Why the Suikoden Franchise Is A Masterpiece That Warrants A Revival

I played my first Suikoden game when I was twelve. Here’s my love letter to plead for its revival fifteen years later.

I remember playing my first Suikoden game (Suikoden II) fifteen years ago. I failed to get the best ending during my first playthrough, and passionate fans of the series know how traumatic an ordeal that was. Suikoden II has one of those extremely gripping and engrossing storylines for a video game which gradually builds your empathy for its delicately written characters that you begin to want nothing but the best for all of them. And when the opposite happens, their misfortunes just scar you for life.

Many gamers might find the Suikoden series wanting in terms of its visual form. But what it lacks in visuals, it makes up for in heart and soul. The story is the strongest point of every Suikoden game. It’s not only intelligent, it also brims with tenderness and understanding. For me, that’s enough to celebrate this rare gem of a game series.

A world of its own

The Suikoden world is epic. It literally is a universe of its own. The series boasts its own unique world, a unique map, and its own array of races (humans, kobolds, wingers, et cetera) with their distinct culture, tradition and disposition in society.

But the games’ universe offers so much more; Suikoden also has its own mythos and history that is suffused with many interesting characters, families, groups and oligarchs that play their crucial roles in the ecosystem of the game. It’s basically the video game version of Game of Thrones.

Every Suikoden fan will surely recognize the surnames McDohl, Blight and, of course, Silverberg–arguably the most prominent and important family within the franchise due to their role as military strategists during the most significant conflicts that shape game’s history.

In terms of personalities, who would forget Georg Prime and the role he played in the events of Suikoden II and V? How about Viki and Jeane, arguably the most famous wizards and mages of the Suikoden world? Who wouldn’t admire yet be startled by Leon Silverberg’s “pragmatic yet radical” strategic maneuverings perfectly exemplified by the infamous ‘Kalekka’ incident?

Suikoden makes you feel like a part of its community, and that makes the games all the more interesting and ultimately captivating.

Society’s mirror

Not only does it immerse the player in its own world, Suikoden also compels them to question and interact with the world they live in; a rare feat for fantasy-based RPGs.

The Suikoden franchise deftly tackles contemporary philosophical, moral and political inquisitions without coming off as pretentious, convoluted or too cryptic. The individual conflicts and political intrigue are all superbly written.

Unlike many RPGs produced today where fighting and saving the world is the primary goal, the story of Suikoden is about real-life situations and conflicts where there is no inherent evil or villain, just individuals with their own rational motives and principles, struggling to fight for what they deem is ‘good’ for the world. (Although a lot of people would argue that Luca Blight is one of the most evil villains ever made in the history of RPGs, but reading on his backstory will cultivate your sympathy for him and make you realize that he, himself, is also a victim.)

For one, Suikoden II is a heartwrenching story about star-crossed friends who find themselves on different sides of a continental conflict. They have the same motivation of ending the war, but totally different visions on how to attain it. (One is a federalist, the other is a centralist.) The outcome will depend on the player’s choices and decisions.

Suikoden teaches us to see from the perspective of others, particularly people who take a different view from us, and to refrain from seeing things in black and white because it understands that the world is more complex than that.

The tragedy of being human

Finally, I personally love Suikoden because of the sensitive way it understands–not ‘human nature’; I do not believe there is such a thing–the human tendencies that the present paradigm of our world nurtures.

For example, in contemporary geopolitics where statism remains an enduring concept, self-interest and national survival is still the Holy Grail of a nation, pursued usually at the expense of another.

This is akin to Michel Foucault’s philosophical concept, biopolitics, where the obsession of states with the survival and well-being of their own populace necessitates the exclusion of those who are outside their borders. It is a politics of ‘live and let die’, and is very much prevalent in today’s international social order.

Suikoden explores these themes in many arcs of the series and it does so so simply. There was one scene in Suikoden II where refugees from a war-torn region tried to seek help from a neighboring state. They were ultimately refused and were subsequently massacred by their adversaries.

This is the wisdom of the Suikoden series. Playing them doesn’t just open us up to a whole new virtual adventure, they also allow us to understand the tragedy of our own humanity in today’s ultra-individualistic, state-centric world.

Revive Suikoden now!

Sadly, it’s been eleven years since a game from the main series was released and rumors have been circulating on the internet about its total cancellation. As a fan of the game for fifteen years and counting, there’s nothing more I would wish for than a Suikoden VI seeing the light of day. May this little write-up reach Konami and may they have the heart to hear this little fan’s plea.