Suikoden Tierkreis - Good old Konami

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Hello everyone! How is it going? How are is the fighting going with Dengeki Bunko? I’m sure some of you who have been following me “from the shadows” had long sleepless nights lately, worried about to the complete absence of new entries during the last weeks, thinking if perhaps I had decided to finally abandon the blog, right? Well, fear not, for I’m back! After a few quite hectic weeks, I’m back with a new entry of your favorite blog…! Because it is your favorite blog, right…? Right… Anyway… In this new entry I’m going to talk about a game that belongs to a very famous JRPG series loved by many fans of the genre (specially the most veteran ones) and that for different reasons I think I didn’t get the attention it deserved. The game is called Suikoden Tierkreis.

Developed and published by Konami in 2009 exclusively for the Nintendo DS, Suikoden Tierkreis is one of the most recent entries in the classic JRPG series Suikoden. Perhaps this name doesn’t mean much for the younger players, but I’m sure it does bring some good memories to all those who have been into button mashing since the times of the first PlayStation. Actually, Suikoden Tierkreis is more of a spin-off due to the big amount of changes it introduces in several aspects of the classic formula of the franchise, perhaps due to the limitations to the platform in which the game was released. Before we talk about the story, it would be worthy to mention that the story of Suikoden Tierkreis takes place in a parallel universe different to the one seen in the previous entries, perhaps in order to justify some of the changes applied to the series formula. Yes, in the world of Suikoden there are several universes that exist at the same time, but don’t worry Matrix haters, you always stay in the same universe during the whole game, so no universe-changing-time-travelling mind f*ck here. The story of Suikoden Tierkreis starts when a group of youngsters led by the main character sets to find the nest of a group of beasts that have been terrorizing the village of Citro; however, what should have been a normal “haunting day” will soon escalate into the biggest adventure of their lives, a challenge that will decide the future of their village. While exploring to find the beasts’ nest, the youngsters find a forest that seems to have appeared out of nowhere. Surprised by the finding, the youngsters decide to explore the forest, where they find a strange book that grants them the Mark of the Stars, which grants them special powers. After they return to their village, soon they discover the existence of a religious order which’s creed says that everything is predestined. The order is invading one territory after the order, forcing their beliefs into the people, and it seems is just a matter of time before the village of Citro is also “indoctrinated,” so the group of youngster decides to create and army and forge an alliance with the neighbors of Janam in order to fight against the order for their freedom, which will serve as an starting point for the adventure. Although at a first glance the story could seem your typical story of good versus evil, soon we will discover that all the “good ones” are perhaps not so good, and all the “evil ones” aren’t necessarily evil, and although the story is much more “light” than the one we could find in previous entries of the series, it still you typical Suikoden story of political conflict and the senseless of war and it’s catastrophic consequences, on top of other topics such as the freedom of the individual, represented by the main character and his allies, opposed to the oppression of the system, represented by the order.

Regarding the gameplay of the title, as I was saying at the beginning, Suikoden Tierkreis is more of a spin-off of the series, so the title contains a series of changes that brings it closer to the typical JRPG games structure, perhaps with the intention of expanding the audience of the franchise. Just like in the previous Suikoden games, one of the main gameplay features will be our castle, which we will be able to (and will have to) improve in order to confront the Order. On top of the main missions, Suikoden Tierkreis also includes several secondary missions that will allow us to obtain items and more funds to keep improving our castle. While some of the missions will have to be completed with the main group of heroes, in order to complete some other we will be able to dispatch a group of heroes so they take care of them for us, similar to what we could see in the Side Ops missions of Metal Gear Peace Walker or Metal Gear V. Just like in the previous games, we will be able to recruit the 108 chosen ones to strengthen the ranks of our army. While many of the characters we recruit will be able to join our main combat group, many other will be more useful when assigned to the castle in order to improve certain aspects. The exploration in Suikoden Tierkreis will be more limited than in previous games, perhaps in order to be able to “fit” better this kind of game in the DS cards. Suikoden Tierkreis will make us of a world map that will allow us to select our destination on it. The time will pass during our travels, and with the pass of time seasons will change, changing also the type of monsters we will encounter as well as the type of secondary missions available. When exploring the villages, we will make use of a menu that will allow us to visit the most relevant places, which will allow us to gather information for our next mission or buy items. When we explore other areas, like for example the dungeons, we will do it the classic way, including the (infamous) random encounters with turn based combats, and in precisely in the combats of the game where we find another of the main changes introduced in Suikoden Tierkreis. While in the previous games our group was composed of six characters, in Suikoden Tierkreis we will be able to use just four characters, perhaps again due to the limitations of the platform. Given that we will be able to recruit up to 108 heroes, it will definitely be hard to choose which we will be using, and many of them we probably won’t even use them at all; however, this could be a good reason to replay the game with a complete different set of characters. The rest of the combat system will remain the same as in the previous entries, which means our party will still be divided in two lines during the combats: the front line and the rear line. The front line is where we will place the warriors, as these characters have more endurance and the range of their weapons is more limited. The rear line is where we will place the character with ranged weapons such as bows or the magicians, and although these characters are weaker, the enemies won’t be able to attack them till they haven’t wiped out completely our front line. During the combats we will be able to choose from the typical commands of attack, defense, skills or items. And talking about skills, this is another of the aspects of the game that has been modified in Suikoden Tierkreis. In the previous games we could make use of runes in order to obtain special powers for our characters; however, in Suikoen Tierkreis we will use the “marks of the stars” system. Each mark will grant different skills to the characters, and each character will be able to equip up to four marks, so we will have to decide which are the ones that fit better for the role we want the characters to take during the combats. Other of the changes applied to the game’s structure, and perhaps the most drastic of them all, is the complete absence of the big battles or one versus one battles from the previous titles, which actually doesn’t make much sense when you think of the war themed story of the game, although most probably again this might have something to do with the limitations of the platform, or perhaps Konami just wanted to use this spin-off to introduce the series to the more “conservative” players. Overall, you could say Suikoden Tierkreis is a simplification of the concepts we saw in the previous entries of the series, although that does not mean by any means the game is bad or boring. In fact, it still manages to hold the “Suikoden essence.”

Finally we have the graphics, which are good, but certain aspects could perhaps have been a bit better. Just as Final Fantasy VII or Resident Evil did at their time, Suikoden Tierkreis uses 2D backgrounds with 3D character models. The 2D backgrounds are really well done, and the camera always manages to display the best of the world of the game, with some beautiful landscapes; however, the “chibi” models of the characters are not as polished as they could be, especially when compared to those of games such as Square-Enix’s Final Fantasy 3 and 4, displaying pixilated models with rather stiff animations for a 2009 title that spoil a little bit the overall presentation of the title, on top of not fitting completely with the war themed story of the game. However, to compensate the most important parts of the story will be narrated via high quality anime scenes, and the game also displays some really nice illustrations of the characters during the conversations than really help to improve the overall game´s presentation.

Overall, Suikoden Tierkreis is a good game that offers a solid classic JRPG experience, expanding the already excellent JRPG catalogue the Nintendo DS had, and confirming that Nintendo’s portable truly was the “home of the JRPG” during that generation, although perhaps Suikoden Tierkreis never got the attention it deserved, perhaps due to the platform it was released on in a time when everyone was already “feverish” with the back then new generation consoles; however, Suikoden Tierkreis is worthy heir to the name Suikoden despite some of the changes applied to the classic formula might not convince the veterans. However it may be, Suikoden Tierkreis is one of the last great titles released by Konami before their… “transformation” for lack of a better word. Is a pity that this series has been completed abandoned due the Konami’s recent decisions. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know this is a business and you have to make money and all that, but it’s still hard to believe that the company that created classics such as Gradius, Contra, Ninja Turtles in Time, The Legend of the Mystical Ninja, Parodius, Castlevania, Metal Gear, Rocket Knight Adventures, Axelay, Silent Hill, Pro Evolution Soccer o the above mentioned Suikoden has become the soulless corporation that it is nowadays, a company almost irrelevant to the industry despite it once ruled over it together with the best. Why, Konami, just why… Anyway, Suikoden Tierkreis is the legacy of a golden age that everyday seems more distant and that (for now) it seems it will never come back, so all those looking for a JRPG with a classic aroma should give Suikoden Tierkreis a chance, for I’m sure they game won’t disappoint, although the game can be a bit pricy nowadays. Enjoy!


GAMEPLAY VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IetgyvyenGw