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Suikoden IV is the fourth installment of the Suikoden series by Konami. Suikoden IV relates the story of a young boy (identified in the novelization as Lazlo) living in the nation of Gaien who inherits the Rune of Punishment, one of the 27 True Runes. With the help of the 108 Stars of Destiny and the Rune of Punishment, the boy fights to free the Island Nations from the ambition of the Kooluk Empire.
| Suikoden IV (Gensosuikoden IV) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 (PS2) |
| Release |  August 19, 2004North America January 11,2005  February 25, 2005 |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
Although the game is technically more impressive than Suikoden III, Suikoden IV is not looked upon well by a large contingent of the series's fanbase. The flaw most often cited is the implimentation of sea travel. Navigating and piloting the party's ship from island to island required a heavy amount of patience, as the ship's slow pace, imprecise controls, and the high frequency of random encounters made the act of traveling between islands very difficult and frustrating. These complaints are commonly compared with similar issues players found with Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.
Other fan criticism largely revolved around gameplay alterations that many feel overly simplified the game. The least popular of these changes was the reduction of the battle party size from six to four. While a downward trend in party size has been seen in some other role-playing game series (most notably Final Fantasy), the six-character party was considered a signature feature of the Suikoden series. As the series features 108 recruitable characters per game, more than half of which can be used in combat, the smaller party size makes it far less convenient for the player to try out all of the available characters. Some players were also disappointed by the simplified rune system, which removed many of the runes established in previous games and included, aside from two characters' True Runes, only the basic elemental magic runes and a small number of signature runes for specific characters. In addition, Suikoden III's skill system, which had been lauded for allowing a reasonable degree of character customization yet also maintaining clear differences in each character's abilities, was eliminated entirely. Preliminary reports indicate that all of these changes are being reversed in Suikoden V, indicating that Konami has been receptive of the fan criticism.
The spinoff Suikoden Tactics is at different times in its story a prequel, side-story, and sequel to Suikoden IV.
== Story == Template:Spoiler Suikoden IV begins its tale with a training session between the Hero (Lazlo) and his best friend Snowe, and the Commander and Vice Commander, Glen and Katarina respectively, out in the seas as a tutorial to the battle systems. After the training is complete, the Hero and his fellow knight trainees head home to Razril, where they are to be full-fledged knights.
After the Kindling Ritual and a night of feasts, the Hero awakes the next morning for regular knight including the task of escorting a man named Ramada to Iluya, but during the trip there, they are attacked by Brandeau and his pirates. Snowe abandons the ship after being fired upon by Rune Cannons, while the Hero decides to brave the attacks and stay, thus triggering the emnity that will develop between the Hero and Snowe. Brandeau then boards the Hero's ship and challenges him to a duel, in which the Hero succeeds and slays Brandeau. As a last effort, Brandeau unleashes the power of the Rune of Punishment and attempts to destroy everyone, but a mysterious force shields the Hero from its might. Then Glen arrives, and in that brief moment, the Rune of Punishment is passed from Brandeau to Glen, and Brandeau evaporates into dust.
Soon after the knights retreat back to Razril, they are attacked by several fleets, in which amidst the second attack, Glen unleashs the power of the Rune of Punishment to destroy the enemy fleet. In the aftermath, the Hero goes to the Commander, and the Rune passes from Glen to the Hero. As Glen too evaporates into dust, Snowe witnesses the death of Commander Glenand blames the Hero for killing him. As punishment for the death of Glen, the Hero is to be banished from Razril.
As the Hero and his companions drift on the open sea, they come across a Kooluk merchant ship. The merchant ship takes the Hero aboard, but is soon forced to flee after overhearing a conversation. After then, they are washed ashore on a deserted island. The Hero and his companions forage for materials and eventually builds a raft to leave the island. However, the raft is soon destroyed, but the Hero and his party is picked up by a passing Obel patrol ship.
Aboard the Obel ship, the Hero is inspected and is then told to meet with the King of Obel. After they met with the King, the Hero is told to gather willing people to go against the impending Kooluk threat, and sends the Hero to meet with Oleg. During their meeting, Oleg's invention shows a massive rune cannon firing and destroying Iluya. This prompts the King of Obel to take serious action. But soon after, a Kooluk fleet invades Obel, and forces the Hero and his party to depart from Obel inside a massive warship and is also the HQ. At this time, it was revealed that Kooluk and the Cray Trading Company is joining up for a southern expansion.
The pirate Kika then joins with the Hero to ensure the Kooluk threat is removed and suggests the recruitment of the tactician Lady Elenor Silverberg. After successfully persuading her to join, she instructs the Hero to liberate each of the Island Nations, and form an Alliance against the Kooluk. Then during the liberation of Razril, it was revealed that Snowe and his father has sold Razril out to the Kooluk, and the reaction of the people of Razril to Snowe's action and the Hero's liberation further drives a wedge in their relation.
Soon it was the time to liberate Obel. After the successful liberation of Obel, it was time to invade the fortress of El Eal and end the Kooluk threat. Lady Elenor devise a plan to send two parties to attack the fortress, one to deactivate the Rune Cannon, the other to take over the fortress. At the top of the fortress, the Hero and his party confronts Cray, and prompts Cray to summon a Giant Tree to attack the Hero. Upon destroying the Giant Tree, the fortress begins to crumble, and the Hero's party begin to escape. After the fortress collapsed, the King of Obel begins to rebuild the Island Nations. Then it cuts to a scene between Elenor and Cray. At this point, if all 108 Stars of Destiny were recruited, you would get the extra scene.
Trivia
- If you refuse three times during the scene at the Deserted Island to leave, the game is prematurely ended, and you get an ending. The game then continues on forever with the Hero doing the same tasks over and over again until you reset the game.
- If you refuse three times to use the Rune of Punishment when the burning Kooluk fleet as approaching during the liberation of Obel, the game will also prematurely end.
- If you finish the game with all 108 characters, meaning you let Snowe go everytime you capture him, you can then upload that save file when you start Suikoden Tactics for a chance to recruit the Hero and Snowe.
- Shortly after the release of the game in North America, a promotional contest was started. Players would find passwords in various places, such as in the website, manual, artbook, strategy guide, or magazine ads, and submit the passwords to get various prizes. The prizes include: a collectable '100 Potch' coin, a CD containing 14 pieces of music from all 4 Suikoden games, and a wallscroll.