Argh, Suiko 4 has to be the worst suiko in the series. There're so many things inadequate about it I don't know where to begin.
4- (instead of 6) character parties, too many meaningless filler characters (yeah, much more than the previous games), boring story, ugly main character who loves to wear shorts, LINEAR (as in one straight path) levels, overpowered runes (coughFalconcough), unrelated end-boss (where the hell did THAT come from??), poor opening sequence (I so missed Suiko 3's gorgeous animated opening, done by Studio Gonzo)...the list goes on and on.
Oh well...I think part of the fault lies in the producer, Junko Kawano. Much as I respect her taking on so many roles in the production of Suiko 4 (she's producer, chara designer, lead scriptwriter and even the friggin' motion-capture director
), I think more specialized people in some of her roles will improve the end result. I'm also a bit sad that she took over the role of chara designer from Fumi Ishikawa, who designed the characters for Suiko 2 & 3. Ishikawa is a stronger illustrator, and I certainly feel that her chara designs have much more charisma.
Bah..., now I'll try out Xenosaga 2. Possibly another disappointment, due to the absence of the previous composer, Yasunori Mitsuda, and also, the severe changes done to the original script co-writtened by Soraya Saga. Xeno fans may like to take a look at her homepage, Fridge
soraya.jp/fridge/faq.html , where she talked a bit about leaving the production team of the Xenosaga series. Surprisingly, she's an accomplished artist too! I feel so sorry that she's not included in the new Xeno team. Damn Monolith Soft's management
.
Fans of her writings may want to send her their encouragements (Saga is the co-writer of Xenosaga 1 and the great Xenogears). She seems to be feeling somewhat down, judging from what I read on her page...