Necromancing Suikoden: an Eiyuden Chronicle Thread

[Bongo]

If the Switch can run a cross-platform game at 1080p at the full framerate, I get it on Switch for the portability option. But that's not always a sure thing. Probably won't be an issue for Eiyuden.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

Hey if y’all are fine with the Switch’s performance that’s peachy. I probably use my Switch more than my PS5, but it’s usually for games that don’t come out on PS5. I’m personally though getting pretty tired of the archaic load times, and when smaller, more indie games like Story of Seasons have frame rate drops so severe it makes games neigh unplayable.

 

[WildcatJF]

"includes more news on the Hundred Heroes, the world of Allraan, main characters, prestigious voice actors, intense turn-based combat, headquarter expansion, mini-games, and side activities."

 

[JBear]

*squints*
That's a Viki.
(With the numbers filed off, of course.)

 

[Kirin]

It sure is a lot of Suikoden all 'round.

Hmm, I wonder what platform I backed this for, lol.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

Nice to see CJ and the other characters from the side-scrolling beat-em-up from a year or so ago.

 

[Pajaro Pete]

Backer Beta keys are out, apparently, as if there weren't enough games going on atm

 

[WildcatJF]

Yes, I have mine ready to go, but I don't know if I want to pry myself from Unicorn Overlord (plus I have a PS5 disc coming my way, so I'm not sure I want to do progression twice).

 

[YangusKhan]

So, I've played the first couple hours of this game. I have to say, it's setting the bar pretty high for other sequel-with-the-IP-filed-off games. There are a couple aspects of playing it I could gripe about, but they are nit-picks and could easily be addressed by any future patches.

 

[YangusKhan]

Okay I'm really curious how some of these design decisions are gonna stand up to mass-release. The biggest "offenders" to modern game sensibilities are 1) you can only save at save points or an inn (and it only autosaves when you enter the world map), and 2) battle speed leaves something to be desired. #2 is highly egregious considering the PSX Suikoden pedigree on display here.

There's also a lack of UI elements pointing out "people of interest" and that doesn't bother me, but I imagine others would appreciate some map icons indicating at a glance which NPCs can be recruited or whatnot. I'm finding myself quite often comparing this game to the Star Ocean 2 remake. Not in a good or bad way, just in a "these things are in one and not the other" manner.

 

[YangusKhan]

My word, of all the gameplay things that could be in this game, I was super not expecting to see Sprint Shoes.

Anyway I'm 7 hours in and Intrigue is starting to happen with the plot. I'm pretty sure I saw a villain from the prequel game Rising, but I don't remember what he did in that game lol.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

Interesting to see that Eiyuden Chronicles is following in the footsteps of Shenmue III where they're really going hard on being faithful to old school game design. I don't particularly mind, but if you gave me an option I'd rather have a more streamlined, modern experience.

Today is supposed to be the general release date, only I got an email from Amazon saying:

Hello,
There is a delay in shipping your order because of a supply chain issue. We’ll make every effort to get the delayed item to you as soon as possible. If you still want this item, please confirm below. We apologize for the delay.

So uh, guess I'll get it when I get it

 

[Pajaro Pete]

The game completely locks up for me when I open what appears to be the Rune menu so, you know, not a great first impression atm

 

[Pajaro Pete]

Spent some more time with Eiyuden, finally, after having all my free time consumed by Emerald Beyond. Some thots:

• I realize that if I were to go back and replay Suikoden 1 and 2 on their original hardware today it wouldn't work because disc rot and a dead console they'd be a lot slower and feature more loading than I remember, but Eiyuden feels like it has A Lot of load times, more comparable to Suikoden V than Suikoden 1 and 2. Combat also seems to play out awfully slow compared to Suikoden 1, 2, and 5.
• Environments are, perhaps, a bit Too Big. Towns seem to be huge for no real reason. I did just pick up the sprint shoes so maybe it'll make things less annoying.
• I like Nowa, I'm glad he can speak instead of being a silent protagonist, and I think they managed to capture sort of the goofiness Suikoden silent protagonists can have, but with voice acting, if that makes sense.
• I do not care for Fake Nanami, she has all of Nanami's annoying traits with none of the emotional connection that makes Nanami work as a character. Maybe she'll get better as the game goes on, but hopefully she fades into the background.
• Boss battles provide a surprising amount of challenge compared to Suikoden.
• I'm not crazy about how magic works right now. Gone is the Vancian charges of Suikoden and in its place is a more standard MP pool, but spells cost a lot of MP so it feels like it functions roughly the same, except now instead your casts of Level 1 magic are also competing with your casts of Level 3 magic. I've also heard folks say offensive magic is worthless, so that's unfortunate.
• The SP system in combat OTOH is a great way to balance special skill runes so you don't waste a turn being unbalanced after using a skill.
• Fishing is just Animal Crossing fishing.

Maybe this all sounds negative but I'm enjoying it well enough so far.

 

[Kirin]

So it occurs to me I kickstarted this thing on some level that gets me a copy of the game, but haven’t heard anything recently. Should I be poking someone? (I think the backer distribution was through… Yetee maybe?) Or is it a staggered release and maybe my platform isn’t shipped yet? I realize I could probably google all this……