Suikoden IV -- The 108 Stars of Destiny.

I'm just over thirty hours into Suikoden IV and have to my surprise already recruited all one-hundred and eight Stars of Destiny. As anyone who has played a Suikoden game knows the series is famous for building an army. Suikoden believes in the it takes a village theory. You need to recruit people to your cause. In Suikoden IV your cause is stopping the Kooluk Empire's plans for expansion by invading your region of the world. Of course that's just the premise as the story will twist and turn with all the political maneuvering and posturing the series is also famous for. Suikoden IV takes place a good amount of time before the original Suikoden and as a result there isn't a lot of connections to other games in the series. A few series regulars show up, but less than the series norm. I'm surprised how streamlined Suikoden IV is. This is a very focused story. Maybe it's just coming off the three point of view style of Suikoden III where the story focus shifted all over the place and jumped back and forth through time that is seems so focused. It might also be that the world design is sort of less filler and more to the point. There are roughly twelve locations in total with just open ocean between them. The map is drawn in as you go, but there is a pointer that will tell you where you need to head next to advance the story as long as you've discovered the location. It also makes collecting the Stars of Destiny much easier as they're scattered around fewer locations. Everything that is Suikoden is in place for Suikoden IV. It's just made more focused for this particular outing. I'm enjoying the game and really like the straightforward story. I believe I'm just before the final battles but might be woefully unprepared for them. I'm going to have to take some time and build up a few different party lineups. I'll need to get the cash to equip them in the best armor I can buy and to upgrade their weapons as much as I can. It shouldn't be long before the credits roll on Suikoden IV and the final opinion.