There are few games that I look forward to as much as Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. In my opinion, Suikoden II is the best game ever made, and when it was announced that a group of veteran developers from the series would be making a spiritual sequel, it warmed my heart. It’s like Christmas, especially since Konami seems to have completely forgotten that the series exists.
There is no doubt where the inspiration came from when I first sat down to enjoy the journey. For its part, the journey got off to a bit of a slow start, which has more to do with me personally than the quality of the game. It starts off slow, taking about eight hours before anything interesting actually happens. During this time I started to find little things I didn’t like, mostly because I was always comparing it to Suikoden II. Once I let go of that idea and thought of the game as its own, it became a very enjoyable ride.
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Nova, a young boy from a small village (what else?), has just arrived at The Watch, a small militia-like group. Soon after, he becomes a key figure in trying to save the world, in a very Japanese RPG way. If you’ve played the side game Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, where the characters also appear, then the basis of the conflict in Hundred Heroes won’t be completely unfamiliar. It’s about Rune Lenses, things that give people magical properties. When the League of Nations, a collection of good nations, stumbles upon a very powerful rune called the Primal Lens, The Empire (as all the bad guys are called) sees an opportunity to steal it. Of course, this would lead to war, although both sides recently shook hands on a peace treaty. The war begins with some foul play on the part of the game’s antagonist, Dux Aldric, a clone of Luca Blight from Suikoden II. Unfortunately, one of the few problems I had with Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is that Aldric is nowhere near as evil as I think the developers wanted him to be. While Luca Blight burned down the city, made its residents imitate pig life, and then chopped them up, Aldric did all the horrible things off-screen. He does really, really bad things, but we never see them, which makes it feel like this is supposed to be a big, strong, dangerous madman.
The war is raging and Nova has somehow become the leader of the entire alliance, whose base is now an abandoned fortress. Compare it again to Suikoden II, where you’ll upgrade yourself by recruiting people from miners to cooks to people selling weapons. These are the people the game’s title Hundred Heroes suggests. It’s an insane amount of characters, each with a different personality and recorded dialogue, some are recruited and can be used in combat, while others are recruited to illustrate the city’s development. In addition to the well-written story, finding all the different characters in the world is almost addictive. Unlike the games I’ve been using as a reference, there’s no time pressure on when different characters can meet. Some do show up later, but they’ll stay there until you finish what they want to do before packing up and heading to the fort. They may need anything from bringing them certain materials, defeating them in combat, or having a certain character on your team. There were also some that were difficult to figure out, some of which I still struggle with today.
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Once you’ve chosen your six favorite characters, plus a support that gives you various bonuses, you’re thrust into classic role-playing combat. Of course, there are the usual attacks and defenses, but there are also two different types of magic. One is the aforementioned runes that are either innate or hammered into their weapons or accessories. These are magic attacks that cost varying amounts of SP, and if the character doesn’t use this particular type of attack, the meter fills up one step up to five, allowing you to use better attacks. There are also characters who actually use regular magic as well, so there’s MP, and these attacks come at a cost.
The difference from regular turn-based games is that you must choose all your actions at once before the full round of actions begins. This means you have to be more tactical. The turn order is shown at the top of the screen, so if you need to restore health before the next enemy attacks, you’ll need to cast magic or heal earlier than the enemy. Likewise, if you’re sure everyone will survive, you can also attack directly and then use a slow healer to make everyone feel better after the enemy attacks. I wouldn’t say the game is hard on normal difficulty, at least I’ve never seen the game on screen, but one or more of my characters have died in combat multiple times before, mostly because they usually can’t be in the same turn Multiple hits.
What struck me most while playing Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was the love and material developer Rabbit & Bear Studios put into the game. It all started with a Kickstarter campaign that smashed all of its goals. They chose to record 60,000 lines of dialogue, including all recruitable characters, as well as non-playable characters in various scenarios. There’s a very strong soundtrack and a look that’s perfect for this type of game, as well as some mini-games like Fishing, Card Game, Beyblade (by another name), and Chef’s Duel (a personal favorite). In addition, there are different types of battles, such as large-scale wars where units are moved in a grid pattern on the battlefield, or even duels where the two options are to attack or counterattack. For duels, you have to pay attention to the dialogue as if your opponent is saying, “Now you’re going to die!” You have to protect yourself or your health will drain faster than you can say the name of the game.
This is definitely a game for a niche player, but if you have Game Pass, give it a chance because it’s actually included from day one. For all of us who enjoyed Suikoden, Breath of Fire, Chrono Trigger, and other similar games from the mid-90s, I think you’ll really enjoy this game as a reminder of a bygone era in role-playing history. I doubt any game can rival Suikoden II for me, but with Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes , Rabbit & Bear Studios has made a very good attempt, especially for the studio’s first game. Most tragically, one of those founders, Yoshitaka Murayama, passed away two months ago without seeing his dream of releasing the game come true. I’m sure he’s very proud of this game and he has every right to be. He helped write and produce a fantastic title.
