I bought this game on sale out of interest for its sister title, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which is due to be released next year, and came out pleasantly surprised. The game actually plays fairly well for a 2D action RPG although everything doesn't really click until you've unlocked an appreciable amount of upgrades allowing your characters to move quickly and fluidly compared to their more sluggish pace at the start of the game. This design decision is perhaps a case of underplaying your hand too much for the sake of balance, something that could potentially lose players when it could be hooking them. The game is also a bit on the easy side, which is a shame because it doesn't have to be.
The cast of characters themselves are where the game really shines and CJ in particular is a great protagonist who I'm looking forward to seeing more of in Hundred Heroes. At the same time there really aren't too many truly involved figures in the story besides the main cast; though it's fine to keep an action RPG light in plot as well as toeing the line of showing off just enough to get players excited for Hundred Heroes without giving away too much, I did feel that there could have been a bit more worldbuilding outside of the bits and pieces they give you, as the main plot feels remarkably isolated from everything else that is supposedly going on.
The artstyle and OST are not impressive but they get the job done and seem to be more refined in Hundred Heroes judging by the trailers that have been shown (still, one would imagine you'd want a spinoff game bearing the same name as your headline release to hit certain standards of quality control regardless). Aside from that, my only real other gripe is the amount of largely pointless fetch quests [over 160], which are sterile and formulaic to the point that they serve little purpose other than padding out playtime. 30, 20 or even 10 quests with a more meaningful impact in regards to the story or characters would have produced more value. All in all though, you do get a decent amount of content and despite the budget nature of the release, you can feel a desire from the team to put out something fun and playable when they could have easily phoned in the release and still sold copies due to the hype surrounding Eiyuden Chronicle's status as a successor to the beloved Suikoden series.
The cast of characters themselves are where the game really shines and CJ in particular is a great protagonist who I'm looking forward to seeing more of in Hundred Heroes. At the same time there really aren't too many truly involved figures in the story besides the main cast; though it's fine to keep an action RPG light in plot as well as toeing the line of showing off just enough to get players excited for Hundred Heroes without giving away too much, I did feel that there could have been a bit more worldbuilding outside of the bits and pieces they give you, as the main plot feels remarkably isolated from everything else that is supposedly going on.
The artstyle and OST are not impressive but they get the job done and seem to be more refined in Hundred Heroes judging by the trailers that have been shown (still, one would imagine you'd want a spinoff game bearing the same name as your headline release to hit certain standards of quality control regardless). Aside from that, my only real other gripe is the amount of largely pointless fetch quests [over 160], which are sterile and formulaic to the point that they serve little purpose other than padding out playtime. 30, 20 or even 10 quests with a more meaningful impact in regards to the story or characters would have produced more value. All in all though, you do get a decent amount of content and despite the budget nature of the release, you can feel a desire from the team to put out something fun and playable when they could have easily phoned in the release and still sold copies due to the hype surrounding Eiyuden Chronicle's status as a successor to the beloved Suikoden series.