#it's not *bad* but i wanted him to be themed around sacrifice just for funsies

[risingsunresistance]

it's not what i wanted him to do but it's as good as it's gonna get for now kjfhgk

[freykugel]

I finally finished Suikoden III. And it was a huge stressful labor. Not even a labor of love. More like obligation? I was on a Suikoden high because I absolutely adore the first two games. And I’m a very forgiving person because if one aspect of the game is absolutely stellar I will move mountains to complete it. But SIII felt like work. I was getting tired. I literally was watching youtube videos of other things 70% of the game. I just really wanted to see if I’d appreciate it more now than I did when I first played it.

Because when I first completed it in like... 2010? I dunno. I had plenty of time. I just needed to go in order of release. Back then it was like just a lukewarm response. Eh it was okay now I can play Suikoden V.

And replaying it now I can’t understand how people love this game.

First off, the music. The music is absolutely lackluster. It’s mildly quirky at best and obnoxiously awful at worst. I don’t understand. Miki Higashino composed a beautiful and iconic soundtrack for the first two games and gave me high expectations. And I hear the Castlevania Symphony of the Night composer did a good chunk of it? But it’s all either so forgettable, awful, or just plain unfitting. I know there are a few duds in the first two game soundtracks but it kept me pumped up. It kept me interested. It made the game move fast. BUT NOT THIS ONE. One of the worst battle themes I’ve ever heard. The life blood of JRPGs is usually in the beautiful music but NOT THIS ONE. I’ve read how people gush over Duck Village and Vinay del Zexay BG music and I’m just--... Your taste is not my taste and that’s okay but the OST does not make me want to play.

Which made it so much more slow and awkward when the music actually LOWERS THE VOLUME DURING CUTSCENES. There’s no voice acting so why the fuck are they lowering the volume?! I don’t fucking understand. It makes it quiet/silent and slow moving. At the very least keep the music BLARING I DON’T FUCKING CARE HOW AWFUL IT IS don’t soften the music because they’re talking. This infuriated me like what the hell ass kind of logic was that?

But continuing on the music train, there is so much back tracking. The majority of the game is just repetitive trekking through the same goddamn forests and towns. Like I said the random encounters and backtracking would be mildly better with a kickass battle theme. But since it’s fucking awful this is made to be an infinitely more arduous chore. I know you can’t just pick and choose location points because it would make Viki irrelevant but FUCKING HELL. My blood pressure goes up just remembering it. Oh I’m out of money I have to fight treasure bosses. Except I’m at Lake Castle and the next location I have to go to is at Mountain Pass. ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE MAP. And the Mt Pass itself is fucking long with a winding path. FUCK. Viki’s presence was waaaay to short in the game. And yeah, she can only show up in chapter 4 because you can’t just have her teleport just one perspective character and no one else. And with no Blinking Mirror you’d still have to slog your way back home. GODDAMN.

Speaking of battle music, the battle system is obnoxious too. You can tell me all about how it brings an added strategic feature to it, like you pair up your melee and magic user so that your melee fighter can tank while your magic user drops their nuke. But fuck that, what if I want to use all six magical nukes. Nope can’t do that. And like what if I wanted Aila to use her Shield Rune while the rest of the group do their SFDF Unite attack? Nope.

And once upon a time I actually preferred the SIII war system because it gave me much more control over the characters. Flash forward to 2017. Nope. Nooooope. I spent more than a couple days with the small free time I had level grinding my fodder characters and raising their weapon levels so they won’t DIE in battle. But Frey, if your time is precious why didn’t you just stop playing? Well it’s tied into the Luc portion of the rant so hold on a moment.

Quick point to say FUCK THE FIXED CAMERA. I kept going back to the previous room or got stuck behind obstacles while I watched ANYTHING ELSE MORE INTERESTING THAN THIS.

Okay now we get into the story portion of the rant. I get what they were trying to do. I really do. I understand splitting the perspectives in three meant there’s going to be repetitive scenes. I understand they were trying to convey the greys of war and shit. BUT IT’S SUCH A WASTE OF TIME. I have already seen this let me skip. What did it add? Nothing only that the one perspective character missed out on some context. 

I do really like Chris and Geddoe less so but he’s okay. Unfortunately Hugo is the odd duck out so to speak. His story is short, boring, and doesn’t really add more to the context. It’s just a kid doing a job, he gets chased, his bestie gets killed, sees the baddies, and canonically he gets chosen to be the Flame Champion. And me being a stickler for canon always choose him to be FC because narratively it makes more sense for Chris to receive True Water from her father and Geddoe keep his True Lightning. But Hugo. Did. Nothing. To. Deserve. It. Like Tir gets shit tossed at him from the beginning and it was awful to have. Riou was forced into a battle against his best friend. Hugo? Rrrr Ironheads and shit.

Which is sad because his mom, Lucia, is the best character ever. Best mom.

Thomas I do actually adore. His chapters were a lovely break. But it could be because they’re short.

Hugo’s FC speech was awful. As charismatic as a slice of bread. Who the fuck can he unite. Nobody. Zexens and Grasslanders and everything in between. There’s so much bad blood between them and Hugo just whips out a few trite Shounen Manga words and then BAM they’re united? Awful awful. I don’t know what Chris or Geddoe say but I can’t imagine that they’d be any better.

I mean, to be fair, in SI and SII the protagonists were silent so they couldn’t even do a speech, but at least you could sort of fill in the blanks. Plus they had a beautiful supporting cast who were strong enough to create a charged atmosphere. Especially with the likes of Viktor and Flik. Here in SIII everyone is just mildly interesting or shitty. There’s no one really who was like FUCK YEAH and truly engaged the army or the player. Just. Mild.

Also let me just say Lulu pissed me off.I know he’s a kid but Louis literally bumped into him and said, “Oh excuse me. Pardon me.” And Lulu goes off on a racist rant about FUCKING IRONHEADS. Like I know you’re a kid and you’ve been raised like this but RNGESUS PLEASE he apologized after accidentally knocking you over. 

Caesar, boy, what a useless tactician haha. Everything he told you to do was common sense. And Albert? I hate Albert too. He makes me uncomfortable in the same way Lucretia did in SV in that he’s so omniscient about everything. Like the entire game was him setting up the dominoes and in the end knocking them down. Plus the ending blurbs on Caesar like, “All your efforts were for nothing el-oh-el because your bro was always one step ahead.”

Apple what the hell ass are your cameos. 

Jimba’s reveal as Chris’ father was terrible and unexplored.

Yun’s self sacrifice for the ritual left no impact. I have no idea why she left such a mark on Chris that she’s referred to in the ending blurbs. I don’t get it.

Okay now for the elephant in the room. Luc. I’ll be honest. I think I played through this entire fucking game because the fandom is enamored with Luc. And maybe it’s because I’m fucking old but I don’t understand it at all. Yeah, he had a semi-permanent spot in my party in SI and SII because of his powerful magic and it was less likely to fail. But what the fuck happened in SIII. In the first two games he was a shit head. He’s a jerk who dropped a golem on you in the first game for funsies and only stuck around because Leknaat told him to. He’s a petulant brat who only bothered to reveal his True Wind Rune because it was piss off Sasarai. But then in SIII all of a sudden he’s a tormented thirty year old man angsting about his existence and the visions he’s supposedly seeing about absolute order and silence. So he goes off to... destroy his Rune and soul so that Hirusaak can’t get all 27? What??? Am I missing something????? Like I would find the entire plot of SIII believable if his characterizations from the first two games were anywhere near close to the one in SIII. Except it’s not? All of a sudden he slam dunked himself into his emo phase? He’s not even acting like a shit lord? Just Crawling in my skin these wounds they will not heal. I don’t get it. Even after playing the Luc extra bonus chapter. Especially after playing it. Just LET’S SPARK A WAR BETWEEN TWO COUNTRIES TRYING TO SETTLE A PEACE TREATY SO WE CAN ENTICE HARMONIA INTO INVADING AND GRAB ALL THE TRUE ELEMENTAL RUNES. I just. What. I’m having such a difficult time just wrapping my mind around this idiot plot ball. Remember the bit where he was like JOIN ME HUGO/FC. SEE THE VISIONS YOU WILL BE TORMENTED WITH AS A TRUE RUNE HOLDER. Bluuuuh. I don’t know. I just don’t.

I didn’t bother with the plays. I didn’t bother with the baths. I didn’t even bother trying to get the Golden Hammer. Which is sad because I discovered new things with the older games when I replayed them. Cook-offs? Bath toys? Wow I just zoomed past them the first time around. But I was ready to be wash my hands of SIII. It’s not for me. I don’t understand the fandom.I don’t understand the love. But you do you and if you happen to adore the game that’s cool. But that’s not where I’m at.

I might have been super forgiving and loving towards this game if it were infinitely shorter. Like, SI definitely has its problems. You can’t sprint without a Holy Rune, the inventory system was fucked, and so many characters are such bullshit (I am the Window Man I live and breath windows here let me swap them out for you.). Even SII like Nanami I love her but I also hate her what the fuck Nanami why would you fake your death and hurt your brother like that. And all those bugs I GAVE YOU TWO SPINACH SEEDS WHY DID IT DISAPPEAR. But SI was short and sweet and SII had beautiful pixel graphics and popping characters. SIII had awkward bulky graphics, terrible music, and it DRAGGED ON FOREVER. Literally over 70 hours. I wasted 70 hours of my life. I can’t get them back. I just wanted to refresh my memory of it.

This was all my fault I know. I just wanted to rant.

Let me just say one good thing was that I do really like the added skills. It added an extra layer in creating a diverse team. Also with Support Characters I get extra help from NPCs who would otherwise just rot in HQ.

Okay I’m done.