Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Review

While not as well known as those made by Japanese game creators such as Hironobu Sakaguchi and Yuji Horii, creators of the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series, respectively, the contributions to the JRPG genre made by Yoshitaka Murayama with his Suikoden series cannot be understated. Leaving Konami shortly before the release of the third entry in the series in 2002, Murayama-san seemed to have left JRPG behind for good, only working on The Alliance Alive scenario, but somewhere along the way, his love for the genre must have sparked anew, as his studio Rabbit & Bear Studio revealed Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes in 2020, a classic JRPG that promised to bring back that unique feel the first entries in the Suikoden series have and that no other franchise managed to replicate. Following the most successful Kickstarter campaign of that year, a prequel, and plenty of hard work, the spiritual successor of the Suikoden series is finally here, and it doesn’t disappoint, although some issues here and there prevent it from reaching the same heights of the classic series.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is set in one corner of Allraan, a tapestry of nations with diverse people, cultures, and values. In the corner of this world are the Galdean Empire and the League of Nations, an alliance between different states, which include Grum County, led by Perrielle Grum. This county is protected by its army and the Eltisweiss Watch, a band of volunteer soldiers from all over the League. Among these is Nowa, a young man who has left his backwater village to see more of the world.

At some point during his service in the Eltisweiss Watch, Nowa gets assigned to a mission involving assisting the young imperial officer Seign Kesling for a join operation to investigate the Runebarrows, a mysterious location where a Prime Lens is located, a particularly powerful rune-lens whose power the Empire is looking to harness to bring prosperity to the land. During the mission, Nowa and Seign develop a strong bond, not knowing how the duplicitous actions of the Empire’s Dux Aldric will cause a war between the two nations that will change the land forever. Playing an important role in the events of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is also Marisa, a young Guardian of the forest who happens to be an acquaintance of someone very close to Nowa. Together, the three heroes and more than a hundred other characters will come to realize how there’s a lot hiding behind this war besides the ambitions of a single individual.

Having played through Suikoden II so many times, it was impossible for me not to notice how the second entry in the Konami series served as some sort of blueprint for the story of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, as the war between the League and the Empire and its setup are not that different from the war between the City-States of Jowston and the Highland Kingdom. The same can be said for characters. Nowa, for example, looks a lot like Riou, although being a voiced protagonist markedly sets him apart from his inspiration; Seign, on the other hand, has similar looks and a similar backstory to Jowy Atreides, although his role in the story is a little different. Other story characters echo other Suikoden II characters as well, such as Lian, who feels a lot like Nanami, Garr, who somewhat brings Viktor to mind, and the aforementioned Dux Aldric, whose design and general behavior are very reminiscent of who I consider one of the most well-realized villains in JRPGs ever, Luca Blight. Other aspects of the Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes world are clearly inspired by the Suikoden series as well, such as the aforementioned rune lenses that grant special powers to their bearers and the Primal Lenses, which, much like the 27 True Runes, seemingly chose their bearers themselves. The story’s tone is also pretty much in line with that of the first couple of entries in the Konami series, alternating between a lighter, humorous tone and a more serious one that better suits some of the story’s darkest moments.

At the beginning of the game, it is undeniable how these similarities seem to dominate the adventure, making it difficult to shake off a feeling of seen-that-done-that already, also due to the slow pace, but thankfully, things start coming into their own a few hours into the adventure, mostly thanks to the excellent characterization of the main cast. With over one hundred characters to recruit, most don’t get much screentime past their recruiting sequences, but those central to the story get plenty of time to shine. A Suikoden III-inspired Trinity Sight System would have worked wonders with three main heroes to develop more characters without bloating the main story, but sadly, nothing like this exists in the game, besides a few instances where the point-of-view shifts to Seign and Marisa. At the end of the day, Suikoden fans won’t be surprised by some of the story twists, but how they are presented and developed makes for a compelling adventure that most JRPG fans will like, even with its similarities with other games directed by Yoshitaka Murayama.

While the Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes’ story can stand on its own even with its similarities with the Suikoden II scenario, the gameplay is essentially what one would expect from a classic entry in the Konami series almost to a T, although some issues do make it a somewhat inferior iteration of that formula, mostly due to some balancing issues and some elements that seem to have been added in just because they were in the Suikoden series.

Despite a change of perspective, going from a top-down one to a more dynamic one featuring gorgeous 2D sprites and 3D environments, traversal in Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes plays essentially the same as in the first two Suikoden games. Controlling the main heroes depending on the scenario requirements, players explore a variety of locations ranging from small villages and towns to caverns, forests, and enemy strongholds, completing some simple puzzles, which often involve moving objects, collecting keys, or interacting with contraptions, opening up treasure chests and fighting enemies. Locations and puzzles are pretty varied, despite their overall simplicity, and they manage to keep the experience fresh for its duration of around 30 hours or so. The switch to 3D wasn’t, however, entirely painless, as some elements of the background limit visibility, making it hard to see the controlled character.

Unlike many modern JRPGs inspired by classic games, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes features pure random encounters, so there’s no way to avoid combat other than selecting the flee command at the start of a battle, although the command may fail in true Suikoden fashion. Not that you may want to flee from battles because you have fought too many in a short span of time. The contrary, actually, as the encounter rate in Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is extremely low, and it could take up to several minutes between one battle and the next, which feels a little weird at the start of the adventure. This, however, is caused by a bug in the PC version while playing on a high refresh rate monitor that will be fixed in the future.

Much like traversal, battles in Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes play out pretty much like they did in most Suikoden games. Controlling a party of up to six combat characters, divided into two different lines and a supporting character, players use a menu system to unleash regular weapon attacks, Rune abilities, use items, employ defensive maneuvers or Hero Combos, combination attacks performed by multiple characters. The actions play out in the order detailed in the upper part of the screen, so it is possible to issue commands to prevent an enemy from even having the chance to act, for example. Speeding up the pace of battles against mobs is an Auto battle option, which can be fully customized with some character-specific and general strategies, such as not spending SP, which regenerates each turn, or MP past a certain threshold or at all, and so on. Sadly, even with Auto Battle, the game’s combat system is not as snappy as it was in the first two Suikoden games, as characters, for example, do not attack multiple enemies together with the same speed as in the classic games. Thankfully, this isn’t much of a problem, as the character sprites and enemy models look gorgeous, and the smooth animations are a joy to look at.

What actually impacts battles negatively in Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes are some balance issues. While it was kind of expected with over one hundred characters, some are decisively better than most of the others and can dish out a lot of damage with little effort. One of the characters that can be recruited early in the game, Yusuke, is so much better than most of the cast thanks to its charging defensive action that increases the power of his next attack and its special rune attack that ignores armor that there’s no reason to switch him out for other characters, especially mages, who require MP and higher rarity elemental runes to deal decent damage. Given how even the most basic of spells consume a lot of MP, and how rare are MP restorative items, magic users are generally not a good choice in most scenarios in the game’s current state.

While this isn’t a problem for battles against mobs for the most part, although there are times when even regular enemies can prove challenging with the wrong party members, quickly dealing as much damage as possible is extremely important in boss battles. Most bosses have huge HP pools and devastating multi-target attacks, which can quickly make short work of your characters, so taking them down quickly is extremely important. Some boss battles feature special mechanics called gimmicks that can make a battle even more annoying, such as one near the start of the game where you have to guess randomly, so you will want to bring your very best characters at all times. This also seems to be a conscious design decision, as suggested by a party composition mechanic that allows the player to bring along mandatory characters as attendants who do not participate in battle.

Balance issues are evident even outside boss battles in Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. Some mob configurations, for example, are extremely unfair, and if you have an underleved character with you, or some that are not as good as others, you will have a rather hard time. Mechanics meant to help the player, such as Rune customization and Hero Combos, are not very helpful, more often than not. Rune slots, which allow players to attach runes to characters to unlock elemental magic, special attacks, stat improvements, and passive skills, are unlocked upon reaching certain levels, but some characters have more slots than others, which feels like a forced way to limit their potential. In addition, most rune slots are either occupied by an innate ability or can only fit a specific rune type, heavily limiting customization. To be honest, after recruiting a few strong characters, the game becomes much easier, maybe a little too much in some instances, so the balance issues change completely, but still remain somewhat of an issue.

Hero Combos, on the other hand, are just plain bad, a flashy way to waste the turn of multiple characters, as their damage is way too low compared to that that could be dished out by the characters involved in the combo individually. Hero Combos seem to have been added to Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes only because Unite Attacks were in Suikoden and had to be here for nostalgia’s sake. The same goes for tactical battles, which were a pivotal moment in the classic series. Here, however, they’re way too slow and uninvolving to feel as epic as they should have been. Most of them can be easily completed by just attacking enemy units and using buffing commands as needed without having to come up with complex strategies. Thankfully, another legacy mechanic, the one-on-one duels, fare much better, thanks to the great animation work, cinematic staging, and the rock-paper-scissors system that was left essentially untouched from the Suikoden days.

One defining feature of the Suikoden series that was decisively improved in Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is base-building. After Nowa and the remnants of the Eltisweiss Watch find their new base, it is possible to expand its facilities using a dedicated development tree. Each node can be unlocked by spending resources and funds and, in some cases, recruiting a specific character to run a certain facility. The available facilities range from all manners of shops to a diviner that can provide information on recruited characters and the locations of unrecruited characters to make their search easier, an achievement shop with a play log, and so on. While not overly complex or involving, these mechanics provide players with goals to achieve and a decent diversion from the main story. A selection of mini-games also provides plenty of diversion from the main story, but some are definitely better realized than others and way more engaging.

Character recruiting in Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes also aligns with the Suikoden series. Most optional characters require the completion of a simple side-quest, which often involves finding specific items or talking with them with a specific character in the party or after reaching a certain level. As mentioned above, any optional character doesn’t get much development past its recruiting sequence, although they do have some generic lines during story events that make them feel at least a little involved in Nowa’s struggles. Thankfully, no character is missable, with the exception of one, so it is pretty easy to recruit all of them, even in the first playthrough.

Employing a mix of big, detailed, and beautifully animated 2D sprites and nice looking 3D locations, it is undeniable that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes manages to strike an excellent balance between a classic feel and a modern look, despite some small visual glitches here and there. The undemanding visuals allow the game to run great on a vast range of systems, and the powerful PC used for the test (i7-13700F, RTX 4080, 32 GB RAM) had no trouble running the game at 4K resolution, smooth 120 FPS. The PC version, unfortunately, is extremely barebones in terms of options, featuring only basic resolution options (720p,1080p,1440p, and 4K), no upscalers support, 30 or 60 FPS lock, which are actually half-rate and full-rate V-sync options and not real caps, as the two locks target half and the maximum refresh rate of your monitor respectively, depth of field and shadow rendering quality. There are also no control rebinding options, but at least the game features the proper prompts for mouse and keyboard controls for those who want to experience the game without a controller.

The soundtrack, however, doesn’t deliver in the same way the visuals do. While there are some standout pieces, like the main theme and the combat themes, some sound a little generic, though they do fit the Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes world somewhat well. English voice acting is generally good, alternating between solid voicework for main characters and passable for side, optional characters.

There’s no denying that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes has its fair share of issues that impact the experience on some level, and its classic formula that does away with the quality of life improvements the genre has seen in the past decade or so may turn off those who haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing the Suikoden series back in the late 90s and early 2000s. Still, it is impossible not to feel the love poured into many of the game’s elements, such as the scenario and characters, which exude that amazing feel lost since 2002. Murayama-san is sadly gone, but his legacy lives on in one of the best games he helped create, hopefully spawning a franchise that will continue to honor it.

PC version tested. Review code provided by the publisher.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes

While its premise, story beats and main characters echo Suikoden II a little bit too much, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes manages to stand on its own with a compelling tale, excellent characterization, classic JRPG gameplay and great presentation, which make it easy to look past some of its shortcomings, such as balancing and minor gameplay issues. The world of Allraan may never get into the spotlight again due to the unfortunate departure of its creator, but it is undeniable that it couldn’t have been introduced to JRPG fans in a better way.