#49
Change YoY: -4 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 began hearing a lot of people talk about them in reverence, as these masterpieces of their genre, with Suikoden II often singled out for particular praise among fans of the series. However, getting my hands on a copy proved very difficult, as the game had originally had a very limited run in the west, and as such the title had become exceedingly rare. My chance to give them a try finally came about a decade a go now, when I saw that they had both been released on the PS Store, so I decided to do just that. I certainly liked the first game well enough, but it was the second entry 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 Suikoden II, and in particular the story of the game, the heavy political overtones weaved in with the story of war and struggle against a superior opponent, centered around a pair of friends stuck in opposite sides of the conflict and rising in the ranks of each respective army was all expertly handled, to the extent that very few games since have surpassed it in that particular department. Of course, that wouldn't matter without good writing, and Suikoden II has that in spades, 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 rely on early 3D models. It's an excellent game, and one of the finest examples of its genre both at the time and still today. It's also one I should try to replay one of these days, if I can only find the time for it. Perhaps the upcoming remaster gives me an excuse to finally get to it.
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