Suikoden Tierkreis breaks Suikoden Traditions, for better or for worse?

Anyone who’s ever played more than one Suikoden title knows that this is a franchise that has held firm on its traditions since McDohl’s rebellion in 1995. With the release of Suikoden Tierkreis, however, it seems like Konami has decided to drop tradition with the DS installment and moved on to what feels like a non-Suikoden title.

Anyone who’s ever played more than one Suikoden title knows that this is a franchise that has held firm on its traditions since McDohl’s rebellion in 1995. With the release of Suikoden Tierkreis, however, it seems like Konami has decided to drop tradition with the DS installment and moved on to what feels like a non-Suikoden title.

What they dropped:

1. No familiar faces – No previous Suikoden heroes, no wandering Flik and Viktor, not even the ever-present Viki and Jeane.
2. No Runes – No wonder they dropped Jeane, you won’t need a Runemaster since you won’t be using runes at all. The skills and magic system has been replaced by Marks of the Stars.
3. No silent hero – Siliconera says that the Tierkreis hero has a voice and uses it, but it won’t be a Suikoden first since Suikoden Tactic‘s Kyril could talk. But since we’ve seen the silent type with the Prince and the others, I guess this counts too.
4. No Blinking Mirror – No Viki to Blink you out, so no Blinking Mirror to blink you back in. Tierkreis transpo now comes in the form of Gateway Portals, or go oldschool and walk.
5. Everyone has character portraits – Every Suikoden player gets a mild jolt of delight upon meeting a character with a portrait – “I can get this one,” we’d all think. In Tierkreis, everyone gets a headshot, so you’ll have to get used to a different feeling when recruiting.
6. No more getting lost or wandering aimlessly – Since Tierkreis is largely mission-based, you’ll always be prompted to engage than wander around figuring out what to do. Your game menu now shows you what you need to do. Again, won’t be the first for Suikoden, since walking up to the army gossip, like Onil or Granma Taki, would let you know what you need to do next.
7. No more blacksmiths – No more spending wads and wads of cash sharpening weapons and embedding runes unto them. You can now get whatever weapon you want and use it, giving you more customization options.
8. No traditional duels – Although there’s gonna be at least one duel in Tierkreis, it won’t be in the Attack-Wild Attack-Defend format. It’s all gonna be in turn-based fashion, like with all other battles.
9. No strategic battles– This is a big letdown for me, since I loved setting my army up for major battles, especially in Suikoden III. You’ll only be asked to form squads here, but there are no grand strategic battles.

Then again, not all of the above tradition drops could be described as a blow to the franchise. Some may even prove to add more fun to the franchise, like the new weapon system. As a Suikoden fan, however, it’s a little hard to stomach the fact that Viki won’t teleport me to the wrong side of the continent anymore.

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Via Siliconera