Suikoden (1995) is my comfort game

I don't exactly remember how I got my original Sony PlayStation, but it was either my 9th or 10th birthday. It was after I had moved from my childhood home outside Bryan, Texas into the city proper but before I lost contact with the neighborhood crew. The PlayStation was near the end of its run, and fairly affordable. I didn't specify any games to my parents so they took a gamble and one of those was on a niche game called Suikoden. Don't worry, this cover has little to do with the game. I'll be honest, the cover art does not inspire much confidence. There is another cover that looks much less weird, but this was the one my parents brought home. You have your castle from the game, but also a weird man in his 20s or 30s holding a wand (who I think is supposed to be the protagonist) a witchy woman who isn't in the game, and a random monster - it is a bizarre mess that looks at home in a movie bargain bin. But I decided to pop it into my new PlayStation and give it a try. My parents said…