Thelate ‘90swere a golden age forJRPGs; not only did the genre finally break through in the West, but the overall quality of games was on a sharp upswing. With the PS1 hardware affording developers better visuals and high-quality audio, many designers were able to bring their vision to life without 16-bit limitations.
It was during this time that Konami established its own contender:Suikoden. This series was supposed to head-to-head with Final Fantasy, and become a long-running series in its own right. While the series came to a halt in the sixth console generation, the first two games are still seen as Konami’s finest hour JRPG-wise. Now that both games have been remastered, it’s time to find out which one is better
10Visuals
Winner: Suikoden 2
The first Suikoden game was graphically quite impressive, especially when set beside contemporary titles like Alundra. The sequel benefited from more familiarity with the hardware and had more richly designed backgrounds.
The remaster gives both games a graphical facelift with reflections, new environment effects, and refurbished character portraits, bringing them both on even ground. Despite that, it’s easy to see Suikoden 2 is the better-looking game: while graphical fidelity matters little in this genre, the subtle improvements to sprites and backgrounds in the second game cannot be ignored.
9Sound
Winner: Suikoden 1
Suikoden was one of the earliest PS1 games to have what’s known as Redbook audio: high-quality music that allows for orchestrated soundtracks rather than MIDI programming being played off the console’s sound chip.
Its soundtrack was also proof that too many cooks don’t always spoil the broth: with no fewer than five composers working on it, the music still turned out great. The second game has a respectable soundtrack, but its tunes lack the distinct identity established by the first game.
8Combat
The clear winner when it comes to gameplay is Suikoden 2. Suikoden 1 has an early saturation point: after you’velevelled upenough that random encounters no longer present a challenge, most of the combat in Suikoden consists of putting on auto-battle and only using Runes for bosses. It’s actually a blessing that the remaster has an option to speed up battles.
In contrast, Suikoden 2 offers some degree of depth and strategy even in random battles, making it more engaging than most turn-based JRPGs of the time: it’s not just a case of pressing A to win.
7Strategy
Aside from regular combat, the Suikoden games implement massive battles andone-on-one duels. This is a case where less is more: though Suikoden 2 attempts to have deeper mechanics in its battle gameplay, the fact of the matter is that Suikoden 1’s battles and duels are better. They follow an easy-to-grasp, intuitive rock-paper-scissor philosophy.
Though Suikoden 2’s battles give you more input, they never really rise above the status of being a gimmick. They’re something you get through just to continue the story, and that briefly looks cool. They don’t make much of an impact on your reward center, so Suikoden 1’s quicker battles are a blessing.
6Interface
Suikoden 1 had a very clunky interface, which would be excusable by way of it being an early PS1 title until you remember how well-organized inventories were even in SNES JRPGs like Dragon Quest 3 and Chrono Trigger.
The interface improves exponentially in Suikoden 2, with more rune slots and better inventory management. If you’re frustrated by the limited item capacity and constant shuffling you have to do in Suikoden 1, rest assured that it won’t be a problem in the sequel.
5Characters
Though the time you spend with them is shorter, Suikoden 1 hasbetter charactersthan the second game. This is made abundantly clear when returning characters from Suikoden 1 outshine the original characters in Suikoden 2, in both gameplay and story.
Even if the overarching plot of Suikoden 2 is more substantial, the first game’s characters and their arcs will resonate with you more. From Kirkis learning not to despair, to Gremio’s loyalty, Suikoden 1 has a more memorable cast.
4Story
Both Suikoden titles draw heavy inspiration from the Chinese historical novel Water Margin, and as such they have epic plots - in both the literary and slang sense of the word. But Suikoden 2’s overarching story, filled with betrayal and moral ambiguity, is stronger.
Suikoden 1, being a rather short JRPG, feels rushed. In comparison, Suikoden 2 gives its story elements time to set in. The better pacing leads to greater emotional payoffs. While Suikoden 1 has a greater number of likeable characters, the scenario of Suikoden 2 is more interesting.
3Remaster
It would stand to reason that, given Suikoden 1’s technological drawbacks compared to the second game, it would benefit more from a remaster. While Suikoden 2 is still a great game even if you play its original PS1 version today, the original requires more patience. Thus, the remaster should have served as a bigger overhaul.
Yet surprisingly, as we noted inour review, Suikoden 2 benefits from the remaster more. The modern backgrounds and water effects in Suikoden 1 can actually clash with the retro sprites, whereas Suikoden 2’s new lighting effects look excellent. If you’re interested in the remaster simply to see what changes were made, you’ll soon find out that Suikoden 2 got more love and care put into it.
2Impact
Suikoden 1 was a respectable title in the early PS1 era and one of the console’s finer role-playing offerings. But it came out in 1995: a year when it was competing with Chrono Trigger, Trials of Mana, Tales of Phantasia, Dragon Quest 5, and Tactics Ogre. It quickly got lost in the shuffle despite the hype.
In contrast, Suikoden 2 was initially a commercial failure - it didn’t even get a second pressing in the West due to low sales. The game was judged unfairly for being a 16-bit JRPG in a world where such FMV-heavy 3D titles as Final Fantasy 7 existed.
Yet over the years, Suikoden 2 built up a cult fanbase and became re-evaluated as one of the greatest JRPGs ever made. It’s seen asKonami’s best JRPGand one of the best made by a company that isn’t called Square Enix. Suikoden 1’s legacy is mainly that it allowed Suikoden 2 to happen.
1Verdict
The long and short of it is that Suikoden 2 is the better game. The first game may be shorter and easier to digest, but it’s Suikoden 2 that’s the classic.
With that said, everyone’s a winner with these remasters. They allow a new generation of JRPG fans to experience the majesty of retro classics. If your experience with the genre amounts to contemporary titles like Persona and up-and-comers like Octopath Traveler, just know that there’s an entire world of retro treasures waiting to be explored. The Suikoden 1 and 2 remasters should just be your starting point.
