Suikoden

An artwork featuring the main heroes of the franchise, before 2004's Suikoden IV.

Suikoden is a series of games (released on various consoles, starting with the original Playstation) that are loosely based on a classical Chinese novel The Water Margin (or Outlaws of the Marsh and All Men are Brothers). These games are notable in that they all take place in the same world, although at different periods and locations throughout its history. Some games are chronologically close enough to each other that they feature many of the same characters, although the main hero (or heroes) of the game are always new characters. They tend, as a rule, to be Kid Heroes, but not always...

Certain major themes which run throughout the series are:

  • A hero who finds himself running afoul of an evil force, be it a foreign empire, a dark conspiracy, or his own government turning against him. Said hero is usually then forced to go into exile.
  • The main hero having to set up an army by locating and collecting 108 special people (known as "the Stars of Destiny") who are scattered throughout the world. Some of the "Stars of Destiny" are fighters who accompany the hero into random and plot-based war battles, while others are support characters, who can aid with healing, navigation, etc.
  • Sometime during the course of the hero's adventures, he acquires a Home Base in which his highly specialized army lives and works. This Home Base starts out small, but grows and develops throughout the course of the game.
  • The game has a plot which centers heavily on politics, overcoming corruption through strategy and/or revolution, and dealing with the betrayal of a close friend or ally.
  • The plot of the game is heavily influenced by one or more of the True Runes, 27 at least semi-sentient elemental symbols which contain the power of the universe and which grant their owners special abilities (immortality being chief among them). The ending battle of the game is usually fought against a villain carrying a True Rune themselves, their goals often intertwined with said True Rune's nature in some way.

Combat occurs in the game via Random Encounters, strategic war campaigns against enemy armies and one-on-one duels, each with its own graphics and battle system.

Suikoden III is a notable deviation from the other games, in that it is about a trio of heroes, each of whom has an equal chance of possessing the game's main MacGuffin, the True Fire Rune. At one point in the game, the player gets to choose who acquires the Rune, a choice which will affect the plot for the rest of the game.

The Suikoden universe is encompassed by 6 console games: Suikoden, Suikoden II, Suikoden III, Suikoden IV, Suikoden V and a group of spinoffs: a Strategy RPG game Suikoden Tactics (Rhapsodia in Japan); two canon Visual Novel games called Genso Suikogaiden 1 and 2, featuring the adventures of Nash Latkje which provide background to Suikoden II and foreshadowing for Suikoden III; a GBA adaptation of the card game shoehorned into a retelling of Suikoden II's plot; and a Nintendo DS spin-off called Suikoden Tierkreis, which is set in an alternate universe unconnected to the main Suikoden world, none of which save Tierkreis have seen an English language release. There's also a slot machine game released in 2010, which saw the fans basically thinking "so this is how it ends, huh?". And then a new PSP project is announced.

Among fans, Suikoden II is usually considered to be the strongest of the series (too bad it's also the one you're least likely to find, and the most expensive if you do find it), while Suikoden IV is widely seen as the weakest... but Your Mileage May Vary. While not as graphically flashy as other video game series like Final Fantasy, this series has a lot to offer for gamers who like long and involved plots filled with intrigue and interesting characters.

Series includes:

Main series:

Spinoffs:

Minor titles that don't really count:

  • Suikoden Card Stories (2001)
  • Gensō Suikoden Pachisuro (2010)


Tropes used in Suikoden include:
  • 108: 108 Stars of Destiny. 108 divided by four is 27, the number of True Runes.
  • Action Girl: Too many to list
  • Action Mom: Yoshino, Arshtat, Eileen, Lucia and many more.
  • The Ageless: The 27 True Runes of Suikoden grant this type of immortality, in addition to various abilities based on the aspect of existence that the True Rune governs.
  • All There in the Manual: Some of the games' plot points -- like certain characters' true relationships to each other -- are contained only in supplemental media, like text games or manga.
  • Anyone Can Die: Many characters not relied to the plot can die in major battle. And outside of that, plot related characters can (also will) die too.
    • Suikoden I: Gremio, Pahn, Odessa, Ted, Mathiu.
    • Suikoden II: Nanami, Kiba, Ridley.
    • Suikoden III: Jimba, Luc, Sarah, Yun.
    • Suikoden IV: The hero himself.
    • Suikoden V: Lyon, Roy.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Viktor's last taunt to Neclord in Suikoden II...

"Heh, I'll make sure you never make that stupid grin again! I'll chop you up! Grind you up! Cut you into pieces! Dry you on the sun! Bury you to the ground! Piss on you! Then I'll dig you up! Pull you! Stretch you! Drag you around! And then... and then... in any case, I'll never forgive you!!"

    • Of course, he's just being a distraction while two other characters are tripping their cunning trap....
  • Artifact of Doom: The Soul Eater and the Rune of Punishment.
    • Hell, all the 27 true runes.
  • Ax Crazy/Badass: Luca Blight from Suikoden II loves to slaughter and destroy (soldiers, villages, small children), and he does it with a smile. As well as his Expy in Suikoden V, Childerich.
  • Battle Couple: Yoshino and Freed, Ferid and Arshtat, Eileen and Lepant, Teresa and Shin... And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
  • Big Screwed-Up Family: The Silverburgs to some degree (YMMV).
    • Also, the Falenan royal family in Suikoden V before Arshtat becomes the Queen.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Pretty much every game's normal ending, with the exception of Suikoden II, which is something else entirely.
  • Black Knight: Pesmerga and Yuber.
  • Blessed with Suck: If anyone offers you a True Rune, run far, far away.
    • Effectively should you choose to take it: you and your Nakama) just became Destiny's Chew Toy. You get powerful magics (which might be enough to fulfill your destiny) and stop aging (but Who Wants to Live Forever??) ...mind you ...there are some fantastically cruel drawbacks (all your closest friends dying, loss of sanity, etc, etc).
  • Blind Seer: Leknaat.
  • Bodyguard Crush: There a number of notable examples:
    • The original gives you a possible Ho Yay between the Hero and Gremio.
    • Don't forget Millay toward the hero in Suikoden IV.
    • Lyon with the Prince in Suikoden V; also, Lelei and Lucretia for the Les Yay version
    • Cecile to Thomas in the 3rd game.
  • Boisterous Bruiser: There's one for almost all the games... best examples include: Viktor, Ace, Lino En Kuldes and Boz Wilde
  • Bunny Ears Lawyer: The Knights of Maximillian. Starting with expys of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, all members of the order are quirky, cartoonishly over-the-top fantasy wandering knights with extremely idealistic views that clash pretty hard with the more realistic tone of the setting, leading to them being predictably treated as silly weirdos. They are also extremely competent and skilled warriors, with a good eye for seeing right from wrong and very hard to dupe. Turns out that the reason members of such an inconvenient, disorganized and orphaned group can survive on their own just to randomly smite non-specific evil is that they are incredibly good at it.
  • But Thou Must!: Only rarely do any of the speech choices a player is given have any effect the flow of the plot. Suikoden V has a few notable exceptions, as does one or two parts of Suikoden II.
  • Cain and Abel: Suikoden II and Suikoden III have this relationship with Separated at Birth twins Luc and Sasarai.
  • The Caligula: Luca Blight.
    • Ironically, however, he never got around to the murdering his father and taking the throne part of this trope before the heroes did away with him. Then Jowy fills in that blank by marrying the princess, killing the king, and taking over the country himself in a misguided attempt to stop the war.
    • But he does manage to get around to murdering his father. As part of an elaborate plot, during Jowy and Jillia's wedding ceremony, Luca's father the king and Jowy drink from a ceremonial wine goblet. Knowing this, Luca has Jowy build up an immunity to a poison he places in the wine; the king isn't similarly immune, and ends up dying. Luca then becoms King, if only for a brief period.
    • Actually, Jowy's blood, not the wine, was poisoned. Luca had to taste the wine before his father would touch it, so the only way to poison the king is to poison Jowy's blood, which is put fresh into the cup just before the king drinks it.
  • Captain Ersatz: Lucretia Merces may be just about as close to a female Zhuge Liang you're going to get, Shu from Suikoden II is a more straight example however. Additionally, throughout the series, many characters are expies of characters from earlier games; this is possibly justified by the fact that your characters are represented by named 'stars', and frequently characters who join under the name of a particular star in different games share several characteristics... when it isn't the exact same character, of course. Richmond from Suikoden II is also an obvious ersatz of Columbo and Stallion just might be a subtle one to Sonic the Hedgehog, since he has spiky blue hair and is considered the fastest creature on land. Maximilian and Sancho from Suikoden I are pretty much Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
  • Celibate Hero: Flik, after the death of his lover Odessa Silverberg.
  • Chain of Deals
  • Character Development: Notably Flik, who starts out as a Clingy Jealous Boyfriend of Odessa, and got struck HARD with her death, but eventually matures up, accomplishes much more things and eventually becomes a fan favorite
    • Most major characters have some degree of this. This goes double for the large number of repeat characters in the first three games, some of whom come back Older and Wiser.
  • Chef of Iron: Many throughout the series, Hai Yo of Suikoden II being a more notable example.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The Fire Spears in Suikoden I.
  • Chick Magnet: Flik.
    • By extension, any of the men/boys who can unite for any variation of pretty boy group attack qualifies.
    • Percival greatly enjoys his ability to invoke this trope.
  • Child by Rape: Jillia, the princess of Highland from Suikoden II.
  • Cold Sniper: Clive in Suikoden I and Suikoden II, subverted with Cathari in Suikoden V.
    • Arguably Jacques in Suikoden III.
  • Combat Medic: Riou and the Prince of Falena.
  • Combination Attack: Certain characters can be paired with others to use special attacks against the enemy.
  • Contemptible Cover: Suikoden I's American box art looks like the cover of a bad fantasy novel.
    • To emphasize this, if you look up lists of the worst box art ever, Suikoden's makes frequent appearances alongside Mega Man for being laughably hideous.
  • Continuity Nod: Lots and lots.
    • After the 3rd game this happens much less, with Suikoden Tierkreis having ZERO continuity nods to previous games. Needless to say this caused a Base Breaker moment.
    • To emphasize this, most of the games have carryover bonuses should you have a save file from the direct previous game. See Old Save Bonus below.
  • Cool Big Sis: Almost every game has at least one.
  • Cute Mute: Pilika, a little girl in Suikoden II whose guardianship jumps from Joey, to Nanami and the Hero, to Joey again. She didn't start out mute though, and there was nothing cute about how she became so.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Especially prominent in the first game, though it crops up in some of the others too. Almost every game has one or two enemy generals who join you after you beat them militarily, and several other characters who will only join after a one-on-one duel.
  • Dirty Coward: Snowe from Suikoden IV who among other things, abandons his subordinates in a battle that he instigated because he slightly injured his arm! Euram Barows in Suikoden V, though he does get better.
  • The Ditz: Viki, who keeps teleporting through time and space merely by sneezing.
  • Divide by Zero: According to the series's mythology, the world and the True Runes came about when Sword (who could destroy anything) tried to destroy Shield (who could not be destroyed). Both shattered, and the pieces became the True Runes.
  • Dojikko: Viki is so clumsy, she sneezes herself through time and space. It's a running gag that at the victory banquet at the end of each game, she sneezes herself straight into the middle of the next one despite the games being centuries apart, and not in chronological order.
    • It's implied in the third game that she's a historian from the future doing this on purpose to document historical events first hand.
  • Duel Boss: Several of them at regular intervals for each entry in the series.
  • Dragon Rider: The aptly named Dragon Knights.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Carried out both in the story and in the gameplay. The characters will suffer through all the tragedies and losses of war and then some, but if you can recruit all 108 Stars of Destiny, the ending makes it all worthwhile.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Played straight, but also used sans elements during One-on-One Duels
  • Empathic Weapon: Although not weapons in the traditional sence, all 27 True Runes are sentient for the most part, one of them takes the form of the Zodiac/Star Dragon Sword.
    • Interestingly, the sword is an absolute Jerkass to everyone. Even it's 'preferred' wielders.
  • Everyone Loves Blondes: Teo for Sonya Shulen.
    • Also Tai Ho for Kimberly.
  • The Evil Prince: Prince Luca Blight, though Bat Shit Insane Prince would be more appropriate.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Worn by Georg, arguably one of the most physically powerful human characters in the game series, and by Geddoe, the most bad-assed of the three main heroes in Suikoden III.
  • Fake Difficulty: Some of the easily lose-able one-on-one duels occur right after a long and involved tactical battle campaign, with no opportunity to save in between the two events... this seems to occur for no other reason than to heighten the player's tension.
  • False-Flag Operation: Suikoden II opens with Riou and Jowy almost falling victim to one of these.
  • Fiery Redhead: Valeria and Tengaar from the first game.
  • Final Death
  • Five-Man Band: Lots of it in the series.
  • Freudian Excuse: Luca Blight became a rampaging monster because his mother was raped by Muse bandits. and his father did nothing to help.
  • Friendly Sniper: Cathari in Suikoden V.
  • Furo Scene: A series tradition. Taking the right people into the baths triggers Subtext-laden scenes, for all your Ho Yay/Les Yay/Hilarity Ensuing needs.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Having a teleporter who can instantly warp lone fighters, small groups, whole squads and even entire fleets at will would be immensely useful (and pretty game breaking) in any war, but in spite of this (or rather because of this), Viki's skills are completely ignored story-wise.
  • Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: The games' final bosses sometimes tend toward this.
  • Go-To Alias: The entire series has the recurring alias of Scholtheim Reinbach III/IV. Made much funnier when one of the games actually features the real Scholtheim Reinback III.
  • Gotta Catch Em All: Have fun recruiting all the Stars of Destiny! Sadly, Suikoden II forces you to choose between characters a couple of times, and you don't have enough Listening Crystals to recruit all the available monsters.
  • Guide Dang It: Many of the "Stars of Destiny" you must recruit can only be acquired through obscure or non-intuitive means, or during very narrow windows of opportunity between certain Event Flags.
  • Guns Are Worthless: In a world of swords and magic, The Howling Voice Guild uses assault rifles. Lampshaded in Suikoden V when a member of the Guild explains that rifles are inferior to the bow-and-arrow because of the cost, difficulty to manufacture and reduced accuracy; however, they are useful as an intimidation tactic.
    • In game, however, the gun users are actually quite powerful. Both Cathari and Clive are some of the best damage dealers of the games they appear in, and both rarely ever miss.
    • Cathari also notes in that same scene that Guild members train extensively with their gun, until they know it better than they know themselves. This lets them understand the gun's drawbacks and adapt to cover them up. As Hazuki (the person who Cathari was explaining this to) comes to realize, Cathari talking about how guns were fundamentally weaker and less reliable ended up being pointless in Hazuki's eyes because she wanted to know how to best a gun-user. All she learned was that the Guild taught its members to work around the gun's weaknesses like any other weapon.
  • The Gunslinger: Elza.
    • Technically, this extends to any member of the Howling Voice, including: Clive and Cathari.
  • Hello, Insert Name Here: You name the main character in each game except Suikoden III, however their 'canon' names are given in supplementary material. Tir Mc Dohl in Suikoden I. Riou in Suikoden II. Lazlo in Suikoden IV, and Freyjadour Falenas in Suikoden V. Most players abbreviate Freyjadour to Frey, however.
    • Actually, those names aren't canon either: Konami has explicitly noted this; those names were provided by novelizations and manga (not unlike the name given to the unnamed main character of Persona 3).
    • Tir and Riou became pretty canon through the Drama CD though.
  • Hero Antagonist: Jowy in Suikoden II.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: Hix for Tengaar.
    • Also Flik for Odessa Silverberg.
  • Heroic Bastard: Hugo in Suikoden III.
    • Thomas as well.
  • Heroic BSOD: Poor Pilika watches as Luca Blight stabs Pohl to death right before her eyes, and after recovering from her BSOD, she and her current guardians discover she's been rendered mute... for the rest of the game. Talk about Unlucky Childhood Friend...
    • Which, for the record, happens after her parents are brutally murdered while her home town is being comepletely razed. All things considered, it'll be a miracle if the poor girl isn't emotionally scarred for life.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Quite a few actually, Odessa, Gremio, Teo, Ted and Mathiu in Suikoden I alone.
    • At one point, Gremio sacrifices himself in order to save the hero and the rest of the party from General Oppenheimer's flesh-eating spores trap. Can also be considered a You Shall Not Pass as he prevents them from reaching the party.
    • Also Odessa dies protecting a child, and begs the hero that her death remain a secret to keep the morale of the rebel army up.
    • There's potentially another Heroic Sacrifice after that when Teo and his Armoured Cavalry absolutely trounce the Liberation Army in battle. The hero, Mathiu, Pahn and Cleo are fleeing when Teo catches up to them, along with his two lieutenants Alen and Grenseal. It looks hopeless until Pahn volunteers to try and hold Teo off while the hero and the rest of the group escapes. Pahn then duels Teo, and if he loses, he's executed as a traitor. However, this sacrifice can be avoided if you've trained Pahn up enough to the point where he can defeat Teo in the duel, who then allows Pahn to leave.
      • The secret to keeping Pahn alive is raise him to around level 40 or so, and during the duel with Teo, constantly defend and hope that Teo keeps using his special attack. If you keep defending, Teo's special attack will miss, and Pahn will counterattack, so just keep this process up until Teo's health is gone.
    • Later on, Ted does this to save the hero from Windy and to keep the hero's rune away from evil's hands.
    • And in the end, Mathiu dies, after abandoning his desired life of pacifism and solitude to help the army save the kingdom.
  • Highly-Visible Ninja: Kasumi wears bright red and no pants in Suikoden I, and many of the others are just as bad. The only ninja that seems to avert this trope is Kage.
    • Suikoden IIs Mondo and Sasuke, as well as Suikoden IIIs Watari and Ayame, mostly avert it as well (only "mostly" because Mondo is wearing white and Ayame bright purple, but they're at least dressed like ninjas, color aside). The ninjas of Suikoden IV and Suikoden V are also debatable, as they seem to make an effort to dress more like normal people. In fact, Suikoden V's duo of Shigure and Sagiri are never outright called ninjas at all, many just think of them as such because they're former assassins for Nether Gate, and they wield ninja weapons (Shigure uses a ninja-to while Sagiri throws kunai).
    • But considering that historical ninjas actually dress like normal people...
  • The High Queen: Queen Arshtat of the Queendom of Falena fits this trope rather well, at least while at court, and especially while being influenced by the Sun Rune
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: Played straight quite often.
    • However, there are quite a few battles that are so poorly balanced you might think they're this, but aren't. Notable cases include most fights with Yuber in Suikoden III (most of which mercifully don't affect the plot), and the first game's duel between Pahn and Teo (which is necessary to win for 100% Completion).
  • Hot Mom: Cleo is like a mother figure to Tir in the first game. Sonya Shulen could be considered a hot stepmom to him later on.
  • I Am Dying Please Take My Macguffin: Ted does this to Tir in Suikoden I, and the rest is history.
  • I Call It Vera: It's a tradition for the men from Warriors' Village to name their weapon after what is most important to them, a tradition followed by Flik, Hix and Mathias
  • Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Euram Barrows in Suikoden V, until his optional Heel Face Turn.
  • Inexplicably Identical Individuals: Jeane, Viki and Leknaat show up in every Suikoden game, even though they take place across different time periods. Leknaat is immortal, Viki has been implied to be doing a bit of accidental Time Travel, and the developers have joked that Jeane has a family like the Nurse Joys from Pokémon. All three are the subject of huge epileptic trees, which the creators lovingly cultivate. Jeane in particular gains three different Word of God explanations a game, just for chuckles.
  • Jerkass: This is Luc's entire personality for the first two games. He's one of the most powerful characters in the setting, and at least until the third game, he uses that power exclusively to be petty and irritating.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Chris is a fairly decent person, but her personality can be kind of grating. She comes off as a bitch to practically everyone. She's a lot better in the manga adaptation though.
  • Karma Houdini: Windy and to a lesser extent Barbarossa, among others. They were originally supposed to have died in the ending of Suikoden I, but their status was later Ret Conned to "Missing in action" in order to allow for the possibility of their return. Since their bodies are never shown, and the rune Windy bears remains missing, it's a believable retcon. The Muse-hired ruffians who raped Sara Blight and were therefore indirectly responsible for turning Luca into a Complete Monster may also fall under this trope, although Muse itself most assuredly does not.
  • Katanas Are Just Better: The setting is a fantasy world where Eastern and Western weapons and armor exist side by side. Except for Suikodens III and Suikoden IV, the main heroes in all the games have a tendency to favor Asian style weapons -- like bo staffs, tonfa and nunchaku -- over Western style swords.
    • It should be noted, however, that most of the best fighters use western swords (i.e. Sheena in Suikoden II, Pesmerga in Suikoden I and Suikoden II, Belcoot and Richard in Suikoden V.
    • Many of the heroes are healers or magic users over warriors, so these less lethal weapons suit their nature. The Hero in Suikoden II's rune is the Bright Shield, and his weapons are tonfa; both are meant for defense and protection.
    • And then there's Georg, who seems to like both, using a western sword in Suikoden II, but wielding a katana (actually an Iai blade, which may or may not be the same thing, depending on who you ask) in Suikoden V.
    • It's actually even more confusing than that. Georg's sword in Suikoden II is a two-handed sword with a side-grip where the hand guard would normally be (like the Cypher sword from Strider). His sword in Suikoden V is a short, double-edged sword that resembles a Chinese jian, but he uses it iai/battoujutsu style.
    • Apparently, Yuber's King Crimson wasn't good enough in Suikoden II, and apparently, he split it into two Katana-like swords in Suikoden III.
  • Kick the Dog: Every single thing Luca Blight does.
    • And quite often Shu, the protagonist's strategist in Suikoden II, albeit because it was the most effective or only proper way to achieve a goal. Chucking little Pilika across a room full of crossbowmen (who are on the brink of firing) as a distraction to prevent them executing his army's leader, then abandoning her there, for instance.
    • To be fair on Shu, however, Pilika prefers being with Jowy rather than Riou's army, and it was because of that Pilika regains her voice, so there's something beneficial that came out of it.
  • Kid Hero:
    • However, in Suikoden, your Kid Hero is aided by a cabinet of highly capable adult strategists. He's sometimes almost an inspiring figurehead, or simply their strongest warrior.
    • Potentially averted in Suikoden III if you so choose.
  • Killed Off for Real: In tactical battles when a unit is wiped out there is a chance the characters in that unit can be killed off permanently unless you have the appropriate skill user with that group. Also, in Suikoden II, Ridley can be killed, depending on the choices you make at one point, and Kiba dies during a mission
    • Roy in Suikoden V, if you stubbornly choose to defend your castle instead of abandoning it. This is not recommended, as unlike Ridley, Roy has no replacement in the 108 stars, preventing you from getting the best ending.
    • In the first game, it's possible to kill two of Barbarossa's generals rather than recruit them. Which is bad, since both of them are stars. It doesn't help that killing the second general is extremely tempting, since he killed Gremio.
      • Actually, it's not that tempting considering that it was the rune that Windy gave him that forced him to become an unwilling pawn who had no idea what he was doing, or that he had killed Gremio.
  • Kill It with Fire:
    • In the first game, Yuber burns down the Village of the Hidden Rune because... he was bored. Damn pyromaniac Black Knights. And hey! Those fire spears look mighty useful, don't they?
    • In Suikoden II, Luca Blight practices a 'Scorched Earth' policy of his own: burning down two of the City-State's border villages. Viktor does something similar when he 'accidentally' leaves a bunch of the Fire Spears in the Mercenary Fort's forge. Oopsie!
  • Lady of War: Just like the Action Girl, there's lots and lots.
    • Sonya Shulen from the first game is a great example of this.
    • Chris Lightfellow, one of the main characters from Suikoden III in particular is very strong example.
  • Leave Him to Me: Usually done in the heroic inversion, with the heroes insisting or agreeing to a one-on-one duel despite outnumbering the enemy, as an excuse to use the game's dueling system.
    • When you finally get to fight Childerich in Suikoden V, several people on your party (if you have them with you) can step forward and demand the right to duel him alone (since he beat or disqualified them in an earlier fight through trickery); if you have all of them, it results in a comical extended argument over who gets the duel.
    • Pesmerga and Yuber only join (in their respective games) because the other person is on the other side, and only to get a chance to fight their counterpart personally; in the first game, Pesmerga specifically demands that you Leave Him to Me as part of his condition for joining.
    • Played straight with the duel between Teo and Pahn in Suikoden I.
  • Lethal Chef: Nanami. Her cooking makes Nash pass out in Suikogaiden Vol. 1
    • Riou is so used to eating it that he's developed an immunity to it. Seriously. When the only reason someone can eat your cooking is because they're immune to it, then you know something is wrong.
    • Also hilariously alluded to with certain food items. By adding salt to the cake and ice cream recipes, you get Nanami Ice and Nanami Cake. Both have a 60% chance of inflicting the Panic status ailment (though Poison would probably be more appropriate).
  • Let's Split Up, Gang!
  • Lightning Bruiser: Flik, both literally and figuratively.
  • Load-Bearing Boss: Happens without fail every time, usually attributed to a big discharge of energy during the battle. Even in Suikoden III, where the fight takes place in a faily big open-air area that still manages to fall on the boss and kill it, while your characters flee to safety... through the underground tunnels.
    • Oddly subverted in Suikoden II, where the L'Renouille castle begins to rumble immediately after the battle prompting everyone to flee... until then the rumbling ceases, and the castle appears to be just fine.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: Just counting the 108 stars gives you over 500 characters in the main five games alone. While a few characters recur between games, the vast majority of the playable cast is new each time.
  • Lost Forever: Every one of the Stars of Destiny save the plot-relevant main characters. If you fail to recruit even one of the Stars or allow one of them to die permanently in battle, you can kiss the Best Ending goodbye.
    • Bizarrely, though, while several Stars of Destiny are absurdly easy to miss (several in each game can usually be missed simply by proceeding in the logical fashion through the plot without revisiting old areas), this trope is generally subverted with nearly everything unique other than Stars of Destiny. Frequently, minor unique items like music or voice sets that you miss the first time around will appear in shops elsewhere as rare finds... this sort of thing does not (generally) happen with the far-more-important missable characters, for some reason, although there's a few exceptions.
  • Lost Technology: All games reference the mysterious and ancient Sindar race, whose technology-filled ruins and artifacts litter the landscape.
  • Magic Antidote: Averted in Suikoden V. The Hero's Rune has the power to keep Lyon from dying when she gets poisoned, but she still has to spend a long time in bed recovering.
  • Mighty Glacier: Humphrey Mintz and Kwanda Rosman from the first game.
  • The Mole: Pahn and Sanchez from the first game.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Flik. It's hard to tell in the original, what with the low quality graphics, but he DOES get one character to join the group by drinking tea with her all night (at her request). It's far more prevailent in Suikoden II, where women regularly hit on him, and is constantly being pestered by Nina. Most of the heroes are this as well, with the possible exception of Lazlo.
    • Lazlo might even qualify too, since he technically has 3 girls (Rita, Rene and Noah) that are interested in him instead of the usual 1 that the rest of the characters get. There's just not that many scenes where you see it. Just an optional bath scene where they discuss getting him a gift (Rene even suggests "a girlfriend"), plus the three of them give him a wooden amulet as a good-luck charm on the night before the final battle, acting like schoolgirls the entire time (giggling and everything).
      • Four if you count Millay, his self-proclaimed bodyguard.
    • The heroes' tendency to be this is humorously lampshaded in the unlockable sidequest in Suikoden II. During Riou's conversation with Cleo, you can choose to hit on her, causing her to remark that "you're a lot like the Young Master in many ways."
    • Also, as noted above in Chick Magnet: any of those who can band together for the male variant of pretty girl/woman attack is effectively implied to be this.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Jeane.
  • Multiple Endings
  • My Country, Right or Wrong: Expect this is in pretty much every game.
    • In Suikoden I, virtually all of the enemy generals are this, even stating their allegiance to the emperor even as they change sides.
    • Suikoden II sees this in the form of the general Kiba and tactician Klaus who love their country and pretty much takes a villain to the degree of Luca Blight to have them even consider.
      • Jowy's ambitions have some root in this trope, arguably pushing him into a Well-Intentioned Extremist. Differs slightly as he wanted to reform it from the inside rather than just take orders.
    • Suikoden III has its entire plot based on this trope. No country is right or wrong in its entirety, but several leaders (Chris and Sasarai) go along with orders despite their own misgivings.
    • Troy from Suikoden IV was this to such an extent that fans complained at the lack of a Heel Face Turn.
    • Some of the Queen's Knights do not join the prince's rebellion against the Godwins not because of political allegiance, but rather their loyalty to the Queen.
  • Ninja: There are a good amount of these in this series.
  • Non-Action Guy: Thomas in Suikoden III despite beig the Tenkai Star of the game, generally lets the others in Budehuc Castle do the fightng for him. He still manages to help out all three of the main characters by letting them use the castle as a base though.
    • Hix from Suikoden I and Suikoden II also counts a little, as though he can fight he's mediocre at best, not to mention preferring not to fight whenever possible. Unfortunately, the poor guy is engaged to Champion Tsundere Tengaar, who is determined to make him a man and forces him into your party on two different quests to prove his worth.
  • Nonstandard Game Over: Can occur in many of the games if you make the "wrong" decision (e.g. decide to join up with a villain, or run off and desert your army, etc).
  • Not Quite Dead: In Suikoden II, Nanami is seemingly killed when she is hit by an arrow. However, if certain conditions are met by the end of the game, it's revealed that she merely faked her own death so she could go home, no longer able to bear the war her adoptive brother was fighting in. If said conditions are not met, however, she stays dead.
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Lord Barrows in Suikoden V.
  • Old Save Bonus: For the 2nd and 3rd game, if you upload old data from the game previous to the one you're currently playing, you get some extra goodies (some of the library books you collect will have your old character's names and exploits in them, for instance).
  • Official Couple: According to Genso Suikogaiden 2, Kasumi and Tir hook up.
    • Also Kirkis and Sylvina, considering that after the first game, they get married and start a family.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Appears rather frequently.
    • Valeria and Belcoot, both Falcon-style swordfighters, come with somewhat friendly rivals who join up with the player characters just to keep an eye on their competition.
    • Subverted with Luc in Suikoden II, who reveals that he has had the True Wind Rune since he was introduced at the beginning of the first game, and uses it -- for the only time it is used in the entire first two games -- solely to annoy his counterpart... who doesn't even seem to know who he is, beyond 'that horrible guy who keeps coming after me.'
  • Petting Zoo People: Kobolds (dog people),Ney-Kobolds (neko=cat), Beavers, Ducks and Lizard Folk.
  • Pirates: There are a good amount of these in this series.
  • Plotline Death
  • Promotion to Parent: In a story about war, it's gonna happen to a few characters, most notably with Gremio, Pahn and Cleo to Tir in Suikoden I, Riou, Jowy and Nanami to Pilika in Suikoden II, and Sialeeds, Georg and Frey to Lym in Suikoden V.
  • Psycho for Hire: Yuber, Childerich.
  • Quickly-Demoted Woman: Odessa Silverberg, certainly. It also counts as an earlier Player Punch (though not as hard as Gremio's later...). Also Apple in Suikoden II, who demotes herself because she says outright that she's no good as a strategist because she's a woman, and has the player go find someone better. The strategists of Suikoden IV and Suikoden V are female though, so it was likely more Apple's own lack of confidence than a statement by the authors.
  • Rain of Arrows
  • Random Encounters: Present throughout the series. Especially bad in Suikoden IV, which is actually a good game with a good story, but is plagued by FAR too many random battles.
  • Ranger
  • Rant-Inducing Slight: Egbert Aethlebald, who will always quickly descend to ranting about FILTHY GODWIN DEVILS!!!! in mere seconds
  • Rape as Backstory: The Blight family of Suikoden II. The queen sara Blight was raped by Jowston's thugs, Jillia was born out of this, and Luca uses this as a motive for revenge.
  • Rasputinian Death Luca Blight. It takes tons of efforts to finally do him in.
  • Really Seven Hundred Years Old: True Rune wielders are effectively ageless and immortal. Then there's Eresh, who doubles as a Waif Prophet.
  • Rebellious Princess: Odessa, with regards of her backstory with her first lover.
    • Flare from Suikoden IV and Lymsleia from Suikoden V are fairly rebellious as well, though not against their parents, but rather against the enemy forces that invade their homelands. Considering who their fathers are, it's not that hard to believe.
  • Redundant Researcher: Zweig, Lorelai and the other scholars.
  • The Rival: Rubi for Kirkis.
  • Running Gag: Schtoltenheim Reinbach III and onward, Viki's habit of accidentally teleporting herself to another game moments before a victory feast.
  • Self-Made Orphan: Strangely enough, the hero: Tir in Suikoden I
  • Sequel Difficulty Spike: In regards to Star recruitment, anyway. The first game's Stars were manageable (though there were some obscure examples), but from the second game on, pretty much every non-plot essential Stars ranged from extremely obscure to literally impossible to know without a guide.
  • Shock and Awe: Flik always come with a Lightning Rune (and gets affiliated with lightning), and is even called 'Blue Lightning'.
  • Shout-Out: Word of God confirms that Yuber's eight-fold-rune is a reference to the "Melnibonean Saga" by Michael Moorcock, the eight pointed star of the Chaos God Arioch.
    • Suikoden II examples off the top of my head:
      • Genshu (Suikoden II) has similarities to Tachibana Ukyo: they both fight using Iai techniques, their stances both don't face their enemy directly, and both have techniques related Swallows (Genshu's rune, Tachibana's Tsubame Gaeshi), and their most powerful techniques are a series of very fast sword draws.
      • Wakaba's Tiger Rune animation looks an awful lot like King's Double Strike. Sometimes the animation for that attack instead ends with a Hurricane Kick.
      • Oulan's attack animations look like Vanessa's.
      • There's at least 2 charactes with Shoryukens in the games.
      • In Suikoden III, the martial-artist only rune, the Lion Rune, causes the wielder to shoot a beam out of their hands that looks suspiciously like a HADOKEN!
      • Suikoden I has Ronnie Bell firing off a ball of battle energy... by using the Hate Rune, which only she wields.
      • In Suikoden I, look at Varkas and Sydonia's team attack and tell me it doesn't look familiar.
      • Suikoden I also has the character Grenseal, which is basically the name of the Kingdom in which you first start Shining Force 2.
      • SHAZAM!!: Courtesy of Viki in Suikoden II.
  • Sibling Yin-Yang: Mathiu Silverberg is a strategist who was formerly a pacifistic teacher, whereas his sister Odessa is a rebellious girl, leads the Liberation Army, and at one point calls out Mathiu as a coward.
    • This also gets carried over in a non-sibling relations on Mathiu's students: Shu is arrogant, doesn't have the sense of justice (at first, at least), but brilliant, whereas Apple is more humble, willing to help people, but... not-quite-so-brilliant.
    • Luc is a Jerkass for 3 games spanning nearly 20 years. He is a haughty know it all at his best and at his worst veers toward the Well-Intentioned Extremist. His Separated at Birth identical twin brother Sasarai is a powerful political figure and can be a bit of a Deadpan Snarker, particularly when on the antagonist side, but is a bit on the naive side and reasonably likable. They don't particularly see eye to eye.
  • Simple Score of Sadness: "Gremio's Theme" from the first game.
  • So Long and Thanks For All the Gear: Happens horribly often because the games tend to have Loads and Loads of Characters, and they are frequently called away by the plot; on top of this, the best characters and most plot-critical characters (who you're likely to give much of your best swag to, partially because you're often forced to bring them along) are also often some of the ones who disappear the most often.
  • Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Some exceptions to this occasionally pop up on the overworld, with superpowered monsters at a much-higher-than-hero level turning up during Random Encounters.
  • The Stoic: Humphrey Mintz is an early example, but later on in Suikoden III and Suikoden V, you get a bath scene with 3 Stoic characters just being silent almost all the time in bath.
  • Stone Wall: Humphrey Mintz and Kwanda Rozman from the first game.
  • The Strategist: Each game has one whom you must find and recruit (and their last name is usually Silverberg).
  • Stripperific: Jeane, especially in Suikoden V [dead link] , but what she wore in all the other games wasn't exactly modest.
  • Subtext: This is one of those series that practically runs on it. Pick a character, it's practically guaranteed you will find subtext in their interactions with at least one other character. See also Ho Yay/Les Yay in the YMMV section.
  • Surprisingly Easy Mini Quest: The castellan's bit in Suikoden III. Also subverted later.
  • Sword and Sorcerer: Type 1 examples are Hix and Tengaar, and Lepant and Eileen.
  • This Is Unforgivable!: Straight from Suikoden I, "You're the one person I can't forgive."
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: You're given the chance to execute the Empire's generals in Suikoden I. Spare them, and they become Stars in your army. You're totally allowed to kill Kraze though, as nothing is lost or gained either way with him.
  • Treachery Cover-Up: Near the end of Suikoden I.
  • Tsundere: Tengaar, whose tsun-tsun side would make Hix's life like hell to shape him up as a 'warrior', but her dere-dere side would always get her to depend on Hix's help, in an honest, sometimes gushy, way
  • Two Guys and a Girl: Hero (Riou), Jowy and Nanami from Suikoden II.
    • Also Gremio, Pahn and Cleo from Suikoden I.
  • Unholy Nuke: Pretty much all of the Soul Eater's spells.
  • Unlockable Content: A lot of the characters can't be gained through normal play.
  • The Vamp: Windy from the first game.
  • Warrior Prince: Freyjadour Falenas, Luca Blight, etc.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: The Prince in Suikoden V. He even gets called a pretty boy in-game.
  • White-Haired Pretty Girl: Jeanne, though it's recolored pink in Suikoden V.
    • Done to avoid the risk of players confusing her with Queen Arshtat, a similarly well-endowed, beautiful woman in her prime with grey hair. She's more or less a dead ringer for Jeane's Suikoden IV appearance, just with paler skin and a less revealing wardrobe.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Dealt with in Suikoden III when a true rune bearer gave it, and its granted immortality, up so he could get old and die with the woman he loved. And so much Suikoden Fan Fiction deals with the main characters getting all Wangsty because of this.
  • The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask: Arshtat.
  • Xanatos Planned This Index: Any character with the last name "Silverberg" is assumed to be at least capable of these tropes; Leon Silverberg is supposed to be the best, but this feels a little stretched at times, something which also applies the earliest noted bearer of the name from Suikoden IV. Lucretia Merces, The Strategist of Suikoden V, reaches Xanatos Roulette status at times.
    • The strategists aren't that bad, really. The villains are often worse, with stupidly elaborate plots to get the heroes to fight some final-boss or another.
      • The fifth installment was especially bad, as the villain's plotting almost caused Arshtat to go insane and destroy the entire country. The father of one bad guy even calls him on his plotting, as he leaves too much to chance and doesn't do anything to stop unintended effects of his plotting.
  • Yin-Yang Clash: Shield can withstand anything. Sword can pierce anything.
  • You Can't Thwart Stage One: Especially obvious in Suikoden V, though almost every installment has a doomed battle or two before you recruit your strategist.
  • You Shall Not Pass: Gremio does this in the first game to prevent the others from being devoured by flesh-eating spores, and dies in the process.
    • Viktor and Flik do this at the end of the first game to allow Tir to escape the crumbling castle. They are claimed MIA. But they appear in Suikoden II.
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