Committed from the start to make a franchise to rival series such as Enix's Dragon Quest and Square's Final Fantasy, Murayama wrote the scenario of the first Suikoden.
The pitch was a success, and in this short meeting the game was given the name Suikoden, the Japanese reading of Shui Hu Zhuan, and Murayama was tasked with making 108 characters mirroring the 108 outlaws in the Chinese classic.
Deciding what aspects to focus on for Suikoden II, response from the fans prompted them to concentrate on further developing the world and its characters over the graphics and mechanics.
Soon after leaving Konami, Murayama set up his own company, Blue Moon Studio, the developer of the video game 10,000 Bullets (Tsukiyo ni Saraba in Japan).
[10] Yoshitaka Murayama worked with Junko Kawano and other contributors to the Suikoden franchise for a new project which echoes its legacy: Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.
Inspired by a line of code in Enix's 1992 RPG Dragon Quest V where each time the player is killed and resurrected, the dialog from the priest character is slowed down a little, Murayama wanted to use small details such as this to give his games a greater sense of realism and emotional depth.