Which RPGs from the past do you think Chained Echoes is most like? If you haven’t played it, let me know if you agree with my thoughts on the game. Please consider supporting me at www.patreon.com/xygorgaming OR through KZfaq membership by clicking the JOIN button above!

I think this is definitely worth every JRPGs fans money. Work like this should be rewarded. It's better than most AAA studio's offerings this year

I sunk nearly 60 hrs into my playthrough and couldn't get enough. It's a fantastic experience that definitely evokes the past while totally doing its own thing. And I've been listening to the OST nonstop at work.

I'm glad to hear that the devs are working on adding NG+ to the game soon. Once I finished everything after 45 hours, I still kinda wanted more! Excited to see what a sequel might be like.

Live a live is a freaking masterpiece, so glad it got a shot given how obscure it was

Alot of really well thought out mechanics and systems were introduced in this great OUT OF NO WHERE masterpiece. I can only assume the eventual sequel will expand upon and add even more while addressing the few flaws here and there. Cant wait.

The Grimoire Shard leveling system is probably inspired by Chrono Cross's star levels. In Chrono Cross you also got all your major stat increases via stars gained from defeating bosses. You still get smaller stat increases from normal battles, but they're limited and after a couple battles characters will no longer get any stats until the next star level/boss. And similar to Chained Echoes, the main incentive for battles was the crafting materials you could get.

There is an aspect of the difficulty I would like to add on. You spoke multiple times about the level up being story/event locked and said that this was to insure that people experiance it at the intended level ranges, while this is true. it does NOT mean you can't grind and break the game. The mechanic I'm reffering to is the crystal-weapon upgrade system. Throughout the game you will be gathering crystals in the world which give you various upgrades for your weapons and armor. With some time investment, either through grinding or casual play, this mechanic alone can be the game breaker. From various things and creating very insane builds. Such as giving sienna +crit, crit dam, and AGI, Sienna can move 6 times more than anyone else (bosses included) and break the game. The trick is finding 1 star crystals and combinding them together, and since every stat in the game stacks together. 10% crit is great....but what about 60%? or 80%? or how about the fact that you can have 100% crit? It's not a mechanic thats required to beat the game, not at all. I barely messed with it on my first go, but on my repeat play through, I focused on it, and it felt incredibly satisfying feeling like I outleveled the game with just a bit a grinding

These are the games I get excited about. Still want new Zelda but Sea of Stars & Savior are just as interesting.

I’m about 12 hours in and loving it. Such a masterpiece and a true love letter to the golden days of 16-bit jrpgs ❤

I gladly handed over 70hrs of my life to Chained Echoes. It was such a refreshing throwback and definitely a love letter to older classics. NG+ is supposedly on its way and I can't wait.

I’m at the tail end of Dragon Quest 11 and got my jrpg itch back. Gonna grab this as soon as I’m done with it. Thanks for the heads up.

Game is great, but the maps & different areas drove my OCD crazy! There were times where no matter what direction you walked, 4 new paths would open. Then I'd walk a bit further (while trying to remember what I needed to go back & explore), only for 4 more paths to open! As someone that feels the need to explore every little thing, I constantly felt like I was missing things 😅

Ooo, this looks great! Might have to play it to review it for our channel, too!

The intro of the game make me think of so much more than just Suikoden 2: Gundam, Tactic Ogre, Final Fantasy 6, Secret of Mana there is so much inspiration here that its already felling like a work of passion from this alone.

I was mildly looking at the new stuff out in the Nintendo eShop, especially RPGs, like I do every 2 months or so. Then saw this game, which looked like one of those quite basic JRPGs which are dime-a-dozen in the eShop. I readed some reviews, decided to give it a try and... well... let's just say that it is now within my personal Top 10 of JRPG and JRPG-inspired games. This game is just great. Its making is filled with love and talent and you can see references of other great games and stories everywhere you look. There's Final Fantasy IX and XII, Xenogears, Chrono Trigger, Zelda... but especially Berserk. Oh boi, do I see Berserk everywhere. And I fucking love it. Pd: Yeah. I know I copy-pasted my own comment from another video-review. But honestly, people need to play this game. I want its makers to receive all the money and recognition they deserve for making such a gem.

This is completely up my alley! The nostalgic feels and the effort in development and focus on the true RPG aspects, really appeal to me! great video!

Thanks a ton for the heads up on this game. I will be grabbing it on Steam for sure!

Man, I fell in love with it on first sight. Another one for my steam list.

Chained Echoes definitely feels like a honorable spiritual successor to Chrono Trigger. I've played last month and it blew my mind. Never have I gotten so engrossed within a game, not at least since Chrono Trigger. Amazing game, truly a remarkable and unforgettable experience for me!

I got the switch version day 1, it didn't unlock until mid-afternoon for me, only glitches I had were the audio scroll sound effect would stop intermittently during story dialogue scenes, then would start again next scene after regaining control and one time the music stopped when it shouldn't have but came back on the next scene. It all seems to be patched out now.

Thanks for this review man. I was curious about it, but now I am a lot more interested and will definitely give it a try on GamePass.

I'm definitely picking this one up! Thanks for such a fantastic review of this game!

such a good game, hopefully a sequel is in the works

Thanks for sharing this,! I didn't even know about this game just pre ordered a physical copy 😁

I keep hearing good stuff about this… think I might pick it up. Awesome review!

I’ve been playing this a lot lately, it’s great! Seems like it has all the best parts of your favorite 16 and 32 bit RPGs

At first, I would have said Triangle Strategy was my game of the year for 2022. Now, I’m not so sure. I’m almost done with Chained Echoes and it’s so damn incredible. Probably in my top 20 RPGs of all time. Do yourself a favor and play this game! Can’t wait to buy a physical copy.

I was on the fence with this game… but I’m definitely going to play this one thanks to your video🙌 keep it up brother💪

i recently discovered your channel. wanna congrat you cos u upload wondrous content.wholeheartedly, thanks!

U forgot to mention the bonuses of staying in overdrive like half to to perform skills and the fact u can swap out party members on the fly. This game just nails the nostalgic factor of playing for hours and forgetting about time. Has a little of everything

I just finished this game with all it had to offer and it's a solid rpg based on old classics like ff. I really liked the story and it surprised me that it didn't shy away from mature content. The music was gorgeus and the vast cast of main characters and side characters were lovely. I didn't really like the art style for the portraits though but it's good enough. The map: The exploration in this game was actually pretty enjoyable even with all the back tracking you will do if you want to complete all the sidequests/chest and boss hunting/reward board objectives due to the maps being not that big. The sky armor it's one of the best features of the game just because how convenient it is plus all those recruitable chars that help you even more into making your exploration more efficient and not so time wasting. The idea of dividing the zone into small segments it's also one great idea. It helped me a lot to track down chests that i missed or i couldn't grab because they were unaccesable at that moment. Gameplay: I really liked the combat mechanics. It punished you for spamming and it rewarded you for alternating moves and making swapping characters not a useless mechanic. When you get hang of it, most fights troughout the game become fairly easy. Grind: only if you want to, i beat the optional final boss with no gems and with not upgraded best weapons so it's not really needed to beat the gamr 100% Classes: Very ff like. Fighters, mages, pugilist, samurais, knights, summoners, blue mage, bard, healer, guardian, archer and astrogolian. All characters are usable and some are very damn strong. Shout out to my pugilist for doing 8k crit dmg with tiger combo + charge + enemy debuff + attack buff. Tl;dr very polished game, good story, music, exploration and gameplay. Would recomend 8/10

Nice, I didn’t think this would be covered so fast

Before the game came out I used to listen to the soundcloud track of the menu music... so happy kickstarter made this happen

Been loving this on Game Pass. Really been delving in and savoring it, getting Chrono and FFVI vibes. Overall really loving it, both nostalgic and new. Couple minor gripes I have are the difficulty, I had to lower the enemy stats otherwise certain bosses were impossible. Also the crystal system seems overly complicated, not really clear what some stats are, and I had no idea I could summon the airship after a certain point. But, I really enjoy this game.

This looks awesome. Will definitely pick this up. Thanks man

Also on Xbox Game Pass. That's how I played it, and had no issues with bugs. It's an outstanding game. Good review man!

You sold it out for me, I'll buy this as soon as possible ! I'd have instantly bought it if you had said the story and OST were amazing too, but it seems they are at least decent

Fun game. I saw it pop up in the Steam store and picked it up real quick and don't regret it!

Just finished it. Fabulous game, and your review helped inspire me to try it.

Another fantastic video. Thank you for it

The plot twists are fun. Also sp farm at Rohlan Fields.

Can we all agree that Retro-style RPGs are here to stay? Between this, CrossCode, Ara Fell, Eiyuden Chronicles, etc. Coupled with the fact even big companies are trying it, 2-D RPGs are more popular than they ever were in 2000s when they were thought to be dead.

I absolutely loved this game it was a breath of fresh air, the early version had minor bugs but not nearly as bad as AAA games nowadays. Also they planned for new game plus but supposedly it will take some time but I’m already excited for that update

Chained echos definitely gave me that nostalgia itch. The next one I’m looking forward to is Sea of Stars.

Loved the game , lots of FF VI , Chrono trigger and xenogears influences. Also liked that buff debuffs and negative effects like poison actually effin work. So many games have those and rarely work. The only blemish was the extremely unflexible and convoluted crystal system , too much rng and again unflexible.

A GOG release would ideal. But I might actually pick it up on Steam to show support.

octopus fight is definitely FF6 both fights with octapuses take place on a raft :P

i am interest to try this game...xygor have you try Brigandine series,forsena and runersia?

What a great game. Even at the full $25 price tag. If it goes on sale, any classic JRPG fan would be a fool to pass it. The game it reminded me of the most was xeno gears. I can see the influences from Chrono trigger, and suikoden with the recruitment and base-building aspect, but the sky armors are obviously analogous to gears. But not only that. Getting further into the game The story becomes very philosophical, dealing with things like the soul, consciousness, free will, and the nature of life. Even today these are pretty heavy themes if treated properly in a game and not as throwaways. I think the standout aspect for me was the combat system and the immediately adjacent mechanics such as the customization with learning and setting skills, and crystals. The battle system itself is an example of how turn-based combat doesn't have to die. For me, this was pretty close to turn-based combat and its ultimate form. It was very engaging with a lot to chew on, and letting you swap characters on the fly without getting pushed back into turn order was perfect. Really made it easy to play around with a much wider variety than most people normally would in an RPG. As for the drawbacks I found, the first one is the translation. It's absolutely mutilated. It gets the point across, and thankfully there are very few instances of lost in translation, but throughout the whole game I was being jarred from my immersion by the utilitarian dialogue. It sounded robotic. Or like something you would expect from an alien that studied English and knew how to speak it, but didn't really understand how humans talked. It's very clear that the localizer could speak English, but didn't really grasp it. The other major flaw was the crystal system. While I like the added variety it offers and versatility, it was way too tedious, with too much hopping through the menus to discard and combine things, made worse by the visual bugs that kept popping up so I wasn't sure if I was deleting the right crystal. And it really needed some balance work. For instance, only the stat crystals were worth focusing on all said and done. The other three categories were pointless. They were simply inferior in every way. Overall, a great game. Perhaps not for those that didn't grow up with the SNES or PlayStation, but for those who did and miss classic RPGs, definitely. I can't help but wonder how much more the game would have been fleshed out had to developer had more help. I look forward to a sequel, or DLC or however he continues the story. Speaking of retro style RPGs, have you checked out rise of the third power?

I’m a big fan of retro RPGs and have been since the ps1 era. But I also only get physical copies of games, I just don’t do digital so if this ever comes out in the US physically I’ll get it.

I wonder if that Kraken boss is an homage to Ultros.

I got this when it came out and played the prologue. I really liked it, but had something else I was finishing at the time. And now it is 8 months later and I still have other games I'm getting through and haven't played this. OK after Starfield and Cyberpunk I have to get to this as it looks so good.

I binged it after it came out well as much as one could while still going to work. Def made my playstyle around Sienna in the party cause big crits. Working on collecting an array of gems for all my gear for the characters to forge on to the bonus boss stuff. I really like the music of the game and the story. Def a couple of twists in the story that get revealed and you are like damn.... def got the chrono trigger and ff vibes I never really touched suikoden or the saga franchise. But this is a gem none the less. The crystal system did seem a bit restrictive though get a new weapon and you wanna pop your lvl ten crystal in and pull it out the old one and bam its huge and takes up most of the slots rip. lessons were learned on that one, early on its not a huge deal but later on its a big deal

Chained Echoes is an absolute fricken masterpiece!!! Absolutely loving it so far.

Just got done with the platinum in around 60 hours. Fantastic game worth the purchase for any JRPG fan.

This game just kept getting better and better. I was already all in when the game started, but as some of the more... let's call them Cthulu-esque elements started popping up in the game, I was very intrigued as to what was happening. Near the end of Act III I was thinking about calling in sick to finish it and Act IV blew me away and ive been thinking about the ending ever since I finished it almost a week ago. The character work was amazing. Glenns journey and destination I feel really fucking fit and the theme that he was central too was explored in different avenues through Robb, and Sienna. Sienna made me gayer than I already am, her sass was always on point and multiple times her scenes made me laugh out loud (although nothing topped the turtle racing). Victor was someone I was very iffy about toward the beginning, but toward the end my appreciation of him became endless. As an autistic person, I strongly identified with Amelia and Cres blocked all the damage and is the goodest boy. And just as an aside, always pair Sienna and Micah together. You'll figure it out when you get there. The music I feel embarassed about because I mentioned to a friend on day one of playing that everything felt like an instant classic, except the soundtrack, but since then I have listend to the soundtrack multiple times while exercising and driving around, and although it doesnt get as high up as my all time favourite OST of Chrono Trigger (or maybe DKC1, its very tight) it is definately an amazing soundtrack with multiple bangers and now they have strong story beats and emotions attached to them, I do feel it deserves a lot of praise. Its become a special interest and I cant wait for more people to finish the game and eventually there will be some brainiac who is smarter than me who can fully break down all the themes of the game. This is truly an instant classic.

Ordered the physical and am gonna wait for it to come to play. Still can't stay away from the reviews though lol

1:20 into the video, and I paused to go buy it. Thanks for the heads up!

O wow so I tough the game would release physical copies on summer of 2023 Thas why I haven't bought it , the only way to get those version is online and they are all sold out mostly by now?

Any missable trophies/achievements on this one?

With this Skills system, the game sounds like _Final Fantasy V_ to me, but your review is the first I've ever heard of it, much less played. I haven't played a new RPG since a friend of mine had us over to his apartment to watch him play _FFX-2,_ and that was a few years before he got married. For reference, I think his son, his older child, just turned 10 or 11 last year... Assuming I can spare the money, I'll be checking this one out on Steam at some point. :)

I'll be waiting for the physical for this.

I literally got goosebumps 1 second before you said it

really liked this game , beautiful music. and good enough story

lol he'd get along fine with me also. Xenogears was another all time favorite, it bewilders me that it only existed on ps1, someone tell me otherwise. I haven't played Chained Echoes though! the dialogue between the characters reminds me of final fantasy tactics. @xygor, did you enjoy Dragon Force from Sega Saturn by chance? 🙂

@xygor gaming Have you ever played Cross Code? It's not like this game lol, but I really enjoyed it and I think you may too!

Completed it yesterday, really liked it. The weakest part for me were the characters who, with few exceptions, could have been developed better. But overall, a great game.

Shit myself when I saw this on the PS store. After flipping through catalogues and storefronts hundreds of times, we've gotten a small handful of wonderful Metroidvanias, but never a Trigger/Mana-like of this caliber.

Disagree, I don't think there are too many Chrono Trigger elements. Perhaps the towns and villages is the only thing. There is a lot of FF9 about the first few hours of the game and it takes a spin to be more like a Skies of Arcadia kind of game. There are also elements of FF5 in there which is a very under rated FF game. Whatever happens, it was a phenomenal game and takes its place among some of the best turned based JRPGs ever made.

The game is a absolute must on the Steam Deck Oled.

I really enjoyed the game. It took me about 50 hours to beat the game with the majority of the side quests completed. The story was intriguing, but I felt that the plot and pacing kind of fell off by the last 1/3 of the game. The final dungeon didn't feel like a final dungeon, and I felt that it ended quite abruptly. It ended in a way that sets up a sequel in the future. I came in to this game blind so I was expecting the plot threads to be completed by the end, but I was kind of disappointed with the conclusion and cliffhanger ending. Other than that, it's a very good modern rendition of a turn based JRPG with the QoL improvements that you would expect now. From a gameplay perspective, I enjoyed the leveling system and I didn't find it too stifling or unfair. The class system kind of felt like an afterthought, as did the mechs. But character customization was awesome. If one is so inclined, one can easily make a VERY OP party. For instance, the vampire skill that sacrifices a portion of HP for more damage paired with crystals that absorb enemy HP with every hit destroys most enemies easily. Other than that, it was a game that I could not put down, but also a game that I could not wait to finish when I knew I was close to the end. Solid 9/10. I'm hoping that the 7 years it took to develop this also includes the intended sequel, and Matias Linda just split his vision in two.

Game's great! I didn't mind the level cap-thing at all, since you still get the skill advancement points (whatever they were called); I'll take that over mind-numbing, pointless random fights any day. I'm playing Suikoden 2 for the first time at the moment, and from a modern perspective, good lord the random fights are just such obvious filler nonsense. "Oh boy, I get to pick 'auto' and instantly win again, this sure is riveting gameplay!'

Heavy Metal Turtle Racing. That is all.

I can only play on mobile... Because of life.... Hope it gets ported there

Modern Chrono Trigger is a bit of an overstatement, lol! CT is one of the greatest RPG's ever made. CE is a competent effort, & very impressive for a solo dev, but falls well short of masterpiece status, IMO. I think many just like to attach that word to any game they really enjoy, & are mostly feeling recency bias, whereas CT goes way deeper than just nostalgia. Don't get me wrong - CE is still a great game, but things like multiple endings, character interaction during AND after combat, positioning factoring into battles, the ATB system, & one of the greatest implementations of time travel in any medium (just to name a few), give CT the edge over nearly EVERY modern RPG! CE is a beautiful homage to CT nonetheless, but this student still has quite a ways to go to catch up to the master, much like many fantasy titles are still hotly riding the coattails of Tolkien's LOTR, despite there being a fair number of worthy challengers to the throne. Opinions do differ of course, & there's no accounting for taste, but there's a reason this game tries so hard to emulate the other, & also a reason CT has ranked as high as it has on nearly every GOAT list published in the last 25 years. Tho, it seems to me that many sure do seem to put a lot less stake in fact & evidence nowadays than in their own opinions. Perhaps it's a side-effect of living in such a socially connected world where everyone shares their own opinion, & others need to validate their own opinion as the absolutely correct one to satiate their fragile egos. Just my opinion & I could be wrong tho, lol!

Oooh very interested to hear Dave's thoughts on a modern game!! Have had this on my wishlist for a while

Loved the game! Wasn't too crazy about the story and ending though

Without stat grinding theres no therapeutic micro progress for us adults that purely want a few minutes of gains then to go to work or sleep

I'm at the first *hard* monster in the world now, i want to take it down already. Time to play some more.

...Did you play Chrono Trigger?

chained echo's has one giant glaring flaw and its the overdrive bar and the fact that enemies advance it, its possible if your in a fight with 3 or more enemies you cant leave red period you just die its the only flaw in an otherwise flawless game

Evoland 2 is super overlook

OMG get ready for a GRPG genre😜

How grindy is it?

People in the comments shitting on a game they've obviously never played. lol If you're so upset that this game exists, go make a better game... We'll wait. (Keep in mind 99% of the game was done by one person, so you won't even need help from anyone)

Isn't Glenn a reference to Frog's real name, too?

Is there any VA in the game?

Everything I've seen about this game indicates I should love it and I did try it on Game Pass for a few hours, but lost interest pretty quick. I think the combat mechanics just weren't for me.

That raft =fight remind me of ff6

look u can actually grind in this game in fact id suggest u do lol theres tons of grinding to be done and skills are equitable which means u can pick a loadout before a big battle by the end of the game u get enough GS to have everyhting loaded so u can pick and choose or chang e your active skills or passive skills on the fly

I liked this game so much, that I bought it instead of just playing it for free on game pass.

its nothing like Chrono Trigger....

It’s a great game with respect to characters, story, graphics, but some aspects were frustrating and over bloated the game to its detriment eg, crystals, SP upgrades, overdrive. I wish it was simpler so you could focus more on the story and characters.

🤯

just so you know, you can play this through gamepass if you realy want and happen to have access to it.

I HATE it when they take away experience from battles.

I have a love hate relationship with retro style. I am a mega man fan but the desire by a portion of the fanbase to keep mega man in the 90's has derailed and crushed the growth of the blue bomber. It's becoming more hate after final fantasy 7 remake. I love certain retro games but I would love them even more with modern graphics and mechanics. The parts of 7 remake I didn't care for were the new story elements but where they stayed faithful it was like a fully realized version of what I loved. I guess I see retro games as being limited by the technology from thd time they came and don't understand the desire to keep games in an unfinished, unrealized state.

I am like nearing the end of Chapter 1. I don't know it just doesnt click to me..its super impressive 1 person alone made it. However i dont feel it. Cant explain what the issue is. The dialogues make no sense, the characters meh, to easy perhaps? I dont know for sure

I imagine if I had spent years working on my passion project and when it's finally done, all the talking points are just: "Is ThIs A mOdErN cHrOnO tRiGgEr??" "No, it's-" "FiNaL fAnTaSy?? EaRtHbOuNd????" I imagine I would be kind of dieing inside. I get that our modern lexicon for describing games uses established franchises as a short-hand to describe gameplay aspects. But it gets to points where I think people need to just stop measuring new indie games by how much they compare to the various "classics" 😑