My biggest problem with the game is the rune system, which is bafflingly limited given what it is. Personally I couldn't stay motivated to plow through combat given the lack of meaningful progression. The story, while solid, wasn't good enough to force me through.
Put about 35 hours into it and I'm just ready to be done. It looks and sounds beautiful. But it's got so many little frustrations that add up over time.
Malo no es. Tiene muy buenas ideas que se le quedan muy grandes a un equipo tan pequeño de desarrolladores. Hay una falta monumental de equilibrio en todos sus campos, y los duelos, lo más espectacular que tienen para mostrar, son tediosos y agotadores y no en un buen plan. Para rematar la faena la historia es olvidable, y si quieres el final verdadero no avances demasiado hasta cierto punto de no retorno y quédate haciendo minijuegos. Muchos minijuegos. De verdad, no puedo remarcar cuántos minijuegos tiene esto, es que esto no para.
the idea of a spiritual successor is almost always doomed from the jump.
it's so hard to balance what avenues game devs want to explore and audiences want to recapture. And I haven't played every kickstarter attempt to course correct and harness the old magic, but obviously when those games do flop people talk and so with eiyuden chronicle releasing I felt very wary about what Rabbit and Bear intended to communicate.
To keep it simple it plays like Suikoden never left. It comes with a lot of baggage being a send up of both Suikoden I and II, and that includes a lot of the rough edges (affectionate) that were a part of those games.
Is the story somehow too simple and too convoluted at the same time? of course! Are you going to spend tens of hours of your total play time just menuing and upgrading your party members weapons? yeah! Are you going to forget to finish the Iron Chef Story line and accidentally lock yourself out of the good ending which means you have to replay 5+ hours of the game to fix that? Do I even gotta say it..
To Me That's Suikoden.
P.S. They bring back two of the best minigames in this one (Iron Chef and the Theater). And yeah all the minigames are bad, but I really loved messing around with both of them
P.P.S. Despite some Whedonisms in the localized script it's totally fine, I can't help but see any complaints about it as arguing in bad faith.
Yoshitaka Murayama Forever
it's so hard to balance what avenues game devs want to explore and audiences want to recapture. And I haven't played every kickstarter attempt to course correct and harness the old magic, but obviously when those games do flop people talk and so with eiyuden chronicle releasing I felt very wary about what Rabbit and Bear intended to communicate.
To keep it simple it plays like Suikoden never left. It comes with a lot of baggage being a send up of both Suikoden I and II, and that includes a lot of the rough edges (affectionate) that were a part of those games.
Is the story somehow too simple and too convoluted at the same time? of course! Are you going to spend tens of hours of your total play time just menuing and upgrading your party members weapons? yeah! Are you going to forget to finish the Iron Chef Story line and accidentally lock yourself out of the good ending which means you have to replay 5+ hours of the game to fix that? Do I even gotta say it..
To Me That's Suikoden.
P.S. They bring back two of the best minigames in this one (Iron Chef and the Theater). And yeah all the minigames are bad, but I really loved messing around with both of them
P.P.S. Despite some Whedonisms in the localized script it's totally fine, I can't help but see any complaints about it as arguing in bad faith.
Yoshitaka Murayama Forever
Is it perfect? Hell no. Is it the most plain FUN I've had with a video game in literal years? Yes!
First off, RIP Yoshitaka Murayama. A true legend of the genre and I would not be the RPG fan I am today without having enjoyed his works.
EC: Hundred Heroes is, for those that don't know, a spiritual successor to Murayama's Suikoden Series, funded via Kickstarter. Like Suikoden, it presents a geopolitical war story while the main character seeks to recruit a plethora of unique heroes to their cause, as they lead an army that eventually finds itself at the center of the war going on around them.
Despite any warranted apprehension over the crowdfunded model, Eiyuden absolutely delivers as a full game without any major corners cut; I logged about 200 hours (admittedly doing a lot of side stuff, but a standard playthrough on the true ending probably nets you 40-50h playtime. Overall it's an enjoyable game and at it's core it is a capital G "Game" in the truest sense. Eiyuden offers a host of mini-games and revives the classic "Explorable World Map" style of RPGs in contrast to the world of menu-based travel between maps that they have today. While Eiyuden absolutely modernizes a lot of relics from Suikoden, or other classic RPGs (you can now instruct your party on which specific actions to prioritize during Auto-Battle, for example), it is still very old-school at its core, for better or worse. It still very much holds onto the idea that you can spend countless hours in the game if you want to, an idea that many modern JRPGs have seemingly eschewed for linearity and having the player shown as much content as possible, rather than having to discover it.
The main cast is also likable on a fundamental level; they have good chemistry, varied backgrounds and their own, unique motivations that ultimately coincide with the goals of the Alliance, led by Nowa, the main character. The key turn of phrase here, however, is on a "fundamental" level. Eiyuden is a very easy game to enjoy and sink time into, and as an RPG it is "good enough", but it also tends to come across as very railroaded and barebones toward the latter part of the game. You get a basic gestalt of what drives most of the main characters, but you only ever get small tidbits of a backstory, often far too late in the story, and character development is really scant, or chained to the events of the plot itself rather than these characters' arcs playing out organically and in harmony with the plot of Eiyuden Chronicle.
It may seem like I am asking a lot of a game with over 100 heroes in it, but there is a clear "core cast" of them that's made obvious to the player fairly early on. Of course, the various novelty heroes that make up the 100+ in your roster don't need an elaborate backstory but the main crew could have absolutely used more love. This goes not only for the protagonist and his allies, but the antagonists as well; the main villain is yet another character who should tick a lot of boxes for me with regards to what I want out of an RPG villain, and yet fails to deliver even with the game hyping him up at every turn. This villain is often presented as a Machiavellian warlord who has the entire continent on the ropes; and yet you never really see it for yourself - most of his evil acts are done off-screen and his motivations are either vaguely alluded to or stated far too late in the game. It's disappointing because in a more developed version of Eiyuden Chronicle, I think I would have absolutely loved what the guy brings to the table.
Ultimately where Eiyuden succeeds as a game, I can't help but feel it falls short in terms of telling a story; not into the depths of outright 'bad' but to the still-dangerous 'mediocre'. Too many plot points seem to want to play out like set pieces rather than waypoints on a long journey and you very often feel like you're simply going to point A to point B, without the game ever really hammering in the feeling that this supposedly destructive war is going on around you. It could have used more cutscenes, more monologues, more campfire scenes, more political squabbling within the Empire - more of what makes an RPG, an RPG.
Eiyuden is absolutely enjoyable, worthwhile and at least serviceable with regard to its weaker points, but it's nonetheless a game that is merely a skeleton of a hypothetical greater one. The characters, world-building and scenario are there, but they haven't been properly fleshed out to the degree that would have made this game a truly memorable experience.
EC: Hundred Heroes is, for those that don't know, a spiritual successor to Murayama's Suikoden Series, funded via Kickstarter. Like Suikoden, it presents a geopolitical war story while the main character seeks to recruit a plethora of unique heroes to their cause, as they lead an army that eventually finds itself at the center of the war going on around them.
Despite any warranted apprehension over the crowdfunded model, Eiyuden absolutely delivers as a full game without any major corners cut; I logged about 200 hours (admittedly doing a lot of side stuff, but a standard playthrough on the true ending probably nets you 40-50h playtime. Overall it's an enjoyable game and at it's core it is a capital G "Game" in the truest sense. Eiyuden offers a host of mini-games and revives the classic "Explorable World Map" style of RPGs in contrast to the world of menu-based travel between maps that they have today. While Eiyuden absolutely modernizes a lot of relics from Suikoden, or other classic RPGs (you can now instruct your party on which specific actions to prioritize during Auto-Battle, for example), it is still very old-school at its core, for better or worse. It still very much holds onto the idea that you can spend countless hours in the game if you want to, an idea that many modern JRPGs have seemingly eschewed for linearity and having the player shown as much content as possible, rather than having to discover it.
The main cast is also likable on a fundamental level; they have good chemistry, varied backgrounds and their own, unique motivations that ultimately coincide with the goals of the Alliance, led by Nowa, the main character. The key turn of phrase here, however, is on a "fundamental" level. Eiyuden is a very easy game to enjoy and sink time into, and as an RPG it is "good enough", but it also tends to come across as very railroaded and barebones toward the latter part of the game. You get a basic gestalt of what drives most of the main characters, but you only ever get small tidbits of a backstory, often far too late in the story, and character development is really scant, or chained to the events of the plot itself rather than these characters' arcs playing out organically and in harmony with the plot of Eiyuden Chronicle.
It may seem like I am asking a lot of a game with over 100 heroes in it, but there is a clear "core cast" of them that's made obvious to the player fairly early on. Of course, the various novelty heroes that make up the 100+ in your roster don't need an elaborate backstory but the main crew could have absolutely used more love. This goes not only for the protagonist and his allies, but the antagonists as well; the main villain is yet another character who should tick a lot of boxes for me with regards to what I want out of an RPG villain, and yet fails to deliver even with the game hyping him up at every turn. This villain is often presented as a Machiavellian warlord who has the entire continent on the ropes; and yet you never really see it for yourself - most of his evil acts are done off-screen and his motivations are either vaguely alluded to or stated far too late in the game. It's disappointing because in a more developed version of Eiyuden Chronicle, I think I would have absolutely loved what the guy brings to the table.
Ultimately where Eiyuden succeeds as a game, I can't help but feel it falls short in terms of telling a story; not into the depths of outright 'bad' but to the still-dangerous 'mediocre'. Too many plot points seem to want to play out like set pieces rather than waypoints on a long journey and you very often feel like you're simply going to point A to point B, without the game ever really hammering in the feeling that this supposedly destructive war is going on around you. It could have used more cutscenes, more monologues, more campfire scenes, more political squabbling within the Empire - more of what makes an RPG, an RPG.
Eiyuden is absolutely enjoyable, worthwhile and at least serviceable with regard to its weaker points, but it's nonetheless a game that is merely a skeleton of a hypothetical greater one. The characters, world-building and scenario are there, but they haven't been properly fleshed out to the degree that would have made this game a truly memorable experience.
A pretty standard JRPG. It has some odd design decisions (e.g, characters outside of your party not levelling as you progress), and rather flat characters. It does a decent job of almost everything else, but it still feels more like a rough draft for what could have been a notably better game.
Making a spiritual successor is tricky business. Ideally these games take the DNA of their inspirations and add just enough visual sparkle and modern conveniences to enhance the experience without smothering the spirit of the original. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes manages this balance fairly well, but ultimately comes in a bit too overweight and underwhelming for me to give it a full recommendation.
In terms of honoring its influences, Hundred Heroes largely succeeds. It looks, plays, and feels like a lost HD sequel to Suikoden 1 and 2. Although the 3D artwork is merely passable, the 2D character sprites and portraits more than make up for those deficiencies, and the character writing is charming as well. While the game’s narrative is on the lightweight side – it has all the depth of a Saturday morning cartoon, with bad guys who are evil seemingly for the sake of it – the characters do a good job of carrying the plot they’ve been given.
Where Hundred Heroes starts to fall apart is in its mechanics. Playing on normal, I found the game to be incredibly easy. 99% of the time I let my party fight on auto and occasionally healed between battles. Bosses are a bit trickier, but even there I rarely felt much tension.
I’m of two minds about the lack of difficulty. If we’re being honest, JRPG combat is rarely truly difficult. Even in challenging games, victory is usually just a matter of finding a solid strategy and praying to RNGesus. Especially now that I’m older, I see overlong and over-abundant battles as timesinks and little more. So I can appreciate that the game lets me throw it on auto and push ahead undeterred.
On the other hand, when the combat is this easy, it makes me wonder why it’s there at all. Why even have all these battles when all they make me do is hit auto and reach for my phone out of boredom? Yes, I know this is how JRPGs work, but surely there must be a better way that would still preserve the classic JRPG spirit. Equipping a monster-repelling charm can help, but even then I feel like I’m sidestepping the problem rather than solving it.
Contrast this with say, my recent experience with Shin Megami Tensei IV, during which if I mentally checked out for a turn or two during battle, even against lower-level enemies, I’d be liable to get my ass sent straight to Charon. While that level of difficulty could also grow tedious, it at least kept me engaged, and if I have to choose between engagement and mindless downtime I'll choose the former every time.
Then there are the minigames, which range from mediocre to terrible. The worst offenders are beigoma and the cooking minigames, both of which are required to recruit all 120 characters. Beigoma, a mash-up of Pokemon and top-spinning, actually isn’t that bad in and of itself. The problem is that it’s insanely difficult without the right tops, but tops are collected from random battles with enemies. So if you try to play beigoma as soon as it’s available, it’s unlikely to end. Likewise, if you collect a bunch of tops from enemies first and then go back and play beigoma, most of the matches will be too easy. It just feels poorly balanced all around.
As for cooking, well, it’s rather silly: Choose recipes and then mash A for 40 seconds. Conceptually, the idea of picking dishes that will delight your heroes and cooking them is fine, but in terms of execution it’s severely undercooked (pun intended). Why make me mash A? Why make the whole cycle of introductions and judgements take so long? It doesn’t help that to reach the end of the cooking storyline you need to play the minigames over 15 times, and even more if you fail.
These two minigames exemplify a lot of what’s wrong with Hundred Heroes. To my eye, it seems like the developers bit off more than they could chew – in fact, I think the game would be better if the stretch goals hadn’t been met! The devs likely also underestimated the challenges and tradeoffs of working with modern game engines. Yeah, Unity makes anything possible, but building a game that looks unique and plays well is a much higher bar to clear. I’m sure working with PS1 hardware was a headache in other ways, but at least the original Suikoden games had a unique vibe about them.
I sat on the fence with this one for a long time. Is it a good spiritual successor? Is it a good game? Was it worth my time? I struggled with these questions while playing, especially as I did the extra legwork to recruit all 120 characters.
It was at the very end of the game, in the very last dungeon, that my feelings finally coalesced. Simply put, the vibes felt off. The proportions of the castle felt wrong, like it had been made for giants. The puzzles were mindless, the encounter rate was needlessly high, the easy battles were growing on my nerves, and the music didn’t fit the mood whatsoever. The very final battle was admittedly an exciting point, but the ending was more of a whimper.
I wish I wasn’t so down on this game. Frankly, I’m glad it exists, and especially so given that it’s a parting gift from Yoshitaka Murayama to JRPG fans. But ultimately it feels like a lesser Suikoden rather than a greater one, and if you’re going to make a spiritual successor, it really does need to be better than its inspirations. I do hear there’s a sequel planned; if it builds on Hundred Heroes’ foundation it could turn out to be truly special.
In terms of honoring its influences, Hundred Heroes largely succeeds. It looks, plays, and feels like a lost HD sequel to Suikoden 1 and 2. Although the 3D artwork is merely passable, the 2D character sprites and portraits more than make up for those deficiencies, and the character writing is charming as well. While the game’s narrative is on the lightweight side – it has all the depth of a Saturday morning cartoon, with bad guys who are evil seemingly for the sake of it – the characters do a good job of carrying the plot they’ve been given.
Where Hundred Heroes starts to fall apart is in its mechanics. Playing on normal, I found the game to be incredibly easy. 99% of the time I let my party fight on auto and occasionally healed between battles. Bosses are a bit trickier, but even there I rarely felt much tension.
I’m of two minds about the lack of difficulty. If we’re being honest, JRPG combat is rarely truly difficult. Even in challenging games, victory is usually just a matter of finding a solid strategy and praying to RNGesus. Especially now that I’m older, I see overlong and over-abundant battles as timesinks and little more. So I can appreciate that the game lets me throw it on auto and push ahead undeterred.
On the other hand, when the combat is this easy, it makes me wonder why it’s there at all. Why even have all these battles when all they make me do is hit auto and reach for my phone out of boredom? Yes, I know this is how JRPGs work, but surely there must be a better way that would still preserve the classic JRPG spirit. Equipping a monster-repelling charm can help, but even then I feel like I’m sidestepping the problem rather than solving it.
Contrast this with say, my recent experience with Shin Megami Tensei IV, during which if I mentally checked out for a turn or two during battle, even against lower-level enemies, I’d be liable to get my ass sent straight to Charon. While that level of difficulty could also grow tedious, it at least kept me engaged, and if I have to choose between engagement and mindless downtime I'll choose the former every time.
Then there are the minigames, which range from mediocre to terrible. The worst offenders are beigoma and the cooking minigames, both of which are required to recruit all 120 characters. Beigoma, a mash-up of Pokemon and top-spinning, actually isn’t that bad in and of itself. The problem is that it’s insanely difficult without the right tops, but tops are collected from random battles with enemies. So if you try to play beigoma as soon as it’s available, it’s unlikely to end. Likewise, if you collect a bunch of tops from enemies first and then go back and play beigoma, most of the matches will be too easy. It just feels poorly balanced all around.
As for cooking, well, it’s rather silly: Choose recipes and then mash A for 40 seconds. Conceptually, the idea of picking dishes that will delight your heroes and cooking them is fine, but in terms of execution it’s severely undercooked (pun intended). Why make me mash A? Why make the whole cycle of introductions and judgements take so long? It doesn’t help that to reach the end of the cooking storyline you need to play the minigames over 15 times, and even more if you fail.
These two minigames exemplify a lot of what’s wrong with Hundred Heroes. To my eye, it seems like the developers bit off more than they could chew – in fact, I think the game would be better if the stretch goals hadn’t been met! The devs likely also underestimated the challenges and tradeoffs of working with modern game engines. Yeah, Unity makes anything possible, but building a game that looks unique and plays well is a much higher bar to clear. I’m sure working with PS1 hardware was a headache in other ways, but at least the original Suikoden games had a unique vibe about them.
I sat on the fence with this one for a long time. Is it a good spiritual successor? Is it a good game? Was it worth my time? I struggled with these questions while playing, especially as I did the extra legwork to recruit all 120 characters.
It was at the very end of the game, in the very last dungeon, that my feelings finally coalesced. Simply put, the vibes felt off. The proportions of the castle felt wrong, like it had been made for giants. The puzzles were mindless, the encounter rate was needlessly high, the easy battles were growing on my nerves, and the music didn’t fit the mood whatsoever. The very final battle was admittedly an exciting point, but the ending was more of a whimper.
I wish I wasn’t so down on this game. Frankly, I’m glad it exists, and especially so given that it’s a parting gift from Yoshitaka Murayama to JRPG fans. But ultimately it feels like a lesser Suikoden rather than a greater one, and if you’re going to make a spiritual successor, it really does need to be better than its inspirations. I do hear there’s a sequel planned; if it builds on Hundred Heroes’ foundation it could turn out to be truly special.
While Eiyuden Chronicle can be counted as a succesor to the Suikoden series it does not come without issues. It captures a lot of why Suikoden was so amazing but unfortunately has some rather big misses.
First of all, the game looks absolutely stunning. The art style is gorgeous, characters look amazing, animations are super clean. Everything looks beautiful.
The same can be said for the soundtrack. The main theme is one of the best tracks this year and the game itself has a great mix of fast paced battle tracks and beautiful village/travel pieces.
The shining star is definitely the Suikoden system of 100+ heroes. Finding new allies, adding them to your army, trying out which combination is the best feels absolutely phenomenal. Some characters have combo attacks with each other that you can experiment with, some characters are straight up better in a few stats. Finding out the strengths of each one is a lot of fun. You also have a great rune and armor system that lets you tune your characters even further.
A few hours into the game you also get your castle, where you can perform upgrades and all the heroes you found before will take certain roles in the town and make it a super lively experience.
Combat is classic turn based where you pick all your actions first, then they play out in order. You can pick between normal attacks, rune attacks, magic and passives (counter, magic counter/defend). Random encounters are fast and easy, while bosses will challenge you a lot from time to time, while never being unfair.
The game also has some 1 vs 1 duels where you pick between attacking and countering. Unfortunately this feature feels pretty boring as you only pick between two options without any further player input. The same goes for the big army fights, where you move around your legions on a battle field. After 2 of those they are always the same however - they get tedious
You will come across some dungeons, which are mostly good. The design can be repetitive sometimes and some hallways might be too long - but overall all of them are fine, but nothing special in terms of level design.
The biggest weaknesses of the game are the main story and the character development, especially of the main cast. Both feel very shallow. The main story has some good moments, but it always feels like it is just scratching the surface of something better. It either feels rushed or not fully explored, it never gets really deep and the main topics of the game do not get enough attention. Same goes for the main cast. While the 3 main characters are all likeable they barely get any special moments - or they simply do not hit hard enough.
Overall it is a good RPG with great mechanics and combat options. Playing around with all characters trying to find that "perfect party" was the most fun for me personally and the gameplay itself kept me engaged enough to finish and appreciate the game itself.
First of all, the game looks absolutely stunning. The art style is gorgeous, characters look amazing, animations are super clean. Everything looks beautiful.
The same can be said for the soundtrack. The main theme is one of the best tracks this year and the game itself has a great mix of fast paced battle tracks and beautiful village/travel pieces.
The shining star is definitely the Suikoden system of 100+ heroes. Finding new allies, adding them to your army, trying out which combination is the best feels absolutely phenomenal. Some characters have combo attacks with each other that you can experiment with, some characters are straight up better in a few stats. Finding out the strengths of each one is a lot of fun. You also have a great rune and armor system that lets you tune your characters even further.
A few hours into the game you also get your castle, where you can perform upgrades and all the heroes you found before will take certain roles in the town and make it a super lively experience.
Combat is classic turn based where you pick all your actions first, then they play out in order. You can pick between normal attacks, rune attacks, magic and passives (counter, magic counter/defend). Random encounters are fast and easy, while bosses will challenge you a lot from time to time, while never being unfair.
The game also has some 1 vs 1 duels where you pick between attacking and countering. Unfortunately this feature feels pretty boring as you only pick between two options without any further player input. The same goes for the big army fights, where you move around your legions on a battle field. After 2 of those they are always the same however - they get tedious
You will come across some dungeons, which are mostly good. The design can be repetitive sometimes and some hallways might be too long - but overall all of them are fine, but nothing special in terms of level design.
The biggest weaknesses of the game are the main story and the character development, especially of the main cast. Both feel very shallow. The main story has some good moments, but it always feels like it is just scratching the surface of something better. It either feels rushed or not fully explored, it never gets really deep and the main topics of the game do not get enough attention. Same goes for the main cast. While the 3 main characters are all likeable they barely get any special moments - or they simply do not hit hard enough.
Overall it is a good RPG with great mechanics and combat options. Playing around with all characters trying to find that "perfect party" was the most fun for me personally and the gameplay itself kept me engaged enough to finish and appreciate the game itself.
Très sympa malgré les nombreux défauts qu'il a.
joguei por umas 6 horas e infelizmente não é pra mim. O jogo é lindo, tem uma ambientação que até te cativa, mas falta algo nos personagens e mapas. Nada muito interessante, eu gosto de JRPG no geral, mas me dói não ter gostado desse, quem sabe outra hora, no momento não clicou
This game has a lot the charms of suikoden, as it was promised to have, but something about it is still not exactly there for me. And I say this even considering it as it's own thing as well. I love the battle set up, I think the additions to the six space team format is very well done, as well as giving each character some sort of unique action like dodge, defense, and other more personalized ones. I don't think the wide array of characters has major depths, but they are very charming in their own way and well designed enough that when I do come around to finishing I will be thinking of playing again to use a whole team through it. The side content is funny and neat, nothing life chaning or stunning. But good fun when you want to stary from story for a moment. It's a solid game and worthwhile fun, maybe less as a revival of suikoden and more as a continuation of Eiyuden Chronicle.