I was thinking of playing this game before the original because

>>3253924
You don't need to play the first one to understand 2. Some characters return, but let's just say 1 happened in an entirely different country than 2. About geting the 108 characters, you may indeed need a guide, because you can lock yourself out of getting 108. About the endings... well, they're kinda different, so if you're only playing this once, aim for the true ending.

There's a game-spanning sidequest that gives closure for a character, but it's so restricting that you may as well watch it on youtube - you need to reach the final battle in less than 20 hours.

>>3253938
I think I might actually just play the original first since apparently there is an overarching story to the first 3 games in the series I'd like to get the references and characters I wouldn't otherwise since this series looks to be one that I could get really into

Have you played 3? I heard it's not as good but is it worth laying at all?

You don't need to, but it's recommended.

>>3253972
There's no overarching plot, I think you mean Suikogaiden (happens during 2). Like I said, some characters do return (even in 3), but since there's 108 of them, you're not getting any complicated backstory, just a few lines of text. It may be important to play 2 before 3, but 1 is most certainly a self-contained story.

You can recruit the main character from 1, if you load up a save game from it in Suikoden 2. But he has no bearing in the plot - some returning characters will recognize him, but that's it.

Don't skip the first one. There are entire mandatory dungeons in the second one that pretty much just act as fanservice for people who played the first one as well as characters that show up in both.

>>3253972
>I think I might actually just play the original first since apparently there is an overarching story to the first 3 games
There is an overarching background plot, but we never got the game that unifies all those plot aspects together (the different countries from 1, 2 and 3 were all supposed to ally together to fight an enemy) so they all function fine as standalone ones too.

is this the game with the bad ass snare drum?

>>3254748
Yeah

>>3253924
its shit

>>3256003
No u

>>3253924
1 is really short and it's a direct prequel, there's no reason not to play it.

>>3254494
>the different countries from 1, 2 and 3 were all supposed to ally together to fight an enemy
Suikoden VI never ever ;_;

>>3257708
Dude, you should be thankful Suikoden gets to rest in piece. It would be so awful people would become nostalgic for Suikoden 4.

>>3253924
Save importing from 1 is a bigger deal than the story, especially if you run that bugfix compilation on 2 (just google it, the thing has a github).

Both are known to be about as buggy as FFVI, so your choice on that matter.