Video Game Review - Suikoden IV (2005 - Sony PlayStation2)

I had been really distracted with the creation of my second animated feature and I had completely lost track of when Suikoden IV was coming out. It took a reminder from my college friends to bring back into the fold of the 108 Stars of Destiny.  When I heard it was finally out, I went right out and bought it. Needless to say, it's become one of my favorite games to relax with.
Upon watching the intro movie, I thought that the game would suck. I also thought that the sailing would be peripheral to the main gameplay. How wrong was I about this prequel to the first Suikoden? Plenty wrong, on both counts.

Our story follows the exploits of a young knight-in-training and his fellow classmates. The most notable of his classmates is the young man called Snowe. Snowe, while not truly your rival, is very jealous of the praise heaped upon you. He's instrumental in your banishment from your home of Razril upon your receiving the rune of this game -- the Rune of Punishment -- from your dying commander. Blamed for your commander's death, you are set adrift at sea. It looks as if you're done for, until you realize the beauty of true friends that is the driving force behind the 108 Stars of Destiny. And that's where the most awesome island-hopping adventure begins.

As previously mentioned in the Suikoden III  review, I hoped that Konami would take a page from the Pirates of the Caribbean game and improve upon it. I also hoped that they would go back to the original type of World Map, instead of the "point A to point B" interface. The game designers have done one better and did it their own way. Not only did they combine the free-roaming World Map of older games and the "point of interest" format from Suikoden III, they have cut out the micromanagement of the sailing system in Pirates of the Caribbean. While some have said that sailing is a pain in the ass, it's one of the most visually relaxing and constructive things I have had the experience to do. Why? Because the game has done something that I never thought they would do: the castle from all previous Suikoden games is now a large sailing vessel--almost like a cruise ship.

Above: The current wielder of the Rune of
Punishment, a Rune that has an unfortunate
side-effect of slowly killing its host.

Speaking about the ship, the ship allows you to do another thing that has me torn. The game designers have eschewed the traditional six-man party and brought it down to a four-man team. While this would be a pain to me, I have realized that the four-man team holds true only on land. When on the deck of the castle-ship you have access to all 108 characters, so the ship allows you to create two auxiliary parties of four to call topside. This increases your World Map party to TWELVE, double the previous sizes in Suikoden and three times as large as the Basic Party. This creates a way to level up scrubby characters you don't want in your Basic Party (aka "the landing party") and allows you to work out the one problem I have with this game: earning team-up attacks.
Team-ups happened whenever people with common traits got together in the same six-man party. If two people with uncommon traits had a team-up attack, the results were usually hilarious (see Nina and Flik's "Groupie Attack" from Suikoden II). Now, the people marked for a team-up attack must stay in the same party for a number of battles until the team-up attack is discovered. This wastes a lot of time where deciding who should go in what team is concerned.

There are a lot of great things about Suikoden IV that easily overshadow the having to earn your team-up attacks. The minigames are totally awesome, and fun to play. They still have Chichinronin for the old-school gamblers and some new games to burn hard-earned cash on. You can make your own accessories and armor on your ship, and look around at everything and everyone with a first-person camera option. Most importantly, some of the characters you meet in your quest to gather the 108 Stars are references from the previous games. It's great to learn that rune mistress Jeane was always a hottie, Viki was always scatterbrained and the name "Scholtenheim Reinbach" is not just a name that Viktor made up in the first Suikoden to get past the guards.

With all that's available to you in the course of your career of "privateering" (licensed piracy in the name of the kingdom of Obel), this game is a grand addition to the Suikoden storyline. I anticipate Suikoden V, yet I have no idea where it could be headed. Perhaps the story will take a cue from the Final Fantasy series and sail into the far-flung future, bringing extraterrestrials and cyborgs from across galaxies into the fold of the 108 Stars of Destiny.

RATING: 9/10

Video Game Review - Suikoden III (2002 - Sony PlayStation2)

Suikoden III is a game that is a worthy success or to its predecessors, in that it keeps almost all of the wonder and characters of the original stories. The game raises the ante on game play by allowing you to play as one of three heroes (via the "Trinity System") that will inherit the name you chose at the beginning of the game. While the character you choose will not be named that, the character you named will be that of the legendary man known as the Flame Champion.

Legend has it that the Flame Champion is a young man who fights for freedom and justice while bearing the True Fire Rune.(The Flame Champion might be a composite of both heroes from Suikoden and Suikoden II.) The problem with the authorized legend is that it depicts the Flame Champion as a warlord bent on destroying civilization and leaving a flaming ruin in his wake. So when rumors of the Flame Champion start to surface among the many tribes of Grassland, the government reacts quickly to quell any uprisings. This introduces us to 2 of our heroes.

The first is Captain Sarah of the Knights of Zexen, also known as the Silver Maiden. She's a swordswoman loved by her people and revered as a hero. The second hero is Hugo, son of Lucia, leader of the Karaya Clan. He is always accompanied by his gryphon mount, Fubar. Yes, Fubar (military acronym: fucked up beyond all repair). Our third hero is on the other side of the map when most of their story goes down, but he eventually becomes a big part of it. The man in question is Geddoe, captain of the Holy Harmonia Southern Frontier Defense Corps, 12th Division. His skills and choice of magic rune echo that of a prominent character from the series.
The search is on between all these parties for things that matter to their separate missions, yet the searches push them closer to each other in an effort to stop a clandestine plot to destroy the world. The villain in question is someone from previous Suikoden games, and the last person you'd expect. That's all I can say about the story itself, but I can say more about the game.

A game that can stand on its own with bonuses for those who have stayed on for this latest installment, Suikoden III is a great game. The use of 3D characters and surroundings rendered in acceptable proportions was a very good idea, as well as the inclusion of the feature to upload old Suikoden II data.  Many other factors made this game extremely fun to play, yet there were some flaws that I had issues with. These issues were enough to bring the game's rating down one point on the rating scale, because they violate a set of laws with amendments I have set aside for RPGs. These laws I have in my head are necessary to make an RPG flow as smoothly as possible. I understand that many RPGs try to be different to draw an audience, but some gimmicks shouldn't be done. On with my beef on Suikoden III.

Above: The former wielder of the True Fire Rune,
The Flame Champion. Long since dead, he leaves his
legacy behind for the next Flame Champion to lead
the people against tyranny.

First, the Trinity System.
This feature violates a rule that stipulates ONE main character per game, and all others act as NPC's in the event they are not chosen and cannot be used again until all the chapters of the story are complete. It does look like the Trinity System follows this rule with the goal of being chosen as the next Flame Champion, but look again. The user can switch between characters at the end of each chapter, which can become a muddling experience because each main character has their own inventory and item cache. Sure it's a new way to play the game, but if one character has an item -- that can't be bought -- that the other needs in order to complete a chapter with no way to meet, the problem becomes two fold. And just as you're getting on with one character, another pops up for you to "investigate."
Another problem with the Trinity system is its name. The game requires you to play as all three characters, each assuming the nom de guerre of the Flame Champion chosen at the point of file creation. The interface for the Trinity system also allows you to use 3 other interface points. Two of those points (one of them is the villain's POV) have something to do with the story, the other is pretty useless. This makes six points in the Trinity System; a "Sextet System". That's way too many accessible main characters.

Second and foremost, the World Map.
This feature violates the entire concept of the World Map. From what I understand, the World Map is used as a tool to make it from point A to point B as quickly as possible, with the chances of getting lost significantly reduced. This is not so in Suikoden III.
The World Map feature has points on it that denote places of interest, dungeons/caves, towns and castles which you can travel to and complete chapter objectives. The problem with that concept is that you can't wander about anywhere in between and have a random encounter. The game makes up for this by including NO extra random encounters in the qualifying map points. I understand that many RPG gamers are adverse to random encounters, but the loss of free movement is stifling compared to the prior Suikoden games. Keep in mind that Suikoden III is not the first to violate this rule (see Grandia, Grandia II, Final Fantasy Tactics, etc.) nor will it be the last. Its transgression is compounded by the opposing actions of its forefathers.
Suikoden III is still a fun game, beef notwithstanding. I hear that Suikoden IV will feature naval battles; hopefully they'll take a page from the remake of the video game Sid Meier's Pirates! (the oversea map that allowed you to sail past enemies) and improve on the sailing engine for the purpose of sea battles. If they can combine this previous idea with a good land elements, I'll be happy.

RATING: 9/10

Video Game Review - Suikoden II (1999 - Sony Playstation)

Suikoden II is the second entry in the Genso Suikoden series. It's a story that focuses on the exploits of 3 teenagers in a time of war and the ancient Sword Rune and Shield Rune. It also has the most mini-games in an RPG I've played so far, giving this game a major bonus. Despite that, mini-games do not a game make (unless you're Incredible Crisis). There is a story in this game, and it involves the usual running about and collecting the 108 Stars of Destiny.

You play the grandson of the late warrior Genkaku, part of a trainee mission to scout the outer fringes of enemy territory in a land at war. You and your childhood friend Jowy Atreides run from the danger, jump into the river and are swept into the waiting hands of the enemy...our heroes from Suikoden, Viktor and Flik of the Blue Lightning!

Somewhere along the line, you'll meet up with your sister Nanami and then the story kicks into full gear. This game spans several countries and features many characters from Suikoden who still were around; this makes for a great treat for people who played the first Suikoden, like me. The aforementioned Viktor and Flik are there, as well as Pesmerga, Stallion the elf, the cooks Antonio and Lester, Humphrey and his Dragon Knight squire, Futch. Both Kasumi the ninja and the warrior Valeria are around to help the new hero. Kage makes a brief appearance, as does Leknaat and many other other characters such as Mathiu's dad Leon Silverberg, the innkeeper Marie, Cleo and Pahn (if you kept him alive). Clive the bounty hunter is still pursuing his quarry Eliza. Tai Ho returns as a playable character, but his buddy Yam Koo is not. Tengaar and Hix are about and still getting in trouble. Apple, pupil under the strategist Mathiu, returns with some age and experience, yet chooses to play second to Mathiu's star pupil Shu. makes Neclord shows up ("Again? I thought we killed him!" was my reaction) as does the weapon of his destruction: the always-sassy Star Dragon Sword. Even the main hero McDohl and his manservant Gremio (if you got all 108 before storming Gregminster) are available. The one person who I saw hide nor hair of in the game was the creature called Yuber. I wanted another go at him on the battlefield.

Speaking of the battlefield, the fights take place in open grassland instead of on the grounds of the castle you're trying to storm. Paper-rock-scissors still plays a part in the battle movements, but now there's the issue of range and terrain. It doesn't detract from the skirmish scenario experience, because you still get to have your duels. The bad thing about duels is that they are storyline-event driven; they are not guaranteed at the end of every skirmish.

Above: The hero of SUIKODEN II,
soon to have his life changed
by the Shield and Sword Runes.

While I'm on the subject of batle, the item access in Suikoden II seriously hinders survival in battle; you have to equip a healing item before you can use it in battle. This is a great way to get killed in battle when your item runs out and you have to spend another turn equipping something else. Then there's the fact that you can't use items at your leisure. For example: if I got hit by a Flying Squirrel and lost health, I could just use my equipped Healing Potion that heals a small amount of HP. If the immediate turn has me damaged by a Harmonian soldier, I'd have to use the equipped Healing Potion and disregard my healing food called "Chige Nabe" (heals a gang of HP.)

The story keeps you involved, but tends to drag ON and ON and ON and ON! Thought you were done when you killed that guy, right? Wrong! Now you have to go through another castle and fight an even bigger boss than that. Then again, the Suikoden series never lets you off the hook with a lame final boss. Final boss asides, the bosses in Suikoden II are grand and make you work to defeat them. From giant sewer rats to the Star Dragon Sword, your bosses show absolutely no quarter or mercy. Conquering the bosses always guarantees a kick-ass treasure trove, yet some treasures can only be obtained in mini-games.
Minigames can be found inside the castle you have for your army of 108 people; they must be entertained, so there are several ways to do that. There's fishing, rock climbing, investigations of your troops, the traditional game of Chichinronin (now Nerfed to limit your winnings) and the latest addition to the minigame spectrum--the cook-off, led by your army's cook, Hai Yo.

The story gets weepy at times but the minigames and extras more than make up for it. This is a great sequel to the original, particularly when both the new hero and McDohl (still bearing the Soul Eater, but with new animations!) team up for the first time. This game does what most movies can never seem to do: make a decent sequel.

RATING: 9/10

Video Game Review - Suikoden (1996 - Sony Playstation)

My first experience with a role-playing game (RPG) was by watching my buddy Kodi play a game called Chrono Trigger on the Super Nintendo. I then had my own experience with a little-known game called Shining Force II on the Sega Genesis. When my brother and I got our hands on a PlayStation amidst the buzz of Final Fantasy VII, we just played normal stuff. I didn't even know that this game existed until I noticed it at Blockbuster Video. Reading the back I found out that this game had 108 playable characters, featured dragons and plenty of adventu--
WHAT THE HELL?? ONE HUNDRED EIGHT CHARACTERS?
UNBELIEVABLE!!!

You're damn right that sold me. Let's do the math:

• Chrono Trigger allowed you to control a mix of any 3 recruited/joined characters in battle out of a possible 7 recruitable characters total.(42.8% of all characters in battle at any given combat)
• Shining Force II allowed you to control a mix of any 12 recruited/joined characters in battle out of a possible 30 recruitable characters total.(40%)
• Genso Suikoden allows you to control 6 recruited/joined characters in battle out of a possible 81 available for battle out of 108 recruitable characters total (7.4 percent)

And with that, I rented it and I haven't stopped playing the Suikoden series since.  For those that aren't into Suikoden as much as I am, please take note of the story. From what I understand, this game is loosely based on the story "The Water Margin" about 108 honorable bandits who lived in the 12th Century that fought for the rights of the people and against corrupt officials. It was written in 14th Century China and made popular in the Edo Period of 19th Century Japan. This story was translated into the digital medium to relfect a story that works like this:
You're the hero, a privileged son of a general in the kingdom of Gregminster. In your efforts to be like everyone else, you find out that you're destined to be different--beyond all expectations. Things go awry, friends die and you're stuck with a powerful magic Rune called the Soul-Eater Rune. When you find out what goes on in the real world, you're thrust into battle against your own kingdom with rebel allies from all the provinces. You gain allies, abilities, features and minigames along the way as you build your base of operations. In the end, you do fight your father and you fight your king. Once that's done, the kingdom is free, and it's all thanks to you.

The game's features allow you to get more acquainted with the mythology of the world of Suikoden and its workings. Talk to people and you'll get moree information on how to get things done in the game world. Learning how things are done allows you to access more characters. The more characters you have, the more people you must house, thus your castle grows more and more each time you recruit more of the 108 characters. Once you have enough characters, you can do something spectacular: battle combinations.

Above: The hero of SUIKODEN,
Tir McDohl. Inset: Soul Eater Rune.

Battle Combinations are where you get 2 or more people with a certain relationship or something in common and in battle, you'll have the option to use the combination attack. When the combination attack is used, the characters involved will combine their might to attack one enemy with a powerful set of moves, or multiple enemies with an increased attack. This is one of the reasons why you should recruit all 108 characters. Another reason to do the legwork in recruiting is to get all the magicians and their Runes.
Runes are magical stones that grant magical powers. Some runes are broken into shards and can be placed on weapons to do magic damage, but mostly they are whole runes that are worn by an individual. These runes allow the average fellow to wield awesome power. There are the standard 4 elements (earth, wind, fire & water) and a fifth magical element unique to Japanese culture (lightning), in addition to the other fighting runes that allow its wearer to have special powers beyond the elements. Then there are the special runes worn by magicians that are a step above the normal elemental runes in magic strength. The most amazing thing about the runes in this game is that if you time it right, you can get magicians to combine their magics to create a stronger magic, just like a battle combination. This maneuver ends up having disastrous results for the enemy. For all the magic and battle combinations you may have up your sleeve, it ain't nothing unless you SHARPEN YOUR WEAPON.
Sharpening your weapon is like literally leveling up your weapon. The weapons go up to level 16, increasing from its initial level (whatever it may be) and increasing in damage at an average rate of 4-20 attack points each level. The weapons have names and the names change on the weapon when they reach certain levels. The one thing I had a problem with initially is that your character uses a bo staff. How can you sharpen a bo staff and not call it a spear? I realized after a time I was thinking on it too hard. I then went on playing the game and got into by first skirmish.
Skirmishes are the war portions of Suikoden. In these skirmish battles, you'll fight with everyone--yes, everyone--in a bid to attack a general under King Barbarossa. You'll have limited use of all of their skills, plus skills they can only access in a skirmish. When you boil down the control system of fighting in the skirmishes, it's basically a grand game of jan-ken-pon (rock-paper-scissors). The down side to skirmish scenarios is that if someone dies in a skirmish scenario, they're gone for good. With the battle scheme dependant solely on chance and an understanding or rock-paper-scissors, anyone can complete a skirmish scenario with little or no casualties.

There are motivating factors in this game that should keep you going when you think you've had enough of the game, and enough features to keep you in your castle when you should be out leveling up your fighters. The music is good; tinny at first, but swelling afterward, particularly in the case of the free-roaming Map Screen. The boss enemies are hard, particularly at the time you meet them. For me, that's always a plus. If you're a treasure-hunter like me, you'll really like all the little goodies they throw into the background for you. This game is a treasure in itself and receives a rating of 9.

RATING: 9/10

Video Game Review - Contra: Hard Corps (1994 - Sega Genesis)

The only Contra game in the series to reach the Sega Genesis, Contra: Hard Corps (now "CHC") is frickin' awesome. The game definitely expands on the capabilities of what a Contra game is all about, making it into an example of what a Contra game should be.

The story starts thus: Red Falcon, the alien overlord, is at it again. He has sent his troops to plague the cities of Earth and to wipe out the human race. With ground troops. Whatever. Anyway, the Earth defense forces have selected four specially-trained soldiers to combat Red Falcon and his forces of evil. It is with these four troops that the whole game comes together.
Instead of the Droll Duo of Steve (aka Player 1) and Lance (Player 2), we have four unique soldiers that have made it their job to use certain weapon power-ups (A,B,C and D) in different ways.

• Ray is "the guy" of the crew, a natural with a weapon and a career soldier. The best weapon for him is weapon D, which gives him the old Contra standby, the Spread Gun.
• Sheena Etranzi is "the girl", a jungle commando without equal. Her best weapon is weapon B, giving her Homing Missiles.
• Brad used to be human, until Red Falcon got its hands on him. Now Brad is a cyborg werewolf with a penchand for close combat and sunglasses. Since I played Brad a lot, it's a toss-up between weapon A (Spread Vulcan) or weapon C (the greatest Flamethrower ever) as to what is his best weapon.
• The robot Browny is a scrappy lil' guy. It has the extra skill to use its built-in jetpack. Its best weapon is weapon C, the EM Grappler. It's a homing weapon that never leaves the enemy unless you let go of the button.

What makes these elite soldiers much better than Steve and Lance is the fact that they can slide. Sliding allows you to do damage to the enemy while remaining invincible. It's very useful for evading bullets and the only way you'll ever defeat some of CHC's bosses.
The bosses in Contra: Hard Corps are wonderfully animated by the crew at Konami, who took the time to stretch the capabilities of the Genesis. From Cyborg Joe (the nastiest bounty hunter on their side of the war) to robotic fish to, most importantly, the Burgundy Ball Tank in stage 5, every enemy boss is tailor made to make you work for its defeat. Never will you ever spend this much time fighting that boss once you've beaten him already; not because of a save feature but because the Burgundy Ball Tank exists in all 8 possible endings. Yes, eight.

CHC has a branching storyline that pits you against different enemies and bosses in different locales. Each choice you make changes the direction of the story and the mission that our heroes move to complete. For instance, trying to kill Cyborg Joe after you beat him ensures that you'll have to fight and beat him twice more. Letting Cyborg Joe go prompts him to go all suicide bomber on you and self-destruct. The choices you make are important to keep ing the game fresh, because some branches are sealed off once you make a choice. As soon as you realize this, you'll actively make an effort to get all 8 endings. Some are good, some are bad and a few straight up suck. You'll be able to see a bad decision a mile away.

If there's a Contra completist out there, make an effort to get all the Contras you can (with the exception of Contra: Legacy of War for the PSX), making this game paramount on this list.

RATING: 9/10

Video Game Review - Rocket Knight Adventures (1993 - Sega Genesis)

I just happened to pick up this game at my local Blockbuster Video, during one of my many excursions to see if Mortal Kombat was in. Knowing full well that my mom would never let me go anywhere unless my
brother was with me, that he'd only want to rent Mortal Kombat and that Mortal  Kombat was never there because of thieving Negroes, I went and picked up that game. My bro's all like, "it's a kiddie game! Why're you picking it up? I'm not playing it." That's cool, man. You don't have to experience the queer little world of Rocket Knight Adventures.
In the role of Sparkster the possum Rocket Knight, you fight the pig-headed minions of the forces of evil to  SAVE THE PRINCESS with nothing more than your sword, your jetpack and sometimes your possum tail. There are many strange locales and events (the deep reaches of space and a Rock 'Em-Sock 'Em Robots-style mech duel stand out in my mind) that Sparkster will have to traverse in order  to SAVE THE PRINCESS from the clutches of evil. While simplistic in its story, the game more than makes up for it in its events.
Case in point: in the second level, you have just escaped the first and you land on an island in the middle of a pristine lake surrounded by verdant foothills and faded mountains. There's no music at all, just you and the reflective algorithim of the lake. Then you jump off to the right...and the jetpack explodes into a burst of speed, catapulting you across the lake at an amazing speed. You're speeding so fast and the magic of the music swallows you as you fly across the lake, fighting the bats in your way--with no way in hell to stop! That scenario alone captured my imagination like no other for many months, with the game MIDI swelling its electric orchestra as I skimmed the water to dive under and over the bats to continue my fight against the forces of evil to SAVE THE PRINCESS.
The game is awesome and if you can find it, take the time to beat this game. Expansive as it is for an action game, you'll need to keep on your toes to play on a static number of continues. Hell, every time you think you're done, you're not! It's a game like that which deserves a second look, provided they don't overdo it. Rocket Knight Adventures does not overdo it

RATING: 8/10