Trogdor1123
Member
Started it last night. Usually I hate the new “mechanics” that are added to these games to be different but not this one. It’s pretty fun. About an hour in, just met the thief.
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Chained Echoes - Chrono Trigger like 16bit JRPG releases Dec. 8th for PC, PS4/5, Switch and Xbox (Gamepass). Please Be Good....
- Thread starter Dynasty8
- Start date
German Hops
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
Given all of the positive feedback, it looks like Chained Echoes will go down as a classic.
Fbh
Member
I remember being a bit underwhelmed by the demo, but that was I think 2 years ago.
The impressions around here have me looking forward to picking it up once I finish the stuff I'm playing now.
How does the Switch version look/perform? Does it at least look around 1080p when docked?.
I think I'd enjoy having a portable option for this, but it's getting increasingly harder to not be bothered by sub 900p resolutions in docked mode.
The impressions around here have me looking forward to picking it up once I finish the stuff I'm playing now.
How does the Switch version look/perform? Does it at least look around 1080p when docked?.
I think I'd enjoy having a portable option for this, but it's getting increasingly harder to not be bothered by sub 900p resolutions in docked mode.
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adamsapple
Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Fart Knight
Al Pachinko, Konami President
ClanOfNone
Member
Yeah, this game is good, really good. If you're sitting on the fence on this, take the plunge. It's gonna be a cult classic for sure.
It's good enough that I'm willing to endure the shame of being a 46 year old man playing a Switch in public while I wait for my car to be fixed.
That kinda good.
It's good enough that I'm willing to endure the shame of being a 46 year old man playing a Switch in public while I wait for my car to be fixed.
That kinda good.
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64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
funny how all of the worry and anxiety about this game being good turned out to be nothing really LOL
id play but persona and Crosscode have me occupied on the RPG front atm
id play but persona and Crosscode have me occupied on the RPG front atm
daveonezero
Banned
good to hear. I was looking for something in this vein and a few days ago started playing Fantasias on an iPad.
Surprisingly really good. This looks perfect for the switch though.
Surprisingly really good. This looks perfect for the switch though.
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Fuz
Banned
Few random thought having played more.
The game is fantastic, I'm loving it
BUT
- I BLOODY HATE the crystal system. Especially how using them degrades them permanently.
- I BLOODY HATE the forced progression. Not good. Not fun. Let me farm and overwhelm bosses if I want.
- The overdrive system is pointless, it's an annoyance and the game would be better without. But apparently the dev really wanted to have some special combat feature just for show, I guess.
- Exploration is a bit formulaic, with the hidden chests etc. Kind of "meh" for me.
Dunno why some of you guys don't like the art style, I think it's fantastic. Maybe the portraits could be a little better (some look a bit awkward, especially their perspective) and some more attack animations would have been nice, but I think it's overall very good. Honestly, to me it looks way better than Octopath, which was overdone, too busy and tiring.
The game is fantastic, I'm loving it
BUT
- I BLOODY HATE the crystal system. Especially how using them degrades them permanently.
- I BLOODY HATE the forced progression. Not good. Not fun. Let me farm and overwhelm bosses if I want.
- The overdrive system is pointless, it's an annoyance and the game would be better without. But apparently the dev really wanted to have some special combat feature just for show, I guess.
- Exploration is a bit formulaic, with the hidden chests etc. Kind of "meh" for me.
Dunno why some of you guys don't like the art style, I think it's fantastic. Maybe the portraits could be a little better (some look a bit awkward, especially their perspective) and some more attack animations would have been nice, but I think it's overall very good. Honestly, to me it looks way better than Octopath, which was overdone, too busy and tiring.
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DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
Anyway I am enjoying it so far. The characters and writing are very strong.
My biggest question: why is there a manhole right in the center of a church? Must smell like shit in there all the time.
My biggest question: why is there a manhole right in the center of a church? Must smell like shit in there all the time.
Yeah that's an understatement. Not a big deal or anything but the portraits are pretty shit (particularly the main characters which is funny).
Otherwise i would not say it's better visually than Octopath, but it does the job. Ultimately i came to the conclusion that what matter is how everything blend together. Octopath is beautiful but the structure ultimately made it feel soulless. In Chained Echoes i enjoy discovering a new environment, it always adds something to the background and the atmosphere works everytime.
Fuz
Banned
I think they're good, actually. They just have a weird perspective sometimes (like how Kylian goatee lines up wrongly with his face) and weird beards, but they're pretty nice overall. The dev was obviously going for a FFT style, but he's not a full-fledged artist.
Shifty1897
Member
POV: You want to buy this but you're knee-deep in Tactics Ogre Reborn's endgame and the Valkyrie Profile game you never got a chance to play comes out next week.
Nautilus
Banned
Agree with everything except the overdrive system. The system is good, not excellent, but good. I do think it adds to the game.
My major gripe so far is the progression, that is very lite so far. There really isn' a way to upgrade your characters when the game doesn't want to, so you lose that feeling of getting powerful and that you are actually "gaming" the system and evolving at your own efforts.
But otherwise, great game. It should be easy to fix the progression in a sequel anyway. If we get that some day.
CosmicComet
Member
I don't like this art style at all.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
I might pick this up on GOG later on. My time's filled with retro games (mainly Shining Force III) and HFW & GOWR (looking to hop into it over the weekend) for now. But the reviews seem good, and I definitely respect that the creator dedicated 7+ years to bringing their vision to life. That's serious dedication and seems to show in the end creation.
Fuz
Banned
I'm just at the poison fields and getting kinda fatigued.
It's only one creator. His vision.
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Captain Toad
Banned
daveonezero
Banned
How is the combat? Challenging/interesting or is it just attack and you can win?
Do status effect matter? Strength vs weakness?
And when you all talk about progression is that like equipment and characters?
Do status effect matter? Strength vs weakness?
And when you all talk about progression is that like equipment and characters?
Fuz
Banned
It's pretty good, interesting without being too convoluted, I quite like it.
Yes.
No. You basically only level up with story progression. Forget farming to get stronger and tackle bosses easily.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
Fuz
Banned
Well, stop then.
Bboy AJ
My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
I’d say that the crystal system sucks, too. It’s a permanent decision which is baffling for weapons and armor that you ditch for a new set. Too convoluted to understand quickly and the inability to trial and error make you just avoid it entirely.
Nautilus
Banned
Yeah. I hate these systems, but that's not exclusive to this game. I don't understand why it needs to be attached to weapons and armors, and not to the character itself, and just make the numbers of slots upgradable through lvling or given/found in the game.
RDaneelOlivaw
Member
Been playing this on the Deck and ... it's absolutely amazing. Absolutely loving it! Don't even really understand the crystal system, but just ignoring that and exploring the world right now.
bigedole
Member
I got the sky armor recently and spent a while just exploring with it. Probably a good 5 hours before I was finally ready to continue the story line. This game did a great job letting exploration feel fun despite it's 16bit roots. I think the lack of random battles + enemies don't respawn until you leave the area entirely help a lot in that regard. So it doesn't feel punishing to take your time looking around.
Torrent of Pork
Banned
That's unfortunate, gratuitous language can be entertaining in a certain way (High on Life), but it takes skill to not come off as try-hard.
I've come to the point in my life where constantly dropping F-bombs and sexual language doesn't make something 'mature', quite the opposite.
Fuz
Banned
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY overexxagerated. The writing is good.
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Torrent of Pork
Banned
I take your meaning. My point on High on Life is that while incredibly childish, it's also funny to me. I'm just reminded of that old Beyond Good and Evil 2 CG trailer where Paige was just dropping constant F-bombs, and how it frankly made the trailer significantly worse in my eyes. Like bro, edgy language is not why I enjoyed the first BG&E.
Played 45 hours, did almost every secret (i've beaten the secret ultimate boss). I doubt it will stick with me for very long, but it was very enjoyable.
I think at the beginning of the second act i was so impressed with the game i started to have too much expectations. I would not say the story and progression fall flat or anything, but it does not reach another high ground after 15 hours. It's just more of the same and once some implications are resolved i wanted to finish it quickly.
Although i have to say, even some secrets i found after finishing the main story were really good. Really a solid game overall.
I think at the beginning of the second act i was so impressed with the game i started to have too much expectations. I would not say the story and progression fall flat or anything, but it does not reach another high ground after 15 hours. It's just more of the same and once some implications are resolved i wanted to finish it quickly.
Although i have to say, even some secrets i found after finishing the main story were really good. Really a solid game overall.
Bboy AJ
My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
I am getting that sense, too. I am loving the game and playing through it. A ton of fun and I am happy to set aside time to play it. That said, I'm not sure that it will stick with me. Then again, that is an exceptionally high bar that most games do not meet.
It's nice how the game has opened up after getting the sky armor.
Fuz
Banned
Completed it. 90 hours. How the hell some of you guys completed it in 40? Did you just burn through the main quest ignoring everything else?
This is a FANTASTIC old school JRPG. It does a lot excellently. Especially on functionalities - you wish you had all those little QoL in your old JRPGs.
It's excellent in pretty much every regard, art style, music, writing, cast... really impressive.
It's not perfect and I stand by my first critique (overdrive is annoying, crystal system is just plain BAD, forced progression is a huge letdown) and I might add, the JRPG trope of giving you the ultimate weapons right at the end (or actually even after in this case, if you don't leave the last dungeon just before the end boss and go look for them) is fucking stupid and I hate it with a burning passion. Let me enjoy them a little goddammit.
I also didn't like that you need to level up the skills. Most of my unlocked skill were never used becase I didn't had the chance, since I was leveling others. the game is just not big enough to give you enough space to level them comfortably AND to farm crystals. It's just pointless. Which is a shame, because the skill system is pretty cool, varied and you can do quite a lot of interesting things with it.
Ah, you can't skip the end credits - included the fucking endless list of backers. You can only alt+f4 but doing so you can't save the "after game" (where you can go and finish things you missed). Seriously devs? This is so fucking disrespectful of players' time.
Anyway, all in all a truly excellent game, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes (or liked) JRPGs.
P.S.
Fuck the zones without a map.
This is a FANTASTIC old school JRPG. It does a lot excellently. Especially on functionalities - you wish you had all those little QoL in your old JRPGs.
It's excellent in pretty much every regard, art style, music, writing, cast... really impressive.
It's not perfect and I stand by my first critique (overdrive is annoying, crystal system is just plain BAD, forced progression is a huge letdown) and I might add, the JRPG trope of giving you the ultimate weapons right at the end (or actually even after in this case, if you don't leave the last dungeon just before the end boss and go look for them) is fucking stupid and I hate it with a burning passion. Let me enjoy them a little goddammit.
I also didn't like that you need to level up the skills. Most of my unlocked skill were never used becase I didn't had the chance, since I was leveling others. the game is just not big enough to give you enough space to level them comfortably AND to farm crystals. It's just pointless. Which is a shame, because the skill system is pretty cool, varied and you can do quite a lot of interesting things with it.
Ah, you can't skip the end credits - included the fucking endless list of backers. You can only alt+f4 but doing so you can't save the "after game" (where you can go and finish things you missed). Seriously devs? This is so fucking disrespectful of players' time.
Anyway, all in all a truly excellent game, I'd recommend it to anyone who likes (or liked) JRPGs.
P.S.
Fuck the zones without a map.
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jshackles
Gentlemen, we can rebuild it. We have the capability to make the world's first enhanced store. Steam will be that store. Better than it was before.
I'm having a hard time waiting for the physical release of this game - everything about it seems pretty damn good. Having a hard time not pressing that install button on the Game Pass app - just not sure if I'm ready for another 40+ hour JRPG just yet...
begotten
Member
I'm enjoying the game so far. Fun combat with some refreshing mechanics, party management is nice and I like the artstyle - some cool boss designs and move animations.
My big complaint is the writing. I can't take it seriously with the absolutely terrible naming conventions of the world and it's characters. It's almost laughable how the writer clearly just thought of the first thing that came to his head for everything. Character arcs feel generic if not blatantly ripped off.
My big complaint is the writing. I can't take it seriously with the absolutely terrible naming conventions of the world and it's characters. It's almost laughable how the writer clearly just thought of the first thing that came to his head for everything. Character arcs feel generic if not blatantly ripped off.
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Bboy AJ
My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Fuz
Banned
I took my time and I've done a number of optional objectives, but not 100% it.
Boots_the_God
Member
OR just make what you want like they did here lol. It’s not like they can’t try again if this doesn’t work out. I’m all for passion projects.
begotten
Member
I finished the game and felt better about it by the end compared to when I first posted above (During Act 2).
It is a great celebration of old school JRPGs but I really wish the writing was better, although there were some great character arcs within an otherwise generic over-arching plot.
The combat was really great and playing on Hard I loved how every encounter felt like you were on the edge. Synergizing 8 party members within the rhythm of managing the Overdrive bar felt awesome and it's satisfying when you overcome a challenge.
But this is where a con comes in for me - when you're ripped out of that battle system and forced into the battle system involving Sky Armours. It was a good try but these fights were just repetitive, boring and even more RNG.
I also appreciate the side content in the game and how some of the triggers worked into discovering and unlocking new things, some cool game design.
Music in this game I felt was pretty forgettable too. I wasn't going to YouTube or Spotify to listen to something like with other games, and that is a big miss for me as soundtracks are important in JRPGs.
Love the Pixel Art also for the Character models.(bosses / unique monsters in particular) Character portraits and just how some of the areas were presented were great (Shambala/Marylea/The Dreams)
Despite it having some glaring cons, I still think it's one of the best turn based games I've played in a long time, definitely among the best not developed in Japan.
It is a great celebration of old school JRPGs but I really wish the writing was better, although there were some great character arcs within an otherwise generic over-arching plot.
The combat was really great and playing on Hard I loved how every encounter felt like you were on the edge. Synergizing 8 party members within the rhythm of managing the Overdrive bar felt awesome and it's satisfying when you overcome a challenge.
But this is where a con comes in for me - when you're ripped out of that battle system and forced into the battle system involving Sky Armours. It was a good try but these fights were just repetitive, boring and even more RNG.
I also appreciate the side content in the game and how some of the triggers worked into discovering and unlocking new things, some cool game design.
Music in this game I felt was pretty forgettable too. I wasn't going to YouTube or Spotify to listen to something like with other games, and that is a big miss for me as soundtracks are important in JRPGs.
Love the Pixel Art also for the Character models.(bosses / unique monsters in particular) Character portraits and just how some of the areas were presented were great (Shambala/Marylea/The Dreams)
Despite it having some glaring cons, I still think it's one of the best turn based games I've played in a long time, definitely among the best not developed in Japan.
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NeoIkaruGAF
Gold Member
I really don’t understand the balancing in this game.
I’ve restarted it after 7 hours because the mobs in and after that dungeon you visit after the first city, remorselessly trash my party with very little effort. The bosses are much, much easier, as long as I constantly apply and refresh debuffs and status ailments, but those ghosts and those mountain rhynos? They mop the floor with my party in a few turns. Putting the light elemental attack crystals at the END of the dungeon with the ghosts was a top-tier dick move.
So I restarted the game choosing different skills and upgrading weapons and armors. A bit better (I could beat the vegetable boss at least, which absolutely trashed me in my previous save), but I don’t think it’ll make those parts a breeze this time.
People left and right tell me they never used crystals or weapon upgrades, or even items, in their Normal playthrough and I feel like I’m missing something very basic here. My problem is simply that my characters die so quickly and easily, and yes, they all have the latest available equip at all times. I beat all story bosses first time until the point where I had to restart, but the mobs shred me to pieces.
The crystal system had potential, but the way crystals get degraded after forging them or linking them to equip is just dumb.
I’ve restarted it after 7 hours because the mobs in and after that dungeon you visit after the first city, remorselessly trash my party with very little effort. The bosses are much, much easier, as long as I constantly apply and refresh debuffs and status ailments, but those ghosts and those mountain rhynos? They mop the floor with my party in a few turns. Putting the light elemental attack crystals at the END of the dungeon with the ghosts was a top-tier dick move.
So I restarted the game choosing different skills and upgrading weapons and armors. A bit better (I could beat the vegetable boss at least, which absolutely trashed me in my previous save), but I don’t think it’ll make those parts a breeze this time.
People left and right tell me they never used crystals or weapon upgrades, or even items, in their Normal playthrough and I feel like I’m missing something very basic here. My problem is simply that my characters die so quickly and easily, and yes, they all have the latest available equip at all times. I beat all story bosses first time until the point where I had to restart, but the mobs shred me to pieces.
The crystal system had potential, but the way crystals get degraded after forging them or linking them to equip is just dumb.
Arachnid
Member
I'm pretty far in, but insure how much I've got left. One of the best 16 bit JRPGs I've ever played. It's up there with FF6 and Chrono Trigger IMO
Hard mode? Holy shit, normal is kicking my ass with just standard mobs. Hardest JRPG I've ever played. I must be doing something wrong. Any tips on combat?
begotten
Member
Where are you upto? Do you have any Ultimate Weapons and have you made the right Crystals for your gear? You should always be on top of your formation and skills set up.
I didn't breeze through the game - I died a heap. It made me hands on with the formation of my party and what abilities and passives they had equipped on almost a fight to fight basis. Well, more regularly than usual.
I pretty much had a team for single target fights (bosses, unique monsters etc) and an AoE team for mob groups. Egyl and Victor I think are the best in the game based on their tanking and support abilities. I always had them set up in the front line. Amalia was always in my backline because her Ultra & Healing is massive. You need Glenn (who can self sustain himself) and Victor for TP also.
The rest you will need to know when to use, have as switch ins and group them. It depends on enemy typing or # of enemy match ups.
Lowering and raising agility is really important in general. Knowing who to Silence and Blind, which basically gives you an extra rotation in fights helps.
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