Suikoden Tierkreis review

Here%26rsquo;s yet another RPG franchise that%26rsquo;s jumped ship from PlayStation to DS. *Crowds cheering.* Suikoden has been doing the rounds for over a decade and its inclusion in the ever-growing roster of DS RPGs is most welcome. This is a thoroughly enjoyable yarn that held our attention throughout the 30 or so hours of play. Be warned, though - this has so much conversational narrative that even Tolkien would accuse the writers of going on a bit. Exploring and scrapping definitely play second fiddle to the story.

You%26rsquo;ll be shocked to hear that you play a young orphan boy from a small village who starts out as a nobody. Even more surprisingly, you%26rsquo;re blessed with special magical powers %26ndash; the Mark of the Stars %26ndash; and promptly have the fate of your entire world dropped onto your shoulders. Evil is abroad, of course, and it%26rsquo;s down to you and your party to stop a nefarious and corrupt religious cult from imposing its will on the populace.

The premise may be hackneyed but the story is actually one of the richest we%26rsquo;ve encountered in ages, and the sheer number of diverse characters sets it apart from the usual RPG plot fare. Fairly early on in the game you%26rsquo;ll form a company of warriors, and as things progress more people will join the battalion. There are a whopping 108 warriors to recruit, and you can swap them in and out of your core party of four fighters and one supporting character as you see fit.

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Some of the main story missions %26ndash; the larger battles %26ndash; require you to send a couple of parties out, while plenty of side-quests or jobs become available that need a party with certain key attributes. Here%26rsquo;s where it gets interesting. Most of the side quests are done without your involvement. You simply accept the quest, pick who%26rsquo;s going and send them on their way, but you%26rsquo;re not restricted to questing in your own world %26ndash; you can send your chaps into other gamers%26rsquo; worlds via Wi-FI, where they%26rsquo;ll earn XP and cash. Similarly, accepting someone else%26rsquo;s party into your world will let them help you deal with your problems. It%26rsquo;s a great online feature.

Suikoden%26rsquo;s a little on the easy side, with auto-leveling-up and rarely any danger of seeing a game over screen, but this is our favourite RPG of recent months.

Apr 8, 2009