i strive to prioritize ambition and conceptual creativity almost above anything else in the games i play and fall in love with -and to that extent, suikoden is one of the most frustrating jrpgs i've ever played. considering it was - to my understanding - arguably the first 'major' jrpg on the playstation and one of konami's first true ventures into the genre, i can absolutely see the heart and mind in tandem when considering suikoden's expressive charms. character art, soundtrack, and key animation/plot beats are handled with a care and finesse that i understand dresses most peoples' fancy of the sequel, but here it seems imbalanced and half-assed. these moments intended to be sweeping decisive battles come off more like summaries told with dioramas after the fact. and yet there are those heartfelt moments and the few things suikoden pulls that do manage to deliver legitimate shock that kept me invested.

the most difficult part of the experience is how contradictory most of the execution is to the ambition of suikoden. you offer me over a dozen pages of roster would-be's and only a handful of individuals are genuine choices. you expand my castle and terraform the entire damn place before i return each time. you incentivize me to seek out new allies but expect menial fetchquests with the off-chance i'll know to bring someone along.

look, in short, the ends justify the means. despite a second act that nearly made me give up, despite a hackneyed translation of a relatively shallow script, and despite its obvious imperfections and shortcomings - i do like and care for suikoden. all signs point to the sequel being the masterpiece another year of dev time likely could've made of this debut... let's hope the word on the wind is true.