Chained Echoes

• Genre: RPG
• Time Played: 73+ Hours
• Too Short/Long: I would almost say it's a little long, but I also did everything everything. I'm usually not so completionist with RPGs, but I was enjoying it.
• Pleased/Disappointed: Pleased for sure, I liked it a lot. I'm not sure it makes the ranks of best games ever, but it's very good.
• Why I played: I feel like I have to play any rpg with mech battles.
• Recommend to others: I definitely do. While I may not say it's one of the best ever, it's extremely solid and there is very little to dislike.

I was waiting to play Chained Echoes for awhile. Waiting it's release, waiting til I had time, waiting for a little bit of a sale. Waiting so much that I almost ended up not finishing it before Tears of the Kingdom came out. I am writing this after midnight, on what is technically Tears of the Kingdom's launch date. To make things clear, I am VERY eagerly awaiting Tears of the Kingdom, I'm excited for it in a way I have not been excited for a game in a long time. I'm excited for it in a way that I don't think I've anticipated a game since I was a teenager. So I was doing my best to finish Chained Echoes before I got Tears of the Kingdom.

It wouldn't have been fair to just rush through Chained Echoes though, so knowing I was wanting to immediately jump into Zelda, I may have felt it necessary to go the extra effort and do literally everything to make sure I got the full experience. Every side quest, every optional boss. Thankfully there is a little reward board in game that tracks most of that stuff for you.

Chained Echoes is pretty good and I think anyone who has an affinity for classic rpgs would enjoy it. I think there is little to make someone walk away from it. That said, there are some mechanics that feel tacked on or just superfluous. The gem system? Terrible. I didn't even use gems for 90% of the game. They may have had an affect on some of the super tough optional bosses, which I did set up a couple for, but I didn't even deck my team out. I equipped a total of 5 gems on my 8 in-use party members.(You can potentially equip 4 per person average if you manipulate it well enough)

There are some aspect you see along the way like, why did they do this, why didn't they do this? But it's never anything that really detracts from the game, it only hinders it from being an even better game. I feel like with some improvements, it could have actually been one of my most favorite games. There should have been more mech stuff, more weapon options, more customization. It scratched an itch... but left me wanting.

Nitpicking aside, what really matters in an rpg is the story, and I did like the story overall, even if sometimes the writing is a little clumsy or on the nose, and I liked a handful of the cast. Unfortunately it's kinda split 50/50, there are a good handful of character I don't like and were not redeemable, and also a handful that are just kinda unnoteworthy. Also some party member come so late that I feel like if I didn't do ALL the extra stuff, they would have been inconsequential. Thankfully I did, and they do show up in side-quest dialog for some post acquisition development, even if they don't show up in main story stuff. Sienna is my favorite by far, Ba'Thraz in second... then Magnolia, Mikah, and Victor roughly tied. I also really liked the story between Victor and Glenn in particular. I would have actually loved to see more of that, but I guess it was enough to get it's point across.