When a tribute to old games is mixed with the intention to continue the spirit of a series with a good past, the question always arises as to how much the given game succeeds in achieving the two, apparently identical, yet different goals. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes skilfully maneuvers between the two, while providing a great recreation even when abstracted from the sources of inspiration.
We can’t talk about Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes until we say a few words about the Suikoden series, which ran from 1995 to 2012. Political themes, mythical, magical crystals and more than a hundred playable characters were a recurring element of the games. Although a revamped version of the first two parts of the series is expected from Konami this year, the father of Suikoden games, Yoshitaka Murayama, founded his own studio years ago, which has now overtaken the Japanese publisher and not only gained the public’s support for the creation of the spiritual heir, but the game creator despite his death, it was delivered before the remasters.
But Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is not simply a reskinned Suikoden, but also a love letter to the JRPGs of the second half of the 90s. In such cases, of course, judging the game becomes much more difficult, because it must not only be a fun, interesting, and even captivating work in its own right, but it must also live up to the expectations of the fans, viewed through rose-colored glasses. Although the latter is more difficult to estimate, in my opinion, if such an intellectual continuation meets the expectations of the first set of criteria, then we have already done well.
Where you can find the most similarities between the current game and its predecessor is the story. The adventure begins when Nowa, a kind and helpful village kid, joins the local guard, who are recruited that same day for a joint expedition with the officers of the neighboring empire. The search for the magical relic ends successfully, but the prediction of Seign, the imperial officer, comes true, and half a year later the two countries face each other head on. In the gunpowder-filled air, someone calls for fire, when the empire begins to accuse Nowa and his team of atrocities on the border villages. The international situation is escalating and we are already facing a full-scale invasion. The real adventure begins somewhere here, the world opens up more here, base building comes into the picture, and of course we also get the game-wide task of recruiting an army.
The story is as much a political drama as a buddy adventure or a fantasy, and the writers tried to maneuver so that neither gets too much space at the expense of the other two, but still has a basis for the friendship of the main characters as well as the motivations of the opposing parties. I particularly liked the fact that the topos of collective guilt was not applied to the nation treated as an enemy. One or two negative characters are Nazis to such an extent that arm waving was probably left out of the game for commercial reasons. In return, we get several characters who, although they belong to the enemy empire, are particularly virtuous and even lovable, and thus the political situation is even more nuanced, where not only the subjugated people, but also the judgment of one’s own nation fall victim to one man’s ambitions.
The extensive but only tangentially discussed lore, the varied locations, the truly diverse peoples, and the slightly two-dimensional but memorable and ultimately likable characters make the world of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes lovable and make you want to spend as much time exploring it as possible. to fill. The gameplay is also based on this, with our team we can freely explore the region that is currently available according to the story, although we will only find things to explore in the cities and different dungeons. We can collect raw materials, open chests, and run into lots (really lots) of NPCs, most of whom we can recruit. There are those who join us automatically along the main story, but there are also those for whom we either have to complete a mission, or pass a test, or perhaps meet a challenge.
The large number of possible characters also gives the subtitle of the game, the hundred unique characters is indeed a real number, and since we will need a whole army, we will meet all kinds of characters. We can welcome not only warriors, but also the shopkeeper, the guild leader, the countess or even the innkeeper milf elf. None of them are spam characters, either actively or passively, but they will be useful members of our army. The non-combatant characters will be able to shine in a supporting role, for example, the woodcutter girl increases the amount of wood that can be collected, and the innkeeper allows us to change the composition of our team not only in the places designated for this, but also at any save point.
Because in this area, we get an extremely old school game. There is an automatic save when entering the tracks, but you can save manually only in inns and save points, and with the exception of certain missions, you can only change your team in designated places and in inns. It’s also a classic design solution that we don’t get even a footnote about possible side missions, the map doesn’t indicate anything besides the main missions, even some main missions are exhausted in order to increase our army with new members, there you go, you can go explore. Fortunately, since we have to recruit a certain number of new characters to progress, there is little chance of slipping someone. And of course, as usual, outside of cities, you can get into a fight at any time due to the random encounter system. Although we cannot turn this off, there is the option of automatic combat, and we can also pre-set what our characters should do, but we can even try to run away from the fight (or if we have overleveled our team, we can let the enemy run).
Those familiar with the genre should prepare for the game’s old-fashioned solutions. Don’t get me wrong, the mechanics listed above have been well implemented by the creators, but even with that, it will be very tiring after 10-15 hours, when you are fighting step by step while solving a puzzle. The game time is also thrown by the fact that for about half of the story we can only ride on the apostles’ horses, there is no possibility of fast travel, and during the recruitment missions the game only points to the map with a broad gesture saying “here you go!”. Even with these, the game is enjoyable, and I even learned to appreciate these solutions. At the same time, the goal of the game is not to suck the player, we can save before most of the bosses, so even if we fail, we don’t have to start over from the very beginning of the given course. Thanks to the constant random battles and the customizable auto mode, it is extremely easy to overlevel our characters, but the main enemies will still be sweaty.
We have to prepare for these clashes, as they are noticeably more serious than anything else the game throws at us. Battles, which usually consist of several phases, often contain some kind of extra, for example, our heroes can hide behind the debris or use the cannon of a nearby tank. What did not impress me were the sieges and battles. These are boss fights in their own way, but in this case our heroes become commanders and can face the enemy on a square grid battlefield, leading infantry or cavalry troops. It’s a pleasant refreshment compared to the usual combat system, but the outcome of such a battle seemed so contingent on many occasions that I just tried to finish it quickly and return to the other fight.
Battles divided into rounds follow a classic scheme, the twist is that we can only give instructions to our fighters at the beginning of the rounds. Our six characters, located in two rows, follow each other in a given order depending on their initiative and the chosen action, and the opponent also joins this row. The composition and placement of our team is a task in itself, for each character the data sheet indicates whether it is a short, medium or long-range unit, and it is worth organizing the placement accordingly. Some of our heroes are also capable of joint combos, which is why it’s worth experimenting with team composition. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes didn’t invent the hot water in terms of the combat system, but thanks to the tight pace and transparency of the battles, the combat is good fun, even if we have to fight a little too often.
In addition to fighting and exploring, we can pass the time by building and expanding our castle, fishing and cooking. The restoration of the ruin that has become the headquarters is a noticeably important element not only from a narrative point of view, but also from a gameplay point of view, but the effect of the individual developments is not felt so much that even when writing the test, it was only because of my notes that I remembered that yes, there is such a thing. In addition to the raw materials that can be collected on the tracks, we will also need a competent character for some developments, so if we haven’t found the given character yet, we won’t be able to build the shopkeepers’ building, for example. Fishing is also more of a pastime than a hobby that facilitates progress, as is cooking, but this does not reduce the enjoyment value of either activity.
Basically, the game is not too sweaty on medium difficulty, but the combat requires a little care, and we will also need a basic level of preparation before each adventure. It can be felt that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes does not aim to frustrate the player, but if someone has such needs, they can also turn on difficulties such as disabling items during combat, so that even more emphasis is placed on tactics, abilities and clever use of spells.
The music is really captivating, the pleasant, adventurous tunes and the dynamic races played during the fight suit the game extremely well and really enhance the experience. The view, on the other hand, is a tough nut to crack. At first glance, it is extremely pleasant, but the longer we look at it, the more confusing it becomes. The reason for this is that every single element of the environment is a 3D model, whether we look at the cities or the free, open world, everything consists of spatial shapes, even if a little stylized. The humanoid characters, on the other hand, are 2D sprites, and what’s more, they’re not terribly high-resolution, which can be particularly confusing for those close by. It is interesting that the game seems to use a more detailed model for the animations during the fight, but our heroes still stand out from the environment. It’s also confusing because most of the monsters and enemies are also 3D models. I understand why they decided on this implementation, after all, apart from their resolution, the creators clearly did a quality job, and the characters create a particularly nostalgic effect, but this mixed implementation did not come together for me into a unified visual world.
I didn’t even notice when I put tens of hours into the game, and this says a lot not only about the story and the smoothness of the gameplay, but ultimately also about the fact that it does run a lot of unnecessary rounds with the player, even if we don’t notice it right away. Whether we are fans of the genre or want to relive the Suikoden series with a new story, the chronicle of more than a hundred heroes is probably the best thing that 2024 can give us, but beginners should be prepared, this game does not necessarily respect the player’s time , but in return it tells us a memorable story supported by an enjoyable gameplay.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes will be released on April 23, 2024 for PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. We played it on PlayStation 5.
