What are you playing?

Also most of the game's value is on account of it being ridiculous rare, not because it's spectacular.

 Spoiler

While the runes are interesting, the lore I'm referring to is more character and world based. Like the wars that you don't get to play through but hear about through various sources in the games. Or the way one game connects to another (in Suikoden V the Island Nations from Suikoden IV come to assist (but IV takes place 150 years before V so obviously the characters you meet are just descendants of those from IV)). Character relations and lore include what the hell happens to Victor and the Star Dragon Sword after II, because some kid ends up with SDS in III. There's a triggered scene where the SDS mutters something about the 'old fool' losing him on a bet. Also in 2 if you bring Flik with you when you first meet Hix and Tengaar they have an extended scene because of their connection from 1. But there's also tons of unsolved mysteries like WHO / WHAT ARE JEANE AND VIKI and what's the real deal with Pesmerga and Yuber.

I could go on for days but I won't.

First off, the obvious. Spoilers please; remember that I'm still in the midst of 2. Second, I wasn't discrediting the series as a whole, only 2 because of it's insane cost.

 Spoiler

But yes, some of the brooding characters aren't fully explained which leaves me curious. Much of the time I got tired of the castle theme was waiting for the detective to get more info on the characters after I was fed up waiting for the squirrels.

I can see that the way the games are built, extrapolation of the environment can be done with relative ease, but at this point sequentially the world itself is not too unique as far as RPGs go. Once more, as I get through the entire series, my opinion will likely change. What you've mentioned does sound like something I'd be interested in as back when I played Chrono Cross for the first time I examined it like crazy to spot the connections despite how the game suffered in several fronts. I just get stuck in series like these occasionally and find it near impossible to get back into it. I've been in the middle of the Xenosaga series for years now. Once you lose the memory of those connections and forget the story of the game it becomes really difficult to get back into it. But I digress.

More on topic;
Beat Sam & Max 104-203
Played Suikoden II

 Spoiler

Got the Suikoden 1 hero, but the game crashed shortly after doing so. And yeah, I had looked that up. I generally only check the cheats section for RPGs since more often than not it contains missables and unlocks information.

Not playing 40+ hour games that require commitment at the moment since my dog is guilt tripping me whenever I don't pay attention to her now since she has less than a week left... Although, I've been trying to get a little in here and there at night while she's asleep. Hence me being up til 5:19 AM... sleep would be good now come to think of it.