Suikoden   Legend of Suikoden
     
 
2002

Thursday, January 17, 2002 - Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone had a great holiday season! Let's hope that 2002 will be a lot better year than 2001. I'd like to thank everyone again for visiting this website, as it the counter says that the site has had over 10,000 visitors since it launched way back in November 27, 1999! Anyhow, I have updated some parts of the website. First, the message board has been replaced with a new message board, hosted by Proboards.com. This new message board is much more "modern-looking" and organized than the last message board. Unfortunately, like many "modern-looking" message boards, this one requires you to sign up before posting (which is harmless by the way). In the new message board, there are eight forums that are available to post in. I am also currently looking for people who are interested in becoming moderators for these forums. If you are interested, please contact me by my e-mail. The other big update is that I have added several images to the Suikoden - Art Gallery, which were recently released by KCE Tokyo's Genso Suikoden website. These are the images that were added: Lepant, Kwanda Rosman, Pesmerga, Warren, Griffith, Kreutz, Milich Oppenheimer, Sonya Shulen, Hix, Leon, Georges, Liukan, Maas, Crowley, Fuma, Moose, Meese, Sheena, Mina, Taggart, Giovanni, Quincy, Mace, Lester, Ronnie Bell, Window, Ain Gide, Chief of the Elves, Grady, Hanzo, Kanaan, Sanchez, Yuber, and Zorak. Finally, the poll has closed for question #8. Here are the results:

Question #8: "What do you think about the new version of the website?"

1.) Great. - 46% (38 Votes)

2.) Good.  - 22% (18 Votes)

3.) Terrible. - 23% (19 Votes)

4.) No opinion. - 9% (7 Votes)

Total Votes: 82 Votes

As usual, there is a new poll question set up on the left bar, regarding the graphics of Suikoden III for the Sony Playstation 2, which will come out in Japan and the U.S. sometime this year.

Saturday, January 19, 2002 - The Genso Suikogaiden: Volume 1 section is now fully up, which includes the Genso Suikogaiden: Volume 1 - Art Gallery and Main Characters sections! There will be more sections added to the Genso Suikogaiden: Volume 1 in the future, but only these two sections have been completed so far.

Monday, March 25, 2002 - The Home page has been slightly updated with the updated release date for Genso Suikoden III's release in Japan, which is currently July 2002. Minor visual adjustments have been made to several sections. The links to the various MIDI files in both the Suikoden and Suikoden II Multimedia pages have been fixed. I have changed the e-mail link to my university e-mail account, since I will cancel AOL very soon. The Links page has been updated, with several dead links removed, as well as new links to several interesting websites. Lastly, the poll for Question #9 has been concluded. Here are the results:

Question #8: "How do you feel about the graphics in Genso Suikoden III being 3D?"

1.) I think it's great that Genso Suikoden III will be in 3D. - 22% (41 Votes)

2.) I think it's terrible; Genso Suikoden III should have been 2D like its predecessors. - 32% (61 Votes)

3.) I don't care about the graphics; as long as the game is fun, I will like it. - 37% (70 Votes)

4.) I haven't seen any in-game pictures of Genso Suikoden III yet. - 9% (16 Votes)

Total Votes: 188 Votes

A new poll question has been set up; this particular question asks if you will be importing any of the Genso Suikogaiden volumes, since Konami does not have any plans to translate them into English.

Tuesday, March 26, 2002 - Two MIDI files have been added to the Suikoden Multimedia page. They are "Island Fortress" and "Glorious Island Fortress," both which have been sequenced by Magnus Andersson.

Monday, April 1, 2002 - April Fools! I hope no one has pulled any mean tricks on you today. Anyway, the Legend of Suikoden and the Kanakan Inn are now affiliates! Be sure to check out the Kanakan Inn and the message board there. The back cover for the Genso Suikoden - Original Game Soundtrack has been added to the Suikoden - Art Gallery. A webpage glitch has also been fixed for the message board that was preventing people from posting properly. Thanks to Tsubaki for pointing out this problem.

Thursday, April 11, 2002 - After nearly three years of being hosted by Geocities, the Legend of Suikoden has finally moved to a new server, the RPG Source servers. You can still use the http://destined.to/suikoden/ URL to access the site; you may also use the URL http://los.rpgsource.org/ to access the site as well. Please update your bookmarks for this website to either of the URLs mentioned above now, for you may not be able to access the Legend of Suikoden from the two Geocities URLs, http://www.geocities.com/nin64ps/ and http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/5410/, in the near future. The Geocities server site will no longer be updated. A large thank you goes to Dan Johnson of RPG Source, who has kindly offered the Legend of Suikoden webspace at his server. Be sure to check out the RPG Source, which will be launching very soon. The Links page has also been updated.

Sunday, April 28, 2002 - The RPG Source server seems to be down at the moment, so I re-directed the http://destined.to/suikoden/ address to the original Geocities server. This is only temporary, until the RPG Source server is back up.

Monday, July 1, 2002 - Finally, an update after two months. I've been pretty busy with finals in May and in June, I've started summer school. Now I have some time to do some updating on both the latest news and the website.

Well, after a long wait, Genso Suikoden III will be released in Japan on July 11, ten days from now. Those who are going to import the game better mark that date. If you are going to import the game, be sure to have either a Japanese PlayStation 2 or a PS2 Mod Chip if you want to play the game. To get the latest information on Genso Suikoden III, check out Suikosource's extensive preview of the game. According to Suikosource, Konami of America is planning on releasing the English version in November of 2002. Also, those who love the music of Suikoden should be pleased to know that the Genso Suikoden III: Original Soundtrack will be released in Japan on July 24. You can import the soundtrack from places such as Game Music or Anime Nation when it comes out.

As for updates on the website, I haven't added much, except now the Genso Suikoden III page now features press information about Genso Suikoden III released by Konami during E3. I added the Touching Theme MIDI to the Suikoden -Multimedia page. I took down the affiliation link to the Kanakan Inn, since it no longer exists. However, Jiro Sasaki (formerly known as Tsubaki) is hosting several Suikoden websites at http://www.lordtsubaki.org/ and is in the process of creating his own site as well. The Links page has also been updated, for some websites are no longer in operation. As for the Message Board, don't hesitate to post messages. The Message Board is there for you to ask questions about the Suikoden series or share your interest with other Suikoden fans. It is devoid of activity right now, but I am hoping more people will post messages on the Message Board. The poll for Question #9 has ended (finally) and according to the results, 38% of those who voted said they will not import any of the Genso Suikogaiden volumes, while 30% said they will be importing both Genso Suikogaiden volumes. The results for the poll are below:

Question #10: "Since Konami is not planning on translating the Genso Suikogaiden volumes into English, will you be importing them from Japan?"

1.) I already have both Genso Suikogaiden volumes. - 19% (43 Votes)

2.) I already have one of the Genso Suikogaiden volumes. - 5% (12 Votes)

3.) I plan on importing both Genso Suikogaiden volumes. - 30% (68 Votes)

4.) I plan on importing one of the Genso Suikogaiden volumes. - 8% (19 Votes)

5.) I don't plan on importing any Genso Suikogaiden volumes. - 38% (88 Votes)

Total Votes: 230 Votes

A new poll question is up, asking if you will be importing Genso Suikoden III from Japan when it releases later this month.

Saturday, October 26, 2002 - I'm back! Thought this website was dead, huh? I apologize for the lack of updates. As you might have already seen, the Legend of Suikoden has finally moved onto another server and this time, unlike the last move, will be permanent. No more Geocities, which means that http://www.geocities.com/nin64ps/ and http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/5410/ will no longer be used. The new URL is http://suikoden.finalx.org/. You may continue to use the URL, http://destined.to/suikoden/, as that URL will always be up. Please update your bookmarks. A big thanks goes to FinalX of Gamingforce Forums for hosting the Legend of Suikoden.

The biggest Suikoden news is that Suikoden III is finally out in North America! It officially came out on October 22, 2002 for the Sony Playstation 2. So, if you live in North America and have a PS2, be sure to get this game, now! I already have bought this game. After playing this game for a couple of days, Konami really put a lot of effort into this sequel. The length of this game is long, longer than even Suikoden II. The game features the Trinity Sight System, which allows you to play three different characters and see the storyline in three different perspectives. However, Konami has failed to mention that there are three extra characters in which you play their chapters as well! I have already played through Chapter 1 of Hugo, Chris, Geddoe, and another character. The storyline has been well written and with the three different perspectives of the same conflict, it makes the storyline much more interesting, even more so than Suikoden and Suikoden II. From past polls, some of you were worried about Suikoden making a transition into 3D. Let me say that there was no problems with the transition to 3D, as the backgrounds of Suikoden III are very vivid and rich. While not as graphical as Final Fantasy X, the scenery of Suikoden III is stunning. As for the battle system, it has undergone several changes, mostly for the better. The battle group is still composed of six members, but are divided into groups of three, of which you can only make commands for these three groups. Duels and war battles also make a return from Suikoden and Suikoden II. Duels have largely stayed the same, but the war battles have changed significantly. The war battles are basically regular battles, but are battles between two units and last for two turns. Due to the depth of the game, there is still much more things to explore.

I have made some large updates of the website. I have made some visual tweaks to the website, such as using Verdana font for the navigation bar. There is a new section, called the Products page, which will have information on Suikoden products, such as music soundtracks, cards, and other such things. Information on the Genso Suikoden - Original Game Soundtrack has already been posted. The individual Stars of Destiny pages in the Suikoden section have been greatly updated, which has more information than before and looks much cleaner as well. Check out Gremio's page for example. I have also updated the Suikoden III main page with information based off from the game's back cover. I have also ended the poll for Question #11:

Question #11: "Genso Suikoden III will be released in Japan later this month! Will you be importing the game from Japan?"

1.) Yes, I will be importing the game! - 9% (36 Votes)

2.) No, I am going to wait for the English version of the game. - 87% (337 Votes)

3.) I'm not going to buy any language version of Genso Suikoden III. - 4% (14 Votes)

Total Votes: 387 Votes

Most of you voted that you would wait for the English version of the game. Now that the game is out, those of you living in North America must have already gotten the game. How do you feel about the game? Vote in the new poll question. Since the release of Suikoden III has renewed my interest in Suikoden, expect more frequent updates this winter.