Suikoden IV

But even with all that combined, there's still one thing that Suikoden IV doesn't have: Heart. And for better or for worse the Suikoden series has always been about that: the emotions, the feelings, and the power of family.

You gain experience from every battle -- which makes you stronger – lather, rinse, repeat, add a story, and there’s your gameplay.

It's hard to ignore everything that's wrong with Suikoden IV--add them all together, and they result in an RPG that feels three years old out of the box.

Gameplay usually isn’t the most important feature in an RPG, but in Suikoden IV it just drags an otherwise "great" RPG into the realm of "slightly above average."

As a Suikoden game, its lacking something - that sparkle, which could be found in the first two in the series. Suikoden IV may not be quite the Suikoden game we were hoping for, but a decent role-playing adventure none-the-less.

To see a series falter so badly after years of doing everything right is distressing. One can only hope that Konami returns to the drawing board before undertaking a fifth installment in the series.

You'll find yourself sailing aimlessly for hours - the watery setting of Suikoden IV is ridiculously vast and barren and to make matters more exasperating, your boat's top speed and handling would embarrass most tugs.

While the narrative is still enticing, and the eclectic cast of characters remains a positive, aspects like a horrible seafaring travel system and an often outrageous enemy encounter rate detract much from the experience.

Not a masterpiece by any means, but a game that will not put a black mark on their collection.

With an uniteresting cast and bland execution of a promising storyline, you'll never really get into the plot. [Feb 2005, p.76]

The real problem is that Suikoden 4 fails to stand up to role playing games that came five years or more before it. The title looks, plays, sounds, loads, and I dare say is written like a first-generation import Playstation 2 launch effort.

Fans of bigger-name RPGs are likely to be put off by Suikoden IV's lack of visual punch, and even role-playing die-hards may be let down by the storytelling. [Jan 2005, p.59]

Relocating Suidoden's established gameplay to the vast and choppy seas doesn't do it any favors - instead of exploring diverse geography on foot, you're steering a boat across a bleak, boring ocean. [Feb 2005, p.108]

Worse yet, it's even simpler than "Suikoden II", which is a PS1 game that came out in 1998. [Feb 2005, p.80]

The last game was arguably worse, but it got a few things incredibly, addictively right. Suikoden IV gets a few things above average and most things dead-on mediocre.

Has the same grandiose scale and storytelling style as previous entries, but is hampered by an overabundance of combat and a lack of inspiration.

A very mediocre Japanese RPG's, which unfortunately in this day and age that's just not good enough.

A disappointment on all ends. Failed potential seeps from every area, and as the game drags on, the realization that it doesn't get any better starts to sink in.

Strictly a game for fans of the series, although even these people might be put off with the slow-sailing pace of the game.

By no means a bad game. It's just horribly average, with some hugely disappointing lows counterbalanced by some genuinely excellent high points.

Suiko IV’s stilted pace and dated RPG idiosyncrasies leave a whole lot of slack. Whether you’re willing to bend over to pick up this slack is entirely up to you.

For fans of the franchise it’s got everything you’d expect on a basic level – outlandish characters, a well-told story and a selection of mini-games and extras – but with little effort to break new ground or extend its appeal outside a crowd familiar with names like Pahn, Gremmio and Viktor, Suikoden IV simply doesn’t seem like a 2005 release. [March 2005, p.100]

It's infuriatingly slow-paced at times, but that's not to say it's dull. Imagine you're lying in a field on a summer's day - that's action-free too, but hardly dull. Suikoden 4 is much the same, it's more interested in curling you up on the sofa on a rainy Sunday afternoon than in BLOWING YOU AWAY with MASSIVE COMBOS and HUGE EXPLOSIONS. [PSW]

Suikoden IV’s unimpressive graphics, generic audio (except for the voice-overs), infuriating battle frequency and watered-down strategy (less party members = less variety of attack combos) aren’t going to cut it in 2005.

Awful, awful showing, guys. I'm hard pressed to think of another existing franchise that has followed up a hit with such an utter mess.

But it's been streamlined much too much—redefined as absolutely average.

With a convoluted storyline that never gets off the ground this is easily the worst game in the series.

After 2002's "Suikoden III," with its excellent story told from three perspectives, I am disappointed with this incarnation's uninspired paint-by-numbers approach.