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Good: Music, dueling, writing, variety of gameplay

Bad: Constant loading, extremely slow start, fixed camera angle, inconsistent frequency of battles

Prepare: To wait several hours to get to the good stuff

Remember going over to relative's houses on Christmas, and having to endure excruciatingly long waits to get to presents? You know there's good stuff under that tree, but you have to wait for all the adults to finish eating and talking. That's kind of what Suikoden V is like. There's some great gameplay to be found in this title, but be prepared to wait a LONG time to get to it, as it features one of the slowest buildups I've ever seen.

Early on, it takes a lot of care trying to set up the story. It all seems like typical RPG fare (kingdom in peril, protagonist unsure of his role, etc), and the game forces you to trudge through mounds and mounds of dialogue. Keep in mind, most of this isn't voice-over dialogue, it's just standard text screens that you have to click through. You'll start in the dried-out, poor city of Lordlake. Talking to the residents will reveal that their town has been neglected by the Queen, and they're none too happy about it.

The first several hours of the game take place in this town and the Queen's palace. Almost no true "gameplay" is present during these segments. You just wander around and talk to people, watching the occasional cutscene. Areas are generally too large, and this problem is even more apparent considering that there's no real sense of direction. The prince's friend Lyon follows you around, but instead of helping you find the next part of the story, she'll just say things like "Let's see:.where else have we not seen?" Many areas won't let you pass until you've talked to pretty much every single character.

Once you get into the actual meat of the game, however, it becomes apparent that Suikoden V is more than just an exercise in reading. Battles are standard fare for the most part, and you can perform special co-op attacks. If you're tired of battling weak enemies, you can simply hit "auto-fight" to have them taken out quickly. Unfortunately, there's no real consistency in the frequency of these random battles. You can go two hours without a single battle, and then have one every five steps in certain dungeons.

Battles aren't always typical turn-based skirmishes. Duel Mode features you going one-on-one against an opponent in a well-choreographed real-time fight (think RE4's interactive cutscenes). In these, X guards, Square attacks and Circle performs a special attack. There is also some real-time strategy battles incorporating hundreds of troops. In these, you can control six different categories of units. It's nice to see this variance in battle-types from time to time.

Graphically, Suikoden V does nothing on the technical end to wow the player. However, the actual character designs are very well made. I got very annoyed at the fixed isometric camera angle, however. You can zoom in and out, but can't change the angle at all. This can be bothersome in areas with tall buildings, as they can frequently block your view. The voice acting is neither terrible nor good. It works, but none of the performances will really stick out as being exceptional. However, the music is great and rivals most other RPG tunes. Whether you're strolling through a peaceful town or in the middle of a huge battle, the music perfectly reflects the mood.

If you're a patient gamer, Suikoden V pays off in the end. There are 11 different endings, and the story takes numerous surprising twists and turns throughout the duration of the game. Other than the slow start, the only thing that really drags the game down is the constant loading. Simply going from area to area will trigger a load sequence, and it can get quite annoying. Regardless, Suikoden V delivers and should please fans who were disappointed by the previous installment.

Graphics: B-

Sound: B

First Play: C-

Last Play: B-

Gameplay: B-

Overall: 83% B