Suikoden V

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Suikoden V is the fifth installment of the Suikoden series by Konami. It was released on February 23, 2006 in Japan and March 21, 2006 in North America. The game features over sixty playable characters, with 108 recruits total. The game's plot centers around the political and wartime themes of the fictional Queendom of Falena. Players take control of the prince of the Queendom and traverse the world, acquiring allies and dealing with the problems of the nation. Director Takahiro Sakiyama announced that Suikoden V will be the last game in the series on the PlayStation 2 and consoles of that generation. Future installments will be on next generation consoles, including PlayStation 3.

Contents

1 Story details
2 Characters

2.1 New characters
2.2 Returning characters

3 Gameplay
4 Trivia
5 External links

Story details

Suikoden V takes place in the Queendom of Falena, portraying the events of that region of the Suikoden world six years before the events in the first and nine years before the events in the second games. The Queendom enters a period of political strife as two factions of nobles wrestle for favor in the realm. The two leading noble families are the Godwins and the Barows, the former believing that the best future for Falena is to use the power of the Sun Rune to expand it's territory, while the latter believes that diplomacy is the way to go, although in reality they have selfish ulterior motives of their own. These families are portrayed to represent the respective right and left wings of politics. Players are given the role of the prince of the realm, who becomes caught between the two houses along with the rest of his family. The Queendom only allows females to ascend the throne, and it so happens that the younger sister of the hero, the princess Lymsleia, is ready to be married. In keeping with tradition, a tournament called the Sacred Games is arranged, and many suitors enter into gladiatorial combat to compete for the right to marry. The current queen, Arshtat, has been a balanced, steady force in the queendom, alongside her husband Ferid, who is commander of the Queen's Knights. This has been a change from the political upsets of previous rulers, and many worry that should a Godwin or a Barows marry into the family, things will revert to the older days. As prince, the first order of business is to investigate the potential suitors. In this way, the prince becomes involved in a much larger world, learning of his people's hopes, dreams, and ambitions.

A large part of all Suikoden stories has been the presence of Runes, particularly the 27 True Runes. This is no different in Suikoden V. Queen Arshtat has on herself emblazoned the Sun Rune, which with the Dawn and Twilight runes, makes up the trinity of power in Falena. However, it is revealed early on that the Dawn rune has been missing for two years, and as such things have become less and less stable in the queendom. Usually the runes were kept in three separate palaces, in special sanctuaries, but the Dawn rune was taken during an uprising the queen suppressed with the power of the Sun rune. Although it is not revealed early on as to why the queen decided to bear the Sun rune on her body, it quickly becomes clear that having such a powerful artifact on her person is slowly driving her insane.

Characters

As with the previous Suikoden titles, the 108 stars of destiny have returned. Among the large cast of new characters, many fans will be pleased to see some familiar characters from the previous titles. While some characters join as per the story's requirements, others require that the prince recruit them either at a specific time, or by fulfilling particular conditions. As such, certain characters can also be missed entirely, and players will have to be diligent in the search for all 108 stars.

New characters

Prince of Falena: The hero of the game.
Arshtat Falenas: The mother of the hero and the Queen of Falena. She was known to be a caring Queen, but her manner has changed over time due to an incident that occurs prior to the start of the game. She bears the Sun Rune.
Ferid: The father of the hero, husband of Arshtat Falenas, and Commander of the Queen's Knights. He was often criticized by nobles for being from the Island Nations rather than being a Falenan native.
Lyon: The hero's bodyguard and also a Queen's Knight apprentice. Formerly associated with a certain assassin's guild. She owes a debt to Ferid for helping her in her past.
Sialeeds: The younger sister of Arshtat and aunt of the hero. A wry and clever woman, though her personality changes as the plot progresses.
Lymsleia: The younger sister of the hero. She is heir to the Falenan throne.
Miakis: Lymsleia's personal bodyguard; she is originally from Sauronix Castle. She has a habit of playing pranks and jokes on Lymsleia, but the two have a close relationship.
Kyle: A Queen's Knight. His style of fighting involves holding his sword loosely so his moves cannot be read easily. He is also a womanizer. He is originally from Lelcar.
Galleon: An elderly Queen's Knight. Even though Lordlake, his hometown, was destroyed by the Queen's Sun Rune, he generally remains silent about this matter.
Haswar: The oracle of Lunas and the cousin of both Arshtat and Sialeeds.
Raja: The leader of the boat city Raftfleet, called "Admiral" by the townspeople. She was the former Commander of Falena's Naval Fleet, and she taught Bahram Luger.
Lucretia: A legendary tactician who served under Queen Arshtat and Commander Ferid during their fight against Armes. After the war, she was imprisoned at Agate Prison.

Returning characters

Lorelai (Chikatsu Star) seen in Suikodens 1 + 2
Viki (Chibin Star) seen in Suikodens 1-4
Jeane (Chiketsu Star) seen in Suikodens 1-4
Leknaat (Not Playable) seen in Suikodens 1-4
Killey (Tenbi Star) seen in Suikoden 2
Georg Prime (Teni Star) seen in Suikoden 2
Retso seen in Suikoden 2 in cooking contest
Shun Min mentioned in Suikoden 2 during cooking contest

Gameplay

Suikoden V features many key elements from the first two installments, eschewing many of the more criticised changes from the third and fourth games. Amongst other things, the battle system again features six-person parties and allows players a variety of fighting formations spread roughly across a 6x4 grid. Each formation allows the party to execute a special maneuver, usually a combined attack, which is unique to that formation. New formations are acquired over the course of the game. Auto-battle, a handy feature common to all the main titles returns as usual, giving players the choice of an all-out physical attack barrage, rather than manually selecting commands. There is also a skill-building system within the game, where characters can practice under a trainer to improve areas such as Stamina (more HP), Defense (less damage), and so on. Eventually advanced "epic" skills can be learned, which raise two or more character stats at once. Only two skills can be equipped to each character, though they can be switched at any time between battles.

The war battles return, this time with more freedom of movement. Eschewing turn-based movement, the war system is divided in two. One is for land battles, where cavalry, infantry, and archer units take on each other as they're directed around a map in real time. The system is analogous to rock-paper-scissors, where cavalry beats infantry, infantry beats archers, and archers beat cavalry. There are also additional benefits to having certain characters in certain units, including magical attacks using runes.

Naval battles comprise the other type of war battle, although the theory is the same as the above. In this case, rams, combat ships, and archery ships are the units. Rams are strong against archery ships, combat ships against rams, and archery ships against combat ships. Late in the game, beaver and dragon cavalry units are introduced, which are strong against all types of ships. They can also cross onto land, where beavers become infantry units.

Additionally there are a number of minigames, such as fishing (acquired when recruiting the character Subala), and Blind Man's Bluff (a card game acquired by recruiting Linfa). These are returning staples of previous installments, but with modifications made.

Trivia

In this installment of Suikoden, many names are the same of the names from Fire Emblem games in GameBoy Advance. Some of these names include the characters of Kyle, Roy, Raven, Lance, and Lyon. At one time, the name 'Bern' is also mentioned, as a shortened version of Bernadette's name.

Ironically, Urda resembles Zelda and Shoon somewhat resembles Link all from The Legend of Zelda games.

There is a mention of character called Morgan, who was a playable star of destiny in the first Suikoden game. Morgan's story mentioned that he was a gladiator in the Queendom of Falena, but had his eyes were removed as punishment for too many victories. Soon after, Morgan was sold into slavery. Another character, Shoon, mentions a gladiator that had his eyes removed that was later shipped off to some far off land as a slave. This is debated by many, however, due to the fact that Morgan tells the player in the first Suikoden that he was blind since birth.

Suikoden V is the first game in the series in which neither the main character nor any other playable character bears a True Rune.

Suikoden V is also the first game in the series that does not have a member of the Silverberg family or someone connected to the Silverberg family as the main strategist for the main character.

External links

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