Chained Echoes is available now on Xbox systems, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been impatiently awaiting Chained Echoes’ release. Well, it’s finally here, and it’s fantastic. Check out our Chained Echoes review.
Table of Contents
A modern classic
Without a doubt, Chained Echoes proudly displays its influences, and it has the feel of a long-forgotten late-SNES/early-PS1 JRPG. Though it includes numerous novel ideas, the experience itself is unique enough to be one-of-a-kind, making its marks within the tried and tested formula.
Of course, the presentation is excellent with exquisitely detailed, pixel-perfect images, with the numerous various environments you’ll wind up exploring and the distinctive sprites—especially the enemies—standing out as particularly noteworthy features.
However, I do wish that equipment was mirrored on character sprites because it’s usually a lovely touch. Monsters are animated as well, which is fantastic. But given how beautifully everything works together, including the fantastic soundtrack, that is only a small complaint.
A sweeping tale
While I don’t want to give away Chained Echoes’ plot, I would like to briefly describe how it is to watch it develop. In essence, it’s a really character-driven story that made me think a lot of Final Fantasy VI because each character has enough of opportunity to shine. In light of this, I skipped the dialogue for the most part while the plot was centred on a few characters (with one in particular) because I considered them to be fairly uninteresting.
The three kingdoms on the continent of Valandis are a threat to one another, therefore the main concept is that a group of heroes must endeavour to halt a conflict there. Along the road, you’ll encounter a tonne of allies and adversaries, making for one truly epic adventure.
A tactical combat system
You might be shocked to learn that Chained Echoes has no character levels. Instead, you’re required to use strategy to defeat adversaries, and many common adversaries have the potential to kill your life if you’re not careful. I can think of both good and bad things to say about this strategy, with the best one being how satisfying it is to know that your strategies are the secret to your success.
You can learn and upgrade passive and active skills as well as equip better gear, allocate crystals to equipment, and upgrade equipment when it comes to setting up your party. Additionally, you’ll operate Sky Armor mechs, which have their own capabilities and equipment. Setting up all of this is satisfying, but getting annihilated by a boss and not having much time to grind is always a pain.
A massive journey
Chained Echoes has a substantial campaign in addition to being situated in a vast and varied game environment, as I previously indicated. In actuality, just getting past the first act took me about 15 hours, and if you take your time and finish the odd side-quest, etc., the entire campaign will take you around 45 hours. Fortunately, exploring the dungeons is a lot of fun.
There are many of valuables to find, shortcuts and fast-travel locations to find, scary monsters to defeat, secret NPCs to interact with, and much more. It’s actually amazing how much effort went into creating the game world of Chained Echoes considering that even taking a side road may provide hours of entertaining diversion.
Several perplexing options
Chained Echoes has some problems, but overall, I had a great time playing it and would highly suggest it to anyone who enjoys old role-playing games. Aside from the sporadic dull dialogue and the few grinding alternatives that can get you into trouble, I frequently found the lack of direction to be a nuisance. First off, some of the main quests ask you to do an ambiguous task, yet there might not be a marker on your map or it might be in the wrong spot.
To get beyond several sections, I literally had to look up how to proceed. Similar to this, tutorials only show up once, which is a major omission. Because some aspects, like the overdrive metre, can be challenging to understand at first, I wish you could revisit the game systems whenever you wanted.
It’s important to note that you can lower some of the difficulty levels in the options page. I had to do this on a few occasions because I was unable to defeat any of the bosses no matter how hard I tried.
Although Chained Echoes isn’t a perfect classic RPG, it is unquestionably excellent. How many games can you say that about? I assume that if it had been launched on the PlayStation 1 in the middle of the 1990s, it would have either been a major hit or over time developed a sizable cult following.
Chained Echoes: Excellent antagonists, locations, sprites, and music, as well as a rewarding strategic battle system. A vast and getting more difficult quest It would have been fantastic to include an instructional menu and more in-depth instructions. Too little grinding alternatives. Some of the dialogue is uninteresting. – ACR
