Chained Echoes is a story-driven JRPG where a group of heroes travel around the vast continent of Valandis to bring an end to the war between its three kingdoms.
In the course of their journey, they will travel through a wide array of diverse landscapes spanning from wind-tanned plateaus and...
Chained Echoes is a story-driven JRPG where a group of heroes travel around the vast continent of Valandis to bring an end to the war between its three kingdoms.
In the course of their journey, they will travel through a wide array of diverse landscapes spanning from wind-tanned plateaus and exotic archipelagos to sunken cities and forgotten dungeons.
Take up your sword, channel your magic or board your Mech. Chained Echoes is a 16-bit SNES style RPG set in a fantasy world where dragons are as common as piloted mechanical suits.
Follow a group of heroes as they explore a land filled to the brim with charming characters, fantastic landscapes and vicious foes.
Can you bring peace to a continent where war has been waged for generations and betrayal lurks around every corner?
Key Features:
30 - 40 hours of play time
Fast paced turn-based battles
No random encounters; enemies can be seen running around
Tons of items to be looted, stolen or crafted
Complex skill and equipment system
Customize your own airship
Travel and fight by foot or in your Mech
16-bit SNES style graphics
Music inspired by PSX RPGs
Popular achievements
Death to my Enemies
Win 50 battles.
common
·
34.34%
Hitchcock was Right
Disturb 60 birds.
common
·
36.73%
Reward Starter
Get a Reward Board chain of over 5.
common
·
33.82%
Praying
Find a Class Emblem.
common
·
41.8%
The Beginning
Finish the prologue.
common
·
62.85%
System requirements
Minimum system requirements:
Recommended system requirements:
Recommended system requirements:
Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
The game's presentation is nice but it really falls flat in combat. Combat is run by the "overdrive bar", where you try to stay in the green and avoid getting "overheated". Unfortunately this ends up eliminating a lot of fight strategy as you just pick the skills that will always leave you in the green as the combat impacts of the bar outweigh everything else you might do.
Combat also feels very RNG dependent. You might have a fight where the enemy opens up with multiple AOE attacks and wipes your party, or they might just spend 4 turns inflicting status effects on you while you clean the floor with them. This also goes for impacting the overdrive bar, as the amount of change from your skills changes turn to turn.
The upgrade and loot system is anemic as well. Most will be +1 attack or +10 health.
Overall very meh, if you're looking for a greatest hits of jrpgs, you probably just want to replay CT/FFVI
Disclaimer: I would give 4,5 stars, it was allowed…
TLDR the game is fun. Fun like old jRPGs from the SNES era. If you have an itch to play something similar to good old FF, Chrono Trigger, etc., then go for it!
The good things:
+ Story — the plot is similar to the jRPGs from the PS/PS2 era (in a good way). The characters are interesting, the lore is mysterious and well crafted. There are some controversial decisions in the second part of the game, but I would rather not spoil the fun. Still, it is a very solid/classical story.
+ Gameplay — the gameplay is simple and addictive. The player always feels an urge to play "just one more hour". In other words — it's an excellent game :D
+ Built-in achievements — the game includes a board of achievements, well integrated into the story. It's a nice addition for "100% players".
The so-so things:
* Bosses — there are many bosses in the game, including numerous optional challenges. Most of them are well-designed (not FF6/Earthbound level, but still cool). The thing is that there is no balance — in the endgame the bosses tend to be easier than normal battles.
* In-game guide — the game is designed to be friendly for casual players, e.g. the map always shows you the place you need to go and all the buildings you can enter. It offers some advantages but takes out some fun from looking around for the secrets.
* Open world — the game is quite open, similar to many jRPG titles. The exploration feels rewarding and interesting, but there are some weird mechanisms trying to spoil the fun. The worst are the invisible walls. So you cannot visit a place because your character says, "you should not go there". There is no explanation why. It's a very lazy approach to limiting the world. Moreover, some places on the map just "appear". It would be nice to know, why some places are in-accessible in a lore-friendly way.
The bad things:
- Equipment is boring. You just have sword lvl1, lvl2, lvl3, and so on. Nothing to choose from. There are no alternatives, no decisions to be made. Boring.
- User interface is annoying. Somehow it is more clunky than what the NES/SNES/PSX titles had to offer. There are too many pages/too many buttons have to be pressed. It is especially annoying in the crystal system, but even in simple buying things in a shop is annoying. So, let's say you want to buy potions:
1) you first have to press a button to select a potion from the shop menu
2) then you have to use arrows to decide how many you would like to buy
3) then you have to press a button to exit the potion sub-menu
4) then you have to exit the shop
5) then you have to decide whether you want to make the transaction
I haven't played a game with such a terrible shopping experience. Therefore, I was avoiding shops in the game.
- Too many systems in-game. This is probably the worst thing. You have:
1) ability system — a flat tiered list of abilities unique per character, a worse equivalent of a skill tree
2) class emblems — like equipment from FF9 teach your characters some abilities
3) crafting system — to upgrade your equipment using some crafting materials
4) deal system — to buy things based on the treasures you have found in-game, probably the least intrusive
5) crystal system — materia (FF7)/rune (Diablo 2) system to improve your equipment
6) sky-armors — separate equipment/separate abilities alternative gameplay. Based only on the found special equipment, i.e., ignoring other systems.
The problem is that every each is half-baked, and they are redundant, e.g. crystals and abilities overlap. The abilities are too abundant and each costs just a single slot. The crystal interface is annoying, so I would even recommend ignoring it ;)
The game would be much better if there were only 1 or 2 but more polished systems. As it is, each of them is worse than its counterpart from other games.
Anyhow, I am waiting for a sequel ;)
90 hour review after clearing everything ingame at max difficulty (three adjustable sliders in the settings) :
Writing: 10/10 (actually perfect)
Combat: 9/10 (much more intricate than expected)
Music: 9/10 (these instruments are recorded acoustics, not electronic!)
Graphics: 8/10 (good for its style but not the best animated pixel art in existence)
Gameplay features:
1. *Two* very good turn-based combat systems that shake up the usual formula. Play at maximum difficulty for the full experience (items and some skills are pointless at lower difficulties). It can be pretty fun to play battles meant for one system with the other...
2. Many decision points have consequences later.
3. Puzzles!
4. A lot of hidden items/chests.
5. Levels are determined by difficult encounters cleared so you cannot grind your way to trivialise things... and you're never required to do so either. Just play properly.
6. An achievement board system that rewards you for clearing it.
QoL features:
1. Save anywhere.
2. Flee any non-boss battle 100% of the time.
3. Full HP/TP restoration every new combat. Overdrive bar is fully restored for boss battles.
4. Warnings before points of no return.
5. Fast walking speed.
6. You will almost always have access to an item merchant so you cannot get stuck.
7. Hidden chests have a counter feature later so you won't miss anything on any permanent map.
8. Both teleport *and* airship travel systems.
9. No random combats.
Brief guide to difficult content:
1. Damage = Offense² ÷ Mitigation × Skill multiplier, where physical attacks use Attack and Defense for Offense and Mitigation respectively, and magical attacks use Magic and Mind respectively.
Always modify offense first before modifying mitigation.
2. The Oil item is compulsory to clear the second boss for the second combat system at max difficulty. Use it.
3. HP Drain is the best crystal.
4. Stats you can see on the summary stack. Other passives don't.
5. Gunspears use Spear Mastery.
I was surprised at how much real wisdom was in this game. The geopolitical events and motivations of every single character was completely believable, and made me feel like I could really learn something about current world events from playing a video game. I liked the way that even the villains in the game were, in their own mind, fighting to make the world a better place. It made me once again re-evaluate my experiences in combat while fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan with a more empathetic view of the people I was fighting. This type of wisdom was not what I was expecting when I started playing, but was a welcome experience for me and could benefit others as well.
Without offering spoilers, the experience this game title offers will grant a great time to those who remember the golden years of the 16bit era and a fun adventure to anyone who want a modern take on what classic gaming was like. The gameplay is solid, the controls smooth and easy to understand, the storyline interesting(if a tad cliche), the graphics very well done and the music beautiful & atmospheric.
If you enjoyed RPG's from the 16bit era, you will enjoy this! Buy with confidence!
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