Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is the final game from Suikoden series creator Yoshitaka Murayama, who sadly passed away in early 2024. It has the classic JRPG look and feel you’d expect, but can it live up to the hype of being the Kickstarter? with increased funding of 2020? videogame?
How to play
Anyone familiar with classic JRPG gameplay will immediately feel at home with Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. The game has a lovely pace, starting with classic JPRG turn-based combat and team building, but soon opening up to freer exploration and then light city building and resource management. In the mini-games you will have to solve puzzles, fight chess-like sieges and much more that I will not reveal. The city grows as you find characters to open shops and facilities. Inventory space is limited, but the switching of equipment and runes is slick and cleverly designed, and overall the flow of the game is very satisfying.
What I found incredibly frustrating was the complete lack of mouse support and keyboard remapping options. Nothing breaks immersion quite like pressing familiar buttons to no effect, and while it’s certainly not a game-breaker and is only a PC issue, this lack of choice feels completely out of place in a modern game. Similarly, you are restricted to setting save points. They are usually well placed, but not always and, once again, it seems unnecessarily old school.
Score: 4/5 stars
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Graphics
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes’ graphics are impressive throughout. The backgrounds are beautiful and varied, the character animations are fun and diverse, and the battle moves are explosive without being too long or intrusive. While it can be a little frustrating not being able to move the camera angle on many of the screens (usually just the world map), this has given the graphics team more leeway to make exploration look cinematic, which, To me, it’s a fair trade-off. I’d rather be immersed than be able to see every angle.
The 2.5D graphical style works especially well here, giving everything more detail and polish while maintaining the 2D vibe, and the characters never feel detached from the gorgeous backgrounds. Visiting cities and towns makes you feel like you’re in a working environment (albeit a bit unpopulated), with a clever mix of NPCs (some you can interact with) going about their business. There’s just the right amount of JRPG flavor too, with lots of strange and cute little details that you’ll notice if you look hard enough (there’s a cute cat hanging from the rafters of the Elder building in Arenside, for example).
Score: 4.5/5 stars
Narrative
There’s little point in having cinematic graphics and gameplay in an RPG if the narrative doesn’t work, and fortunately, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes does pretty much everything right. You’ve got all the JRPG tropes here in abundance, from the unassuming do-gooder who will become our hero with his overzealous companion to a civilized society on the brink of destruction that you’re destined to save and a sci-fi ‘ancient race’ . ‘ whose technology is a mystery waiting to be solved.
While some of the characters are a bit straightforward in terms of clichés, the overall mix is ​​completely charming, from the nefarious and mysterious to the silly, loyal and downright unusual. As for gameplay, some characters also come and go, depending on what’s happening in the world, adding to the sense of narrative depth.
The overall story is as epic as you’d expect, and our heroes experience the ups and downs that all good stories entail. What makes it stand out is the simple way in which new ideas are introduced, with important plot points often highlighted by unique gameplay mechanics as well as the usual cutscenes. Certain characters must always be in your party for the plot to work, but you can assign them to non-combat locations, allowing you to maintain your chosen battle squad without compromising the narrative arc.
Score: 4.5/5 stars
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Combat
Turn-based combat is where I feel most comfortable, and while it feels fluid in Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, I don’t find it completely satisfying.
Nice touches include the best friends in the game getting friendship combo attacks (like the Kogen’s Boys combo that damages an entire line, lowering DEF, and raising allies’ DEF), imaginative boss battles with unique mechanics (like Hide in Debris, pictured above). in addition to spells and abilities that alter the order of turns. The placement of the six chosen heroes is also important, with attack and range being key skills for the team build. Equipable runes boost stats and resistances or unlock elemental spells, adding another layer of customization.
While this all works well, the battles often feel inconsequential. The enemy models are fun and varied, but their attacks rarely are. As enemies fall, those in the back row take their place, meaning placement is less important than it first appears. The toughness of an area, more often than not, changes from a bit tricky to ‘auto-clicking’ too quickly, seeing battles become something to click on rather than enjoy (especially since you can’t skip the animations) . At least there are both ‘auto’ and ‘let ’em run away’ options, with plenty of custom modes that let you set characters to act in specific ways (defend, save MP, etc.).
Score: 3/5 stars
Exploration
We’re once again in familiar JRPG territory when it comes to exploration in Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. While I found things a little telegraphed (all doors are marked on the map, resource nodes glow, etc.), there’s a lot to enjoy chatting with locals, exploring dead ends to find goodies, and generally making mischief The game’s few puzzles tend to be part of the exploration process, allowing you to pull levers and find codes as you explore, often satisfyingly rewarded with access to new heroes to recruit.
But not all are good news. There’s no sprint option, which makes many early trips through familiar areas a bit weak. This is compounded by regular interruptions from invisible random encounters that, once you’re above an area, you must endure, not enjoy. Unfortunately, this makes some of the more interesting puzzle areas a lesson in tedium, as trying to figure out where to stand and move is continually interrupted by repetitive battles.
Worse yet, this may mean you have to run back to a town to heal up, just so you can go and try it all again. Removing or drastically reducing random encounters from these puzzle and maze areas would go a long way toward increasing my enjoyment.
Score: 3/5 stars
Verdict: Everything that is JRPGood, plus a little bit of bad
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes seems like a fitting farewell to Yoshitaka Murayama, building nicely on the well-deserved success of the Suikoden series. It looks, sounds (the voice talent is high quality) and feels fantastic, while giving JRPG fans all the gameplay elements that keep us coming back for more. But while many fans will overlook the frustrations of repetitive random combat, others will see this as a narrowly missed opportunity.
The publisher provided a free copy of the game to PGG for review.
Looking for more game reviews? Check out Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth Review – The Gold Standard for a Modern Remake here at MyFullGames.