Suikoden characters?
Atmavictu
note: I am fully aware that this NG is for FF discussion (although the
title of this NG is more of an indictation of that than the N64 vs PSX
arguments ;) Even so, I have noticed a bit of discussion on the
Konami's Playstation RPG, "[Gensou] Suikoden."
(hope you don't mind all this background info; I just wish to get my
question across with as little ambiguity as possible) Sui Ko Den
(originally titled "Shui Hu Zhuan") is considered one of the greatest
epics from ancient China. I haven't read this story first-hand yet (I
couldn't find it at the library-- I'll try another approach ;). I
gathered from various sources* that it's the story of "nine dozen (108)"
people (some more virtuous than others) wrongly percectuted by a central
government and forced to travel to the mountains, where they set up
their own society where everyone has equal status (whether the outcome
of this is like what happened to Marxism in real life, or Mason Farm in
Orwell's Animal Farm, I don't know).
* GameFan Volume 4, Issue 7
various discussions on rec.arts.anime.misc (sorry-- that's no much
help ;)
Salavin's Giant Robo Web Page (subtitling script to OAV 3)
Gensou Sui Ko Den has been translated under sever names including
"[Heroes of/Legend of the] Water Margin," "Outlaws of the Marsh,"
"Bandit Kings of China" and Pearl S. Bucks' "All Men Are Brothers,"
which has been hailed as Sui Ko Den's best Enlgish translation (by
"Y.S." in GameFan Vol 4 Issue 7).
In the late 60's and early 70's, the Japanese comic artist ("manga-ka"),
Yokoyama Mitsuteru, made a comic adaption of Sui Ko Den. I don't know
how close it was to the original story, though. In the early 1990's,
Bandai Anime and Amuse Pro beagan production of the seven-part Giant
Robo OAV ("Original Animated Video" or direct-to-video release) series.
Rather than using Yokoyama's original Giant Robo story, the production
team (lead by Yamaki Yasuto and the director, Imagawa Yasuhiro) included
characters from Yokoyama's other works, including Sui Ko Den.
Now for my question: Does anyone here who owns the PSX Sui Ko Den
recognize any of these characters? I want to get the game anyway, but
as a huge Giant Robo fan, I'm pretty curious.
(names listed below go by FAMILY name FIRST, THEN GIVEN name)
name alias (Japanese) alias translation
Tai Sou "Shiikoutaiihuu" "the Godly Walker"
Lee Ki "Tetsugyuu" "Iron Ox"
? Go ? ** ????"Dai"?????? "the Star of Many Wisdom"
You Shi *** "Shimenjyu (sp?)" "Blue Face"
Kouson Syou(/Shou) "Issei Doujin" "Wizard of the Path/Taoist Issei
/Cloud Dragon"
**in the anime, he's refered to as "Go-sensei," "Go-gakujin," and
"Go-gakkyu." However, these are just title suffixes, so I don't know if
this helps
***in the original story, Youshi is male who has a blue mole on his
face. Whereas, in the anime, Youshi is a female with blue skin (who
happened to be married to Taisou) 0_o
Those listed above are the the characters in Giant Robo whom I am
positive are in Sui Ko Den. There are *many* other characters (awesome
ones, too ;) in the Giant Robo OAVs. With some characters. I'm positive
that they are not in Sui Ko Den ("Kusama Daisaku," "Alberto"). However,
there are others who MIGHT be in Suikoden, but I have no proof if they
are or are not ("Jujoji," "Koei," "Kan Shin," "Shutsu," "Kaiho,"
"Kaichin," "Koshin").
But after typing all of this, I have an underlying fear. Did Konami
"Macek" (ie, mangle) Sui Ko Den by changing the story or the character
names? In a screen shot in EGM #90, you can see names like "Phil" and
"Theo." :/ I hope those are the editor's names, and not the US
game's default ones....
[I don't hold anything against the names "Phil or "Theo," but I somehow
doubt you would find them in an ancient Chinese legend :]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ John "Atmavictu" Chambers ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You who are so reckless to defy me, shall go back to your world with
your deeds upon your shoulders. Listen to the Bell of Life; the purity
of the saints!!!" -- Jujoji (Ginrei fansub of Giant Robo 6)
Kenshin
Atmavictu <jcha...@pop.erols.com> wrote:
[snipped to save space]
> But after typing all of this, I have an underlying fear. Did Konami
> "Macek" (ie, mangle) Sui Ko Den by changing the story or the character
> names? In a screen shot in EGM #90, you can see names like "Phil" and
> "Theo." :/ I hope those are the editor's names, and not the US
> game's default ones....
> [I don't hold anything against the names "Phil or "Theo," but I somehow
> doubt you would find them in an ancient Chinese legend :]
Uh... yes, they changed the story and the names ^^;; I don't know the
original story myself, so I'm not sure, but I don't think the game
story has much to do with the original at all.... And as for the
character names, most of them are western-ish. For example:
Mash, Gremio, Wauren, Victor, Frick, Kimberly, Melody, Meg, Sancho,
etc. There are a few with Chinese-ish names too though (and a few
Japanese names too).