Suikoden I&II HD Remaster was provided by Konami for review. Thank you!
I am a self-proclaimed lover of JRPGs, and I tend to enjoy them more than any other type of game out there, but there are still a few of the classics I have never played. I knew about Suikoden and its status as a legendary JRPG, but I didn't have the time to try it out. So, when the remasters were announced, I was overjoyed. I would have the chance to try these games out and see how great they were. Even though they feel dated in mechanics, it's a joy to see how Suikoden 1 and 2 innovated the space back when they originally released it with a narrative that captivated me.
For some context, Suikoden 1 and 2 were originally released on the PlayStation in 1995 and 1998, respectively. With the remasters, we can now play the game with some nice improvements. The background illustrations have been upgraded to HD art, effects have been updated, there are new environmental sounds and battle sound effects, the game will now auto save at certain points, you can auto battle and fast forward through battles, the UI has been refined a bit, there's a new conversation log (this really comes in handy), and much more.
A lot of how I feel about the game comes from its charm due to it still playing largely like a game from the '90s, and I enjoyed it way more than I expected. To avoid spoilers, I won't go too much into the story, but it gave me The Legend of Heroes vibes. The first game spans the world, with you becoming the leader of the resistance against a tyrannical government and the need to find and recruit the 108 stars of destiny to overthrow them. The second game continues three years after the first, with a new war breaking out and you being thrust into recruiting a new 108 stars to overcome calamity.
Both Suikoden 1 and 2's stories are solid, but I enjoyed the second one more. Suikoden 1 felt rushed, and too much happened too quickly to give me a moment's rest, while Suikoden 2 focuses more on character development and fleshing out the story more with an intriguing, memorable villain. There are more twists in the second game that caught me off guard, which was a nice surprise coming from the first game, which was milder. The second game is also a direct sequel to the first, so there are some great scenes that relate to what happened in the past. I won't say more on this, but I will say it is worthwhile to play through both games.
There isn't much direction for what you have to do next, which is where the conversation log comes in. Instead of having any quest log or markers, you get clues from the conversations you have and have to figure out where to go next. While I did get lost one or two times, I was generally able to figure out where to go, and I did enjoy exploring the world.
Suikoden 1 and 2 both have many gameplay elements retained from their original releases, which can make them feel dated in some aspects. Combat is pretty standard for JRPGs, where six people on the field can attack, defend, use magic in the form of runes, and use items. You choose what your six teammates will do, and then everyone will attack in an order dependent on their stats. There are also Unite attacks where some of your party can attack together. With regular battles like this, I appreciate how it's structured. Characters don't attack one by one and will generally help make the battles go faster, which is nice since they are generally slow.
I also want to make a note for some of these camera angles in combat, which I like. It makes the battles feel more dynamic when fighting, and it's awesome.
For progression, characters do level up and only need a fixed amount of experience to go up. It's a great system since it can help quickly level up lower-leveled allies to reduce the need for constant grinding. There is an equipment system where you can equip armor and other accessories, but every character only has one weapon that you can enhance by sharpening. You can also equip runes that give you magic powers, and each character has different slots to note the power of the magic they can use and how many times they can use it.
I like the way progression is handled, especially with the weapons. It's nice that you only have to focus on one weapon, and runes are an intriguing way to handle magic. The biggest issue for me is how inventory is handled. Suikoden 1 makes it so each character has their limited inventory, so equipping new armors and runes could mean scrolling through each ally and what they are carrying to find the right item, and running out of space happened often for me. Suikoden 2 improves on this with a shared party inventory and makes combat a bit more enjoyable with the ability to equip more runes per character. Suikoden 1's mechanics are solid and enjoyable, but the improvements made in Suikoden 2 are night and day.
Other than the regular random encounter battles, there are two other types: major army battles and duels. Both of these are more like rock-paper-scissors games, where you choose one of three options against the enemy, and whoever has the choice that is strong against the other will attack and take more of the enemy’s health. Major battles have one extra mechanic with special abilities, providing different effects like augmenting your attack or attempting to recruit soldiers from the enemy. They aren’t super fleshed out, but it’s a nice reprieve from the usual combat gameplay.
Suikoden 2 also iterates on the major battles, turning them more into Fire Emblem-esque grid combat. We still have a rock-paper-scissors system for which units are stronger against others, but now we can move freely around the field and use special abilities on certain squads. However, if one of your units dies in a battle like this, they could be permanently killed.
The way Suikoden 1 and 2 handle the allies you have is great. You recruit 108 different characters to your cause, who are scattered worldwide. Some are easy to recruit (just talk to them), while others may need more convincing (level up more or beat them at a minigame). It adds a new challenge and puzzle-like element to find and recruit everyone, figuring out what they need, and it was fun walking around to discover who would be fighting alongside me. I also appreciate that not every character is playable, with some providing a service at my base camp (like a storage shed or an item shop) and making me feel like I do not need to grind and work on each character.
Suikoden 2 expands on character development more than the first, making many of the people we recruit more meaningful than just finding a random dancer or gambling with some weirdo in the corner of an inn. It was a nice change, and it made everything I did much more meaningful.
Graphically, the remaster's improvements are definitely felt the most here. The backgrounds look fantastic, the new effects and sound effects are impactful, and it's a joy to run through towns and the world itself. The portraits and sprites also look great, and feel like they fit perfectly within the context of this remaster.
There shouldn’t be any issue playing either Suikoden game on the Steam Deck! They both run wonderfully at 60 FPS, look great, and feel solid. The game does default to 60, and for a good reason. The Steam Deck OLED can technically play the game at 90 FPS by enabling Vertical Sync, but it has terrible frame pacing with some stutters and choppiness that can be felt while moving around and fighting.
You can change the message speed, UI opacity, control type, and volume bars, but that's about it. There aren't really any options in the way of accessibility.
The game doesn't support 16:10 resolutions, but it does support cloud saves and controllers. There are no HDR settings.
Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars is a great remaster of two classic JRPGs that helped define the genre. It plays like a traditional JRPG for the most part, but the story, combat mechanics, camera angles, and progression systems are quite interesting. The improvements don't solve all of Suikoden 1's issues, like the individual inventory system and lack of character development, but it's still worthwhile to play. Suikoden 2 sports some fantastic improvements and is worth playing this way. This collection feels like the definitive version of these classics, and they are definitely worth experiencing.
It also plays exceptionally well on the Steam Deck without needing to change a thing, though I recommend keeping it at the base settings and playing at 60 FPS instead of trying to play at 90. Either way, this is a fantastic collection to play on the go.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster is the definitive way to play these classic JRPGs, even though the first feels more dated than the second. Though they play perfectly on Steam Deck.
