Un JRPG actualisé, à la référencite un poil trop facile, mais aux systèmes et à l'histoire tout bonnement incroyable. Fait par une seule personne. Chapeau !
This review contains spoilers
This is my "I am so fucking fed up with this game score", maybe in time when I'm cooled off from some of its annoying shite I'll bump it up a bit but for now I'm going with this cause honestly I was just so annoyed so often, especially when finishing it off that I just want to be negative about it for a bit.
Do I think Chained Echoes is awful? No not at all, I just think it has a lot of very annoying elements and while I commend the solo dev for working on this for nearly a decade, you also see the pitfalls of a one person team so many times throughout. Also, it should be pointed out that at the time of writing, nearly 1.8k people have logged this on backloggd and I am one of like 30 people to give it this score so I am definitely in the minority, 4+ is the most common score so theres every chance that if you like the era of jrpgs that inspired this game, you may very well like Chained Echoes. But for me, there were just too many roadblocks and hurdles to really enjoy myself.
Starting off, I actually did enjoy the early hours of the game, but eventually the cracks start to show and by the half way point I was borderline mentally checked out. I don't want to spend forever detailing every small issue so heres just a few bullet points:
- This game felt like a menu simulator at times, there is some badly needed QOL features around the menus, such as telling me what gear I'm wearing when inserting crystals, giving me the option to change gear if I pick up something stronger, saving team loadouts because if a story event fucking swaps around my team loadout one more fucking time I'm going to lose it
- Sky armor fights seem cool at first but honestly after a while I would fucking dread it because the fights just become such a pain in the hole, I don't think the builds work as intended and sometimes it feels like solving a puzzle moreso than anything else when trying to get past certain encounters, especially stuff like 4 Bakis.
- Another thing that seems cool at first is the overdrive gauge, but it soon shows its cracks and along with the fluctuating battle order, sometimes it feels like you can just get fucked over by bad luck or a bad gauge, especially in bigger fights against 4 or 5 enemies.
- This might be the most divisive one, but to me, this story is not good. It has aspects that are good, but it has way way way too many twists and turns. Like, a twist loses all impact when someone has already died and come back, someones a spy, someones a time traveler, someones a god, someones a royal, someone is cursed, someones related to someone else and so many other tropes and cliches, its honestly just cherry picking different twists from other classic jrpgs and putting them in here with doing the proper legwork to make those twists pay off, and having an overindulgence of them. On top of that, I think the majority of the character work is pretty weak bar a small handful of characters and even then they are carried moreso due to the twists involving them than anything else.
Thats what comes to mind for now at least, theres probably more but I'll leave it at that for now, because I do want to end on some good notes. I think the music is fine, I wouldn't say its great but its not bad. I think the art work is really good and actually quite stunning at times, especially background landscapes. Some aspects of the story are interesting and engaging, just ruined at other times as I mentioned earlier, and I think when you can get into a good flow to overcome the gauge (I narrowed it in the settings), the combat is actually decent and kind of enjoyable. But the default setting for the gauge is too aggressive and you'll end up in overdrive way too easily, and even then it will basically always happen in the fucking sky armour.
So TLDR; a lot of things annoyed me personally but its not an awful game and clearly a lot of people like it. To me, a game like Sea of Stars may have been a bit simplistic at times, but that was a purposeful choice, this is a direct quote from the games creative director: "the game was designed and presented, to be very childlike and to appeal to a sense of simplicity. I just wanted to give you sort of a summer vacation with your inner child, if that makes sense." Chained Echoes on the other hand come across like the ramblings of a mad genius who just throws everything at you in the hopes you'll make sense of it, for better or worse.
Do I think Chained Echoes is awful? No not at all, I just think it has a lot of very annoying elements and while I commend the solo dev for working on this for nearly a decade, you also see the pitfalls of a one person team so many times throughout. Also, it should be pointed out that at the time of writing, nearly 1.8k people have logged this on backloggd and I am one of like 30 people to give it this score so I am definitely in the minority, 4+ is the most common score so theres every chance that if you like the era of jrpgs that inspired this game, you may very well like Chained Echoes. But for me, there were just too many roadblocks and hurdles to really enjoy myself.
Starting off, I actually did enjoy the early hours of the game, but eventually the cracks start to show and by the half way point I was borderline mentally checked out. I don't want to spend forever detailing every small issue so heres just a few bullet points:
- This game felt like a menu simulator at times, there is some badly needed QOL features around the menus, such as telling me what gear I'm wearing when inserting crystals, giving me the option to change gear if I pick up something stronger, saving team loadouts because if a story event fucking swaps around my team loadout one more fucking time I'm going to lose it
- Sky armor fights seem cool at first but honestly after a while I would fucking dread it because the fights just become such a pain in the hole, I don't think the builds work as intended and sometimes it feels like solving a puzzle moreso than anything else when trying to get past certain encounters, especially stuff like 4 Bakis.
- Another thing that seems cool at first is the overdrive gauge, but it soon shows its cracks and along with the fluctuating battle order, sometimes it feels like you can just get fucked over by bad luck or a bad gauge, especially in bigger fights against 4 or 5 enemies.
- This might be the most divisive one, but to me, this story is not good. It has aspects that are good, but it has way way way too many twists and turns. Like, a twist loses all impact when someone has already died and come back, someones a spy, someones a time traveler, someones a god, someones a royal, someone is cursed, someones related to someone else and so many other tropes and cliches, its honestly just cherry picking different twists from other classic jrpgs and putting them in here with doing the proper legwork to make those twists pay off, and having an overindulgence of them. On top of that, I think the majority of the character work is pretty weak bar a small handful of characters and even then they are carried moreso due to the twists involving them than anything else.
Thats what comes to mind for now at least, theres probably more but I'll leave it at that for now, because I do want to end on some good notes. I think the music is fine, I wouldn't say its great but its not bad. I think the art work is really good and actually quite stunning at times, especially background landscapes. Some aspects of the story are interesting and engaging, just ruined at other times as I mentioned earlier, and I think when you can get into a good flow to overcome the gauge (I narrowed it in the settings), the combat is actually decent and kind of enjoyable. But the default setting for the gauge is too aggressive and you'll end up in overdrive way too easily, and even then it will basically always happen in the fucking sky armour.
So TLDR; a lot of things annoyed me personally but its not an awful game and clearly a lot of people like it. To me, a game like Sea of Stars may have been a bit simplistic at times, but that was a purposeful choice, this is a direct quote from the games creative director: "the game was designed and presented, to be very childlike and to appeal to a sense of simplicity. I just wanted to give you sort of a summer vacation with your inner child, if that makes sense." Chained Echoes on the other hand come across like the ramblings of a mad genius who just throws everything at you in the hopes you'll make sense of it, for better or worse.
This review contains spoilers
Sights & Sounds
- What if you took a high fantasy story, added mecha, and then covered the whole thing in Stardew Valley's visual style? You'd get something that looks a bit like Chained Echoes. That isn't really a criticism; I love the way SV looks, and I'm sure the artistic similarities are coincidental anyway. Still, it looks like you could lift Glenn or Lenne's character portrait right from this game and make them a romanceable partner in SV. Beyond the portrait similarities, I found the environments, foliage, and buildings shared some visual likenesses as well
- With that in mind, Chained Echoes is an incredible-looking title that will be sure to please pixel art lovers. There's a lot of careful attention to detail in the towns, forests, deserts, and other biomes you traverse. The enemy sprites (especially unique encounters and bosses) are excellently crafted as well
- I can't get enough of this game's soundtrack. I keep opening up a tab and playing through it on YouTube. Stepping out into Rohlan Fields for the first time and being greeted by that area's theme really sets a great auditory tone for the game. After reaching Farnsport, the first major city, you're welcomed by yet another absolute banger. There's even fun goofy songs like the Goblin Village theme that pull away from the pretty and invigorating soundscape to inject a little humor. This soundtrack stands up there with Chrono Trigger, Suikoden II, and Star Ocean: The Second Story as some of my favorite RPG music ever
- All told, Chained Echoes is an audiovisual smorgasbord that's a 50+ hour delight for the eyes and ears
Story & Vibes
- As with many RPGs with a runtime longer than two days, the narrative is a sweeping epic composed of a few major story arcs, which are in turn comprised of smaller objectives and storylines. To avoid spoilers, I won't reveal many of the major plot points, but I'll describe the setup and themes
- Chained Echoes takes its sweet time setting up the plot and introducing the major characters. In the first act, you'll actually start off switching between the game's 4 (or 6, depending on how you'd personally categorize Kylian and Robb) major characters. First is Glenn, a red-haired mercenary and ace "sky armor" (mecha) pilot who is accompanied by his friend and co-mercenary, Kylian. Next up are Lenne, Princess of Taryn, and her friend Robb, an annoying little shit possessing a bow and arrow but no redeeming qualities, who have left their royal home to gain a better understanding of how the populace lives. Then there's Victor, an "Aar" who looks like a normal human, but has a lifespan running into the hundreds of years. He's a famous playwright who's well respected throughout the world and one of the last students of the ancient magical college at Nhysa. Finally, there's Sienna, a badass, katana-wielding cat burglar with a sour attitude and mysterious past. Eventually, their paths converge while seeking a common goal, kicking off the game's main action at the end of the first act
- Beyond the setup, the crux of Chained Echoes' story lies in the Grand Grimoire, an unbelievably devastating weapon imbued with the power of the gods that can wipe out an entire city in the blink of an eye. Generals, kings, and even gods vie over it to end the land's century long war, and it's up to Glenn and company to seize it and ensure that it doesn't fall into any nefarious hands
- Thematically, Chained Echoes falls into the category of high fantasy owing to all the swords and magic, but the existence of electricity and mecha imbue some additional sci-fi elements. The seeming contradiction in technological advancement is well-explained by the story, fortunately. In addition to the fantasy politics, religion also plays heavily into game's themes, with the church--effectively a multiarmed corporation behind many of the world's events--playing a major role in the plot
- As you may expect in a story that centers around war as a major theme, Chained Echoes is chock-full of political intrigue. Expect to see a lot of scheming, dramatic irony, and plot twists as a result
- In terms of content, Chained Echoes does not shy away from heavy subject matter. Robb, Glenn, and Ba'Thraz all have depressing backstories (Robb still isn't justified in his shittiness), and Kylian's is especially dark (consider this a content warning)
- With such a sweeping story, it's kinda hard to pin down a single vibe. There's a lot of sadness, heaps of action, and even a steady drip of situational humor to add a little levity. Something for everyone. I also applaud the story for not feeling the need to shoehorn a major romantic arc into the game; in fact, they actively avoid doing so when the story very easily could have headed in that direction
Playability & Replayability
- If you've touched a JRPG in the past 30 years, you should be pretty familiar with what's going on in Chained Echoes. Superficially, the turn-based battles and presence of avoidable enemies on the map reminded me of Chrono Trigger. However, the battle system (or, rather, systems) is notably different.
- Most of the time, you'll be fighting on foot with an active party of 4 with an additional 4 party members in reserve. These reserve characters can be switched in, penalty free, to take the "starters" place in the fight. Character switching is especially important as it helps lower your "Overdrive Meter". This meter features a sweet spot in which you'll take less damage and deal more, so you'll want to ensure you choose attacks and switch characters wisely to keep it within that range
- Later in the game, you'll gain access to Sky Armors, which change a few things about combat. In addition to the overdrive meter, Sky Armors have another mechanic dealing with which "gear" it's in. Taking actions in different gears will have differing effects on the overdrive meter, so you'll have to contend with that constraint in addition to the enemies
- Rather than unlocking new skills and abilities as you level up in normal RPGs, the vast majority of the combat skills you learn are available to you at the beginning. Collecting a Grimoire Shard (found on the map, rewarded after major boss fights, or gained by completing chains on your reward board) allows every one of your characters to unlock a new skill. These may be active abilities, stat boosts, or passive benefits
- In terms of combat difficulty, Chained Echoes is tough, but fair on the normal difficulty setting. If you find yourself struggling at any point, it's worth leveling up your skills, improving your weapons, and reconsidering your party composition in order to come out on top. In order to complete the game on normal difficulty, I had to do a lot of exploration and just a touch of grinding to make to through the game's final boss. I really liked how the game rewards exploration; if you want to succeed, try seeing more of what the game has to offer
- Will I wind up replaying this one? I don't know, replaying a 60-hour RPG is a tall order. I'm more likely to just give it a revisit when I've got a craving for the game to try a little postgame content and maybe pick up a few more achievements
Overall Impressions & Performance
- After playing Star Ocean: The Second Story R last year, my taste for RPGs has returned. It's wonderful to see high-quality indie RPGs like this achieve some critical success. It's by no means a perfect game, but the excellent presentation and clever narrative stand up there (but just a touch below) some of my favorites from the so-called "golden age" of JRPGs. It feels familiar but new at the same time, satisfying the requirements that make the genre appealing and marrying them to some interesting new ideas and mechanics. This is clearly a dev--a 1-person endeavor, I should add--who understands "what works"™ and how to introduce novel concepts in the spaces where they remove some old tropes
- There's not much I didn't like about the game. My biggest criticisms would probably center around the plodding pace of the story and battles. The narrative isn't just a slow-burn. I had to blow on it a couple of times to ensure the embers hadn't gone cold. There are unfortunately more than a few story beats that feel unnecessary or unimportant. And although combat is strategic and interesting to plan out, this can lead to some protracted fights even against normal enemies. If the pacing were just a bit snappier, this game would be right on tempo
- I played this on the Steam Deck, which is just about as good as a platform as I can imagine for enjoying a turn-based pixel art RPG. It ran perfectly without crashes or bugs
Final Verdict
9/10. If the art alone didn't compel you to add this title to your cart, rest assured that the gameplay and story (while a bit slow), should. Beating the game and every side story (but not 100%ing it) took 60 hours, so that $25USD asking price is more than fair for the amount and quality of content I experienced
- What if you took a high fantasy story, added mecha, and then covered the whole thing in Stardew Valley's visual style? You'd get something that looks a bit like Chained Echoes. That isn't really a criticism; I love the way SV looks, and I'm sure the artistic similarities are coincidental anyway. Still, it looks like you could lift Glenn or Lenne's character portrait right from this game and make them a romanceable partner in SV. Beyond the portrait similarities, I found the environments, foliage, and buildings shared some visual likenesses as well
- With that in mind, Chained Echoes is an incredible-looking title that will be sure to please pixel art lovers. There's a lot of careful attention to detail in the towns, forests, deserts, and other biomes you traverse. The enemy sprites (especially unique encounters and bosses) are excellently crafted as well
- I can't get enough of this game's soundtrack. I keep opening up a tab and playing through it on YouTube. Stepping out into Rohlan Fields for the first time and being greeted by that area's theme really sets a great auditory tone for the game. After reaching Farnsport, the first major city, you're welcomed by yet another absolute banger. There's even fun goofy songs like the Goblin Village theme that pull away from the pretty and invigorating soundscape to inject a little humor. This soundtrack stands up there with Chrono Trigger, Suikoden II, and Star Ocean: The Second Story as some of my favorite RPG music ever
- All told, Chained Echoes is an audiovisual smorgasbord that's a 50+ hour delight for the eyes and ears
Story & Vibes
- As with many RPGs with a runtime longer than two days, the narrative is a sweeping epic composed of a few major story arcs, which are in turn comprised of smaller objectives and storylines. To avoid spoilers, I won't reveal many of the major plot points, but I'll describe the setup and themes
- Chained Echoes takes its sweet time setting up the plot and introducing the major characters. In the first act, you'll actually start off switching between the game's 4 (or 6, depending on how you'd personally categorize Kylian and Robb) major characters. First is Glenn, a red-haired mercenary and ace "sky armor" (mecha) pilot who is accompanied by his friend and co-mercenary, Kylian. Next up are Lenne, Princess of Taryn, and her friend Robb, an annoying little shit possessing a bow and arrow but no redeeming qualities, who have left their royal home to gain a better understanding of how the populace lives. Then there's Victor, an "Aar" who looks like a normal human, but has a lifespan running into the hundreds of years. He's a famous playwright who's well respected throughout the world and one of the last students of the ancient magical college at Nhysa. Finally, there's Sienna, a badass, katana-wielding cat burglar with a sour attitude and mysterious past. Eventually, their paths converge while seeking a common goal, kicking off the game's main action at the end of the first act
- Beyond the setup, the crux of Chained Echoes' story lies in the Grand Grimoire, an unbelievably devastating weapon imbued with the power of the gods that can wipe out an entire city in the blink of an eye. Generals, kings, and even gods vie over it to end the land's century long war, and it's up to Glenn and company to seize it and ensure that it doesn't fall into any nefarious hands
- Thematically, Chained Echoes falls into the category of high fantasy owing to all the swords and magic, but the existence of electricity and mecha imbue some additional sci-fi elements. The seeming contradiction in technological advancement is well-explained by the story, fortunately. In addition to the fantasy politics, religion also plays heavily into game's themes, with the church--effectively a multiarmed corporation behind many of the world's events--playing a major role in the plot
- As you may expect in a story that centers around war as a major theme, Chained Echoes is chock-full of political intrigue. Expect to see a lot of scheming, dramatic irony, and plot twists as a result
- In terms of content, Chained Echoes does not shy away from heavy subject matter. Robb, Glenn, and Ba'Thraz all have depressing backstories (Robb still isn't justified in his shittiness), and Kylian's is especially dark (consider this a content warning)
- With such a sweeping story, it's kinda hard to pin down a single vibe. There's a lot of sadness, heaps of action, and even a steady drip of situational humor to add a little levity. Something for everyone. I also applaud the story for not feeling the need to shoehorn a major romantic arc into the game; in fact, they actively avoid doing so when the story very easily could have headed in that direction
Playability & Replayability
- If you've touched a JRPG in the past 30 years, you should be pretty familiar with what's going on in Chained Echoes. Superficially, the turn-based battles and presence of avoidable enemies on the map reminded me of Chrono Trigger. However, the battle system (or, rather, systems) is notably different.
- Most of the time, you'll be fighting on foot with an active party of 4 with an additional 4 party members in reserve. These reserve characters can be switched in, penalty free, to take the "starters" place in the fight. Character switching is especially important as it helps lower your "Overdrive Meter". This meter features a sweet spot in which you'll take less damage and deal more, so you'll want to ensure you choose attacks and switch characters wisely to keep it within that range
- Later in the game, you'll gain access to Sky Armors, which change a few things about combat. In addition to the overdrive meter, Sky Armors have another mechanic dealing with which "gear" it's in. Taking actions in different gears will have differing effects on the overdrive meter, so you'll have to contend with that constraint in addition to the enemies
- Rather than unlocking new skills and abilities as you level up in normal RPGs, the vast majority of the combat skills you learn are available to you at the beginning. Collecting a Grimoire Shard (found on the map, rewarded after major boss fights, or gained by completing chains on your reward board) allows every one of your characters to unlock a new skill. These may be active abilities, stat boosts, or passive benefits
- In terms of combat difficulty, Chained Echoes is tough, but fair on the normal difficulty setting. If you find yourself struggling at any point, it's worth leveling up your skills, improving your weapons, and reconsidering your party composition in order to come out on top. In order to complete the game on normal difficulty, I had to do a lot of exploration and just a touch of grinding to make to through the game's final boss. I really liked how the game rewards exploration; if you want to succeed, try seeing more of what the game has to offer
- Will I wind up replaying this one? I don't know, replaying a 60-hour RPG is a tall order. I'm more likely to just give it a revisit when I've got a craving for the game to try a little postgame content and maybe pick up a few more achievements
Overall Impressions & Performance
- After playing Star Ocean: The Second Story R last year, my taste for RPGs has returned. It's wonderful to see high-quality indie RPGs like this achieve some critical success. It's by no means a perfect game, but the excellent presentation and clever narrative stand up there (but just a touch below) some of my favorites from the so-called "golden age" of JRPGs. It feels familiar but new at the same time, satisfying the requirements that make the genre appealing and marrying them to some interesting new ideas and mechanics. This is clearly a dev--a 1-person endeavor, I should add--who understands "what works"™ and how to introduce novel concepts in the spaces where they remove some old tropes
- There's not much I didn't like about the game. My biggest criticisms would probably center around the plodding pace of the story and battles. The narrative isn't just a slow-burn. I had to blow on it a couple of times to ensure the embers hadn't gone cold. There are unfortunately more than a few story beats that feel unnecessary or unimportant. And although combat is strategic and interesting to plan out, this can lead to some protracted fights even against normal enemies. If the pacing were just a bit snappier, this game would be right on tempo
- I played this on the Steam Deck, which is just about as good as a platform as I can imagine for enjoying a turn-based pixel art RPG. It ran perfectly without crashes or bugs
Final Verdict
9/10. If the art alone didn't compel you to add this title to your cart, rest assured that the gameplay and story (while a bit slow), should. Beating the game and every side story (but not 100%ing it) took 60 hours, so that $25USD asking price is more than fair for the amount and quality of content I experienced
I didn't like turn based or pixel art games before I played this game
I think this just might be one of favorites of all time. An all timer, perhaps.
I had low expectations coming in but I ended up really enjoying the first two acts of the game. By the time the third act came on I felt a little burnt out on the exploration and despite my excitement at the mech fights I found that their battle system just wasn't as fun as the regular fights.
At times the story felt like it was trying to tackle too much and let it get out of the hand. I enjoyed some of the smaller character moments/stories, but I feel the characters/events needed more room to sit and grow. By the end, I did appreciate some of the things they tried to pull off with the story.
Overall, I felt I enjoyed my time with the game despite getting burnt out towards the end. It's awkward in various ways, but it turned out to be a fun JRPG experience and I look forward to playing some of the post-game content when I get the urge.
At times the story felt like it was trying to tackle too much and let it get out of the hand. I enjoyed some of the smaller character moments/stories, but I feel the characters/events needed more room to sit and grow. By the end, I did appreciate some of the things they tried to pull off with the story.
Overall, I felt I enjoyed my time with the game despite getting burnt out towards the end. It's awkward in various ways, but it turned out to be a fun JRPG experience and I look forward to playing some of the post-game content when I get the urge.
I enjoyed my time with this one. Pretty good modern take on the classic 16-bit RPG with an absolutely gorgeous pixel art aesthetic. Combat's pretty cool too ---- there was something about the Overdrive mechanic & trying to keep it properly balanced while I was battling that just clicked for me. Several folks think the narrative was kind of a mess and...yeah, I gotta agree to an extent. But it did keep me interested till the credits rolled, so there's that.
Chained Echoes is a game that captivated me from the very beginning, much like love at first sight. It immediately drew me in with its entertaining gameplay, engaging me with its fantastic music and compelling story.
One of the standout features of the game is the overdrive system, which adds a layer of strategy to battles by requiring players to adapt their actions based on the situation. This keeps the gameplay fresh and exciting, as no two battles are the same.
The music in Chained Echoes not only enhances the overall experience, but also complements the game perfectly, setting the tone for each moment. The well-crafted soundtrack adds depth and emotion to the gameplay.
The mature and engaging story of Chained Echoes immediately pulled me in, making me feel invested in the consequences of my actions. It felt like every moment mattered, adding weight to the narrative.
The cast of characters, both heroes and villains, are exceptionally well-written and fleshed out. Each character has their own motivations and drives, allowing players to truly connect with them on a personal level. Getting to know each character adds depth to the story and makes the overall experience more immersive.
One of the standout features of the game is the overdrive system, which adds a layer of strategy to battles by requiring players to adapt their actions based on the situation. This keeps the gameplay fresh and exciting, as no two battles are the same.
The music in Chained Echoes not only enhances the overall experience, but also complements the game perfectly, setting the tone for each moment. The well-crafted soundtrack adds depth and emotion to the gameplay.
The mature and engaging story of Chained Echoes immediately pulled me in, making me feel invested in the consequences of my actions. It felt like every moment mattered, adding weight to the narrative.
The cast of characters, both heroes and villains, are exceptionally well-written and fleshed out. Each character has their own motivations and drives, allowing players to truly connect with them on a personal level. Getting to know each character adds depth to the story and makes the overall experience more immersive.
overall amazing game.
only criticism was me not liking one thing about how the story ended and the crystal system, which was confusing as fuck.
only criticism was me not liking one thing about how the story ended and the crystal system, which was confusing as fuck.
An unexpectedly enjoyable jrpg. It has a good story, decent characters (not Robb kys), and great gameplay. I'm not a fan of the mecha part, but overall it's very good.
Que jogo absurdamente daora
Extrai referência de vários jrpgs clássicos, como também de outras fontes, e usa elas como base para formar um worldbuilding rico e criar personagens bem desenvolvidos
Todo momento esse jogo te joga reviravolta atrás de reviravolta e você só fica cada vez mais curioso em continuar
A gameplay é bem feita, o jogo te oferece desafios na dose certa e te entrega as ferramentas necessárias para superá-las
Infelizmente o combate com mecha não foi tão polido
Extrai referência de vários jrpgs clássicos, como também de outras fontes, e usa elas como base para formar um worldbuilding rico e criar personagens bem desenvolvidos
Todo momento esse jogo te joga reviravolta atrás de reviravolta e você só fica cada vez mais curioso em continuar
A gameplay é bem feita, o jogo te oferece desafios na dose certa e te entrega as ferramentas necessárias para superá-las
Infelizmente o combate com mecha não foi tão polido
Chained Echoes has so much to like while also managing to feel unpolished in many other ways. It's genuinely impressive how much one person has created here, with a strong art direction, a solid story, and some great music as well. The battle system is the area that I take the most issue with. The ovedrive / overheat system is cool in theory, but ends up resulting in more micromanagement than necessary, often getting in the way of strategies by requiring random moves to reduce the heat bar. The Sky Armor battles feel even worse, given there are fewer ways to manage the heat bar. On top of this, too many bosses have the ability to act multiple times per turn, creating some scenarios that feel truly unfair. Despite these quirks, I did enjoy Chained Echoes a good bit, but it wasn't as enjoyable as it could have been.
Chained Echoes is not perfect, it's not the most artistic game I've ever played and it definitively has its flaws, but it was an extremely fun experience. I went into the game not expecting much but I was really surprised by what the game gave me.
Let me start with the worst parts: yes, this game's story is a mix of maybe too many things, you don't always understand where the creator wanted to go and many things feel rushed if not unexplained. Despite that, I think the game has a likeable cast, an extremely solid intro of over ten hours and the story manages to be good enough to be enjoyed and have its touching and memorable moments.
That aside, what this game does is something I don't often see in a JRPG. The gameplay is extremely FUN. From the combat to the exploration, this game really nails it and in a lot of ways it reminded me of why I loved CrossCode. You have to go from point A to B but the level is so big and full of stuff that you might spend hours just looking up for every small chest instead of doing the main quests.
As for the combat, I never got bored of the combat system and every trash fight was enjoyable even if not providing a challenge because the game has so many fun skills to use or combos to create between different abilities that I really enjoyed just mindlessly wrecking a horde of trashmobs, instead of trying to save my MP while spamming physical attacks.
And perhaps the strongest point of the game is the sidequests. The game has very humorous and lively quests that are unlocked as you progress or that you discover by exploring. They're all fun and there is a LOT of optional areas to explore. Hell, at some point the map really opens up and you get an overwhelming amount of things you can do at once, I thought it was a blast.
Chained Echoes is a really good game. It knows how to be fun and I could feel the author's spirit. I don't care that it's flawed, I think it's fine the way it is because ultimately the author wanted to do an homage to his childhood games and I think he managed to do so.
Let me start with the worst parts: yes, this game's story is a mix of maybe too many things, you don't always understand where the creator wanted to go and many things feel rushed if not unexplained. Despite that, I think the game has a likeable cast, an extremely solid intro of over ten hours and the story manages to be good enough to be enjoyed and have its touching and memorable moments.
That aside, what this game does is something I don't often see in a JRPG. The gameplay is extremely FUN. From the combat to the exploration, this game really nails it and in a lot of ways it reminded me of why I loved CrossCode. You have to go from point A to B but the level is so big and full of stuff that you might spend hours just looking up for every small chest instead of doing the main quests.
As for the combat, I never got bored of the combat system and every trash fight was enjoyable even if not providing a challenge because the game has so many fun skills to use or combos to create between different abilities that I really enjoyed just mindlessly wrecking a horde of trashmobs, instead of trying to save my MP while spamming physical attacks.
And perhaps the strongest point of the game is the sidequests. The game has very humorous and lively quests that are unlocked as you progress or that you discover by exploring. They're all fun and there is a LOT of optional areas to explore. Hell, at some point the map really opens up and you get an overwhelming amount of things you can do at once, I thought it was a blast.
Chained Echoes is a really good game. It knows how to be fun and I could feel the author's spirit. I don't care that it's flawed, I think it's fine the way it is because ultimately the author wanted to do an homage to his childhood games and I think he managed to do so.
I disliked the art style of this game quite a bit - it felt like an RPG-Maker sprite system. Everything else about this game was phenomenal though. I loved that every encounter felt like a boss fight, the plot-tethered leveling system made every character viable, the story was good (not great), both styles of combat system were incredibly interesting - the best turn-based combat I've maybe ever played, and you could make a base by completing quests and spending resources (my favorite). If this game and Sea of Stars could DBZ-style fusion dance, you'd have the perfect RPG
Didn't click with me as much as most people, but still a solid game and majorly impressive
Completely unbeliavable that this game was made by only one person. So much content in a game with almost 60 hours that doesn´t feel dragged out at all. Smooth pacing, good writing, good enough characters (with 2-3 really interesting) and alround simple combat with just the perfect variety for the longevity of the game.
Chained Echoes deve ser considerado um exemplo de como criar algo inspirado em um JRPG, seja na jogabilidade, história, narrativa, personagens e vários outros aspectos.
Fiquei realmente surpreso de como o jogo não tem medo de mostrar de onde se inspirou, mas também do quanto consegue ser original em boa parte das decisões tomadas.
O maior destaque, para mim, é como a história se entrelaça com todos os personagens. Todos ali têm uma função além de ser apenas um grupo que por um acaso tem algo em comum. Eles têm suas individualidades, seus arcos, seus propósitos e a forma como o jogo lida com isso até o último minuto é magnífica.
É a minha surpresa do ano com toda certeza.
Fiquei realmente surpreso de como o jogo não tem medo de mostrar de onde se inspirou, mas também do quanto consegue ser original em boa parte das decisões tomadas.
O maior destaque, para mim, é como a história se entrelaça com todos os personagens. Todos ali têm uma função além de ser apenas um grupo que por um acaso tem algo em comum. Eles têm suas individualidades, seus arcos, seus propósitos e a forma como o jogo lida com isso até o último minuto é magnífica.
É a minha surpresa do ano com toda certeza.
Amazing game that has some clear stumbles in in the plot, but the gameplay overall is excellent, with the mech combat being ok compared to ground combat.
Completion Crieria: Full Reward Board + Credits
Heard about this alot last year and ended up blasting through the game when it came up for game club. The expectations were that the gameplay was fun and it had an aesthetic that I wasn't particularly invested in and that's what I got. Thankfully the negative didn't hurt as much and the positive stuck with me more then expected.
While the story isn't extremely unique, usually Warring states ends up getting extremely sidetracked whilst I thought this did well staying pretty cohesive. It attempts to be mature but not to the point it's overwhelming and it has some fun ideas and magic welding it together.
As mentioned above. I think it has a good modern take on Turn-Based Combat. Utilizing Tug-of-War Systems to try keep combat dynamic whilst removing the 'chore' or MP of resources outside of it. Full MP and HP refills, with free retreats make the dungeons feel like quite a breeze with full momentum. I think the major downside of these systems is that it makes Buff/Debuffing extremely strong as they are no longer a reserve for necessary use but just the pre-amble of every fight and unfortunately by the end of the game, your game plan is the same for every encounter.
I think one floor of the game may be the gem system which was completely ignored until the end game optional content where they felt necessary. The end game overall feels a bit messy with no clear understanding of when I was supposed to just brute force a scenario or I had options to make it easier.
Overall, a good recommendation. I guess in the future I will be able to make the important comparison of Chained Echoes vs Sea of Stars to give an informed opinion
Heard about this alot last year and ended up blasting through the game when it came up for game club. The expectations were that the gameplay was fun and it had an aesthetic that I wasn't particularly invested in and that's what I got. Thankfully the negative didn't hurt as much and the positive stuck with me more then expected.
While the story isn't extremely unique, usually Warring states ends up getting extremely sidetracked whilst I thought this did well staying pretty cohesive. It attempts to be mature but not to the point it's overwhelming and it has some fun ideas and magic welding it together.
As mentioned above. I think it has a good modern take on Turn-Based Combat. Utilizing Tug-of-War Systems to try keep combat dynamic whilst removing the 'chore' or MP of resources outside of it. Full MP and HP refills, with free retreats make the dungeons feel like quite a breeze with full momentum. I think the major downside of these systems is that it makes Buff/Debuffing extremely strong as they are no longer a reserve for necessary use but just the pre-amble of every fight and unfortunately by the end of the game, your game plan is the same for every encounter.
I think one floor of the game may be the gem system which was completely ignored until the end game optional content where they felt necessary. The end game overall feels a bit messy with no clear understanding of when I was supposed to just brute force a scenario or I had options to make it easier.
Overall, a good recommendation. I guess in the future I will be able to make the important comparison of Chained Echoes vs Sea of Stars to give an informed opinion
Este juego fue una verdadera sorpresa. Sabía que era un retro JRPG indie bastante bueno pero nada más.
No me imaginaba lo mucho que lo iba a disfrutar, me hizo sentir muy similar a jugar Cross Code, a pesar de que sean gameplay muy diferentes.
Hay muchas cosas que me encantaron:
- El sistema de pelea con el "overdrive" te hace pensar y no usar siempre las mismas habilidades.
- El cambio de estructura del juego luego del primer acto.
- El sistema de upgrades, skills y gemas, aunque a veces algo engorroso, es de los que más interactué hasta ahora. Se sentía genial ver el cambio al pelear luego de estar un rato con el menu.
- El tablero de mini misiones y recomienzas que no solo era divertido, sino que me hizo probar personajes/builds diferentes
- Esta lleno de cosas que parecen random y tienen explicaciones muy interesantes luego.
- No hice un new game + pero ofrece cosas muy copadas, como randomizar los cofres/tiendas.
Pero lo que más conectó conmigo fue la historia, con muchos giros interesantes, varias veces rompiendo expectativas y tocando multiples veces el tema de "redención".
Es raro ponerle 5 estrellas a un juego que se que no es perfecto, pero para mi no se trata de perfección. Se trata de que conecté con todo lo que este juego tenía para dar.
No me imaginaba lo mucho que lo iba a disfrutar, me hizo sentir muy similar a jugar Cross Code, a pesar de que sean gameplay muy diferentes.
Hay muchas cosas que me encantaron:
- El sistema de pelea con el "overdrive" te hace pensar y no usar siempre las mismas habilidades.
- El cambio de estructura del juego luego del primer acto.
- El sistema de upgrades, skills y gemas, aunque a veces algo engorroso, es de los que más interactué hasta ahora. Se sentía genial ver el cambio al pelear luego de estar un rato con el menu.
- El tablero de mini misiones y recomienzas que no solo era divertido, sino que me hizo probar personajes/builds diferentes
- Esta lleno de cosas que parecen random y tienen explicaciones muy interesantes luego.
- No hice un new game + pero ofrece cosas muy copadas, como randomizar los cofres/tiendas.
Pero lo que más conectó conmigo fue la historia, con muchos giros interesantes, varias veces rompiendo expectativas y tocando multiples veces el tema de "redención".
Es raro ponerle 5 estrellas a un juego que se que no es perfecto, pero para mi no se trata de perfección. Se trata de que conecté con todo lo que este juego tenía para dar.
I don't play a lot of JRPGs games, but this one was very clever, the characters all had some interesting storylines and designs. The gameplay was fun and the combat quite intuitive. Unfortunately, the game wasn't yet polished when I've played it, especially the gem system.
I really didn't enjoy the time I spent with Chained Echoes. The gameplay feels almost wholly unconsidered in a way that I just found frustrating. Where the writing isn't cribbing from other sources, it is grating, juvenile, and tactless. The mostly excellent spritework and beautiful world failed to make up for these shortcomings for me, so I abandoned it.
Visually, Chained Echoes is mostly really good. I like this sprite style, it is a bit like Final Fantasy Tactics, but the characters are missing a certain spark to them. The environments are detailed and interesting. You visit quite a few unique places that are all impressively rendered.
Despite looking great, areas feel thrown together in a way that is more busy than helpful, with unclear walking paths and surprise obstructions being common. There isn't much in the way of dynamic or interesting animation -- most of the action feels very flat.
The writing is pretty unreadable. It isn't even grammatical errors; it is just that almost every line is juvenile or amateurish. If the game didn't try to take its themes so seriously, this might not be so much of a problem, but as is I found it intolerable for the entirety of my play.
The narrative is a mess. When the writing isn't just bad, the events that are taking place are unmotivated and arbitrary. New characters are introduced with surprise twists that don't make sense. Established characters take actions that are unmotivated except by prior art of the archetype they are based on. Events are interrupted by disconnected cutscenes that have no apparent relation or bearing on the story being told. I am sure some of this comes back around by the end of the game, but as presented it is just a nonsensical mashup of Berserk, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Chrono Trigger.
I didn't experience anything in this game that wasn't a pale reflection of some better piece of media saddled with grating dialog and annoying characterizations.
Compelling gameplay can usually go a long way in making up for a weak story, but Chained Echoes doesn't deliver here either. It presents a combat system that feels fresh and unique but breaks down almost immediately upon use. The multivarious other systems in the game all feel similarly unconsidered or simply pointless.
Combat centers around an overdrive gauge and a number of typed abilities characters have. Attacking or being attacked raises your overdrive, which puts you into a powered-up mode (until you overheat, then you just take extra damage), while defending or using an ability of a type chosen at random every turn lowers your overdrive. This seems like a cool system you are encouraged to keep in balance, but in practice it just serves to force you into performing actions that don't have value and undermine the other, combo-focused nature of the attacks your characters use. A more thoughtful approach to character ability types, a more flexible version of the overdrive gauge, or more balanced costs/benefits to things like attack and defense would probably solve this entirely, but as presented it just feels unfun and arbitrary most of the time. The mechs use an even more uninteresting and broken version of this system that isn't worth talking about.
Chained Echoes has a lot of other gameplay systems at play. You get equipment upgrades, gems to harvest, combine in an overcomplicated crafting matrix, and slot into that equipment, buried treasure around each map, a Suikoden-style NPC recruiting system, a Final Fantasy 12-style goods trading/selling system, narratively bound leveling, and sub-classes you can unlock, advance in, and master. Most of this feels, at best, ignorable, but usually just tedious and pointless.
Gem crafting involves harvesting from points around the world (you can influence what you get in a way that isn't clear or really even effective) then combining gems together to get better versions of those gems. So much of this system runs on arbitrary, unexplained rules (natural vs artificial gems? gem tier levels? gem types?) and the interface for using it is so tedious that it just isn't worth engaging with in any way.
Equipment consists of direct upgrades you find as you go. Each character has one weapon type (and is the only character that can use that weapon type) and their upgrade paths are linear. You can forge individual upgrades for each weapon, but there isn't a reason to. It is rote and uninteresting.
Sub-classes are found throughout the world and can give your characters new abilities. Usually these are just worse versions of some ability another character has, but some of them can be interesting. Unfortunately they are just completely overshadowed by the basic abilities of each character, so the sub-classes themselves never seemed to have a real point or generate much interest.
Almost every system in the game is similarly undercooked or flawed in ways that just feel like everything was thrown in without much consideration of value, cohesiveness, or design. The one counterexample is a mini-quest board you unlock that gives you small rewards for doing mundane things in each area -- it IS cool to search these things out, complete them, and the board works in a way that was obviously ripped straight from FF12's job board.
Chained Echoes really didn't work for me. Almost every gameplay system is more frustrating, tedious, or broken than interesting and every narrative beat, character, and line of dialog is simply bad.
If you are super nostalgic for the era of game Chained Echoes is invoking, playing Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, or Suikoden are better options. Chained Echoes simply doesn't deliver.
Visually, Chained Echoes is mostly really good. I like this sprite style, it is a bit like Final Fantasy Tactics, but the characters are missing a certain spark to them. The environments are detailed and interesting. You visit quite a few unique places that are all impressively rendered.
Despite looking great, areas feel thrown together in a way that is more busy than helpful, with unclear walking paths and surprise obstructions being common. There isn't much in the way of dynamic or interesting animation -- most of the action feels very flat.
The writing is pretty unreadable. It isn't even grammatical errors; it is just that almost every line is juvenile or amateurish. If the game didn't try to take its themes so seriously, this might not be so much of a problem, but as is I found it intolerable for the entirety of my play.
The narrative is a mess. When the writing isn't just bad, the events that are taking place are unmotivated and arbitrary. New characters are introduced with surprise twists that don't make sense. Established characters take actions that are unmotivated except by prior art of the archetype they are based on. Events are interrupted by disconnected cutscenes that have no apparent relation or bearing on the story being told. I am sure some of this comes back around by the end of the game, but as presented it is just a nonsensical mashup of Berserk, Final Fantasy Tactics, and Chrono Trigger.
I didn't experience anything in this game that wasn't a pale reflection of some better piece of media saddled with grating dialog and annoying characterizations.
Compelling gameplay can usually go a long way in making up for a weak story, but Chained Echoes doesn't deliver here either. It presents a combat system that feels fresh and unique but breaks down almost immediately upon use. The multivarious other systems in the game all feel similarly unconsidered or simply pointless.
Combat centers around an overdrive gauge and a number of typed abilities characters have. Attacking or being attacked raises your overdrive, which puts you into a powered-up mode (until you overheat, then you just take extra damage), while defending or using an ability of a type chosen at random every turn lowers your overdrive. This seems like a cool system you are encouraged to keep in balance, but in practice it just serves to force you into performing actions that don't have value and undermine the other, combo-focused nature of the attacks your characters use. A more thoughtful approach to character ability types, a more flexible version of the overdrive gauge, or more balanced costs/benefits to things like attack and defense would probably solve this entirely, but as presented it just feels unfun and arbitrary most of the time. The mechs use an even more uninteresting and broken version of this system that isn't worth talking about.
Chained Echoes has a lot of other gameplay systems at play. You get equipment upgrades, gems to harvest, combine in an overcomplicated crafting matrix, and slot into that equipment, buried treasure around each map, a Suikoden-style NPC recruiting system, a Final Fantasy 12-style goods trading/selling system, narratively bound leveling, and sub-classes you can unlock, advance in, and master. Most of this feels, at best, ignorable, but usually just tedious and pointless.
Gem crafting involves harvesting from points around the world (you can influence what you get in a way that isn't clear or really even effective) then combining gems together to get better versions of those gems. So much of this system runs on arbitrary, unexplained rules (natural vs artificial gems? gem tier levels? gem types?) and the interface for using it is so tedious that it just isn't worth engaging with in any way.
Equipment consists of direct upgrades you find as you go. Each character has one weapon type (and is the only character that can use that weapon type) and their upgrade paths are linear. You can forge individual upgrades for each weapon, but there isn't a reason to. It is rote and uninteresting.
Sub-classes are found throughout the world and can give your characters new abilities. Usually these are just worse versions of some ability another character has, but some of them can be interesting. Unfortunately they are just completely overshadowed by the basic abilities of each character, so the sub-classes themselves never seemed to have a real point or generate much interest.
Almost every system in the game is similarly undercooked or flawed in ways that just feel like everything was thrown in without much consideration of value, cohesiveness, or design. The one counterexample is a mini-quest board you unlock that gives you small rewards for doing mundane things in each area -- it IS cool to search these things out, complete them, and the board works in a way that was obviously ripped straight from FF12's job board.
Chained Echoes really didn't work for me. Almost every gameplay system is more frustrating, tedious, or broken than interesting and every narrative beat, character, and line of dialog is simply bad.
If you are super nostalgic for the era of game Chained Echoes is invoking, playing Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, or Suikoden are better options. Chained Echoes simply doesn't deliver.
Ill finish my review for this later but you know. This game could have been a lot tighter narrative and character wise, and you can kind of tell he worked on this for 8 years cause its just got the pacing of someone who has been writing something for so long they cant really tell about the pacing anymore. I remember thinking to myself "man I wonder if he thinks hes already told us this characters back story and motivations because those aspects have already been in his head for so long he forgot to implement them in the game". Theres 12 characters including the side characters, and their importance varies but honestly its like every ones motivations and narrative importance becomes kind of vague at a certain point, and besides the main 8 the other characters feel like you know chrono cross characters you can add to your party that like dont have much to them, or maybe suikoden characters is a better example. This game is a smorgisboard of aspects from other snes/ps1 jrpgs, a lot of shit borrowed from xenogears WHICH ISNT A BAD THING I ACTUALLY LIKE THAT, but you know I think ones mileage may vary if they dont. While i dont think you can excuse a games problems purely on the basis of it being the 8 year long passion project of one guy, i found myself being forgiving because of that reason and also found myself being more impressed of stuff because of that fact. I really enjoyed this game and its journey and its exploration and its characters especially sienna and robb, but its story is trying to be really big to encompass this big world hes created (of which this game only takes place in a small part of it). I thought the composer did a pretty good job all things considered I was afraid the soundtrack was going to be very stale and serviceable but it actually ended up being very memorable and in my opinion one of the things I like best about this game. I enjoyed this game a lot and I think its worth giving a shot and playing but your mileage may vary depending on the type of person you are.
giocato su cloud da cell, not bad
This was pretty disappointing. Sure the game is impressive for being done by a simple person but that doesn't really help when it is not that enjoyable to play. At its core Chained Echoes is a beautiful and great sounding turn based JRPG with an intriguing world. But there are so many unnecessary subsystems tacked on in terms of party composition and battle it devolves into tedium quickly. The overdrive system would be a fun boss gimmick but as a constant companion it makes random battles a slog. Crystals and equipment upgrades are not really interesting and just serve to bloat the inventary and introduce way too much menuing. Sienna is cool, the rest of the cast pretty bland and the plot felt held back by a stiff script. Overall the game could have used some editing in multiple places to make it shine since there is some great potential hidden within. I'll at least keep an eye out for the developer's next project.
To consider Chained Echoes as a "hidden gem" would be an understatement and does not do this game enough justice to show how much this title was under appreciated. After finally getting around to 100% this game even though I beaten this last year. I still consider Chained Echoes should've been contender for "JRPG" of 2022. It's just a shame it dropped at the near end of 2022, so it was under a lot of peoples radar. Many who have played it though, those people would agree that Chain Echoes beautifully pays homage to JRPG genre, where influences/easter eggs in a measured way, never allowed them to overshadow the game. Although in my opinion, this game felt like an anniversary to every great JRPG title over the decades and condense every idea that made those series great, into one game.
From the town building system that similar to that of Suikoden. To the names of characters, combat system and star level up system that shares resemblance to Chrono Trigger and Wild Arms. The game also uses some inspiration from Final Fantasy 6 & 12 for it's NPC designs, location designs and the reward system (reward board). Hell, even one of the post-game secret bosses (that's a Kickstarter reward design btw) shares inspiration of Seymour from Final Fantasy X, although it's probably paying homage to Chel from Okage: Shadow King.
As a die hard Xenoblade and (more importantly to my life growing up) Xenogears fan, I can not forget to mentioned how much I absolutely love the OST that give me a sense of reminiscence, especially when you enter in Rohlan Fields for the first time, heavily reminiscent of Xenoblade's plains in design and music. The Flower Fields of Perpetua seem to be strongly inspired of Satorl Marsh (one of my favorite locations) from Xenoblade as well. Let's not forget when you're roaming around the vibrant/uniquely different locations, Chain Echo also has pick-collectables, although unlike for Xenoblade series. These pick-ups are not necessarily important towards level/gear progression, but they do unlock "special deals" from merchants that will sell you bundles that can be a variety of things, like material, items and weapons that can help alleviate the burden on your wallet when buying gear or upgrading said gear. So there's less incentive to actually grind but more encouragement to explore because of it. Which this game does an exceptionally good job "trimming the fat" by not having you to grind at all or as much. Unique Monsters are also present in this game too, some of which require a bit of RNG to spawn, but overall. Most of them spawn under certain condition that are never a hassle to get them to spawn, which is a huge plus.
What really caught my attention however, is how insanely similar the main characters/story points are from Xenogear. Right off the bat, the game starts off with the annihilation to a city and death of many people that feels similar to the destruction of lahan scene at the very start of Xenogear. That has Glenn (one of the main characters) over the course of the story, overcome the trauma and repercussion over his action that was out of his control and learn acceptance from it. Even to go far as to contemplate suicide. Despite the high-spirited/vibrant sprite-art aesthetic, this game does not shy away from darker tones that doesn't try to use edgy tones just for the sake of going "look at how dark this is, ain't it gritty?!!" but to have a realistic tone to the story. If you're a huge Xenogear fan, as you progress towards act 3 & 4, you'll really see how similar the plot points are to that game. You might even spot which one of the main character shares some resemblance to Elly as well.
Even back 2022, playing this was such a breath of fresh air. A combination of both traditional JRPG and modern quality of life implementation that made it such a joy to play through to the end. For example. You can retry battles right away without going back to a save point, run away from battles instantly and without fail and you can retain your super meter so you can easily farm limit breaks or whatever if you're having a tough time with a fight. Starting with a full super meter in every boss encounter so you don't need to run around for 10 minutes getting monsters to beat you in the face to build it up.
Aliment afflicting is so damn good and does what I wished most games does with status effects. By removing RNG. Each time you inflict an ailment, they gain a resistance to that ailment. Resistance (in this instance or from equipment, items, etc.) means that you avoid that many instances of the ailment. So, the first time you inflict Blind, you need to do it twice to inflict it again. Then three times. Then four and so on.
Since ailment effects are also predictable (Blind status means if an enmy does a doing physical attacks, they WILL always miss) means you can completely plan your actions. It also means you can hold your guaranteed blind/silence/inact attacks until you KNOW you need to avoid something. It's completely predictable and you can use it to your advantage.
During the game's development, the one thing that really had me overly excited to point of considering Chained Echoes a spiritual successor to Xenogears, was the Mecha battle system but it does indeed do some things that differentiate it from Xenogear's gears/fuel system, and that's "gear switching". A system that plays together with Chained Echoes overdrive system. Once you're in a mech, you have options to switch between three modes. Gear 1 lets use skills that consume less "MP" and reduces your overdrive meter, but Gear 2 consumes more "MP" but does more damage, as a result though, it increases your overdrive meter. While switching to Gear 0, disables you from using skills at all but it replenishes your "MP", not only that but doing this reduces the amount of damage you take greatly if you decide to defend. So you have a complex system of planning out when to go "all out" but also finding the right time to conserve "MP" and defend against team wipe moves while playing a constant tug-of-war with the overdrive meter that determines how much damage/heals you can dish out. Some people may hate this system or some will love it, but I absolutely love that more thought was put into the mecha combat than it just being attack/defend. It's a nice change of pace from the hectic and at times, nerve racking ground combat.
On that note, ground combat uses a sort of FFX-esque/Octopath Traveler CotC switching system where you can switch between front and reserve party members during battle. With characters and their abilities all feeling fairly unique, they all serve a defined roles which incentivizes team work and synergy around the implementation of the Overdrive system (located at the top corner of the screen during combat) that works like a thermometer for abilities, warning players when they overdo specific actions you'll not only deal less damage/heals but you could suffer even more damage as a result. The goal of Overdrive is to balance turn-based combat and encourage players to diversify their attacks by not brainlessly spamming OP skills. It's a really creative and a engaging system. Added by the fact that you regain full life after every battle, the gameplay is balanced around. So it removes the incentive of having to save money for HP/MP items outside of battles like most JRPG. So it always keeps back-to-back combat engaging at all times. By far one of the most creative JRPG combat system of recent years.
Love it or hate the game (for it's ending), Chained Echoes was clearly made by someone who truly loves and understood the genre. I'm grateful that I backed this game years back and got to play something like this in my lifetime, if you're a hardcore fan of the genre (or Xenogears), absolutely give this game a try. It's quite the experience.
From the town building system that similar to that of Suikoden. To the names of characters, combat system and star level up system that shares resemblance to Chrono Trigger and Wild Arms. The game also uses some inspiration from Final Fantasy 6 & 12 for it's NPC designs, location designs and the reward system (reward board). Hell, even one of the post-game secret bosses (that's a Kickstarter reward design btw) shares inspiration of Seymour from Final Fantasy X, although it's probably paying homage to Chel from Okage: Shadow King.
As a die hard Xenoblade and (more importantly to my life growing up) Xenogears fan, I can not forget to mentioned how much I absolutely love the OST that give me a sense of reminiscence, especially when you enter in Rohlan Fields for the first time, heavily reminiscent of Xenoblade's plains in design and music. The Flower Fields of Perpetua seem to be strongly inspired of Satorl Marsh (one of my favorite locations) from Xenoblade as well. Let's not forget when you're roaming around the vibrant/uniquely different locations, Chain Echo also has pick-collectables, although unlike for Xenoblade series. These pick-ups are not necessarily important towards level/gear progression, but they do unlock "special deals" from merchants that will sell you bundles that can be a variety of things, like material, items and weapons that can help alleviate the burden on your wallet when buying gear or upgrading said gear. So there's less incentive to actually grind but more encouragement to explore because of it. Which this game does an exceptionally good job "trimming the fat" by not having you to grind at all or as much. Unique Monsters are also present in this game too, some of which require a bit of RNG to spawn, but overall. Most of them spawn under certain condition that are never a hassle to get them to spawn, which is a huge plus.
What really caught my attention however, is how insanely similar the main characters/story points are from Xenogear. Right off the bat, the game starts off with the annihilation to a city and death of many people that feels similar to the destruction of lahan scene at the very start of Xenogear. That has Glenn (one of the main characters) over the course of the story, overcome the trauma and repercussion over his action that was out of his control and learn acceptance from it. Even to go far as to contemplate suicide. Despite the high-spirited/vibrant sprite-art aesthetic, this game does not shy away from darker tones that doesn't try to use edgy tones just for the sake of going "look at how dark this is, ain't it gritty?!!" but to have a realistic tone to the story. If you're a huge Xenogear fan, as you progress towards act 3 & 4, you'll really see how similar the plot points are to that game. You might even spot which one of the main character shares some resemblance to Elly as well.
Even back 2022, playing this was such a breath of fresh air. A combination of both traditional JRPG and modern quality of life implementation that made it such a joy to play through to the end. For example. You can retry battles right away without going back to a save point, run away from battles instantly and without fail and you can retain your super meter so you can easily farm limit breaks or whatever if you're having a tough time with a fight. Starting with a full super meter in every boss encounter so you don't need to run around for 10 minutes getting monsters to beat you in the face to build it up.
Aliment afflicting is so damn good and does what I wished most games does with status effects. By removing RNG. Each time you inflict an ailment, they gain a resistance to that ailment. Resistance (in this instance or from equipment, items, etc.) means that you avoid that many instances of the ailment. So, the first time you inflict Blind, you need to do it twice to inflict it again. Then three times. Then four and so on.
Since ailment effects are also predictable (Blind status means if an enmy does a doing physical attacks, they WILL always miss) means you can completely plan your actions. It also means you can hold your guaranteed blind/silence/inact attacks until you KNOW you need to avoid something. It's completely predictable and you can use it to your advantage.
During the game's development, the one thing that really had me overly excited to point of considering Chained Echoes a spiritual successor to Xenogears, was the Mecha battle system but it does indeed do some things that differentiate it from Xenogear's gears/fuel system, and that's "gear switching". A system that plays together with Chained Echoes overdrive system. Once you're in a mech, you have options to switch between three modes. Gear 1 lets use skills that consume less "MP" and reduces your overdrive meter, but Gear 2 consumes more "MP" but does more damage, as a result though, it increases your overdrive meter. While switching to Gear 0, disables you from using skills at all but it replenishes your "MP", not only that but doing this reduces the amount of damage you take greatly if you decide to defend. So you have a complex system of planning out when to go "all out" but also finding the right time to conserve "MP" and defend against team wipe moves while playing a constant tug-of-war with the overdrive meter that determines how much damage/heals you can dish out. Some people may hate this system or some will love it, but I absolutely love that more thought was put into the mecha combat than it just being attack/defend. It's a nice change of pace from the hectic and at times, nerve racking ground combat.
On that note, ground combat uses a sort of FFX-esque/Octopath Traveler CotC switching system where you can switch between front and reserve party members during battle. With characters and their abilities all feeling fairly unique, they all serve a defined roles which incentivizes team work and synergy around the implementation of the Overdrive system (located at the top corner of the screen during combat) that works like a thermometer for abilities, warning players when they overdo specific actions you'll not only deal less damage/heals but you could suffer even more damage as a result. The goal of Overdrive is to balance turn-based combat and encourage players to diversify their attacks by not brainlessly spamming OP skills. It's a really creative and a engaging system. Added by the fact that you regain full life after every battle, the gameplay is balanced around. So it removes the incentive of having to save money for HP/MP items outside of battles like most JRPG. So it always keeps back-to-back combat engaging at all times. By far one of the most creative JRPG combat system of recent years.
Love it or hate the game (for it's ending), Chained Echoes was clearly made by someone who truly loves and understood the genre. I'm grateful that I backed this game years back and got to play something like this in my lifetime, if you're a hardcore fan of the genre (or Xenogears), absolutely give this game a try. It's quite the experience.
Behold the second coming of Chrono. Blah blah love letter blah blah golden era jrpg blah blah. Jokes aside, while the game is clear about its inspirations, it does stand on it's own without resorting to nostalgia. It masterfully ticks all the box of what makes a great rpg. The story is really well-paced and starts strong. The characters are interesting and have their own arc inside the story. There are interactions between the party members that adds to the flavour of the game. The battle system allows for challenging encounters that actually needs strategy (buffs and debuffs really makes the difference). The graphics and sounds are also amazing. Overall, this is a incredible experience and a must-play to every rpg fan.
(from original post in 2023) Annoys me that idk why i didnt like this more (and i liked this a LOT)
This review contains spoilers
What I liked:
- Music and artstyle are very nicely designed, but also have their flaws
- Overdrive system is fun and brings variety, but unfortunately also forces me to use skills that make no sense in the current situation : /
- Reward board is simple but super cool to motivate me to play a lot of optional content
- Exploration is mostly very rewarding
- Building Hermit's Isle was a lot of fun, I love that
- There were no boring side quests, all of them had their own interesting story and sometimes there was content here that I would have expected in the main story, really good
What got on my nerves:
- In general, the story starts off promisingly, but becomes increasingly stupid as the game progresses :/ Here, I often had the feeling that the story mainly relies on blatant twists and surprises, but that these weren't really organically integrated into the plot, but just happened randomly. Scenes like Frederik's death are supposed to be tragic, but I honestly had to laugh out loud because his "explanation" for his misdeeds was so incredibly stupid and pointless, but it was really taken seriously in the game as his motivation, what nonsense...and that happens quite often towards the end
- Tonally the game is so inconsistent, I don't know what to feel :D It's basically rather lighthearted, but then jumps into topics like mass suicide, human experimentation, religious wars and much more...but deals with all these topics rather superficially, maybe less would have been more?
- The level with the flying islands -> fuck that :D just stand around and wait for a flying platform != fun.
- Many to almost all ideas of the story are at least inspired by other games or anime, which would be fine. What I find problematic, however, is when entire story sections are copied 1:1 from other media, such as the machinations of the church in this game and in Xenogears, which is simply copy-paste with virtually no ideas of its own. The fact that the church produces monsters here to unleash them on humanity is simply the plot of Solaris/Ethos stolen from Xenogears, that's quite brazen. And the fact that the priest likes boys is also an old cliché...AND IT'S ALSO IN XENOGEARS WTF!!!! :D Kylian and Glenn are 1:1 Delita and Ramza from FFT, Nysa is Lea Monde from Vagrant Story....it's really cheeky
- You can almost completely ignore the class system (with the emblems), you learn enough skills as it is and can only use a handful so it's rather annoying
- Hardly any character moments between the party members, there's no real sense of companionship
All in all, this game left me a bit disappointed. I was really looking forward to this one since there was universal praise from game critics and people, whose opinions I respect. The first half was very promising but to me, it just falls apart in the second half due to bad writing. It is charming though. If you like the JRPGs of old, give this a look but maybe don't expect the best in terms of story, world, and character writing.
- Music and artstyle are very nicely designed, but also have their flaws
- Overdrive system is fun and brings variety, but unfortunately also forces me to use skills that make no sense in the current situation : /
- Reward board is simple but super cool to motivate me to play a lot of optional content
- Exploration is mostly very rewarding
- Building Hermit's Isle was a lot of fun, I love that
- There were no boring side quests, all of them had their own interesting story and sometimes there was content here that I would have expected in the main story, really good
What got on my nerves:
- In general, the story starts off promisingly, but becomes increasingly stupid as the game progresses :/ Here, I often had the feeling that the story mainly relies on blatant twists and surprises, but that these weren't really organically integrated into the plot, but just happened randomly. Scenes like Frederik's death are supposed to be tragic, but I honestly had to laugh out loud because his "explanation" for his misdeeds was so incredibly stupid and pointless, but it was really taken seriously in the game as his motivation, what nonsense...and that happens quite often towards the end
- Tonally the game is so inconsistent, I don't know what to feel :D It's basically rather lighthearted, but then jumps into topics like mass suicide, human experimentation, religious wars and much more...but deals with all these topics rather superficially, maybe less would have been more?
- The level with the flying islands -> fuck that :D just stand around and wait for a flying platform != fun.
- Many to almost all ideas of the story are at least inspired by other games or anime, which would be fine. What I find problematic, however, is when entire story sections are copied 1:1 from other media, such as the machinations of the church in this game and in Xenogears, which is simply copy-paste with virtually no ideas of its own. The fact that the church produces monsters here to unleash them on humanity is simply the plot of Solaris/Ethos stolen from Xenogears, that's quite brazen. And the fact that the priest likes boys is also an old cliché...AND IT'S ALSO IN XENOGEARS WTF!!!! :D Kylian and Glenn are 1:1 Delita and Ramza from FFT, Nysa is Lea Monde from Vagrant Story....it's really cheeky
- You can almost completely ignore the class system (with the emblems), you learn enough skills as it is and can only use a handful so it's rather annoying
- Hardly any character moments between the party members, there's no real sense of companionship
All in all, this game left me a bit disappointed. I was really looking forward to this one since there was universal praise from game critics and people, whose opinions I respect. The first half was very promising but to me, it just falls apart in the second half due to bad writing. It is charming though. If you like the JRPGs of old, give this a look but maybe don't expect the best in terms of story, world, and character writing.
Chained Echos:
Ich habe mich aufgrund der Lobpreisungen über Chained Echos endlich wieder über ein RPG gefreut.
Keine Ahnung, wo dieses Lob herkommt.
Es macht viele Dinge anders, aber so vieles so falsch.
Kommen wir zu den guten Dingen:
-Kein stummer Hauptcharakter!
-Man läuft wirklich flott.
-Kämpfe kann man vorspulen (wenn auch nicht schnell genug.. aber immerhin)
-Der Soundtrack ist nicht schlecht.
-Das Questboard ist innovativ.
-8 Leute gleichzeitig im Kampf, ohne Nachteil einwechelbar.
Und großer Gott, jetzt kommen wir zu den Negativpunkten:
-Man bleib ständig überall hängen.. das Spiel sieht aus, als wäre es dem RPG-Maker entsprungen und dennoch hakt und eckt man überall an.
-Man wird fürs Kämpfen nicht belohnt. Wenn man den Gegner nicht gerade für eine Quest braucht bringen die Gegner nur SP.
Meine Skills waren aber bereits nach wenigen Stunden voll aufgelevelt... wieso dann noch kämpfen?
Und noch schlimmer: Man wird nach jedem Kampf voll geheilt. Bedeutet: Ist der Kampf nicht auf Messersschneide, ist der Kampf egal. Warum soll ich auf den Bildschirm schauen, anstatt 20x normal anzugreifen, wenn ich weiß, dass ich den Gegner eh schaffe? Das klingt auf dem Papier nett, aber nimm jede Relevanz.
-Waffen upgraden NERVT. Es dauer so lange, dann muss man die Edelsteine einzeln herausnehmen, in die neue Waffe einsetzen (wenn man sie transferieren kann, wurde es sehr gut versteckt) und dann muss man das neue Zeug ausrüsten... Ein Spiel, bei dem man sich NICHT auf bessere Ausrüstung freut.. das hatte ich noch nie.
-Die Dialoge sind richtig schwach. Es wird grundsätzlich nur über Storygetriebene Sachen gesprochen und das auch nur in sehr wenigen Worten. Über die Charaktere erfährt man nichts, nebensächliche nette Dialoge gibt es nicht. 2 Charaktere sind eingesperrt: Zeit für ein 4 Augengespräch? nein.. nach 2 Zeilen ist es wieder vorbei. .. wenn man keine Texte schreiben will.. wieso macht man ein RPG? .. wieso? mach ein Call of Duty, da interessiert es keinen.
-Es ist voll mit Klischees. Endbosse, die nur alle töten wollen, weil sie eine bessere Welt wollen, Leute die einen verraten, aber schon 100 bessere Momente dafür hatten, was absolut keinen Sinn macht.
-Mapabschnitte sind ständig willkürlich blockiert, damit man erst später hinkommt.. (das ist der falsche Weg.. warum? ich bin ne Stunde auf der Map rumgeflogen, aber den Weg darf ich jetzt nicht gehen?)
-Die Story ist nicht schön erzählt. Ständig Vorshadowing auf den nächsten Verrat eines Mitspielers, ständig sieht man die sinnbefreite Planung der Gegenspieler, während die Protagonisten im Dunkeln tappen und damit mehr Spannung erleben als der Spieler.
In einer Massenschlacht werden eigene Einheiten nur deswegen geopfert, weil man zu viel Game of Thrones geschaut hat.
- Wann immer die Gruppe getrennt wird und dann wieder zusammenfindet.. was unnötig oft passiert, ist die Gruppenzusammenstellung durchgewürfelt und man muss sie wieder händisch anpassen..
Wieso wird so ein Spiel so hoch gehypet? Plappert man den ersten Testern stumpf nach oder hat man selbst erst 3 Videospiele gespielt?
Jeder Suikodenteil ist besser als Chanied Echos.
Ich habe mich aufgrund der Lobpreisungen über Chained Echos endlich wieder über ein RPG gefreut.
Keine Ahnung, wo dieses Lob herkommt.
Es macht viele Dinge anders, aber so vieles so falsch.
Kommen wir zu den guten Dingen:
-Kein stummer Hauptcharakter!
-Man läuft wirklich flott.
-Kämpfe kann man vorspulen (wenn auch nicht schnell genug.. aber immerhin)
-Der Soundtrack ist nicht schlecht.
-Das Questboard ist innovativ.
-8 Leute gleichzeitig im Kampf, ohne Nachteil einwechelbar.
Und großer Gott, jetzt kommen wir zu den Negativpunkten:
-Man bleib ständig überall hängen.. das Spiel sieht aus, als wäre es dem RPG-Maker entsprungen und dennoch hakt und eckt man überall an.
-Man wird fürs Kämpfen nicht belohnt. Wenn man den Gegner nicht gerade für eine Quest braucht bringen die Gegner nur SP.
Meine Skills waren aber bereits nach wenigen Stunden voll aufgelevelt... wieso dann noch kämpfen?
Und noch schlimmer: Man wird nach jedem Kampf voll geheilt. Bedeutet: Ist der Kampf nicht auf Messersschneide, ist der Kampf egal. Warum soll ich auf den Bildschirm schauen, anstatt 20x normal anzugreifen, wenn ich weiß, dass ich den Gegner eh schaffe? Das klingt auf dem Papier nett, aber nimm jede Relevanz.
-Waffen upgraden NERVT. Es dauer so lange, dann muss man die Edelsteine einzeln herausnehmen, in die neue Waffe einsetzen (wenn man sie transferieren kann, wurde es sehr gut versteckt) und dann muss man das neue Zeug ausrüsten... Ein Spiel, bei dem man sich NICHT auf bessere Ausrüstung freut.. das hatte ich noch nie.
-Die Dialoge sind richtig schwach. Es wird grundsätzlich nur über Storygetriebene Sachen gesprochen und das auch nur in sehr wenigen Worten. Über die Charaktere erfährt man nichts, nebensächliche nette Dialoge gibt es nicht. 2 Charaktere sind eingesperrt: Zeit für ein 4 Augengespräch? nein.. nach 2 Zeilen ist es wieder vorbei. .. wenn man keine Texte schreiben will.. wieso macht man ein RPG? .. wieso? mach ein Call of Duty, da interessiert es keinen.
-Es ist voll mit Klischees. Endbosse, die nur alle töten wollen, weil sie eine bessere Welt wollen, Leute die einen verraten, aber schon 100 bessere Momente dafür hatten, was absolut keinen Sinn macht.
-Mapabschnitte sind ständig willkürlich blockiert, damit man erst später hinkommt.. (das ist der falsche Weg.. warum? ich bin ne Stunde auf der Map rumgeflogen, aber den Weg darf ich jetzt nicht gehen?)
-Die Story ist nicht schön erzählt. Ständig Vorshadowing auf den nächsten Verrat eines Mitspielers, ständig sieht man die sinnbefreite Planung der Gegenspieler, während die Protagonisten im Dunkeln tappen und damit mehr Spannung erleben als der Spieler.
In einer Massenschlacht werden eigene Einheiten nur deswegen geopfert, weil man zu viel Game of Thrones geschaut hat.
- Wann immer die Gruppe getrennt wird und dann wieder zusammenfindet.. was unnötig oft passiert, ist die Gruppenzusammenstellung durchgewürfelt und man muss sie wieder händisch anpassen..
Wieso wird so ein Spiel so hoch gehypet? Plappert man den ersten Testern stumpf nach oder hat man selbst erst 3 Videospiele gespielt?
Jeder Suikodenteil ist besser als Chanied Echos.