At the time of writing this I'm about 6 hours into it and honestly the thought of trying to finish it is kind of depressing. Let me explain, back in the PS1 era getting a hold of Suikoden 1 and 2 was extremely difficult. A lot of JRPGs back then had pretty limited runs in Europe and games weren't digital then. It took me a few years to track them both down as I didn't have a lot of money as a teenager but I did manage it and I loved both of them dearly. Fast forward to 2020 with the Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Heroes Kickstarter and seeing a series I loved being revived by some of it's creators in such a stylish way was like a dream come true I threw my weight behind straight away as did a group of my friends. Having it's spin off prequel title land with all the impact of a deflated balloon is depressing not because the game itself is bad (it is) but because of what it potentially represents for Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes itself when it finally comes out.
As for Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising itself, as I said, it's bad. Not bad as in anger inducing, glitchy or unbearable but just bad in the fact it's insanely boring and I'm struggling to find the motivation to finish it at the moment. I am finding myself watching TV or playing other shorter games to avoid playing it. It feels almost like an unwanted chore which is a terrible way to describe a game.
It's sort of a mix of 2D platformer, RPG and Castlevania in one and it's just awful at all three aspects. The combat is incredibly shallow, a few attacks, a dodge and some link attacks with other characters. Each of the three characters is mapped to a different button that jump in when you press it but it's incredibly cumbersome and except the main character CJ they feel awful to use so except for a big damage hit you'll only use her anyway. You can upgrade your armour and abilities in the town normally by completing side quests to unlock more upgrade options but they add a terrible feeling double jump, a charge attack and other stuff you won't really use.
As mentioned the double jump feels bad but then the level design is just awful anyway. Each dungeon is like maybe 12 rooms with nothing interesting, there might be the odd platform or crystal that blocks your way to return to later but it feels so hastily thrown together are so bereft of interesting design choices, it's just completely forgettable or utterly pointless in the crystal's case because there is almost never anything interesting except to make you come back for materials. And come back you will, this games quest system or more specifically the quest design is possibly the worst of any game I've ever played. They are so tedious it blows my mind. "Talk to this character 3 screens over and come back," "go get 4 bits of lumber from the forest" etc. They are bottom of the barrel fetch quests and many of them are actually forced as part of the main game to proceed. It's agonizing. The sad part is the general set up idea is good of adventurers helping develop a struggling town in the middle of nowhere in return for exploring old ruins. This should develop the town unlock new options and enable good character interactions but every single aspect of it is delivered in the most bland way possible.
It does have some positives, the visual design generally is pretty good, I like the graphics and art design of the characters though even trying to write a positive I'm reminded of how bizarrely poor the animation is (Reminds me of the paper figures you make move with pins in school as a kid) and how the 4 enemy designs seem to be endlessly repeated. Still the music is pretty nice I guess?
As a first showing of the series by the team this has been an absolute let down, the biggest complement I can give it is it's at least technically playable but having thought about it, I think I'm just going to drop it. It just isn't fun gameplay wise.
+ Nice art design and music.
+ Great idea for adventurers helping build a town whilst exploring ruins...
-....implemented terribly with soul crushingly boring quests.
- Combat is shallow.
- Level design and platforming feel low effort.
- Enemies just palette swap.
- Animations are a little weird.
As for Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising itself, as I said, it's bad. Not bad as in anger inducing, glitchy or unbearable but just bad in the fact it's insanely boring and I'm struggling to find the motivation to finish it at the moment. I am finding myself watching TV or playing other shorter games to avoid playing it. It feels almost like an unwanted chore which is a terrible way to describe a game.
It's sort of a mix of 2D platformer, RPG and Castlevania in one and it's just awful at all three aspects. The combat is incredibly shallow, a few attacks, a dodge and some link attacks with other characters. Each of the three characters is mapped to a different button that jump in when you press it but it's incredibly cumbersome and except the main character CJ they feel awful to use so except for a big damage hit you'll only use her anyway. You can upgrade your armour and abilities in the town normally by completing side quests to unlock more upgrade options but they add a terrible feeling double jump, a charge attack and other stuff you won't really use.
As mentioned the double jump feels bad but then the level design is just awful anyway. Each dungeon is like maybe 12 rooms with nothing interesting, there might be the odd platform or crystal that blocks your way to return to later but it feels so hastily thrown together are so bereft of interesting design choices, it's just completely forgettable or utterly pointless in the crystal's case because there is almost never anything interesting except to make you come back for materials. And come back you will, this games quest system or more specifically the quest design is possibly the worst of any game I've ever played. They are so tedious it blows my mind. "Talk to this character 3 screens over and come back," "go get 4 bits of lumber from the forest" etc. They are bottom of the barrel fetch quests and many of them are actually forced as part of the main game to proceed. It's agonizing. The sad part is the general set up idea is good of adventurers helping develop a struggling town in the middle of nowhere in return for exploring old ruins. This should develop the town unlock new options and enable good character interactions but every single aspect of it is delivered in the most bland way possible.
It does have some positives, the visual design generally is pretty good, I like the graphics and art design of the characters though even trying to write a positive I'm reminded of how bizarrely poor the animation is (Reminds me of the paper figures you make move with pins in school as a kid) and how the 4 enemy designs seem to be endlessly repeated. Still the music is pretty nice I guess?
As a first showing of the series by the team this has been an absolute let down, the biggest complement I can give it is it's at least technically playable but having thought about it, I think I'm just going to drop it. It just isn't fun gameplay wise.
+ Nice art design and music.
+ Great idea for adventurers helping build a town whilst exploring ruins...
-....implemented terribly with soul crushingly boring quests.
- Combat is shallow.
- Level design and platforming feel low effort.
- Enemies just palette swap.
- Animations are a little weird.
Reviewed on Aug 12, 2022
2 Comments
Yeah I can see how that would be better, though I think I'd still not like it lol. completing all the side quests as I went meant I'd gone to the forest like 15 times on fetch quests and it was driving me insane as my first visit there wasn't interesting to begin with XD
rentheunclean
1 year ago
I had a good time with it, but I definitely agree with all your criticisms. Playing only the mainline quests helped me I think, because the jank of the combat and simple levels didn't have much time to tarnish things.