Review — Suikoden I & II HD Remaster

A faithful remaster that fixes the past—but doesn’t rewrite it.

The Suikoden I & II HD Remaster is a textbook example of a preservation-first approach. Instead of reinventing the games, it focuses on technical improvements while keeping the original design intact.

Technical Improvements
Sharper 2D sprites and cleaned-up character portraits
Redrawn backgrounds with better lighting and detail
Modern visual effects (water, particles, subtle lighting)
UI adjustments for modern displays
Bug fixes (event triggers, combat inconsistencies, scripting issues)

Most importantly, the core systems remain untouched:

Classic turn-based combat
The 108 Stars of Destiny recruitment system
Original pacing and structure

This is not a remake—it’s a restoration.

Story — Great ambition, questionable logic

Suikoden II is often praised for its emotional and political narrative—and rightly so. But when you look closer, some parts don’t fully hold up.

The biggest issue is Jowy Atreides after Luca Blight.

The game tries to justify his actions through:

The looming threat of the Beast Rune
The idea of necessary sacrifice

But here’s the problem:

The results never justify the decisions.

As Lucia points out in the story:

They keep losing ground
Their extreme actions don’t actually improve the situation

At that point, it stops being “necessary evil” and becomes strategically and morally inconsistent.

Jowy’s conclusion — where it falls apart

Jowy is clearly written as a utilitarian character, but his final decision undermines everything he supposedly fought for.

He chooses to:

Isolate himself
Erase his existence
Let even his loved ones forget him

That’s not tragic in a meaningful way—it’s contradictory.

If the goal was to protect the future, then:

Why erase the very connections that give that future meaning?

It ends up feeling less like a powerful sacrifice and more like a break in narrative logic.

Series Evolution (and missed potential)

Despite these issues, the series was clearly evolving.

Suikoden II improved:

Narrative scale
Emotional depth
Political complexity

And Suikoden III pushed things further:

Multiple perspectives (Trinity Sight System)
A more explicit critique of the True Runes as dangerous forces

The series was moving toward something deeper—
from classic fantasy → to a critique of power itself.

But like many great franchises:

It didn’t get the time or support it needed

Result: an unfinished evolution.

Final Verdict

The remaster is:

Technically solid
Faithful to the original experience
Worth playing, especially for newcomers

But it also preserves the original flaws:

Particularly in narrative consistency

Still, Suikoden II remains memorable because it aims high, even when it doesn’t fully land.

Recommended—just don’t expect perfection.

Companion slop

I still remember playing Suikoden for the first time as a teenager. It’s always going to be one of the defining games of my childhood. This remaster does it justice, and I highly recommend it to both returning fans and anyone new to the world of Suikoden.