Suikoden 4
The Suikoden series was a great, entertaining series. Each game was a continuation of the one prior to it. However, Suikoden IV was a harsh disappointment. The graphics for the game were alright; I have seen better, I have seen worse. The annoying part of it though is the fact that the game itself and the movie sequences (which are few) look the same.
The game has the same premise as the previous ones; the True Rune is attached to the main character and you must amass an army by going aroud the world recruiting them. In Suikoden IV, you are part of an army to start and are dismissed after some unfortunate events. The way of travel in this game is by boat; a slow-moving way to get around which takes a long time to get anywhere. Even when you hit the turbo button you still go quite slow.
Some of the characters from the previous games are brought into this one, though they come in late in the game and you then must spend hours building them up to be of any use. There is also a lack of attachment to the characters and recruiting them is extremely hard, because you do not get many clues where to look and the boat/HQ (unlike the island castle from the 3 previos Suikoden's, your HQ is the boat in which you spend about 90% of game time on) moves so slowwly that it hardly seems worth it to look for all of them.
There is a lot of different music throughout the game, although it is not very good music. Most of the talking between the main characters (your crew/army, and the bad guys) are all voiced. However, you cannot skip any of the sequences until the the New Game+. The magic used by the characters in the fights does not look that impressive. Even the strongest spells are not enjoyable to watch.
The best part of the game is the Rush ability which can be used every few battles. All the characters give their strength to the main character and he attacks all the enemies, and it does not count as a turn. That being the only upside to the entire game. The most enjoyable part of the game was beating it and taking out of my PS2 never to be put back again.
2/10
Review by Cole Wassner
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