Info about Chained Echoes:

Official game description:
Chained Echoes is a story-driven JRPG where a group of heroes travel around the vast continent of Valandis to bring an end to the war between its three kingdoms.  
In the course of their journey, they will travel through a wide array of diverse landscapes spanning from wind-tanned plateaus and exotic archipelagos to sunken cities and forgotten dungeons.  
Take up your sword, channel your magic or board your Mech. Chained Echoes is a 16-bit SNES style RPG set in a fantasy world where dragons are as common as piloted mechanical suits.  
Follow a group of heroes as they explore a land filled to the brim with charming characters, fantastic landscapes and vicious foes.  
Can you bring peace to a continent where war has been waged for generations and betrayal lurks around every corner?
Key Features:
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*   30 - 40 hours of play time  
*   Fast paced turn-based battles  
*   No random encounters; enemies can be seen running around  
*   Tons of items to be looted, stolen or crafted  
*   Complex skill and equipment system  
*   Customize your own airship  
*   Travel and fight by foot or in your Mech  
*   16-bit SNES style graphics  
*   Music inspired by PSX RPGs

Release date: 8 Dec, 2022

Categories: Turn-based RPG, Turn-based Combat, Single-player Story, Character Customization, Exploration, Resource Management, Mech Combat, Crafting


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Stunning graphics and music (weight 0.8): The game features outstanding graphics and music, with a beautiful pixel art style, fluid animations, and a varied soundtrack that enhances the emotional weight of the story and the excitement of combat. Many reviewers highlight the retro aesthetic and nostalgic feel, while also praising the high level of polish and optimization.
- Strategic and innovative combat system (weight 0.78): The combat system is a highlight, featuring strategic turn-based battles with innovative mechanics like the Overdrive system. This system adds depth by requiring players to manage a gauge for optimal damage and defense, preventing move spam and encouraging diverse skill usage. Battles are challenging but fair, with no random encounters and full HP/TP restoration after each fight.
- Nostalgic, classic JRPG feel (weight 0.45): The game successfully captures the essence of classic JRPGs from the SNES and PS1 era, evoking a strong sense of nostalgia. It pays homage to games like Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Xenogears while maintaining its own unique identity. The game blends traditional JRPG elements with modern design sensibilities, offering a refined and accessible experience.
- Well-developed and customizable characters (weight 0.15): The game features complex and well-developed characters with defined personalities and emotional moments. The character designs are charming and memorable, contributing to the overall aesthetic appeal. There is a lot of variation in building characters, with a large range of moves, passives, and stat upgrades.
- Party and equipment customization (weight 0.09): The ability to swap out party members during combat is a great feature, allowing for strategic depth and diverse character combinations. The equipment system allows for extensive character customization, enabling diverse builds like healing tanks or debuffing mages. The use of crystals for weapon and armor upgrades to build combos is enjoyable.
- Unique Sky Armor exploration (weight 0.07): The Sky Armor mechanic provides a unique exploration experience, allowing players to fly freely and access previously inaccessible locations. This feature adds a new dimension to area traversal and combat, changing the overdrive movement. The use of sky armors made sense in the context of the story.
- Engaging reward board system (weight 0.06): The game features a reward board that allows unlocking additional rewards upon completing certain challenges. The reward board is very rewarding and pushes the challenge further for full completion. The mission board guides exploration, making it easy to feel progression.

Common complaints:
- Poorly implemented combat mechanics (weight 0.8): The game attempts to innovate with various combat mechanics, such as the Overdrive system and Sky Armor battles, but these features are often poorly implemented and detract from the overall experience.  The Overdrive system can feel restrictive and random, while Sky Armor battles are often tedious and unbalanced.
- Inconsistent and unbalanced difficulty (weight 0.76): The game suffers from inconsistent difficulty, with some areas being too easy and others presenting frustrating spikes.  Enemies can be either damage sponges or capable of one-shotting characters, leading to an unbalanced and sometimes tedious combat experience. The lack of a traditional leveling system exacerbates these issues.
- Uninspired story and characters (weight 0.69): Reviewers criticized the game's story and characters as being generic, uninspired, and poorly developed.  The dialogue is often stilted, the plot relies on familiar tropes, and the characters lack distinct personalities, making it difficult for players to become invested in the narrative.
- Tedious and cumbersome upgrade system (weight 0.65): The game features a complex crystal/equipment upgrade system that many reviewers found tedious, cumbersome, and grindy.  The system involves excessive menuing, RNG-dependent crystal acquisition, and a lack of clear guidance, leading to player frustration and a feeling that the system is more of a chore than an engaging feature.
- Disappointing and unsatisfying ending (weight 0.64): Many reviewers expressed disappointment with the story's ending, citing issues such as rushed pacing, unresolved plot threads, nonsensical character decisions, and unsatisfying resolutions. Some found the ending thematically muddled or even offensive, leading to a negative overall impression of the narrative.
- Uneven character usefulness (weight 0.62): The game features a large roster of playable characters, but many reviewers found that some characters are significantly less useful than others, leading to an imbalance in character usage. Some characters are also introduced too late in the game to be effectively integrated into the party.
- Inconsistent translation quality (weight 0.57): The game's translation quality is inconsistent, with some reviewers noting awkward phrasing, grammatical errors, and even incomprehensible sentences, particularly in the later stages of the game. This detracts from the narrative and can make it difficult to follow the story.
- Insufficient in-game explanations (weight 0.56): The game lacks sufficient guidance and explanation for its various systems and mechanics. This can lead to player confusion and frustration, particularly for less experienced RPG players.
- Pacing issues and excessive length (weight 0.46): The game suffers from pacing issues, with a slow start and inconsistent pacing throughout the story.  The game's length can also be intimidating to some players.
- Repetitive and tedious combat (weight 0.46): Many reviewers found the combat to be repetitive and tedious, with battles often dragging on for too long.  The lack of enemy variety and the limited strategic options contribute to this feeling of monotony.
- Frustrating exploration and navigation (weight 0.45): The game suffers from poor map design, unclear objectives, and an over-reliance on hidden items and mechanics. This leads to excessive backtracking, aimless wandering, and the need to consult external guides, resulting in a frustrating exploration experience.
- Uninspired art and music (weight 0.15): The game's art style and music were criticized for being uninspired and lacking in personality. The pixel art style may not appeal to all players, and the music can become repetitive due to the limited number of tracks.
- Harmful flashing effects (weight 0.04): The game has excessive flashing effects, especially after defeating strong enemies and during the final battle, which the reviewer found uncomfortable and potentially harmful for people with epilepsy.

Gameplay feedback:
- Non-traditional, story-linked progression (weight 0.29): The game uses a non-traditional leveling system, often tied to story progression, boss fights, or exploration. Instead of grinding, players earn skill points or items (like Grimoire Shards) to unlock skills, stats, and equipment upgrades. This system limits over-leveling and encourages exploration and strategic skill choices.
- Manage Overdrive gauge for buffs (weight 0.23): The Overdrive/Overheat system is a core combat mechanic where players manage a gauge to gain buffs (green zone) or suffer penalties (red zone). Strategic play involves balancing actions, skills, and character swaps to optimize the gauge and prevent overheating. Some reviewers found the system disconnected or annoying, while others appreciated the added tactical depth.
- Strategic party-swapping combat mechanic (weight 0.15): The game features a party of 8 characters, with 4 active and 4 in reserve, allowing for strategic swapping during combat. This mechanic encourages diverse team compositions and tactical adjustments based on the situation. Some found it easy to stick to a single party setup, while others found the constant readjustment tedious.
- Mechs offer unique combat/exploration (weight 0.12): Sky Armors (mechs) provide a separate combat system with unique progression, equipment, and exploration abilities. They allow access to new areas via flight and offer a change of pace from regular gameplay. However, some found the mech fighting strategies limited or the UI cumbersome.
- Crystals enhance equipment stats (weight 0.11): The game features a crystal system for enhancing equipment with stat boosts and passive skills. Crystals can be found, refined, and slotted into weapons and armor, with the ability to fuse them for increased stats. Some found the system complicated or RNG-heavy, while others appreciated the customization options.
- Exploration incentivized with secrets (weight 0.08): Exploration is incentivized through hidden treasures, caves, side quests, and a reward board system. New gameplay elements are gradually introduced as the player progresses, encouraging revisits to discover more of the map. Item descriptions and character illustrations contain clues for exploration-related hidden side quests.
- Unbalanced stats, gear issues (weight 0.05): The game suffers from unbalanced stat scaling, limited weapon variety, and a gear system with rapid iteration, making early enhancements feel wasteful. Some systems, like aggro management, are poorly explained or feel unnecessary. The interface can be cumbersome, and some resources are finite, requiring farming.
- Simple puzzles, linear dungeons (weight 0.05): The game features simple puzzles and linear dungeons, with some branching paths for chests. The difficulty is moderate, requiring strategic team composition to overcome challenges. The game is semi-open world with a lot to explore.
- Full heal after each battle (weight 0.04): The game fully restores HP and TP after each battle, reducing the need for healing items and encouraging the use of all abilities without reservation. This feature, combined with the absence of level grinding, streamlines the gameplay experience.
- Complex equipment and skill system (weight 0.04): The game features a complex equipment and skill system, with frequent equipment updates throughout the game. It combines two different combat types: mechs and on foot. The game also includes mechanics such as picking up materials while exploring, a heat gauge system, cooperative attacks, and a 'Tiankai' armor system.
- Class emblems customize characters (weight 0.03): Class emblems provide stat boosts, skills, and passives, allowing for character customization and specialized roles. These emblems are often hidden throughout the game world, rewarding exploration.
- Seamless, non-respawning enemy encounters (weight 0.02): Combat is initiated seamlessly on the map without loading screens, similar to Chrono Trigger. Enemies are visible and do not respawn unless players fast travel back to their location.
- Open-world, linear story (weight 0.02): The game features an open-world style with opportunities for roaming, grinding, and side quests, but the main story is linear. It uniquely lacks a traditional leveling system and does not feature random encounters.

Performance notes:
- Good Steam Deck performance (weight 0.07): The game generally runs well on Steam Deck, with some minor performance hiccups reported. Battery life is decent, averaging around 6.5-10 hours on a full charge. This makes it a suitable title for portable play.
- Generally stable, one progression-blocking bug (weight 0.03): Most reviewers report the game is stable with few bugs and rare crashes. However, one specific bug in the side quest 'A Little Vacation' prevents progression, which is a significant issue for affected players.
- Display settings need improvement (weight 0.02): The game lacks ultrawide support and has limited window size options. Additionally, there are issues with fullscreen mode toggling and resolution changes, indicating problems with display settings.
- Inconsistent sound design (weight 0.02): Several reviewers noted inconsistencies and issues with the game's sound design. These include missing sound effects for abilities, inconsistent SFX quality, and sound synchronization problems.
- Minor localization issues present (weight 0.02): The game has some localization issues, including missing language options (Japanese) and occasional typos. While not game-breaking, these issues detract from the overall polish.
- Nauseating camera movement (weight 0.01): Some players have reported that the camera movement in the game is nauseating. This is a significant issue that can impact the player's ability to enjoy the game.
- UI glitches reported (weight 0.01): Some players have encountered UI glitches, such as textboxes overlapping or being off-screen. This may be related to unusual screen formats and should be addressed for better user experience.

Recommendations:
- Highly recommended JRPG experience (weight 0.95): The game is overwhelmingly recommended as a must-play JRPG, especially for fans of the classics. Reviewers praise its engaging story, innovative mechanics, and overall high quality, often citing it as one of the best RPGs in recent years and a standout indie title. Many suggest it's worth the full price, especially when on sale.
- Story and ending divisive (weight 0.05): Some reviewers had issues with the story, particularly the ending. While some enjoyed the overall narrative and character development, others found the ending disappointing, making it difficult to recommend the game despite its other positive aspects.
- Sequel highly anticipated (weight 0.05): Many reviewers express strong interest in a potential sequel, indicating a desire to further explore the game's world and characters. Some reviewers state they would immediately purchase or pre-order a sequel, highlighting their positive experience with the game.
- Difficulty can be frustrating (weight 0.04): Some reviewers found the game's difficulty challenging, recommending adjusting the difficulty settings or unlocking all skills to ease progression. One reviewer stopped playing due to frustration with a specific late-game battle. Some reviewers also advise against spending money on equipment upgrades early in the game.
- Desire for more world exploration (weight 0.02): Reviewers express a desire for future games set in the same world to explore more of the lore, atmosphere, and characters. They hope the developer will revisit the game's setting and create more games using the same mechanics and background lore.
- Overdrive mechanic disliked (weight 0.02): Some reviewers disliked the Overdrive mechanic, particularly in Sky Armor Battles. One reviewer was enjoying the game until the introduction of Sky Armors, and another cannot recommend the game due to the overdrive battle mechanic.
- Suggests alternative games (weight 0.01): Some reviewers suggest playing other established games instead, such as Sea of Stars, Dread Delusion, or Nier. One reviewer strongly advises against purchasing the game.
- Anticipating DLC content (weight 0.01): Reviewers are looking forward to the DLC and any future games in store. One reviewer is still thinking about the game.
- Casual-friendly, portable gameplay (weight 0.01): The game is well-suited for casual players, with adjustable difficulty settings. It is also considered perfect for playing on a portable device, with fun gameplay and skillsets to play around with.

Other player notes:
- Solo developer achievement (weight 0.11): The game was primarily developed by a single person, Matthias Linda, over several years. Reviewers are impressed by the scope of the game considering its development was largely a solo effort, especially for an indie title.
- Classic JRPG inspiration (weight 0.08): The game features a 16-bit visual style reminiscent of classic JRPGs like Final Fantasy 5 and 6, and contains numerous references and easter eggs from other JRPG titles and Japanese ACG culture. The game's charm lies in its mechanics and atmosphere.
- Fantasy and sci-fi blend (weight 0.02): The game blends high fantasy with sci-fi elements, explaining the coexistence of magic, swords, electricity, and mecha in the world of Valandis. It also subverts JRPG tropes, avoiding typical male-lead savior narratives and damsel-in-distress female characters.
- Translation issues and fan patches (weight 0.02): The game has some translation issues, with errors and a lack of official support for some languages. However, unofficial translations and patches are available, such as a high-quality Italian mod.
- Player-friendly design choices (weight 0.02): The game avoids random encounters, unnecessary romantic pairings, and missable content. This allows players to explore the world at their own pace and find anything they missed.
- Dark but hopeful tone (weight 0.01): The game features a dark but hopeful tone with a touch of comedy. The plot is surprisingly dark but suitable for a PG-12 audience.
- Multiple main characters (weight 0.01): The story setup involves switching between multiple major characters, including Glenn, Lenne, Victor, and Sienna. The story progresses from focusing on various characters to concentrating on Glen, Lenne, and Victor.
- Excessively long ending credits (weight 0.01): The ending credits are excessively long, but players can skip them by holding down the flight button.
- Hidden content and inaccessible paths (weight 0.01): Some paths that seemed accessible early in the game remained inaccessible even by the end, possibly due to missing certain conditions. The game features a lot of deliberately hidden content.
- Unclear character motives (weight 0.01): Characters' motives are often unclear, creating uncertainty about who to trust. The story follows a "who to trust?" format with friends becoming villains and vice versa.
- Evolving JRPG narrative (weight 0.01): The reviewer compares the game's story favorably to Sea of Stars, noting that Chained Echoes has a richer narrative despite a simpler art style. Chained Echoes demonstrates how new JRPGs must evolve to remain worth attention after release.
- Upcoming DLC and Japanese release (weight 0.01): A DLC is coming soon, and the game will be available in Japanese at a later date.
- Hopes for JRPG evolution (weight 0.01): The reviewer hopes future JRPGs will ditch traditional elements that hold them back, such as spaghetti-hall map design with chests incentivizing being sidetracked over progressing the story. The reviewer speculates whether the 'bug' was intentional, designed to evoke the feeling of classic JRPGs with their inherent imperfections and community discussions.

Emotions:
No emotions}