Suikoden II Review

The hook is the roster and the reason it works is that the roster is a place. You recruit one hundred and eight characters and they physically move into your castle, opening shops, mini games and services, so the headquarters visibly grows from a ruin into a functioning town as the war progresses. That gives an abstract collection mechanic real emotional weight. The story is the reason it is remembered. Riou and Jowy start as brothers in everything but blood and the war puts them on opposite sides, and the writing refuses the easy reconciliation right up to an ending that only opens if you have done the work.

Luca Blight is one of the great antagonists, genuinely frightening rather than merely evil, and the three stage fight against him is a landmark. Combat is straightforward turn based with six party members and unite attacks, plus army battles and duels that vary the rhythm. The sprite art is modest for 1998 and the translation was rushed. The best written game Konami ever published.