Chained Echoes - A classic 2D RPG with Swords, Magic and Mechs

[ERYFKRAD]

I have clocked 25 hours in this. Very fun, very good. The story is enjoyable with unique fantasy setting, the cast reminded me of FFVI, and the gameplay is just super fun.

Don't mind the whole heal after battle thing, because the combat is designed around this mechanics. The first half of the game is very linear and the enemies are really curated, even the most filler encounters feels really well thought and directed. The game want you to use all skills in battle and not worrying about annoying HP/TP restore after battle. there is also challenges you can do in battles like killing certain enemies without using certain skills or characters, so it add more thought you need to put into the combat. The combat is designed around synergies and switching characters mid-combat. For example one char has a paralyzing attack, and the other has skill that does triple damage towards paralyzed enemies and so on.

The progression is also great. You dont level up and dont get xp, but you earn skill point everytime you kill a boss to unlock passive and active skills and stat boost. It is surprisingly intuitive albeit a bit linear. You only have 8 active skill slots and you get around 16 active skills, so the choices of the active passive and active skills is what determine your build. It's just each character are so defined in their role It's obvious what you should focus on.

The game is very linear and open up in the second half in a very good way. I got into an area that's waay over my level, but i powered trough and got equipment that's 2 tiers above my current one.


What surprised me the most is the mech combat is surprisingly well thought and doesn't feel like tacked on.

I adore this game. Moreso, one dude made this and the streamlining process is so smooth. It's streamlined sure, but not unchallenging and brain dead. It's cutting off the excess at the right place, at the right amount. I played, and enjoyed many solo dev jrpg projects but the good ones are those who are aware of it's own scope and did few things, but did those few aspects really well. This dude basically did alot of unconventional things and did them really well.

So... what's the catch?

Well I don't see any barbarians

 

[Reinhardt]

So... what's the catch?

it's a jrpg

it's german rpg

 

[Van-d-all]

Saw it on Steam a while back. The game looks really great, but I still need to finish Fell Seal and Symphony of War before.

 

[Jermu]

difficulty difference seems to be quite large between normal and hard

normal you really need to try if you want to die
hard if u get fucked by rng (example boss using 2 aoe moves in a row) u are pretty much fucked. Also since its early game you cant level up / optimize gear / grind items.

now after I have unlocked second set of skills + crafting + stuff to manage overdrive and other shit hard seems to be a fair challenge. Think I do rest of playthrough normal for random encounters and hard for bosses. I would do hard for random encounters also but since you get full hp and mana after each fight it is probably a time waste.

story + characters are better than I expected and exploring new areas is enjoyable (a lot of secrets)
enhancing weapons + armors looks painful think Im going to pass on that until I get stuck
customizing characters is fine and swapping characters in combat seems to be very important so building characters around that is nice

 

[elverkongen]

December 8th

0:42 is not a good sign, though context may prove me wrong. I hope the protagonist isn't beta to the max.

Context does indeed prove you wrong. Play or watch the first 5 minutes of the game and you'll see.

 

[Maxwell's Demon]

So, I played it, and the combat reminds me a lot of Dragon Age 2. This kind of regenerative health mechanic feels very out of place in an RPG. There's no sense of rising tension in the fights, and as each arc plays out, there is a growing disconnect between the narrative and the fights on screen. I can't recommend this to people.

 

[HansDampf]

Having to spam cheap health potions after every fight is the one experience I'm really craving for in a JRPG.

 

[lightbane]

So, how woke it is, if anything? Being made by a German, one must be wary just to be sure.

 

[Maxwell's Demon]

Having to spam cheap health potions after every fight is the one experience I'm really craving for in a JRPG.

This is caused by bad level design. The solution is to make potions scarce and balance the encounters. It's a problem that was solved in the 1980s, but apparently modern game developers can't even be bothered to do the most basic shit imaginable.

 

[Jermu]

finished it, took 43 hours did probably around 90-95% of extra content.

one of the better jrps I have played in the past few years. good cast + graphs + music + combat and decent enough customization for characters. story was mainly good except few retarded moments and ending was kinda rushed.

difficulty was fine most of recent jrpgs I have played are easy even on the hardest difficulty so this had a nice challenge (except early game fuckness). first 20% I swapped around normal-hard and last 80% hard.

ending was weird and I was certain that there was going to be 1 more area + boss but now we ended up with blue balls. Guess the chance for sequel is pretty high.

9/10

 

[HoboForEternity]

you should check rise of the third power (no, it's not a game about nazi germany, unfortunately for some of you). in some respects. they are similar. the combat relies on synergy between characters but RoTP took it further. imo the story is a bit better in RoTP (but i haven't fiinished chained echoes yet) but they follow similar beat about 3 factions warring but the political intrigue is done better.

 

[somerandomdude]

I just got the sky armors and the air ship. It's decent game, and I like the turn based mechanics. Enemies can hit very hard in this game, including but not limited to OHKOing you on hard difficulty. So utilizing buffs, debuffs, and status effects is really important, especially on hard difficulty. Winning and losing seems to be about maintaining the momentum in battles, and if you get put on the ropes, there's not much hope of turning it around, so you have to keep the momentum on your side, and manage the overdrive, and apply buffs/debuffs/shields/status effects. If overdrive is in overheat, and you've just lost a character or 2, you're not likely to turn that around, so you can't let yourself get into that situation to begin with.

If you stack agility and agility buffs, you can get way more turns than the enemy. I'm not at the point where I can really optimize that yet, but even with what little bit of agility optimization I've done, I've gotten very noticeable results. You'd be surprised how much an extra 5 agility helps a character. More than 5 points in any other stat.

 

[hkt]

Used every setting to make it as difficult as possible but not a single boss forced me to come up with a specific team/talent setup to counter him.
Even God King Gaemdriel flopped to the same team I use into everything with unchanged skills/passives.

The game gives out skillpoints like candy, at the end I could buy everything.
I would have liked it more if I had to commit to a build and feel some remorse if I clowned it.

Characters, story, exploration and puzzles were fun, much better than I expected going into it atleast.

I would recommend it for that, not so much for the gameplay yet.
On their steampage they seem to be actively updating the game with balance patches, it might get better in that area if given some time.

 

[Grampy_Bone]

Great example of how removing leveling takes the fun out of an RPG. Because every battle has to be beatable with your current stats/weapons, there is no challenge whatsoever. The biggest danger is the cooldown bar, which doesn't even involve your enemies. Spam all your moves, then defend to get out of red zone, then resume spam. Really odd. The foes don't even seem to matter.

Unless there's some ultra in-depth build system hiding past the first few hours, don't see the appeal of this at all.

 

[Kruno]

Is this game too easy? I want CT but with a massive challenge!

 

[FriendlyMerchant]

Is this game too easy? I want CT but with a massive challenge!

It's a JRPG. Of course it's easy.

 

[Rafidur]

Is this game too easy? I want CT but with a massive challenge!

If you enable the difficulty options, the start is arguably too hard, while the end is too easy (setting up a combo with the card user I can hit for 50-70k, the secret optional superboss has 30k hp...).

 

[lightbane]

How is the mech combat in this game? Are these special sections separate from "regular" combat? Can you summon your mecha in regular encounters to literally crush your enemies? Can the mechs themselves be customized? Are the mecha the equivalent of an airship in other jrpgs that let you go anywhere?

 

[Jermu]

ok
yes and no
yes
yes
yes and no

 

[cruel]

So, this looks like the best rated JRPG of 2022 from what I see, combining critics and user scores - impressive, coming from a game developed by one person. Only one question before I buy this - no random encounters, right? Enemies are found on map and permanently gone after you fight them?

 

[hkt]

So, this looks like the best rated JRPG of 2022 from what I see, combining critics and user scores - impressive, coming from a game developed by one person. Only one question before I buy this - no random encounters, right? Enemies are found on map and permanently gone after you fight them?

Gone for as long as you stay in that zone. You can tp out and back in to force a respawn, it's easy to loop around them though and later on you can fly over them with your mech.

 

[welly321]

good game so far. I recommend it for sure.

 

[Grunker]

Initial impressions:
- Poor controls, use a controller
- Very pretty, very polished
- Overdrive mechanic seems incredibly annoying until you get your full complement of party members and some skills, then you start to see the appeal. Still not a huge fan, but it's better than I thought.
- Speaking of overdrive, the first hour of the game was one of the most RNG-heavy experiences I've had in an RPG lately, since how enemies behave + the order of "symbols" you get in the overdrive bar vastly affects the difficulty of an encounter. Since getting more skills (and thus more "symbols") as well as access to tag teams, this RNG has lessened heavily, but it still seems to be a game where RNG can matter a lot.
- Speaking of the "tag team"-system, it's just awesome. If you play RPGs for customization and utilizing the unique skill sets of differently built party members, you'll love this.
- Playing on hardest settings (enemy stats, enemy aggressiveness, tiny overdrive area) I've reloaded plenty, but more importantly I often consider multiple options (and what that means for following turns) when considering actions, more than I'd say I've done for any jRPG. Combat is a little "puzzly" but not to an extreme. I hope this continues.
- Story seems completely forgettable.
- While characters aren't great or particularly memorable, they did a good job making party members stand out from each other with clear and well-defined character traits and room for growth. Squarely in "good enough"-territory here.
- The level-up system itself is decent to good, but not great, however I am not a fan in the way you accumulate experience - it's a little like UnderRail's oddity-system, which I liked, but far, far more restrained, which I don't like.

All in all, the game gave me a very poor impression (except for presentation) during the first hour, but the second and third hour have salvaged a lot.

Spam all your moves, then defend to get out of red zone

why defend

you can manipulate the overdrive bar with skills and switching out

not saying never defend, mind you, it's just not really the default option except at the beginning

 

[Grampy_Bone]

why defend

If for whatever reason you haven't managed the overdrive bar. I admittedly only played the initial intro and then the girl intro (there's too many intros).

My issue with it was I feel the focus should be on the foes and not some bar at the top of the screen.

 

[Grunker]

why defend

If for whatever reason you haven't managed the overdrive bar.

You get out of the red zone using tag switches or skills

I admittedly only played the initial intro

This is before you get access to either (well, you have access to skills, just not enough to sufficiently manipulate it).

You don't use Defend as a default to manage Overdrive after that.

My issue with it was I feel the focus should be on the foes and not some bar at the top of the screen.

I don't like it personally either, but you get a much worse impression of it during the first hour of the game than how it realistically behaves once you have your basic setup.