Post by Bytor on May 1, 2011 21:54:37 GMT -5
Suikoden (幻想水滸伝 Gensō Suikoden) the first installment in the series was released by Konami for the PlayStation in Japan on December 15, 1995, in North America pretty much one year later in December of 1996 and in Europe in March of 1997. Three years later (1998) Konami re-released the game for the Sega Saturn followed by a release for MS Windows in 1998. The game was directed by Yoshitaka Murayama and produced by Kazumi Kitaue with music composed by Miki Higashino, Tappy Iwase, Hiroshi Tamawari,Hirofumi Taniguchi and Mayuko Kageshita. The game was considered by many to be the best RPG released for the Sony Playstation in 1995 and was considered by many experts to be tPG of the year, although many also argued that it was too short, too simple but still a great game for beginning RPG'ers.
The game is set in a fantasy world which resembles feudal Japan and is set in the fictional Scarlet Moon Empire. The story revolves around the political struggles and battles in the empire and the desire to bring peace to the land. You play as the son of a General in the army who finds out he is destined to become the"Tenkai Star", a warrior is prophecy says will unite the "108 Stars of Destiny" and overthrow the corrupt current regime and establish a kingdom of peace and prosperity.
The game is a typical RPG with you controlling the Hero and recruiting up to 108 allies, six of which may be used in typical turn based battles with computer enemies (which will attack randomly throughout your travels). There is an element of strategy in the battles as attacks are varied and determined by types (long, short and med.) which are determined by weapon types which are unique to each separate character. The battle system also features a hierarchy where certain type of units defeat, and/or are defeated by certain other types, for instance magic users beta cavalry, archers defeat calvary etc. Battles can be one of three types, Regular battles are typical RPG fodder, you and allies against random enemies. Deuls where you compete against a single enemy and war/massive battles which are more tactical in nature and set up on a more massive scale, area and personnel wise. Magic attacks also exist which are determined by character levels which in turn determine how many spells can be cast. The player will explore the world advancing the central story and recruiting allies and gathering info from NPC's to also further the storyline.
The game as several recurring characters throughout the continued series and has remained popular with RPG fans even today.