#45
Change YoY: -3 My Rating: 9.0 / 10
I never actually got around to playing the first two Suikoden games when they were first released back in the 90s, I honestly probably wasn't even aware they were a thing until much later in life. Over the years I heard a lot of people talk about them in reverence, as these masterpieces of their genre, with Suikoden II often singled out for particular praise. My chance to give them a try came when I noticed that they had both been released on the PS Store, so I decided to finally give the series a try. I certainly liked the first game well enough, but it was the second game in the series that truly stood out to me, as it had done to so many others before me.
There was simply something different about the story of the game, the heavy political overtones weaved in with the story of war and struggle against a superior opponent were quite unusual at the time, and in a lot of ways still are. Of course, that wouldn't matter without good writing, and Suikoden II has that as well, alongside a genuinely despicable villain, a great music score by Miki Higashino, and visuals that still hold up remarkably well thanks to the developers decision to use sprites rather than 3D models. It's an excellent game, and one of the finest examples of its genre both at the time and still today. I'm very much looking forward to the HD remasters, whenever they might be released.
