Latest news with #Suikoden
CBS News
06-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
San Jose artist uses tattoos to celebrate his Japanese culture
A photo exhibit featuring traditional Japanese tattoo art, called "American Irezumi" is coming to San Francisco's Main Library in October, featuring the work of San Jose tattoo artist Takahiro Kitamura. Last December, dozens of his clients who have served as his canvas for the past 27-years, came together for the photo shoot in the South Bay. "There's a lot of emotions here," said Kitamura who is known as Taki. "All I feel is like so much gratitude and respect for like the trust they have given me." The trust begins inside his tattoo studio, State of Grace Tattoo, in San Jose's Japantown where his clients travel as far away as Sacramento every month to get work done on their tattoo body suits. Sal Reynaga's tattoo journey with Taki began in 2012, as part of a healing process from his past. "I served from 2000 and 2004 in the US Marine Corps, and I did most of my time in Iraq," said Reynaga. "Times were tough when getting back. It was hard to adjust to civilian life, and it was real tough getting back to normal." Today, he describes his tattoos as his suit of armor protecting him from the realities of the world. "It's my form of wearing my uniform, my suit, my armor suit," said Reynaga. "It represents perseverance, strength, and honor. I wear it for the all the people I served with." It is responsibility Kitamura takes to heart, when helping his clients tell their stories. "Sal for example you know has done military service, so the idea of the samurai was very important to him," said Kitamura. "I try to take into account their wishes… and what they are trying to convey and then mix in things, that I've learned from my culture." Part of that culture stretches back more than 200-years. The original Japanese woodblock prints, that Kitamura uses for many of his tattoos, created by one of Japan's master artists, Utagawa Kuniyoshi. "He was really known for warrior prints, Suikoden warriors, he lived during the Edo Period," explained Kitamura, who is also wears a tattoo body suit. "I get a lot of joy tattooing Kuniyoshi prints on people. I think they are made to fit the body perfectly." For Kitamura, he hopes the photo exhibit will not only educate people on the history of Japanese culture, but also help erase some of the stigma of tattoos. He says, in Japan the tattoo is often associated with the Yakuza and organized crime. "I think it is getting better over time, but I think they have had a very troublesome history," said Kitamura. "Tattoos were used by the government to mark criminals, so right away there was a stigma." He believes, tattoos are more accepted here in America. "If you go through my clients, I have all kinds of people I tattoo a lot of law enforcement, US marshals TSA agents, working police officers, retired police officers, and then regular working people who are in business and finance," said Kitamura. The "American Irezumi" photo exhibit is to open at the San Francisco Main Library on October 2nd, and will be on display for six months. Allison Wyckoff, Director of Exhibitions describing the photo display: "American Irezumi is the name given to what tattoo artist and State of Grace owner Takahiro (Taki) Kitamura spent the better half of his life pursuing. In Japanese, irezumi means 'inserting ink' and is a common word for tattooing. The Japanese tattoo has been instrumental in Kitamura's journey toward understanding his hybrid identity, and he is not alone. Like the artists and sitters featured in the exhibition, Kitamura continues to learn lessons about culture, art, perseverance, humanity and life through tattooing. This journey is taken together with his clients, many of whom are on a similar path of understanding and growth. In his quest to become a traditional Japanese tattooer, Kitamura understands his identity as a Japanese American tattooer, bringing his hybrid identity and experience to his practice through American Irezumi—being comfortable in your skin: your tattooed skin. The exhibition exemplifies the concept of American Irezumi, capturing hundreds of hours of commitment over a twenty-five-year span, and the community built over that time. Through photographs and interviews with over twenty-four artists in the Bay Area and beyond, hand-carved masks, sculptures, tattoo tools and a hand-painted mural, American Irezumi explores the rich stories of identity, place and cross-cultural embodiment and experience."
Yahoo
10-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What You Need To Know About Suikoden I & II HD Remaster
The Suikoden series may not have the mainstream appeal of a franchise like Final Fantasy, but its first two entries have long been considered some of the best RPG games of all time by genre aficionados. Now, with the release of Suikoden I & II HD Remaster, both returning fans and first-time players can finally experience these '90s classics on modern consoles. Here's what to expect. Suikoden I & II HD Remaster features both the first and second games in the Suikoden series, without any major changes to their core gameplay. However, they've both received a nice new coat of paint and a handful of quality-of-life features that modernize the experiences. Here's the biggest stuff to know: The UI has been updated and is much cleaner. Spell effects have been remade in HD to look considerably better. Sound effects have been improved across the board, and some brand-new environmental sounds have been added. There's now an option to increase battle speed, which can obviously make any grinding a much less tedious affair. Auto-save functionality has been added. The first Suikoden is a relatively short RPG that comes in at about 20 hours for its main campaign. If you want to complete it fully, however, you can anticipate spending upwards of 30 hours. Suikoden II, meanwhile, is a lengthier adventure overall. It can take players between 30 and 50 hours—again, depending on whether you're merely aiming to see the credits roll, or plan to find and do everything. Of course, given that both games have speed boosts available now, you can technically see them through much more quickly if you wish. Suikoden I & II HD Remaster is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Given these are lengthy role-playing games with a lot of battling, they make for great portable experiences. Playing this collection on a Nintendo Switch or a PlayStation Portal ensures you can grind some levels on the go—or when you're laid up in bed at night. Whatever floats your boat!Regardless of where you play Suikoden I & II HD Remaster, you're getting two incredible classic RPGs that every genre fan should enjoy. So just soak it all in and then join the rest of us in wondering why the hell we aren't getting a new Suikoden game every few years. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Bloomberg
07-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Bloomberg
How Konami Brought a Beloved Video-Game Franchise Back From the Dead
The producer of Suikoden, a brilliant but underappreciated franchise, says it is returning in a big way
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fans are concerned Critical Role's Suikoden one-shot will be ruined by one player's "complete incompetence and blaming the game"
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Critical Role is soon to air a Suikoden one-shot campaign – a notoriously underrated JRPG setting, according to many forums, but one that lives rent-free in the hearts of millions. With Matt Mercer as the Game Master, Ashley Johnson, Taliesin Jaffe will be playing along with Zeno Robinson (of Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman and My Hero Academia fame), D&D content creator Zachary Renauldo, and Arin Hanson of Game Grumps. The latter of whom's appearance has been stirring up some doubts on the Critical Role subreddit. Using one of the best tabletop RPG systems around as usual, D&D 5e, this will be an interesting mishmash of old-school JRPG mechanics with the well-known Dungeons & Dragons system. The party will be working through a short story set in the republic of Dunan – a prominent location in the Suikoden 2 video game – and have hinted that the campaign will begin in the cozy White Deer Inn just outside of Muse City. There the players will be in store for a nice warm meal, and a whole load of shenanigans I imagine. That's what fans are expecting from Game Grumps' Arin Hanson, at least, with commenters on a r/Criticalrole thread trumpeting Hansons role along with the announcement latching onto Hansons prior antics. There are heaps of upvotes on comments that doubt Hansons ability to stay on track. "The problem is when Arin fails at an extremely basic task (almost always because he didn't read), and then blames the game" puts user Kyleometers rather bluntly. "He can't play any long game he hasn't already played as a kid without a guide, because he's completely incapable of reading instructions and coming to simple conclusions on mechanics." The post goes on "It's PAINFUL watching Arin fail to do something the tutorial showed him how to do, and then yell about how the game sucks because it's not intuitive." Another commenter notes that "It was funny at first but as time went on Arin showed how little he actually knows about game design and watching his game play it became more and more apparent." That's according to Doctor-Piranha, who's looking at 63 upvotes echoing the sentiment. They continue "My breaking point was the ocarina of time playthrough. It was infuriating to watch". In Hanson's defense, one commenter believes "Arin has been making an… attempt to be less dismissive of tutorials lately", though the lack of upvotes here suggests the consensus is leaning the other way. You can expect to find the party knee-deep in some Scarlet Moon Empire political struggles on March 11 at 7pm PST / 10pm EST over on the Critical Role podcast. For those in the UK it'll be aired at 2am the next day (March 12), if you're willing to stay up that late on a Tuesday. For more recommendations, why not check out the best card games or best two player board games.
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
After Years Of Waiting, Suikoden Finally Gets The HD Glow-Up It Deserves
Almost every major Japanese publisher had to have a big RPG franchise in the PS1 era. Square Soft had Final Fantasy. Enix had Dragon Quest. Capcom had Breath of Fire. Bandai Namco had Tales. And so, Konami made Suikoden. Its innovation was trading a set party of heroes for a cast of 108 total characters who could be recruited on your adventure. Combined with a world of rune-based magic and political intrigue, Suikoden I and II managed to carve out a unique lane in a crowded field, and now both games have finally been updated with modern bells and whistles for current platforms. I've played around a bit with the Suikoden I & II HD Remaster collection, which technically includes the much longer subtitle 'Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars,' and am pleased to report two main takeaways. First, these JRPGs still have the juice, especially Suikoden II. The snappy turn-based combat and open-ended collect-em-all-fest holds up 30 years later, with decent storytelling and even better character writing. Second, both games have survived the journey from low-resolution 4:3 aspect ratio to 16:9 HD mostly intact and looking better than ever, especially in Suikoden II. The character sprites remain perfectly pixelated-looking without any smoothed-over upscaling effects or muddy silhouettes. The backgrounds, never a series highlight, look crisp and get the job done. The tiling of its top-down world can feel a bit bland and repetitive, but certain scenes with more detailed shadows and lighting really pop. Most importantly, the battles still look and feel great, at least to the eyes of someone who grew up with these games back in the '90s. Things are less great in Suikoden I where some environments look weirdly flat and empty. For those unfamiliar, Suikoden I (1995) follows military nepo-baby Tir who comes into possession of a magical relic that jumpstarts a rebellion against the empire he had previously pledged to serve. Suikoden II (1998) follows childhood friends Riou, Jowy, and Nanami after a false-flag attack by their military unit leads them to be branded as traitors amid an invasion by a neighboring kingdom. The first game is about 20 hours long and focuses mainly on recruiting characters to aid you in your fight against the evil Scarlet Moon Empire, while the second is longer, much more narratively dense, and a bit more morally grey and complex. Both are propelled along by random encounters and boss fights, toil made much better than in some other games thanks to Suikoden's old-school but flashy turn-based formula and the fact that you're always finding new characters with unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses to fight alongside. Instead of just three or four characters, you get to fight with six, with front and back rows as well as synergistic combo attacks adding to the strategy. None of it felt revolutionary at the time like the multi-cam cinematic quality of Final Fantasy VII battles, but it's crunchy and well-balanced as far as conventional turn-based combat goes. So what improvements and new quality-of-life features does the Suikoden I & II HD Remaster collection bring to the party? Aside from the graphical overhaul and updated script (the original localized versions were far from perfect), there are standard additions like auto-saves and a menu log that keeps a record of what people have told you. There's no mini-map but you can sprint from the start now. You can speed up fights to auto-battle through them quickly, though weirdly the music speeds up during this as well. Plus there are optional difficulty modes now. The ability to turn off timed events is coming in a day-one update (certain characters can't be recruited if the in-game clock ticks past a certain point). It's unfortunate that you can't speed up the game outside of battle, and it feels like a missed opportunity not to have the option to turn on the game's old graphics and aspect ratio for enthusiasts who want to revisit the original experience on PS1. The inventory systems in both games are also still a pain (though not nearly as clunky as how they were left in the recent Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake). An in-game gallery, museum, or other historical feature would have been a nice bonus as well, especially for the $50 price tag. The bar keeps rising for modern remasters of all-time classics, and it certainly feels like there was room for Suikoden I & II HD Remaster to be a more comprehensive package. It doesn't make any major missteps, though, which can't be said for every PS1 JRPG that gets an HD makeover. Suikoden I & II HD Remaster presents one good game and one excellent one (it's sacrilege to say but if you're short on time I think you should just play II) with everything a modern player needs to enjoy two genre classics (well, except for maybe an option to turn off random encounters). Konami has already announced an anime adaptation of Suikoden II and a new mobile spin-off called Star Leap that looks beautiful but has gacha microtransactions. If this burgeoning Suikoden renaissance is successful, though, maybe we'll finally get Suikoden VI, or at least Suikoden III as a PS2 classic on PlayStation 5. . For the latest news, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
