Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

As an aggressively old-school role-playing game, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes suffers in areas like combat, side quest design and balance but makes up for it with the story, extensive cast and strong presentation.

Despite boldly declaring “the JRPG is back” and then doing absolutely nothing new with the genre, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is a decent, traditional JRPG that will tickle anyone who adored the classic PlayStation titles of the late nineties. Its modern affordances in visual design and voice acting bring this nostalgic adventure into the present day, but it is let down by sluggish, repetitive combat and some missed opportunities when it comes to utilising its massive roster of characters. Fans of Suikoden will likely already have this pre-ordered — for everyone else, check this out if you’re looking for a nostalgic romp and don’t mind a few speed bumps along the way.

Old players who have grown up with the first two episodes of the Suikoden franchise and backers of the Kickstarter campaign will be the most pleased by Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Heroes, and old school JRPG through and through. Divisive game design choices aside, what we have here is a solid effort, but also one that looks too much to the past and much less to the future of the genre.

Although Eiyuden Chronicle manages to capture a certain charm of the 90s, it is inconsistent in many areas. Above all, there is a lack of meaningful comfort functions. As a result, the game struggles to keep up with best of today's JRPGs despite a great deal of passion on display.

What could have been the best strength of Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes is its greatest weakness. With the amount of things to do, types of gameplay available, and sheer number of heroes to recruit, the game feels unfocused and inconsistent. Some of what it does, it does very well, but it doesn't quite overcome the negatives. Those who truly love classic JRPGs like myself will find plenty to feast on, but those who don’t should go Nowa near it.

A trip back in time to the golden second half of the 90s. The combat system, the 2D sprites and the main mechanics create an appeal, embellished by the nostalgic effect, but you'll have to deal with some less positive elements.

A successful restatement of everything that was great about the early Suikoden games but many of its old school affectations will only be excused by existing fans.

Adds so many ingredients to the proverbial pot that ultimately you can’t really taste any of them, resulting in a forgettable dish on an already crowded table. [Issue#41, p.88]