make a return. This time around they're in real time and are much more frantic, leading to both good and bad points. They follow a basic rock-paper-scissors principle, certain units giving and taking more damage depending on who attacks who. Sadly, they aren't all that well designed, sometimes leading to mass slaughter due to having to control too many units in too many postions at once.

I suppose the dual battle system is also worth a mention, although it doesn't get used very often during SV. I won't bother going into details since the dual battle system hasn't changed much since SI, using the same same sort of rock-paper-scissors principle that the new war battle uses. The only thing worth noting to Suiko vets is that you have to give your command straight away now, which makes the duals more interesting. Oh yeah, and the dual battle graphics look great.

Moving away from the battles, something SV improved on over its prequels is the character recruitment. It all seemed a bit too easy in past Suikoden games, most SoD would join you as soon as you asked. This time around, Konami make you work damn hard...no longer do most SoDs willingly join and risk their lives unless you put some serious effort into recruiting them.

The only thing that lets the gameplay down is the encounter rate...well, that and usual low difficulty level of Suikoden games. The encounter rate REALLLY annoyed me at times, like the time when I got lost in a dungeon and kept getting into random battles every few steps when all I wanted to do was explore. Konami really should've fixed the high encounter rate after Suikoden IV (SIV), I can't understand for the life me why they made it so high, it's not like they needed the high encounter rate to add extra length to SV!

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Story: 9.5/10
Without a doubt, the strongest point of SV.

You get slowly introduced to Falena and the main characters, something most fans seem to moan about, but don't worry, the story is absolutely amazing once it gets going. If you want some sour to go with the sweet, the story does lose some of its momentum near the end; it starts to get a little on the dull and predictable side.

I mentioned that most of the SoD require more work to recruit when talking about the gameplay, and I'm happy to say that the SoD imporovments don't stop with them simply being harder to recruit. Nearly all of the SoDs have strong connections to the plot and other main characters, plus they all have their own unique and understandable reasons for getting involved in the war. If you're anything like me, you'll be straight on Suikosource for more information about certain characters after you complete SV.

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Soundtrack: 10/10
Never before have I heard a more fitting and beautiful video game soundtrack. I want it! Someone buy it me, I'm too cheap!

Some video game soundtracks seem to fit in with the game without having any truly memorable tracks, others have some excellent tracks that don't quite work with the game, SV gets it just right and as near to perfect as a video game soundtrack can be.

As for my recommendations, you should check out these tracks:

A Sad Wish
Determination ~Tragic Battle~
Overcoming the Grief
Scar of Destruction

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Graphics: 8/10
Perfect for people who enjoyed playing older RPGs...not that the graphics are bad, far from it!

If you're the sort of person who only cares for flashy graphics, don't get SV, please. I can't believe how some people actually dislike SV simply because it doesn't have KH2 graphics...I mean, why even play RPGs if you can't put story and gameplay first? It's beyond me. The graphics aren't even that bad, the facial animations are excellent, the only problem being that there aren't all that many cut-scenes to view them with.

Now, there is one bad point relating to the graphical side of things; the camera. You can't change the angle, all you can do is zoom in and out. I suppose it's pretty bad for a game not to have a fully rotatable camera, especially when you consider that SIV, the prequel of SV, let you rotate the camera. Still, the fixed camera angle doesn't really cause any problems, I can't recall getting annoyed with the camera during my first 78 hour SV experience.

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Length: 9/10
7.4 inches...oh, the game? It's very long.

78 hours, the time it took me to complete SV on my first playthrough. I missed 9 SoD, I didn't mess around with the mini-games...you get what I'm trying to say.

In my opinion, you should play SV without a guide on your first playthrough. You probably won't get all 108 of the SoD, you'll also no doubt waste lots of time trying to figure out how to get them to join you, so why bother you ask? Well, it gives you a reason to replay it straight away, plus you get see an ending worth missing out on getting all 108 SoD.

Oh, and SV has (as far as I know) five different endings. I'm happy enough with the ending I got with 99/108 stars, let alone the best ending!

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Overall: 9
The best Suikoden? Depending on how highly you rate SII, yes.

Don't let SIV fool you into thinking the Suikoden series is over, that couldn't be much further from the truth. Hell, maybe SIV was a blessing in disguise, who knows how good SV would've been if not for fans hating SIV so much!

Minor problems aside, SV was well worth the wait. It'll be truly sad if this gem of a game isn't played by every true RPG fan out there. If you can look beyond the graphical side of things, you will see one of the greatest games ever made.

Suikoden V

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game, perhaps the best of the Suikoden series. I recommend this game to everyone.

Everything We Know Of Suikoden

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Many of us love Suikoden for different reasons, and most of those reasons you will find in Suikoden V.

For those who love the compelling, sometimes very dark storyline, you'll find it here. Everything from the pain of leading and losing troops, genocide, and betrayal can be found here. The translation is flawless, and the humor is fresh and had me laughing on more than one occasion.

The castle-building is back as well, with new recruits changing the nature of your headquarters, adding mini-games and special treats throughout. The fishing game is loads of guilt-free fun, and there are a number of various other games to play as well.

Of course, it wouldn't be Suikoden without the search for all 108 stars of destiny. Let this be a warning; Suikoden V is much more unforgiving when comes to getting all of the Stars. If you aren't careful, you can easily miss a crucial star, and worse yet, it can lead to you missing other stars because you needed the first to get the others. This is remedied with a New Game+ option, which lets you carry over skill points, money, and items to a new game after beating it.

The music is also worth mentioning. While not as catchy as Suikoden II, which is a virtually insurmountable task, it does hold its own, and is easily better than many RPGs out today.

If you are like me and still getting some good mileage out of your PS2, then I highly suggest dropping thirty bucks and purchasing this game. You will not regret it.

One of the best games ever made

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 01, 2007
Author: Amazon User

For those of you who are new to RPGs let me explain a little bit about Suikoden. It has been a popular series since the first one came out in 96. That one, though good enough for its time, is generally considered too short and graphically outdated, in fact, as FF7 will show, the graphics were outdated even back then in 96. But it was a good game, very nice character development and many characters (over 100 in fact, but most do not play a central role in the story and are never really explored) it does have a nice feeling of war in it. The second game is longer, and is considered a masterpiece. When the ps2 came out, we (suikoden fans) were expecting some classic 3D games with great storylines, like the first 2. We were totally let down with the next 3 games Konami would make for the PS3, Suikoden 3 and 4 and Tactics really killed this series and were no where near as epic as the first 2. Well, about a year and a half ago, along came Suikoden 5. The fifth Suikoden is a masterpiece, much better than any release before. This is perhaps, an apology from Konami to long time fans for the lousy games they had been making. What I love about this game (other the being an epic war story like the first 2) is the graphics. It is 3D, yet it looks almost like a 2D game, it is really nostalgic. It looks alot like Suikoden 2, and is what the first one should have been. But there are voice overs and 3D scenes. The war battles were pretty nice, though I think Suikoden 2 perfected that, and Suikoden 3 looked like an absolute joke. The story itself begings in the Queendom of Falena (a country only briefly mentioned in about one sentence in Suikoden 2.) This country is ruled by the matriarchy and overseen by the benevolent power of the Sun Rune. Yet the shadow of Civil War looms. The Godwin faction, an extremely powerful senate faction with their own grand city and a vast army, hungers for the imperial throne and the powers of the Sun Rune. Leading a coup and killing the Queen, Gizel and his father Marscal install the young princess Lymslia as a pupet Queen with the intention of using the Sun Rune to destroy other nations and rule the world. Escaping to saftey, the rest of the story focuses on the young prince (you name him) in his struggles to win this civil war and destroy the evil Godwin faction. It must be said that in this game, there are less shades of gray than the previous game. No one in this game can question the evilness of your opposition and that if they prevail, they will most likely bring doom to Falena. Well, like past games, in this one you collect 108 stars. It is a lot harder to obtain them all in this game, and some can be easily missed if you don't get them in time. The good ending, is well worth this effort. The soundtrack is very good, not quite as good as the first two, but it does have a few very memorable tunes. I believe this game is probably the best Suikoden. Its hard to say, both this one and number 2 are really great games and play out like an epic war story. Like I said though, in this game there are a lot less shades of gray with the villains, in the first one the emperor seemed like a good man, in the second one, your main enemy and best friend is a good person doing what he thinks is right, though he seems to have less morals than the main character. In the third one, there really isn't an enemy, just oppossing views. Well, Luc was an enemy, but the whole story involving him was a disaster. In the fourth one, there are a couple enemies, they are both totally forgetable. In Tactics, Iskas, don't make me laugh. Well, the Godwins really make this game memorable and worth playing again.

I think it is important to explain the views of the three major factions in this game

The Godwin Faction: They want to turn Falena into a military dictatorship. They wish to eradicate any form of self government within the country, basically, a strong centralized government. They also (and pretty much the whole reason for this game and their motives) wish to use the Sun Rune to pursue a very aggressive foreign policy, both on the neighboring Armes Kingdom and the rest of the world.

The Barrows Faction: They wish to consolidate power and improve foreign trade with other nations. They are not very expansionistic and neither are they democratic. They do not seem to be as pro totalitarian as the Godwins though... The Barrows faction used to be as powerful, or perhaps even more so, than the Godwin faction. However, it is clear in the very beginning of the game that although they still have substantial clout in the senate (simply go into the senate and talk to everyone, you will learn the current political climate) they are not nearly as powerful as the Godwins.

The Royal Family before the Queens assassination: Made up of Queen Arshtat and her husband Ferid, they look to contain the power of the nobles (especially the Godwins and the Barrows) and preserve most of the status quo, ie, the senate. They have basically, the same ideals as the Princes faction, but they do not wish for a constitunial queendom, at least, not to the extent of making a parliment made up of members to represent the various regions and substantially curb the power of the royal family. One would assume this because it was not done during her reign. Mostly they are very concerned with the growing power of Marscal and Gizel Godwin.

The Royal Faction after the assasination of the Queen: Basically, the faction that will fight on the side of the Prince of Falena. They want to improve relations with neighboring countries and establish a democratic form of matriarchy, one in which each independent city/clan is represented in a parliment. They wish to keep the Sun Rune as Falena's royal heirloom, but they do not wish to use its tremendous power to subjugate foreign nations.

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