Page 1: Genso Suikoden
Page 2: Genso Suikoden II
Page 3: Genso Suikoden III
Page 4: Genso Suikoden IV
Page 5: Suikoden Tactics
Page 6: Genso Suikoden V
Page 7: Suikoden Tierkreis
Page 8: Suikogaiden Volume 1, Volume 2 and Card Stories

Suikoden II / Genso Suikoden II - PSOne / PSP / PC (1999)

American Cover

Japanese Cover

Suikoden II (PSOne)

Originally the first Suikoden was meant to be a standalone game. However, due to its surprise success, Konami greenlighted a sequel. Suikoden II is set three years after the original, this time focusing on the City-States of Jowston. The main protagonist in this installment is a young boy named Riou. He and his friend Jowy are part of the Unicorn Brigade, an army comprised of youths who serve the Highland army. The City-States of Jowston have formed a cease fire with the Highland Kingdom, but just when everything seemed to be peaceful, a rain of arrows showers down the camp. As the chaos ensues, Riou and Jowy discover a shocking truth behind the attacks - it seems that the ones responsible for the ambush attack is none other than Luca Blight, Prince of the Highlands, who plans to rekindle the hatred between the two troubled kingdoms. After learning the awful truth, Riou and Jowy run for their lives and blindly jump down into a river. Little to they know that the currents that separate them will forever change the destiny of the two lands. The former best friends end up separately working through the ranks of each faction, eventually emerging as their leaders. It's a compelling take on the "brothers fighting brothers" archetype, a theme which isn't explored nearly enough in video game literature. Although it is a sequel, you don't need to have expansive knowledge of first installment extensively, since the story is focused on the new characters in Suikoden II. But there are a lot of references, as well as returning characters from the first game, so it's recommended to play them in order for maximum enjoyment. Characters: Riou The protagonist of Suikoden 2. He lives in Kyaro with his step-sister Nanami. His name is Tao in the manga. Jowy Riou's closest friend. Unlike Riou and Nanami, he comes from the wealthy Atreides family in Kyaro. Nanami Riou's sister. She has a tomboyish nature and is not a proficient cook. Even so, she gets along with Jowy and Riou. Luca Blight The insane prince responsible for breaking the ceasefire between the two kingdoms. He does this in order to conquer the enemy territory for his own twisted gain. He refers to anyone weaker than him as "PIIIIGGGGGGGGGGSSS!!!!" Rowd He is the captain of the Unicorn Brigade. He is one of people who agreed to help Luca Blight conspire the Unicorn Brigade massacre. Flik One of the returning characters from the first Suikoden. Though he still lingers about his struggles back in Scarlet Moon Empire, he can take the difficult situations in a calmer matter. Viktor Another returning character from the first Suikoden. Viktor, along with Flik, run a mercenary fort. He still retains his easy-going personality, although his reputation as the Bear of the group has become more apparent. Pilika She's the young girl that resides in Toto, and considers Jowy as her big brother. Shu He was a student of Mathiu Silverberg, but due to his selfish ambitions, he was expelled. He uses his knowledge to become a trader. Suikoden II basically takes everything that was established in the first installment and greatly improves the formula. The graphics are much clearer, with no more muggy and pixelated details. The character artwork is substantially better, and is now provided by Fumi Ishikawa. Furthermore, the interface is much more streamlined, and you don't have to jumble around the menu in order to equip an item. Also, you now have the option to move plot characters into the convoy slot. This means that you don't have to force a person you aren't interested in into battle. Also you can now switch positions from the front row to the back and vice versa in the middle of battle. It's quite convenient for some who want to bring more than three short-ranged fighters into a fight. Asides with the visual improvements, the Regular and Duel battles remain the same. There is, however, a completely epic, multi-part standard battle against a single villain. Your army takes them on together, six at a time, as fallen members are replaced with reserves. It's easily one of the most compelling battles in the entire series, and puts the final battle against Kefka in Final Fantasy VI to shame. The Army battles have gone in an entirely different direction. Rather than the rock-paper-scissors style battle in the first Suikoden, Suikoden II lies on a grid-line battlefield, and plays similarly to a Strategy RPG. You have an option to attack, use your Rune or execute a special attack. Depending on the attacker's and the defender's stats, you either successfully hit your opponent or miss. If you manage to hit your opponent twice, consider the opponent dead. The objectives vary a bit - you either have to hold out your fort for a number of turns or seize the enemy camp. It requires a bit of thinking as well as luck. For those who played the first Suikoden, you are in for a treat. If you have a save file from the previous installment, you can load it up the moment you start your journey in Suikoden II, which will change a few minor things. For example, the returning characters will have extra dialogue. If the returning character happens to be one of the strongest members from the previous installment, he or she will have increased parameters the moment they join up with you. To sweeten the pot a little more, you'll receive additional items not usually found in Suikoden II. It even goes as far as adding a hidden side-quest which allows you to recruit the main character from the first game. Much like its predecessor, it's easy to miss some of the Stars of Destiny, and once again, one of the major characters is killed if you don't find them all. It disables the ability to get the best ending, which is one of the most touching of any JRPG. For many aspects like these, Suikoden II is considered the pinnacle of the series - its strong story telling, fascinating characters and quick pacing make it quite the achievement. Despite all of the advancements, there are still some minor flaws, mostly due to a hasty English translation. For example, some of the army battles won't play any music, making them completely silent outside of the sound effects. One NPC is supposed to sing a song, but instead you just hear silence. Also, the translation is quite inconsistent. You'll find a lot of grammatical errors and even name inconsistencies. For instance, the name "Jowy" often changes as "Joei" in some of the dialogue. The translation even goes as far as garbled text in some of the areas. They also screwed up the naming of the main character from the first Suikoden, if you choose to transfer your old save game. Fortunately, the PAL version fixes most of the issues found in the NTSC version. Like its predecessor, Suikoden II appeared on the PSP as Genso Suikoden I & II. It has the same enhancements as Suikoden I except the exploitable glitches are fixed. Unfortunately, the PSP version didn't see an overseas release. It was also ported to Windows platforms in Asian territories. Suikoden II was largely overlooked in the USA and Europe during the time of its release, as it was published next to titans like Final Fantasy VIII. Still, it won numerous awards and gained extremely positive word of mouth, which has only improved over time. As a result, the demand for the English version of Suikoden II has ramped up significantly, and often fetches prices in excess of $100 on the secondary marketplace. MP3s Download here Opening Reminiscence Enemy Attack Tactics Adventurous Journey Battlefield Without Light

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