While at Konami’s E3 booth, we got to grab some hands-on time with Suikoden IV, the newest title in the increasingly epic Suikoden series. This fourth installment is set in an island chain south of the nation of Toran, giving it a very different flavor than previous games and their mountainous lands and great, sweeping plains that are well suited for momentous battles. The portion of the game that we got to play was divided between time spent on a seagoing vessel and time spent wandering the white-sanded beaches and shrubby shores of a small island.

　　The game gave us control of a party of four, one of whose members was Jeane, an alluring user of rune magic that fans of Suikoden will instantly recognize from previous installments. Two other members of our party were Keneth, a ponytailed young man, and Jewel, a slightly built youth (we think she’s a girl, but portrait art is sometimes disturbingly ambiguous). Our main character, a young man with a bowl-cut and a bandanna, bore the rune of punishment, one of the 27 true runes. Using this rune in battle would inflict damage on not only our enemies but also on our character as well. Apparently, this is the curse of the rune of punishment--it will drain the life of the one who uses it.

　　The battle system seems to have moved from the traditional arrangement, where you could use six characters at a time, to a four-character party. This game also does away with the “paired” attack system used by Suikoden III, allowing each character to select moves and act independently of one another. Otherwise, most all the battle options are classic Suikoden, so you can choose to perform a melee attack, use an equipped rune to cast a spell, or even perform a combined move with another member of your party.

　　We got little insight into the game’s story from the portion we played. We initially were placed on the deck of a ship, where we were suddenly attacked by a water dragon that rose out of the ocean. Upon defeating the monster, we washed up on the shores of a nearby island, which was apparently deserted. Suddenly, a mermaid--who, interestingly enough, seemed to have both fins and legs--popped out of the surf in front of our party. She spoke a bunch of seeming gibberish about the “master” not liking cats, how he would attack the cat, how she hated the master, and how she wanted us to defeat him. She then pointed into the hills and swam off. As we had nothing better to do, we set off over the dunes and into the grassy areas of the island, where we encountered a catlike character who was being set upon by crabs. We were then faced with an especially large crab that we had to battle.

　　Character art is very reminiscent of Suikoden III, but in this game, the character models move far more naturally. The battle animations were also very smooth, including those of the ever-popular combo attacks. The environments we saw were simple in design, and the island was quartered off into discrete areas for us to explore. Considering the scope of the previous games, we’re sure that there’s going to be a wide, diverse world to roam.

　　Suikoden IV is currently scheduled for release on the PlayStation 2 late this year. For more information on this title, please check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.