Many fans consider the “Suikoden” games by Konami to be some of the best Japanese role-playing games (RPG) out there. Now one of the best iterations of the series, “Suikoden 3,” is coming to the PlayStation Network (PSN) for the Sony's PlayStation 3. The game will be part of the PlayStation 2 (PS2) Classics library, where other classic PS2 games can be purchased.

The news is great for fans of the series, as the first two “Suikoden” games came out last year as PSOne classics for the PSN Store, as noted by Game Informer. Two more “Suikoden” games came on the PlayStation 2 after the third game -- or three, if the spinoff title “Suikoden Tactics” is counted as an official part of the game series.

“Suikoden 3” varied differently from the first two games, as the game ditched the silent protagonists from the first two games and gave the player three different protagonists to choose from: Hugo of the Karaya Clan, Chris Lightfellow from Zexen and Geddoe, a member of the Harmonian Southern Frontier Defense Force. Soon their stories intertwined and the player got to know each character well enough, eventually having to choose one of the three as the “hero” of the plot.

While the story differed greatly from what “Suikoden” fans were familiar with, the game did keep a lot of the core mechanics that made the series a fan favorite. The combat system still involves six characters at a time and players can practically recruit an army, with 109 characters to collect and level up.

According to the PlayStation Blog this will be the only PS2 classic that gets released this week. But that’s to be expected, as releasing PS2 classics isn’t exactly a high priority when a number of new games come out weekly. “Suikoden 3” was one of the earlier games to come out for the PlayStation 2, hitting retail stores in 2002, and was the first fully 3D “Suikoden” game in the series. No price has been given yet for the PS2 classic version of “Suikoden 3.”

Suikoden 3 Intro (Credit: YouTube/Aloyalgamer)