My evaluation of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is sort of late, however that’s partially by design. Preliminary opinions of the Swap 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?
Quick reply? I don’t assume 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 assume, having solely performed Suikoden Tierkreis on the Nintendo DS. I recall simply sufficient about that recreation to have been rapidly snug with the method Rabbit & Bear took with the programs and story of Eiyuden Chronicle.
Our story follows…properly, it follows fairly a number of individuals, really. Hundred heroes, don’t you realize. 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 might 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 a part of after finishing numerous sidequests or mini-games.
Others are simply missable. Should you gotta catch ’em all, seize a walkthrough.
The turn-based fight system does a very good job of letting you check out a whole lot of these characters directly. Your celebration comprises six energetic fighters—three within the entrance, three within the again. Clearly, the frontline is for these with strong protection and brief vary assaults, whereas the backline is reserved for healers and people who can assault from a distance. You’ll assign actions for all six characters at first of every flip, then watch them execute these actions so as of particular person pace. The pace of the enemy can disrupt these assaults, however I discovered it wasn’t too exhausting to get out of most battles with minimal injury to my group.
Eiyuden Chronicle isn’t terribly troublesome…till it desires to be. Some boss battles will discover you significantly under-leveled, and you realize 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 will be enhanced with the correct 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 energetic combatants, you may assign help characters that gives a buff to the group. Extra importantly, you may place “attendant” characters. This lets you hold story-required characters within the celebration with out really utilizing them, an exquisite choice if you wish to degree up different group 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. Should you’re not OK with that, flip away now. You may auto-battle when you like, for which you’ll be able to customise how every celebration member approaches fight to ensure they don’t waste abilities that aren’t wanted towards lesser enemies. You’ll positively wish to do all of this, as manually controlling every battle rapidly will get tedious.
Truly, tedium is among the recreation’s greatest 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 considering finishing aspect quests or unlocking extra heroes. The flexibility to warp to particular dungeon locales would assist, proper? Nicely, that you must recruit the character that gives that capability. Wish to rearrange your celebration with out having to backtrack to a pleasant village? Once more, discover and recruit the correct individual. It’s a joyous event when these skills are supplied, however they arrive properly 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 perform? 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 part 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 very good job of reclaiming your consideration.
They don’t, nevertheless, compensate for the efficiency issues on the Swap. The promised patch didn’t do a lot to assist, both. The most important remaining wrongdoer is that all the pieces appears to have a load time. These aren’t terribly lengthy, however the recreation pauses for a number of seconds earlier than and after each battle. Whenever you’re coming into and leaving villages. Whenever you’re coming into and leaving homes. Whenever you’re coming into and leaving store menus. The interruptions are fixed, and so they haven’t been addressed on the time of this writing.
As I mentioned in the beginning of the evaluation, nevertheless, I nonetheless preferred Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. That is principally 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 attention-grabbing sufficient to push you ahead all through…and maybe past; Season Move patrons will get extra chapters centered round totally different characters.
Additionally, discovering/recruiting new heroes is compelling, as is tinkering together with your celebration lineup. Those that love the trivialities of celebration administration will get pleasure from working by the numerous optimization choices out there.
That leaves us with a recreation that journeys alongside the best way 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 could make it definitely worth the hike.