My overview of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is kind of late, however that’s partially by design. Preliminary opinions of the Change model complained of efficiency points that 505 Video games promised to repair with a forthcoming replace, and we gave them a while to take action. That patch is now out. Did it do the trick?
Brief reply? I don’t suppose so. Final end result? I nonetheless like the sport.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a Kickstarter-funded JRPG that particularly targets those that fondly recall the Suikoden video games. I’m not in that group, I suppose, having solely performed Suikoden Tierkreis on the Nintendo DS. I recall simply sufficient about that recreation to have been rapidly snug with the strategy Rabbit & Bear took with the programs and story of Eiyuden Chronicle.
Our story follows…effectively, it follows fairly a couple of individuals, truly. Hundred heroes, don’t you recognize. However the principle story is centered round Nowa, a younger soldier with a knack for fight and management. He meets and befriends an equally gifted soldier, Seign, however the two rapidly discover themselves on reverse ends of a battle that would tear aside not solely their friendship, however the entirety of Allraan.
Nowa is tasked with main a small group of like-minded troopers in an effort to recruit extra to their resistance effort. Allegiances will come and go as he progresses, and there’s simply sufficient thriller/suspense to maintain the participant guessing all through. There are a lot of characters to find and recruit. Some are picked up by way of the story, some be part of after finishing numerous sidequests or mini-games.
Others are simply missable. If you happen to gotta catch ’em all, seize a walkthrough.
The turn-based fight system does a superb job of letting you check out quite a lot of these characters directly. Your get together accommodates six lively fighters—three within the entrance, three within the again. Clearly, the frontline is for these with stable protection and brief vary assaults, whereas the backline is reserved for healers and those that can assault from a distance. You’ll assign actions for all six characters at the beginning of every flip, then watch them execute these actions so as of particular person velocity. The velocity of the enemy can disrupt these assaults, however I discovered it wasn’t too arduous to get out of most battles with minimal injury to my crew.
Eiyuden Chronicle isn’t terribly troublesome…till it needs to be. Some boss battles will discover you significantly under-leveled, and you recognize what meaning.
There are many intricacies to the fight, such because the timing of combo assaults and the utilization of “gimmicks” that seem in sure battles. Character skills may be enhanced with the precise weapons and equipment. This all provides some life to an in any other case pretty primary battle system that may begin to really feel fairly repetitious. Extra on that in a bit.
Along with the six lively combatants, you’ll be able to assign help characters that gives a buff to the crew. Extra importantly, you’ll be able to place “attendant” characters. This lets you hold story-required characters within the get together with out truly utilizing them, a beautiful choice if you wish to stage up different crew members or are simply tired of the principle group.
This being an old-school JRPG, Eiyuden Chronicle is stuffed with random battles. Whether or not you’re exploring a dungeon or traversing the world map, battles occur with out warning. If you happen to’re not OK with that, flip away now. You’ll be able to auto-battle when you like, for which you’ll customise how every get together member approaches fight to verify they don’t waste expertise that aren’t wanted in opposition to lesser enemies. You’ll positively wish to do all of this, as manually controlling every battle rapidly will get tedious.
Really, tedium is among the recreation’s largest faults. This manifests by way of repetitious battles, uninspired dungeons, and an excessive amount of backtracking. You’ll often revisit the identical areas, particularly when you’re desirous about finishing aspect quests or unlocking extra heroes. The flexibility to warp to particular dungeon locales would assist, proper? Properly, you should recruit the character that gives that capacity. Wish to rearrange your get together with out having to backtrack to a pleasant village? Once more, discover and recruit the precise particular person. It’s a joyous event when these skills are offered, however they arrive effectively after the expertise has already been soured.
I’ll additionally by no means perceive the purpose of giving us a map with out labeling the objects on that map. Did I not meet/recruit a personality who would supply that primary operate? Or give me a quest marker? Something to stop me from meandering internationally map when a straight line already gives extra random battles than I need? Not even the JRPG-mandated fishing element can save the day right here, as fishing is actually only a matter of tapping the A button.
The occasional minigame pops up, maybe to spare gamers from this repetition and occasional aimlessness. Some are enjoyable, some much less so, however all of them do a superb job of reclaiming your consideration.
They don’t, nevertheless, compensate for the efficiency issues on the Change. The promised patch didn’t do a lot to assist, both. The most important remaining offender is that all the things appears to have a load time. These aren’t terribly lengthy, however the recreation pauses for a couple of seconds earlier than and after each battle. While you’re coming into and leaving villages. While you’re coming into and leaving homes. While you’re coming into and leaving store menus. The interruptions are fixed, they usually haven’t been addressed on the time of this writing.
As I stated originally of the overview, nevertheless, I nonetheless favored Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. That is largely due to the script. The overwhelming majority of the characters are enjoyable, offering snappy and genuinely humorous dialogue. That’s fairly an achievement, contemplating what number of characters there are. It’s not stunning, although, because the characters and writing have been additionally the highlights of the sport’s predecessor: Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. The plot will hold you guessing, and it’s fascinating sufficient to push you ahead all through…and maybe past; Season Cross consumers will get extra chapters centered round completely different characters.
Additionally, discovering/recruiting new heroes is compelling, as is tinkering along with your get together lineup. Those that love the trivia of get together administration will get pleasure from working via the numerous optimization choices accessible.
That leaves us with a recreation that journeys alongside the way in which to its vacation spot, nevertheless it will get there with nothing greater than few bruises and skinned knees. It additionally takes a path that hasn’t been open to JRPG followers in fairly a while, and that alone might make it definitely worth the hike.
