Characters

The main character has no name, but apparently will be voiced by Takashi Hiroshi. It is unknown if this will just be in 'grunts' a la Lazlo and Freyjadour in Suikoden IV and V or like Kyril in Suikoden Tactics.

The character Jail (ジェイル) will be voiced by Ryotaro Okiayu. The female character Marika (マリカ) will be voiced by Sakamoto Maya. Ryu (リウ) will be voiced by Tetsuya Kakihara and finally, Dirk (ディルク) will be voiced by Konishi Katsuyuki who is also voicing Viktor in the Suikoden radio drama detailed on this site.

A porpoise race (I mean a species, not an athletic competition) has been confirmed for the game. All together now; grrrroan!

Actual character information; The hero is a youth from an idyllic village, Sidro. Jail is a quite, but sometimes brash young man who cares about the hero and others within the town guard. The character Dirk is the leader of the Sidro town guard, he teaches the others to fight and is very strong, etc. Marika is a friend of the hero from childhood and daughter of the village chief as well as a member of the town guard, while Ryu is a vagabound who arrived in the village some time ago. He doesn't like to fight very often.

Other characters shown include Yula (ユラ), a brown haired girl who appears in battle screenshots and Misrach (ミズラック), a tanned man with a small beard in the same battle shots.

Gameplay

The gameplay takes advantage of the Nintendo DS's touch screen. The top screen shows character status information. HP, MP, status effects and the like. Meanwhile, you can use the DS stylus to enter commands in battle on the touch screen.

Other observations include: The battle system is four person battle system, like Suikoden IV. As such, it is a traditional RPG, not a strategy RPG like Suikoden Tactics. Unite/Combo attacks are confirmed to be in.

Looking at the status screen it appears traditional Suikoden MP is OUT, to be replaced with standard MP numbers comparable to HP. Like in Final Fantasy VII, for example (and 90% of every RPG ever).

Setting

The game is set in the Kingdom of Salsaville. However, the hero's home village appears to be called Sidro Village (シトロ村). Other locations include; the town of Saad, Freseria Forest, the Marcina Plains, Septaflos (the home of the porpoise-based race) and El Kalaal, the palace of a nation (not Salsaville) ruled by Danash VIII.

Plot

Supposedly the game OPENS with the defeat of the 108 Stars of Destiny at the hands of the game's villain with only four survivors (not including the hero). The quest involves reassembling the 108 Stars of Destiny.