Topic: Playstation 5 Recommendation Thread

@JohnnyShoulder Seems like a good approach.

I also have Hades sitting in the backlog. I really should get around to that before the sequel comes out.

I didn’t really know much about it but I just watched the trailer for South of Midnight and I really like the looks of it. It was trapped on Xbox so I didn’t pay attention to it before now, although it’s one of a limited number of XB published games that received a lot of acclaim so I remember some discourse about it around Game Awards time. The trailer is giving me Folklore vibes, if anyone played that PS3 gem. Of course replace Ireland with the American Deep South. Has anyone played SoM and do you recommend it?

@Yousef- It’s always fun to pull up an old thread and be like, “Did I say that?” when I see my old comments. Sometimes I agree with my older self and sometimes I think I sound like an idiot. It often evokes a mixed reaction.

@Yousef- @Th3solution I just went right back to the start of the thread out’ve curiosity… that initial response from @AntiMatter to @BlAcKsWoRdSmAn almost caused me to choke on my midnight cocoa 🤣

@psmr Lol, I recently learned a word and I’ll get to use it here because I’m feeling it— fremdscham. 😅

@Th3solution that’s a new one on me too… very apropos though 😁

@Yousef- You weren't kidding about reading old threads, I thought you meant as a figure of speech.

I'm going to bring this old thread back from the dead for my own selfish, nefarious purposes. That is to ask: What are everyone's thoughts on Suikoden? I had never paid it any mind due to the simple fact it hasn't been long I've been interested in JRPGs and it has a horrible title for Western audiences. I've only heard it mentioned again a few days ago with high praise leading me to search it up and realise... this actually seems up my alley? I'm having a cadence I'm enjoying starting multiple JRPG franchises from their beginnings with Xenoblade Chronicles and Star Ocean under my belt thus far.

Wondering if this might be a good third wheel to add to the rotation. The fact it has a remaster from just last year makes it all the more appealing! The only reason I became somewhat cautious again was seeing it only received an 8/10 with the release of the remasters on PushSquare and NintendoLife. Seemed... oddly not befitting a return of two games that I now see are hailed as quiet masterpieces within the JRPG genre. What are everyone's thoughts on this franchise? Worth getting into in 2026 if I enjoyed the starts of the aforementioned games?

@Tjuz If I'm right it's set before the One Hundred Heroes game I played? I'm pretty sure it is because when I finished it people said I needed to try that game. I didn't. The one I did try (checking) Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was a real mixed bag for me. On the one hand it was good trying something so different, other than Persona 5 I hadn't tried many if any Japanese games and it (apparently) had all of the bells and whistles of a game of it's genre and of that series. Off the top of my head and if memory serves me correctly (famous last words) I enjoyed the huge roster of unlockable characters, they didn't just offer new playstyles but the game at certain points forced me pick characters I'd have skipped. The story was easy enough to follow too, it was colourful, had some depth and there was definitely a grind. The downside was I did get locked into a loop of death, it was one particular part of the story and thankfully there was a fix. Another problem was the sheer lack of save-points. If it's three in the AM and the last save-point was midnight? that's not good, I'm sure it has it's fans.

I'm looking at my screenshots from the game, trying to remember more, it's a little blurry. I see I took one of a character named Borschy, probably because I like borscht.

@Tjuz Funnily enough, my friend who enjoys Star Ocean and hates Star Wars also loves Suikoden, and so I know a handful of stuff about the games through him.

If you're looking for a PushSquare local's input, then I believe the awesome @Gremio108 is a fan.

Hey @Tjuz hope you're good. I'll start by saying I've not played a single Xenoblade or Star Ocean game, in fact I've not played a lot of JRPGs full stop. I used to like Grandia and Shining Force back in the day, but that's about it.

Suikoden has drama, betrayal, political intrigue, basically everything you'd want from a sweeping RPG epic, with a smattering of vampires and heavy drinking thrown in. Other than the vampires, it's mostly quite grounded, apart from the fact almost everyone is chucking magic runes about.

The tricky thing with recommending the series to others is that Suikoden II is leagues ahead of the first game. So if you just want a great ride with a fantastic story, dive straight into Sui II. However, if you want the full Suikoden experience, start with the first one (still a good game) and enjoy it, safe in the knowledge that there's an even better game coming up next. A lot of the characters from the first one return for II, and you'll have a much better understanding of their motivations and personalities. It'll enrich Suikoden II all the more if you play the first one, and it's worth it, trust me.

Combat is turn based and fairly straightforward - the complexity comes from the vast amount of characters you can use, and the combinations thereof. Suikoden has no connection to Eiyuden Chronicle, despite being made by a lot of the same people - Eiyuden's not as good as Sui, but it's not a bad game. It shares some similarities design wise, but somehow came with a host of new flaws, as @GirlVersusGame reports.

If you want to know anything more specific, just ask. Cheers to @Werehog for the heads up, hope all's well buddy

@GirlVersusGame Ah, upon Googling around about the game, I did also notice some connection between these games, but didn't understand the full history. Glad Gremio was able to clear some of that up! Seems like you were even closer to playing a Suikoden game than you might have thought at the time. Sad that it didn't live up to the reputation the actual games in that franchise apparently have! It seems like they have the big roster of unlockable characters very much in common at least.

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@Werehog Ha! It seems like I might be slowly morphing into your friend. Or... what if we find out I was your friend all along just dropping hints with the expectations you'll figure out the truth some day? Play the menacing music! Yes, Rog, it's been me... Charles...? all along! I figure with the name Charles, I must have one of the bigger odds of getting a British name right. That is, unless you are Welsh after all, in which case I will go for the name Hughelgic. That sounds Welsh to me. Um... where was I? Ah, yes, well, if your friend loves it like he does Star Ocean, that seems like a good omen! Also, thanks for the tag of our resident Suikoden expert!

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@Gremio108 Thanks for popping in! Same to you. Been a while since I've seen you around, so we're either just not perusing the same threads or less active nowadays. Either way, glad to see you're still around! Your description of the games has frankly made it all the more appealing. I knew about the political intrigue part, which was already enough to get me intrigued, but you're telling me there's vampires and alcohol too? Where has this game been all my life? Magic runes seems more like the usual fare for a JRPG. Next you're going to tell me we kill a god at the end of it all.

I'm definitely trusting you on it being worth playing the first before jumping into the second one. I've done the same with Star Ocean, which equally has its large share of people saying to just start with the second because it's such an improvement over the first. The fact I ended up enjoying the first as much as I did proved to me it's worth ignoring people and start at a franchise's humble beginnings! It sounds like the first game here is still better received than Star Ocean was too, so I don't see any reason to not start at the beginning of the saga proper. Plus, you're telling they're a lot more interconnected. If I wasn't already convinced, I would've been begrudgingly so once I heard that. I did hear there's some save file transfer shenanigans between the first and second game. How much does your first game save file affect the second? Do I need to fear my completionist urges to not miss out on content knowing I need to get everything perfect in the first game to get maximum enjoyment in the second?

I suppose I have one major question, which would be about the recruitment. It seems like the franchise boasts its 108 possible recruitments with just about every game. I have to imagine that much like in these spirital Eiyuden Chronicle sequels like GvG mentioned, they're not all having a major impact on narrative or your home base or the like. How would you describe the recruitment as being integrated? How integral would a catch-em-all approach be to getting the most out of the narrative or mechanics, rather than just being busywork with presumably diminishing returns? I loved the recruitment in Star Ocean. It's far from a hundred characters, but still had 10-ish characters with some mutually exclusive to add a lot of flavour and different narrative paths to your journey. I assume Suikoden must have some recruitments that are more or less impactful as well, but I wonder how easy to differentiate the fluff from the major stuff would be. I guess that's a lot of vague questions regarding that particular mechanic, but anything you'd have to clear up exactly what these 108 recruitments actually mean in-game would be appreciated! Thanks again for taking the time to pop in!

@Tjuz It wasn't bad. I'm not easily frustrated and I do like a challenge but that save-point system was a real roadblock for me. I don't mind working to push through a difficult zone or boss, but if there's no save-point after that and I'm told 'bedtime'. I'm either leaving the game on, which I did do a couple of times or I'm running that hour or mores content all over again. Something similar happened in Persona 5, there was a feeling of 'finally now I can sleep', then more bosses. It probably cured my insomnia.

For all I know that's a trope too and some people might expect it going in. A save now feature (outside of combat) in a game isn't just convenience it's almost mandatory, that three-hour wait was definitely the worst. The next was being murdered in a loop by that particular boss. Other than that I did find it enjoyable, the humor too. It's the kind of game that you could put some time in and really enjoy the cast of characters, you'd like the writing. There was this whole magical girl thing that confused me but is apparently a trope in Jrpgs, you'd appreciate it.

At times it felt a little like Disgaea 5 too, it had so many characters to unlock and so much loot, so much tweaking, a lot to see and it was different enough to want to keep going. I don't remember much busy work and if I farmed for something which I do remember doing in a sea cave it wasn't for long. I'm pretty sure I had to fish for something too, I did notice a significant jump in difficulty too, in those final stages and a lot of that was (if I didn't already say it) the game forcing me to make teams, meaning my usual team were off doing one thing and these other characters that I'd never geared up (my fault) were being bounced around by Borschy and all of those other enemies.

By the way your Baldur's Gate 3 (now playing) tab was noticed so much that someone said I had to try another game by the same Developer. I bought it but I'm not playing it yet, it's called Divinity Original Sin 2. Apparently it has less video/narrative than the one you're playing so it could be a kind of entry to the genre. Wrath of the Righteous was okay but became kind of boring/broken in the last stages, I tried to playthrough it again this time with magic and kept dying. So I stuck with the one playthrough. Either-way I'm told this one is very colourful, has animals, a lot of loot, and I forget the rest of the conversation. I'm sure they knew what they were talking about, I was sleepy.

@Tjuz Charles old boy, I can't believe it's really you! I haven't seen you since our trip to the Cotswolds. Send my regards to Hughelgic, I hear he hasn't been the same since the paragliding accident.

Yeah I think we've just been hanging out on different threads. Work has been busy for me, so I've not had as much free time, although I have managed to clock up another 90 hours in Elden Ring, so that's clearly a lie. But I'm still here! I'll try and answer your questions in the least spoilery way possible.

There are indeed some save transfer shenanigans. All you'll need is a save from just before the final boss of Sui I, and then it'll automatically ask you if you want to carry it over. That applies whether you're playing the originals or the remasters (I never asked which, let me know - I'm going to presume the remasters for now as that'sthe sensible option). I would definitely advise doing this as there's an extra bit of side content in Sui II as a result of the save transfer. There are also recipies to collect in Sui II, and there's one you can only get by doing the save shenanigans. So as a fellow completionist, I'd say it's a must.

The recruitment question is a good one, and it's one area where the second game improved things. There are quite a few recruits in the first game who, once recruited, will serve no real purpose except hanging about in the castle (unless of course you choose to use them as a mainstay in your party). The sequel did a much better job of making all the characters feel more important and fleshed out. However, there are a few important reasons to go for them all:
1. You need to recruit all 108 stars to get the good ending
2. As well as the standard party-of-six battles, there are also occasional massive army battles sprinkled throughout the game. Having more recruits means you have a stronger army in these battles.
3. You're a completionist and you know you want to.
4. You never know when you'll recruit a really cool character who is fun to use in your party, or has a useful function in the castle (not all the characters can fight).

There are a few pitfalls to watch out for, recruitment-wise, in both games. Nothing major, but they might force a replay if you fall for them. However, I can't really talk about them without getting a bit spoilery, so just make a backup save every now and then. The games let you save to multiple slots, so you'll be fine.

@GirlVersusGame Ha, the idea that Persona 5 possibly cured your insomnia by simply exhausting you with long, endless dungeons is funny to me. I do agree that a manual save at any point is almost non-negotiable for me. I generally do not appreciate not having the opportunity to quit on a whim and pick a game back up where I was whenever I want. I understand there's design choices at play there, but I think none of them really hold up to any scrutiny. Giving the player less freedom to drop in and out at their convenience is nothing but an unnecessary annoyance in my eyes. I'll deal with it with JRPGs since, yeah, they're particularly fond of that system, but I definitely do not appreciate it.

Ohhh, I'm glad to hear that this person convinced you to pick up Divinity: Original Sin 2! Even if it's my least favourite of the games I've played from them, it's been a fantastic entry to the genre for many a person. I'm by far the outsider on that one, so that would've been the one I would've suggested despite my personal preferences as well probably! I hope you're able to stick with it more successfully than you did with Wrath of the Righteous. I haven't played that one myself, though I'd like to eventually get around to it. It's definitely a lot less polished from what I've seen compared to Larian's games, so I think you'll definitely appreciate Larian's games more. Owlcat has always struck me more as the developer that makes games for the people already invested in the genre rather than newcomers like yourself! Keep me updated on how that goes whenever you start it. I'd love to follow along with your thoughts!

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@Gremio108 Ah, it's a shame about that paragliding incident truly. You should've seen the cow he landed on, Gertrude. Huh? No, no, not the one with udders. Tragic. I believe she left behind some orphans. How's the wife doing? I heard Trolley's still struggling with the Scotland Yard's... unfortunate allegations.

You've racked up 90 hours in Elden Ring?! A better person than me, no doubt! I hope for your own sanity that those hours were nicely spread out, rather than binged over recent months. Thank you for your non-spoilery clarification on the mechanics! Truly appreciate it. I tried to avoid Googling about the specifics, because it sounded like the type of game where one Google could quickly end in a "I know everything about each mechanic and plot beat". I'll have to make sure to figure out that save transfer. Shouldn't be too hard by the sounds of it, because yes, I'd definitely be playing the remasters. Wouldn't be the first time I've omitted saving right before a final boss, so thanks for the tip that I desperately need to keep that in mind!

I'm surprised a game from back in that time already had the save transfer mechanic. I honestly know of no games before... Mass Effect that really had that as a feature. I don't know if that simply makes me uncultured or makes the game ahead of its time! Both seems like reasonable answers to that question. I had no clue I'd be needing to gather all 108 stars for the best ending, so it does sound like it's going to be a catch-em-all in the end! I might just have to have a non-spoilery guide beside me while playing then as not to freak myself out with the thought of making the wrong decision or missing vital stars. That's not necessarily an issue for me, because I'd rather experience a game to its fullest with some assistance than miss out on possibly amazing stuff! Either way, you've sold me on it. 'Nuff said. I won't get to playing it immediately with Xenoblade Chronicles 2 currently in the rotation, but I'll get to it in the next few months! I'll be sure to tag you when I do, and thanks again for both the information and encouragement!

@Tjuz No worries! A spoiler-free guide is probably a good idea. Especially for the second game, where it's easier to miss recruits, but by that point you'll know what it's all about.

I can't think of many other titles that did the save transfer thing, the only one I can remember is Shining Force 3 on the Saturn, which pre-dates Sui II by a few months I think. But I don't know what effect that had, because they only ever released part one of SF3 in Europe, parts two and three never saw the light of day over here.

One last thing, and it's something there isn't a lot of clarity around online. Those massive army battles I mentioned - characters can die in those, but only if you're explicitly told they've died. So if you see a message that says "Hughelgic was killed in battle", then they're brown bread. But if you get a message that says "Trolley was injured", then they're fine and it will have no bearing on anything. If in doubt, go check on the character in your castle, and if they're happily walking around, they're still alive (they didn't give me that medical doctorate for nothing).

Enjoy, and yeah, keep me posted when you get to it!

@Gremio108 I knew getting you and Charles talking would work out. Thanks, buddy! Glad you didn't mind being summoned, and that you were able to help ol' Chazza (a.k.a. @Tjuz) with those questions.

@Werehog Haha no worries!

@Gremio108 I just hope the guides will be more useful than the ones I had to use for Star Ocean: First Departure R! They were all guides from back in 2007 that were either incomplete or just totally wrong when it came to certain things like special events or recruitments. At least with this game getting a remaster still very recently and generally being higher regarded within the JRPG sphere, I have to imagine the guides are more useful. I can only hope, anyway!

Alright, thank you for the additional tips on the confusing notifications! I'll make sure to return to our messages right before I start the game just to go into it with all of it in mind. I'm glad we're advanced enough in whatever time Suikoden takes place that we can apparently mend any type of injury. I'm sure Gertrude could have used that right after Hughelgic paraglided into her.

One game I cannot stop thinking about since it came out was Huntdown in 2020. A game that great shouldn't have been so ignored by games media. Huntdown is a cyberpunk side-scrolling shooter in the style of metal slug or Broforce if you've heard of that one. It's super slick with great memorable bosses, a Duke Nukem attitude and it's just utterly amazing. The sequel Huntdown Overtime has been in early access, but again it seems not a lot of hype is surrounding it.

Gamers always talk about their favourite hidden gems everyone should play, but in my opinion most of those games are within the mainstream conscience. Yet Huntdown didn't receive much attention at all, and I only found out about it because there was a recommendation "Don't Skip" video from Easy Allies (formerly GameTrailers).