Where you think Suikoden IV ranks in terms of the series. Is this one of the best? Worst? Somewhere in between? Please consider supporting me at www.patreon.com/xygorgaming OR through KZfaq membership by clicking the JOIN button above!

Who else is hyped for the S1 and S2 remaster? I can't wait to binge them both on my Switch.

Compared to most RPGs released today, it's awesome. We were more spoiled back then than we knew, especially those of us who are still turn-based fans.

S4 doesn't deserve hate of course, but with tha said I do think it deserves the lower ranking for a main Suikoden game. S3 has a much better story and present their cast better. Even with some of the negative gameplay changes from the PS2 and 3D jump, it still presented a rich narrative and world building. The biggest sin in a Suikoden game is not give much story and character interaction. What makes Suikoden memorable are the characters and sadly S4 got the most bland cast interaction. It is a nice callback to S1 in terms of style and simplicity, but they skimped too much on character dialogue. I'd say it about on par with S1 in terms of character interaction, but S1 has the excuse to be the first of the series (and S1 is among the best settings in Suikoden series even with low dialogue and interactions). Another negative on gameplay front specifically is lowering the roster to 4 from 6. Again, character interaction is a major component of why we love Suikoden and 1/3 cut just lower the interaction even further. Still it is a true Suikoden at heart and deserve more love even with its flaws.

Despite being a flawed game, Suikoden IV was one of my most immersive experiences in life, probably because I was a kid when I played this and because I did not any better in this gerne at the time. I like it more than other games in the series because of the graphics and because you have a great deal of control on your camera. I really liked just sailing and visiting islands and take it all in.

This was my first Suikoden game which holds a special place near and dear to my heart followed by Suikoden Tactics. While I have played I, II and V its easy to see why the majority of players disliked the game so much. I will say though this feels more different in a good way because of the Nautical themes and the fact that your HQ is a huge ship.

Lore/world building wise, S4 is the weakest imho. But the ship/war gameplay, the full-non-chibi 3D, the voice acting (for better or worse), are great. Though if you do want to play it, use an emulator so you can turbo skip through the hog that is walking/sailing around. I personally like S3 the most due to the jump it had compared to S1 and 2. And it felt like a new adventure as the story is faaaar away from the others in the series chronologically and I loved it. There are no bad Suikoden games for me, as they all can definitely stand on their own. But the legend that is S1 and 2 will forever be top tier for the majority of fans, me included.

Dude. What a time to be alive. I've just watched AGAIN ur suikoden 2 story video last night and read my old comment. 2 hours ago I found out that there will be a HD Remaster of Sui 1 + 2 on steam next year which I instantly wishlisted and now ur releasing this video :D :D :D Dude my life has a meaning :D

I hope we can at least agree that La Mer is dope.

Suikoden IV is actually a very good game - but it is weak in areas where previous Suikoden games were strong, so it is unsurprising that a portion of the audience rejected it.

I have such love for this game For a long time it was the only suikoden game I had access to, and it scratched an itch that 1 and 2 left. Far from perfect, sure, but definitely a solid entry

Loved the game :) Played through it two times to get all 108 stars. What made it whole in another perspective was Suikoden Tactics. Because Suikoden IV is somewhat of a short RPG, tactics felt like it added more content and made Suikoden IV story more complete.

nice. liked and subbed finally. this vid scratched an itch for me. i recently got into the emu scene and want to play thru a lot of these old titles on ps2, since i never had one. the problem is, im getting old. im 44 now. and i have been living in group homes for 8 years now. i have a competant pc, but the things i mentioned are stopping me. i wish so bad i could play thru all these jrpgs. they make me feel so good. thats why i liked ur video so much. please keep making them. going to browse ur back log too. take care

I still need to finish it, actually. My only real issue is, as you pointed, moving around in the ship. It's cumbersome and really slow. The random battles are also kinda bland (though it's more linked to the aforementioned ship movement). That being said, having a moving HQ is neat. I liked in Dragon Quest V, I still like it here. But the Ship Battles are my favorite kind of War Battles. And while it's not that visually impressive, each new location is distinct enough. What I've seen of the story is also pretty good. Also, that Opening is amazing.

I LOVED 4 & 5 but I will admit those were the only ones I played. I really hope we eventually get a remake of those so I can replay them again

Probably the Suikoden I need to replay the most. I hated that they trimmed the party from 6 to 4, in a series known for having 100+ playable characters. And sailing really does feel like such a slog. Lazlo's face also looks perpetually derpy to me compared to his cool art lol.

I loved this game. The soundtrack. All the characters to level up. I did not like the random battles....... Every 5 seconds. But besides that it was great. They should remaster it. It'll do it justice. With the technology we got I gurantee this would bring it back

I loved suikoden 4 especially cause of the ship design, the design of the ship and the overall development of your whole crew. easily hits competitors out of the park.

I'm excited for the first two coming out on the switch. I wonder if 3 and 4 will follow.

If they remade this, speed up the EVERYTHING, 6 units in combat, and maybe the 4 supports from 5. The random battles, the load times, I'm sure would be fixed too, and if they could implement some nice sailing like more modern titles that include sailing in it or even windwaker which it was much closer in age to, I'd be happy Also, if the ship could change in appearance.... I've always loved the castle evolving over the game. Just adding rooms didn't do it for me.

I might have to finally give it a try. All I remember was people not liking it, some weirdos complaining about voice acting, and a lot of people saying that the boat was too slow. That said even if it turns out that it is not it's not as good as the others in the series, as good as the series is that's not necessarily a huge criticism.

This was the first suikoden game i played and i still love it. haven't played 1-3 but played V and the ds version. Hate the rate of enemy you fight when traveling on the sea or lands.

I really loved 3’s taking a risk and dividing the various story events up between the 3 main characters, plus Thomas to gain the home base. I found it very effective to see the story from all three perspectives. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed the skill system in 3. And I can’t wait for Suikoden 1 and 2 to be released on Steam.

I wanted to thank you for this. I know it's been a year since you made this video, but Suikoden IV still gets hate so it's nice to see someone talk about what the game can offer. It's rare that anyone is willing to look for the pearls in this game. It isn't my favorite, but I still love it. (and it's #3 in my Suikoden rankings) Great commentary!

Great video! I really enjoyed your review of Suikoden IV. It's interesting to hear your perspective on whether the game truly deserves all the hate it receives. The detailed analysis of the gameplay, story, and themes within the Suikoden universe was insightful. Keep up the great work, looking forward to more content from your channel!

I really like the theme of the game , bit feel a bit rush in some spots . Perhaps more time to polish it would have been beneficial to bring it to the level of the others game of the series . It sure doesn't deserve the hate .

They also said " if the remaster of 1 and 2 do good sales they'll continue". On ign. When they were interviewed not to long ago. Like last month they said that.

Is this the one that on water? If so yes it deserves all the smoke.

Great video boss, the best from suikoden 4 unite attack, duel animation , and weapon upgrade. Can't wait for suikoden v video from you

Yeah 100% agree with this review. Subscribed. Also having Ted in this game was pretty cool to see as a big fan of the first game

Suikoden IV was the first Suikoden I played, it got me interested in the series. It's not the best Suikoden game but I enjoyed it more than the third. Suikoden 2 is still my favorite. When I was a young kid this game didn't stand out from other JRPG's of the time but I definitely loved it and kept playing it throughout my PS2 days.

This was my favorite game back in 2008

I loved playing Suikoden IV when I was younger. Wish I still had it to play

The rune cannon system was so cool and innovative.

Out of the 5 current Suikoden series, Suikoden IV ranked 4th for me (Suikoden 3 being the 5th), in my humble opinion. There are some aspects of the gameplay that bothered me BUT on the brighter side, I love the story and all what was happening. This installment adds so much to the lore of the series that is why I love it despites its "quirks"

I loved it and I don't care if I'm wrong too. The on the fly first-person view made looking for 108 transformative.

I'm not a fan of only 4 character in combat. You had a lot of playable character and various Unite attack and you can bring 4 instead of 6?

i love this game to death, idc what anyone says, its in my heart and i love all the characters :')

I definitely love Suikoden IV although it has its shortcomings but it was my comfort game after school haha. It deserves criticism as much it deserves love I guess. I thought this game will be forgotten but found your video by the blessing of algorithms haha and enjoyed it :)

I didn't mind it, don't understand the hate

I tried playing it the first time about a few months back and the thing that annoyed me the most is the random encounters when you are in a ship, I mean I am just turning the ship why am I getting a random encounter for that? also you can't move 3 pixels(exaggeration) without a random encounter

For me suikoden 4 is unique. You have a base that can move around. However, that's where I started to dislike suikoden 4. When on the world map you will often get random encounters. You move just a little and you get random encounters. Even when you don't hold the PS controller, you get random encounters. It's very difficult to pilot the ship and it was a lot to do before you got Vivi. Besides that, the battle in suikoden is always 6 people, but in suikoden 4 it's only 4. That's too little considering how many SOD we can get. And also in suikoden 4 the lack of animation when casting rune magic.

The music for me especially worthy of some applaude because they arrange it to be more carribean than the usual nordic in line with sea and island theme

I am grateful for any Suikoden game that get released.. I wanna know the ending of it there is lots of mystery like Yuber and Pesmerge and the Cyndar clan and Harmonia reasons for collecting the true runes.

Short answer. YES. Own and love the other 4. Never got far in IV could not stand it.

The story of suikoden 4 it's incredible, and the rune of punishment ordeals is simply heartbreaking, and the fact that it can become at the same time one of the most "kind" runes it's amazing. Suiko 2 and then 4 has the best story

Whole lotta suikoden 3 hate in here h sha.w i loved 3 ans 4 especially the spin off tactics one

Its not as bad as is reputation made it seem. It can feel grindy and I don't really like the sea/island setting, but it's enjoyable. Controversial, but I played this one more than V.

I don't care what anybody says, Suikoden 4 is a game I enjoy thoroughly, I just like the other ones even more

My only gripe is I find the water travel mind numbingly slow and boring. It's like waiting for paint to dry getting from point A to B. Suikoden 5 is a great place for people to start, but Suikoden 2 is the best of the bunch in my opinion.

I loved the custumizable ship battles!

I really loved this game, especially the battle music from this one

This was my first Suikoden and what made me fall in love with the series. The music in 4 was amazing !

I can't really rank it, as I've only played the first and fourth games all the way through, but I thought it was a solid game. I really hope the S1&2 port sells well enough to justify porting the rest of the series over to modern platforms.

Mizuki is litterally Jill Valentine in RE3

4 was ok. But I’d perf the tactics version of the game that came out because of it. Sukiden 3 and 5 are my fav from the series.

I am wondering since Suikoden one and two is getting a remaster if three, four, and five will get remasters as well

Calling IV finished game is a crime, this feels like alpha compared to other suikoden.

It's not bad, just different. Definitely an improvement over 3, which felt too linear and small in terms of gameplay with a map node system instead of a continuous over-world; dividing the game in chapters between 3 protagonists also didn't work too well for the Suikoden HQ/massive-party formula.

The PS2 was a 128bit system ;) That aside great video as always (y)

I didn't realize this game was hated. Then again..I played & all these games before social media was a big thing 😂😅 I enjoyed all these games.

So, for me, it felt like Suikoden 4 sacrificed its gameplay on the altar of voice acting. Suikoden 3 was just a better game overall.

the only problem was really the sea random battles and the slow sailing between islands. That being said, once you get the flash rune, it really speeds up those battles and makes it less of a chore to wade through. Still probably my least favorite suikoden game, but that doesn't mean it was a bad game. Just that it didn't compare well with the others.

Not bad, but disappointing title because it sloughs from traditional Suikoden role-playing factor. Some video game series should stay traditional because every little change can screw up the expectations and even the gameplay concept. Just four party members in a team...... it's a "no go" for Suikoden..... This series traditionally underlines why a group of player characters is indispensable for a role-playing factor, so.... the definition between an adventure and role-playing game. Suikoden 2 was the perfect example for the best Suikoden game you could experience.

One thing that stands out in Suikoden series is the compelling story. It is where Suikoden 4 is lacking. It's not as good as the other games and the characters are not that memorable especially the villains. But Suikoden 4 is actually pretty good if you just spend more time on it. Loving it is actually an acquired taste for me that happened only after several replays.

There's a very soft spot in my heart for the Suikoden games. While I absolutely love Suikoden IV, I think it's middling compared to other games in the franchise.

I'm very partial about Suikoden only created by Murayama so I only replayed 1-3 recently. I don't think 4 gave me a good impression knowing it's not from Murayama and I remember the story to be simple compared to the rest.

this was my least favorite for sure. I don't even remember how far I got with this one considering I've beaten all the other ones. I'm sure the other stuff in it is not terrible (not sure actually) but the ocean exploring just killed it for me personally.

I like s4, it's just I like it the least in the series

finished suikoden IV when i was in middle school, it was the best memories i had, though yeah, the majority of environment is the thick blue sea, but still it is good imo

I only played Suikoden 2, 4 and 5. 3 looks very strange to me (graphically speaking) so I didn't give it a chance (maybe in the future). 1 was on my backlog forever lol but now I'll get to it when the remaster will come out. My favorite was 4. Maybe because it was the first Suikoden that I played, but still, I really like that game

I actually enjoyed Suikoden 4 more than 3 or 5. I don't know why. I only ever finished 3 and 5 once each, but 4 I've replayed several times. I guess it is heavily dependent on the person. Like I don't care about frequent ocean battles as much as others do, and I found the story and characters to have a unique charm to them. That being said, S1 and S2 are still my favourites overall!

I was surprised to find IV somewhat enjoyable during the time I was playing it. Beg to differ about the enemy encounters in Razril town: it is concentrated only to that particular area and the enemies are bandits. I still prefer III in terms of visuals, story and gameplay. Also the mermaids and the food sellers are redundant: you only need one iteration of both. The first one does the same with the blacksmiths but at least in that game each one provides a different level of forging. The mints and mushrooms are neat, as are the inventory mechanics. The training area, treasure hunting and basic crafting stuff are fine, too. The decoration room though feels underused: it could've been something like a reception room or a guest room or better yet, the MC's room.

The story needed to expand into Kooluk, not just the fort of El-Eal. It needed to include the downfall of the empire. Grayham Cray was very under utilized given the cold bloodedness of his character. You never get a sense of true friendship between Lazlo and the pirate knights close to him (Paula or Keneth), and even with Snowe there is something lackluster, despite them having grown up together. Also Vincent Vingerhut is kind of central, given that he raised the two, but there is not a lot of portrayal of the disfunctional dynamic between the three during the game. Suikoden V did a much better job with this with the portrayal of Gizel and Marscal Godwin. A naval Suikoden game is an interesting concept, but it needed more work.

I have finished Suikoden 1, 2 & 3 (while recruiting all 108 stars). I never finished 4 or 5 and am just now going back to finish 4. I understand gameplay wise and many other aspects of 4 are just like the 1&2 but stylistically it's just so bland... The characters, the world, the graphics... Especially when compared to 3. Also, 3 is great if only for Geddoe. (And the manga associated with the game) Coolest protagonist in the series so far!

I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. Felt a bit grind heavy though. I liked the twist on the return of ted. Also liked the sound track

Only one I could not bring myself to finish. I really felt it was the worst in the series.

I was expecting lackluster rpg based on the reviews and it’s reputation. But your review is on point. It is somewhat flawed but very enjoyable title in the series. Highly underrated. My tier list would be: Suikoden V Suikoden Suikoden II (Yeah, I said it) Suikoden IV Suikoden III I enjoyed all of them. Suikoden 3 has most issues. 1 is better than 2 in my opinion, 4 has issues but still great jrpg. 5 is a classic title for me.

5 2 1 4 3 is my order 5,2 can be interchanged as well as 1,4 3 will always be the “worst” but still it’s a great game

worse sailing ever due to the enemy encounter rate is super high af, managed to get the true ending on suikoden 4, other than that it was ok.

I actually agree with you the fourth one is definitely better than the third one it reminds me of the first and second one when it comes to story the third one was just so different with the gameplay in a story the story felt like it was half done and Thomas being the hero store always bug me

i like suikoden 4 and i have the game still. i got it for like 5 bucks back long ago. i like sea based games for some reason

"And I think it's at least better than Suikoden 3." ^ What!? I think 3 is the best in the series.

I love Suikoden 1 to 3, but 4 killed the franchise to me, I didn't bother to even try 5 after playing this one. I remember the mouvement of the ship being slow and hard to control, and the random encounters happening to often and being out of place. That said I haven't play it since it's release, I may give it another try after going through my backlog of jrpg.

My personal list of best to worst is 2,5,1,3,tactics, 4

I have a soft spot for this game (and tactics!) Although it wasn't the strongest, it left a good impact for me in terms of the music and the lore of the rune of punishment. I played this game the most along with suikoden 1. While I love the game, I do hate interacting with the western fanbase. Because apparently, if someone likes this game, they'll start aruging 😅

I agree with you. I like Suikoden 4 more than Suikoden 3.

1:07 - Wow, they were able to hire Helena Bonham Carter for this game!

I honestly like 4 better than 3. The ship sailing thing is annoying, esp. with the excessive random enemy encounters, but that is fixed fairly early in the game (to an extent) when you get Vickie to teleport between islands. 5 is still by far the best of the 3 though (I have not played the first 2 games). I would recommend this game to anyone who likes the series, def. doesn't deserve all the hate it gets.

I spent all my time in this game playing the Mahjong game in the casino. Lol

I need to replay this because it didn't land when I first played...V is my favorite

I enjoyed Suikoden IV, but damn did it have its flaws. One of the biggest was that the moment you recruited Viki, the entire purpose of having a mobile base was lost. The second was that the world was just too small. The ship-to-ship battles were a lot of fun, but no-where near the quality of Skies of Arcadia or even Wild ARMs 3.

4 Excels at showcasing the rune of punishments power. The 4 person battles is the low of the series, rune animations are pretty cheap and the island nations overall are not that impressive. There's plenty of good stuff in this game but it just doesn't match up to the rest of the series. S2>S5>S1>S3>S4>Suikoden tactics

i love 1,2,3,4 those were amazing!

Suikoden 4 really needs a remaster as the graphics don't hold up and it just slogs on. It was fun at the time but it's painful now

Suikoden IV is easy top 10-- not just PS2 JRPGS, but RPGS of all time. The art direction did well to just show how hopeless and miserable the story is. While III had this.. kinda uplifting aesthetic, IV constantly reminded you of how hopeless being the bearer of the Punishment rune was. And paired it with the Soul Eater. Man.

This was my first suikoden game and i really loved it

No but also yes. Suikoden IV is still a Suikoden game and still has some great moments but the things that drag it down weigh fairly heavy on the game like the castle boat moving like a piece of driftwood wrapped in a soaked cloth and the high encounter rate, the party being restricted to four party members, etc

I think IV is the worst suikoden because - the story really short - Crazy random battle - Very few town and each has very little story - From 108 heroes, not many really shine - no background story like Richmond, kid, or oboro investigation - The enemy motivation was not really clear, Tactic help a lot to explain, but that is another game When i said it is the worst suikoden game, it doesn't mean it is a bad games. I finished the game three time and i enjoyed except when the random battle happened. This is my rank from best to worst II - V- III - I - Tactic - IV

Depends if you played 1, 2 and 3. If you skipped any game in that list the answer would be yes, but missing a LOT of context to see where the game was going.