Queen Arshtat presides over the rich Queendom of Falena, named after her. It is stated that the Sun Rune, one of the mythical twenty-seven True Runes, guards Falena against any threats by cooperating with the Twilight Rune and the Dawn Rune. Not very long ago, the people who lived in the town of Lordlake rose in opposition to the reign of the queen. In order to end the uprising, the queen employed the power of the Sun Rune, which resulted in the death of Lordlake’s leader and the transformation of the surrounding area into a desolate and burned wasteland. Using the rune also caused the formerly kind and compassionate queen to develop mental instability.
On the other hand, the traditional Sacred Games are currently taking place. The winner earns the privilege of vying for Lymsleia’s hand, who is both a princess and the heir apparent to the throne of Falena. Through scheming, plotting, and other underhanded tactics, two influential nobility factions compete against one another for championship control. In the end, one of them plans an attack on the royal castle, during which they succeed in kidnapping the princess and seizing control of the country. The prince of Falena, Lymsleia’s older brother, can flee with a handful of his allies thanks to Arshtat, Lymsleia’s father. The prince is tasked with assembling an army, gaining the support of many other groups and nations, and regaining control of his realm.
Suikoden V is a direct prequel to the first game and takes place eight years before the original game’s events, making it a chronologically distant sequel to Suikoden IV. The ability to keep one’s castle, a rune-based magic system (with the limited casting of spells instead of magic points), and the opportunity to hire 108 characters to assist the hero on his quest are all components that are present in this entry of the series and have been carried over from previous games. As in the first two games, the player manages an active party of six characters, each controlled independently, while four additional characters serve as backup. The party’s establishment is a crucial factor at this time since the party can earn benefits by employing various positions and strategies. Individual characters can carry out combination strikes, the specifics of which change based on who else is currently engaged in combat. The skill system from the third game has been brought back: characters now have the opportunity to study a variety of passive skills that both improve their fighting behavior and boost their parameters.
In this version, the duel bouts are timed, and the player will need to make a hasty decision regarding which attack type to use before their opponent carries out their move. The previous entries’ real-time strategic conflicts have taken the place of the turn-based tactical army warfare that was featured in those entries. On land or water, the player commands various units; the unit types are related to each other in a “rock-paper-scissors” pattern, with each type having advantages and disadvantages versus two others.
