Suikoden IV Critic Reviews

At its best moments, Suikoden IV sits right up there with the most outstanding RPGs ever created.

I can’t honestly say the game disappointed me. While not really up to the standards of the rest of the series, Suikoden IV is most definitely entertaining in its own right.

I would highly suggest fans of the series to buy it even though the battle system is a little weak.

It may not be the best looking game out there, but its style (tropical setting, sailing on the ocean) really gives you a break from the normal RPG’s where you dungeon crawl and climb countless mountains looking or a few dragons to slay.

While the short number of flaws may be too noticeable to ignore, missing out on a game with great characters and an interesting story would be a shame.

Too stinking short. It's not just that it ends in half the time most newer RPG’s do. It's that the ending feels contrived and artificial, and leaves the players wanting so much more that even a second play through can't remedy the feeling of crushing disappointment that "that's all there is."

A good game, but it doesn’t even touch the greatness of any of the other Suikodens. The story simply falls short of the epics found in all its predecessors and is, for all intents and purposes, just a ball of clichés.

Not as innovative as "Suikoden III" was, but then again it does improve a number of weaker aspects such as combat control that held back the last release.

Not exactly a bad RPG but not a particularly good one, either. On the plus side, the story is OK and has a couple of interesting characters, but the overall atmosphere is bland and uninspired.

In its own right, Suikoden IV is a fine game. It has decent gameplay, it looks great, it sounds awesome, and it has a good story. But compared to the past games in the series, it’s flawed, and it’s a complete downgrade from the third installment.

But even with all that combined, there's still one thing that Suikoden IV doesn't have: Heart. And for better or for worse the Suikoden series has always been about that: the emotions, the feelings, and the power of family.

You gain experience from every battle -- which makes you stronger – lather, rinse, repeat, add a story, and there’s your gameplay.

It's hard to ignore everything that's wrong with Suikoden IV--add them all together, and they result in an RPG that feels three years old out of the box.

Gameplay usually isn’t the most important feature in an RPG, but in Suikoden IV it just drags an otherwise "great" RPG into the realm of "slightly above average."

As a Suikoden game, its lacking something - that sparkle, which could be found in the first two in the series. Suikoden IV may not be quite the Suikoden game we were hoping for, but a decent role-playing adventure none-the-less.

To see a series falter so badly after years of doing everything right is distressing. One can only hope that Konami returns to the drawing board before undertaking a fifth installment in the series.

You'll find yourself sailing aimlessly for hours - the watery setting of Suikoden IV is ridiculously vast and barren and to make matters more exasperating, your boat's top speed and handling would embarrass most tugs.

While the narrative is still enticing, and the eclectic cast of characters remains a positive, aspects like a horrible seafaring travel system and an often outrageous enemy encounter rate detract much from the experience.

Not a masterpiece by any means, but a game that will not put a black mark on their collection.

With an uniteresting cast and bland execution of a promising storyline, you'll never really get into the plot.