Suikoden V is the Best Suikoden
After an experimental third entry and a widely panned fourth, can the fifth Suikoden game get the series back on track? Oh, yes.
Now, I’m not actually sure what you’re thinking on this one. Perhaps: “Why are you still doing this?” or maybe: “I can’t trust you after that last one” and…all right. But I’m going to close these reviews out with a look at the fifth and (to date) final installment in the main setting of the story. Yes, since then there have been two handheld releases (only one of which got a North American localization). But for the main series, Suikoden V is the end of the road. Over ten years after the first game came out, it brought fans back in for one last go, and…
Suikoden V is the best Suikoden!
I’m actually not sure how controversial this opinion is. Not nearly so heretical as being a fan of Suikoden IV, but also I feel without the hot and cold reception of Suikoden III. The fifth game suffers perhaps for being so late in the series, and following a critically “meh” release. Some people really don’t like the opening section of the game, and others might balk at the time involved (it’s by far the longest game of the series). For me, it was a breath of fresh air. It was like getting a love letter in the mail. I played it and played it hard. And I loved every minute of it (except maybe the checkers).
It’s a Stunning Return to Form
Suikoden IV stepped away from a lot of the elements of the series, simplifying them in a probable attempt to remain accessible. Suikoden V does just the opposite, taking the combat and skill elements of Suikoden II and III and mashing them together into a whole that works without breaking the mechanics or taking away challenge. Instead of just a single row of four characters, the game allows the player to choose formations, each of which gives different bonuses and abilities and each of which works best with different combinations of characters. The skills, which in Suikoden III were made perhaps a bit too powerful, are scaled back in certain ways (limited to two equipped skills per character) while being greatly expanded on in other ways (through the epic skills, mostly) and become a way to both customize characters to suit individual playing styles and also make some truly fucking powerful characters.
While it’s a prequel itself, it’s one that can once again use characters that appeared in the first three games without necessarily making them immortals.
Set much after Suikoden IV, the game brings the focus back to the more familiar locations and time period of the rest of the series, separated by just a few years from the original Suikoden. It’s the bridge between the original games and the far-prequel, and while it’s a prequel itself, it’s one that can once again use characters that appeared in the first three games without necessarily making them immortals. Characters like Georg, Killey, Lorelai, Retso, and many more appear, and get to explore some of their backstories that were hinted at in the other Suikoden games (including the time travelling hijinx of Viki when she ran into Lorelai and Killey in one of the Genso Suikodens). The Maximilian knights are back (and 1000% hotter, sorry Ted), and we get to meet Leknaat’s goth cousin.
The mechanics (the world map, the strategic battles, even fucking trading) reflect much more the styles of the first three games of the series while systematically improving on every element. The treasure bosses are gone, but mini-bosses make for opportunities to test your combat chops as well as gain valuable skill points, money, and items. The strategy battles most closely resemble the system of Suikoden II but fix the arbitrary nature of combat, making things more numbers-driven and about utilizing skills and strengths versus weaknesses. Trading allows for leveling up trade items based on money earned, allowing the element to be actually useful (even later in the game) rather than mostly annoying. It might have been easy to phone it in after the reception of Suikoden IV, because the bar was pretty low, but Suikoden V wasn’t satisfied just reproducing the old, and it even incorporated the better elements of IV, especially the New Game+ functionality and armor sets, as well as tying some of the cooperative attacks to actual affection between the characters.
It Cares About Storytelling
Some people complain about the extended introduction in the game, but for me it shows a dedication to make things matter and to not rushing things. It establishes not just the politics and situation of the game, it lays the groundwork for so much that will happen later. It might take a while to get to the army building, but no other game even comes close to the amount of effort made to make every single character matter. From the situation and mystery of Lordlake to the tons of Easter eggs hanging around Stormfist during the Sacred Games, the game has a decided aversion to just introducing a character and having them immediately join the team.
The chosen family aspect of the game is fantastic, the main character gaining brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, lovers and rivals.
Characters actually get their own little arcs, which is something that rarely happened in any of the other games outside the core “main” characters. But here Raven goes from being a brash thief to helping his sworn enemy when the end of the game comes around. Roy is petulant, crude, and horny, but as the game moves on he matures, to the point that in probably one of the most memorable scenes players aren’t supposed to see, he dies sacrificing himself in a way that left me kinda broken for a while (longer than it took to hit reset, definitely). Even late additions like Roog and Rahal get complications and show up multiple times earlier in the game, making their eventual joining a bit more weighty than, say, when Pesmerga joins in either of the first games or when Landis joins in Suikoden III. A lot of the characters get whole side quests dedicated to recruiting them, and it makes for a much deeper experience that seeks to stress the connections between the characters and between them and the Prince’s rebellion.
Further, the game does a wonderful job looking at family. At the heartbreaking way that the Prince loses his parents, his sister, and his aunt, to the way that he builds something larger, not bound by blood but choice. The chosen family aspect of the game is fantastic, the main character gaining brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, lovers and rivals. All building out of the care put into the stories of all the characters. And it shows here that nationalism can be beaten by compassion, empathy, and a bunch of messy people fighting for each other and what they believe in. All not so that the Prince can ascend the throne, but so he can either serve the sister he loves or leave to see the greater world.
The Godwins Are Surprisingly Timely
On one level, people could argue that Suikoden V’s villains are sort of one note. The Godwins are power hungry, nationalist, and racist as all hell. They use ninja assassins who are willing to die for the cause, and they wear their intolerance proudly. And yet for all that it seems a step back from having, say, Jowy or Luc as villains (or even Luca Blight, whose evil was louder and more blatant but a lot more terrifying), they mirror a lot of things happening in the real world that makes the game hit a little harder. The Godwins are familiar, sycophants using their power and privilege to try and Make Falena Great Again. And while Arshtat and Ferid think they can try to use the official channels to stop the Godwins, the Prince’s journey is one of recognizing when revolution is necessary. Yes, it might be to essentially re-establish the status quo, but it’s more than that. At the end of the game, the government has fundamentally changed, and it’s clear that this isn’t a story about making sure ultimate power is in the “right hands.” It’s about setting aside that kind of power in the name of peace.
In a world where militarization and fascism are on the rise, where a great many people find comfort in the persecution of others, the game offers a rebuke to that, reminding players at least that the core of Suikoden is always diversity and cooperation. Only by bringing together people from all over the nation, from every level of society, can the Prince fully succeed in overcoming the police state and weaponized racism of the Godwins. It was a fine story at the time. Now, it seems even more resonant.
It Closes the Circle
It’s quite possible that the people making Suikoden V knew it would be the final hurrah. And in some ways it’s probably not how a lot of people wanted the series to end. There’s still the question of what’s happening in Harmonia — the enormous mystery that carries through the series. But it’s also possible that the developers knew that wasn’t a question they could answer, not without the series creator, not in a way that would satisfy fans. Instead, Suikoden V closes the circle opened by Suikoden IV, and in more ways than one. Yes, chronologically it brings the game back to where Suikoden I kicked everything off. But it does more than that. It unifies the games of the series. All of them. Like Tactics, part of its goal seems to be to redeem Suikoden IV and to bring it into the fold. So the Island Nations make a key appearance, and geographically the game also bridges the series back together, makes them part of a single tapestry, a single map.
On a purely technical level, there’s no doubt in my mind that Suikoden V is the best game in the series.
It’s also very much about beginnings and endings. Dawn and Twilight. It’s about pulling an army together to accomplish something huge, amazing…and then shutting it down, integrating it into something else. The castle is filled back in. The Sun, Dawn, and Twilight Runes are all returned to their places of rest. The threat of the Godwins is ended. The rise of a more representative government begins. Like game development itself, Suikoden V follows a group of people coming together to try and make something special. And it succeeds. But then the team disperses. Works on other games. Are reassigned. And Suikoden, for all its promise, falls into night. It’s a swan song, both an ending and a hope that for every twilight there will be another new dawn.
And Okay, It’s Not Perfect
Where Suikoden V might fall down hardest is in its mini-games. Some, like fishing, can be pretty fun. But even with fishing, there are levels of frustration that only build and build because they are so fucking hard. Checkers with Egbert. Dragonhorse racing (arghhhhhhh!). There’s challenging, and then there’s downright impossible. Strategic battles can also be rather challenging at times, especially when units retreat in precisely the wrong direction. And the relationship between the Prince and Lyon is sometimes a little hit or miss for me, personally (helped as long as it’s not really a romantic relationship). Also, Dolph is kind of shit, sorry, I just don’t like him at all. For all that the Godwins in general are decent (especially now), Nether Gate could have used a bit more attention and fleshing out (especially with Oboro and crew right there), and could have done with a much better face than…Dolph.
But It’s Still Awesome
On a purely technical level, there’s no doubt in my mind that Suikoden V is the best game in the series. It learned from every game before it, what went right, what went wrong. It balances challenge and depth, rewards patience but allows for sprinting. After the devastation that Suikoden IV caused especially among long term fans, it recaptured the spark from the earlier games and provided a deep experience for people willing to go on an epic adventure. Again, it improved upon just about everything it could. Towns are memorable. Dungeons are deep. The politics are complicated. Area mini-bosses return for added challenge. Strategy battles become real time and require juggling numerous fronts and elements. Characters pop, have reasons for being there, and genuinely bring things to the game. They feel different, so that different combinations can truly fit any play style wonderfully. Coming after so many people had already started the series, it might lack the same nostalgia of the earlier Suikoden games, but it makes up for that by being just a stunning RPG, and one of the last great examples of turn-based combat on the Playstation systems. To date, it’s the final game in the series, and it’s quite possible that as far as Suikoden games go, it went out on top.
