Within the realm of JRPGs, it was clear that Suikoden stood apart from the pack. The old concepts of magic, mythological races and castles remain, but the overall feeling is very different, boasting a plot that explores topics of rebellion, corruption, and most of all, war. In fact, the greatest accomplishment of the game is in its capacity to document the sacrifice, cruelty, and tactics of war in detail. Despite the abundance of narratively meaningless characters, Suikoden manages to craft and maintain a strong supporting cast, with an array of poignant character moments both tragic and introspective. In particular, Mathiu dominates the show with his calculating, frigid, almost cruel outlook towards wartime tactics - Tactics Ogre's ideal representative.

Gameplay-wise, Suikoden expands upon Breath of Fire II's base building mechanic and its recruitment system. The war base - a type of primary headquarters where recruits make their stay, is the most impressive aspect. The base's existence essentially turns the game into an metroidvania-like, where the player can backtrack across the world map searching for allies that benefit both combat (the unite attack system) and the base itself. Among those: opening shops, fast travel, and even miscellaneous cosmetic options basically finds a new meaning to 'base building'. The gradual progression of the headquarters and the several systems and mechanics involving it act as a major incentive for players to explore.

The one glaring fault of Suikoden lies in its combat. Although the potential for experimentation in its unite system is a neat idea, and the dynamic camera-work and animation flows well, combat is too painfully slow-paced to ignore, and doesn't offer much room for variety despite its runes system. Difficulty is also a non-factor, with bosses that are either forgettable or disappointingly easy.

The absurd-character-count gimmick is done better in stuff like Chrono Cross, and while I really liked how certain characters brought huge QoL improvements when recruited, it also meant that it was possible to miss those improvements, which I absolutely did by not recruiting the character with the goddamn in-game map until 20 hours into it. Still, the quirks are endearing and my understanding is this is one of the weakest in the series, so I'm looking forward to playing others at some point. I'm also pretty tolerant of RPGs that might be generic in the particulars of their battle systems but tell engaging stories or have satisfying ways to manipulate the grind, and I think this satisfies both of those. As an aside, the "camera work" in battles is absolutely hysterical.

I don’t think I’ll forget the party members so easily, I really liked each one of them, their loyalty and sacrifices.. :’)
But Honestly I don’t know why this game felt so heavy to complete, I’ve been playing it for almost 3 months? Even though its less than 30 hours.
The story got me hooked for the first few hours then I lost my interest..
the Gameplay was very basic it got me bored over time, and I didn’t like the Idea of recruiting and having new party members every mission.. I mean every time I level my party members and get used to them, I met new ones to complete the quests, which made it harder to level again and collect more armors, weapons, materials.
Anyway, Im really hyped for the second one! I want to know why it’s very beloved by the fans *.*

Suikoden has aged, quite a bit. Heck, I remember it feeling oddly dated (in a good way, if that makes sense) when it was brand new. Simple 2d-sprites in the midst of the first wave of 3d-polygon-awesomeness. And to be fair, the game's graphics have aged better than many of its contemporary 3D peers.

As an epic coming-of-age story during wartime, it feels kind of short, easy, and undercooked. But maybe I should chalk that up as a story for thirteen-year-olds that I've matured past since. I can still remember getting misty-eyed during some of the game's more emotional beats.

For a game that has "108 recruitable characters" though as its unique selling point, most are one-note, to say the least, and don't add much except a new sprite in your base of operations. The recruitment process itself often involves little more than:
- Hey stranger, wanna join my army?
- Sure, why not/nope, but come back when you've reached lvl XX!
That is if it's not some infuriatingly random fetch quest or mini-game.

Still, it's a charming way to spend some 15-20 hours. The presentation is great, with probably one of the best game soundtracks of its era. And there's self-awareness, about the general shortcomings of jRPG. The typically grinding slog of endless turn-based random battles is turned into a breeze with the help of the "Free Will"-feature.

If nothing else, Suikoden is a taste of what's to come in the superior sequel. And, of course, to have a nice 'ol save file to import when you're starting a playthrough in Suikoden II.

+ soundtrack fits the atmosphere / scene
+ Building your castle is fulfilling
+ grinding is fast
+ pacing is great / no dead moments
+ Characters with character
+ Dungeons are mostly short yet unique
~ game sometimes feels like there was more too it
~ War system is simple and gets easier
~ no reason to pay attention to runes
~ missable recruits
- Combat is largely unfocused / boring
- forced to use two characters in the end despite amount of allies
- inventory system / equipping is horrid
- music in general is rather generic or nonexistent

Suikoden is a game in which a seemingly normal young man gets caught up in a empire-spanning quest to get to the root of the corruption in the empire, and amasses an army of allies in the process.

The game is caught up in a strange limbo where the game itself is on the Playstation but the compact and at times vigourless storytelling is from the earlier eras. Important story moments that would deserve more savouring are sometimes shrugged off with just a few lines of dialogue. Sometimes this leads to unintentionally comedic scenes where a character sacrifices themself in a dramatic fashion to the tune of emotional music, and then a few seconds later the music cuts off and the other characters effectively go "Okay, gg guys! Let's go home and eat lunch." On the other hand, sometimes the game goes out of its way to give emphasis to scenes with animations that are only ever seen once throughout the course of the game.

Ultimately, though, the game balances this out with the brisk pace of the story and its interesting concepts, delightfully expectation-subverting character-driven moments and their hijinks. These just about elevate the game to be more than a companion game to the greater Suikoden 2.

Suikoden 1 es una perfecta carta de presentación para lo que seria una de las sagas más reconocidas del rpg, es una historia sutil y madura que a primera vista puede ser vista como un mero shonen promedio hasta que abres los ojos a todo lo que hay detras, cosa quenos habla sobre los sacrificios que son necesarios para acabar una guerra y los percances detras de ser alguien que lleva encima un gran poder y responsabilidad sobre sus hombros, es una de esas pocas historias con un sistema de poder temático además de tener un centenar de personajes sin que sean mera decoración (aunque muchos de ellos tienen una participación pobre en la historia).

Sin embargo no todo es perfecto aqui, lo primero esta el como el sistema de decisión de esta cosa es un chiste ya que no interfiere en nada viéndose así, como algo pretencioso que no deberia existir, además a pesar de que la serie quiera mostrarse como algo desafiante debido a la forma tan determinista en la cual fue hecha esta historia es al final algo que es mas que nada divertido antes que un desafio, y a eso agregale que a mi pesar al final la guerra es mas que nada un blanco
contra negro simulado mientras que el prota debido al esceso de desiciones en manos del jugador termina siendo a grandes rasgos un avatar mas que un ente propio.

De todas formas al final es una bien construida historia de rebelión con giros interesantes, momentos tensos y comprometedores con personajes principales en constante cambio con una interesante filosofía.