Anyone else dig into Chained Echoes?
It’s flipping fantastic.
I have it. I play it a bit but it hasn't "hooked" me yet. I am maybe waiting for that story beat that really gets me or something.
Anyway it is fun but hasn't made me put it at the top of the list.
The turtle race is the exact moment I got hooked in.
The turtle race is the exact moment I got hooked in.
I feel this very much.
It's a great game, made my top 10 for 2022!
I think I got past that. I think a bit of the issue for me is the hopping around with characters and (I think) times. So suddenly I will be controlling someone else or a character will wake up and be told to stop thinking about the past, etc.
It is perhaps a problem of my jumping between games so I lose the thread of what is going on.
I really dig it, but I'm at a point in the game where I'm getting whooped, and enemies have strengths and weakness symbols I do not recognize. I wonder if I'm supposed to have certain spells or skills by now that I'm missing?
I'll spoiler where I am, in case anyone has tips! It's probably around 6 - 8 hours in:
It's after you get the princess back to the castle to her brother, and ultimately you all escape the soldiers and run off with the princess once more. I'm in an area where there's ... it's not snow. Ash? It's very white, anyway.
I'm only about two hours in, so I don't know that I can help with that area yet BUT One thing I did note while picking skills is that when you choose an active skill you get a whole slew of stat bumps, so I feel like you probably want to fill out active skills first and then start playing with passives and the specific stat bumps.
The other advantage is the more active skills you have the more likely you have a skill type that can help with cooldowns to stay in the green range. I'm already seeing that staying green is pretty much the defining factor in whether or not a fight is a cake walk or I struggle with it.
I loved it!
Hence its #4 on my GOTY list.
Only felt it got better and better.
As for difficulty, it is a game that certainly felt most difficult in the middle section for me. There are also just quite some random jumps in the difficulty of some encounters.
In general, healing, buffs and debuffs felt really powerful. Having double healer in the early/mid game felt like it often carried me. Don't be afraid to use Ultra Move on "trash" fights too. They can certainly be hard enough to need it.
Also remember to equip any class emblems you find.
I really dig it, but I'm at a point in the game where I'm getting whooped, and enemies have strengths and weakness symbols I do not recognize. I wonder if I'm supposed to have certain spells or skills by now that I'm missing?
I also thought I lacked the dmg types at the same place. You should have the character
Ba’Thraz
at this point. Unless I am remembering the monsters of that area wrong, it might be able to help.
I'm only about two hours in, so I don't know that I can help with that area yet BUT One thing I did note while picking skills is that when you choose an active skill you get a whole slew of stat bumps, so I feel like you probably want to fill out active skills first and then start playing with passives and the specific stat bumps.
I might be wrong about it, but my impression was that the big stat bumps came from every X "lvl up", rather than the active skills giving more. Like maybe every 5th of the shards used.
I think you are absolutely right. I was just coincidentally leveling up the passive skills on the off levels.
I just got to the section where the swapping party members in and out mechanic is introduced. I'll talka bout this more on the podcast, but its such an interesting collection of straight forward mechanics that add up to something complex, challenging, and full of interesting choices. Figuring out which team members to tether to which others is a deeply engaging tactical conundrum. Do I want to match characters with similar roles so I'm not, for example, down a tank if I need to swap the first character out? Or is it better to have characters with diverse skills types
Really good stuff and I imagine it creates a ton of possible approaches to each encounter.
Things Chained Echoes Does That I Want All RPGs To Do:
(a/k/a The RPG Manifesto)
- Allow the player to save the game (essentially) anywhere, at (essentially) any time
- Auto-save periodically
- Show a clear indicator over NPCs that can be interacted with
- Show an additional clear indicator over NPCs that have dialogue that hasn't been seen before
- Give an attention-grabbing indication where there is treasure to be collected
- Provide an obvious indicator on doors that can be entered
- Full HP/MP restoration after every battle, because f it, life's too short for consumables
- Allow me to immediately retry a fight if I lose
It actually pains me to think back on certain beloved JRPGs, and how much more player-friendly Chained Echoes is in these regards. And this is with only like an hour of playtime in it.
Full hp/mp restoration is the big one for me. You lose some strategizing in when to use MP, but the combat gains much more by being able to actually use your abilities each fight. Same goes for the dnd version of X spells per rest/day.
Every single turn based or RtwP (J)RPG should also have a speed toggle. This one does, in combat only however, and it doesn’t speed things up a lot.
And more important than even save anywhere is; retry battle. Don’t let me run back to the fight!
I *just* realized that you needed to claim the streak rewards from the reward board separately from the regular rewards. Those two sacred waters were clutch. I was starting to wonder where I got those, so I googled and discovered I totally missed the "can't miss" one in the Sienne tutorial. LMAO. I have no idea how I did that.
Yeah, the full restoration between fights is excellent as is the retry battle. One thing I *love* about the retry battle is the game doesn't just dump you back in - it lets you fiddle with formations and equipment first, if you want. Its so freaking smart.
I haven't, um, lost a battle yet; didn't realize that was also a thing here. That sounds super smart and conscientious of the player's time.
The first battle I lost was to...
Some vegetables. If you know, you know
I was at 7 GS at the time and hadn't unlocked the Cleric or Warrior yet. I tried that fight an embarrassing amount of times LOL. When I came back with Victor having the Cleric's "Heal All" and Glenn souped up with Warrior, the fight went a lot better but was definitely still close!
Ok, I am convinced. What platforms can I play this on?
I'm playing it on Switch - I think you can get it on any platform, however.
It's also free on Gamepass if you have that.
Pulled the trigger and got it on the Switch. Hope to have some early impressions in the coming days.
Just hit Act 2. Legit surprised at how big this game is. I saw something like 27 hours to beat, but Act 1 took me about 20 (though I spent a long time exploring and wandering) and the game feels like it only just kicked in.
I mean the airship, the base building, and the mech mechanics all just got going.
I certainly spent way way more than 27 hours. But then, I always is at maybe double the "How long to beat" hours in games. Only more so for a game like this with plenty of optional content. Need to hunt down that last chest for the board thingy!
I played for about an hour. I love the bait and switch(es) in the beginning. I think this is going to be my thing I do before bed for the next few weeks/months.
You all got me to start this and I think I am gonna have a lot of fun.
It continues to be excellent. I'm looking forward to traveling for work soon simply because it means two flights where I get a few hours to play lol.
So far, this game feels like someone went back into my memories about what made Chrono Trigger, FFIV, FFVI, SMRPG, and other games so great and said, "But what if we made it with modern conveniences."
So far, this game feels like someone went back into my memories about what made Chrono Trigger, FFIV, FFVI, SMRPG, and other games so great and said, "But what if we made it with modern conveniences."
Exactly - that's what I was saying way up above. All modern JRPGs should "liberate" a lot of ideas from this game, in the same way that a lot of shooters liberated the ping system from Apex Legends (?).
Really looking forward to putting some real time into this one. I played the demo and the part of the game that is the demo when it released, but I've been mainlining Xenoblade Chronicles 3 since November. Soon, as I'm in the final chapter of XC3.
Just hit Act 2. Legit surprised at how big this game is. I saw something like 27 hours to beat, but Act 1 took me about 20 (though I spent a long time exploring and wandering) and the game feels like it only just kicked in.
Spoiler:I mean the airship, the base building, and the mech mechanics all just got going.
If I rushed a bit more, how long do you reckon it would take to reach the spoilered mechanics?
I think you can b-line straight there relatively easily if you don’t spend a lot of time exploring. You could easily get there in half the time, IMO.
Happy there is a thread. I just stumbled on an article mentioning this. Then I went to read Nintendo Life review, 9/10. So now it's on the Switch wishlist.
Overdrive combat mechanic, refill HP MP between battles, save anywhere, done in under 30 hours. Sounds perfect.
I'll either pick it up on sale or as soon as I finish Fire Emblem
Rolled credits!
Spoiler section will be happening for sure. What a fantastic game.
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