Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $49.99 USD – Available Here $79.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
Nostalgia is a powerful thing. For some things, it can make even the most mediocre film or video game something we remember fondly, only to revisit it years later and see why it was never given a remaster or why the series has been put on ice. Then there are series that haven’t really been given much of a chance to shine, especially with how long they have been dormant and one such case happens to be with Konami’s Suikoden franchise. In the nearly two decades since the last main entry on the PlayStation 2, a few spin-offs were released and even then, one of these stayed in Japan, leaving fans with only a spiritual successor to the franchise last year. Now though, Konami has brought both Suikoden I and Suikoden II in the oddly named Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Unification Wars collection. Delivering a few quality of life improvements and a visual upgrade, are these JRPGs as good as we might remember?
Story
In Suikoden I players take on the role of a nameable protagonist but their “canon” name is Tir McDohl, the son of the Great General to the Scarlet Moon Empire Teo McDohl. On their first assignment upon meeting the king, Tir learns that his father is to be sent up North to deal with a rebellion and that Tir himself will be assigned tasks around the capitol, unfortunately this places him right under the command of a slimy and corrupt general abusing his position to drain the life out of the smaller villages. After witnessing such corruption, there is little for Tir and his band of allies to do but go along with this despicable order even if it means facing death against an unbeatable foe but it isn’t long before Tir’s longtime friend and vassal, Ted, reveals that he is in possession of a powerful Rune called the Soul Eater Rune, a legendary relic.
Things quickly spiral out of control for Tir as and most of his initial entourage as Ted is taken away only to return severely wounded and apparently tortured at the hands of none other than the Empress of the kingdom herself, a long-lived witch seeking out the Soul Eater Rune for her own dastardly means. In an attempt to prevent this dangerous relic from falling into the wrong hands, Ted transfers the Rune to Tir who then takes his few remaining loyal allies and flees his childhood home, a fugitive wanted by the very Empire he was meant to serve. With Tir now seen as a wanted criminal, it’ll be up to him to not only join the resistance forces but become a powerful leader amongst the group in order to liberate his homeland from the evil and corrupt forces that have rotted it to the core.
Suikoden I is filled with memorable scenes and some rather outstanding characters and serves as both an introduction to the world as well as one of Suikoden’s signature mechanics, but at the same time it is also worth noting that this very much feels like a product of its time. The main character never speaks, though his allies have plenty to say all while most of the villains are similarly one note. That being said, that doesn’t stop this from being a highly entertaining story especially since Suikoden I isn’t afraid to throw out dire consequences should players make wrong choices or fail in a fight. Not every battle can end in a game over, some might result in a character’s death, removing them entirely from the game and any potential story scenes from that point on.
For those unaware, the Suikoden series has long had a tradition of having “108 Stars of Destiny” which basically boils down to having a total of a hundred and eight allies that can join the player’s battle against evil. Many of these characters arrive as part of the storyline while others have some rather insanely random recruitment methods and even then, some of these characters have a chance to die. Not every single character that joins Tir’s fight will be a literal fighter, as some of the Stars simply take up residence in the eventual base and help grow a dilapidated tower into a bustling hub for resistance filled with everything the player might need. One thing that is unfortunately not added in any way is an indication players may be missing out on a character if they advance too far or do something specific, and while there are plenty of guides out there for this RPG from 1996, some type of quality of life inclusion would have been nice especially given their importance to the storyline.
When it comes to Suikoden II, it almost feels as if the first release was a test in almost every regard as not only is the storyline far more in-depth but the characters feel better written, the circumstances more dire, and even the overarching narrative is more gripping. Suikoden II once again places players in control of a nameable protagonist whose canon name is Riou and is set a few years after the events of Suikoden I. Riou is a skilled martial artists trained in a dojo by his grandfather and was enlisted as part of Highland Army’s youth brigade alongside his childhood friend Jowy. With a peace-treaty soon to be signed between the City-States of Jowston and the Highland Kingdom, the boys celebrate that they will soon return home without ever having to face the enemy. That all changes when their unit is slaughtered by their own side in an effort to reignite the war and both Riou and Jowy find themselves on the run after surviving the slaughter, being accused of being treasonous spies that yet again sees Riou becoming part of a conflict with his own set of allies as they must rise up to survive against a kingdom that seeks to crush everything in its path.
Similar to the first game, Suikoden II features the same 108 Stars of Destiny mechanic and unfortunately the lack of quality of life improvements in this recruitment is still lacking, meaning players will likely want a guide for this one too given their importance to the storyline. Interestingly enough, quite a few guest characters from the first title make an appearance throughout Suikoden II, especially as playable allies, if players plan to fill out their entire roster. Another thing of note is that, while we already mentioned how much better the storyline for Suikoden II is compared to the first, it is also worth noting that Konami thankfully has completely re-translated both games. While this wasn’t much of an issue for the first game, it was desperately needed for the second as the translation of the 1999 release was dire, showing this retranslation is a significant improvement over the original.
Gameplay
For the most part Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune & Dunan Unification Wars‘ gameplay remains the same though a handful of quality of life improvements have been made right away. First of all, players can move in eight directions and can run immediately without the need of the Holy Rune in Suikoden I and of course right away in II. Another significant quality of life improvement is the ability to double battle speed and set fighters to auto attack which makes the random encounters from exploring the world or a dungeon incredibly easy to farm either for XP, Potch (Money), or even just to get around. Obviously players will want to pay attention and “dial in” for the boss battles meaning they’ll want to utilize every element of the combat system for these fights, but being able to breeze through lesser fights is a massive help.
Combat in both Suikoden games can see players bringing a party of up to six fighters into the fray at once, three in the front and three in the back. Some fighters specialize in short range, meaning they can only attack in the front, while others specialize in long range and can attack from the rear, and finally others are mid-range but specialize in neither. Players will choose an action for each character, be it attack, item use, Magic, or even a “Unite” attack, and it will all play out at once while the enemy side will do the same with characters acting based on their speed stat. Magic is unique in Suikoden as the Rune’s players can equip any character and grant them special attacks, magical skills, or even passive bonuses. Magic spells do not have MP but instead a certain number of uses before a character will need to “rest” to recover them. Each character has different attributes and affinities, so finding out the best runes for which characters is always a challenging but satisfying feat. Unite Attacks are special moves that are only available depending on the party members in the team. These are powerful attacks that see everyone that is part of the Unite attack use their turn and can be absolutely devastating, often hitting the entire enemy party, dealing massive damage to a single foe, or something similar, though it usually results in some form of backlash like leaving a character stunned for a turn or something similar.
Outside of the standard random battles there are two other types of fights that happen throughout both Suikoden entries, the One-on-One Duels and War Battles. Duels are mostly the same between both games as players will need to fight solo against an opponent selecting to either attack, defend, or execute a special move. Players will counter their opponent by reading their posture or dialogue and determining the proper responses, with defend countering special moves, special moves overwhelming basic attacks, and attacks slipping through defense. War Battles are where things are different between entries, with Suikoden I having a more dated and simplistic mechanic similar to duels where players need to perform the proper counter move to damage the rival army while defending their own Magic beats cavalry charge, cavalry charge beats bow, and bow beats magic and while these fights are rare, they are also rather annoying as they have not been retouched in any meaningful way. It is worth noting that as players recruit more characters to their team they’ll also gain “Ninja” and “Dragon Rider” type units that can predict enemy actions as well as deal out free damage.
This means that if players happen to trigger a character’s permanent death in these through various possible failures, they’ll need to reload to avoid it. It is also worth noting that the game does implement an “auto-save” but it is strangely useless as it is designed to only trigger when characters enter a screen they can save on anyways, such as at a save sphere or inn, meaning it is more of a fallback in case somehow players forgot to save at some point along the way. Anyways, Suikoden II sees some changes to make War Battles more palatable by allowing player to properly fight against the enemy army using their recruited characters similar to a turn-based strategy RPG rather than the triangle system used in the first game, making it not only far more engaging but also more rewarding though this was simply an evolution of the game’s design, not something changed for this HD Remaster.
One annoying element that wasn’t touched as well for these HD remasters were the game’s antiquated inventory systems. While Suikoden II is better in this case, allowing characters to easily swap equipment and prevent inventory limits, Suikoden I features an archaic item limit per character that includes equipment and doesn’t allow for easy swapping of equipment or Runes. This can lead to characters having full inventories that either need to be swapped to other units or just dropped for better things, having characters holding gear they cannot equip and more, making it an annoying element that should have been at least brought up to Suikoden II’s standards.
Accompanying the games comes a gallery and music player, both of which fill out with extra bonus artwork and songs from both games as players progress through the titles, rewarding players with some nice little pieces of bonus content for making their way through the games.
Audio & Visuals
Obviously the biggest change for Suikoden I & II HD Remaster is the fact that both games have been given a sizable graphic touch-up. The sprites of every character have been improved in Suikoden I and Suikoden II has seen a significant improvement in almost every character sprite including the character portraits. The new background artwork also is handled quite nicely, though some of it is a bit too simplistic at times. It is also worth noting that the overworld is also largely untouched, keeping things minimalist.
As one would expect, both games have no voicework of any kind but as mentioned before the translation of the games have seen some significant improvement over their original versions. As for the games’ soundtrack both titles have had their original soundtrack cleaned up and still presented as outstanding as it was in the original release, making for some of the best songs an RPG lover could ask for. This is especially true in the case of the second game, there is a reason it is beloved after all.
Overall
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars brings together two excellent RPGs from the pasts and gives them both a fresh coat of paint, a few quality of life improvements, and a desperately needed retranslation. Konami could have gone the extra mile to improve the inventory system of Suikoden I, revised the implemented auto-saves, and made gathering the optional characters a bit easier, but thankfully these qualms do little to hamper the improvements and the original quality already found in theses two classics, making this easily the best way to experience these two JRPGs.
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