Ranking the Suikoden Series - Worst to Best [Suikoden 1, 2, 3, 4, 5] 

I personally put 3's story on par with 2.

I was pulling my non existent hair asking "Why Suikoden 2 last" but alas! the list was Worst to Best xD.

Same to me

2’s whole plot, story, flow, everything is just so good

Same!

It's my favorite as well, though for a lot more reasons than that.😂

Awesome! Thank you!

Hope you enjoyed it!

I strongly recommend it, it has personally been my favorite of the series since like 2003. It does start off a little slow but it picks up immensely as you progress. P.s. I strongly recommend making use of the skill tutor very early in the game. Mastering the skills can let you customize your party to an insane degree.

I was thinking the same thing, I played it when it came out, and it was just a bit too different and it turned me off, but I’ve been watching a lot of Suikoden videos lately and said I should give it another shot myself.

Thank you 😊

One of the things I love about 3 is how expressive the characters could be even with their polygons. The models weren't high detail but they had more than enough details to convey emotion and evocate movement really well. It helped sell them as distinct characters which a lot of polygonal models in games have a hard time doing. Also, there's just something about the various clans and how they're represented and the setting that jives so well together. It's one of the games that really feels like there's a bunch of different people living in a specific area, interacting with each other day to day. Just seeing NPCs and recruits pop up in other places and being able to track their movements over time adds so much to making that part of the world feel alive.

I respect the fact that you went back and gave 3 another shot, it totally deserves it. Way too many people are willing to die on the suikoden 3 sucks hill, and I hate it, because they keep spreading the word that it's a terrible game and so nobody gives it the time of day.

Still waiting for someone to fix it.....

When you're playing a jrpg usually people applaud longer play times.😂

It was great, I put it at number one on my ranking.

I feel that is one of the best aspects of 3, you are able to see this huge conflict from multiple different perspectives. On your first play through, you can actually grow to hate some of the other main characters before you see the story from their point of view. I started as Hugo, I wanted Chris's head on a pike by the end of chapter one, but grew to understand her better after playing her part of the story.

they had different world views and views on how they could create peace/harmony prosperity and stability. The whole reason why we stil have wars going on in our modern world.

I need to play 3 and 4 again. It's been over a decade. So easy to just jump into 2, lol

Hoping the remakes bring the whole series to PC. One of the main reasons I got upset with consoles over the decades is the lack of caring about the back catalogue. I go to steam and I still have games from early 2000’s I can boot up mostly no issues lol. These games are very important to me, and should not just be lost to time. As the remakes like RE4 and so on have proven. These games need to be preserved and not just fade away when a single console era ends.

@@joehigashi3584 thanks. I do plan on getting the 1 and 2 remasters eventually. Maybe I will wait till they come out.

Yes you can. While the games are connected and all take place in the same world and sometimes with some characters and minor storylines being in multiple games, they're all stand alone games. They each take place in different regions of the world and at different points in time. The fourth game takes place 150 years before the first and is far to the South geographically in an archipelago. It's just South of the country to the South of the first game's country if that makes sense. So the islands in between the Northern continent where the first three games take place and the Southern continent where the fifth game takes place. This game will be the most secluded due to it being set so many years away from the rest. There will still be some things that connect and some characters that are shared. In particular they go into some detail of the backstory of a character that also appears in the first game here. This game also has a direct prequel/sidestory/sequel game that is actually translated called Suikoden Tactics. It follows another new protag and his small group but you will also recruit a bunch of characters from the fourth game. You really should play both games with S4 before Tactics in order to get the full story though. The second game also has some extra games associated with it but they haven't been officially translated. The fifth takes place 7 years before the first and takes place even more South than the fourth game. This game is geographically the furthest away from the rest and really only ties into the fourth game somewhat in that regard as the Island Nations are to the North but are also blocked off as the North end of the continent is extremely mountainous and so you only really visit one or two Islands for some minor stuff. There will be a good handful of characters in this one though that are from the first two games in the series. They ended up taking very minor background characters in those games and gave them quite a bit of backstory for their younger years. This game also provides a bunch of backstory for an ancient group of people that often spoken about in all the games but never seen as they're supposedly gone. The second game takes place one to two years after the first and is directly to the North/Northwest of the first game. The two areas were even at war during the events of the first game. These are the closest the games get to one another but they're still separate entries entirely. I actually played Suikoden 2 first and I thought the first game was going to be about a war that was often mentioned and seen in flashbacks but the first game wound up being something different entirely. The third game takes place 15 years after the second game and is again, to the Northwest of that area. So the first three games all take place on the same continent. Each game being to the Northwest of the previous. And all three having been at war with the previous game's country in the previous game in some way. This one also fleshes out the story of another country that's often spoken about in all the games but is rarely seen outside of their armies in the other games. There's plenty of Easter eggs involved if you go through them all, especially in numeric order but it's not necessary to do so. It's also fun to go through them chronologically too. It's similar to the Ys series in a way. Each one of those games can be played independently but are all part of a single narrative. It's just that with Suikoden, it's the world's narrative and not a single character's as it is with Ys and Adol being the protag of all the main entries.

@@grahf4215 thank you very much.

@@grahf4215 Another thing to mention is that the first three games could have their save files interact with each other, at least in their original forms. The first game's save file would unlock stuff in the second game, and the second game's save file would unlock stuff in the the third game (if you had a save file that also had stuff unlocked from the first game, it would unlock more in the third game, too). It's optional stuff only but it was still fun to see - mostly books to read that detail the previous game's story, mentions using the names you used of the previous game's player-named aspects, some characters for the second game and theatre plays of the first two games for the third game. Also, while they're very separate story-wise from each game, there's a part of the third that doesn't make as much sense unless you've played at least one of the first two. (A certain character's whole shtick is made deeper if you had met them in the previous games, let's say.) You can certainly play the third first and by itself, but it's not quite as impactful as if you'd played the first and second.

Agree with what has been said. Remasters first, then 3.

Where did you read that theory? I derived that theory years ago, but I've never seen anybody else say it. I even posted my own message explaining it in this videos comments before I scrolled down and found this.

@@missingLEGACY I can’t remember where I first saw that theory. Maybe on Suikodource somewhere? It was at least ten years ago.

@@enigmazero8624 oh, too bad. I was hoping to compare my version to theirs. Thanks for responding though.

Close to mine. And it seems that you're right, with 2 and 4 at both ends.

Finally, someone who agrees with me. We are now friends, this is not negotiable.

Mine got all of the way to the boss fight with the beast rune and froze at the end of the fight. I drove all over town looking for a place that could resurface the disc, but I finally got to see the ending.

You definitely need to get a hold of a copy of 3, in my opinion it is actually the best in the series.

Such a good game! I need to replay it again!

Such a good game! I need to replay it again!

Honestly, I liked Tactics a lot, so I'd put it in #5 position. So, imo, 2 > 5 >/= 3 =1 > T > 4 Tactics kinda makes the characters from 4 better and less of a waste of awesome. Because 4 did have some awesome characters, and they did get some great scenes, just... unfortunate they got trapped in that game. Thankfully they got a second chance to shine more in 4.

Above 4, below 1. I had a lot of fun with it.

@@joehigashi3584 I beat 1st one 20 odd years ago when it came out, so you're probably right; I need to go back and replay to start the series 👍

@@joehigashi3584 Oh, I've got a backwards compatible ps3 bro. I can just hit it up on there, but thx for the heads up!

Three doesn't take it from its core concept, it takes it to its logical conclusion. 3 is a great game, give it the praise that it deserves.

100‰, yes to this.

Ywah, that opening is so good 👍 Also, the suikoden developers actually confirmed that she does not have a True Rune. There's also a bath scene with Lily, where she's confused by not being able to find one on her body.

@@HellFireRPGs Interesting. Well, unless vicky is helping her travel in time it would have to be shannenigans they didn't come around to making.

um you bat shit crazy. Suikoden 1 is the best of the series with the best music

I love this enthusiasm for 3, it's been my favorite Suikoden for 20 years. Though apparently you didn't learn about the suikosource site until later.

We can be casual buddies. How's that?

4 as your 3rd ranked is just objectively wrong.

@@burnyboi There's nothing objective in personal preference :)

Shame on you for putting 3 in last place.

@@missingLEGACY Considered to be one of the worst Suikoden games. You're welcome!

@@Kris95x only by those that don't recognize quality.

the lack of composer Miki Higashino really hurt the franchise as well

I'm not really going to criticize that too much, I'm just happy 3 and 2 were your top two. 3 is king!

The protagonists of three are definitively the best ones, they are the only ones with personalities.

That is certainly your own opinion, but that's fine. We all have opinions. XD As long as 4 is in the last position, I think we can all agree that no matter which of them you love, you're doing it right.

5 is GREAT for wanting to be 2 too much.

@@7thlittleleopard7 We share the same ranking.

Suikoden 1 is still thebest

What justification do you have for putting number one so close to the top? It's so hard to play compared to 2, 3, and five.

Good to see some love for 3!

@@HellFireRPGs I've been trying to convince people of how good 3 is for 20 years. Everyone seems to think that admitting it is a good game, is an insult to Suikoden 2. Nobody seems to understand they can both be great games.

@@HellFireRPGs thanks for the video, by the way.

That kind of goes without saying.

Five was good but three had better characters, and the more intuitive combat system, and was more closely tied to the stories of 1 and 2. Personally I feel it's actually the best in the series.

The soundtrack thing is quite subjective, but I respect your musical choice. But I feel you are greatly misinterpreting the greatness that is Suikoden 3.