When I first heard of the Suikoden I & II remasters, I was thrilled. This series is one that became a firm favourite of mine during my teenage years, on the original PlayStation. An RPG franchise more celebrated in Japan than on Western shores, the games distilled the genre into a title filled with all the tropes we now see as tent poles.

We’ve got a plucky protagonist, the son of a respected elder, alienated by a tyrannical society and government, who forms a band of heroes in the hope of overthrowing the upper echelon of the country. It’s a simple premise, and while I’d like to recommend that everyone should play this release, it’s difficult to do so.

When I was a lot younger and played the first game in the Suikoden series, I was relatively new to RPGs. The hook of the game - forming an army of over 100 usable characters - was appealing, and the story carried me through with plenty of dramatic moments. However, revisiting the game so many years later shows just how simple it was, and still is. Too simple, in fact. The dialogue, which could be seen as snappy, is overly plain; the pivotal moments feel fleeting in their pacing, with weighty stabs of emotion undercut by the haste they’re delivered. Worst of all is the once fascinating ability to recruit characters, who, over 30 years ago, felt fully-formed and vibrant, are actually two-dimensional and rather dull.