Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising – Review
Rabbit & Bear Studios, formed by Yoshitaka Murayama and Junko Kawano, creators of the Suikoden series have given us a taste of what they are capable of with a surprise release of Eiyuden Chronicles Rising. And I can honestly say it is a solid modern classical JRPG that will appeal to old and new fans of the genre.
With gorgeous 2.5D graphics, cute anime-style artwork, a fully-realized cast of characters and world-building as well as excellent soundtrack will give you a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The gameplay mechanics are interesting, where the bulk of it is based around a simple but addictive town-building and the combat mechanic is also a new spin of an old concept that works well enough but is wanting a bit more depth.
It’s not perfect, but I’m guessing EC Rising was meant to be a buffer for the upcoming Eiyuden Chronicles Hundred Heroes which is the Rabbit & Bear Studios flagship product. For what it is, EC Rising is accomplishes what it set out to do, which is to entice you and give a positive expectation of what is to come.
What’s Excellent
What’s Good
The bulk of your gameplay consists of fetch quests. Over 100 fetch quest to be more accurate. These fetch quests tie-in directly to the town-building mechanic. Fortunately, these Fetch Quests aren’t long or inconvenient, in fact, they’re pretty simple and most of them are completed naturally as you progress through the main quests. This really respect your time and effort as you don’t need to needlessly grind for materials or levels to complete a certain quest.
Moreover, you can visibly see your progress as being represented by the building of the town. Each time you complete a stamp card, the town gets upgraded and more stores and gears get unlocked. The game-loop of fetch quest and town building is a simple but effective game loop that lasts all 17 hours of gameplay.
The combat is an interesting take on the old Castlevania 3 hero swap mechanic, where instead of swapping heroes with different abilites with the select button, you assign each member and their attack on a dedicated face-button. This leads to link attacks where you can chain each members attacks immediately and without pause. You’re also able to chain each members unique skill which adds to more sophistication in platforming.
What Should Be Improved
While good enough for a simple game, I cannot help but feel that the combat and platforming mechanic was begging for more depth. There could’ve been a number of ways to push the link attacks and link skills to be more dynamic. As it stands, the mechanics are there and aren’t being utilized to it’s full potential. I do hope if there is a EC Rising 2, that these mechanics get flesh out.
This is a great appetizer for what Rabbit & Bear Studios can achieve. If you like JRPG, these will definitely appeal to you. Recommended.
