Suikoden games are an odd lot. Role-playing games are long enough without having to track down and manage 108 different, predominantly optional characters. You have to do this in every single one of the little blighters! Of course, the effort’s rewarded with lovely music, lively anime art, and, in the franchise’s best entries, really excellent war stories. That’s what JRPG fans lust after, isn’t it? Sure it is. Suikoden Tierkreis is a nice change of pace for the series; now you can track down 108 characters on the bog. Beat that for convenience.
I sat down with a near complete English build of Tierkreis today and based on just that small chunk, I find myself looking forward to a new Suikoden for the first time since Suikoden III. For the non-Suikoden diehards out there, here’s the formula. In Suikoden, you play as a plucky youth embroiled in some sort of military conflict that usually starts small and gets gigantic. You inevitably become integral in amassing an army whose core is 108 colorful individuals marked by destiny and some sacred runes. You all live in a massive castle that expands as you gather these Stars of Destiny together. You fight turn-based battles and many of your characters can do snazzy attacks together based on their personalities. Tierkreis adds its own special blend of spices to this classic concoction.
First up, your battle party’s now made up of four characters and not six, but characters that aren’t combat ready can be placed in support slots to provide back-up in the form of healing and other nice boosters. Combination attacks are also more open now, letting your lead pair up with most any other fighter. The biggest change, however, is in structure and progression. Tierkreis lifts Final Fantasy Tactics Advance’s overworld and quest structure wholesale. You choose quests and sidequests from a menu at your castle and are given a specific number of days to complete them. The world map is broken into units and travelling between each explorable wilderness or town location takes up one day. Just like in Tactics Advance, you can send other characters out independently to complete sidequests, and they’ll come back having earned experience and treasure. The structure’s well-suited to the portable format and, even though it’s an imitation of an established series, it’s a pleasantly fresh approach to Suikoden.
The game’s a looker too. Some folks might prefer the more realistically proportioned characters of classic Suikoden, but the super-deformed characters in Tierkreis are actually very charming. Plus, you get them full-sized and human-looking in dialogue scenes. It’s pretty common to hear an A-class DS role-playing games described as looking like a “really, really nice Playstation 1 game”, but I’d go as far as to say that Tierkreis looks better. It’s hand-drawn backgrounds and polygonal characters certainly best, in my opinion, Star Ocean Second Story’s. The voice acting ain’t too shabby either. Konami’s got an uphill battle to fight in a DS market glutted with JRPGs, but Suikoden Tierkreis’ quality should give it a fighting chance.
Related links:
Suikoden: Tierkreis is Coming, But Is It Everything Fans Hope For?
PSOne on PSN: Somehow, it’s Suikoden
Roundtable Discussion: The Relevance of Japanese RPGs