Suikoden II

Description

Brand: PlayStation

Edition: Standard

Features:

• Amazing gameplay

Details: Product description

Sequel to the early PlayStation RPG. As a member of the Alliance, a military force only really hinted at in the original, you play the unwitting hero of the game: an orphan who has been raised by a quiet, unassuming battle hero in a seemingly ancient war. Alongside you in the ranks is your best friend Jowy, a boy born of nobility but who has never been able to receive approval in his stubborn father’s eyes. As the game begins, you are immediately tossed into a tale of political strife, betrayal and war on a grand scale beyond your scope in the early stages. As the game wears on, the plot will twist, turn and develop in numerous ways that expose the personalities of each of the characters involved. The battle system is turn-based, with the option to equip Runes for special abilities, combine party member attacks to create chain combos or devastating spells, and the option to run the battle in Auto mode.

Review

Because the original Suikoden was one of the first PlayStation RPGs to grace the US shores, it garnered more attention than it deserved. Despite being a respectable enough RPG, Suikoden was a relatively shallow, quick-play RPG that was light on content and heavy on combat. Suikoden II addresses a number of the problems of the original Suikoden, and although it feels somewhat rehashed, it still holds its own nicely in today’s cutthroat RPG market.
Suikoden II takes place several years after the first game’s revolution, a time when the evil Highland empire is terrorizing the innocent, burning their villages by the handful to satisfy the bloodlust of the maniacal Prince Luca Blight. You hop into the medieval-styled britches of an idealistic young imperial rebel who is out to right the wrongs of the world. To help you defeat the evil prince, you’ll have a bit of ancient magic and an army of friends. Sound familiar? Suikoden II’s story mirrors that of many other RPGs, but it adds a few twists all its own for good measure. While RPG purists were disappointed by the lack of development of the first game’s myriad characters, Suikoden II focuses fairly heavily on character development, preventing party members from turning into mere power-up satellites. The game still retains the quest to collect the 108 stars of destiny from the first game, but many of the characters serve more use than, say, welcoming the player to Toran Castle. The game’s sense of scope is impressive, encompassing a huge world war and letting players build and staff their own castle.
Basic gameplay is very similar to that of the first game – your party can hold up to six of the game’s many characters, each of whom has his own attacks, spells, etc. One of the cooler features of Suikoden’s battles was the unite ability, which let two or more characters combine forces for a super attack. Suikoden II emphasizes these one-two attacks, giving players more of an incentive to experiment with new characters. Unlike those of some RPGs, Suikoden II’s random encounters are quick and relatively painless – load time from the overworld or dungeon is almost nonexistent, and characters usually attack all at once, preventing the game’s battles from being too big of an annoyance when one simply wants to advance the story. Magic, gained from rune crystals found throughout the world and in stores, earns experience similar to Final Fantasy VII’s materia system, opening up more spells as you advance. Suikoden II doesn’t use magic points; instead, it gives you a set number of uses for each spell per outing, making it one of the least magic-intensive RPGs on the market, another welcome break from the current trend.
As was the case with its predecessor, it feels as though an international conflict just can’t be fully realized in Suikoden II without some large-scale battles. Instead of the strategy-free battle scenarios of the original, Suikoden II adds an actual strategic element to the game’s battles. The end result can easily be likened to the TurboGrafx-1

UPC: 083717170426