Suikoden IV is generally looked at in a bad light when viewing the entire Suikoden Series. Those who enjoyed the game were most often fans of the series, and even many fans were turned off by the direction Suikoden took both with the story and the battle / action part.
There is a part of the game’s story that is missing, a certain feeling towards the main character and the characters around him. Many of your recruits seem dry and have little reason for joining you, and even the main plot is hard to get too excited over. Snowe however is a unique character and his actions are one of the more interesting parts of the game, if not somewhat predictable.
Granted, there are times (notably in Razril) where there is a lot of action going on at any particular time. However it seems Suikoden 4 is more concerned with simplicity by creating a quiet, slow game with little color and detail to give intrigue. This is also evident in the islands that you comes across, as the entire Island Nation of Suikoden IV carries this vibe, from Iluya to Na-Nal to Obel.
Ship Travel in Suikoden 4 has been an oft-criticized part of the game and rightfully so. Fortunately towards the end the Glowing Mirror (Blinking Mirror) is acquired, making ship travel obsolete, but prior to that gamers will have to suffer through the port sequences as your ship bounces off of the invisible barrier 20 feet away from islands which ultimately causes you to fight about 5 unnecessary battles before you can successfully land.
Ship war battles are somewhat intriguing if not simple most of the time. Later battles are more strategy / luck based but the earlier ones are simply matching up the runes that are either Strong or neutral against the enemies. To do this you need a variety of magicians built up with a variety of different runes to be able to match up properly. Rarely do you board a ship or get boarded but having fighters around is useful for this reason.
Regular party battles now consist of four members, but they are not paired like Suikoden III. There are few runes in this game and character specific runes are even more rare, leaving a boring feel to this aspect of the game as buying 50 Lightning Runes gets old. Where is the Resurrection Rune, for example? Unite attacks are learned after a certain amount of battles with compatible characters. Most battles are actually pretty tough and some treasure bosses will trounce you early on. If you die you get the fortunate option of getting to redo the battle. Duels are also present in this game but are generally similar to those in the past, except you get the option of using a “full power” attack once per battle, putting your weight into whatever option you choose.
There are a few characters like Ted, Jeane and Viki who are from past Suikoden’s but all in all there are really few connections. Most of this is because Suikoden IV takes place 150 years before Suikoden I. That said there are enough gameplay and geographical relations to the older Suikoden’s that fans of the series will appreciate Suikoden 4 for that alone. Ultimately those are the gamer’s who will like Suikoden IV, those who have played and loved the older ones. People in the dark about Suikoden games should probably try one of the other ones as this certainly isn’t the most endearing rendition of the series, but if you’re a fan you’ll like find some worth in going through the game.
Graphics – 5/10
Gameplay – 5 / 10
Sound – 7/10
Storyline – 5/10
Overall – 5.5/10
Even as a huge fan of the series, there are too many issues in this game. Ship travel is lethargic (though this is remedied later with the Blinking Mirror). The four-party system is lame and results in you not getting to know most of the other characters. The war battles are tolerable but a definite step down from the previous two (match up the rune and that’s it). Another Suikoden with a silent hero who rises to the top of a smaller liberation type army – we’ve seen all this before though, and it’s been done better.
Complete Suikoden 4 IV Walkthrough
I like this game and don’t like the series. It’s a pretty game.