[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/vr/ - Retro Games

View post   
File: 550 KB, 1024x1024, productimage_suikodenii.png [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5329042 No.5329042 [Reply] [Original]

I just finished Suikoden II and want to have a discussion about the first two games. I heard a lot of people saying how everything in S2 was improved from S1, but after finishing both... I honestly prefer the first one a lot more. I thought the combat dragged a lot more than the first one because of the bigger dungeons and the overall higher level required to use the "Let Go" command. The overall sense of building an army was way more satisfying in the first game, the Castle was a mess... and it was pretty long compared to the first (not an argument against it, I just liked how short Suikoden was, you can beat it in 13 hours). The Army Battles were pretty garbage too. At first I was like "cool, they added SRPG elements instead of the boring Rock-Paper-Scissors from the first), but it became dull pretty quickly when I noticed that the outcome of duels were determined by RNG and the outcome of like 2/3 of battles were already determined by the story, so I felt like I was just playing Make Pretend.

The strongest point for me was the story. I liked the first one a lot, but Suikoden II blows it out of the water. I loved almost all of it, but it led to a meh conclusion. The characters were equally great and the deaths were heartpunching.

Overall both games are amazing exemples of JRPGs (except for the easy combat), but I want to ask /vr/ why is such a consensus that Suikoden II is better than OG Suikoden?

>> No.5329120

>>5329042
>why is such a consensus that Suikoden II is better than OG Suikoden?
Because way more people played the 2nd game, and then those people who didn't even get the emotional reward of seeing all the old faces again go on and hype the game up to overrated status.

I'm with you anon. The 1st game had more color, more choices, faster pacing and stronger story beats.

>> No.5329130

>>5329042
Wow,I finishes Suikoden II some days ago too and I gotta say I feel the same way as you.

>> No.5329143

The second game had a more memorable story and characters. Luca Blight was insane to me as a teenage boy. I played these games in order and I still love the first (Soul Eater is fucking metal and way cooler than Bright Shield) but the second game moved me. I also loved the castle minigames!

>> No.5329239

>>5329143
To this day, I still can't defeat Lucca Blight in the army battle. I set the highest attack with lots of Critical skill. Still can't defeat that damn abomination in army battle. He's easier in the ordinary combat. Lots of set up to defeat him quickly.

>> No.5329242

>>5329239
Sasarai is hard too. Very limited turns before Luc defeats him in a scripted event.

>> No.5329264
File: 1.65 MB, 640x480, Suikoden II Is Fucking Metal_8.webm [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5329264

>>5329143
I'll have to agree on this one, Luca was an incredible villain.

>> No.5329273

>>5329264
his childhood was fucked up

>> No.5329319

>>5329264
man i loved the spritework in S1+2

>> No.5329502

>Nanami asks me if I want to run away
>Say yes as a joke
>It's literally the ONLY time in the entire game where your choice matters

Well, at least it was a fun sequence.

>> No.5329532

>>5329042
Playing 2 first before 1 may have influenced my perspective, but 1 felt awfully slow for me.
It didn't help that in 2, you were able to sprint.
A lot of the dungeons in 2 were kind of long, yeah, but didn't felt like a slog to me compared to the first one, that while being smaller, felt longer.

What I did really appreciate on playing 1 after 2 was seeing all of the old characters, specially seeing why Flik(?) became more reserved in 2.
Also 2 had a lot more memorable characters than 1.
I will always remember Luca Blight, who is so easy to hate, but then you get to read his background on the internet and feel some sort of pity for him.
Mini games of 2 is also fun, I could boot up the game for 2 hours and do nothing but mini games.

>> No.5329565

>>5329532
There is Holy rune to sprint in Suikoden 1. It enables you to sprint on the field. The True Holy Rune enables you to sprint on the field and the map. They remove the Holy rune in Suikoden 2.

>> No.5330902

>>5329042
I was honestly weirded out by the collision of European and Asian aesthetics and culture without much explanation for it. Like it's not like some sushi restaurant in other games in a European esque setting being explained as being from the far east, the cultures just seem to randomly mesh together in the Suikoden world

>> No.5330995
File: 21 KB, 480x360, hqdefault.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
5330995

>>5330902
From what I heard, they decided to make a game with asian culture but realized they needed to add eastern medieval elements to make western players buy the game. It can be kinda weird, but I think it's rather unique. For God's sake, the OST is a mixture of everything, there's even songs in Portuguese.

Good example of the mix of cultures in the OST:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7CKWhNB4Es&index=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gHS-I8C4X4 (Portuguese Song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWGmBdqBWdk&index=

I don't know, it can be a mess, but personally the fruit salad of cultures works really well IMO.

>> No.5331652

>>5329120
I agree with you and the OP on that. First Suikoden felt for me as a more well-balanced pacakge overall. I love Suikoden 2, but Suikoden 1 is better designed IMO.