Suikoden III

[Uriel1988]

I made this thread to discuss the manga-series Suikoden III, seeing as I really like it.

WARNING: The following will contain some slight spoilers for the third and fifth game in the Suikoden-series.

Personally, I didn't quite know what to expect of it at first seeing as my only prior experience with the series was the fifth game which I didn't really like much. Some of the characters seemed likable enough (Georg in particular) but the story just took forever to get going and the gameplay and graphics both felt really dated. I don't want to sound like a snob but I couldn't get into the gameplay, it was far too slow and shallow for my tastes.

The manga-adaption of the third game, however, had me hooked pretty quickly. The art was the first thing that caught my eye seeing as it's really gorgeous, the story was also really great as well. I loved the way it juggled inbetween the 4 different perspectives. Aki Shimizu (the mangaka) really did an awesome job developing and merging each of the individual storyline into one huge, cohesive plot. The entire thing basically felt like reading an awesome JRPG full of well-developed characters, cool creatures and some really great action-scenes. Oh yeah, speaking of action-scenes, I really liked the ones in this manga. The mangaka really nailed the large-scale battles, which makes it a bit disappointing that a certain duel towards the end takes place off-screen and that the actual final battle is resolved rather quickly. Still a great series though.

By the way, could anyone who's both read the manga and played the game tell me if there were any major differences in the manga-adaption? I read on another forum that the characterization for some characters (Chris for example) is quite a bit better in the manga but I've no way of checking it myself seeing as the game never got a PAL-release. Thanks in advance.

[Wrist]

Meh. Maybe I'll read it someday. But most game-to-anything-else adaptions left a sour taste. I'd rather play the games it's based on, especially if it's an RPG.

[ZenAndTonic]

I agree with you about the artwork for Suikoden III - the mangaka's art is full of verve, and her inking's fantastic.