I'm sure Conn was gonna post this sooner than later, but I wanted to steal his thunder

And the game is supposed to be longer than previous Suikoden entries too.

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Out of curiosity, why? It's hardly your fault if other people have issues.

I skipped Suikoden IV and wasn't terribly thrilled with III so I'm hoping V is a good return to form...

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So? Screw 'em. It is pretty hard to deny that you have a lot of enthusiasm for the series... but what's wrong with that?

All three at the same time? Really? Yikes... I didn't know that. Although it does explain why III and IV seemed so different.

Gah...I've got so many freaking games to catch up on. And future releases are getting released faster than I expect every time. Nonetheless, Suikoden V will have to take the place of whatever game I'll be playing at the time of it's release in March. Good news.

And Conn, I love to see another Suikoden fanatic here any day. It's just the whole "Suikoden IV is good" deal that I'm never going to agree with. =/

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I think with the new board system you don't need to worry about such anymore. On the old board every news meant creating a new thread since old threads can't be bumped and are likely some pages away already, while on this board it's very easy to create and keep up to date dedicated threads. Then as soon such dedicated threads exist it will be easy for others to read only those threads they are interested in. Cheer up already! ; )

Preorders get a free LE OST and artwork book at ebgames.

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http://www.ebgames.com/ebx/ads/promos/F … COMINGSOON

Suikoden V looks to be huge. Tactics sucked, but I'm really looking forward to V, even if it is this soon.

The Suikoden V Original Soundtrack has been announced as well, and it's a whopping 4 CDs! That's a first since Suikoden II.

Oh yeah, and while Suikoden Tactics didn't tickle me the right way, Suikoden IV was great.

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Goddammit . . . . With Kingdom Hearts II and Suiko V coming out in the same month, not to mention FFV and FFVI on GBA and FFIII on DS, and Earthbound 3 on GBA as well on the horizon, I'm going to be missing out on a lot next month! After all, that FC3S won't buy itself . . .

But with that new position within that security company I applied for, maybe I can swing for some of those games . . .

I'll probably end up buying Suiko V regardless just so I don't go through another "Suiko 2 fiasco", a scenario where Suiko V just might become as rare as the aforementioned title. I was intensely stupid not to pick up part 2 when I had the chance so many years ago, and since then, I have become somewhat paranoid . . .

Ok...  of FF5 GBA, FF6 GBA, FF3 DS, and Mother 3, the only one of those that even has a release date is the Japanese Mother 3, so I think you'll be fine.

I have to disagree about the load times being a minor problem (as stated by that mini-review)... I got so annoyed by them that I actually quit playing the game because I was worried about my PS2. 

Actually, it is not the load times themselves that are annoying so much as the fact that it is constantly loading and my PS2 (2 months old) makes tons of noise at all times while reading the disc. Thinking it was just my PS2, I tried it in two others with the same results!

I should also point out that during the voiced cutscenes, there are constant jerks in the animation while the next bit is loaded from the disc... and there is a loading screen after every single battle.

So yeah, huge annoyance with Suikoden 5 but... maybe someday I will bring myself to play it.  The music sure seemed to be much more like Higashino's work than S3 and S4.

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McCall, what is that DVD box in the set?  It is the one with Georg, Lyon, and the Hero looking at you.

How many pages is that Japanese artbook?  The artbook that came with  the U.S. game is 48 pages and doesn't have art for all the characters.

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Thanks for the info.  The Japanese edition get a lot of breaks.  Unfortunately, it wouldn't be economically feasible to translate that stuff for the U.S. without a huge markup.

Damn it all.  I guess that artbook won't be published separately any time soon.

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I've been told that this year is the 10-year anniversary of the Suikoden series, so that is probably why Suikoden V's LE is packed with so much stuff.

All I really want is the artbook.  Unless someone cannibalizes their LE set and sells the artbook on its own, I think I will wait to see if other artbooks appear on the market.

This game is excellent.  I am almost finished with it, and Id say its better than Suikoden II even with its minor flaws.

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So Conn, after playing a good portion of Suikoden V, are you awakened to the fact of how pathetic Suikoden IV is yet? =P

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Hmm. III still outperforms IV in my opinion. Suikoden II still reigns over the current V. That's my take, for now.

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Now if Konami could have reduced the loading times in V.

I personally prefer the characterization in V over II.  As Conn said elsewhere, characters in V have reasons to join your army.  Many of them do require you to go through a mini-quest to give you some insight on the characters.  There are also a larger number of character that do have something to do with the larger plot.

"FASHION DIVAS!"
"FILTHY DEVILS!"

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Or the ridiculous words he says when you're trying to recruit him. 

I played Suikoden V for seven hours yesterday (longest I've played a game in one-setting in a LONG time) and I laughed for minutes when I first encounteed that guy.

*SPOILER ALERT*

Well, it's probably minor, but better safe than sorry. I'm about 20 hours into the game, and it's getting extremely good as each minute elapses. One big thing I noticed though is the fact that the storyline is appearing to be identical to Suikoden I. You play as a prince of a huge kingdom, and factions within your own kingdom start to rebel, and you flee going on to create your own empire. It seems as if Konami tried to take the easy way out and emulate the same concept from the first Suikoden. However, I can't really complain since the character development and storyline is very well executed thus far. I guess I'm just pointing out something I noticed as somewhat interesting.

The music...is great, but not as memorable and prestigious as I was awakened to in the first two Suikoden's, especially the first. But I don't expect anything to surpass the first Suikoden's soundtrack since it's my all time favorite. Overall, I'm loving it a lot.

I'm about eight hours into the game

S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S

Right after the prince was forced out of the castle and his parents were (supposedly) killed. Amazing stuff. I particularly loved the reprise of one of the more emotional pieces of music from Suikoden II. The character development in this game is very good, leagues above the last two games in the series.