Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising: Game Review

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is a prequel to the great Japanese role-playing game Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which, in turn, will become the spiritual successor to Konami’s Suikoden series (many of its authors are involved in the development of new projects). Rising is positioned as an “urban RPG”. In fact, everything turned out to be simpler and more familiar, but has the game become less interesting because of this?

Normal heroes are always… arguing with each other

The main goal of Rising is to introduce us to the world and characters that we will see in Hundred Heroes. And the authors did a great job with this task. The main character of the prequel was a lively and pretty 16-year-old girl Tina, a hereditary treasure hunter. She is so fearless that when she sees lava flows in front of her, blocking her path, she jumps for joy, shouting “Finally, real adventures begin!” – even her associates are frightened, although not surprised.

Tina left her home and went for treasure in order to pass the test – she will not return until she finds a huge runic lens, which must necessarily be larger than the one that her father found at one time. This search, like many other hunters, leads her to a small mining town, standing next to the ruins and a quarry, where it is just possible to search for treasure. True, first you need to pay a huge amount for permission or collect enough seals issued for helping local residents.

Here we have a JRPG, so it’s natural that Tina is happy to take on tasks and help. But at first we are not very happy about the fact that most quests come down to collecting a certain amount of resources – well, or finding something, bringing it and returning with the good news about the sent package / order / request. And although most side quests remain so until the end of the game (there is a special notice board for them), then more interesting and even dramatic events occur – and the story gradually drags on.

This is largely due to the fact that the authors try to give each character, even an ordinary NPC with another mail order, a character and a story – not to mention other heroes who are searching for treasures with Tina.

Among them is Aisha (Isha) – the interim mayor of the town, which introduced a fee for permission, and also taxed the hunters. Tina at first calls her cunning on every occasion, but it turns out that the girl sincerely cares about the good of the city and the fate of her missing father, the former mayor, who went on an expedition to the quarry, but never returned – this is one of the main intrigues and driving forces stories. Another one has to do with who Garoo really is, an experienced mercenary who only believes in his huge sword and the gold in his magical pocket – somehow suspiciously easy he negotiates with bandits who are also looking for runic lenses…

And there is also a funny baby with pigtails, who calls herself the protector “on guard of justice and love”, therefore she casts spells “with love”. However, this is still a naive child who once almost agreed to give the lens in exchange for candy. At the same time, companions often communicate and argue – in general, everything here has its own character and history. And after all, it cannot be said that all the images are stereotyped, although this often happens in anime.

Challenge is not enough in Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising, but everything else is enough

The gameplay of Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is both a side-scroller and an action/RPG, plus a bit of metroidvania. That is, we run left and right, jump and fight, collecting resources, gold and experience on the go. Passages to some places are closed for the time being, until we get a rune with an elemental effect that allows us to destroy the barrier. Also, on the go, you can switch between characters, each of which, as usual, has its own weapons, abilities and fighting style. So, Tina initially knows how to make quick jerks, and over time, when she gets the right equipment, she learns to make them in the air. The Garou is also capable of destroying some obstacles with his sword, and can later be trained to block, charge attacks, and jump. Aisha knows how to teleport (and then levitate too), and shoots enemies at a distance with magical arrows and spheres.

To unlock new abilities, equip yourself with new runes, and generally become stronger, you need to use the services of numerous shops and artisans in the city. Here we come to the very “city-building” gameplay. In fact, everything, I repeat, is simple. Initially, there are practically no shops, and for their appearance we must collect resources. They brought it once – the shop appeared, after a while it will be necessary to do it again in order to add new, cooler goods / services. That’s all “city building”. There is no special resource management – you just need to buy a more advanced pickaxe and a more capacious bag to store all these stones, ore, mushrooms, wood and other things. Then all this automatically moves to the warehouse.

As a result, there are a lot of shops and services – a blacksmith, a gunsmith, a whole runic quarter, a tavern and a hotel, where food and rest, respectively, give temporary bonuses, a pawnshop for selling things and an appraiser for exchanging resources and receiving rewards for the collected “seals”. All this allows you to properly pump if not the entire party (prices bite), then at least one character.

And here I must say that Tina seemed to me the most effective – I used the rest only in rare cases. For example, Aisha is very useful to remove protective spheres from flying mages from a distance. Therefore, you will forgive me, but even here I lacked a challenge and really strong bosses. This is here at the beginning and closer to the finale, where it gets a little hotter, but even there Tina does not experience any special problems. And if anything, then colleagues will come to the rescue, who, if they are not particularly used, retain freshness and strength – health is removed only from the active fighter, but potions heal the entire party at once.

Conclusion

Yes, there is no hardcore gameplay in Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. But if you are not looking for it, then there is nothing wrong with the fact that the game offers you to enjoy nice graphics and music, an interesting story, well-developed characters and relaxed gameplay. At least in order to get acquainted with the world of the upcoming Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes and start waiting for it today, this is more than enough.

Pros: I want to follow the plot; bright heroes; relaxed and generally addictive gameplay; an abundance of opportunities for pumping characters; full Russian translation; the game is beautiful, and the music is good.

Cons: lacks difficulty settings; some heroes seem more useful than others; “city-building gameplay” turned out to be more of a PR stunt than a reality.