Suikoden/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Broken Base:
    • Despite getting solid reviews and considered one of the better RPG outings on the DS, Suikoden Tierkreis annoyed many fans due to its lack of Continuity Nod.
    • Suikoden III was this before Tierkreis. Despite getting excellent reviews from most markets, the fanbase was broken, largely over changes to the battle system. Worth noting is that it was a very dramatic breaking; most fans either thought it was Ruined FOREVER or it wasn't at all. Comes up more often than any game besides Suikoden II in most "Best Suikoden" threads in forums.
    • Suikoden IV got it even worse for limiting the player to four party members, upping the random encounter rate, and shortening the overall length of the game (it's not hard to beat the whole thing in 20 hours with 108 stars, whereas it's nearly impossible to get through Suikoden III in under 40 or so), and being set 150 years before all the other game... so the only returning characters are/were very minor in their previous/later appearances. Particularly, the combination of the smaller party size and shorter game made it very hard to get to know most of the cast.
  • Complete Monster: Neclord and Luca Blight (and how!).
  • Crazy Awesome: Maximilian.
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Every game has at least one track which is just plain awesome either due to the music itself or the scene in which it's played.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Pesmerga. This guy is always a late-joiner, doesn't contribute to the plot, and can be accused of Cool, But Inefficient (lack of rune slot and options for customization). And he's only in for 2 games. His fanbase is huge, thanks to his connection with Yuber as well as his badass Black Knight attire, and his default powerful stats for those who just doesn't want to bother with customization.
  • Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Jeane and Mina.
  • Game Breaker:
    • Viki in Suikoden V, whose powerful Chain Magic ability- once trained up- lets her cast incredibly powerful spells twice in a row at no additional MP cost, letting you wipe out enemies with astounding ease. Not to mention Zerase's completely overpowered Star Rune, and Richard's godly stats.
      • Viki isn't quite so broken as she seems; her non-removable Blinking Rune isn't that great, and the position it's stuck in means that she can never equip a Magic Absorb Rune. Meanwhile, the Magic Absorb Rune itself is even more of a game-breaker in that game: in earlier games, it recovered a single spell of the lowest level only, 15% of the time when your attacks hit. In Suikoden V, for some reason, it recovers a spell of any level, 100% of the time, every single attack... including high-level spells that, for most of the game, you would otherwise only be able to cast a handful of times over the course of a level, boss fight, or whatever. With a Magic Absorb Rune, you can cast them every other round and never run out.
    • Georg Prime in Suikoden V has great stats and starts out with a rune that increases his critical rate and gives him a small chance of instantly killing enemies. There's a reason the game significantly limits your ability to actually put him in your party.
    • How on earth did this section exist without Emily (Ronnie Bell's daughter) from Suikoden III? Train up Emily, give her a Fury or Double-Strike rune and watch her obliterate any boss in one round before they even have a chance to make one move. Her only limitation is that she doesn't have Continual Attack, which Juan does (he starts every battle asleep though).
    • In Suikoden IV, the team of the hero, Kika, Ted and Snowe is also considered a Game Breaker because of the astounding ease at which they can take down any opponent. In fact, Kika alone could be considered a Game Breaker, since her Falcon Rune does about 3x her normal damage, never misses, can be used infinitely, and has no apparent drawbacks. Slap a Fury Rune on her and you've got a character capable of one-shotting almost any non-boss.
    • Sheena can be turned into a Game Breaker at higher levels in Suikoden II.
    • The more powerful unite attacks in the series can become this as well.
    • Georg in Suikoden V can be a Game Breaker in the right hands. Although slapping a Double-Edged Rune on him is risky, since his magic defense is poor, he can pretty much rip a huge hole in almost anything with one on. For that matter, Isabel, Mathias and Miakis have devastating setups too.
    • Tir and Kai's Combination Attack in Suikoden I. Auto-hits every enemy in the fight for twice normal damage. Say goodbye to random encounters that last more than one turn. Tir also happens to have a spell that means instant death to every non-boss in the fight... which always works, unlike instant death attacks in nearly every other game.
    • In the first game, if you manage to find the final water rune and the final wind rune and manage to have two people in your party use their final spells, you will hit all of the enemies on the screen For Massive Damage and heal most of your health at the same time. This is particularly useful for the later boss fights, especially the last boss fight.
    • In the first game, there are a couple of exploits for taking a detour from the One True Sequence. Before going to the castle, go outside, alone, and run away from enemies until you find three BonBons. Easy kill, and hey, level 9! After that, you have a choice of going to Sarady either by yourself or with Ted. I suggest getting Ted for more durability in the fights, and because you get a Prosperity Rune (double money) instead of a Fortune Rune.
  • Ho Yay/Les Yay:
    • Its easy to read Gremio being this towards The Hero in the first game. Almost every sentence he speaks relates in some way to the "young master". Though he claims he thinks of Tir as more of a son or brother.
    • Lucretia from Suikoden V, with both Cathari and Lelei. Lelei has a decidedly suggestive scene where she suggests that Lucretia not go to bed just yet on the night before the big battle, while Cathari notes that she and Lucretia were "more than just friends" when she joins.
    • And then there's most of the bath scenes.
    • Richard's complete and utter admiration of Mueller in Suikoden V borderlines this.
    • Basically any of the male Narcissists, especially when they interact with each other.
    • Riou and Jowy from the second game certainly apply.
  • Magnificent Bastard:
    • The evil inclined Silverbergs tend to turn into these. Strangely enough, so does Jowy.
    • Shu in Suikoden II: using poorly-armed members of the North Window Base as a diversion, as well as throwing poor Pilika out as crossbow shield too.
  • Memetic Badass: Georg Prime, the Chuck Norris of Suikoden universe.
  • Moe: Viki and Meg.
  • Moral Event Horizon: Many of the villains indulge in this, but it is Luca Blight who takes it to an art form.
  • Narm: In the first game, Viktor ruins a legitimately cool/dramatic scene on confronting Milich with this one line:

Black Rune, Pink Balloon, what's the difference!? This scoundrel killed Gremio!

  • Player Punch:
    • Nearly every game in the series contains at at least one star's death in the storyline and one important character's betrayal; generally, the main death is reversible or avertable if you collect all 108 stars of destiny, while the betrayal is not. These all tend to be player punches to some degree...
    • Almost any scene involving Pilika in Suikoden II. Also Nanami's "death" scene in Rockaxe.
    • In Suikoden II, the main trio is saved by Anabelle, mayor of Muse, who take them under her wing after they are exiled for a crime they didn't commit. In order to get closer to Lucca and put himself in a position of power within the Highland army, Jowy ends up betraying her by assassinating her in the middle of the night and by opening the gates of Muse, allowing the Highland army to launch a surprise attack. The main protagonist and his sister Nanami are left dumbfounded by this turn of events, and to top it all, the crime is pinned on them.
    • Yun and Jimba's deaths in Suikoden III. You can't reverse either one, and the only time you can use Jimba is before you start the Cyndar Ruins story.
    • In Suikoden V, Sialeeds' betrayal took many players by surprise. This event upsets a lot of characters, and especially your protagonist: while Luserina tries to comfort him, the protagonist just turns around and walks off. You aren't even given the opportunity to select a dialogue option like usual. The betrayal cut so deep that the player doesn't have their word on the matter: the silent protagonist is just too distraught and wants to be alone. Another Player Punch is Lyon's sudden death, though this can be averted with 100% Completion.
  • The Scrappy: We may as well rename the second to last Star as 'The Star of Scrappies' since it mostly produces hatedom-generating characters, such as Krin, Hoi... There's also Kenji (not of the same Star), who is disliked due to his ridiculous fighting style (he uses aerobics and jogging to fight). Can't forget Snowe either.
  • That One Sidequest: Assembling all of the Stars of Destiny.
  • Too Cool to Live: Let´s see...
    • In Suikoden I, you have Ted (your best friend) the original host of the Soul Eater. Arguably Teo (your father) could count as well but that would be more of Too Stubborn/Loyal to live. To some, Odessa could very much count, but her death did help Flik into developing to the fan favorite we all know and love this day.
    • In Suikoden II, you have Genkaku (your father figure) and Annabelle (Muse´s mayor).
    • In Suikoden III, you have Jimba a.k.a. Wyatt Lightfellow, who you learn was the wielder of the True Water Rune and father of Chris Lightfellow, and he dies shortly after these revelations.
    • In Suikoden IV, you have Glenn the chief of the Knights of Razriel and your father figure (more or less).
    • In the latest entry Suikoden V, you have Ferid and to a minor degree Arshtat your parents. Actually, whenever you are the parent of the main hero please apply for a swift death and the hand of this trope.
  • Toy Ship: Cecile/Thomas in the third game, as the result of her adorable Bodyguard Crush.
  • The Woobie:
    • Futch after his dragon Black is killed, and he is exiled from the Dragon Knights as a result.
    • Leon Silverberg, considering that both his children niece Odessa and nephew Mathiu die by the end of the game and that he is truly alone without his family.
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