I tend to rank the suikoden series in the order of 2, 1, 3 and then 4 (4 being the worst). While 3 does have a lot of memorable characters, that are very well fleshed out, the combat system tends to detract from the actual gameplay, hence why I rank 1 before it. 4 has a good combat system, but a lot of the characters just seem to be thrown into the game without any reason. Also, once you play the game for a while, you'll HATE ocean travel, as it takes forever. Always use the sprint key when sailing, otherwise it makes impossibly long boat trips take even longer, and leave you feeling bored. Other than the ocean travel, and the feeling that characters were just thrown in to up the total to 108, Suikoden 4 is still worth playing in my book.