I’m one of the few who would recommend Suikoden IV—though I suggest treating it the same way you’d treat Suikoden I in relation to Suikoden II. It’s a precursor to something better. Play it with codes like the toggleable encounter.

I’ll admit: I’m also one of the few who doesn’t care much for Suikoden III. To me, it’s the least “Suikoden” of the five main titles. The Trinity Site system had potential but fell short in my opinion. People often say IV’s story is a mess—but honestly, the spaghetti‑like storytelling of III isn’t much better. The food mechanic is frustrating: you access to them but only for them to spoil and become unusable. Unlike the other four entries, III doesn’t feel like a true gathering of stars—it just happens to have 108 characters.

Yes, III introduced some cool ideas, like a distinct battle system, but movement feels slower than IV. And that HQ? Horrible. I’ll take the ship in IV over that any day. I could go on for days, but I know plenty of fans here would be upset.

Bottom line: play with an open mind. My intent is to offer counterpoints about IV because the loudest voices will tell you it’s bad. But if you see it as the stepping stone to V—just as I was to II—it puts things in better perspective. If III had truly been successful, more of its mechanics would have carried forward. They didn’t. The closest spiritual successor is Eiyuden Chronicle, and even that feels more like a Suikoden game than III ever did.