Suikoden III does things that may cause you to bang your head on the nearest wall; but it also delivers a superb story.
Like previous Suikodens, the main "goal" is to collect all 108 stars of Destiny for various reasons in addition to the main story of the game. If you manage to collect all 108 stars, a new character will unlock so you can play through the game with him as well. This game would have very little flaws if they made a special addition and redid the battle system and sounds.
The battlesystem itself is pretty bad and doesn't really have the "Suikoden" spirit to it; and the battle music doesn't help, either. Instead of have 6 characters you basically have, well, I still don't really know what they were trying to accomplish with their dual hero system. It is bland, uninteresting, and just a pain to deal with if you try to bear the music in the background. I suppose it still has 6 combatants in it, but not really.
The story of the game is what really rewards a play through or two for the gamer. Thankfully it is factor that makes it a great game by itself. The optiont to play the game from various main character's perspectives is a added bonus to the story depth. Also, the traditional base building is always a welcomed sight and hobby to do within any Suikoden game.
The sound is, as stated earlier, horrible. There really isn't much to say about it, as the only good music in the game is the beginning theme song for the anime trailer. It has some pretty mediocre music othe than that, and the battle system in general is atrociously composed and placed.
You have no idea how difficult it was not to rate this game as "Hard" due to the fact you had to endure through some horrible aspects of it while playing through the game. But, the overall difficulty seem about right with everything taken under consideration.
The graphcis seem somewhat mediocre, but unique in their own way. The towns are well constructed and offer some various settings for the player to explore through when needed. Though, overall I'd say that it really doesn't go up to par with the cabilities of the PS2 system that much.
All in all, Suikoden III offers a story that lives up to the Suikoden standards; but everything was poorly executed beyond that. Though, still, story should be what matters in an RPG, but there are limits to what players can endure during game play, and those minor details are what one would typically judge when considering another play through of any game in geneeral. A great story is a fine thing to behold, but to play a game again afterwards there needs to be less irritating things to endure within it. Thankfully, though, they added the ability to play through with another main character, which adds more depth to the story if you decide to make your way through another playthrough of the game.
Replayability: Moderate
Reasons: Despite serious issues, the game offers an additional main characters to play through if you collect all 108 stars your first time through.