Suikoden/YMMV

• Broken Base:
  • Despite getting solid reviews and considered one of the better RPG outings on the DS, Suikoden Tierkreis annoyed many fans due to its lack of Continuity Nod.
  • Suikoden III was this before Tierkreis. Despite getting excellent reviews from most markets, the fanbase was broken, largely over changes to the battle system. ** For some, the multiple protagonists.
  • Worth noting is that it was a very dramatic breaking; most fans either thought it was Ruined FOREVER or it wasn't at all. Comes up more often than any game besides II in most "Best Suikoden" threads in forums.
  • Suikoden IV got it even worse for limiting the player to four party members, upping the random encounter rate, and shortening the overall length of the game (it's not hard to beat the whole thing in 20 hours with 108 stars, whereas it's nearly impossible to get through III in under 40 or so), and being set 150 years before all the other game... so the only returning characters are/were very minor in their previous/later appearances. Particularly, the combination of the smaller party size and shorter game made it very hard to get to know most of the cast.
• Complete Monster: Neclord and Luca Blight (and how!)
• Crowning Music of Awesome: Every game has at least one track which is just plain awesome either due to the music itself or the scene in which it's played.
  • II gets several, particularly the opening sequence before the title screen, Gothic Neclord, and The Chase ~ Battle Against Luca.
  • Though it has several of its own as well, V's is arguably Determination ~ Tragic Battle which you hear bits and pieces of in several spots in the later half of the game, but it isn't played in full and you don't get its full impact until the battle versus Sialeeds.
  • As a whole, III's soundtrack wasn't quite as memorable, but this opening sequence = instant goosebumps.
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Viktor and Flik
• Game Breaker:
  • Viki in Suikoden V, whose powerful Chain Magic ability- once trained up- lets her cast incredibly powerful spells twice in a row at no additional MP cost, letting you wipe out enemies with astounding ease. Not to mention Zerase's completely overpowered Star Rune, and Richard's godly stats.
    • Viki isn't quite so broken as she seems; her non-removable Blinking Rune isn't that great, and the position it's stuck in means that she can never equip a Magic Absorb Rune. Meanwhile, the Magic Absorb Rune itself is even more of a game-breaker in that game — in earlier games, it recovered a single spell of the lowest level only, 15% of the time when your attacks hit. In V, for some reason it recovers a spell of any level, 100% of the time, every single attack — including high-level spells that, for most of the game, you would otherwise only be able to cast a handful of times over the course of a level, boss fight, or whatever. With a Magic Absorb Rune, you can cast them every other round and never run out.
  • How on earth did this section exist without Emily (Ronnie Bell's daughter) from Suikoden III? Train up Emily, give her a Fury or Double-Strike rune and watch her obliterate any boss in one round before they even have a chance to make one move. Her only limitation is that she doesn't have Continual Attack, which Juan does (he starts every battle asleep, though.)
  • In Suikoden IV, the team of the hero, Kika, Ted, and Snowe is also considered a Game Breaker, because of the astounding ease at which they can take down any opponent. In fact, Kika alone could be considered a Game Breaker, since her Falcon Rune does about 3x her normal damage, never misses, can be used infinitely, and has no apparent drawbacks. Slap a Fury Rune on her and you've got a character capable of one-shotting almost any non-boss.
  • Sheena can be turned into a Game Breaker at higher levels in II.
  • The more powerful unite attacks in the series can become this as well.
  • Georg in V can be a Game Breaker in the right hands. Although slapping a Double-Edged Rune on him is risky, since his magic defense is poor, he can pretty much rip a huge hole in almost anything with one on. For that matter, Isabel, Mathias and Miakis have devastating setups too.
  • Tir and Kai's Combination Attack in I. Auto-hits every enemy in the fight for twice normal damage. Say goodbye to random encounters that last more than one turn. Tir also happens to have a spell that means instant death to every non-boss in the fight... which always works, unlike instant death attacks in nearly every other game.
  • In the first game, if you manage to find the final water rune and the final wind rune and manage to have two people in your party use their final spells, you will hit all of the enemies on the screen For Massive Damage and heal most of your health at the same time. This is particularly useful for the later boss fights, especially the last boss fight.
  • In the first game, there are a couple of exploits for taking a detour from The One True Sequence. Before going to the castle, go outside, alone, and run away from enemies until you find three BonBons. Easy kill, and hey, level 9! After that, you have a choice of going to Sarady either by yourself or with Ted. I suggest getting Ted for more durability in the fights, and because you get a Prosperity Rune (double money) instead of a Fortune Rune.
• Magnificent Bastard: The evil inclined Silverbergs tend to turn into these. Strangely enough, so does Jowy.
  • Why not include Shu (from II) in there while you're at it? I mean, look at his strategies: Using poorly-armed members of the North Window Base as a diversion, as well as throwing poor Pilika out as crossbow shield too.
• Memetic Badass: Georg Prime, the Chuck Norris of Suikoden universe.
• Moral Event Horizon: Many of the villains indulge in this, but it is Luca Blight who takes it to an art form.
• Narm: In the first game, Viktor ruins a legitimately cool/dramatic scene on confronting Milich with this one line:

Black Rune, Pink Balloon, what's the difference!? This scoundrel killed Gremio!

• Nightmare Fuel: All of the games have this in one form or another and in varying intensities
  • I set the bar with Gremio's horrible death by being dissolved alive by flesh-eating spores. This is all the more nightmare-inducing by the fact that Tir is right on the other side of the door within earshot of any and all death wails Gremio may have made.

Gremio: The spores are at my feet. I can't see anymore.

• • The Zombie Dragon definitely qualifies for this trope.
  • II has Luca Blight - period. Of course, what happens to Muse is bad too, but Luca still takes the cake.
  • Luc's motives and claims at the end of III could be potentially traumatizing.
  • The fact that the Rune of Punishment slowly kills its user every time he uses it could count as one of IV's.
  • V - Childerich and Nether Gate in general.
  • Cosmic Retcon. That is all.
• Player Punch: Nearly every game in the series contains at at least one star's death in the storyline and one important character's betrayal; generally, the main death is reversible or avertable if you collect all 108 stars of destiny, while the betrayal is not. These all tend to be player punches to some degree... At least one person went into deep mourning after Sialeeds' betrayal in Suikoden V. A much, much worse Player Punch is Lyon's sudden death, though this can be averted with Hundred-Percent Completion.
  • Almost any scene involving Pilika in Suikoden II. Also Nanami's "death" scene in Rockaxe.
    • What!? Nothing on the deaths of Yun and Jimba in III?! You can't reverse either one, which makes this Troper sad because the only time to use Jimba is before you start the Cyndar Ruins story.
  • It's not a death, but, what about when Jowy went to visit the nice lady that took you, your sister, your ward and him in, after the trio were exiled for a crime they didn't commit and knifed her?
• The Scrappy: We may as well rename the second to last Star as 'The Star of Scrappies' since it mostly produces hatedom-generating characters, such as Krin, Hoi, Guillaume... (Roy is debatable due to his story importance). There's also Kenji (not of the same Star), who is disliked due to his ridiculous fighting style. I mean... using aerobics and jogging to fight!? Can't forget Snowe either.
  • It's worth noting that Guillaume is a French, overweight, cheating, dog kicking, lying paedophile. It's safe to say he at least was intentional.
    • Guillaume is not human.
• Tear Jerker: A lot from the first game. See Heroic Sacrifice above. These are all devastating, but particularly Gremio's death who still moves many fans to this day.
  • Also the destruction of Kirkis, Sylvina, and Stallion's home, the Hidden Elf Village.
• That One Boss: There were a good amount of these, but the Zombie Dragon from the first game is specifically memorable here.
  • Fire Kills Zombie, Bitches.
  • No mention of Sonya Shulen? She's insanely fast so she almost always attacks first before half your party. She takes half-damage from all magic, counter attacks like crazy, and spams a powerful magic attack that can take out your melee fighters in two turns.
  • Luca Blight, too. I mean, come on. Subverted if you're Genre Savvy enough to equip items that reduce fire damage.
• That One Sidequest: Assembling all of the Stars of Destiny.
• Too Cool to Live: Let´s see...
  • In Suikoden I you have Ted (your best friend) the original host of the Soul Eater. Arguably Teo (your father) could count as well but that would be more of Too Stubborn/Loyal to live. To some, Odessa could very much count, but her death did help Flik into developing to the fan favorite we all know and love this day.
  • In Suikoden II you have Genkaku (your father figure) and Annabelle (Muse´s mayor).
  • In Suikoden III you have Jimba, aka Wyatt Lightfellow, who you learn was the wielder of the True Water Rune and father of Chris Lightfellow, and he dies shortly after these revelations.
  • In Suikoden IV you have Glenn the chief of the Knights of Razriel and your father figure (more or less).
  • In the latest entry Suikoden V You have Ferid and to a minor degree Arshtat your parents. Actually whenever you are the parent of the main hero please apply for a swift death and the hand of this trope.
• Toy Ship: Cecile/Thomas in the third game, as the result of her adorable Bodyguard Crush.
• The Woobie: Ted from the first game, so very much.
  • Also Futch after his dragon Black is killed, and he is exiled from the Dragon Knights as a result.
  • Also Leon Silverberg, considering that both his children niece Odessa and nephew Mathiu die by the end of the game and that he is truly alone without his family.