I loved the exploration, the base-building and recruiting the characters and the story is servicable. What annoyed me quite often were unnecessarily tedious mechanics to manage inventory and equipment and skills. But all in all I put a ton of hours in and enjoyed them, even without much nostalgia for Suikoden, so definitely recommended for genre fans.
Ever since Slay the Spire, there have beene tons of roguelite deckbuilders, but most are pretty barebones and often outright clones. Monster train, however, comes up with enough clever mechanics - and ways to combine them - that it's absolutely worth playing for any genre fan. The only downside for me is that the runs always felt too long, overstaying their welcome just a tad.
The game is getting on in years, still has some janky bugs and quite frankly doesn't look the best visually. But it's still the one I keep coming back to time and again for my fix, because the mechanics are so tightly designed. Anyone with a mind for roguelites and/or deckbuilders should give this a try at least once.
