Club Retro 2019: May - Strategy Role Playing Games
May 5, 2019 18:57:18 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on May 5, 2019 18:57:18 GMT -5
Suikoden Tactics was developed by Konami and released for the PS2 in 2005. It's the eighth entry in the Suikoden series and the first spin-off title to receive a Western release. Interestingly enough, the original Japanese title is Rhapsodia - no mention of Suikoden apparently. The game is set before and after the events of Suikoden IV and it's supposed to tie some loose ends left unanswered by its predecessor. I, for one, have never played any of those games. I'm a shameless Suikoden ignoramus. Which makes me completely unqualified to review this title. I'm so sorry, everyone, but thanks for tuning in, don't forget to donate on Patreon and see you next time!
Alright, I kinda did my research, but I'd still like people who are more familiar with the games to step in and let me know if I'm completely off base. Apparently the Suikoden series is the brainchild of two former Konami employees: programmer/writer Yoshitaka Murayama and artist Junko Kawano. Both of them were hired around the same time (1992 and -93) and after being bossed around the office, being ordered to make coffee for their seniors as well as to attend to other menial and humiliating tasks for several months, they eventually joined forces and started to work on a brand-new RPG which was supposed to be released for a new Konami console. Obviously, said console never saw the light of day and, instead, their game was now going to come out for the PlayStation. As it happened, Murayama had actually written the script for Suikoden II first, but since he was too unfamiliar with the technical aspects of the new Sony console and wasn't sure if his programming skills were good enough to do justice to his magnum opus, instead he decided to write a shorter, less ambitious prequel to its original story draft - which would become Suikoden.
Lo and behold, the game was a success and Kawano and Murayama proved to be a winning duo. After three main entries and just as many spin-offs, Murayama's involvement with the series would come to an end with Suikoden III in 2002. He left the company a month before its release and - in full Konami fashion - his name was removed from the credits. With the writer gone, Kawano was asked to write the script for both Suikoden IV and Tactics. An artist writing scripts for text-heavy JRPGs? Risky, but it wasn't her first writing job for Konami either, as she also wrote the story for the time-traveling adventure game Shadow of Memories. With the benefit of hindsight, it's apparent that Suikoden IV wasn't received too well by fans and its story was particularly panned. Which brings me to Tactics...
Suikoden Tactics is an SRPG, but it was made with Suikoden fans in mind first rather than SRPG fans. That's patent in both the gameplay and the storytelling aspects, but it's less forgivable in the latter department. Suikoden Tactics is an easy SRPG, Suikoden fans who never played an SRPG in their life aren't going to be struggling a lot with the new mechanics. You can save the game during battles, important characters don't die permanently and there are many, many opportunities to grind in between story missions and make the game a complete breeze to get through. Luckily, these are all optional and I didn't grind at all, since I enjoy a bit of a challenge and I actually need it in order to feel some sort of accomplishment. The big gameplay twist in Suikoden Tactics and what actually makes it pretty fun to play, revolves around terrain elements: fire -> water -> thunder -> earth -> wind -> fire. It's not just like the triangle system from FE, in ST units actually cast spells to make map tiles attuned to a certain element - the extension of that map area depends on how powerful the spell is. When standing on their element, their stats get bumped and they recover HP each turn, if they're standing on their opposite element, they lose health and their stats suffer from it.
Aside from that, the game follows some traditional SRPG conventions: attacks from the flank and the rear deal more damage, ranged units can't attack from up close, strongers spells take more than just one turn to be cast. Units also have a chance to counter, parry or dodge attacks depending on their skills. Units can learn and upgrade their skills by spending skill points - earned after each mission - in the party menu. Unluckily, there's not much of a difference in skill sets. In fact, there's not much of a difference between classes at all. The big divides are between mages, ranged and melee units. Units don't get to change or buy new weapons, instead you can upgrade their current weapon. You can, however, decide which runes to 'attach' to them. Runes determine which spells or skills they can use. For example, it's highly recommended that units with an affinity to water receive a rune which allows them to attune the terrain to said element. Other runes are passive and boost their critical hit or dodge/counter chances.
Not unlike FE, ST also comes with a support system. Characters can talk to each other and become friends. Units that get along particularly well can protect each other - halving the damage dealt by the enemy - or even attack in sync, getting an extra opportunity to strike the enemy. A good relationship among characters can also unlock special attacks, which are particularly devastating. The support conversations themselves are OK at best and only slightly better than their counterparts from Radiant Dawn. While there are no knights or flying classes per se, some characters can ride kangaroos and, uh, giant owls. This is not too particularly useful, since they don't receive terrain boosts, their friends can't help them nor can they perform team attacks while riding. That's about it for the gameplay, I'll just mention that there's little point in grinding anyway since your units barely get any exp from enemies who aren't at least a level higher than them - and you can always use those level ups during the story missions, which is a handy way to get all their health back, too. Fire Emblem, this is not.
For the most part, maps in ST fall decidedly in the OK and forgettable category. There's nothing striking about them and the colors even look a bit washed-out. Unit models are fine as long as you don't look at them too closely - which you will, in each and every cutscene. Unfortunately, that up close the character models almost look like they are made of Lego bricks. Ultimately, both the 3D models and the maps are acceptable, but nothing to marvel at - definitely subpar when compared to PoR. On the other hand, the hand drawn character avatars actually look excellent and they are much more to my taste than their counterparts in PoR. I thought this was one of the strongest aspects of the game even before I learned Kawano - an artist - was at the helm of this game. Not only that, through visual cues and speech balloons, the game communicates vital informtion to the player on the fly. When you're casting an AoE spell and an ally is about to get hit by the blast, they will ask you what the hell you think you're doing. If units enter enemy range, a sword will appear on top of those enemies who can now attack them. Likewise, a drop of sweat will appear on top enemies your unit can attack - which turns into a halo when a single hit is all it takes to take them out. There are many visual cues like this, quality-of-life improvements that also look nice on top of it. No doubt conceived by someone who knows the pain of losing a unit permanently in some other SRPGs - aka Fire Emblem - because the game didn't warn you of the impending danger.
The story, oh man, the story. To begin with, in ST there are tons of characters who get introduced and are never seen again or get added to your party with little to no explanation. I realize these are probably characters from Suikoden IV, but it still makes little sense in the inner logic of the game and it's slightly annoying when the game lets you play and waste exp on units you'll never see again - although you can grind in ST, so whatever. However, it still feels as if these characters were awkwardly horned in for a cheap nudge nudge wink wink moment. The story in ST follows Kyrill and his friends, who are spies for the Scarlet Moon Empire and are hunting down Rune Cannons, illegal weapons introduced to the world of Suikoden from another dimension via a giant tree. They, uh, turn people into fish monsters. The Patriarchal Faction, a secessionist movement within the Kooluk Empire is now collecting these cannons to invade the neighboring Island Nations and proclaim sovereignty over the Empire. Yohn, the horned woman in Kyrill's party also comes from said dimension. Did you understand any of that? Good, then you can explain it to me - can't say I cared for the story or the characters.
Ultimately, Suikoden Tactics feels like a game helmed by an artist. The hand drawn art is great, the gameplay is traditional SRPG stuff but with just enough personality to keep things interesting, the visual cues are nice and helpful. Also, the battles are fast-paced and didn't bore me - very important. It's pretty short too, the main story took me little over 20 hours. The music by Norikazu Miura goes from alright to serviceable, only a couple of tracks stood out to me during particularly important battles. Such as this one:
A mostly fun and relaxed SRPG experience which I would warmly recommend to Suikoden IV fans - who might be able to get more out of the setting/story - and a valid option for anybody else who wants to play an easier SRPG that won't take them dozens of hours.
I give this game 7 Rune Cannons out of 10.