The prospect of playing Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes excited me. Suikoden 2 still sticks out as one of the most formative JRPGs experiences from when I discovered my love for the genre. After spending dozens of hours with Eiyuden Chronicle, my main takeaway is how it proves nostalgia for Suikoden doesn’t excuse dated gameplay.
Eiyuden Chronicle came from the late and great Yoshitaka Murayama, creator of the Suikoden series, and other developers tied to that Konami line of JRPGs. The spirit of that beloved, long lost Konami series is felt all throughout this game. There are the obvious parts, like the over 108 available heroes to recruit. But this also shows in the highly political storyline, turn-based battles with six characters, tactical war mode, and minigames. The way the game gates off elements and content is handled near identically to the Suikoden series.
However, while the execution and gameplay can be a welcome return to form, other elements should have stayed in the past. The Eiyuden Chronicle gameplay focuses so much on sticking to what Suikoden did that it avoids some necessary modern improvements. For one, it took me nearly 20 hours to unlock fast travel in the game, which is ridiculous. This is because in the original Suikoden games, that feature was tied to a specific ally, and it remains that way in Eiyuden Chronicle. Even if fast travel remained limited, it should’ve opened up as an option in at least half that time.
Perhaps one of the oddest parts about the fast travel fiasco is there is a story moment where they make fun of this. The party has to trek back to a certain village early on through the same forest we just conquered a few moments before. One party member jokes they wish they were as a way to just skip over all of that since we already did it. While funny, this moment highlights the pitfalls of one of the major design philosophy issues of this game.
To continue with the fast travel problems, it doesn’t stop once you unlock it. While it is welcome to be able to zip from town to town instantly, it has restrictions. For one, you can use fast travel indoors like in an inn or the home base castle. However, you can’t use it while in dungeon-like areas. The logic doesn’t always make much sense or feels consistent.
Other areas where these rose-tinted glasses come into is with the lack of quality-of-life features. Why in 2024 can I not change the rune-lenses, which are tied to the series’ magic and special skills, for my party members anywhere on the go? There are ways to alleviate this with the help of certain recruits, but even that has its limitations. It’s an antiquated notion in Eiyuden Chronicle tied to the way Suikoden handled its runes.
Worse still, you can only save in certain locations. (Try not to die too often!) This is especially unfortunate when it comes to the lengthy dungeons, which can take a couple of hours to complete. Unfortunately, it isn’t because they are challenging or mind-bending, either. They are just padded out with way too much filler, backtracking, and bland puzzles.
Then there are entire systems I still don’t fully grasp the point of, such as the attendants. You can carry around up to three attendants in your party at once. Usually, these are limited to required story characters like Nowa or Lian. I get this is to ensure you have major players at certain plot points when needed, but why not allow all battle party members to be able to become attendants? That way, you could switch between your favorites in your reserves anytime you need to on the field and grind XP for multiple characters at once.
All of these elements and the general structure of the story, help to paint this picture of a JRPG too stuck in the past. I enjoyed my time with Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, but its gameplay feels so dated. It didn’t have to be this way, either! With a few key changes and improvements, Eiyuden Chronicles could have felt like an improved take on the Suikoden formula. Here’s hoping the team fixes these issues as they head into the already teased sequel.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is available right now for Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
