Rhapsodia (aka Suikoden Tactics)

[Dessa]

Okay, so Rhapsodia Suikoden Tactics came out yesterday. Basically, it's Gaiden for Suikoden IV. It starts before IV, and ends after IV.

That being said, I've only actually played the first two maps. And I'm gonna have to restart, 'cuz I didn't realize that clear data isn't good enough for the bonus (not that I care about getting Snowe, but getting Hero IV is nice).

The graphics in the game are AWESOME. You start out in that back alley of Razril, and it looks so much nicer than it did in IV. The character portraits are pretty nice, too (I've only seen a few characters, though), and the sprites look good. The enemy sprites remind me so much of the Furfurs from Suiko 2 (I was fighting hairballs).

The music in the game is really good. Definitely up to Suikoden standards. Speaking of the music, the first printing of the game comes with a limited edition soundtrack. Track 1 is the main theme of the game (better if you watch it in the actual game, though, since the actual opening is longer than 30 seconds... BTW, the opening is gorgeous, but it quickly goes into gameplay). Tracks 2-6 are in-game music (start of battle, battle, caravan, quest guild, and I don't know the others). 7 and 8 are new arrangements from Suiko 1 (Lovely, 8 is "Theme of Narcicism"), 9 and 10 are from Suiko 2 (new arrangements, of course), 11 is from Suiko 3, and 12 is from Suiko 4. 13 is from Suiko V, and makes me want the game more.

Gameplay wise, it's a strategy RPG. It plays like a fairly standard SRPG, except you can give spaces elemental affinities (sorta like you could in La Pucelle Tactics, except these stay until you change them (I think)). It works the same way that the elemental rune circle does (Water over Fire, Fire over Wind, Wind over Earth, Earth over Lightning, Lightning over Water). If you're on your own element, it heals you, and if you're on your opposing element, it hurts you.

There are also icons on the screen which tell you who you can attack, who needs help (they get a little "+" medical sign over them when they're low on HP), who's on their affinity, who's on their opposing element, etc. I just haven't figured out how to get the little in-game explaination to work... but it's all in the book.

Scenes are done both in battle and in your camp (or caravan, as it's called). I don't know how the caravan scenes work, but the in battle ones are on the map. They're not necessarily during battle, and the characters aren't restricted to their squares, so they look really nice (Suikoden should've stayed 2D).

Now, my beef with the game. Suikoden IV had touch-and-go voice acting. Some were good, some were not. But, at least you could skip over the voices by quickly going to the next dialogue box (provided it's not a cutscene). Unfortunately, you can't do this in Tactics, and have to wait until they're done speaking. For the characters that are voiced good, this isn't bad, but for others... I'm sorry, but if they weren't going to give me a Japanese voice option, they should not have given the main character to Mona Marshall. I like her work, but not as an RPG main character. Why couldn't I have had Paku Romi!!! Although Seneca is voiced really good by Faye Valentine's VA (don't know her name off the top of my head), I'd rather have Mitsuki Saiga doing her voice... much different voice.


I'll post more thoughts as I get further.

[Lovely]

Yay~ Thanks for starting this thread Des.
Now me personally, I probably won't be playing Rhapsodia. Due to my dislike of strategy games in general AND due to my trying to forget Sui 4 .

Buuuuuut, For those who like strategy games, I think it's good for people to get the info. I don't know, I want Sui games to do well.


So, for strategy game fans in general, is the game acceptable?

[Dessa]

Oh, Lovely, you need to play this. It's not so much of a strategy game (like stuff like Dark Wizard or Fire Emblem), but more of a Suikoden game with strategy elements. It actually reminds me a lot of Namco x Capcom and La Pucelle Tactics.


Here's my stuff on gameplay, now that I am many, many hours into the game (I spent 3 hours on one map today... grrrrrr).

Okay, so when you start your battle, you get your victory and defeat results (just like in Suikoden 3's army battles), followed by your set-up screen. During set-up, you can choose which characters go into battle, view the map, change options, or start the battle. When you choose characters, you can also choose to mount your characters (if you have mounts and the character can mount the creature), change equipment, or change equipped skills (yes, the skills from Suikoden 3 are back). Once everything is to your satisfaction, you can start the battle.

Once in battle, the order characters move is determined by their speed (just like any Suikoden game). The faster the character, however, the more often their turn will come up as well. Meaning fast characters may have multiple turns before slower characters.

When it's your character's turn, you have a variety of options to choose from. Standard for any game which involves moving or a grid, "move" is the first option. The distance each character can move is determined by their "move" stat. The next few options are standard Suikoden options: "Attack," "Rune," "Item," and "Cooperative Attack" (aka Unite, aka combo, aka whatever else Konami and their idiotic translators have translated it as). The next two options are not always available. The first is "talk," which is only available if a character is adjacent to another character that they can speak with. The next is "mount," which, as I explained above, is only available if that character can mount, and if you have creatures to mount (I have 4 right now... two Kangacorns and two owls). The next option becomes available after a specific point in the game, and is "Switch." The final two options are "Status" and "Standby."

Now, each of the options explained:
Move- Move your character. Pretty obvious. Icons will appear over your character and/or allies and/or enemies. Over your character may appear a happy face or a sad face. Happy faces indicate that the space you are moving to (i.e. the cursor is on) is of the same element as your character (stat bonuses + healing each turn), and sad faces mean that it's your weakness element (stat minuses + damage each turn). A single sword over an enemy means that that enemy can attack you their next turn (either from where they currently are, or where they can move to). Crossed swords over an enemy indicate that you can attack them, but they potentially could counter you and attack back. A sweatdrop indicates you can do damage, and a halo (took me forever to figure out what it was) indicates you can bring their HP to 0 and remove them from the battle. Over allies, a "+" means "heal me," and a set of lips with talk lines coming out means that you can talk to them.
Attack- Your basic attack. Works the same as in standard Suiko games. You pick which enemy (in range) you attack.
Rune- Like in standard Suiko games, you can choose which Rune and which spell to use. However, unlike standard Suiko games, even attack Runes have a set number of uses. Casting times have also carried over from Suikoden 3. Some spells are still instantanious, and the time that spells take depends on (I'm assuming) the magic level of the character. More powerful characters cast spells faster (like my "next slot" casting time for Hero IV's level 2 spell...). A lot of people didn't like casting times from Suikoden 3, but I thought it gave it a more realistic feel to it. And other games have done it as well.
Item- use an item. However, you do have to be within range. Different types of items have different ranges.
Cooperative Attack- Ah, Unites. However, like Suikoden IV, you have to earn them. Unlike Suiko IV's "have characters in party together for enough battles," Rhapsodia's unites are based on "Good Will" (think your affection points from Star Ocean). Good Will is raised by talking (unites are also learned by talking), and Good Will also influences characters assisting or protecting characters in battle.
Talk- Not always available, but occassionally you can talk to other party members. Talking will always raise Good Will, and occassionally let you learn Cooperative Attacks.
Mount/Dismount- Get on/off a creature. You have to have the creature (and it be available), and that character has to be able to ride it (not everyone can ride every creature).
Switch- Switch the character with a character who has not been in battle. If you switch someone out, you can't switch them back in.
Status- View the character's status. You can also view others' status by hitting "O" before doing anything, and hitting "X" on them.
Standby- End your turn. Each turn you can do a maximum of "Mount/Dismount" (anytime before Attack, etc), "Move" (must be before Attack, etc.), "Attack" (or Rune, Item, Cooperative Attack, or Talk), and then end with Standby.

Battles, btw, are NOT easy. As I said, I was stuck on one battle for 3 hours. In those 3 hours, I had to have at least 10 tries. Because, this IS a Suikoden game. So, people CAN die. If a party member (or allied unit) has their HP brought to 0, they either "Withdraw" (unusable, not dead), or "Die" (gone permanently). The only way to get a dead character back is to A, restart the battle (under "retry" in the system menu), or fail the mission and choose "continue" (in which you will retain all levels earned, same as any Suikoden game).




Story-wise, it's very intriging, and darker than most of the other games. It also validates Suikoden IV. After the first couple of hours, you will understand in detail the exact "what, why, how"s of the final boss of Suikoden IV. I just got a scene with a bunch of backstory on Cray (Cray's story has some very interesting reflections to Suikoden II). And seemingly minor characters from Suikoden IV end up being major characters (Fredrica, whom I just got, Pablo, who I barely even remembered). I'm currently trying to figure out how to get Jeanne.

[Lovely]

dessa said:

Battles, btw, are NOT easy. As I said, I was stuck on one battle for 3 hours. In those 3 hours, I had to have at least 10 tries.

Aaaaand, that little sentence basically sums up why I don't like strategy RPG's. I prefer exploration and quick battles to loooooooong map battles. I don't have the patience or the attention span for it.
I wasn't even a big fan of the occasional "war battles" in Sui 2 ^^; (though I love Sui 2 and all.)

The fact that Rhapsodia has a story and makes IV have a POINT makes me happy though . Especially the fact that you mentioned they build up Cray's story, who was just woefully undeveloped in IV.

EDIT: Oh yeah, but If I find Rhapsody used and cheap one day I'll probably buy it. Simply because I have collectors mentallity .

Also, Capcom x Namco is a strategy game 0_o . I always assumed it was a fighting game ^^;.

[Dessa]

Lovely-chan... there is a difference between a "Strategy" game and a SRPG (at least how I see it)

A strategy game is something like Fire Emblem or Dark Wizard. All you do is move around on a map. An SRPG is like a regular RPG, except it uses D&D elements like movement.



And I was stuck on the battle for 3 hours 'cuz I kept letting Paula die... I refuse to let my characters die... but now I might have to restart, 'cuz I missed getting Karl!!