Suikoden III : Between the Manga and the Game

I spent the last 10 days in Jakarta, Indonesia in purpose to take brief vacation before start working permanently. The Ramadhan in Jakarta feels so real and apparent as one can easily find religious program in almost all TV stations everyday, especially right before breaking the fast or during the sahur time. I sense emptiness eversince I went back to Singapore, as I couldn’t find similar things in here.

My one of the best RPG in Playstation 2

I waste my time to replay my Suikoden III and choose Hugo as my ‘Flame Champion’ (previously it was Geddoe that I picked) as the review somewhere on the net has stated that the different Flame Champion chosen will change our entire perception toward the storyline. And it surprisingly true.

The manga, simply wonderful and detailed

The thing is, I also read the Suikoden III manga by Aki Shimizu (which made me broke since the books are quite expensive *_*), and I noticed quite major differences amidst the plot. Honestly speaking I fancy the manga more than the game in terms of storyline. Below are some differences that I managed to take note:

1) In the manga, Zexen Knights led by Salome has committed coup’d’etat in Zexen Federation and arrested the Council while in the game, out of nowhere the Zexen Federation joins forces with Grasslanders and never mentions the corrupted Council anymore.

2) In the manga, the Great Hollow of the Lizard Clan was finally fallen to Holy Harmonia Army while in the game, the place is safe and sound.

3) In the manga, Caesar Silverberg even flooded the Duck Village in order to slow the Holy Harmonia Army and make the ways for refugees from Grassland, while in the game, the place is still safe and sound.

4) In the manga, Albert Silverberg is the strategist of Bishop Sasarai, before he deceives Sasarai in the end and joins forces with the masked bishop, while in the game Albert sides with the masked bishop since the beginning.

5) In the manga, Bishop Sasarai is truly powerless and nearly dies after he lost the True Earth Rune. He’s almost killed by Yuber before Nash Clovis comes and rescues him. The whole army of Holy Harmonia is taken from him by the order of Hikusaak, while in the game, it makes no differences that Sasarai lost his Rune or not, since he is still fresh and powerful as ever and leads the whole army of Holy Harmonia.

6) In the manga, Luc replaces Sasarai as Bishop and takes his whole army unit by the order of Lord Hikusaak (in order words, he controls Harmonian Army!) while in the game he goes quartet with Yuber, Albert and Sarah without Harmonian Army.

7) In the manga, Franz is accused for being traitor and facing death sentence by making contact with Geddoe Cs, while in the game, Franz salvages the whole Le Buque people by informing the Fire Bringer and Flame Champion to help him.

8) And so on and so forth (I couldn’t remember because it is too many)

Overall, I enjoy both as they complement each other. And my all time favorite Military Genius in Suikoden Universe is Caesar Silverberg (felt sorry for Lucretia Merces or Shu).

Suikoden II ending that breaks my heart ;_;

Nevertheless, this game didn’t succeed to make me cry a night and day as I did on its previous predecessors, Suikoden I and II. Though the fact that Luc is becoming a bad ass hurts me, since he was my favorite mage in the previous installments. I shocked so badly when getting the bad ending of Suikoden II, especially when Jowy dies! (FYI my email id Camus of Matilda is derived from the finest gentleman in Suikoden II *grin*).

Gorgeous FF XII with worst dungeon system *_*

And I prefer to replay my Suikoden III instead of continuing my Final Fantasy XII just because it is getting draggy and too long! I even have forgotten my main mission throughout the game since I was too busy doing Hunting to collect money, and the dungeon is super long *bleh*. I must admit that I was enchanted by the beginning of the game but after painful long walk from one dungeon to another, I feel sick *_*. But I promised myself to finish this, since I never ever managed to complete Final Fantasy series (it is always stuck in the last Boss Battle, mentioned Kuja or Sephiroth).

In conclusion…

Sometimes I questioned myself of being overly attached with fictional characters. And my conclusion is because their character is so strong, and the development is very well, quite sometimes it is impossible for a normal human being to behave like that. Most of the time they become reflections of ideal self made by human being; a selfless hero, a tragic antagonist or a miserable anti hero. And the more strong the character, the more I feel like knowing them since so long.

And I deny the assumption that gamers are childish; as it is horrendous stereotype made by circumstances around. RPGamers, to be more exact are mostly the thoughtful and tactful type since they are used to any kind of wars, conflict of the throne, tactical battle, and any other type of combat resulting countless of victims (so let’s think to minimize the casualties in every case we’ve encountered in our life!). I always respect the responsible gamers, who are able to balance their time to play as well as to socialize in the society. I hope that someday gaming as hobby is as prideful as playing golf as a hobby.