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cover-Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars

Tuesday, March 11, 2025 6:44:28 AM

Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars Review (Darkillumina)

A fantastic remaster of two classic PS1 era RPG's.
Suikoden 1 is the lesser of the two remasters and was one of the earliest RPG's on the original PlayStation. It is very much a product of its time with a lot of irritants that are baked into the game such as horrendous inventory management but having said that, it is respectful of your time and you can blow through it on a first play-through in less than 15 hours. It's quick, the battles are snappy and it doesn't overstay its welcome. The plot does move at a breakneck pace which doesn't give important plot beats time to breathe. That being said, clear data from this game transfers to Suikoden II making a playthrough worthwhile even if you find it somewhat archaic.
The remaster does improve some of the functionality by adding a sprint option without a rune and diagonal movement but aside from that you're playing a RPG of its time. There's no markers telling you where to go and if you don't pay attention to the dialogue you might end up lost.
Graphically, the team did wonders with the backgrounds and the music, adding a slick HD polish while retaining the colourful nature of the original. The sprites are well animated and you can tell a lot of love and care went into this one.
Suikoden II is the crown jewel of this collection and perhaps one of the greatest RPG's of all time. It expands on everything Suikoden did and crafts a memorable, mature story that spans two countries and a Republic. It's a sequel to the first in that it takes place three years after but stands on its own. Whereas Suikoden 1 was the team getting their feet wet with the series, II is them doing a triple backflip into the ocean. The lore is expanded, connections are made between differing countries in the Suikoden world, the gameplay and graphics are immensely improved and the mini-games are fantastic.
The remaster for II is similar to the first in that the backgrounds are completely redone along with the score to great effect. The biggest QOL updates here though are getting rid of the timer for certain events and fixing the translation and insane amount of bugs that plagued the original release.
Konami hasn't done much to inspire confidence in recent years, but they knocked it out of the park with these remasters. Highly recommended.
P.S. MVP of the War in Suikoden 1 goes to Gaspar. Single-handily funded the Liberation Army.