It is, with a bittersweet fanfare, that fans across the globe are able to pick up and enjoy the release of Suikoden I & II HD Remaster. While these classic Playstation titles have finally received their due after nearly thirty years of legacy, the creator, Yoshitaka Murayama, was not able to see the revival of his beloved series. A heavy blow, it’s been one year since Murayama-san has passed, unable to witness the reception of both his original works remastered and his spiritual sequel, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, receiving its release. Still, players should not despair, but rejoice, as gaming takes a bold step forward in resurrecting the classics in the best way possible. Suikoden I & II are now available, on all modern consoles, and I can say these updates make the most out of improving – without watering down – these excellent RPGS.

The gorgeous sepia credits sequence from Suikoden II still remains a bombastic way to start a game.

For JRPG fans coming in cold, breaking the seal on Suikoden I & II is a bit of a return to form, at least in the initial setup. For both tales, you’re dropped in without a meandering intro or protracted soliloquy to explain what’s happening. With the first title, you’re the son of a higher ranking soldier, finally taking part in defending your kingdom through different errands that quickly get you embroiled in the revelation of corruption that exists at some of the highest levels. For the second, you’re a soldier under siege who quickly finds out that their squad has been betrayed in the name of “furthering peace,” and, as one of the sole survivors, it becomes tantamount to stay alive so the truth can be exposed. Both stories are focused on the importance of prioritizing humanity before patriotism, and the timing of re-release, though coincidental, is rather poignant.

There are countless tomes and essays written to describe the importance of the Suikoden mechanics, from the focus on sharpening a single weapon versus collecting multiples to the overwhelming cast of characters that become a party potentials. The static experience system allows for quickly grinding new and low level members, the runic magic system remains adjacent to the classic magic system of the NES Final Fantasy titles, and the battle system of army against army is still an interesting approach to boiling down the complexities of combat into a one in three chance depending on your approach. Suikoden II holds over many of these but with small QOL improvements, like the dual attacks of certain characters cooperating together (very Chrono Trigger adjacent) and just better balancing of inventory and character interaction. A majority of the best known aspects are preserved, entirely, in these re-releases.

Ah yes. The semi-immortal being and powerful magic user, Ted.

As standalone games, Suikoden I & II remain almost boundless in their ambition. The first game contains 111 characters to find and recruit, with several having only single chances to bring on board or risk losing them forever. This allows for a massive amount of content in terms of party customization and strategy, not to mention the almost anxiety-driven level of detail to make sure you talk to everyone and everything before moving on. While a majority of modern JRPGs have side quests that come and go, the Suikoden approach feels more vital, given that the 108 Stars of Destiny are the crux of the entire storyline.

Suikoden II has even more characters to find (coming in at 117), and, in my opinion, these characters have better variety and also a level of detail that feels more granular than Suikoden I. Whereas the first game’s characters were mostly interchangeable save for a handful of necessary story heroes, II will give you characters that may seem useless initially, but reward you for investing your time and efforts (like evolving a Magikarp). Millie, for example, is a totally missable character that also starts very weak and lacks a decent rune. However, if you’re willing to keep her alive and grind, she becomes incredibly flexible and powerful, giving her an upperhand that you wouldn’t receive had you not decided to chip away at her flaws to make her excellent. 

RABBIT FIGHT!

Speaking of chipping away, I do hope you’re ready to fight over and over again in order to make this experience worthwhile. While the recent Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters added in options to get massive EXP boosts or avoid combat entirely, Suikoden I & II HD Remaster has chosen to preserve a lot of the original experience, which means meandering across landscapes and through caves/forests to fight for every square inch of land. While I grew up with this style of leveling, it does create some tedium for the downtime between story beats. As much as Suikoden is drenched in lore and personality, it also wants you to work exceptionally hard to gain the upperhand in terms of forward movement, which means…lots of fighting.

Yet the most important changes for these titles help to reduce your downtime within the game itself. Now auto-battling can take away the pressure of deciding attacks and spells, with the AI being surprisingly competent at choosing sequence order. While it’s not my favorite way to fight, once you reach a threshold of strength that makes the grind easier it becomes a preferred method of engagement. Plus, this stacks well with the new difficulty tier system, which can be adjusted between normal or easy at any point (choosing hard locks you in for the duration). Easy is seriously just that: Suikoden becomes a storymode that asks for nothing but your patience as you gain levels and attract loot.

The dual edge of the remaster also allows a certain DLC package of goodies to be activated from the drop for either I or II. The subsequent items, which boosts the EXP and gold gains of whomever is holding them, were originally incredibly rare items that you had to decide between in the original iterations of the games. Here, Konami has tossed us a bone by giving you both and letting you power level characters through item swapping and patience. It’s not quite as generous as it could be, but it’s still helpful while maintaining the illusion of effort. Combined with auto-battling, level scaling and being able to dash from the start (again, just to speed things along), you’re recovering actual hours of gameplay.

Bro, I’m just trying to get through the game, give me a break.

The biggest change that you’ll notice is the choice of audio and visual upgrades for Suikoden I & II. The remastered soundtrack is, without a doubt, gorgeous and evocative. Unlike the remasters of games from the 8 and 16 bit era, the Playstation releases already were transitioning into a more scored experience, but lacked the hardware to really produce something that was as grandiose as the vision. Ergo, the ability to engage with modern soundchips, speakers and even headphones. The audio engineers have better balanced and channeled the soundscape to make the effect as intended instead of “what we can do.” So when you get to tracks like Sorrow from chapter three of Suikoden I, you can really feel the gut punch intended to match the visuals onscreen.

By comparison, the visuals are…kind of a mixed bag. I appreciate and acknowledge what was trying to be done by the effects team of combining modern high-quality textures and backgrounds with upscales of the classic sprites in order to create a particular motif. Had Suikoden I & II HD Remaster been released before the advent of things like Octopath Traveler or Live a Live’s own HD remaster, the result would have been satisfactory, or even lauded. Truthfully, the way that the different elements have been incorporated to make the landscape really pop with glossy ideas and overly animated segements like rushing water is pleasant, and the contrast with the pixel characters isn’t totally abrasive. It works to a certain effect and, if I thought it was the only thing that could be done, I would have just simply accepted it.

This is too shiny, right? I’m not just a curmudgeon?

However, we have clear evidence that developers and designers are able to take pixel art and elevate it even in a modern realm. Hell, outside of things like the Dragon Quest 3 remake, we still have plenty of titles that have showcased the ability that you can add depth and form to classic concepts and execute them in a brilliant way. Since Suikoden I & II don’t utilize this idea, it feels purposefully, willfully obstinate to embrace something that isn’t even a trend, just a well known and executed medium. There was certainly anticipation for this HD Remaster, and I feel the one thing that we all were least clamoring for was to make everything shiny and awkward.

But the visuals still cannot distract from the incredible heart that beats at the center of this package. You have two JRPGs that were woefully underappreciated in their time (at least by today’s standard) finally getting a platform to perform to a wide, hungry audience. On that note, I would say that, if you’re a JRPG enthusiast who has never played any Suikoden titles, picking up the Remaster edition should be a no-brainer: it’s accessible, it’s affordable, it’s touched up to make life better overall and it’s more functional and convenient than trying to convince yourself that emulating the titles isn’t stealing. You can forgive the glossiness in favor of dedicating countless hours to exploration, reading and grinding, and I will continue to do so gladly. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this deep into a game, and, in many ways, it’s like coming home.

Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars is available now on Steam, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series One X/S and Playstation 4/5.

Reviewed on Xbox One X.

A copy of Suikoden I&II HD Remaster Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars was provided by the publisher.