Suikoden: Tierkreis (Nintendo DS)

The game is excellent. The best RPG on DS and Zoverstocks did a great job sending it overseas in such a short time.

I'd heard very good things about this game. I was not disappointed. It's a very easy to pick up RPG and difficult to put down. If you like the Final Fantasy series, Dragonquest or Golden Sun then you will love this!

I loved the original suikoden on the playstation 1. The last one for the playstation 2 was not bad. This one looks promising but I wish I didn't have to listen to the dialogues. The voices in american accents are awful. The feel of the game is not like the suikoden one knows but as I have hardly played anything (I couldn't continue with the sound on) I will have to review it again when I start proper. So far ok visually but not with sound on. Also I then tried to change the language settings to see if it would sound better in german but am unable to go back to reset the language ? why?

Buy this DAMN GAME. One of the best games on the DS in fact I played it twice. RPG FANS UNITE

Suikoden Tierkreis is the latest in the popular rpg series from Konami. Although it shares a name and several gameplay elements with the previous games, that's where the similarities end as this game is set in a whole new world and abandons many of the gameplay staples fans have come to know.Whilst the central idea of gathering 108 characters remains, gone is the rune based magic and skills system in favour of a much simpler one where you assign each character four different skills from a rather limited set.Also gone is the weapon sharpening and now you can equip your characters with weapons and armour as you please. Whilst this theoretically adds a level of customisation never seen before, you'll find yourself always plumping for the strongest thing available every time and this tends to make all your characters a bit samey, losing the individuality they had in previous Suikoden games.Battles parties consist of four main members and a support member who gives special abilities like extra experience or healing at the end of each turn. You still get unite attacks but as I said before, the new magic system uses MP rather than the limited uses of older games.The game looks amazing, with 3d characters on pre-rendered backdrops. I'd go so far as to say it looks as nice as Final Fantasy VII did. The music is great too with a few reworkings of old Suikoden tunes and some new stuff. The voice acting is pretty terrible (Although still better than Suikoden Tactics') with a lot of the characters sounding sped up, probably to same space on the cartridge. You don't have to listen to any of it though and if you're a fast reader you can skip through most conversations very quickly.The plot is interesting enough to keep you wanting to know what happens next. You get a steady flow of characters to keep things fresh (Although they aren't different enough to necessarily use many of them) and the optional recruits are suitably tough to find although none of them overly so. The game is a little easy it has to be said with the return of the series very easy battles but this is not really a game you're likely to be buying for the combat system.Also, I have to say this is one of the funniest rpgs I've played in a long time. The main character is very funny, for once not being the cliched angsty teen you see in so many jrpgs and I've laughed out luod more than once while playing this game.If you're a fan of the series you'll enjoy this, it's certainly better than Suikoden 4 and Tactics although not as good as 1, 2 or 5. If you're new to the series, this is a fairly traditional Japanese rpg but as good as anything else on the system currently.It's probably worth getting this sooner rather than later as I don't think it'll be on sale long. Amazon didn't have any in stock until a couple of weeks after it was released and GAME have never heard of it.Worth a look if you're into this kind of thing.

If you're familiar with the Suikoden games on Playstation 1 and 2, then bare in mind this installment is a big departure from the main series. Suikoden Tierkreis does not relate to any of the previous Suikoden titles. Its set in an entirely new world, with entirely new characters. There are no characters from any of the other Suikoden games. The magic system is totally different - instead of Runes, characters receive "Marks of the Stars", which allow them to use attack, support and healing spells, as well as performing weapon techniques. Also, there are no blackmiths. Instead of having a personal weapon that they upgrade, characters can actually equip various different types of weapons, from swords, axes, maces and bows to spears, throwing knives, claws and wands.What DOES remain from other Suikoden games is the concept of uniting the 108 Stars of Destiny. To those not familiar with the Suikoden series, this means recruiting 108 characters to join your cause, including warriors, sorceresses, assassins, hunters and some colourful humanoid characters. Almost every character you recruit can be used in battle, either to fight enemies, or provide support, such as healing or increased strength or agility. Some support characters even let you instantly wipe out a group of low level monsters, which is handy if you want to travel quickly without having to waste time fighting battles that won't even give you many useful experience points. Co-op attacks are also included in this game, so if you line up certain characters with eachother, i.e. characters who are siblings, rivals, lovers or have a parent/child relationship, then they can perfform a united attack that does extra damage to enemies. Related characters also protect each other if one of them becomes critically wounded in battle - this is one of the unique aspects that has appeared throughout the entire Suikoden series, adding to story value as well as enhancing combat. The down side? Unfortunately, you can only use 4 fighters in your travelling party at a time. This includes your main character, who can never be swapped out, so in reality, you only have three slots available to choose from your ever expanding entourage of multi-skilled fighters. There is a 5th slot available, which is for your support character, who does not become involved directly in battle. This game would have surely benefitted from having the 6 member party system from most other Syuikoden games, to add more versatility to combat and mission situations, but unfortunately it is lacking.GRAPHICSThis game blends 2d and 3d visuals together. The 2d graphics are beautiful. Character portraits are nicely drawn, with different expressions according to how they respond to conversation, and many of the environments look hand painted, much like the colourful backdrops you'd see in an anime movie by Miyazaki.The 3d graphics are not so impressive. Character polygons are quite ugly, with very cartoonish stubby proportions, so they all look like munchkins and certainly do not resemble their more attractive 2d portraits. Monsters appear slightly better than the characers, but I honestly do wish they had kept the entire game in 2d, for consistency if nothing else. But there are some nice anime style cutscenes when a major event occurs.MUSICI have a love/hate relationship with the music to this game. Some of the tracks are utterly gorgeous, and sound very high quality for a handheld game. It's like a tiny orchestra playing inside your DS. Unfortunately, as with other Suikoden games, Tierkreis suffers from the annoying Head quarters music, which builds up into an annoying fanfare after you've recruited a large number of allies. This music will have you turning the volume down to stop your ears from bleeding. Another annoying feature which should have been left out of this game entirely is the background music which kicks in everytiem you visit a shop. You're walking around a town or village with a beautiful folk song playing in the background, then as soon as you approach the shopkeeper, a blasting theme starts ringing in your ears to annoy the hell out of you. This does not occur in the earlier Suikoden games, so you can just listen to the nice BGM while you shop leisurely. Why Konami included a shopping soundtrack is completely beyond me. And another thing - While you're travelling the contryside or mountains or dungeons, the BGM restarts after every enemy encounter. This is another inconvenience that Konami could have easily avoided, but you will spend a lot of this game turning down the volume, or playing in mute while you have your own music playing on your sterio or ipod.SOUND FXNothing particularly special about the sounds in this game, all battle sounds are pretty computerish. The game does have voice acting, but no "huh" or "yah" during battle. Some fot he voice acting is OK. some of its quite poor. For some reason, the main character talksincrediblyfastsoyoucanbarelymakeoutwhathe'ssaying. Good thing the dialogue text is always present.STORYSuikoden games usually thrive on a deeply engaging story, which explores how different characters and their cultures respond to a corrupt government, and the threat of war looming. There's usually a very human story that comes before the magic and monsters. Suikoden Tierkreis is not a war story. This time, the fantasy aspect takes more of a front seat. Its about a cult-like organisation called "The Order" who are trying to convert all the towns to a kind of religion so they can avert the impending apocalypse. Meanwhile, there are disasters occuring all over the continent, and it is discovered that these events are not natural, but in fact caused by different worlds colliding with each other. It then becomes your quest to unite the remaining free-thinkers who refuse to follow The Order, and to recover a set of magical objects to help you vanquish the evil force that is trying to merge the worlds. See what I mean? Not a lot of political intrigue going on here, but a lot of magical spectacle. But in spite of this, the story is still heavily character driven. We do get to know each character's personality quite intimately, and the dialogue is incredibly witty. I laughed out loud quite a few times throughout the game. And thanks to a nice little feature that gives you many different side quests, even the most minor characters get their chance to shine in the spotlight, as you help them with mini missions to reunite them with lost loved ones or just to investigate some locales they might be interested in, providing clues to their backgrounds.GAMEPLAYSuikoden Tierkreis does not exactly utilise Nintendo DS technology to its full potential. The stylus is used to control the main characer around the maps and give commands during combat - nothing that can't be done with a d-pad. There is no use for the DS microphone. The top screen is only there to show a fancy landscape painting of the location you're in, and to show the stat screen after winning a battle. If you want an RPG with innovative gameplay that fully utilises DS technology and provides a challenge, I suggest you go for Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks. Suikoden Tierkreis is more of an easy night in kind of game, with a lot of point, click, repeat. Most of the enjoyment comes from experiencing the story and character development, which may not be to everyone's taste.

I would love to write a long review about why this game is so good, but I feel people should play it to believe it. It's such a fun game without being too bogged down. I like the fact you get side-quest misions instead of the 'one way' path. The characters are good enough that you actually care about them, the story people may say is not the most orginal, but how many RPG stories are? It still keeps you interested.As soon as I played it I ended up playing it all night. It's very addictive, I find it is pretty easy, so hardcore players might be annoyed at first. Yet it does get harder later on, really it's up to you to take harder quests if you're looking for more hardcore stuff.Don't know untill you tried (the motto of this game lol).