Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a modern spin on the classic JRPG experience. In a world with many nations with diverse cultures and ideals a war for power has arisen. You play as Nowa, a young man who has decided to join the Watch. Set out on adventures, helping people, exploring dungeons, and making friends along the way. Be wary though as War looms ever closer as you continue your journey. Will you find the side of victory or will you fall in battle?
When you start the game you walk up to a group of Watch members as Nowa. The captain is a Wolf named Garr, with him are Mio a katana wielding lady, and Lian an energetic fighter. Garr welcomes Nowa to the Watch and informs him of the collaborative mission between the Watch and the Imperial Army, a mission which leads them to the forest to look for a newly discovered Runebarrow. The soldiers of the Imperial Army you meet are Seign Kesling, a young but gifted officer and Hildi, his aide. Along the way Seign explains that the Galdean Empire has discovered a technology that amplifies their rune-lens magic. A rune-lens is an object that allows the wielder to use magic. The search through this Runebarrow is to retrieve a Primal Lens which is a powerful artifact that the Empire desires. Later on when Seign and Nowa are separated from the group they become fast friends and Seign tells Nowa that he is worried a war is going to break out because of these new artifacts. In the end the mission is successful and the two part ways, after that 6 months pass and tensions between nations rise but still Nowa continues his duties at the Watch. As you progress you unlock more story as well as more characters you can have in your party. Mix and match characters and play styles in a way that will bring you victory. The game recommends you to play with a controller but keyboard and mouse works just fine. WASD to move, enter to confirm and interact with things, T to open the main menu, R to open the map, Y to open the system menu, and when in the wild you can move the camera with IJKL. The battles are turn-based; at the top of the round you can choose to Fight, Flee, or enter an Autobattle mode. Your party is shown on the right of the screen and the enemies in the top left, and on the top middle of the screen is the turn order. Characters can use various skills to fight or aid allies. They can use basic attacks, a rune-lens skill which costs some amount of SP or rune-lens magic which costs MP, dodge or defend, or use an item on themselves or another character. Whether a character doges or defends, or uses rune-lens skills or magic depends on the character and their abilities. In battle if a character is about to be knocked down an ally will take the hit for them. If characters become friends in the story they can use Hero Combos which are special moves that do more damage, this is one of the options in the combat menu if the criteria is unlocked. Boss fights have Gimmicks which are special tricks to help you win the fight.
Overall, this is a really rounded out JRPG with good voice acting, and interesting but pleasing graphics. The world is all 3D but the characters are 2D assets, which was hard to get used to but grew on me as I played the game. The story is very interesting, between learning about the world, it’s the races and ideals, as well as seeing the war build up and how that can affect the characters. It really brings an immersion that makes you want to keep playing. The combat is fun but the boss fights can get pretty long especially and having so many slots in your party there is a lot you can do but so many interfaces and attacks you have to remember. The other issue I had with combat is that you can’t see the health of your enemy which makes it hard to calculate what attacks to use or determine how long the fight might last.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a story rich JRPG game that takes place in a fantasy world that is about to erupt in war. The world will be forced into war, friends on opposite sides, ideals and honor that will be challenged, and the fate of the world at stake. The outcome is up to you and your friends. I am giving this game a 9 out of 10 because the only issues I had were with the combat but the worldbuilding and story are very compelling.
Score: 9/10
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes launches for PC via Steam April 23, 2024. You can wishlist the game right now.
Related: Reviews by Brianna Keller
I enjoy a wide variety of games from intricate survival/adventure games to simple platformers. I am also a sucker for a good story game.
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