My grandfather brought this back from a visit to Thailand in a small plastic wallet among 50 or so other dubiously sourced games. When I was still positively zygotic and hadn't developed my tastes, suikoden captured my imagination like no other game. Haters will say 2 is better, and they're right, but trust me when I say they're wrong. As a kid I found the Flik/Odessa annoying, but I think that stuff has aged quite well, not just in 1 but further into 2. Lightning in a bottle.
It is best JRPG Ever!!!
Playing this for the billionth time because of the recent "The Last Hope" fan hack and I've finally realized what puts this game/series above the sum of its parts... the character interactions. Murayama just knew how to write engaging characters and dialogue. RIP.
Edit: Can't actually recommend the hack as the added scenes/dialogue make very little to no sense, in broken English, and once first arriving at Toran Castle, the game freezes. If anything it drives home how easy Murayama made it seem, but it's not. Luckily this isn't a long game and I'm glad I could revisit this world again, however so briefly this time before the remasters come out.
Edit: Can't actually recommend the hack as the added scenes/dialogue make very little to no sense, in broken English, and once first arriving at Toran Castle, the game freezes. If anything it drives home how easy Murayama made it seem, but it's not. Luckily this isn't a long game and I'm glad I could revisit this world again, however so briefly this time before the remasters come out.
Playing through this was my first time playing a Suikoden game. I enjoyed it despite some parts feeling like they dragged on, mainly because of the random encounters. The story is good, and the different mechanics offer a variety of ways to play. Not to mention, you're able to choose 108 different characters for your party. I just stuck with the same characters throughout the game, as I didn't like having to constantly level and gear new characters. Overall, Suikoden 1 is a great game, and I'm excited to see what Suikoden 2 has to offer.
I love the series a lot and it was great to go back and see where it started. It still holds up in a lot of ways but does feel a bit dated if you're coming to this after playing its sequels. The characters are interesting though I found the "castle" to not be as interesting as the sequels. If you're looking for an above average jrpg for the console this is an enjoyable one but I still liked the sequels better.