Continuing from my previous review for Konami’s superb RPG Suikoden that hit the UK PSN last month, I find myself yet again reviewing a 15 year old game that has embarrassingly escaped me. If you haven’t read my review of the infamous role playing fantasy adventure, Suikoden was originally released for the Playstation back in 1996 and it went on to sell pretty well, well enough at least to leave a legacy behind it. Due to popular demand and the lack of physical copies to get hold of under $300, Konami finally gave in and gave its massive, yet ironically niche, fan base a true treasure in gaming history. It may have been short and sweet but I found the adventure to be highly enjoyable, the story was engaging and, despite its age, the game looked fantastic and played like a dream. So when I heard that not only is its sequel every way better than its predecessor, but apparently it’s regarded as one of the greatest RPGs ever made, which is quite a bold statement seeing what has come since, after all it was released alongside Final Fantasy VIII. Whilst reviewing the first Suikoden, I couldn’t escape reports and claims about Suikoden II being the greatest story ever told, so I was eager to, in some ways, disprove these allegations, as surely something so ‘old’ and ‘unknown’ can’t compare to anything I’ve played before … but oh boy it can.
Suikoden II is the commercially unsuccessful but incredibly well received sequel to a game that took Japan by storm. Taking everything from the original game and making it better, Suikoden II is set several years after the events of Suikoden I and features many characters and references from the previous game. Once again you, the player, take control of a voiceless hero who must go against everything and everyone he has ever known in the face of corruption, murder and dark sorcery. As a member of the Youth Brigade of the Highland Kingdom, Hero and best friend Jowy Atreides overhear a conversation between The Captain of the Guard and Luca Blight, heir to the throne of Highland, who murders his own countrymen so he can blame the attack on a neighbouring town, thus giving him the right to invade and pillage. Hero and Jowy soon fall into the camp of long-time opposition the New Alliance Army and it isn’t long until you become the Army’s leader. After a visit from a familiar face, our 2 protagonists are each given a half of the mysterious ‘Rune of the Beginning’, and with its power they plan to rebuild the Jowston Army and kill Luca Blight. Going into Suikoden II I only knew 2 things, that the story would emotionally tire me out and that the game’s antagonist is perhaps the vilest creature ever featured in video game, it’s fair to say that I was in for a treat.
Though it’s not essential to play the first Suikoden beforehand, the game does reward those who slaved away recruiting the original 108 stars of destiny by letting you transfer over your completed saved data. In doing so, you are treated to a very lengthy side quest that I won’t spoil for you, but believe me you are rewarded handsomely for your efforts. The game does well as a standalone title but as the first Suikoden is only a dozen or so hours long to complete, I strongly recommend playing it first so seeing returning characters on your travels will mean more to you. Despite its critical acclaim, Suikoden II was slated for its somewhat dated look compared to other adventure games that were popular in the late 90s, all of which incorporated full 3D visuals. Sticking to its guns, Suikoden II followed on with its 2D sprite controlled RPG that wasn’t nearly as impressive as the likes of Final Fantasy VII or Metal Gear Solid, however whilst those titles now look awkward to play and control to modern standards, Suikoden II looks refreshing and simply gorgeous. Advancing from its predecessor, Suikoden looks sublime with its subtle yet crucial graphical development. Each character now looks a little more human than they previously had all thanks to all new (remember this is in the 90s) animations that make every town and camp come to life. These new animations nicely follow you into your battles, which predominantly remain untouched apart from the more lifelike comrades in your party. As nice as they looked first time round, in Suikoden II your party members now jump around a little more and really show off their tekkers when casting Runes and special attacks; unlike before when casting magic looked pretty boring. Along with better character models, Suikoden II is also a lot more flashy in its presentation, but before you get ahead of yourself it’s still about as 2D as you can get. What I mean is the games command boxes and character portraits during cut scenes look a lot snazzier and run far faster than they did previously.
Speaking of cut scenes, did you know that you can act like a bellend and actually pay the price for your actions? If you’re like me and you always play the goody 2 shoes role, helping out those in need, acting heroic and fearless in front of the enemy, then you’ll no doubt remain the same here especially when prompted to be a bit of a dick. Unlike Suikoden I where if you didn’t say the right response in a dialogue box it brought you back around and would do so until you press the right option, (I told you I don’t want any of your drugged tea), however in Suikoden II you’re reigns are taken off and what you say during particular events could lead to major characters being killed by your hand; this is a feature we don’t really come across in modern gaming. As well as being a scallywag in the face of injustice, our hero can finally run! YES!! No more impatiently waiting whilst our character sprite strolls through a lengthy dungeon, no siree this time you can sprint to the end if you want to. This is in aid of speeding up the game so you don’t lose track or attention as most RPGs unfortunately do. You can run throughout the land avoiding as many random encounters as you can, with faster battle commands you can take down your enemies in no longer than 60 seconds, and if you really don’t have time to deal with the enemies at hand you can even set it to ‘autobattle’ which does all the hard work for you. Everything about Suikoden II screams speed with its lack of loading screens and time to fart in between each battle, so it’s a shame that 15 years later games take hell of a long time to load.
As I’ve said already, I’ve come into Suikoden II expecting it to be a masterpiece as sources everywhere have informed me of how great this tale of treachery is, but it’s difficult to admit that maybe the hype was perhaps a tad too much. Much like Dragon Age: Inquisition, the story follows a hero who is thrown into the spotlight to build and command an Army in hopes of defeating the evil that smothers the land, and just like Inquisition, there is quite a bit of down time throughout the campaign. Some moments of the game are rather long winded and a little stretched out that can take away any feelings of awe you had in the previous chapter. Especially at the beginning of the game which has a blinding start, you are soon carrying out lame tasks for another character, which though I understand this is a way to ease the player in and introduce you to the cast, it seems like the brakes have been slammed on far too early for me, but rest assured it’s a while before this happens again. Sure it is an engrossing story full of twists and turns, but towards the end I felt a little sea sick from all the ups and downs I was put through; despite this the story is rather superb and it is pretty exciting from start to finish. I’ve honestly never played a game which featured a character that made me truly sick to my stomach until I played Suikoden II and I came face to face with the evil Prince Luca Blight. It’s fair to say that most JRPGs feature a devilish, monstrous creature as their antagonist and though Blight doesn’t appear demonic, he is every bit as terrifying as Satan himself. A man who longs for revenge after witnessing the raping of his mother, Blight takes joy in torturing villagers, burning homes to the ground and murdering innocent civilians, and Konami have done all they can to pull no punches with this guy. Blight is in an incredibly disgusting and tormented soul and the lengths of how he showed me was far darker than what I could have imagined, so I’m left flabbergasted again at how this game has completely escaped my attention with such a notorious character headlining it. No words I know can really describe how nasty and vile Blight is, however he steals every scene he is featured in, and if this isn’t enough of a reason to try this game I honestly don’t know what is.
Suikoden II is yet another fantastic, classic RPG that is more appealing in this generation than it could have ever been 16 years ago. Like a mature wine, Suikoden II has aged beautifully and its story is timeless and the entire journey is hugely enjoyable for anyone who shows interest in an adventure of epic proportions. It’s no doubt one of the fastest running RPGs I’ve played through even by modern standards, no loading times, no infuriating grinding and no unrewarding side quests to get lost in. The narrative does unfortunately suffer from a few dips throughout that may temporarily pause your attention and engagement; however any scene that contains the greatest video game villain of all time will soon put an end to it. I strongly encourage everyone to play the original Suikoden first, it’s only a dozen or so hours long and the events and characters featured in the sequel will be more familiar to you to avoid any confusion. It might not be graphically impressive but it’s a beautiful land to re visit and improves everything that was already great about the original Suikoden. The soundtrack is once again absolutely sublime and it’s gonna be tough to find an adventure that can even compare to it, so maybe now I should dust off the PS2 and give the next 3 a bash.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
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