Suikoden (series)

This article is about the video game series. For the first video game in the series, see Suikoden.

Suikoden, released as Genso Suikoden (幻想水滸伝) in Japan, is a role-playing game developed and published by Konami.
In 1995, the first installment of the video game series was released initially in Japan. Later, it was released in North America in 1996 and one year after, a European release. In 1998, the game was also released for the Sega Saturn console exclusively in Japan.
This was followed by a second installment which was released in Japan the same year (1998). Spin-offs after the second installment were also created which includes Genso Suikoden Card Stories and the Genso Suikogaiden series. However, both spin-offs were only released in Japan.
In 2006, the fifth installment and the latest in the mainstream series, Suikoden V was released in Japan. Despite of being latter installments, the two latest game in the series (including Suikoden IV) do not continue the timeline of the prior games. Though the games follow an irregular chronological sequence, the entire series takes place within the same world among overlapping histories. In some cases, several characters appear in multiple installations.

Overview Edit

The Suikoden series is loosely based on a classical Chinese novel, Shui Hu Zhuan by Shi Naian and Luo Guanzhong. Shui Hu Zhuan is rendered as 水滸伝 in Japanese, and read as Suikoden. Each game centers around relative themes of politics, corruption, revolution, mystical crystals known as True Runes, and the "108 Stars of Destiny" — 108 protagonists also very loosely interpreted from the source material.
The games, standard to most RPGs, commonly feature random over world and dungeon battles, inn-based game saves, a turn-based, menu-operated combat system, mini-games and side quests. Saved game data can be transferred from Suikoden to Suikoden II, and Suikoden II to Suikoden III (Suikogaiden Vol.1 can also receive data from Suikoden II, and is transferable to Suikogaiden Vol.2, but only in Japan), and from Suikoden IV to Suikoden Tactics (Rhapsodia in Japan) and now Suikoden V.
Suikoden implements many features as each title allows players, in varying degrees, to:

• Conduct strategically pitched war campaigns.
• Participate in turn based, one-on-one duels.
• Build an immensely large headquarters that grows as the story progresses (and only develops fully if all the characters are recruited).
• Recruit a colorful cast of 108 pre-determined characters, each specializing in various aspects of combat or support.

Essentially, each game follows the plot formula of a coup d'état by corrupt power holder(s), the main protagonist's exile from his/her home, the disastrous misuse of the True Runes, the hero's struggle, despite overwhelming odds, to bring peace to the land alongside his/her friends, and the climactic showdown with the corrupted True Rune.