Suikoden
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Suikoden

Suikoden (Japanese: 幻想水滸伝, Hepburn: Gensō Suikoden; lit. "Fantasy Water Margin") is a series of role-playing video games developed and published by Konami. Created by Yoshitaka Murayama, the games are loosely based on the classical Chinese novel Water Margin, whose title is rendered as Suikoden (水滸伝) in Japanese. Each individual game centers on themes of politics, corruption, revolution, mystical crystals known as True Runes, and the "108 Stars of Destiny"—the 108 protagonists who are loosely interpreted from the source material.

Although the events of the games are not chronological, the entire series (except for Tierkreis and Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki) takes place within the same world, among continuing and overlapping histories. In some cases, several characters appear in multiple installments.

A spiritual successor to the series titled Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was released on 23 April 2024. A high-definition remaster of the first two games' port on the PlayStation Portable under the title Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars was released on 6 March 2025.

In the Suikoden series, the player takes control of a battle party having a maximum of six people (consisting of the protagonist and 5 other characters), Suikoden IV, however, reduces the party to four fighters and one support. The goal of the game is for the protagonist to defeat the opponents who are trying to oppose his/her team. This becomes possible as every game in the series revolves around the recruitment of the 108 Stars of Destiny; wherein the fighter characters recruited from the bunch can be used as members for the battle party; every game in the series has their respective Stars of Destiny. The series practically makes use of running around towns on different islands and into dungeons filled with monsters or enemies. A base or headquarters will also be obtained by the player which is usually abandoned, monster-infested castles which turns into bustling communities when captured.

The most typical form of battle in the series is the turn-based battle wherein the 6-man team faces the opponents. However, it is not the sole form of battle featured in the games. There are 3 different types of battle present which recurs and have been accustomed to every game. They are: 'Basic Battle', 'One-on-one Duel' and 'Strategic War Battle'.

The Suikoden series was created, written, produced, and overseen by Yoshitaka Murayama, who left Konami near the end of Suikoden III's development. Noritada Matsukawa took over as Senior Director of Suikoden III following Murayama's departure. Suikoden IV was directed by Matsukawa as well but was produced by Junko Kawano, who was the chief designer in Suikoden I. Suikoden V was directed by Takahiro Sakiyama, a relative newcomer to RPGs.

In an interview conducted by Japanese website 4gamers.net regarding the RPG Frontier Gate, Konami developers revealed that the Suikoden development team has been disbanded with members scattered about teams within Konami and elsewhere. This led to speculation that the franchise had indeed been abandoned following disappointing sales of the latest entries in the series.

Despite these rumours, Konami presented a trailer for a new Suikoden game on Tokyo Game Show 2011: Genso Suikoden: The Woven Web of a Century (Genso Suikoden Tsumugareshi Hyakunen no Toki). It came out in Japan for PSP on February 12, 2012 to generally lackluster reviews.

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