Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a brand new title from Rabbit and Bear Studio, a studio fashioned by recreation builders and artists who labored on the unique Suikoden titles. Hundred Heroes itself is a non secular successor to the gameplay types of Suikoden, however the query with all non secular successors is “Does the imitation stay as much as the unique?”
In Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes you play as Nowa, a younger man who left his city to turn into an adventurer for a quest guild. After being chosen to affix a mission searching for a uncommon artifact dominoes shortly fall resulting in the Dux of a neighboring nation sowing discourse resulting in a struggle between nations.
Now the chief of an Alliance of countries Nowa should journey the nation recruiting allies to struggle off the invading Imperials. This journey takes him the world over visiting varied cities, interacting with, and recruiting denizens of the world from state leaders to widespread folks.
An Journey to Nowa-where
The story begins off sturdy. Introducing you to key characters who will work in tandem along with your efforts and arrange Nowa as a reluctant hero. There may be additionally a strong backing solid together with a mentor-like determine, a spunky good friend who treats you want a child, and a strong noblewoman orchestrating your complete effort from the background. These character archetypes is perhaps a bit tropey however they do an excellent job establishing the world shortly so you’ll be able to hop into exploration.
Because the story continues nevertheless this plot of world touring and political subterfuge shortly begins to indicate cracks. Not are characters fleshed out, travels to totally different locations turn into shorter and shorter, and new factions start showing out of nowhere to sluggish Nowa’s progress.
You may inform the precise second within the recreation when the scope of the story did not appear like it was going to be managable and later plot factors started to get paired down. The ultimate act manages to cram extra story, characters, and dungeons than you’ve got confronted in the entire recreation thus far. It concurrently feels rushed in addition to so sluggish as each time you are feeling you’ve got reached the top of the sport some totally different villain wants to indicate up for their very own epic second.
The Hundred+ Heroes
This sense of scope problem additionally involves the 100+ recruitable characters that you’re going to encounter. A few of these recruitable characters have a quest related to them and unlock totally different capabilities at your property base, others be a part of you with a easy dialog.
Loads of the heroes do not feel like they’re including something to the expertise however are as a substitute giving the participant skills that different video games would have an merchandise for or perhaps a setting. Having an NPC to allow you to carry extra objects, or to even stroll sooner looks like issues are being taken away to then be gifted again as gameplay rewards.
Some Heroes open entry to mini-games. There is a card recreation that makes use of comparable factors and lanes to Marvel Snap, and even a Beyblade-style minigame. These mini-games too come throughout as half-baked, feeling like the thought was there however there’s not sufficient to maintain you enjoying.
It is due to this that the implementation of the ‘Hundred Heroes’ themselves felt like they did not add a lot to the general expertise.
Fight on Auto-Pilot
Flip-based fight capabilities nicely on the floor however when you begin diving into it deeper, acquiring extra skills, and amassing characters it begins to indicate lots of its cracks.
At any time you’ll be able to have six members of your preventing celebration, with three to swap in. Characters have a regular assault and an Auto-Rune assault, for some characters, this might imply a particular assault that consumes SP or a magical capacity at the price of MP.
SP slowly refills all through the course of the battle permitting for celebration members to maintain doling out particular assault, I grew particularly keen on a personality you obtain early on who at all times spends his total SP gauge for assaults that develop in energy as there’s extra to spend. MP nevertheless not solely would not refill, however it’s additionally not attainable to buy MP restoring objects.
MP skills aren’t that rather more highly effective than SP alternate options, however the huge draw back is that MP is required for healers. This implies even when you may have a spellcaster in your celebration there is not any incentive to carry out a magical assault because the heal for a personality with a robust SP assault goes to be a much more environment friendly use of your magic.
Characters will be programmed to Auto-Battle, utilizing their skills and objects to maintain themselves dealing injury and staying secure. Whether or not it says one thing in regards to the issue of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, or how incredible the default character AI is I used to be in a position to clear the vast majority of the sport battling on auto-pilot.
There have been possibly solely two handfuls of battles towards boss creatures that had extra gimmicks to the battle, similar to taking a personality’s flip to fireplace a canon or drop an icicle, the place I wasn’t ready to make use of Auto mode all through the battle.
So long as I had upgraded my weapons and bought optimum gear at a city I at all times felt assured occurring to the following stage within the story.
There are a couple of moments in-game the place as a substitute of a small-scale battle you are preventing a struggle. Constructed on a grid system you will transfer your troops one area a flip, providing you with choices to activate skills alongside the way in which.
Whereas the occasion of large-scale battle is enjoyable there is not any precise successful or shedding of those battles, not less than within the story-based ones. Every is pre-scripted for only some turns. What would possibly look to have stakes as a substitute simply has you working head first into each other activating your skills till you are taken away from the battle.
Lagging In Unusual Locations
An odd side that I skilled all through your entire recreation was additionally how a lot time was wanted to navigate menus. Between citing a menu, navigating to the magic display, tabbing over to a personality, choosing a spell, and choosing your celebration every a part of the method was met with delay. After 45+ hours enjoying Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes the place utilizing skills and spells ought to have been muscle reminiscence I needed to at all times be watching as the sport could have misplaced any of my inputs.
Seems to be and Sounds Superb
Two areas the place Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes excelled have been in its artwork design and audio route.
The combination of 2D sprites in 3D worlds will at all times be a captivating one to me. Every of the character’s fashions is superbly detailed, and so they should be so you’ll be able to select the primary characters as you stroll by means of a city.
All the totally different monsters featured within the recreation have been additionally extremely fascinating and distinctive. One among my favourite designs was that of a three-headed dragon monster, however the center head had already been eliminated leaving a stump as a substitute. Every new area introduced with it distinctive monsters to gawk and stare upon.
All main characters are absolutely voiced and you may actually inform that everybody is giving it their all. Moments of frustration and unhappiness will be heard all through the journey that the primary characters go on. That is equally true when characters discover their energy and band collectively to attempt to save the world.
Even after strolling away from the sport whereas enjoying it this previous week the partaking battle theme and overworld themes caught with me. Within the late recreation, there are additionally emotional musical tracks with vocals that spur throughout moments of stress and celebration. These tracks are instantly going to be added to my playlists when accessible.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Evaluate | Closing Ideas
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a recreation that tries to mannequin the whole lot it does on the Suikoden video games of yesteryear. As with many “non secular successors crowdfunded with huge names from the unique launch connected” this falls into the entice the place you see what they are going for, however undershoot the mark at virtually each probability.
Suikoden followers will possible get pleasure from themselves, however will not be overly excited. For others who did not have a lot publicity to these specific traditional JRPG titles, this is not going to be the introduction you need. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is one other excellent instance of a Kickstarter recreation that hasn’t achieved its inspiration and has suffered from stretch aim bloat and scope mismanagement.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was reviewed on PC with a code offered by the writer over roughly 46 hours of gameplay. All screenshots on this overview have been taken by the reviewer throughout gameplay.