Suikoden V - First Look
SuikodenŽ V
Release date: Spring 2006
Genre: Role-playing
Platform: PlayStation 2
The Breakdown:
There's this Queen you see, stay with me people, who rules the beautiful land of Falena with the assistance of the Sun Rune. In this beautiful land people start to freak out, as people tend to do, and in order to quiet them down the lovely Queen had no choice but to use the power of the Sun Rune. You see, that was not good, if it had been there really wouldn't be much of a story.
You get to be the Prince throughout the journey as you fight to uncover the truth about the Rune, the people and why they freaked out, and more very RPG like truths. The 108 Stars of Destiny are present, as it should be, but a host of new f-a-n-t-a-s-t-i-c surprises await you which I wholeheartedly plan to ruin below. Ha ha.
60 playable characters to choose from for your 6 member battle parties (the 6 member battle parties aren't exactly new, but they were abandoned in the last games and have thankfully returned). Also introduced in this iteration you'll find a "tactical formation system" that enables the player to select up to 20 formations so that you can better plan your attacks and therefore crush anything that stands in your way. Who doesn't like to do that? Also you can customize your characters using new skill and weapon building systems, and arming yourself 'til you fall over with hundreds of new weapons.
To confuse you and hurt your brains, I'll also tell you that though when asked, Group Manager Dennis Lee couldn't say when exactly in the timeline Suikoden V took place, he was sure that it was, "before the first one, but after the fourth, yeah." With a chronology like Suikoden, I don't blame him for the confusion. Not at all.
Along with the new stuff you'll still feel at home with the rune-based magic, as well as team attacks and even some new characters, but it is nice to see an improvement in the voice work and the graphics, Suikoden V is shaping up to be a very basic, very traditional RPG. Honestly, if you're looking for innovation of the genre, this isn't what you want, but those in the mood for a good solid RPG, I'd say it's a pretty good bet. Guess we'll see in the Spring.
Sidenote: Happy 10th Anniversary Suikoden!!!
-Saria
