The Charge:
108 Stars of Destiny on the Nintendo DS.
Opening Statement:
Suikoden Tierkreis marks the debut of Konami’s long-running RPG series Suikoden onto the Nintendo DS. Some elements get left behind in the scaling down to its tiny, dual screens, but enough of the game remains to make it worthwhile for fans of the franchise to explore. Think of it as a diet version of Suikoden, calorie-free but still delicious-tasting.
Facts of the Case:
A group of young friends in a small farmer village head out to clear out some monsters, and in doing so stumble upon a strange book. After touching it, their heads fill with strange visions of an epic battle unfolding, and they find strange powers have now been unlocked within them. To make matters stranger, they can now perceive strange changes to the land—forests appearing where there were no forests previously, buildings popping up out of nowhere, and magical gateways connecting to other, strange parallel worlds.
Unfortunately for the youths, by stumbling upon this book, they have brought attention to themselves by the Order, a malicious religious organization sweeping through the land and subjugating cultures and lands that do not bow down to its authority. They are trying to collect similar books, and send soldiers to raze their village in search for it. It is up to them to stand up to the Order and fight against the tide of oppression, and find like-minded individuals to join their revolution.
The Evidence:
A distillation of a great franchise, Suikoden Tierkreis crams a respectable amount of gameplay into a tiny little cartridge. It isn’t quite as deep, as complex or as noteworthy an entry as past franchise offerings, which is unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. Think of it more as a spin-off than a sequel; a game that emulates the more attractive elements of the Suikoden franchise (collecting the 108 Stars of Destiny, recruiting and amassing a growing fortress, fighting against an oppressive government) without any of the depth of character development or story. Hardcore franchise fans may feel robbed, but most will enjoy the ease in picking up the game on-the-go.
Though often overshadowed by other, flashier RPG franchises, the Suikoden series has always meant one thing: rounding up a posse and overthrowing the government. The story and character changes from installment to installment, but all games involve in some form or another a young hero who collects the 108 Stars of Destiny, a loose Japanese interpretation and reworking of a classic Chinese Daoist novel “Shui Hu Zhuan”, where regular individuals from all walks of life who band together to fight for truth and justice in the world. The central theme to all games is the discovery that the protagonist (and usually his close friends) are members of the 108, and take it upon themselves to travel the country and gather up all the other heroes to set the world right again.
Suikoden Tierkreis has the 108 Stars of Destiny, and the fun of collecting them all up like big, human-sized Pokemon, but unlike other entries which always exist in the same world, this new game is set in a parallel world with no connection to the original franchise. This decision carries with it its pluses and minus. On the plus, you get a fresh template to start with, a clean slate to create some memorable and fantastic characters, locations and situations. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t do this. The characters are likeable, but forgettable, simple re-caricatures of already familiar RPG faces, and the new world may as well be entitled “Generic RPG Land”. To make it worse, we lose a lot of memorable elements much beloved in previous installments, like seeing familiar faces pop up in cameos and historical events referenced.
Anyone that has taken Square Enix’s Final Fantasy Nintendo DS games for a spin should be immediate comfortable with the layout and design elements in Suikoden Tierkreis, with 3D character design and battle sequences on the bottom screen and game information and menu on the top. The battles are classic RPG style, players inputting commands for all four party members (down from six in previous games) and hitting “OK” before the action unfolds. And yes, like all good Suikoden games, random battles occur frequently, repeatedly and unrelentingly. Fortunately, the difficulty curve in Suikoden Tierkreis is noticeably lower than in previous installments, so the random battles feel at best annoying rather than punishing. The travel system is respectable, demanding characters hoof it by foot to new locations via world map, but once they have already been accessed, they can be accessed again quickly (a necessity for collecting all those characters). In addition, a seasonal feature has been added, with travel time on the world map advancing a global clock, moving between three seasons in the year, affecting which characters can be recruited at which time.
The mechanics of the game are strong, colorful and fun, with well designed characters (in appearance only) and familiar graphical flares and sound effects. The art direction is beautiful, with elegant use of shadows and colors and vibrant hand-drawn backgrounds, occasionally punctuated by anime movie sequences during key plot points. Taking advantage of the DS’s Wi-Fi capabilities, the game also offers users the chance to pair up their console with another gamer, exchanging characters, items and unique battle scenarios, which would be nifty, provided you can walk around randomly asking strangers if they happen to have a copy of Suikoden Tierkreis to play with you. The score should be immediately familiar to Suikoden devotees, reusing many of the same instruments and musical cues.
As for the story itself, it comes and goes, alternating between interesting and clichéd, with a painfully transparent villain and a protagonist that borders on being irritatingly cheerful. It makes you wish for the old Suikoden games where the hero was essentially silent. As the game unfolds and the scope of the world comes into focus, the game gets more interesting as the details of the Infinity and the Order unfold. I especially enjoy the Infinity, the idea of multiple worlds, with characters crossing through gateways back and forth. The story may not tie into other games in the series directly, but there have been quite a few suggestive mentions in past games of characters from alternate worlds appearing and disappearing unexpectedly. It might not be exactly what fans were hoping for, but even this review is having a hard time putting the game down for extended periods of time.
Rebuttal Witness:
The voice work is absolutely horrid, no getting around it. About six voice actors dub the voices of three dozen or so characters throughout the game, and the recording session must have involved balloons full of helium and bottles of Jack Daniels. I’ve heard some bad voice acting in my time, but Suikoden Tierkries makes the original Resident Evil games look like oratory masterpieces. If there was a way to turn off the dialogue without killing the music, we could give it a pass, but there is no way to do this—you’re stuck with it.
Closing Statement:
Judged solely on its own merits, Suikoden Tierkries features attractive graphics, likeable character designs, a large and vibrant cast of characters and a reasonably engaging story; definitely a solid, all-around average RPG. As a new entry in the long-standing Suikoden franchise, the game falls short, failing to live up to its lofty pedigree in depth of gameplay, story and mechanics, like a watered-down, lite version of the games that came before it.
Ironically, this “watered down” nature makes it ideal for the console. The game sacrifices depth and complexity for “pick up and go” portability, which is both the saving grace and curse of games on the Nintendo DS. Chasing down 108 Stars of Destiny on-the-go is undeniably entertaining. Fans of the series may feel slightly shortchanged, but they’ll be too busy collecting companions and exploring the Infinity to care too much.
The Verdict:
