Sadly, true quality storytelling is extremely rare in this age of overblown and pretentious stories so commonly found in the "Final Fantasy" series and its imitators. Suikoden 3 is a welcome and finely-crafted exception.
My favorite game for the PS2. Granted, I'm a little biased in that I've always had a soft spot for the Suikoden series, but it has the earmarks of things I appreciate in a game. The plot is phenomenal, it has a ton of characters, it has recruitment, the graphics are great, the battle system is innovative. It's the best of the Suikoden family, slightly even surpassing II. It's an overall ambitious title, and a must for any rpg fans. High replay value.
All things considered, Suikoden III is one of the best RPG titles there is. The deep story, character development, and combat system come together perfectly to bring you at minimum forty hours of entertainment.
Suikoden fans will immediately "hate" the new battle system, while they will probably just "dislike" the world map and the move to 3D graphics with no camera control.
Oh boy this is a great game with one the earliest yet most lively open worlds in gaming. The combat system is clean and simple to learn. Overall this game has it all for being released in 2002 and it still stands the test of time as I see myself playing it today.
Extremely refreshing game in an era that was saturated with mediocre RPGs. This game stood up heads and shoulders over most of the other games of it's time.
I can only recommend S3 to gamers who like their games story-driven. The writing is really good, but things move forward at a snail's pace. Add to that events (and whole optional chapters) that are superfluous, long battle animations and the need to search towns and castles over and over for NPCs who'll generate the next cutscene and the experience may get to be very exhausting.
Visually the game still holds up well, and the battle system is just okay but all the more fun for being a break from the many cutscenes.
There are 108 characters to recruit, but they only offer four distinct styles: you have melee units, ranged units, spell casters and support units that can, for instance, speed up spell casting.
I absolutely adore the Suikoden series. However, I kind of hate this game. I think it is the worst of the entire suikoden franchise. They show 6 people army but its more like a 3 person army since the attacks are combined. The storyline isn't really that strong. And they butchered Yuber in this game. Which is so very disappointing because the first 2 games, all you wanted to do is find out who this Yuber guy was. And in this game, he becomes a goth boy in a fedora. Not the big, scary armor wearing (maybe) demon that he was in the other games. Idk, Its not terrible. Theres nothing that breaks the game like glitches. But I do think its on the weaker side of the franchise. Plus, I wasn't really interested in the true runes in this game. The first game was about an evil, soul stealing rune. Then the second game was about a sword and shield rune that represents the emotions of that game. In this game, its just the earth elements. Which, I understand fire and water can be dangerous. But there wasn't anything actually cool. They just, existed. The last final straw was how the game kept switching up the main characters. I wanted to love this game, I really did. But the way the made this game was more disappointing than any other Suikoden game out there.
Repetitive, that word sums this game up more than any other. The game is played in Chapters and the game only has about 20 locations including towns, dungeons and paths. Then add that you will wander these same locations via several different characters. Its comparable to Saga Frontier for the PS1 in that regard. You will literally traverse a few forests and paths over a hundred times. Fight the same "treasure bosses" dozens of times. with diminishing returns. The story is OK, cliché but solid. Graphics for 2002 PS2 are very nice. The camera angle is beyond annoying though as you have to turn and move your character to see in front of his/her face sometimes. The 108 stars are mostly filler few of them stand out and only a couple are really more useful than others in combat. Parts 1 and 2 are nothing like this version outside of the 108 stars/fortress at the center of all 5 titles. It takes a very long time to have access to everyone you recruit and if you pick someone up in certain chapters you will have zero ability to use them for most of the game. Then and this is more a pet peeve, they got unwinnable battles which is fine a lot of RPGs have them BUT this one has battles you actually win and then you end up losing in the storyline more than once. Its like you beat off a mugger and then decide to hand him your wallet anyways, dumb. The combat system is traditional for the series and the army battle system is way better than the rock, paper, scissors system from the previous titles. You actually have combat based on the levels and equipment of the people deployed in your units. If you load a Suikoden 2 save at the beginning the game adds a few perks and things. I got this game back when it was released and played it through way back in 2002 and it sat on a shelf till recently when I broke my ankle and found I had a lot of downtime for a month or so and decided to play all five of these in a row. I really took my time and raised tons of levels and beat it in around 60 hours but a more casual play thru would probably be half that for most. Weakest game of the series but still worth at least a play thru if you love the series.
SummaryFifteen years after the events of "Suikoden II," follow the intertwining stories of Hugo, the son of a village chief, Chris, the virtuous Knight of Zexen, and Geddoe, the rebellious unit commander, as their fates bring them together in order to gather the 108 Stars of Destiny. Suikoden III breaks new ground in the RPG genre with 3 differ...