Just imagine being the guy who made this game. The amount of people making videos like this has probably changed this man's life. And that is so powerful to me.
The writing puts it above Sea of Stars in my opinion. The visuals in SOS are incredible, but the gameplay, and story are FAR superior in Chained Echoes. Easily earns a place in my top 10 RPG's of all time.
My guilty pleasure this last year has been watching CE reviews just to further prove my point of being one of the best JRPGs to ever exist. I just love watching people share the same experience I got playing it. It honestly deserves all the praise it can get.
Currently playing this on my steam deck, absolute banger. Devs should take note of what this game offer and stop focusing too much on hyper realistic cutscenes and QTE.
I think there’s a space for both, especially if the cutscenes and QTE is proven to be a successful option. The only problem is when devs go too hard in that aspect and fail miserably.
@@kellswiss yes agree, hence i say that they should stop focusing "too much" on hyper realistic cutscenes. Sometimes less is more. I agree if some QTE were implemented properly. One that I like is the boost mechanic in FF8 during summon. Not sure if it can be considered as a QTE 🤣
Square already produced some of the greatest turn based of all time. It's clear they want to push further and create another genre defining title. They aren't there yet, but will continue to experiment.
I put about 30hrs into Chained Echoes and about 20 in Sea of Stars. Love them both but I think my preference is Sea Of Stars. Both do JRPGs right and both have great combat
This was awesome! 41 here and grew up playing FF, Xenosaga, and Star Ocean. I've already purchased both Chained Echoes and Chrono Trigger, just waiting for the kids to go back to school so that I can dive in! Gracias, Alex!
Couldn't agree more, this game is one of the brightest spots in gaming in the past couple of years. It was a perfect homage to the golden age of JRPGS while still remaining unique and fresh. The story was one of the best, with some truly surprising shocks and twists.
Ser Victor's story arc ALONE! Makes this game worth it. It is so, soooo good, emotional, tragic, hopeful and inspiring it's a masterpiece and all party members are equally as good. ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!
Glad to see this game getting some love! This was my absolute GOTY last year, and immediately went onto my all time favorites list! I love the writing and twist on the combat systems. And the story my guy... love to see the Berserk influence throughout
@@expat8460 I played both of them in the last two months. Both are incredible games, no doubt. I think the art direction and execution of Sea of Stars was better from pure graphical fidelity. Chained Echoes had an absolutely incredible story though, and the combat system is much deeper than Sea of Stars. Both took me about 30ish hours to beat. I felt that the characters of Chained Echoes were also more developed and had far more personality. Sea of Stars had much better puzzles, and I feel like the exploration and world design was better than Chained Echoes. I really can't stress enough though, both games were incredible.
I liked the many references to Chrono Trigger and the battle system that encourages the use of skills more than standart attacks. And of course, the sound track.
This game is the best ever JRPG tactical immersive as hell . And perfect serious story with so many twist and turns . It's gripping and breath taking. The amount of talent love and thought this one developer put every other AAA RPG maker to shame. Main characters have so much depth layers and layers of complex motivation and personality it's such a rare sight to feel those complex emotions coming from story and its characters . Truly A masterpiece
Dude the way you described how you felt after playing this game such as defeating a boss and the music, I think you would love ‘AXIOM VERGE’ (if you havnt played it all ready) the second boss fight in this game I mentioned felt like a transcendent experience, it was truly mesmerising and one of the greatest moments I’ve gone thru in a video game. I haven’t even completed it yet, I’m looking forward to the right time to immerse myself in it again, it’s one of those special games that really draw you in and make you think deeply about life and feels more than ‘just a game’ etc. I also can’t wait to play Chained Echos too! I have a few other RPG’s to get thru first. But I might give in a get it sooner. Great video I appreciate the enthusiasm! Cheers
Well said. This was an amazing game. Stumbled across it in gamepass, thought it was worth a download, and got hooked. Absolutely worth a shot for anyone growing up w/ these kind of RPGs
Gotta admit, this caught me off guard…I enjoy this earnest coverage, this was an excellent review! Don’t get me wrong though, the way you dismantle “brand b*tches” is hilarious!
Thanks for the recommendation. I know exactly of the games you mentioned in the beginning of the video as being some of my favorites. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VI. Xenogears I never got into but heard it was great. I was debating on whether or not I was going to get Sea of stars first or chained echoes. And it looks like I'm going to get chained echoes first.
Be warned, played CE first is gonna make Sea of Stars combat feel like a slogfest :P. Also Sea of Stars takes a while to get going storywise, but it also gets awesome. Enjoy CE.
Yeah I couldn't even get into SoS after playing Chained Echoes, everything from the combat, to the dialogs, the writing, the story... felt much better in CE. The only thing I think SoS may have done better is the pixel art and again this isn't whats really important in a game like this. It adds value but it doesn't make the game better. I just couldn't get through SoS, will buy it again after it gets a discount because 30€ werent worth it for me and I just refunded it.
I enjoyed this one but imo Radiant Historia (not to be mistaken for the unrelated radiata stories) from the DS (with a really smart 3DS revamp) is the real chrono trigger spiritual successor that people completely missed. It’s *SO* fucking ambitious in scope with being able to jump to any point on a massive tree of alternate timelines at will, while *something* apocalyptic is fucking *eating* the past behind you. The pixel art rocks and the combat system is pretty unique in its positional approach to xenogears/saga’s stagger/topple/launch/smash colliding with persona style turn/delay stacking. It’s still a surprise how many games can still make you feel starry-eyed in a world of absolute corporate gruel.
I just finished act 1, this game is just something else, I can't promote it high enough, such a hidden gem, Matthias should write a book, not only his development ideas are great but how each character has such background, you could probably create a series with all this content easily.
I haven't played this one yet, but I love a good RPG. Turn-based ones most appealing to me. I will definitely give this one a go. Thanks for the recommendation.
I love you promoting a passion project indie title like Chained Echoes, Alex! I've yet to play it because of my own personal turn-based stigma, but I can appreciate a true labor of love and recommend it to anyone I think will enioy it at all. If you also like classic Survival Horror like Resident Evil 1-3, Silent Hill 1-4, Clock Tower & more I suggest SIGNALIS! Another indie title from Germany like Chained Echoes made by just two people that reaches the exact same heights.
Alex have you played the Legend of the Heroes game series? If not I kinda feel like you’d like it as well. It’s on steam and what’s cool about it is the story in each game is just one part of a much bigger story being told across every game in the series. It’s definitely one of my favorites
My 10 favorite JRPG's out of my head are: Grandia, Astral Chain, Scarlet Nexus, FF 7 the original, Triangle Strategy, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, Atelier Sophie 2, Shadow Hearts and Chrono Trigger.
Man, videos like this, with so much passion and love for a game just make me buy games. I love gaming so much, and it makes me sad that I may never have the time to play them all.
Its crazy to think that the game was made by one person... I was blown away and the game went straight into my favorite jrp's of all times list, and pretty high rank too. I love pretty much all aspects about it and special honorary mention has to be given to the fact that you can summon a badass battle mechs to pummel your enemies into submission pretty much at all tiems lol (at least as soon as you unlock the ability to do so).. who can say no to that.
Turn based RPGs are not bad. The problem is how you make them, which has become more difficult over the time. Persona 5, Like a Dragon 7 and Dragon Quest XI are good examples. The problem is those are the exceptions of big companies doing stuff like that...
Chained Echoes is awesome and inspiring that it was made by one passionate individual. Sea of Stars look to be another upcoming must play. We've been getting some good RPG's recently, from Pathfinder Wrath of The Righteous to Baldurs Gate 3 which is the MOARPG's
I've had it on my switch for a while now. I finally sat down to play and my mind was blown. To think i waited so play this amazing game is nuts. This is definitely worth a buy!
My 48 year old ass has had to hold back tears a few times in this game. If this game had come out on the SNES we would be having nostalgia for it over the likes of Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana we would have been begging for sequels. I'm just frustrated currently because I am stuck on some miniboss type character that I just cannot figure out how to defeat.😢
I’ve never been an RPG fan at all. But I recently discovered Dark Souls and it’s right up my alley. I’ll definitely have to give this game a shot as well. Thanks for the recommended. I was hoping you would go back to your classic “you should play this” videos.
I just started this game after hearing so many good things about it. I haven’t had a game keep me thinking about it when I’m not playing it for a long time and man the music in this game just gets stuck in my head! I LOVE the battle system is like a really engaging fun puzzle. Awesome video man!
Started playing this game yesterday, just barely 2 hours in but I'm already loving it. Sometimes RPGs take ages to get going but here you get instantly hooked by the story and mechanics.
I feel you man, it really annoys me how underappreciated this game is. I cannot express in words how much I love this game and it's unique approaches. I hope developer had great success with it, and I'd love to see more games from him and his apporach, no matter the genre.
The final boss theme its one of my top 3 soundtrack ever!! Its even in my playlist when i go to the gym. Thats how good it is!! Its a beautiful masterpiece!! 🤌🏾
I really appreciate this review and the details of the combat and skill/class customization. I grew up with turn based combat RPGs being my all time favorites and eventually stopped playing them because combat turned into a mindless boring grind once you find the infallible action loop. You've convinced me to give it a try. Thank you!
Love the great energy. Awesome video. As someone who had lost interest in games, and found some other hobbies, I heard about this one and man this has got me excited to play something new again. You sold me lol :).
The way I look at it, Sea of Stars is essentially a GBA RPG experience perfected. In that way, Chained Echoes is that same thing, but for the SNES era. I understand the comparisons, but they're both fantastic for different reasons.
Yeah Chrono trigger my favorite rpg at all time. Chained echoes a masterpiece I beat it enjoyed it gameplay story and music fantastic so far the best I played rpg last year
Thanks for the recommendation Alex! I'll check it out sometime. If you've played the Xenoblade Chronicles games (other than gears) how would you say it stacks up in comparison?
I just got this game for switch along side Sea of Stars and I am so happy I gave it a shot. I love turn base combat and old school JRPG's and this game is spot on for everyone who is a fan of the genre.
we def need more content with games that you'd recommend! Just finished watching your remnant 2 vid & I'll gladly pick this up instead until they figure out wtf is going on over at gunfire lol
My issue with all these types of games (visuals wise) is that this camera perspective actively gives me really bad headaches. I keep trying to look further up to get reference points for where I am or the like and it gives me the absolute worst eyestrain because my brain can't understand the fixed perspective.
edit after buying and playing the game for multiple evenings EASY MODE : if you'r having a kill / death ratio of 50 % ... go to settings, enlarge the ultimate bar, reduce the enemie statts, so you can propperly focus on the story this game is basically either super hard, or way too easy, super easy is more enjoyable but they defenetly should work on some ballancing... neat story and charackter arks story elements on lvl with secret of mana, evermore, teranigma mechanics, surprisingly superior in comparison with a lot of jrpg titles, theres allways something new and catchy to find, a lot of little easter eggs within the game that sneakyly hint torwards games of wich it was inspired by the biggest downsides for me so far are the map, can be overwelming at times and let you run arround for a while till you found the propper way of progression and the other thing is, there is a lot of "stuff" in the background wich is been used to exagurate what actually is there... like 10 out of 100 npcs are actually interactable, same shit did baldurs gate 3 in the main city and everytime i run up to a guy and cant speak with him, i get reminded that thats not legend of zelda. but.... you can pet animals....10/10 for that i wonder if ill get a hidden reward for petting all of em xD other ballance issues i saw with battles specifical, wich can be very frustrating is, that the enemie is too intelligent on normal, they allways try to burst your healer, force you to waste your phoenix downs and put you into a situation from wich you cant come back from, its usually either you burst them or they burst you that is a big issue, since fighting in generell is pretty deep and cool, but if the concept doesnt work, cause you or the enemie dies too quick, it doesnt realy come into play wich is why i strongly reccomend to set the difficulty on easy. one more thing... there is some daaark shit in the background happening wich gets barely hinted at, i think the dev wanted to stick to the pegi 12/16 but honestly, when you want it you should fcking roll with it, instead of half assing it on a way that it feels out of place... add an 18+ option and hit me with the gore instead of sweettalking me with "a dozent dudes raped a sister in the alleyway" i meaaaan.... when you add dialogues like that, usually there is a reason for that and the way that game is set up so far, i realy dont know if your doing yourself a favour with that. well at least when you're not planning of loosing both sides of the audiences.... i reccomend either, tuningthese dialogues a bit down, or way the fck up . they are out of place , the way they're implemented. first comment onto the video without having played the game first video: nice greenscreen, good pacing, good editing, high quality content: 30 seconds into the vid, i can already tell that you have a very fine taste , a bit obnouxious that you didnt show Teranigma and Secret of Mana while xenogear and chronotrigger been basically copies of an earlie secret of mana developement process wich lead us to the final fantasy series but beeing a gamer and beeing a professional gamer has differences and i can see where you're comming from and what im about to expect from further commentary. you're the type of " i loved final fantasy 6 but i had no clue, That someone of the Dragonball frenchise was involved in its developement" so just clerifing you're a Casual gamer, with disney plus instead of netflix but you're not realy the type of guide for video games. just in case you're about to say crazy stuff wich impacts actual gamers from their buy or buy not decision. (have not played the game by myself jet) first edit: 3:34 , its non of my buisness, but do yourself a favour and stop squeeking arround with your stupid microphone before im getting a heartattack, set up your stuff before you start reccording, before someone starts thinking you're doing that on purpose, because at that point, i will, point out that you're not a 16 year old girl in a fox costume screaming uwu into a pink penisshaped microphone while milking out the dollars out of your only fans buisness model and nibbling on plastic ears. dont be that type, while trying to bring a point across. second edit: 4:14 you better have played Lylatwars before saying stuff like that. third edit: 4:55 wooowooowooo.... now you're setting high stacks.... beating ff6? there is no better rpg on the planet, besides of maybe undertale so calm your horses, you're saying craaazy stuff now. ive heard enough critics about fighting and lvling up by now to know, that you're speaking bullshit. chrono trigger was a great game but it was not even close to be far away from getting close to what ff6 and 7 have done to the genre lmao there been leaques between those titles. 4. edit: the best thing about this musicpiece i heard was how they sneaked in undertales "Spear of justice" there at the end. besides of that, its everygames music, absolutely unrecognizable. im not humming. *fun fact, if you want to hear CRAZY GOOD versions of spear of justice, check out the netflix series "my daemon"* when you're a fan of toby fox, that series sounds will melt your heart. 5. edit: i get that you're digging the game, and ill buy it cause of my respect for the genre and the effords of the guy behind the game but im not allowing you to not call out what the game could have done better based on what i heard from other dated reviews: 1.way too complicated level up system , the entire gemming stuff is so out of place that players wich 100% this game will not touch it for the duration of the entire game 2. the fighting drops in variety with the beginning of the 4. act drastically, since stuff you did for fun in the past, now becomes mendatory and force the player to do specific actions to fight a specific style wich as an endresult transform the fighting system in a duller , more shallow version of what it could be. so there are deffenetly small ballancing issues that could become adressed
Just found out about this game. I heard someone here on RUclips mention that the developers made this game with great quality and gameplay similarity to From Software and Larian Studios games like DS and the new BG3 game so I'm playing it now. It's free on Gamepass as long as you have the subscription which is well worth it! I rather have my Asus Zypherus G14 on my side and a subscription to Gamepass besides my PS5. All the day one releases about to come out on MGP are highly anticipated so omg!! CAN'T WAIT! Anyways, I think Chain of Echoes was put up on MGP last year in December so can't believe I never heard about it but as I said, I'm playing it now and I think I'm enjoying it 💖💖💖. Besides, can't wait to play Baldur's Gate 3! Definitely seems worth it too plus it's said to be better than most Triple A titles recently released and is only $50. Larian Studios put alot of love into making it and did something old school; made sure not to include ridiculous microtransactions, made it classical old school fun, and made sure it was release fully done with quality on day 1 without the need for ridiculous updates on the first day just to enjoy it.
So this one person made EVERYTHING the music the game engine all of the code all of the art all of the animations... No. As a solo dev there is no such thing as solo dev
turn based battle is the best on RPGs, really I never get bored of it, action battle mode is not bad on new fashion games, but you cannot hate both, it is just gameplay
I need to get passed the part where the guards won’t let me go across the border. I don’t know what to do so I put the game down. It’s on the Switch too. I feel you bro though for the classics. You know what’s good.
Modern JRPGs should take lesson from this game, A real indepth story and challenging gameplay withouth some generic heroes beat the big bad and everything is ok. As guy who grew up loving turn based jrpgs and being disappointed with the current final fantasy games this ticked all the boxes for me.
Chained Echoes was my first turn based JRPG, and i cloudn't have asked for a more perfect game, and the price of this baby, OMG !!! But now i'm hooked and so afraid of finishing it hahahahaha
Chained Echos is truly the best jrpg I played for a while. Even though it is the best jrpg, I still find crosscode as my personal best for its focus on level design, one of the best top down action combat, and the setting itself is well integrated to the game. Don't get me wrong though Chained Echos is objectively the best jrpg out there, I just love Crosscode more lol.
Okay you sold me with the music. Fire Emblem has some of my favorite music in gaming and the song you played gives me huge FE/Xenoblade vibes in the best way possible
I ran into a game breaking bug right at the end of the game........ played a previous save and ran into the same bug again. Never got to see the end of the game.
@@OhNoItsAlexx theirs a point in the game where you go back to the home base. Your character is supposed to switch from Glenn to Amalia when you get to the camp. When I go to camp it is still Glenn. I completed other side quests to see if that would get rid of it but it didn't work. I am not the only one to have this issue.
EVERYONE GO PLAY THIS GAME
THIS IS NOT A REQUEST
ITS A THREAT
GET BACK TO WORK
THIS IS NOT A REQUEST
ITS A THREAT
@@silentjoker9145 no
FOR TELLING ME WHAT TO DO I'LL THROW YOU INTO A POT OF BOILING WATER CRAB
THIS IS NOT A THREAT
ITS A PROMISE.
Keep those pincers away from me!
By your command.
Just imagine being the guy who made this game. The amount of people making videos like this has probably changed this man's life. And that is so powerful to me.
Yes. If I make an RPG. It’s gonna be that way. I can’t wait.
@@JMrealgamer yesssir, do it!
He has so many backers, it's like there's 10 minutes of credits dedicated for them
The writing puts it above Sea of Stars in my opinion. The visuals in SOS are incredible, but the gameplay, and story are FAR superior in Chained Echoes. Easily earns a place in my top 10 RPG's of all time.
I greatly prefer the gameplay in SoS but no doubt the story is better in CE.
Whats ur top.rpgs ever? I recently got into jrpgs and want to see
@@Dipidychipskies of Arcadia, legend of dragoon, dragon quest 11, chrono cross , xenogears
@@true_gamer39skies of Arcadia, not heard that name in a long time
@@Rossstewart88 it's a masterpiece of a rpg
My guilty pleasure this last year has been watching CE reviews just to further prove my point of being one of the best JRPGs to ever exist. I just love watching people share the same experience I got playing it. It honestly deserves all the praise it can get.
It’s a masterpiece on all levels
I haven't pushed a game to my friends harder than this in years. Loved this game to death and couldn't believe how slept on it was.
It's like a single guy (not only him, but mainly him) went ahead and made the true successor to Chrono Trigger. Amazing game
Currently playing this on my steam deck, absolute banger. Devs should take note of what this game offer and stop focusing too much on hyper realistic cutscenes and QTE.
The masses speak otherwise with their wallets
@@fillerbunnyninjashark271 yup not gonna argue on that.
I think there’s a space for both, especially if the cutscenes and QTE is proven to be a successful option. The only problem is when devs go too hard in that aspect and fail miserably.
@@kellswiss yes agree, hence i say that they should stop focusing "too much" on hyper realistic cutscenes. Sometimes less is more. I agree if some QTE were implemented properly. One that I like is the boost mechanic in FF8 during summon. Not sure if it can be considered as a QTE 🤣
Square already produced some of the greatest turn based of all time. It's clear they want to push further and create another genre defining title. They aren't there yet, but will continue to experiment.
I put about 30hrs into Chained Echoes and about 20 in Sea of Stars. Love them both but I think my preference is Sea Of Stars. Both do JRPGs right and both have great combat
I finished both and I prefer CE, combat was too slow in SoS and the story was a slog before Dweller of woe :P.
@@gustaveriksson113right? it was sooooo slow.
I loved Sea of Stars.... Then I beat it and the end is so disappointing and also I never cared about Garl at all and yet they made him super important
This was awesome! 41 here and grew up playing FF, Xenosaga, and Star Ocean. I've already purchased both Chained Echoes and Chrono Trigger, just waiting for the kids to go back to school so that I can dive in! Gracias, Alex!
What did you think of Chained Echoes
Chained echoes was incredible absolutely loved it and highly recommend it to anyone who likes traditional jrpgs
I'm about 20 hours Chained Echoes and blown away by the quality, especially the battle system. It's so impressive that it was made by one guy too.
Couldn't agree more, this game is one of the brightest spots in gaming in the past couple of years. It was a perfect homage to the golden age of JRPGS while still remaining unique and fresh. The story was one of the best, with some truly surprising shocks and twists.
The last 12 months have been great for pixel art RPG’s. This, Octopath Traveler 2, and Sea of Stars… love these!
Literally amazing. These 3 would stand proudly against the greats of the snes era easily. What a great time to be an rpg fan !
Ser Victor's story arc ALONE! Makes this game worth it.
It is so, soooo good, emotional, tragic, hopeful and inspiring it's a masterpiece and all party members are equally as good.
ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!
This.
This game is a masterpiece and I just started playing it everyone needs to play this game like holy shit it’s really good
Had a phenomenal time with this one! Also looking forward to Sea of Stars next month
Glad to see this game getting some love! This was my absolute GOTY last year, and immediately went onto my all time favorites list! I love the writing and twist on the combat systems. And the story my guy... love to see the Berserk influence throughout
Same here, rly good game!
Do you like it more than Sea of Stars? It’s on gamepass think I will pick it up.
@@expat8460 I played both of them in the last two months.
Both are incredible games, no doubt. I think the art direction and execution of Sea of Stars was better from pure graphical fidelity.
Chained Echoes had an absolutely incredible story though, and the combat system is much deeper than Sea of Stars. Both took me about 30ish hours to beat. I felt that the characters of Chained Echoes were also more developed and had far more personality.
Sea of Stars had much better puzzles, and I feel like the exploration and world design was better than Chained Echoes.
I really can't stress enough though, both games were incredible.
Thank you for giving a spotlight for games that goes under the radar, I would absolutely buy this on my steamdeck
I liked the many references to Chrono Trigger and the battle system that encourages the use of skills more than standart attacks. And of course, the sound track.
Got Chained echoes, sea of stars, and octopath traveler all on day 1 and i couldnt have spent my money better.
I've been gaming for years too and I have no problem with a game like this, I'll check it out!
This game is the best ever JRPG tactical immersive as hell . And perfect serious story with so many twist and turns . It's gripping and breath taking. The amount of talent love and thought this one developer put every other AAA RPG maker to shame.
Main characters have so much depth layers and layers of complex motivation and personality it's such a rare sight to feel those complex emotions coming from story and its characters . Truly A masterpiece
Dude the way you described how you felt after playing this game such as defeating a boss and the music, I think you would love ‘AXIOM VERGE’ (if you havnt played it all ready) the second boss fight in this game I mentioned felt like a transcendent experience, it was truly mesmerising and one of the greatest moments I’ve gone thru in a video game. I haven’t even completed it yet, I’m looking forward to the right time to immerse myself in it again, it’s one of those special games that really draw you in and make you think deeply about life and feels more than ‘just a game’ etc. I also can’t wait to play Chained Echos too! I have a few other RPG’s to get thru first. But I might give in a get it sooner. Great video I appreciate the enthusiasm! Cheers
Ill buy it after i beat Seas of stars
That’s what i did sea of stars is amazing make sure to get the true ending
Well said. This was an amazing game. Stumbled across it in gamepass, thought it was worth a download, and got hooked. Absolutely worth a shot for anyone growing up w/ these kind of RPGs
Gotta admit, this caught me off guard…I enjoy this earnest coverage, this was an excellent review!
Don’t get me wrong though, the way you dismantle “brand b*tches” is hilarious!
It's a great game, this and Octopath traveler 2 made me love JRPGs again.
You didn't mantion that this gsmr requires ZERO grind as you level up each time you defeat a boss .
Thanks for the recommendation. I know exactly of the games you mentioned in the beginning of the video as being some of my favorites. Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VI. Xenogears I never got into but heard it was great.
I was debating on whether or not I was going to get Sea of stars first or chained echoes. And it looks like I'm going to get chained echoes first.
Be warned, played CE first is gonna make Sea of Stars combat feel like a slogfest :P. Also Sea of Stars takes a while to get going storywise, but it also gets awesome.
Enjoy CE.
Yeah I couldn't even get into SoS after playing Chained Echoes, everything from the combat, to the dialogs, the writing, the story... felt much better in CE. The only thing I think SoS may have done better is the pixel art and again this isn't whats really important in a game like this. It adds value but it doesn't make the game better. I just couldn't get through SoS, will buy it again after it gets a discount because 30€ werent worth it for me and I just refunded it.
I played this in December when it dropped in Game Pass...so good !!! Really bought me back
I enjoyed this one but imo Radiant Historia (not to be mistaken for the unrelated radiata stories) from the DS (with a really smart 3DS revamp) is the real chrono trigger spiritual successor that people completely missed. It’s *SO* fucking ambitious in scope with being able to jump to any point on a massive tree of alternate timelines at will, while *something* apocalyptic is fucking *eating* the past behind you. The pixel art rocks and the combat system is pretty unique in its positional approach to xenogears/saga’s stagger/topple/launch/smash colliding with persona style turn/delay stacking. It’s still a surprise how many games can still make you feel starry-eyed in a world of absolute corporate gruel.
Absolutely agree!
Yeah I need to play that game. Only played it for like 10 minutes, just pretty inaccessible because it’s only on DS and 3DS
This was on my wishlist already so I guess I'll add it to my next planned purchases. Thanks for the recommendation.
I just finished act 1, this game is just something else, I can't promote it high enough, such a hidden gem, Matthias should write a book, not only his development ideas are great but how each character has such background, you could probably create a series with all this content easily.
I haven't played this one yet, but I love a good RPG. Turn-based ones most appealing to me. I will definitely give this one a go. Thanks for the recommendation.
I love you promoting a passion project indie title like Chained Echoes, Alex! I've yet to play it because of my own personal turn-based stigma, but I can appreciate a true labor of love and recommend it to anyone I think will enioy it at all.
If you also like classic Survival Horror like Resident Evil 1-3, Silent Hill 1-4, Clock Tower & more I suggest SIGNALIS! Another indie title from Germany like Chained Echoes made by just two people that reaches the exact same heights.
Lunar Silver Star Story really drew me into the world.
Those 4 answers are a perfect YES!!!!
Alex have you played the Legend of the Heroes game series? If not I kinda feel like you’d like it as well. It’s on steam and what’s cool about it is the story in each game is just one part of a much bigger story being told across every game in the series. It’s definitely one of my favorites
If I remember correctly he has a video on one of the Trails games.
Edit: It was a PC port review of Trails from Zero.
There's more to life than final fantasy, final fantasy is STILL chasing what Dragon Quest did in its first 5 games
My 10 favorite JRPG's out of my head are: Grandia, Astral Chain, Scarlet Nexus, FF 7 the original, Triangle Strategy, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth, Atelier Sophie 2, Shadow Hearts and Chrono Trigger.
this game is phenomenal. I got it on my switch since I enjoy playing turn based games on handheld and I haven't been able to stop playing
Man, videos like this, with so much passion and love for a game just make me buy games. I love gaming so much, and it makes me sad that I may never have the time to play them all.
Its crazy to think that the game was made by one person... I was blown away and the game went straight into my favorite jrp's of all times list, and pretty high rank too. I love pretty much all aspects about it and special honorary mention has to be given to the fact that you can summon a badass battle mechs to pummel your enemies into submission pretty much at all tiems lol (at least as soon as you unlock the ability to do so).. who can say no to that.
Turn based RPGs are not bad. The problem is how you make them, which has become more difficult over the time.
Persona 5, Like a Dragon 7 and Dragon Quest XI are good examples. The problem is those are the exceptions of big companies doing stuff like that...
bravely default 2 was fun but the time i got to end game i had become an op god plus haveing two classes at once is nice
@@subjectnivleis7572My problem with that game is that I ruined my own fun by abusing the Beast Tamer and dropped the game.
I think I've looked at this game like 3 times and just never pulled the trigger. Thanks to this video I will absolutely be giving this a buy
Another really great soundtrack that reminds me A LOT of Chrono Trigger’s is from the game Indivisible. A metroidvania/turn based RPG
Fun drinking game fact: If you take a shot every time Alex says 'Actually', you will die before this video ends. That is all. Foot Clan forever, baby.
Chained Echoes is awesome and inspiring that it was made by one passionate individual. Sea of Stars look to be another upcoming must play.
We've been getting some good RPG's recently, from Pathfinder Wrath of The Righteous to Baldurs Gate 3 which is the MOARPG's
I've had it on my switch for a while now. I finally sat down to play and my mind was blown. To think i waited so play this amazing game is nuts. This is definitely worth a buy!
Thanks for the video. I'm about a third of the way through chained echoes and can confirm that it is amazing so far
Persona 5 Royal, XenoBlade Chronicles 3 and XenoBlade Chronicles Definitive Edition SoundTracks are MasterPieces too
"It's also on Game Pass"
Say less Alex. This is getting played after Rift Apart drops.
My 48 year old ass has had to hold back tears a few times in this game. If this game had come out on the SNES we would be having nostalgia for it over the likes of Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana we would have been begging for sequels.
I'm just frustrated currently because I am stuck on some miniboss type character that I just cannot figure out how to defeat.😢
I’m about 6 hours in and it’s really good so far - flawless on Steam Deck too
I’ve never been an RPG fan at all. But I recently discovered Dark Souls and it’s right up my alley.
I’ll definitely have to give this game a shot as well. Thanks for the recommended. I was hoping you would go back to your classic “you should play this” videos.
I just started this game after hearing so many good things about it. I haven’t had a game keep me thinking about it when I’m not playing it for a long time and man the music in this game just gets stuck in my head! I LOVE the battle system is like a really engaging fun puzzle. Awesome video man!
I think my favorite song in the OST is got to be the Fields of Perpetua. The first time I heard it, I was blown away.
Started playing this game yesterday, just barely 2 hours in but I'm already loving it. Sometimes RPGs take ages to get going but here you get instantly hooked by the story and mechanics.
I feel you man, it really annoys me how underappreciated this game is.
I cannot express in words how much I love this game and it's unique approaches. I hope developer had great success with it, and I'd love to see more games from him and his apporach, no matter the genre.
yes Alex. i was mesmerirized by this game. SO fucking good. amazing artstyle, FANTASTIC soundtrack, FUn combat, dark story!
The final boss theme its one of my top 3 soundtrack ever!! Its even in my playlist when i go to the gym. Thats how good it is!! Its a beautiful masterpiece!! 🤌🏾
I really appreciate this review and the details of the combat and skill/class customization. I grew up with turn based combat RPGs being my all time favorites and eventually stopped playing them because combat turned into a mindless boring grind once you find the infallible action loop. You've convinced me to give it a try. Thank you!
20 seconds in. THANK YOU for listing Xenogears and not Xensaga.
Currently a few hours in as of yesterday not even scratched the surface
Great Vid
If Alex says a game is good, IT MEANS IT’S GOOD. His word is good!
I played it earlier this years. It's not just good, it's crazy good!
That's a lot of goods
@@ruudga1028it does not sound good, it IS GOOD!
Love the great energy. Awesome video. As someone who had lost interest in games, and found some other hobbies, I heard about this one and man this has got me excited to play something new again. You sold me lol :).
I'm so happy my name got to be in the credits.
The way I look at it, Sea of Stars is essentially a GBA RPG experience perfected. In that way, Chained Echoes is that same thing, but for the SNES era. I understand the comparisons, but they're both fantastic for different reasons.
I just bought it, let’s see if the himbo is right
Yeah Chrono trigger my favorite rpg at all time. Chained echoes a masterpiece I beat it enjoyed it gameplay story and music fantastic so far the best I played rpg last year
When I heard you talk about this game a week or so ago I brought it right away on steam and so far loving every minute of it on my steam deck.
Sir you've sold me 👀
Thanks for the recommendation Alex! I'll check it out sometime. If you've played the Xenoblade Chronicles games (other than gears) how would you say it stacks up in comparison?
I just got this game for switch along side Sea of Stars and I am so happy I gave it a shot. I love turn base combat and old school JRPG's and this game is spot on for everyone who is a fan of the genre.
we def need more content with games that you'd recommend! Just finished watching your remnant 2 vid & I'll gladly pick this up instead until they figure out wtf is going on over at gunfire lol
My issue with all these types of games (visuals wise) is that this camera perspective actively gives me really bad headaches. I keep trying to look further up to get reference points for where I am or the like and it gives me the absolute worst eyestrain because my brain can't understand the fixed perspective.
I couldn't agree more. This game is fantastic, among other things the soundtrack is off the charts 😎🤘
After i wrap up everything in The Messenger im getting straight onto this. Then my first playthrough of Chrono Trigger ❤
Still waiting on my chained echoes collectors edition it's been almost 2 years what is 1st press games doing
edit after buying and playing the game for multiple evenings
EASY MODE : if you'r having a kill / death ratio of 50 % ... go to settings, enlarge the ultimate bar, reduce the enemie statts, so you can propperly focus on the story
this game is basically either super hard, or way too easy, super easy is more enjoyable but they defenetly should work on some ballancing...
neat story and charackter arks story elements on lvl with secret of mana, evermore, teranigma
mechanics, surprisingly superior in comparison with a lot of jrpg titles, theres allways something new and catchy to find, a lot of little easter eggs within the game that sneakyly hint torwards games of wich it was inspired by
the biggest downsides for me so far are the map, can be overwelming at times and let you run arround for a while till you found the propper way of progression and the other thing is, there is a lot of "stuff" in the background wich is been used to exagurate what actually is there... like 10 out of 100 npcs are actually interactable, same shit did baldurs gate 3 in the main city and everytime i run up to a guy and cant speak with him, i get reminded that thats not legend of zelda.
but.... you can pet animals....10/10 for that i wonder if ill get a hidden reward for petting all of em xD other ballance issues i saw with battles specifical, wich can be very frustrating is, that the enemie is too intelligent on normal, they allways try to burst your healer, force you to waste your phoenix downs and put you into a situation from wich you cant come back from, its usually either you burst them or they burst you that is a big issue, since fighting in generell is pretty deep and cool, but if the concept doesnt work, cause you or the enemie dies too quick, it doesnt realy come into play wich is why i strongly reccomend to set the difficulty on easy.
one more thing... there is some daaark shit in the background happening wich gets barely hinted at, i think the dev wanted to stick to the pegi 12/16 but honestly, when you want it you should fcking roll with it, instead of half assing it on a way that it feels out of place... add an 18+ option and hit me with the gore instead of sweettalking me with "a dozent dudes raped a sister in the alleyway" i meaaaan.... when you add dialogues like that, usually there is a reason for that and the way that game is set up so far, i realy dont know if your doing yourself a favour with that. well at least when you're not planning of loosing both sides of the audiences.... i reccomend either, tuningthese dialogues a bit down, or way the fck up . they are out of place , the way they're implemented.
first comment onto the video without having played the game first
video: nice greenscreen, good pacing, good editing, high quality
content:
30 seconds into the vid, i can already tell that you have a very fine taste , a bit obnouxious that you didnt show Teranigma and Secret of Mana while xenogear and chronotrigger been basically copies of an earlie secret of mana developement process wich lead us to the final fantasy series but beeing a gamer and beeing a professional gamer has differences and i can see where you're comming from and what im about to expect from further commentary.
you're the type of " i loved final fantasy 6 but i had no clue, That someone of the Dragonball frenchise was involved in its developement"
so just clerifing you're a Casual gamer, with disney plus instead of netflix but you're not realy the type of guide for video games.
just in case you're about to say crazy stuff wich impacts actual gamers from their buy or buy not decision. (have not played the game by myself jet)
first edit: 3:34 , its non of my buisness, but do yourself a favour and stop squeeking arround with your stupid microphone before im getting a heartattack,
set up your stuff before you start reccording, before someone starts thinking you're doing that on purpose, because at that point, i will, point out that you're not a 16 year old girl in a fox costume screaming uwu into a pink penisshaped microphone while milking out the dollars out of your only fans buisness model and nibbling on plastic ears. dont be that type, while trying to bring a point across.
second edit: 4:14 you better have played Lylatwars before saying stuff like that.
third edit: 4:55 wooowooowooo.... now you're setting high stacks.... beating ff6? there is no better rpg on the planet, besides of maybe undertale so calm your horses, you're saying craaazy stuff now. ive heard enough critics about fighting and lvling up by now to know, that you're speaking bullshit. chrono trigger was a great game but it was not even close to be far away from getting close to what ff6 and 7 have done to the genre lmao there been leaques between those titles.
4. edit: the best thing about this musicpiece i heard was how they sneaked in undertales "Spear of justice" there at the end. besides of that, its everygames music, absolutely unrecognizable. im not humming.
*fun fact, if you want to hear CRAZY GOOD versions of spear of justice, check out the netflix series "my daemon"* when you're a fan of toby fox, that series sounds will melt your heart.
5. edit: i get that you're digging the game, and ill buy it cause of my respect for the genre and the effords of the guy behind the game
but im not allowing you to not call out
what the game could have done better based on what i heard from other dated reviews:
1.way too complicated level up system , the entire gemming stuff is so out of place that players wich 100% this game will not touch it for the duration of the entire game
2. the fighting drops in variety with the beginning of the 4. act drastically, since stuff you did for fun in the past, now becomes mendatory and force the player to do specific actions to fight a specific style wich as an endresult transform the fighting system in a duller , more shallow version of what it could be.
so there are deffenetly small ballancing issues that could become adressed
It is on game pass too. No excuse to not try it.
Just found out about this game. I heard someone here on RUclips mention that the developers made this game with great quality and gameplay similarity to From Software and Larian Studios games like DS and the new BG3 game so I'm playing it now. It's free on Gamepass as long as you have the subscription which is well worth it! I rather have my Asus Zypherus G14 on my side and a subscription to Gamepass besides my PS5. All the day one releases about to come out on MGP are highly anticipated so omg!! CAN'T WAIT! Anyways, I think Chain of Echoes was put up on MGP last year in December so can't believe I never heard about it but as I said, I'm playing it now and I think I'm enjoying it 💖💖💖. Besides, can't wait to play Baldur's Gate 3! Definitely seems worth it too plus it's said to be better than most Triple A titles recently released and is only $50. Larian Studios put alot of love into making it and did something old school; made sure not to include ridiculous microtransactions, made it classical old school fun, and made sure it was release fully done with quality on day 1 without the need for ridiculous updates on the first day just to enjoy it.
I miss xenogears so damn much. Started downloading this on the way to work.
So this one person made EVERYTHING the music the game engine all of the code all of the art all of the animations... No.
As a solo dev there is no such thing as solo dev
I believe it's on game pass too!
I own this on Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and Steam, lol. On sale right now on Xbox for $18.74 at the moment too (25% off).
Tx was wondering if it was on Xbox. Will go get it asap
@@Johnny2by4-sw1zxI believe it is on GamePass if you have the service, so could save some cash there too, but I bought it anyway 😂
Off topic, but what’s your workout regimen? You’re an inspiration!
I'm Grandia and Disgaea Gamer. I give Chained Echoes a try. Thanks Alex
You convinced me, I bought it $25 on steam
turn based battle is the best on RPGs, really I never get bored of it, action battle mode is not bad on new fashion games, but you cannot hate both, it is just gameplay
Thanks for recommending, this looks epic. I like this content, keep up the recommendations brother!
I need to get passed the part where the guards won’t let me go across the border. I don’t know what to do so I put the game down. It’s on the Switch too. I feel you bro though for the classics. You know what’s good.
Thanks, I’ve been looking for a game to play, I been mad bored for a while.
Waiting for your thoughts on Sea of Stars :) Just got Chained Echoes for my switch
Modern JRPGs should take lesson from this game, A real indepth story and challenging gameplay withouth some generic heroes beat the big bad and everything is ok.
As guy who grew up loving turn based jrpgs and being disappointed with the current final fantasy games this ticked all the boxes for me.
oh hi hazzadorgaming!
@@ioannisdentonHello 👋
Chained Echoes was my first turn based JRPG, and i cloudn't have asked for a more perfect game, and the price of this baby, OMG !!! But now i'm hooked and so afraid of finishing it hahahahaha
I always preferred turn based combat over real time because you can plan yout attacks ahead of time instead of spur of the moment.
Chained Echos is truly the best jrpg I played for a while. Even though it is the best jrpg, I still find crosscode as my personal best for its focus on level design, one of the best top down action combat, and the setting itself is well integrated to the game.
Don't get me wrong though Chained Echos is objectively the best jrpg out there, I just love Crosscode more lol.
Good stuff, Alex. Keep it coming man.
Okay you sold me with the music. Fire Emblem has some of my favorite music in gaming and the song you played gives me huge FE/Xenoblade vibes in the best way possible
I ran into a game breaking bug right at the end of the game........ played a previous save and ran into the same bug again. Never got to see the end of the game.
Whats the bug?
@@OhNoItsAlexx theirs a point in the game where you go back to the home base. Your character is supposed to switch from Glenn to Amalia when you get to the camp. When I go to camp it is still Glenn. I completed other side quests to see if that would get rid of it but it didn't work. I am not the only one to have this issue.
If you rate this jrpg a 9/10, what game(s) have you rated a 10/10?