Gamertell

Title: Suikoden Tierkreis
Price: $34.99
System: Nintendo DS
Release Date: March 17, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Konami (Konami)
ESRB Rating: E 10+ for alcohol reference, fantasy violence, language, mild suggestive themes
Pros: Cinematic design, involving story, good voice acting, lengthy campaign, unique online gameplay.
Cons: Missing some features of its predecessors (I’m told), battles can get monotonous, item/magic management a bit too basic for hardcore RPGers.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 92/100, A-; **** out of 5

Apparently, the gap in my life where I wasn’t playing video games - somewhere between the fall of the Sega Genesis and the rise of the Nintendo Game Cube - encompassed a larger period than I thought. Suikoden is a franchise? And it’s how many years old? With how many games? Okay. Forgive my lack of history, then, as my first exposure to the series is Suikoden Tierkreis for the Nintendo DS. And what a way to start.

Give the boy some Ritalin

Konami’s Suikoden Tierkreis is classified as a role-playing game but I think you have to throw the word “epic” in there to do it justice. It’s epic in size, epic in scope and epic in design. And if you take advantage of the WiFi features, the game gets even bigger. It’s just huge and yet it constantly remains centered around one hyperactive boy and more than 100 of his dearest friends.

Despite this huge number of playable characters, the voice acting throughout the game is quite good (some characters - Marica in particular - deliver their lines with a degree of subtlety that’s normally lost on video games). Oddly, it’s the main character (we’ll call him Hero) who seems a bit off throughout. He talks louder than that Diego cartoon boy and faster than Speed Racer. It’s jarring at first, but by the end, I’d stopped caring. I’m not sure if that’s because I got used to it or if finally settled down, but be prepared to want to to smack the kid for the first few hours of gameplay.

Would you like an Order of the One True Way with your burger?

The story in which Hero is involved is your typical RPG fare. Things are going wrong, and a young warrior must rise to save his peaceful village (oh, and also the world). Here, it’s the Order of the One True Way, a government/military/religious faction spreading its belief (through brainwashing and coercion) that our lives are predetermined. Everything before us is planned, and our fates are completely out of our control, so just kick back and enjoy the ride.

As a philosophy, this makes absolutely no sense. Believers could use it to justify murder, thievery, fixing Super Bowls so the Steelers win again, anything. “In my defense, your honor, I didn’t want to steal that boat and use it to pick up chicks to film ‘Girls Gone Wild: Girls of the Mislato River Edition’ then not claim the profits on my taxes, but it was all predetermined. I was just doing what I had to do for the Order.” But by raising that point, I’ve already gone deeper into the theme than the entire game does.

To its credit, though, Suikoden Tierkreis does branch off in ways you don’t expect, and it never really feels like a retread. More like an homage to the genre. I’m not sure if the overall theme is a poke at religion, government, or our own personal need to feel important, but who cares? It’s handled so lightly that it never feels like more than a novel for young adults. In fact, isn’t the theme kind of ironic considering it’s in a game where the story is, in fact, predetermined? There’s your answer, Hero. The Order of the One True Way is right. Loser is you.

The Stars of Destiny, live on stage!

Thankfully, the story is good enough to tie together the real appeal of the game, which is the combination of rounding up your warriors (the Stars of Destiny, which was my favorite disco cover band) and sending them to battle. The Stars are located in and recruited throughout the various missions; some in the main plot, some in side quests. Managing them can be a daunting task, especially when combined with buying and selling goods in order to raise the money you’ll need for weapons, armor, potions, etc. Although the system is fairly simple to work through, having to do it for this many characters—updating constantly as different groups are sent to battle and as new items are acquired—does kill the flow a story already weighed down with perhaps too much exposition.

When you’re in battle, though, they’re a joy to behold. You and the enemy will take turns at one another, giving you time to customize the attacks of each party member based on the weapons available and the weak points of your opponent. There’s nothing in the instructions to help you identify how to most effectively attack the enemies you face but you can either play through until you pick this up or just go online to find a game guide.

As is tradition in such games, your weapons will vary from warrior to warrior across a range of melee weapons, ranged weapons, magic, etc. You’ll want to make sure you keep them properly outfitted at all times, as you’ll often be surprised with a very tough opponent in the least likely of places.

After you’ve set up your attacks, they’re quickly carried out in cinematic battle scenes that are quite fun to watch. The constantly rotating party members and magic effects keeps them fresh, despite the tremendous number of fights in which you’ll be engaging. Thankfully, you don’t always need to carefully plan out each fight. A quick fight option will send your warriors straight in with their basic physical attacks, and many random battles can be skipped altogether.

On a quest to another DS

Perhaps the most compelling feature of Suikoden Tierkreis is its use of multiplayer. You can send your characters on quests that other gamers will complete for you, eventually returning with more experience and any treasures acquired. You can also participate in bonus missions this way, and gain access to characters you may not have met in the normal game. There’s an odd appeal to turning your characters over to someone else and seeing with that they return. It’s very well done, and adds a lot of game time to an already lengthy experience.

“You never know until you try.”

Suikoden Tierkreis is not without its faults, but none of them should severely hurt the gameplay experience. There’s a lot to manage, but the battle, outfitting, and trade systems have been stripped down so you can focus more closely on the characters and story. All of this is then surrounded by some of the prettiest, most cinematic graphics and music scores I’ve ever seen/heard on the DS. If Konami was able to pull off this grand design on Nintendo’s handheld, I would love to see how Suikoden Tierkreis would’ve looked and played on the Wii.

I can’t say whether fans of the franchise will be pleased with this first handheld entry, as I’ve never played any of its predecessors. But DS RPG fans will be hard pressed to find anything more captivating and ultimately satisfying than Suikoden Tierkreis.

Site [Suikoden Tierkreis]