Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is the religious successor to a traditional JRPG known as Suikoden, and it got here to be because of a really profitable Kickstarter marketing campaign. As somebody with little information of Suikoden, I went into Hundred Heroes pondering it was going to be a dense, old style, and barely impenetrable time. And sure, a few of it’s annoying and obtuse and can nearly definitely go well with veterans who take pleasure in these quirks, but it surely has a surprisingly simple going nature. Hundred Heroes accomodates new gamers like me with fight that is easy to know and a narrative that is emotional and sprawling and completely price your time.
Should you’ve not performed Suikoden, or Hundred Heroes’ prequel Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, there is no want to fret. The sport’s story stands by itself as a sprawling continent-wide battle that is not solely welcoming to newcomers, however instructed in a approach that is manageable for people like me who battle to maintain up with who’s combating who and for what.
There’s this land known as Allraan, proper. And there is these people known as the Galdean Empire led by a conniving king known as Dux Alric. He isn’t very good. Why? As a result of Allraan is residence to those issues known as Rune Lenses (highly effective magic issues) and he desires to harness their energy for evil. You play as Nowa, a member of a band of beneficiant mercs. Nowa will get caught up in Dux Alric’s evil plans and decides – a pushy chief who nearly definitely has a crush on Nowa will get concerned, as properly – to place a cease to it. To dismantle Alric’s plans, Nowa should journey round Allraan amassing a military of highly effective heroes. One-hundred-and-something, to be semi-precise (the sport’s title, regardless of sounding definitive, is inaccurate).
I do not need to spoil the story, however I’ll make the spoiler-free statement that Nowa’s journey folds into two others: an Empire lad known as Seign, and a forest dweller known as Marisa. Whereas it would sound overwhelming, it is all delivered by means of smaller, extra private tales that show you how to perceive the larger image. As an illustration, you study extra concerning the origins of the Rune Lenses not from a prolonged spiel, however from an precise change in perspective and a hands-on quest that rigorously complicates issues with out ever straying into tangle territory.
The principle story is what steers you to new locations with quest markers, so you have endlessly bought someplace to journey. For probably the most half, exploration sees you progress by means of areas of Allraan, the place you may bounce between bustling cities stuffed with Chinese language-inspired structure, cutesy ice villages, and Shi’arc infested desert oases. Like say, the unique Closing Fantasy 7, these locations exist as blocky bits on a condensed 3D map, which you may run between as titan-sized Nowa avatar to present off the impression you are overlaying nice distances.
A sample does set up itself pretty shortly, within the sense that you’re going to go to some cities, get entangled in that area’s story, then inevitably end up travelling to a dungeon. Right here you both navigate some corridors to get from A to B, otherwise you navigate some corridors with bonus puzzling. Hooray!
Early on there are a whole lot of forest paths that lie between you and thriller issues, and these are largely fantastic, with some chests to crack open and sources to reap. Some dungeons, the place you have to activate glyphs to rotate paths, or discover keys to open colored doorways, can grate a bit, although. I discovered their mixture of empty corridors and traditionalist puzzles just a little tedious, made all of the extra irritating when my to-and-froing was interrupted by fixed random encounters.
It is to be anticipated, proper? Eiyuden is old style: you have to save at particular factors (there’s an autosave function, though it is rare sufficient to make me distrustful); you are endlessly dragged into fights wherever you go. JRPG stalwarts will not thoughts these items, and can little question take pleasure in scraps that crash onto your display like YouTube adverts. I’ve grown used to them, however I want there was a pace up button to whizz by means of the easier duties throughout journey.
Fights themselves are turn-based, with a bar stuffed with each pleasant and enemy portraits letting you realize who’s subsequent. At the beginning of your flip, you cycle by means of your occasion of six and choose every of their strikes one after the other. Click on “end” and fight commences, with everybody doing their factor; rinse and repeat. It is clear and straightforward to know, with added technique in the way you place your occasion members. Three members go on the entrance, whereas three go behind them (one additional exists as a help buff that does not battle), so it is essential you pop burly lads on the entrance, for instance, whereas squishier rangers or spellcasters can do their factor from a comparatively protected distance.
As soon as I arrange my occasion, although, I go for the “auto” button – which simply lets everybody do their very own factor – for 90% of the fights. Even together with some bosses. Truthfully, I respect the auto perform’s energy in making it simpler for the story-oriented participant who need to crack on with minimal fuss, however I’ve discovered its efficiency exposes the fight’s limitations.
Communication is what it comes right down to, I believe. Except for when your heroes take their turns, you’ll be able to’t inform who the enemy goes to focus on and with what. Your choices are to spam the identical few strikes again and again, often ready in your SP bar to replenish so you’ll be able to carry out a elaborate Rune Lense-powered transfer. Typically your characters leap to take hits geared toward another person, seemingly of their very own accord. Typically they will stun enemies, seemingly out of nowhere. Results and the like aren’t communicated sufficient both, if in any respect (most are buried in an in-game menu), so even with out the auto system fights tackle an auto-battler really feel: a double shot of attrition with a splash of randomness.
There’s additionally no system the place you exploit enemy weaknesses to construct up additional turns like Shin Megami Tensei 5, or in-depth buildcrafting to offset some turn-based fatigue like Closing Fantasy 8’s Junction system. As an alternative, Hundred Heroes’ equal is hero combos, the place sure matey occasion members can carry out tremendous duper strikes, like Nowa and the plucky Lian who can expend 2SP every to rinse enemies with a slash and a punch. They’re splendidly animated and seeing massive numbers pop up is nice, however man, it does not add another dimension to fight apart from, “I suppose I will wait a bit so I can use it once more”.
The distinction with Boss battles is that they usually have “Gimmicks” that take higher benefit of your turns. One battle towards an enormous crab has you expend turns to hit its legs, toppling it and exposing its pale stomach for a spherical of extra highly effective smacks. Others have you ever wrestle over a lever that causes an infinite boulder to crash onto whoever it looms over on the finish of the flip. A handful make for probably the most memorable fights within the sport by inserting extra weight in your actions.
Fight is switched up a bit by altering your roster. In your journey throughout Allraan you may recruit numerous buddies, primarily by exploring areas till you bump right into a extra vibrant character mannequin than everybody else round, a bit like if you spot a cosplayer getting off the tube. Some do not take a lot persuading, whereas others demand you battle them, or fetch them issues. It is endlessly thrilling if you add somebody new and rejig your optimum setup. As an illustration, I’ve a selected fondness for a beer-bellied man who calls me “COUSIN!!” and hurls cannonballs. A shinobi who hurls shurikens is my ranged go-to, as she’s capable of evade assaults like no-ones enterprise. And I’ve levelled one healer from the beginning who’s able to raging, which turns her from a healbot to a licensed Tyson Fury.
However whereas having heaps and many heroes means nice selection in who does 90% of your auto-battling, it is a bit of a disgrace that selection can solely be injected at inns or save factors (at save factors if you have bought a particular seventh help character geared up), the place swapping mid-combat – even from a small pool, versus everybody – would possibly’ve made adaptation extra fascinating. Usually you decide to a setup, then remorse your determination, otherwise you decide to a setup and keep on with it, as a result of some heroes are clearly higher than others. I’ll say that the sport handles levelling your heroes properly, as underleveled people get tons extra EXP till they’ve caught up, so new heroes aren’t instantly written off.
Climactic story moments are sometimes decided by a unique kind of turn-based battle that additionally encompasses your heroes, albeit in a approach that is not all that clear. Issues go a bit Hearth Emblem in Warfare, a mode set on a grid the place you try to anticipate your opponent’s strikes by positioning your chief chips in advantageous spots. As soon as the flip begins, the digital camera zooms in on an automatic battle the place you see dinky troops swipe halberds and tussle with fireballs. It is unclear, as a result of regardless of with the ability to change battalion leaders to confer advantages to your troopers, there’s little or no data on how your numerous different heroes really contribute to the battle because it’s occurring. I discover I simply sort of transfer some items and the battle resolves itself, or it goes a sure approach as a result of the story predetermined it.
As somebody who’s not the largest technique head, so I admire the sport’s relaxed nature in letting me press a button, watch the motion unfold, and, on occasion, take the reins. However, as with the turn-based fight, some people who like pure, whole management over the stats might rue its relative simplicity.
Off the battlefield, Heroes discover a residence in your Fortress, which exists as a centerpoint in your military, and a settlement you spend money on over the course of the sport. It is an infinite factor, a bit like Yakuza’s Dondoko Island, that might have its separate mini-review. However I’ll say that it is a beautiful place to see your buddies get collectively, a straightforward strategy to harvest sources extra reliably afterward, residence to enjoyable minigames (cooking, racing, Beyblade) and its improvement acts as an embodiment of your progress.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes has some old style habits, and they are often tough to reside with at first, however as soon as you agree into these quirks, it is a story you may battle to place down. The sense of journey is magnificent, as you march throughout snowy valleys, lush jungles, and dusty deserts, sweeping up buds alongside the best way. And also you commonly partake in moments that’ll genuinely shock, endlessly holding your quest from getting stale. Count on one-on-one fights, cinematic track, and races of some description. Should you’re a fan of Suikoden, it is a no-brainer. And if you happen to’re a fan of JRPGs or battle a bit with old style issues, I might nonetheless urge you to present it a shot. It is a actually beautiful cling.
This evaluate was based mostly on a evaluate construct of the sport supplied by the builders.
