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"A story of life, death, and humanity"

Having just replayed Suikoden II for the third time a whole six years after this Konami RPG hit American shores, I think it is safe for me to say that Suikoden II is a timeless gem of a game that surpasses many boundaries set even by modern RPGs.

Suikoden, one of the earliest Playstation RPGs, was a story, similarly, that told of war, betrayal, and corruption. With an immense 108 available characters to join you, and your own castle that grew as you recruited them, Suikoden already broke the set RPG standards. In addition to the simple but effective six on six normal battles, Suikoden had two other forms of fighting that fit the war storyline well: an army battle and then a one on one fighting system. All of Suikoden's interesting components made for a refreshing game that was also fun. Yet despite all the great gameplay, Suikoden's real beauty was the plot. Gone was the "save the world" cliche which consumed many RPGs, and continues to do so even to this day. Suikoden brought in a beautiful tale of war and the humanity of it all. Suikoden's hero, his quest, and his companions drew me into the tale of real warfare, and I thought no story would come along quite like it...

Until Suikoden II came out. While I began the game thinking it would not live up to it's predecessor, it did that... and much more!

I must first touch upon the storyline. Suikoden II truly has a storyline like none other. The beauty and dynamic of the hero and his companions is just wonderful, and the cruel fate set up on him grabs the player in the get-go. You immediately begin to question the authorities of the story and soon enough, as in Suikoden I, the hero embarks on a journey burdened with the fate of restoring two warring nations. Yet Suikoden II is even more than that: more than just war and good versus evil. It beautifully shows the humanity of each side... Most of the Highlanders, whom the hero battles throughout the game, are no more evil than the City-State, which must be united under the hand of the main character. The notable exception is Luca Blight, who is refreshing as a villain character because many can easily hate this character for his crimes (whereas in many RPGs, the villains can become more loved than the heroes, despite their villainous deeds).

Suikoden II, having 108 characters, might have been easily put off by some who might think that having 108 characters wouldn't leave room for character development. Wrong! Suikoden II was surprising to me because of the amount of real, quality characters it fleshes out throughout the game. Without spoiling much, I can safely say that the Suikoden II characters will captivate, surprise, and move you throughout the quest. (on a side note: I highly recommend you play through Suikoden I before doing Suikoden II. some familiar faces in reappear in Suikoden II with even more character than the first one!)

Which brings me to the gameplay. Even if it had a wonderful plot with great characters, Suikoden II wouldn't have been such a great game had it not also had great gameplay. And Suikoden II has a lot of it. Firstly, the normal battles have been improved slightly, they are now more fast paced than the previous installment. Also notable is that more characters have "unite" attacks; attacks in which two or more characters can combine their skills to produce a bigger attack. The one on one battles also remain in Suikoden II, and are very similar to the Suikoden style. The army battles are a whole other story: they have been improved upon greatly since the last game and are, in Suikoden II, more akin to something of FF Tactics fare than before. Having 108 characters allows for a wide variety of combinations in army formations and all the battles are a lot more interesting than the ones in Suikoden.

In addition to all the different battle systems, Suikoden II also has an impressive castle system; as you gain characters your castle grows. In Suikoden I your isolated castle offered many levels and housed many of your characters but offered little more for entertainment. In Suikoden II your castle not only serves as a base for your army and characters, but also becomes something of a small town. It's fun to see it grow as you get the 108 stars. You can get a private detective to investigate your characters, play a fishing game with some characters at the dock, or even take a bath to make your characters nice and toasty. One of the most fun additions to Suikoden II's castle is a castle chef who occasionally gets challenged to cooking battles a la Iron Chef style. In other words it's hard to get bored in Suikoden II.

Graphics-wise, Suikoden II is a vast improvement over Suikoden I. The characters, all done in pixels on (most of the time) a pixel chipset type of background. They are full of life and move realistically... The variety of movements for the characters are appropriate, and it never really looks awkward. The graphics team was certainly not lazy with the pixelated characters. The occasional cutscene is nothing amazing but does it's job effectively. Personally, I think the pixel characters add to the warmth that's the core of the Suikoden series, but I suppose it's just personal as to whether you would prefer 3D characters to pixel characters.

The music of Suikoden II varies to me: some tracks are beautifully sad or haunting, and some are bright and sunny. Some tracks are just of average quality, the music composition not as refined as others of it's era. Still, there's nothing grating and nothing that makes you want to turn the music off, so that's good. Also, mostly every track is appropriate for the situation that it accompanies. Some tracks on Suikoden II I love very much, like the opening theme which successfully captures the emotion of Suikoden II and it's story. Sound effects are done perfectly from weapon impacts to the sound of armies fighting armies.
Does Suikoden II have bad points? I'm sure I could find some... For one the translation is very good but sometimes not very consistent. For instance one character named "Jowy" is sometimes called "Joei" probably due to translation mishaps. Also there are some typos here and there but nothing to ruin the scene. Also you can only move left/right and up/down... if you are in love with diagonal directions, you might not want to play this game. Also some tactical battles seem to be lacking the musical track for some reason or another.

But it's really difficult to even notice a lot of these small quirks when playing Suikoden II. Rarely did I ever get annoyed with the battle system, and rarely did i want to put my controller down. Even now, in 2005, Suikoden II remains to me one of the most enjoyable RPG out there. It's beautiful plot, endearing characters, and just plain fun gameplay are excellent. This is a heartfelt recommendation to play this game if at all possible; this is not just for RPG fans, or even video game fans. This is a timeless story that deserves more recognition in the gaming world. I love this game, and I hope you will too.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/15/05