Summed up, Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is an easy and simple motion/RPG. It’s straightforward to get misplaced in its tranquil cycle of amassing stamps through fetch quests and fight. Nonetheless, Rising doesn’t have a lot substance. The entire expertise is bland and commits varied RPG transgressions, which is disappointing. Particularly because it’s a prequel introducing the Eiyuden world forward of Eiyuden Chronicle: A Hundred Heroes – a non secular successor to the Suikoden collection. If it is a signal of what’s to return, I’m involved.
Rising’s protagonist, CJ, is a younger adventurer who needs to make a reputation for herself as a treasure hunter. She units up in a city that pulls adventurers far and vast for its useful close by sources; consider the Gold Rush. Throughout her trek, she groups up with a grumpy and feisty kangaroo appropriately named Garoo and a pointy and stylish magic person named Isha. The primary story primarily serves to get you transferring to your subsequent vacation spot, serving up just a few revelations about why mysterious, harmful threats have appeared. General, the narrative may be very predictable and generic.
With a dry story, the shortage of bonding moments between the characters upset me. Just a few charming interactions play out in CJ and Garoo’s banter, and I took nice delight within the look of a magical lady named Mallore, which is a transparent homage to Sailor Moon. Nonetheless, there’s not a lot depth to those personalities, they usually really feel extra like character outlines than totally developed people. Sadly, this makes it exhausting to really feel any connection to them.
An enormous side of Rising is its town-building function, which helps you to assist varied villagers arrange their outlets to draw individuals to the settlement, making it extra affluent. You’re continually leveling up varied shops, resembling a tavern, inn, apothecary, weapons store, and extra. At first look, the town-building looks as if a enjoyable further wrinkle, however its tedious fetch quests make it one of many recreation’s greatest letdowns. You trek to the identical areas after which again once more to the hunt giver, who normally asks you to acquire a specific amount of a useful resource or find an individual for them.
The town-building shortly turns into an extended checklist of chores. On the one hand, they aren’t all that tough to finish. Then again, they’re senseless and don’t provide a lot satisfaction for the hassle. The outlets get some new inventory, and the city will get a little bit extra crowded, however it’s such a hole sense of development. Each effort earns you stamps, which showcase your city completion degree. After doing a bit of those, I misplaced curiosity in prioritizing the aspect content material, however then realized I used to be under-leveled if I didn’t have interaction with it for the reason that quests provide a substantial amount of expertise. That is irritating, as you’re pressured into boring pursuits with no substance and little or no in the best way of storytelling. A aspect quest ought to really feel non-obligatory, not required.
Dungeons are damaged up into brief romps, which I preferred as a result of they didn’t really feel bloated and lent themselves effectively to brief play classes. That was till I needed to preserve backtracking to the identical dungeons, combating the identical minibosses repeatedly. The sport is linear total, which isn’t a difficulty if the exploration is attention-grabbing. That’s probably not the case right here; dungeons have very minimal hidden paths, and their foremost enchantment is choosing up uncommon objects that you should utilize in crafting, gear upgrades, and cooking. Their total design can be very fundamental, tied to completely different parts (e.g., ice, earth, fireplace). On the very least, the ultimate bosses of every dungeon are visually interesting and supply an honest problem. One in every of my favorites was the furry ice twins, who may flip the ground to pure ice, forcing you to remain within the air with double jumps and combos till it lifted.
The motion fight is one other space of the sport that’s simply ample. Your celebration members and their assaults are tied to completely different face buttons on the controller, and in case you swap to a different character at simply the proper time in the course of an assault, you possibly can chain highly effective combos. As you degree up, you unlock newer talents, resembling completely different leaping assaults like air and fast steps, alongside upward and downward assaults. Sadly, I by no means felt a rising sense of energy or satisfaction from these; the hyperlink combos have been extra fulfilling and lethal. Nonetheless, all the pieces managed effectively, and I didn’t run into any glitches or critical technical points throughout my time with the sport on Change.
The two.5D artwork model deserves its personal reward. Rising is a vibrant and welcoming journey, with stunning hand-drawn visuals that add a pleasant private contact. The graphics have this retro vibe harking back to Suikoden, whereas nonetheless modernizing simply sufficient to really feel like an thrilling visible improve. The character portraits are detailed and alluring, and the little particulars within the landscapes pop, resembling grass swaying within the wind or blistering snow falling.
Rising was created to reward followers for reaching a Kickstarter stretch purpose, however it’s not simply an add-on, it’s a full recreation, working round 20 hours. Natsume Atari took level as developer, with enter from Rabbit & Bear Studios, the masterminds behind Hundred Heroes. Sadly, the expertise falls brief as each component of it’s simply satisfactory or run-of-the-mill. Nonetheless, its artwork model is a vivid spot, making me eager for the principle recreation that’s nonetheless to return.
Fairly visuals can solely get you far, nevertheless, and Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising doesn’t provide sufficient entertaining or distinctive content material to maintain it from being something greater than a satisfactory RPG. On the very least, it introduces the Eiyuden world and a few characters concerned in Hundred Heroes, however that’s little or no incentive for placing up with tedious gameplay and boilerplate characters.
