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108 Characters! Who else but Konami could pull off such a monumental task as this? The unique blend of satirical humor and Greek tragedy causes this game to become, easily, one of the best RPGs of its time.
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While the press date for this release is fairly old (1996 to be exact) the all-encompassing plot surrounding each of the 108 characters makes this a timeless classic enjoyable by gamers of all ages. Long are the years where Konami only released platform/side-scroller games such as the long-sufferable Castlevania series (in which this writer became addicted to when he was but 10 years old). Throwing its hat into the arena for the title of roleplaying games, Konami has certainly became a contender with this title...though I do not believe it has enough experience or power to knock out the heavy weight champion (Square, now called Square Enix since its merger).
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Like all of its RPG brethren, Suikoden has its pros and cons, showing that while the gaming industry keeps making advances by leaps and bounds there are always going to be drawbacks, whether it be from lack of experience, or the "smorgasbord syndrome" where the team tries to add too many innovative features and causes other key essential parts to falter. I would have to say that I am amazed at how few flaws this game suffered, but flaws it has. The major con that the game has and sadly the first noticed one is the lack of great artwork. I won't go as far as to say that it looks like a 4th grader drew them, but it was sorely lacking. The background and the pre-rendered models were phenomenal for its time, but the concept art started to make you wonder if Konami decided to cut the wages of the 2D artists and they started to riot. Overlooking that negative point, we will go into the unrealistically hard...and addicting side game of Chinchiron. I admit, I had to spend many days in CA (Chinchiron Anonymous) meetings, but that came from the fact that it’s virtually impossible to win every time, which Konami will argue simulates luck (but in the opinion of this writer, I think its the cpu's lack of possibility and random).
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I will give you a moment to realize, YES those are the only negative points of the game that I can think of, and I am sure you are yelling to the screen, "those are not even worth mentioning!" Well, given the fact that you might be right, play the game and then come and tell me those flaws do not just jump out at you. The good points are numerous and would probably take a few more pages just to list them all so I will place them under two easy to read (and write) headings: Plot and Slot.
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The aptly named plot heading is just that, boasting one of the largest plots in the gaming industry (note that this is overall, not just story or characters.) each character has his/her own plot and background story, plus side quests. If that isn't enough replay value for you then Konami added in special side quests like Clive's quest that will keep gamers playing even after the boss battle has ended.
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Some of you may not understand why I named the second heading "Slots." Well, that’s because of the unique inventory system. Long gone are the games where you can have an infinite number of spots to place items (Final Fantasy has to be the king of surrealism, who else hosts a dimensional vortex JUST for items?). Suikoden took the route of each character in the team (up to 4 per team) and giving them a certain amount of spots for items, which included armors and weapons.
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The realistic undertones of the game caused this gamer/writer to play the game over and over which I can boast or admit (depends on how you look at it, lol) having so much spare time to have beaten the game more times than college classes I have taken up to now (90+hrs for those of you who are interested). This is an oldie but goodie game that I believe if you have a PSX or PS2 - get this game. It will be worth the price you paid (mine cost me $10 as pre-played).
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