Suikoden is a video game series about destiny. About fate. About people who fight against near-insurmountable odds to accomplish things that shouldnât be possible.
So in a twist of morbid irony worthy of The Twilight Zone, this wonderful RPG series has spent the past 15 years embroiled in its own battle against fate, its own struggle against the odds. Destiny is working against Suikoden. A major force of natureâby which I mean Konamiâseems to be conspiring to kill the series forever. Yet itâs somehow still alive. Itâs hooked up to a respiratory machine, but itâs still alive.
And it needs our help.
You might not be familiar with Konamiâs great RPG series. Perhaps your eyes glaze over the word Suikoden, pronounced SWEE-KOH-DEN, because your brain reads it as meaningless gibberish. It kind of is. It also comprises some of my favorite games of all time, experiences that have moved and affected me more than just about anything else out there.
There are five main Suikoden games, three spinoffs (one of which was released on the PSP earlier this year, but has not yet made it to U.S. shores), and two Japan-only âgaidenâ side stories. Every Suikoden game puts you in charge of an army and lets you go out and recruit a whole bunch of characters (usually ~108) by talking to them, solving their problems, and following them along various sidequests as you try to convince them to join your team. Every Suikoden game is all about big, sweeping plots filled with political intrigue, betrayal, magic, fate, and many, many crazy and interesting characters. Some are better than others, but theyâre all pretty special.
First released (here in the U.S.) in late 1996, the unfortunately-titled Suikoden was one of the PlayStationâs first RPGs. It was short, sweet, and excellentâa harrowing tale about a son forced to rebel against the empire he once served. 1999âs Suikoden II was straight-up perfection. Itâs my favorite game of all time, a masterpiece that fixed the first gameâs flaws, subverted all of my expectations, and told a story so interesting, so poignant, so utterly compelling that I donât think Iâll ever forget it. And the music! The music!
Konami continued to release games in the series, none of which earned a ton of attention, no matter how much they deserved it. Most were released here, up until 2012âs Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki, which has yet to make it to America. (I have asked Konami about this multiple times. They wonât comment.)
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Itâs always difficult to watch a great piece of art die before its time. Veronica Mars, for example. Firefly. Way too many television shows and game franchises were unceremoniously beheaded before they even got a chance to peak.
But worse than watching a clean death is having to witness a great piece of art flail around like a chicken with no head, aimlessly bouncing around the room as its owner apathetically looks elsewhere.
Konami has mistreated Suikoden. Theyâve mistreated Suikoden fansâparticularly American Suikoden fans. And they donât seem to care one bit.
But hey. Letâs not focus on the negative. Rumors have suggested that Konami disbanded their Suikoden team, but letâs say they want to bring it back. Letâs say they want to fix their mistakes. Here are some suggestions.
Give it a new name.
Final Fantasy. Dragon Quest. Persona. Japanâs most successful RPGs here in the States all have one big thing in common: their names are interesting, punchy, and pronounceable.
And sure, correlation doesnât equate to causation. But say youâre a casual RPG fan. Maybe you donât play that many video games or read websites like Kotaku (in which case: welcome!), but you occasionally head to GameStop to see what new RPGs are out. Assuming youâre not very familiar with any of these games, what are you more likely to pick up on impulse? The game called âDragon Questâ or the game called âSuikodenâ?
In an industry where millions are vying for our money and attention every day, packaging is more important than ever. Why intentionally limit Suikodenâs potential by keeping such an esoteric name? Iâm not going to offer any suggestions, other than donât use âStars of Destiny.â That sounds like a hip hop reality show.
Okay, okay, here are some suggestions. Shattered Fate. Destinyâs Soldiers. PokĂ©mon
Speaking of whichâŠ
Draw up a great marketing plan.
A Kotaku reader pointed out a few months ago that thereâs an easy way to market Suikoden: Game of Thrones meets PokĂ©mon
Itâs frigginâ brilliant. Who wouldnât be instantly hooked by a pitch like that? Itâs accurate, too: Suikoden blends the twisty, political, high-fantasy plots and schemes of George RR Martinâs popular series with the addictive catch-em-all mechanic that has kept millions addicted to the PokĂ©mon games no matter how little they change from year to year.
All you need is a simple slogan, a few e-mails to Internet press, and some buzz on Reddit. Bam.
Make the older games more accessible.
Suikoden is available on the PlayStation Network. Suikoden II is not, much to fansâ dismay. Lots of fansâ dismay
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A few thousand fans have even formed a Facebook group to unite and petition Konami: âLet us give you our money!â
Will Konami ever listen? The number of Suikoden fans in America might not reach seven digits. Maybe there are only a few thousand. But theyâre passionate, loyal, and ready to advocate for this series to anyone who will listen. And they want to help get some of the old Suikoden games into more peoplesâ hands.
Enough with the goddamned spinoffs.
If you think Suikoden is an awful name, how about Suikoden Tierkreis?
Released for DS back in 2009, Tierkreis wasnât a bad game, but it sure as hell wasnât Suikoden. It eschewed the heavy plotlines in favor of a more anime-inspired âgo defeat the evil kingâ story, and it took us out of the big, detailed world in which all five major Suikoden games take place.
This was crushing. For fans, one of the most exciting parts of the Suikoden series is seeing tiny references that carry over from game to game, whether itâs recurring characters (or maybe a recurring characterâs relative), references to historical events you experienced in other games, or even just old books filled with little hints that longtime fans can pick up on. Nothing inspires loyalty and commitment like the feeling that sticking with a series for the long haul was worth our time. You can maintain consistency without sacrificing accessibility: Suikoden V did that just fine. Why not keep it up?
Experimentation isnât a bad thing.
Look, Iâm not saying Konami should make a Suikoden game for iPhone. In fact, I should erase that line before they get any ideas. Pretend I didnât just say that.
But instead of investing millions into a risky big-budget console game that needs to sell hundreds of thousands of copies just to break even, why not make a smaller, digital release? Why not do something episodic? Hell, why not launch a Kickstarter?
Maybe itâs tough to convince a Japanese company to care about the United States when it feels like so many Western gamers are constantly trashing and unfairly criticizing their RPGs. Thatâs fair. But there are still RPG fans here, RPG fans who will happily pass around links and tell their friends to go buy Suikoden II on PSN right now because holy shit you donât even know how good it is.
Throw us a bone here, Konami. Suikoden deserves better. Suikoden fans deserve better.
Random Encounters is a weekly column dedicated to all things JRPG. It runs every Friday at 3pm ET.
