Inexplicable changes to the Suikoden formula and an extremely slow plot mar an otherwise fun title.
I don't understand the change to simply 4 units in a party vs. the 6 that have classically been allowed. Because of this switch, I actually felt LESS attached to any given unit because a lot of the uniqueness through team attacks has been removed. It also seemed to slow down the battles, making them drag out, which really sucks when you're dealing with a random battle rate of what seems like every 5 steps.
It doesn't help that your character looks like a stumpy, slow dwarf child on screen. Slow, slow, slow, slow, slow.
That said, I still think it's worth the playthrough, even though it's frustratingly slow quite often. As I mentioned, the story will keep you wondering what's going to happen. The gameplay is still solid (although it's SO SLOW ARGH) and the overall graphics and music don't dissapoint.