June Retro Community Playthrough - Suikoden

[GrayGhost81]

I am thrilled to bring you this month's retro community playthrough title: the original Suikoden for the Sony Playstation.

I played this game for the first time almost exactly two years ago at a time when I was very new to RPGs. After the first few hours, I couldn't put the game down. I'm very excited to give this classic another run with the RFGeneration community!

[img width=408 height=323]http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/11332/592418-suikoden.gif[/img]

Story:
Take control of the son of Teo McDohl, the great imperial general. You might think being the son of a general would have its perks and it does, for about the first ten minutes of the game. It doesn't take very long at all for the player to realize things aren't what they seem behind the scenes of the government. Being thrust into a world of political turmoil, you must navigate many complicated relationships and situations with the game's many characters. This is the most interesting narrative in a console game I have ever experienced. 

Gameplay:
Mechanically, the game plays as a traditional turn-based JRPG, but it is a very well designed one. Your character moves fast on screen. The battle system is simple and fast paced. The encounter rate is just right. The weapon upgrade system is very unique. The sprite work is beautiful and the way it is blended in with the 3D technology of the day is amazing.

[img width=640 height=480]http://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/44908-suikoden-playstation-screenshot-regular-battles.gif[/img]

In the game you have the opportunity to recruit characters to join your cause, with many being playable party members. I tend to recruit only whomever I trip over while completing the main events of the game, but I'm excited to hear about the participants who will no doubt attempt to recruit everybody available. 

Available Platforms:
The was first released in North America on the Sony Playstation in 1996 and today is also available on The Playstation Network for download on the Playstation 3 and PSP. If you speak Japanese you can play the game on the Sega Saturn as well!

Resources:
http://www.suikosource.com/games/gs1/

Checkpoints:
Week One (6/1/14-6/7/14):
Claim your castle and give it a kick-ass name!
Week Two (6/8/14-6/14/14):
Defeat Kwanda Rosman.
Week Three (6/15/14-6/21/14):
Defeat Neclord.
Week Four (6/22/14-6/30/14):
Finish the game!

Participants:
grayghost81
sirpsycho
h1ghw1nd
retrorage
disposed hero
douglie007
singlebanana
boshamp

_________________________________________________

I've mentioned elsewhere on the forum how special the first two Suikoden games are to me. This is not only because of how amazing they are just as games, but also because they were introduced to me by my best friend Jesse, whom as most of you know recently passed away. I distinctly remember the day he lent me Suikoden and Suikoden II because when he pulled them out of the side compartment of his motorcycle, I kind of gave him guff about it. Why weren't they in a briefcase handcuffed to him? 

I named my character after him and am dedicating this playthrough to him. Let's make it a great one.

[img width=700 height=393]http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h32/grayghost81/IMG_20140524_194500_453_zpsc8cd2b91.jpg[/img]

[RetroRage]

I'm in.  Never played this before so this could get interesting

[douglie007]

Played and beat this game 2 times, I love it, the hardest part is getting all 108 playable people

[SirPsycho]

I'm at the tail end of the game I'm playing. If anybody's starting soon I would recommend going to Milich's house and digging through his closets. Its the mansion with all the vines and flowers.

[Disposed Hero]

Awesome!  Looking forward to this.  I've been itching to play an old-school PS1 era RPG again 

[RetroRage]

Played and beat this game 2 times, I love it, the hardest part is getting all 108 playable people

108 playable characters?  Whaaaaat?

[SirPsycho]

Played and beat this game 2 times, I love it, the hardest part is getting all 108 playable people

108 playable characters?  Whaaaaat?

Nah, only around 70 are playable.

[RetroRage]

Played and beat this game 2 times, I love it, the hardest part is getting all 108 playable people

108 playable characters?  Whaaaaat?

Nah, only around 70 are playable.

Oh.  Well that sounds reasonable.

[Boshamp]

Sounds like the type of game I stayed away from as a kid...having so many people to choose from was a turn off as I do not enjoy thinking for myself. ha ha. The first game I stopped playing because of this was Chrono Cross, but I suppose I can grow up and learn to think outside the box. I need to play a game like this and thankfully, I own a copy. Count me in for this one. Unfortunately...it is CRACKED...it isn't noticeable from the cover of the disc, but when it couldn't be read and I took it out to clean it, I found a pretty much invisible crack all the way from the center ring to the edge. The only way I saw it was by the light reflecting off it at different angles. Not cool, life, not cool.

[h1ghw1nd]

The only bad part about so many playable characters is not being able to use all the cool ones in battle at the same time. You don't really have to keep switching them out (FFX style) I usually just switch out to my favorite people as I get them. ^_^

[Boshamp]

Well, thanks to Disposed Hero, I will be able to join again. I will probably play SotC while I wait for it to arrive, but I am thinking I will have enough time to catch up with you all. My transaction with Hero was my first, but he made it very simple and quick for me.  Thank you, Disposed Hero!

[h1ghw1nd]

I'm gonna spice this play through up a little. Whoever recruits the most characters by the end of the month will win….to be determined mwahahaha (maybe update those wish lists?) I'll come up with something official by the 1st though.

Regarding PS1/PSN differences (if any) & Suikoden II:

Spoiler (hover to show)

I was reading a FAQ that said when you transfer your save to II, the names of your main character & castle get messed up unless you name them in all capitals? Anyone know if it's the same on the PSN version?

Also, can you somehow transfer data from II to III or any others?

[GrayGhost81]

@h1ghw1nd: That's awfully nice of you.

@boshamp: Oddly enough I also got my copy of Suikoden from Disposed Hero. You have nothing to be worried about.

Has anyone had a chance to start yet? Any thoughts?

[SirPsycho]

I'm gonna spice this play through up a little. Whoever recruits the most characters by the end of the month will win….to be determined mwahahaha (maybe update those wish lists?) I'll come up with something official by the 1st though.

Regarding PS1/PSN differences (if any) & Suikoden II:

Spoiler (hover to show)

I was reading a FAQ that said when you transfer your save to II, the names of your main character & castle get messed up unless you name them in all capitals? Anyone know if it's the same on the PSN version?

Also, can you somehow transfer data from II to III or any others?

I talked about this in another thread.

For the name mess up its some weird translation and programming stuff on Konami's part. In terms of canon the leader from I is named Tir McDohl. It takes all the capital letters you put in his name from the save data and puts them in his name for Suikoden II. Use the canon name and he comes up as TcDohl for example. If you want his name to truly carry over you need to use all caps and just name him MCDOHL or TIRMCDOHL. Using symbols like punctuation just messes it up even further.

There are no differences since Suikoden II is not on PSN yet. So when you boot up a physical copy and transfer the data it does what it was always meant to do. It doesn't matter if you play the game on a PS2 or PS3 it will always do the process outlined above.

You can transfer a Suikoden II cleared save to Suikoden III for some bonuses. The way you do this since they're on different systems is to copy the Suikoden II save file over to a PS2 memory card and load it from there. You can also upload a cleared Suikoden IV save file into Suikoden Tactics, but that's the last example of this mechanic in the series.

[Boshamp]

@boshamp: Oddly enough I also got my copy of Suikoden from Disposed Hero. You have nothing to be worried about.

I have heard nothing but horror stories about transactions online, but so far, I am pleasantly surprised.