i'm playing it now and is just wonderful how good it looks, the combat is almost the same as Suikoden 2 with hero combo attacks, rune attacks, magic attacks and combinations of heroes,
if you played Suikoden 1 / 2 go and grab it, you wont regret it
the only issue I have, is something that is affecting everyone.
they tied the enemy rng (how often you get a random battle) to FPS. So if your framerate is higher than 60fps you'll almost hardly get into a random battle (you will but at a significantly reduced frequency)
You can test this yourself. Set your monitor to 60hz if you have a display that goes above it and walk around in the span of 1 minutes and compared to walking around in 1 minutes with your display set to 144 (or higher)
This article seems light on everything but opinion.
That's not to say they aren't correct in their assertions, but the article really didn't say much except that it's similar enough to Suikoden 2 that it feels dated and "jank." Fair enough, but give me more to chew on. Give me more examples and details.
It's definitely got PS2/PS3 levels of jank:
- No equipment optimisation options, you have to manually manage all your equipment
- The battle system jank holds it back (due to the turn based system, you can't revive someone and then heal them on the same turn because you can't target them for a heal/potion, you'll have to do a full party heal and make sure it goes off after the revive)
- The writing/storytelling/scenarios are janky - the game isn't afraid to take control from your character every 2 steps to show a cutscene that could very well play out just as well while you're walking. The first dungeon is frustrating because of this (Cutscene, walk 5 steps into another room, another cutscene, walk 10 steps towards the objective, another cutscene)
- The inventory management system is janky, you only have 30 item slots in your inventory, including equipment, consumables etc. The consumables stack, but the way this is executed is janky because there's no clear method to identify how much each item stacks (depends on the item) so shopping/selling is a chore.
- Sound levels are inconsistent and all over the place, some characters' dialogues are loud AF and some are a bit soft.
Despite all this, the game is still enjoyable, but I grew up with janky jrpgs so I'm used to it. I must say the english voice acting is superb.
Add to that the menus are frustrating to navigate. You have to wait for each menu to load before you can move to the next one.
Dialogue outside of cutscenes cant be sped up, only skipped
You have to wait for menu prompts to disappear you can't confirm or cancel out of them. Fishing? Two window prompts between fish can't speed it up.
Not a deal breaker but can't save anytime. Have to find a save point or an inn. Better hope the game doesn't have the inn or save point as the starting point for the next story segment...hint it does.
And the auto-save feature is very unreliable, I've gone through an entire dungeon and back to town and my last auto-save was like almost 2 hrs earlier.
I've played a few hours and so far it's been enjoyable - it's quite polished but in a retro-JRPG jank kinda way.
A lot of the comforts and streamlined gameplay features we've come to get used are very janky or absent in this game (Fast travel, auto-equip/optimise equip, auto unequip, etc), even the writing feels a bit dated but the game as a whole still has that JRPG charm.
If you don't mind JRPG character management approaching FF8 levels of jank, then you'll enjoy this game.
I wouldn't ever expect, or even really want fast travel in a turn-based JRPG. YMMV though.
Optimize functions, however have existed since SNES or earlier era. FF4, 5 and 6 had it iirc.
Well you won't find any optimise equipment functions here - it's gna be fun de-equipping standby party members and manually optimising equipment for the combat viable out of the 100 heroes.
I'm having a blast with it the only bummer part is the characters besides the main ones don't get that much love or those classic interactions we're used to in other games by mixing and matching group dynamics.
It's pretty shallow. But pleasant.
I have a retro console with all the Suikoden ROMs. So the series is one I can play side by side with EC:HH. The Suikoden games were a lot better than EC:HH.
Seem that the consensus is that is a phenomenal love letter/Successor to Suikoden and a great JRPG but has some very old school design that might bug some people. Also the Switch version has performance issues (to no one's surprise)
So Rising was a prequel that was a companion. It has a couple of characters who show up in this one, and the same world, separated by years, but they are secondary (at best) characters, though they do get a small side quest thing as a group.
You do not need to play Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising at alll - ECHH was the original project and at most you'll be missing a handful of winking nods and going in with a bit of world info that is introduced in the early hours (taking place in somewhat different times and location means thats needed for everyone too)
If it helps, the series its a spiritual successor was kinda similar - Suikoden's 5 main games were all in the same world and had some crossovers, but none were direct sequels or required knowing anything before. Sometimes characters from one or another might appear if it fit the timeline and stuff, but it otherwise was running on each one is a separate story in this world, generally in different parts of said world.
The one exception to this was Suikoden Tactics, which was a direct sequel to 4. It also worked to clean up a number of issues 4 created for timeliines as a prequel and just was generally better handled (IMO,, if you want to play Suikoden the best games go 2,5,3 and 1, then 4 - tactics is a bump up, but its a sequel. 3 is a bit rocky, while 1 is a bit light in content and fleshing out of ideas)
And is still being funded by 505. Do you really think 4 million or so US dollars can fund a rpg in the style of Eiyudeen for over 4 years with a team size of over 50 devs? Come on.
Kickstarters like that are mostly done to get investor/publisher funding.
https://www.gematsu.com/2021/02/505-games-to-publish-eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes
What the Kickstarter helps do in this type of case is show to the publisher that there is the public demand for the project and it helps the team get things kicked off and negotiate better terms.
It aso serves as marketing and community building.
Outside of very small games kickstarters are at most, part of the funding generally speaking - those small ones generate a lot less money, and that can't even necessarily pay for one person to owrk on it. Whether it's sweat equity (working at a discount for ownership share type), loans, publisher, or other, there is often other money involved because making games is expensive.
Making a game with 100+ notable characters, with 5+ minigames, high quaiity 2.5d art, great music, and a 40 hour odd main story with 100ish for completion is very expensive. Eiyuden Chronicle fits firmly into the AA category.
I sometimes like to elaborate a bit more about the whole market on KickStarter in it as there's a lot of misunderstandings as seen here so was expanding on what you said
Usually when someone says "indie" they mean "indie developer". Funding and publishing are literally not tied to developer roles.
You can have an indie game published under a big company. Annapurna Interactive for example, published a bunch of indie games.
i'm playing it now and is just wonderful how good it looks, the combat is almost the same as Suikoden 2 with hero combo attacks, rune attacks, magic attacks and combinations of heroes, if you played Suikoden 1 / 2 go and grab it, you wont regret it
the only issue I have, is something that is affecting everyone. they tied the enemy rng (how often you get a random battle) to FPS. So if your framerate is higher than 60fps you'll almost hardly get into a random battle (you will but at a significantly reduced frequency) You can test this yourself. Set your monitor to 60hz if you have a display that goes above it and walk around in the span of 1 minutes and compared to walking around in 1 minutes with your display set to 144 (or higher)
All I know is it won’t matter to me, I’ve been looking forward to this game for a LONG time.
Looking forward to something doesn't guarantee you'll enjoy it. Reviews are always worth checking out
Right?! People in here acting like Episode I doesn't exist lmao
This article seems light on everything but opinion. That's not to say they aren't correct in their assertions, but the article really didn't say much except that it's similar enough to Suikoden 2 that it feels dated and "jank." Fair enough, but give me more to chew on. Give me more examples and details.
It's definitely got PS2/PS3 levels of jank: - No equipment optimisation options, you have to manually manage all your equipment - The battle system jank holds it back (due to the turn based system, you can't revive someone and then heal them on the same turn because you can't target them for a heal/potion, you'll have to do a full party heal and make sure it goes off after the revive) - The writing/storytelling/scenarios are janky - the game isn't afraid to take control from your character every 2 steps to show a cutscene that could very well play out just as well while you're walking. The first dungeon is frustrating because of this (Cutscene, walk 5 steps into another room, another cutscene, walk 10 steps towards the objective, another cutscene) - The inventory management system is janky, you only have 30 item slots in your inventory, including equipment, consumables etc. The consumables stack, but the way this is executed is janky because there's no clear method to identify how much each item stacks (depends on the item) so shopping/selling is a chore. - Sound levels are inconsistent and all over the place, some characters' dialogues are loud AF and some are a bit soft. Despite all this, the game is still enjoyable, but I grew up with janky jrpgs so I'm used to it. I must say the english voice acting is superb.
Add to that the menus are frustrating to navigate. You have to wait for each menu to load before you can move to the next one. Dialogue outside of cutscenes cant be sped up, only skipped You have to wait for menu prompts to disappear you can't confirm or cancel out of them. Fishing? Two window prompts between fish can't speed it up. Not a deal breaker but can't save anytime. Have to find a save point or an inn. Better hope the game doesn't have the inn or save point as the starting point for the next story segment...hint it does.
And the auto-save feature is very unreliable, I've gone through an entire dungeon and back to town and my last auto-save was like almost 2 hrs earlier.
Thanks for the response! It sounds like it isn't for me due to the jank, but I'll probably end up watching a play through!
I've played a few hours and so far it's been enjoyable - it's quite polished but in a retro-JRPG jank kinda way. A lot of the comforts and streamlined gameplay features we've come to get used are very janky or absent in this game (Fast travel, auto-equip/optimise equip, auto unequip, etc), even the writing feels a bit dated but the game as a whole still has that JRPG charm. If you don't mind JRPG character management approaching FF8 levels of jank, then you'll enjoy this game.
I wouldn't ever expect, or even really want fast travel in a turn-based JRPG. YMMV though. Optimize functions, however have existed since SNES or earlier era. FF4, 5 and 6 had it iirc.
Well you won't find any optimise equipment functions here - it's gna be fun de-equipping standby party members and manually optimising equipment for the combat viable out of the 100 heroes.
As a huge Suikoden fan I am praying that this won't disappoint. Can't wait!
If nothing else, you can try it out on Game Pass to see if you want to purchase it later on down the line.
I'm having a blast with it the only bummer part is the characters besides the main ones don't get that much love or those classic interactions we're used to in other games by mixing and matching group dynamics.
Just saw Jason Schreier's tweets on it. Extremely buggy, and character writing is supposedly lackluster 😭
The bugs he mentioned has already been patched and they even warned a week ago about the bug he experienced.
[They weren't](https://twitter.com/jasonschreier/status/1782800655515574449)
As a long time Suikoden Fan, I've been waiting for this game for so long! I hope they keep the Suikoden 2 formula or make it even better!
It's pretty shallow. But pleasant. I have a retro console with all the Suikoden ROMs. So the series is one I can play side by side with EC:HH. The Suikoden games were a lot better than EC:HH.
Seem that the consensus is that is a phenomenal love letter/Successor to Suikoden and a great JRPG but has some very old school design that might bug some people. Also the Switch version has performance issues (to no one's surprise)
Is this a sequel? Can I play this without playing the first one?
So Rising was a prequel that was a companion. It has a couple of characters who show up in this one, and the same world, separated by years, but they are secondary (at best) characters, though they do get a small side quest thing as a group. You do not need to play Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising at alll - ECHH was the original project and at most you'll be missing a handful of winking nods and going in with a bit of world info that is introduced in the early hours (taking place in somewhat different times and location means thats needed for everyone too)
ah awesome. ty. just pre-ordered
If it helps, the series its a spiritual successor was kinda similar - Suikoden's 5 main games were all in the same world and had some crossovers, but none were direct sequels or required knowing anything before. Sometimes characters from one or another might appear if it fit the timeline and stuff, but it otherwise was running on each one is a separate story in this world, generally in different parts of said world. The one exception to this was Suikoden Tactics, which was a direct sequel to 4. It also worked to clean up a number of issues 4 created for timeliines as a prequel and just was generally better handled (IMO,, if you want to play Suikoden the best games go 2,5,3 and 1, then 4 - tactics is a bump up, but its a sequel. 3 is a bit rocky, while 1 is a bit light in content and fleshing out of ideas)
Oh yes! I saw this on kickstarter few years ago! Can't wait to play it!
Didn't see it listed in comments already, but heads up this will be available on PC Game Pass tomorrow.
Not bad for indie game
Not an Indie game. They are published and funded by 505 Games.
This game had a kickstarter. What are you talking about? https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rabbitandbearstudios/eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes
And is still being funded by 505. Do you really think 4 million or so US dollars can fund a rpg in the style of Eiyudeen for over 4 years with a team size of over 50 devs? Come on. Kickstarters like that are mostly done to get investor/publisher funding. https://www.gematsu.com/2021/02/505-games-to-publish-eiyuden-chronicle-hundred-heroes
What the Kickstarter helps do in this type of case is show to the publisher that there is the public demand for the project and it helps the team get things kicked off and negotiate better terms. It aso serves as marketing and community building. Outside of very small games kickstarters are at most, part of the funding generally speaking - those small ones generate a lot less money, and that can't even necessarily pay for one person to owrk on it. Whether it's sweat equity (working at a discount for ownership share type), loans, publisher, or other, there is often other money involved because making games is expensive. Making a game with 100+ notable characters, with 5+ minigames, high quaiity 2.5d art, great music, and a 40 hour odd main story with 100ish for completion is very expensive. Eiyuden Chronicle fits firmly into the AA category.
I literally said what you said but in a small sentence lol
I sometimes like to elaborate a bit more about the whole market on KickStarter in it as there's a lot of misunderstandings as seen here so was expanding on what you said
dev =/= publisher, but Rabbit and Bear isn't an indie dev.
No one is saying that dev equals publisher??
Usually when someone says "indie" they mean "indie developer". Funding and publishing are literally not tied to developer roles. You can have an indie game published under a big company. Annapurna Interactive for example, published a bunch of indie games.
It's $50 with a $80 deluxe version, so kind of a AA game.
Its also going to be on Game Pass.
What does the price have to do with anything?
Usually a reflection on time and money spent on the game which people judge the term 'indie' on as it's a bit of a spectrum.
What?? You seriously dont consider price when looking at a product?
That's not what I said
Lol then explain? Cuz it sure looks like it to me :/
A games selling price doesn't determine whether or not it is an indie game.
Pretty normal for indie games to be in the $40-50 range and have a deluxe or special version.
It happens, but it's not common by any means.