The best one is II, but it's old (1999, for PS1), and if you want to find it original it's impossible (very easy to play it on an emulator, though), also it's recommended to play the first before because it has a lot of references to that one (though it's not necessary, I enjoyed it a lot without having played the first before).

V is also excellent (second best RPG of the PS2 after Persona 3 for me), is quite new (2006, for PS2), looks great, and doesn't require previous experience with Suikodens. It's also very long (54 hours on my first play, 51 on my second), it has a very deep story and a lot of memorable characters. I suggest you start there, if you like it (which I'm sure you will), you can play the others.

Is making me want a ps2

just recommended me a good game

-I'll check the 5 instalment and if i like it i'll check the rest thx

Woohoo! Third person I convinced to try a Suikoden. Only the rest of the world remains.

Shadow of the Colossus

Ico

Persona

Devil May Cry

Xenosaga

Star Ocean

Final Fantasy

Gran Turismo

Ratchet

Jak

Sly

God of War

Kingdom Hearts

Shin Megami Tensei

Tekken

Tales of the Abyss

...

The list goes on and on... and you're wanting more and more a PS2

I hope the story won't be like final fantasy, i hope to get something original i played 40hours of ff12 then lost the game lol

It's difficult to say, FF stories always feature a small cast of characters trying to stop the evil from destroying the world,, they can be awesome, of course.
Suikoden always try something different, first, you never save the world, it's most of time an internal struggle between two groups that want to do things their way, there's nobody who's inherently bad or good, they just see things in a different manner, that's why I've always thought Suikodens feature some of the best characters ever

well when i tried it up i'll tell you what i think about it

has a nice avatar

Likes Rikku

he wishes boca wins this weekend