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First Impressions:
Suikoden
III is lovely.
From
the first whiff of the game upon cracking the cellophane seal,
to the unbelievably well animated introductory video, my eyes
were fairly watering with joy. I knew this was going to be my
succor from the disappointment of Final Fantasy X.
The
straightforward Trinity Sight System allows players to determine
with ease which of the three main characters will join them
on their first journey into the world of Suikoden. I chose,
of course, the only female available, Chris.
As
the annoying Now Loading screen faded away, my initial reservations
for PS2 RPG's followed suit. I gleaned that this game was going
to consume all of my spare time in one ravenous gulp.
Graphics:
The
graphics are bright and sharp, just as one would expect with
the Playstation 2. The characters graphics share similarities
with the Anime style. The big, expressive eyes are very well
done. Blinking, eyebrows furrowing, smiling, everything is portrayed
through the eyes, and gives the rest of the game a feeling of
life and believability.
Some
gamers may not be as impressed with the characters, and if your
the type that prefers more lifelike representation in your games,
you may want to steer clear of Suikoden III.
Those
of us who are not will probably find Suikoden III's game world
very comfortable. The towns are very well designed despite the
fact that you cannot enter every house and the world map looks
like it could be rolled up and taken along with you on your
journey.
But
like many games, Suikoden III has rough spots.
Slowdown,
particularly during battles, plague an otherwise crisp game.
This is what the PS2 is supposed to be famous at, thanks to
the DVD games, we should not have to worry about lag and load
times!
On
characters, you may occasionally see pixels around the eyes,
as if the graphics are stretched too taught on the frame, but
this is only when the camera is very close to the character.
Despite
these facts, Suikoden III is still a beautiful game, and more
than easy on the eyes.
Sound/Music:
The
sound of Suikoden III is wonderful. From the wind whistling
through the cave you may be exploring, to the creak and grind
of metal on metal when Chris walks around in her armor, the
effects -if your paying attention- will delight your ears.
The
musical score for the game throughout never misses a beat, setting
the tone for all the happenings within the game. Although by
the end of the game you may be getting sick of the battle music,
that is due mostly to the redundant battles.
Gameplay:
Suikoden
III is a highly entertaining game. With 108 Stars of Destiny
to be found, a mansion and town to fill with people, and battles
to be won, you will be combing the continent for new additions
to your roster.
Aside
from following the main story line, there is the Lakeside Castle,
which allows you to recruit characters and collect antiques.
As you recruit more characters, the run-down town surrounding
the mansion will slowly develop. Because of this, there is plenty
of collecting to do. Find recipes to bring to your cook at the
restaurant, gather fruit from the farmer for trade in the other
towns, find better tools for your Blacksmith, or just kick back
and watch a play with all your favorite characters playing parts.
Having these options depend on the characters you have recruited,
so you will have to do some traveling to find them.
The
only drawback to this is, much like Final Fantasy X, Suikoden
III's path is very defined. Suikoden has town and field areas
that are accessed via a set "path" on the worldmap.
As you continue through the story, new paths are revealed to
new towns or fields.
In
other words, there is no actual control on the worldmap, you
get to select the area that your character will go to and when
they reach their destination, the town or field opens up to
you, which can cause the player to feel that they have too little
control over their choices. I patiently await the day when there
will be a fully explorable RPG on the PS2.
Now
let us talk about battles! In any role playing game, they are
a vital component since they are what you will find yourself
doing for the majority of the time (whether to get experience,
items, or to finally defeat that last boss). In Suikoden III,
you can have a total of 6 characters in your party at one time.
Now this had the possibility of creating a very exciting brawl,
but your six characters are in sets of two and the game only
allows one command per set for a total of three commands per
round! That means you cannot have two magic users in the same
set or one of them will by default attack while the other casts
the magic spell that you chose.
In
some spots with six characters on screen, five monsters to slay,
and magic flying left and right, the game will slow down quite
a bit. Added to this are magic spells that tend to be on the
long drawn out side with no option to skip them.
By
the end of the game -around seventy hours or so- you will likely
be grinding your teeth when you hear that battle music start
and you are thrust into another tedious romp.
Overall Impression:
All
games have their rough spots, and Suikoden III is no different.
If you can look past it's flaws like I did, you will probably
find yourself insanely attached to the games many memorable
characters, picking fights with monsters to find those antiques
to decorate your mansion with, searching for that last character
that you know must be there, and forgetting that the sun is
going down outside.
That
said, Suikoden's Trinity Sight System may be too abrupt for
some players. Being forced to change characters in the middle
of the most exciting part of the story can get frustrating,
or depending on what type of person you are, it may just heighten
the excitement.
Marketing Efforts Towards Women:
I
cannot think of any justifiable reason why a woman gamer who
was interested in the genre would turn Suikoden III away.
Konami,
from the box art and the trailer found on the website seems
to be aiming the game towards all audiences.
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