Weapons and armour come with empty slots to fill with Materia that you can purchase or find on your quest and many of them come with linked slots. What seems at first like a simple way of equipping your characters with magic, actions and stat boosts, becomes a system that enables you to link Materia into infinite combinations. The seventh installment saw the implementation of the Materia System. The Final Fantasy series has made a name for itself by reinventing its battle mechanics in each new iteration. The range of options in Suikoden II kept the game feeling constanly fresh and new. Another mechanic that worked well in turn-based battles was that your characters would overlap their attacks resulting in more intense combat and the ability to combine certain characters attacks. Firstly your battle party could consist of up to 6 members out of a possible 108 recruit- able characters, offering a lot of diversity in how you customised your party. The variety was great and the different combat styles fit in with the story, but even the regular battles were full of strategy and new mechanics. Regarded now as a classic, the second game in the Suikoden series build on the foundation of its predecessor and offered tradition RPG battles, Scissors, Paper, Rock style one-on-one duels and massive scale grid-based strategy war combat. The following games made combat fun with game play ideas that were well implemented and developed. Some relied on deep character customisation, while others added team attacks and summons spells to make battles more epic and interesting. Back when turn-based was the popular choice for RPGs, many developers came up with extremely creative ways to add new mechanics to the traditional systems. I have written before that I prefer turn-based battle systems over action orientated ones, but some designs are better than others. If you wish to play an RPG with an intriguing story, over 100 characters to recruit and massive battles then you should play Suikoden II. With all the quality soundtracks from the PlayStation era RPGs, Suikoden II stands tall with the best of them. The “Opening Theme” sets the standard hitting magnificent highs and lows, while the ethereal “Reminiscence” is a beautiful melody. Just like the rest of the game, the music of Suikoden II is epic and ambitious. Suikoden II has a plethora of game play features and also includes great mini-games such as the addicting cooking competition. The stakes are higher in these battles and if characters are killed they stay dead in the storyline. The last combat type is massive grid style tactical battles similar to the Fire Emblem series. The second combat system is one-on-one duels, with each character choosing between three attack options and the winner decided in a rock-paper-scissors style. The regular turn-based battles allow for up to six-characters with unique partner attacks and magic rune spells. The Suikoden series is known for utilising three different types of combat and the second game uses them all wonderfully. The scope of the narrative allows for an unbelievable 108 unique playable characters to recruit to your party, with many memorable and unique faces. Rarely are characters written with this much depth and complexity. The relationship between the silent protagonist and childhood friend Jowy is the highlight of the story and the character development and plot twists are extremely emotional. The two main characters fight both together and apart against Highland to bring peace to the land. The story focuses on the invading army of Highland lead by the destructive Prince Luca Blight and the various City States of Jowston. Released in an age when 3D was the next big thing and developers were pushing themselves to understand the new technology, Suikoden II featured a 2D world with highly detailed and expressive character sprites that works very well to convey the emotional narrative. Set years after the events of the first Suikoden game, this sequel improves upon the good ideas of the original and blends them into an impressive and epic RPG. Suikoden II is a turn-based RPG for the PlayStation that showcased a magnificent political narrative, over 100 playable characters to recruit and featured three different types of combat.
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