While Suikoden’s release in Konami’s 2025 combo package was welcome and closed a surprisingly long-lived gap in the recent cavalcade of rereleases and remasters, Suikoden II was arguably the real star of the show. It was well-regarded by those who were able to play it in the ‘90’s but legendarily high-priced on the secondhand market, so this year’s multiplatform release is a good opportunity for those not wishing to get a second mortgage to play this classic. But as with Suikoden, we’ve got to ask: does it continue to shine, and is there something of value we can see with eyes of faith? Suikoden was a pleasant surprise on that front. For Suikoden II, the answers to both questions are a little more complicated. Suikoden II both expands on and amplifies the themes it shares with its predecessor, making for a richer plot. However, gameplay and pacing suffers a bit as a result, giving the player a sense of higher highs and lower lows.
From an aesthetic standpoint, there are few differences between Suikoden and Suikoden II, at least in their modern forms. The perspective used in outdoor environments can still feel a little off, and the groundedness of the setting sometimes makes it feel drab in comparison to its more colorful contemporaries. However, Suikoden II’s character sprites are even better than Suikoden’s, with animations brimming with lively charm. There’s also some environmental and lighting effects used in Suikoden II that for some reason weren’t deployed in the Suikoden remaster. The soundtrack continues to establish an atmosphere, but there aren’t many stand-out melodies. (There is one army battle theme that may be too repetitive for its own good.)
Suikoden II’s gameplay is a minor iteration on Suikoden’s. Old-school JRPG friction remains, though it’s shifted to different corners of the game. The frustrations around inventory management are significantly reduced with the introduction of a shared party bag. Characters can also equip up to three magic runes as opposed to just one, giving you more options in battle. Unfortunately, new frustrations are introduced as part of character recruitment. It takes longer to progress the story to the point where you have the characters necessary to perform fast-travel to and from your base, making recruitment feel more like a chore in general and particularly early on. Characters’ recruitment requirements also just felt more obscure. Of particular note is a timed sidequest necessary to hiring a pair of characters. You can, when you start a new save file, turn that timer off, but the consequences for choosing not to were not obvious to me. An ill-founded sense of pride in my RPG qualifications led me to leave the timer on thinking I’d get the more authentic experience, but this is a case where such a design is better left as just “the old way”.
Standard party battles and duels are largely the same, but army battles underwent a substantial rework. The rock-paper-scissors tactics remain in part, but are part of a grid-based strategy RPG minigame. While the increased depth for the army battles would otherwise be welcome, it is almost never realized, because of how heavily scripted each army battle turns out to be. Early on the scripting serves the story, forcing you to feel the weight of loss against impossible odds. When that keeps happening, though, you come to expect it, and you’re reminded you’re playing a game.
Weighing down some game mechanics in service of the story still mostly works for Suikoden II, since its plot is so strong. It’s set up similarly to its predecessor: you quickly become a political target of your former home and assemble a fighting force against its growing tyranny. This time, however, you’re an orphan raised with two other children, Jowy and Nanami. Jowy’s not an orphan, but rather a boy from the town who makes fast friends with the hero and trains with him from youth. Nanami becomes an adoptive big sister, and her good-natured protective spirit never wanes with age. You and Jowy join the army of the Highland Kingdom during a dispute with the City-States of Jowston, but are separated from your countrymen after you witness an act of treachery. Initially you and Jowy are able to travel together to try to survive, but the heroes are separated again after an encounter with a True Rune. It’s probably not too much of a spoiler to say their paths cross again, and not necessarily peaceably.
Suikoden II’s story benefits from a slow-burn approach, where once again the magical macguffins take a back seat to an adventure that’s really about a competition between different visions of the good. Undoubtedly there’s more to the Suikoden world’s True Runes seasoned series veterans can or have gleaned, but what stands out is the political, military, and philosophical conflict. This is not a game about saving the world from the depredations of a mustache-twirling extradimensional demigod – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Instead, Suikoden II is about maintaining personal virtue, honor, and freedom in a world where fear, political expediency, and ambition become the coin of the realm.
On the spiritual value front, there’s not much that can be said without spoilers – and given the similar framing to Suikoden, everything we covered about the original still applies. There’s still a strong emphasis on choosing what’s right even at personal risk, and perhaps a heightened sense of responding to vocation with Suikoden II’s iteration of the True Runes. Finally, the series’s hallmark, recruiting up to 108 heroes, again reminds one of our belonging to the mystical body of Christ through the Church. The heroes are drawn from all walks of life and have vastly different capabilities, but are united under something that transcends all of them.
Overall, there’s much to commend about Suikoden II, but not without qualification. There were certainly scenes I will not soon forget, both for their moving writing and expertly-framed direction. In fairness, I was positively predisposed anyway, since playing it at all was the chance to experience what had always been an out-of-reach classic. However, there are aspects of the game that have not aged as well, and even feel like a step back compared to Suikoden. If you enjoyed Suikoden, are a patient genre fan, or are a series completionist, I think you’d enjoy Suikoden II. If not, but you retain some interest in the story, maybe just keep an eye on the animated adaptation slated to release next year.
Scoring: 80%
Story: 4.5/5.0 – The story is the main strength of Suikoden II, with a relatively grounded tale about competing visions of what is right.
Gameplay: 3.5 – Ambitious army battle overhauls and odd design decisions that slow down side character recruitment hold the game back. Classic JRPG fans will be fine, but I’d imagine it’s a chore for newcomers.
Aesthetics: 4.0 – Visually strong, particularly with character animations in combat. Musically, though, Suikoden II doesn’t quite measure up to genre greats.
Morality/Parental Warnings
Violence: Suikoden II is a war story that involves dark magic used for nefarious ends. As such, there is a grimness and intensity to the treachery and deaths that occur, but I do not recall anything gruesomely depicted on-screen. What is shown is what would be required to tell you what’s going on, not to revel in the gory details.
Innuendo: As was the case in the original, there’s bawdy talk from some of the rougher characters. There’s also tropey romantic infatuation between a young girl and an older man who is clearly not interested in reciprocating. It’s intended to be comical, but I think it elicits more cringes than laughs.
