Every time you boot up Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, you’re met with a dedication that reads: “With our appreciation to all JRPG fans”, which we take as a declaration of intent.
Hundred Heroes is a triumphant return to the golden age of esoteric PS1 JRPGs; equipped with a few modern conveniences but designed for an old-school mindset.
From the mind that gave us the Suikoden series, the late Yoshitaka Muriyama, Eiyuden Chronicle is a Kickstarter success story, and the wait has been long for those invested since the onset.
Developed at Rabbit & Bear Studios (founded in 2020) and published by 505 Games, it adheres strictly to precepts established in Suikoden and Suikoden II specifically, the titles Muriyama directed.
They each have their parts to play, along with successive tiers of supporting characters — although it’s true that not all are created equal.
Some will have significant parts to play in the story; others will be battlefield-focused warriors, wizards, or tacticians.
Various resources will be required to upgrade the castle, as will the specific character needed to operate that addition.
This is where the pace of Hundred Heroes really bogs down: in the upkeep of characters.
The dedication that appears every time you launch Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes says, “With our appreciation to all JRPG fans,” which we interpret as a statement of intent. Though it has some modern conveniences, Hundred Heroes is a triumphant throwback to the heyday of esoteric PS1 JRPGs, with an old-school feel. The game captures the suspense of a political thriller and war epic flawlessly, with a visually striking cast of voiced characters to collect. However, the slow play speed and occasionally confusing direction can get annoying.
The late Yoshitaka Muriyama, the man behind the Suikoden series, is the creator of Eiyuden Chronicle, a Kickstarter success story, though those who invested early had a long wait. Created at 2020-founded Rabbit and Bear Studios and distributed by 505 Games, it follows the rules set forth in Muriyama’s Suikoden and Suikoden II in particular. However, building upon that solid base, the developer has created an extraordinarily assured debut work that fulfills the project’s concept and provides what a specific audience niche has been longing for.
The story, which takes place in the wildly varied world of Allraan, highlights the long-simmering tensions between different peoples when its mysterious Rune-Lenses are discovered. The world will end when the Galdean Empire, working with the League of Nations and under false pretenses of peace, launches a joint expedition into the mysterious Runebarrows, the ruins of a vanished civilization.
The main character of Hundred Heroes is Nowa, a young man from a frontier village who embodies the classic heroic archetype. However, there are numerous chances for the game’s large cast to take center stage. A mysterious Guardian of the Runebarrows named Marisa and Seign, the second-born scion of House Kesling and a bright graduate of Galdea’s military academy, are two more important characters. Though it’s true that not all of them are made equal, they all have roles to play in addition to progressively higher tiers of supporting characters.
Simply put, Hundred Heroes has an amazing appearance. In addition to the exceptional portraits of each of the more than 100 recruitable party members, the lavish 2D-pixel character animations bring life to interactions both inside and outside of battle. The answer is obvious in the title, but Hundred Heroes does a fantastic job of giving each of its numerous characters a distinct voice and gimmick, if not outright giving them life. The large cast of characters that you meet throughout this expansive adventure genuinely steals the show. Certain characters will hold pivotal roles in the narrative, while others will specialize as fighters, sorcerers, or strategists on the battlefield. Many of them exist to fill the upgradeable castle where you keep them all, while the majority are human (our favorite is an adorable Australian kangaroo-man).
It takes place during a playthrough, and building this castle is incredibly satisfying. Players get to name it, give it different purposes, and receive rewards accordingly. Hundred Heroes is more than just a marketplace; it features a surprisingly complex regional trade system that makes it possible to make a lot of money by purchasing resources in one location and selling them in another. Upgrading the castle will take a variety of materials and a certain character to run that addition. Everyone pitches in to support the war effort, and it’s oddly comforting to watch Nowa’s adoptive aunt Martha cheerfully working to provide food for everyone.
Resource management will be crucial, and you should prepare to stray occasionally, but newer (relatively speaking) features like a limited autosave and occasionally providing you with a map marker to follow prevent this from being a true throwback. We had to spend several hours running from town to town and talking to everyone we could in order to figure out exactly what the game was asking of us during one of the game’s early sections, which merely tasks you with finding allies.
Another illustration would be that dungeons are meant to be extremely taxing — they’re more about endurance than strength — and may become frustrating for players who aren’t used to the faster paced gameplay. Carrying more medicine means carrying less loot overall because there is a limit on the amount of items one can bring. Consistently casting magic costs a lot of MP, and lodging at inns to replenish it is very costly. It takes a surprising amount of time to be able to teleport, but it is possible. The difficulty level was consistently high, requiring some proper grinding, even on normal difficulty (there is a hard option).
Just like with Suikoden, individual fights and army vs army encounters take place at particular story points. Even though they don’t have much technical depth, both duels and these epic battles are a great addition. Regard them as recurrent minigames that provide a significant distraction from your current task, along with some light fishing and the Bayblade-esque fighting top game Beigoma.
With six active characters in your party and a high random encounter rate, combat is essentially automated. However, you can enter each action manually if you’d like—and in some cases, it will be necessary. Fortunately, you can control each character’s behavior at a remarkably fine level. Fans of Final Fantasy XII will love the streamlined Gambit system, which lets you set up to four Priority Actions for each member of your party. These actions can have specific limitations, like healing characters with less than 50% HP or focusing on the enemy with the least amount of armor.
The character maintenance in Hundred Heroes is where the game truly drags. It’s one thing to outfit them with armor and accessories and make sure each special weapon is suitably upgraded. You will then need to determine which runes to equip them with based on their respective abilities and positions as well as their individual skills. We found ourselves frequently playing the same characters in a pinch, which didn’t seem to fit with the theme and occasionally gave us the impression that we were playing “wrong.” Auto-equip obviously helps, but it’s hardly ideal.
