roadrunnertwice | In which video games from the '90s are played

Twelve years after the fact, I finally caught up with the cool kids and played through Suikoden. And whoa hey, it was totally great.

I missed the whole Suikoden boat the first time around. I actually rented the game sometime around 1997 and came away totally underwhelmed -- I think the problem was that I had also just rented Beyond the Beyond, and it left a bad enough taste in my mouth that Suikoden's low-res battle textures and slightly gimmicky camerawork were tainted by association. Plus, the first few hours of the game aren't really very compelling, and at the time I didn't have any expectation that it would get any more interesting.

(Also, my god, that box art.)

Anyway, I eventually picked up a used copy, which sat around for years before I finally got around to playing it. But play it I did.

I'm actually kind of surprised at how sophisticated it was, and at the way it alternately honored and thumbed its nose at genre conventions. For example: Your main character is a silent cipher whom everyone admires for his natural leadership ability, sure, but he's also one of the fastest characters in battle, profoundly middlin' in attack strength (especially in the first 3/4 of the game), uses a stick for a weapon, and has all of the darkness-powered instant kill spells in the game. He's a Fresh-Faced Hero in his plot role, but his stats read more like some formerly evil character you'd recruit during the endgame. That's... kind of neat.

I also like the way almost every new capability you can get derives from people power. Upgrading your headquarters, getting better armor and weapons, winning army battles, customizing the interface... it's all about who you know, rather than about what you collect. And the characterization is surprisingly deft for how anemic it is -- pretty much all of the 108 characters felt more solid and real than anyone in, say, Chrono Cross's cast. The writers showed an impressive understanding of the limits they were working under, and they made pretty good decisions about what to leave to the imagination. I think their skill in writing rough sketches that hint at vast depth is a major reason for the dedication of the series' fanfic community. Take the "where are they now" title sequence at the end of the game, for instance -- why did those two characters split up? Why did he run away? What was she doing in the resistance in the first place? Something about it sets the brain on fire.

The plot is fairly basic, but it has some nasty tricks up its sleeves -- I love the way they subverted the mind-control trope at the very last moment, and recruiting 3/5 of the top generals alive while having to actually kill your own father was flat-out painful.

Hell, even the graphics and sound had a lot more going on than I once thought -- I like how they weren't afraid to draw all kinds of animations they were only going to use once, and the character portraits were gorgeous.

All told, I judge it a pretty sweet little game. Onward to Suikoden II. (Pirated, alas; check out what that sucker's netting on eBay these days, ugh.)