Suikoden V -- Initial Impression.

I've spent about four and a half hours with Suikoden V and a couple of things are clear. The game is taking a decidedly slow pace with the storytelling. The game has essentially been setting the stage of the world of Suikoden V the whole time. It's clearly going to be very story intensive, even by Suikoden standards. I've been in three or four quick and easy battles in that time so I haven't had enough experience with the battle system to get even an impression beyond knowing that the 2D six person battle parties of Suikoden and Suikoden II return. Gone are the 3D battles of Suikoden III and IV. The graphics are clean and sharp compared to those of Suikoden IV. The world is more detailed. The music instantly has that Suikoden feel. The opening full motion video sequence makes its welcome return after missing it in Suikoden IV. I'll have to play on to see what changes have been made to the Suikoden systems for this installment. Will I be able to get all one-hundred and eight Stars of Destiny this time around? Are there any cheap situations like Suikoden 2's Clive? Will the story live up to its predecessors? Which characters from other games in the series will show up? Lots of questions to be answered with more along the way I'm sure. Only one way to answer them...