Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising somewhat rises to the occasion.

I always felt that the Suikoden series has had a firm place in the echelon of golden-era RPGs. The games don’t do anything remarkable, but the sums of their parts come together nicely to make memorable, classic gaming experiences. Suikoden II is still highly regarded as the best in the series and one of the best RPGs of all time. Personally, I would give that award to Suikoden V, but that’s another matter. The point is that gamers like still like the series, and therefore, were excited at the announcement of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. The game’s development and Kickstarter were led by Yoshitaka Muruyama, the creator of the Suikoden series. One of the stretch goals for the Kickstarter was Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. I was excited to play it when I saw that it was a 2.5D action RPG. For the most part, it was fine. It served its purpose as being a quick game that was meant to kill some time and get people excited for Hundred Heroes.

Rising takes place before the events of Hundred Heroes. You start as CJ, a treasure hunter that just entered the town of New Neveah with her sights on striking it rich in the town’s rock quarries. Before she can begin digging deep, she needs a permit. To get a permit, she needs to appease the town’s acting mayor: Isha. Isha a stickler for the rules. CJ needs to either fork over an insurmountable amount of money, or she needs to earn enough stamps on her stamp card. Earning stamps will entail CJ running errands and performing odd jobs for the townsfolk of New Neveah. CJ, along with the anthropomorphic kangaroo/mercenary Garoo, and eventually with Isha herself, will watch as her good deeds develop New Neveah into a thriving town. And, along the way, she’ll learn more about its long-lost secrets. CJ’s spunk and infectious energy keep the momentum going in an otherwise average story. Her, Garoo and Isha form an organic and unique bond. It’s easy to smile when they share stories of their past and learn from one another. Other characters in Hundred Heroes pop in for cameos, but the above-mentioned trio are the stars of this show.

Said stars and the Hundred Heroes NPCs were drawn by Junko Kawano. It’s great seeing her artwork on display again. Character art is fresh yet classic; it’s kind of amazing that she can whip out so many new faces with different personalities. Outside of the nice artwork, Rising is a good-looking game. The character sprites are expressive, the backgrounds are pretty, some of the special effects have an unexpected wow-factor, and things overall are pleasantly polished. There’s no voice acting (thankfully) and the sound effects in combat have satisfying oomph behind them. The music is forgettable. It wasn’t that long since I finished the game at the time of this writing and I can’t recall a single track. So, take that as you will.

CJ, Garoo, and Isha will be doing anything and everything for their stamp collection. Nine times out of ten, stamps come from side-quests. Of which, there are hundreds. They build upon themselves well because they slowly upgrade the town, which in turn means more upgrades for the team. This means upgrading their weapons, being able to equip elemental runes for attack and defense, new accessories, armor upgrades, and much more. Seeing CJ and her friends grow simultaneously with New Neveah is an organic experience. It’s also tedious. There is so much back and forth. Even with quick-jumping it feels like doing the most basic fetch-quest takes long. It’s mainly because so many of them happen at once. For about 90% of them, I skipped the dialogue, muted the TV, and listened to a podcast or music.

I did the same when going through monster-infested areas. As I was gathering/farming resources and drops, it eventually dawned on me that Rising’s action, platforming, and combat was fair and functional. It was the same stuff over and over. One button controls CJ, one controls Garoo, and one controls Isha. You can switch between combatants with a button press. Characters can jump and perform a unique action with a shoulder button. Swapping with the right timing initiates a Chain Combo. These were fun to execute at first. There’s a rush seeing each teammate take turns dishing damage. However, due to how different each character plays, CJ is really the only one worth keeping on screen. Her combos are the best. Her movements are quickest. She’s the only one that can double-jump. Things like that and more add to the reasoning behind CJ being the best the character, but also why things quickly became repetitive. Boss battles provide some respite from the tedium, but there are only a handful of them. Otherwise, you’re hacking and slashing the same enemies with different color schemes. Taking a cue from the Metroidvania sub-genre, each dungeon will have elemental crystals initially blocking certain pathways in every dungeon. Like I said: it’s functional. There’s nothing offensive here. However, it’s repetitive. It makes its 15 hours feel like 50.

Indeed, I was able to finish with a platinum trophy in about 15 hours. It was a good palette cleanser, but the level of tedium made it feel 180 degrees from the way a palette cleanser should feel. Obviously, the purpose of the game was to wet the whistle of everyone looking forward to Hundred Heroes. Rising wasn’t meant to be an extraordinary epic, and despite my seemingly sour outlook on it, I still recommend it for those that want a game that lets you mostly turn off your thinking cap and chill. Based on what I’ve been hearing about Hundred Heroes, I’m guessing that Rising might end up being better. But, that will be another review for another time.

Overall, 6/10: CJ, Garoo, and Isha come together for a button mashing yet repetitive 2.5 action-RPG that manages to feel longer than it is in Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising.