Suikoden IV is mustget for fans of Suikoden!
The story ain't so deep like in other Suikoden games. But it surely is entertaining. I really loved that Rune of Punishment =) That was pretty interesting. The battles are very similar to others. There is Fight, Retreat, Potch (you give money for enemies so they would run away), Rush (Hero attacks all enemies with his energy, given from his other party members) and Auto (all characters attack enemies automatically) The battles ain't so challenging, but there are few optional bosses (they're hard, you know =O) The soundtrack is very good, like voice acting. In this game, there ain't your own castle, but very large ship. It gets bigger when you get more characters. The game is kinda short, it took 20hours for me to clear it (of course, there is New game +, you keep your items, armors, runes and gold from previous save) I'm playing New game + now, to get all characters =)
I really recommend this game for Suikoden fans. If you haven't played Suikoden game before, rent this and try it out. I'm sure you like it =)