Suikoden I & II HD (PS4, Switch, Xbox, PC - 2023)

[Hero-of-Time]

Features of Suikoden I & Suikoden II HD
・All background illustrations have been upgraded to HD
・Updated effects breathe new life into the pixel art animation
・New environmental sounds effects to immerse yourself in this fantasy world
・Battle SFX are also now HD and add a new level of realism
・Newly added auto-save
・Battle Fast Forward
・Conversation Log

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by Hero-of-Time

[drahkon]

 

[Happenstance]

Always meant to play these so it's great to see them coming out again.

[Dcubed]

Half of it looks good, the other half looks like a cheap RPG maker game...

Not sure how to feel about the glossing up here 

Still, it's nice to see that Konami remembered that Suikoden exists

Though this thread needs to be moved to the Nintendo Gaming section of the forum since it's also coming to Switch.

Edited September 16, 2022 by Dcubed

[Glen-i]

Oh come on! You put "Switch" in the title! You did that on purpose!

[Hero-of-Time]

7 minutes ago, Glen-i said:

Oh come on! You put "Switch" in the title! You did that on purpose!

It's coming out on Switch, isn't it?

[drahkon]

14 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

It's coming out on Switch, isn't it?

You posted it in the "wrong" part of the forum

[Hero-of-Time]

2 minutes ago, drahkon said:

You posted it in the "wrong" part of the forum

There were no platforms announced when I posted the topic early this morning. I only edited it when I got in from work. If people want topics started in the Switch side of things then get out of bed early in the morning and do the leg work yourselves. It's an easy fix anyway. A mod can shift it. 

[Glen-i]

2 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

There were no platforms announced when I posted the topic early this morning. I only edited it when I got in from work. If people want topics started in the Switch side of things then get out of bed early in the morning and do the leg work yourselves. It's an easy fix anyway. A mod can shift it. 

In that case, sorry. I thought the platforms were apparent as soon as the trailer dropped. Because that's where I saw the news.

[Happenstance]

To be honest I wonder more and more these days if we need two console gaming sections, especially if we are gonna be forced to talk about any game that has a Nintendo release in the Nintendo section of the forum. The forum is much quieter than it used to be so merging the two sections probably wouldn't hurt.

[drahkon]

11 minutes ago, Hero-of-Time said:

There were no platforms announced when I posted the topic early this morning.

Oh yeah, I know.
Just wanted to let you know what Glen meant. Not that I agree with it  

6 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

To be honest I wonder more and more these days if we need two console gaming sections, especially if we are gonna be forced to talk about any game that has a Nintendo release in the Nintendo section of the forum.

Agreed. Most topics have the platforms in the title anyways.

A "Games" section and the "General Gaming Discussion" would be enough.

Edited September 16, 2022 by drahkon

[Julius]

To quote the GOAT Ben Moore:

FINALLY, THE WORLD WILL UNDERSTAND! 

Chills just watching the trailers, I nearly teared up watching the one for II. Y'all better be buying this or face the wrath of being added to my Ignore list 

Played both of these last year and they were a blast. Top tier soundtracks, really fun and snappy - and very easy to break - battle system (honestly I'll take the option to speed it up, but it's not totally necessary!), best in class pixel art and animations (man, those 90s JRPG vibes just can't be beat), and some of the best written characters, story beats, and fleshed out worldbuilding I've experienced in a JRPG. And again, GOAT soundtracks. Both of them. 

Personally, the biggest problem I have with the genre - as much as I love it - is like a shonen anime, power levels almost always creep until the end of the game where you typically face a God or some metaphor for a collective conscious, your true self, or what have you. Now it's not a problem, even if it is a bit silly, but Suikoden does such a grand job of keeping things to scale (each game basically takes place across a single country as you figure out the kinks of its current political structure) that I think it's a huge strength of the game. 

Now this is obviously a reaction to the great support Eiyuden Chronicle has seen on Kickstarter and the backing it's had elsewhere, but you know what Konami, if that's what it takes, then so be it. I'm not too sure how I feel about some of the changes, if I'm being honest, for example I think the original portraits have a bit more character than their HD counterparts, and some of the backgrounds definitely look better than others.

Actually, I find it really curious that the new additions fails to mention anything about updating the UI/menus from the original game to modern standards (spoiler: they sucked), and while II improves on I in a lot of ways, the inventory management leaves a lot to be desired (limited space, rotating parties means someone can leave with a key item, etc.), so hopefully that's something they'll talk about moving forwards. One of the main changes I wanted to see with Eiyuden is something I also want to see here: for the true (and, frankly, best) endings in these games, you need to recruit a whole lot of people (the 108 Stars of Destiny), and you need to use a guide because many are missable (and even then, some guides are weirdly ordered, as I found out last year), so I really hope there's something built into the game's design which makes it easier to track everyone down and not miss anyone. I've still got my notes in the Suikoden thread on the guides I used last year and the niggles they had, but ideally, I don't think you should need a guide to get so much out of these games. 

Man, I'm actually also really curious to see if they've fixed some of the glitches and bugs in the game. Some were helpful (like free use of the inn by backing out of paying in II), but I remember coming across a fair few audio and visual bugs when I played through last year, especially in II (which felt like it was really pushing what a 2D game could do at the time).

I really just hope these can be definitive versions of these games, but I won't lie, I am a little bit nervous. 

I'm in for these Day 1, regardless of whether or not I actually want to play through it again at that time, I just want to support this series. Hell, I'll buy it twice if it also gets a physical release. I also still just want V to be available digitally so I don't need to drag out my PS2, so Konami, get to it  more seriously though, I wonder what there plans are for future games – could the Suikogaiden games, visual novels which bridge the gap between II and III, potentially be officially translated to English and released in the West for the first time? I certainly hope so! 

Lastly, I'm curious what, if anything, this means for the series moving forwards. I've read from an interview today that a few folks at Konami are still keen to revive the series more than this by the sound of things, and Murayama (who created the Suikoden series and is heading the Eiyuden projects) has said in the past that he'd be open to return to work on a new entry, so maybe there's a chance? 

Edited September 17, 2022 by Julius

[Julius]

Officially delayed out of 2023 

Quote

Notice Regarding Release Schedule for Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars

We would like to thank Suikoden fans everywhere for your ongoing passion and support for the Suikoden series.

Regarding the planned release of Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars, we have reached the conclusion that despite the very best efforts of our dedicated development staff to release the Remasters in 2023, additional time is needed to ensure the quality performance and gameplay experience our users deserve.

The entire Suikoden team is renewing our efforts to bring Suikoden I & II HD Remaster to release as soon as is possible.

We will share further release information as soon as it becomes available, on our official social media accounts and official homepage.

We appreciate your understanding and sincerely hope you will continue to lend Suikoden your support.

Thank you,
The Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars Team

Not massively surprising considering we've heard nothing all year, but still, kind of crazy the MGS Collection leapfrogged this. 

[drahkon]

43 minutes ago, Julius said:

Officially delayed out of 2023 

I'm surprised you're crying over it.

There's way too much stuff still coming this year.
If this collection comes out in the second half of 2024 I'd be happy, too

Edited August 30, 2023 by drahkon

[Julius]

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

I'm surprised you're crying over it.

I'm upset about everyone else having not yet played them 

Just reminds me I need to get to III (and every other game in existence)

1 hour ago, drahkon said:

There's way too much stuff still coming this year.
If this collection comes out in the second half of 2024 I'd be happy, too

That's true. 

2024 is very quickly looking to be one of the best years for JRPGs, it's funny that we already need to start throwing things back to the second half of next year with his busy the first half is looking  now if we could just get some Dragon Quest XII news...

[drahkon]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

2024 is very quickly looking to be one of the best years for JRPGs

Good.
Hope there will be even more. And more turn-based games just for @Kav