The Video Game Revue

Suikoden V - First Impression

When I say "first impression" in this case I really mean it--I've only played through an hour of Suikoden V so far, and for an RPG like Suikoden V, that's barely anything. Nevertheless, I do have a few things to say that could easily turn right around within the next few hours of gameplay.

Suikoden V is definitely Suikoden--the characters, story, and battle system are spot-on with the classic Suikoden style. This is a very good thing. As for the visuals, I find them really hit-and-miss; some of the scenes and designs are really pretty, and others are quite bland. I miss the good ol' Suikoden artwork of old from back when it had 2-D graphics.

What really impresses me the most so far, though, is the plot, but there is a catch: the writing hasn't been the greatest. Some of the dialogue is gripping, and the good parts are the punchy bits that are really telling of a character's personality or advance the plot in a significant way. But a lot of the dialogue is basically filler--a whole lot of chit-chat that effectively goes nowhere or makes a really simple point in a very long-winded fashion. Although I find flimsy RPG dialogue painful in general, it's made worse in Suikoden V by the fact that cutscenes with voice-overs cannot be skipped, and there sure are a lot of them (within the first hour of the game at least.) I find myself repeatedly in a situation of reading well ahead of what a character is saying, seeing that they don't really have a point to make, and having to sit through several seconds of dialogue anyway. Ugh.

In spite of that major short-coming, however, I've found that Suikoden V has good storyline with lots of drama, and intrigue--it's far better than your average RPG plot. Perhaps the wishy-washy dialogue and the only moderately impressive artwork prevent this from being a true masterpiece of an RPG, but so far I've been completely hooked regardless. Of course, having only played the first hour of the game, I've hardly done any fighting at all--which is sort of a shame because the combat system seems pleasant enough, but I won't fault Suikoden V from doing a lot of plot development up front as long as the gameplay picks up later and the story stays as gripping as it is right now. It's too early to say if Suikoden V is as good as, say, Digital Devil Saga (that would be high company), but the potential is there.

Another RPG that I've tried out recently is Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana (not the recent sequel, but the first one--which is actually Aterlier Iris 6, from what I understand.) Atelier Iris has been amusing, but also a fairly hollow RPG experience when push comes to shove. The visuals are definitely fun, and I have no gripes with the combat system, but the storyline is very thin and the whole production is quite a bit kiddie for my taste. The game is still fun, but it's definitely aimed at a younger audience; and while I can certainly stomach it, I find myself pining for a more mature experience (like Suikoden V, or even Growlanser Generations.) I will likely continue to play Atelier Iris and I'll check back again if it does anything interesting, but so far I've seen no indication that it's particularly great.

I'd also like to quickly correct myself. I think I mentioned earlier that BioWare is putting out Neverwinter Nights 2, but it's actually being created by developer Obsidian. One hopes that they can do the game justice.

posted by Parappa @ 9:25 PM