I love games that look like those 16-bit pixelated games that I used to play growing up.
Friday nights after a week-long grind in school meant that I could play till the next morning.
I remember playing the likes of Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, Suikoden, and the pixelated Final Fantasy series especially Final Fantasy 6 (who can ever forget Sabin suplexing the Phantom/Ghost Train)
Life was so simple back then and it's that nostalgia that makes me gravitate toward 16-bit pixelated games and running emulators. Sure there are a lot of great titles that have jaw-dropping visuals and I like playing those too its just sometimes I just yearn for the yesteryears.
So going back to Chained Echoes I saw an ad in Steam that it was on the winter sale last December and I checked the gameplay as aesthetically it already had me sold to it.
Even the start of the game feels like old JRPG tropes as you dream away and only to be woken up by your mom for an adventure or is it...
You take control of the protagonist Glenn, a hotshot Sky Armor pilot (mechas in a medieval setting shut up and take my money!), as they are pulled into an intrigue that will ignite the flames of war once again in their continent.
You will get to know several recruitable characters who at some point of the game will give a glimpse of their back story and why they are doing certain things.
For a pixelated game there are several dark storylines that had me saying oh boy.
You will be able to have a total of 8 characters in your active party where in you can swap them in order to do certain skills in battle or just to lower your Overdrive gauge which is a cool concept as each action you and your enemies take will move your Overdrive gauge forward or backward depending on the action. The Overdrive gauge will have 3 sections a yellow section when you start the fight which is a normal status, a green section where you hit harder, take less damage and even have skills cost less and finally a red section where you take more damage, hit lower and skills costs are higher. So for long drawn out fights you can just hack and slash your way to victory (well you can but its going to hurt a lot unless you are one shotting enemies like One Punch Man)
Some of the battles even with normal enemies can be longer if you dont manage your Overdrive Gauge better as well as use weaknesses and tactics. It was really a great concept that I enjoyed in the game.
Those that played the game is a bit split in terms of how they perceived the story as some is saying its too simple and straight forward while others like how the story developed and the character arcs that you will see.
A continent at war, an ace pilot, a princess, a wandering bard and a thief would be your first group. All tropes that we have seen in JRPGs but its the story that is created that makes it unforgettable.
Masterfully weaved are the ideas of souls, reincarnation, of people playing as gods and trying to impose their will. We even glimpse at several of these gods as they shape human history (I really got Xenogears vibes here aside from the mechs - hell they even have a slight easter egg in their official website)
The mechs are cool looking as there will be several variants that you will be able to get or buy as well as weapons and armaments that you can mix and match depending on what you want them to do.
Before you get the mechs and go flying around though you will be trudging along by foot different locales and environments and encounter different enemies that will have their own elemental weaknesses and if they have items to steal and if they can be eaten to learn new skills (yes eaten lol)
Speaking of skills you will have Active and Passive skills as well as skills that will add to your stats. Early part of the game it will be a challenge on what to prioritize especially since you cannot take back what you have learned. Hopefully you will be able to pick skills that will aid you to the incoming battles that you have.
The gameplay is rich with customization and the skills that you learn you get to upgrade them further making them potent and you can mix and match as you see fit especially when going against some of the later stages as you will need to prepare for counters of certain enemy types and bosses.
Speaking of bosses what would be a JRPG style game be without hidden bosses. You can definitely breeze through the main story line but there are several sidequests and hidden bosses that you can encounter. Man some of them were even harder than the final boss as you pray to the RNG gods that you dont get hit with a certain attack or status.
The passion project of one person that developed this for 7 years before being released last December and it just feels like that a love letter to all the games that we used to love growing up.
I have been playing this since end of December and logged in lot of hours just trying to complete everything. It was well worth the 400 pesos (about 22 dollars) to buy this in Steam. This is also available in Switch and so if you are yearning for that old school JRPG this is definitely a great game to pour a few hours of your time. You can check it in the official website https://www.chainedechoes.com/
Stand Tall and Shake the Heavens!