Image credit: YouTube walkthrough from Master of Conquest The Little Guy Who Saves You, or "The Do You Leave Him Behind?" momentĪnd your little friend wasn't done. There was more characterization in that moment - I CARED more about that little guy - than I had ever experienced in a game. But you do survive, and it's because the littlest, lamest, most annoying character in your party (who, you're told, is your dearest friend) jumps to the front of the fight and saves you. The Dragon Fightįirst, there was the opening scene where you and your party fight a way too big, way too fierce dragon. They are The Dragon Fight, The Little Guy Who Saves You, the Ever-Changing Base and the Father Fight. How and why, you ask? There are four things, four moments and/or ideas that blew my mind and set Suikoden apart from other JRPGs - other games, really. Ultima IV was probably the game that influenced me the most-there's another whole essay there-but Suikoden may be number two on the list.
And that experience literally changed my life. But I did complete the first Suikoden game. Not the entire series - I confess I've never been able to complete the second or subsequent games in the series. I'm talking about Konami's Suikoden, directed by Yoshitaka Murayama. And that experience literally changed my life"Īnd yet, I want to write about one - one that inspires me to this day, one that informed and continues to inform my own work, different though it may appear. That's what I think of when I think about JRPGs (which isn't very often). I think of party-building and positioning for maximum efficiency in slow-paced, turn-based combat encounters that feel totally artificial and, for want of a better term, "gamey." I think of weapon and spell creation systems that take forever and require excruciating attention to detail on par with (and about as much fun as) doing your taxes. When I think of them, I think of contrived, non-interactive semi-cinematic story elements intercut with random combat encounters, introduced to relieve the tedium of traversing an otherwise empty, uninteresting landscape. This installment was contributed by Warren Spector, studio director for Otherside Entertainment's Austin branch, currently at work on System Shock 3. Why I Love is a series of guest editorials on intended to showcase the ways in which game developers appreciate each other's work.
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