I don't feel nearly as compelled to write a full review for this game, so I'll just jot down a number of bullet points instead:
Positives:
- Best war gameplay in the series
- Still good music (worse than the first two, but better than 3 in this regard. Still a good OST overall)
- Ted
- Being able to access your base from anywhere is extremely convenient especially when compared to the other games in the series.
- the run button is funny
- Ritapon is a fun minigame (though I'm pretty sure it's just Mahjong and I gaslit myself into learning how to play Mahjong)
Negatives:
- Worst overworld exploration in the series
- game reeks of time constraints
- visually insanely ugly
- normal gameplay is some of the worst in the series.
- lowering the party count from 6 to 4 was a crime
- The story was just nothing, and felt more like a pretense for gameplay than an actually interesting and deep story, a far cry from earlier games
- Lazlo is the worst protagonist in the series by a wide margin. His unique Rune just isn't useful in the late game and he doesn't have a single character trait, interesting or otherwise. If Suikoden 1 and 2 are how to do a good silent protagonist, Suikoden 4 is a case study on what to NOT do.
- some of the most obtuse recruitment requirements in the series on top of characters just generally not being interesting and more than ever feeling like a checklist more than anything.
Positives:
- Best war gameplay in the series
- Still good music (worse than the first two, but better than 3 in this regard. Still a good OST overall)
- Ted
- Being able to access your base from anywhere is extremely convenient especially when compared to the other games in the series.
- the run button is funny
- Ritapon is a fun minigame (though I'm pretty sure it's just Mahjong and I gaslit myself into learning how to play Mahjong)
Negatives:
- Worst overworld exploration in the series
- game reeks of time constraints
- visually insanely ugly
- normal gameplay is some of the worst in the series.
- lowering the party count from 6 to 4 was a crime
- The story was just nothing, and felt more like a pretense for gameplay than an actually interesting and deep story, a far cry from earlier games
- Lazlo is the worst protagonist in the series by a wide margin. His unique Rune just isn't useful in the late game and he doesn't have a single character trait, interesting or otherwise. If Suikoden 1 and 2 are how to do a good silent protagonist, Suikoden 4 is a case study on what to NOT do.
- some of the most obtuse recruitment requirements in the series on top of characters just generally not being interesting and more than ever feeling like a checklist more than anything.