Summary
Modesty is thy name...
The Good
Japanese-style RPGs have developed from dry, strict, dungeon-crawling games into beautiful fairy tales, melodramas, and philosophical essays. First, the player could only control a couple of nameless characters; later, he was able to guide through an exciting adventure a bunch of unlikely heroes, each one with a distinct personality. After
Final Fantasy VI, which was the culmination of all previous development of the genre, there was an uncertainty about what to do next.
Final Fantasy, the leading Japanese RPG franchise, decided to continue and to develop what "Final Fantasy VI" first introduced: gameplay gimmicks, melodramatic touch, mythology. But before
Final Fantasy VII hit the new Playstation console, a modest game was quietly released for the same platform, by a company that was famous for anything but its RPGs.
The first impression one is likely to get from "Suikoden" is that of extreme conservatism, passing under the slogan "back to the basics". "Suikoden" essentially tells a story of an evil empire, who tries to conquer the world, and you are the only one who...
"Oh , please", - you'll interrupt me, - "How many times do I have to listen to this crap?! Do all console RPGs have to have the same bloody story? Haven't we seen exactly the same in
Final Fantasy II? Why are you trying to persuade us to play another copy of it?"
Somewhere I heard the following expression: "It ain't what you do, it's how you do it". If there is any sense in this saying, it might as well be applied to "Suikoden". Yes, its basic story is nothing more than a repetition of older Japanese RPG business, but the way it treats and presents it is unusual and original...
"I know, I know", - you'll say, - "Now you'll start rambling about how flexible the gameplay of this game is, how utterly innovative, because you have 12764 special attacks and 6233 weapons to equip, and how original the story of the game is, because it is dealing with some pseudo-philosophical mumbo-jumbo, which I'm sick of".
No, that's not quite what I wanted to say. "Suikoden" offers virtually nothing for those who look for a mere expansion of what they have already seen before. You see, Final Fantasy series concentrate mainly on effects, on the exterior. It is undeniably cool, and nobody does it better than them (only 99% of other Japanese RPGs try to). But "Suikoden" is the only one who says: "I want to be a classic, traditional RPG, yet I don't want to be another Final Fantasy clone. I'll choose my own direction, while being based on the same story and gameplay mechanics that were used for Final Fantasy". A tough task, isn't it? But "Suikoden" succeeded. Instead of dedicating its attention to effects, it is devoted to the interior - to picture the
real base of relationship between people and countries.
The spiritual background of "Suikoden" is the classic Chinese novel "Water Margins" ("Shui Hu"), written by a medieval author Shi Nai'an. The Chinese "Shui Hu" (pronounced "Sui Ko" in Japanese - hence the name of the game, "Gensou Suikoden" - "A Fantasy Tale of Water Margins") tells a story of a corrupt empire, people's rebellion against it, and a prolonged war between them. 108 heroes participated in this battle and made their names immortal (became "stars"). Except the name, the basic story, and the concept of 108 stars, "Suikoden" seems to lack any other connection to "Water Margins": the setting is a fantasy world, and the stories of its countries and heroes have nothing to do with medieval China. But what ties it to "Water Margin" (and to Chinese culture in general) is much more important than setting and story details: it is the feeling of harmony achieved through cooperation and mutual respect, the sense of justice and duty, the tight connection between the actions of a single person and the destiny of an entire country, the concealed intensity of feelings, the serenity of the overall picture. All those things are typical for classic Chinese prosa, Chinese philosophy, and Chinese vision of the world. Final Fantasy is very Japanese; Suikoden is very Chinese. It presents all the huge influence of the Chinese on the Japanese in a form of a game. Final Fantasy dedicates itself to psychology, mythology, and melodrama, completely neglecting normal, "earthy" relationships between people and countries and the complex mechanisms which operate them; Suikoden brings us back to earth and shows it is possible to create an exciting RPG based on simple reality.
Even what seems like mere gimmicks at first glance - like the possibility to recruit 108 characters - soon reveal itself as something much more profound. The 108 characters are all different: there is not even one standard, cardboard console RPG character among the 108, and it is amazing to see what the wizards from Konami have achieved with characterization. I've already said that in my other reviews to Suikoden games, and I'll say that again: the 108 characters of Suikoden beat all other RPGs not only in quantity, but also in quality. Even more remarkable is the fact the designers often didn't need much more than a few strikes of a paintbrush to fully portray a believable, memorable character. Each character is also
visually original and interesting: rarely you'll find such a great collection of character portraits as in "Suikoden" and its sequels. The characters live their own life, and although they don't talk as much as those from Final Fantasy series, they are quite realistic and appealing. Even some totally unimportant, optional characters have something interesting to say and have their own personality.
Perhaps now you understand what I meant by saying "Suikoden" tells an uninteresting story in a rather interesting way. The whole aspect of "beat the evil Empire" cliché gets a new dimension here. In other RPGs, the heroes fight against the evil, without thinking much about their motives, and those evil people are more caricatures than real characters. Even in psychologically detailed games with great character casts, like for example both
Lunar games or
Final Fantasy IX, the evil characters are way less convincing than the "good" ones, and seem to come directly from a fairy tale. In "Suikoden", the main story is there just to help the game to pose important questions: why do we fight? What do we fight for? Can a war be justified if its cause is noble? Can we allow ourselves to take people's lives, even while fighting for the justice? The game doesn't answer those questions, not because it avoids the responsibility, but because it wants
you, the player, to form your own opinion of the events and to reach your own verdict. While other Japanese RPGs impose on the player their own vision of the world, in "Suikoden" you must develop your own vision. This is also the reason for the main character being silent.
"Suikoden" introduced many interesting gameplay ideas that have become the staple of the series since then. Most of them were borrowed from Western RPGs, which in my opinion was a very good thing: six-member active parties (for the first time in Japanese RPGs, if I recall correctly!); casting spells by memorizing a limited amount of them, instead of consuming and refilling magic points; the importance of position in party formation, and the general feeling of being able to customize stuff. "Suikoden" is much richer on side quests than your usual Japanese RPG; playing it "high speed" or taking time and completing every task possible are quite different experiences.
"Suikoden" offers an excellent replay value, something quite rare for a Japanese RPG. You'll definitely want to replay the game, experimenting with different party combinations (there is a tremendous amount of characters who can participate in active battles), and getting all 108 stars. If you get all the stars, you'll also get a different ending. Another source of replay value is the possibility to customize your castle. You start with a hollow, unpleasant cave, and end with a super-modern building (you can even have an elevator built in your castle if you recruit the necessary person).
Although I generally prefer the fantastic music of
Suikoden II, "Suikoden" has some really unforgettable tracks. My favorite one is the broad, orchestral, "Russian" melody of Kirov. The slightly Chinese music of Seika and Kaku is also great in its exotic coloring.
The Bad
"Suikoden" is unspectacular. There are no cinematic cut scenes, no FMV sequences, no eye candy. The game looks like an updated version of a SNES RPG. Only the majestic orchestral soundtrack can tell us this game actually uses CD format and is made for a more advanced console than SNES. Its
sequel also had outdated graphics, but its more cinematic approach made it a better reflection of its time than the first game.
The strategy battles lack the necessary tension, are quite primitive, depend too much on luck (the battle system is in fact a simple rock-scissors-paper game), and once you recruit thieves and ninjas, who can predict the opponent's next turn, they become laughably easy.
The Bottom Line
Everything that makes Suikoden games so unique and memorable can be found in this first installment. It has style, substance, and enough original ideas to spawn sequels that were more like variation on a theme, drawing inspiration from the first installment. Its sequels might have more complex story lines and cooler strategy battles, but the first Suikoden is still rich and varied enough to be considered a great game on its own right, and is much more than just a template to improve upon.
