CHAINED ECHOES - FULL GAME REVIEW - An SNES Retro Inspired Indie Masterpiece!

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[@WorldshakerX]

I love how games like Cosmic Star Heroine and now this are taking inspiration from Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6. With Sea of Stars on the horizon I feel like indie developers are filling the niche that Square Enix and others have abandoned.

[@brya9681]

yeah Squeenix has basically on their own decided turn based games are a thing of the past. Their loss, indie devs and Altus is just filling that void

[@alinaitzal1173]

@@brya9681 All Sqeenix can do is make Devil may cry action rpgs. NO DEPTH. NO TALENT.

[@kingkamina4953]

@@alinaitzal1173 I mean it does take talent and effort to make action RPGs….and comparing them to Devil May Cry is pretty high praise, not the insult you seem to think it is.

[@animegamergeek1427]

Thanks for mentioning Sea Of Stars. Never even heard of it & looked it up. It looks amazing! Now, I can't wait for it. Playing Chained Echoes now & waiting on Octopath Traveler 2, Granblue Fantasy & now Sea Of Stars

[@snapfrostzz9946]

This game is honestly a gem of a game, it’s so nostalgic, yet modernized, i highly recommend you do NOT SKIP this game , definitely worth the money and time

[@ccayco]

This is easily, EASILY, one of the best rpg's we've had in the past decade.

[@craig581]

Just finished it a couple of days ago. And i rarely say this about modern day indie JRPG's, but this is an absolute masterpiece.

[@brya9681]

indeed

[@Divine1Right]

This is a beautiful game. It’s hard to believe it came almost entirely from one person.

[@Sieghiro]

Honestly, I thought the no leveling mechanic would be kinda annoying, but it really wasn't for me. I realized pretty early on that upgrading equipment was pretty much leveling, encounters do give the materials after all, and setting the right skills and pasives helped too. At some point, my Lenne became a two turn one-shot machine to most enemies (bosses aside), but I guess most people do need that overleveling to feel stronger.

[@anthonyturner6399]

The game absolutely feels perfect to play and every single thing you do is meant to save you time. The devs didn’t want you to grind or spend needless hours doing things and in turn it made them cut less corners and it’s just a well polished game and I’m only 10 hours in

[@CountShadow]

This game is nothing but a masterpiece. I completed it this year and honestly, I could play it again already. The story, the world, the combats, the soundtrack ... everything about it is SPOT ON.

[@BacklogBattle]

DAVID! How does this keep happening?! We reviewed the same game AGAIN! 😂 Kidding aside, I loved this game and how many callbacks it's got to some of the best JRPGs of the 16-bit era.

[@YashaD888]

The Odame Brown “you in danger girl” was the best part of this review 😂

[@serenavox5540]

This looks like something to add to my gaming queue! Thanks for the review. I am not usually disappointed when I wait to see what you think of something before I try it. ❤️

[@sab3rm4st3r99]

Its free on xbox game pass if you have that. I was going to buy it on steam, but luck was on my side and I decied to see what games I could play on xbox game pass first and this was on the front page lol.

[@bandrew1442]

OMG this game looks sooo good. I may have to give my backlog a break and start this, because it seems so up my alley.

[@DallasRico]

I'm doing the same thing. This immediately jumped to the top of my list.

[@jasonm7298]

This games plot sounds like the story of every single time I go to walmart.

[@robertogomez2932]

I’m on my second Play through of this game, I haven’t done a back to back Playthru of an RPG since Chrono trigger I have roughly over 110 hours put in this game is fantastic

[@theholeyfoley]

I gotta say that you're wrong about the difficulty and the need for an EXP system. You can absolutely grind in this game. You grind for money and materials to upgrade your gear. That's your power progression. I'm about 15 hours in and I can go back to the area around the first town and one shot the enemies there now. And because I'm so power focused on my builds, most of the bosses are trivial. But I also heavily exploit weaknesses. The game is built around that. If the enemy doesn't have an elemental weakness, then *give* it one. Bleed and Poison are also super good. I'm actually a bit disappointed with just how easy the game is tbh.

[@zalgradis6269]

Finally a game where someone figured out that the FFX system of switching members WORKED

[@Testiskulls]

Literally the only reason I won't but this, is because of the mundane and pointlessness of random encounters. I really dislike rpgs without experience so I can see myself marginally get stronger before I fight a big baddy. Truely is a shame because this looks like an easy 8/10 game for me.

[@jorgemedinarodriguez4996]

"Comparable to Final Fantasy 6", say no more, I'm sold. Great review as always, David.

[@dan_kotsu]

That small talk chat giving me that cross code vibes.

[@GodGoggs]

Pass for no exp for killing enemies that’s just bullshit.

[@dartfrogger]

This looks wonderful... but I have one question. Does equipping different weapons make them look different on your character? That's always a bit of a must for me. If they could do it in Final Fantasy 1.. why not everywhere, right?

[@WiiSage]

Only question i have is do the weapons the characters hold change visually ? Cause weapons like the spear look very generic in combat.

[@brya9681]

this game is a straight up classic. I gasped out loud multiple times during story sections, I gritted my teeth during fights and fist pumped when I beat them. I know you wanted to feel a little stronger, which is very vaild but for me I liked that I didn't noticeably feel like some Shonen anime hero, it felt like a struggle the entire time, which makes sense. You do feel stronger if you check out older areas, but I really enjoyed the feeling that this is a world with no numbers(level wise), yeah people in real life get stronger but you ain't gonna bench press a truck no matter how much you train. No game is perfect, but damn this is so close. It wears its influences on its sleeve but is 100% its own thing, a classics inspired JRPG but with modern game design that leaned from mistakes of games from the 30+ years of the genre. I was waiting for sea of stars but bruh, that game better fucking bring it because I find it hard to believe its gonna show up CE.

[@animegamergeek1427]

Never even heard of Sea Of Stars til now & looked it up. It looks amazing.

[@sidra_games4551]

What an absolute gem this game is. Such a great surprise. Thoroughly entertaining.

[@grimmftw8044]

There is no way I can wait for the physical... Looks like im double dipping!

[@jpower1414]

You initially put this game on my radar when you gave your thoughts on the demo. I just purchased it after seeing your full review!

[@jedirayden]

I'm pretty sure I received FF6 on Christmas of 1994 as well. And hearing this game compared to that masterpiece further solidifies my decision to purchase this game.

[@MrBreakthewalls]

Late to the party. I bought it thanks your recommendation First game I ever platinumied. Brilliant. First game I wanted to do everything. Reward board is addicting. I loved the story, the writing, the cast. Victor was my favourite. The big twist was good. Insane game, lot of callbacks to classic games

[@alkristopher]

You've probably figured this out already, but you can change the difficulty in the Options menu. Reducing enemy stats and aggressive behavior goes a VERY long way into making trash mobs more bearable. If anything, the easier difficulty gets TOO easy after awhile. Boss fights are over too quickly! Now that the Sea of Stars demo is out, I guess you'll be combing through there now.

[@CBZero]

Glen from Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, Lenne (Leene) from Chrono Cross

[@ShiroMatrix]

Thanks for this review! I was on the fence as far as buying day 1 vs waiting for a sale, and your major complaint about lack of exp/progression system in place similar to Chrono Cross would be a similar complaint I would have while going through this, so this has been bumped down to sale status for me.

[@ZenKrio]

Agreed.

[@henkhenkste6076]

your loss lol you hardly notice a difference

[@ahabgaddis7277]

Pixel art quality looks real good except the main char designs look awful, very generic and uncool looking. It's the one thing hurting this game for me on deciding to buy it. Think of Chrono Trigger and how unique and cool each char looks (the frog being my favorite). Those char designs are cool and exciting. Chrono Trigger wouldn't be as good if they went with generic main char designs like this game did.

[@brianbalcer]

I don't get the exp/level complaints with this game. You can still grind, but you grind for SP instead of exp. SP unlocks new skills, passives, and stat bonuses... the SAME exact thing that levels in other games give you. It's the SAME exact thing, just a different path to get to the SAME outcome. Normal battles are not useless as that is how you grind your SP to power up your skills and passives, and how you get your loot for deals and crafting. With grinding SP for skills and passives, gathering loot for deals and gear upgrade, crafting and combine crystals for boosts to gear, Rewards Board, Mech battles and gear, etc I would say this game perhaps has more to grind and tinker with than your normal JRPG where you just grind for levels. You can still power yourself up to be stronger than the story if you take the time to explore and get extra Grimmoires to unlock new skills, passives, and stat bonsuses. It's no different than your typical mechanic in JRPGs, it just takes a different route to get the same outcome.

[@sneslive1556]

46 hours for me to 100% it. World is interesting, so I hope they do a sequel at some point. Some of the lore books hint at things going on outside the continent and I'd like to see it myself.

[@derekrunyan5582]

I kinda got out of gaming after getting married and doing foster care. Just didn't have time. This game was my first non-mobile game in years and really made me feel like I was a kid again playing CT, FF6 and Wild Arms. While I understand your points about the battles being kind of long the fact that they are relatively infrequent really made this game for me. Lots of time to explore without being dragged into a fight every 10 steps. And last but definitely not least one of the best soundtracks I've heard!

[@Shandael]

Very good game, but I do take exception to the mention of them taking out most of the cursing, and toning down the conversations as being a good thing. This is a land that has known war for 150 years. War is not Mary Poppins and rainbows. It's harsh, it's brutal, and unforgiving. If anything, the game really lost a lot of its impact and atmosphere in the last minute changes to make it more acceptable to fragile players by whitewashing and candy-coating the whole premise of the game; to end the war and stop the slaughter of so many of its inhabitants.

[@ZenKrio]

Mmmm... Thats too bad, I was gonna buy this game, but if Random Encounters are that long and boring without any real gains from them? Well, let's just say the way Chrono Cross did it's leveling system was mostly my entire reason for hating the game, and it seems like it carries over to a lesser degree here. Either way, if random battles aren't worth doing, but they're here anyways, I won't be getting the game without more information...

[@1gr8chef123]

i got a RUSTY SWORD from a side quest. Does anyone know what to do wit it? Also on another side quest do you know where to find the critters/monsters in BASIL?

[@grahfkarate1799]

Been looking forward to this for years

[@TheMarshallayoung]

This game took me a couple tries to get into but once i did holy crap what an amazing game, its a total love letter to everything that makes JRPG's great and a shockingly amazing story. Did anyone eles get destroyed by ultros?

[@ToolFloydChimera]

Dumb question... has this been released physical edition yet? I can't find it anywhere

[@MikeB-kq9hv]

I've been playing it. Maybe it hasn't unfolded enough but I find that Battle system, leveling system and a lot of other stuff overly contrived.

[@Saturn2888]

The cursing in Chained Echoes is very immature. I can't play this with my kids, and it feels like it's designed for teens trying to sound cool.

[@DHamblen]

Love the review and excited about the game. But is this the kind of game I’ll need the “strategy guide” for so I don’t miss anything, or would you be okay if you don’t get every treasure?

[@davidvinc]

You're definitely going to have to explore, but I did fine without a guide! LOL

[@regisalbert3851]

Did you mention the musics ? The ost is incredible !

[@scorpiomelancholia1559]

I really wish you'd do let's plays again If atleast livestream them and play games like these Modern yet retro looking jrpgs etc

[@rubennunez1995]

Hi! Duration of the game? And what about the endgame? Thnks in advance...

[@kamer7687]

I just finished the first branching path, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I only knew about this demo from a video of yours during development, so thanks again for pointing me to it!

[@longtong9039]

Why does no one talk about the jank dialogue? It feels translated without being proof-read.

[@seanbcusack]

glad you got your channel back! can you respec once you use your star level things or are you locked in forever?

[@grahfkarate1799]

Tried looking for this on the ps5 network and can’t find it! Is it only on ps4 for some reason

[@wootsat]

>30-something years ago >in 1994 Wut

[@tomderry7295]

Look forward to playing it! so many games, so little time

[@anibalgrijalva352]

i found the move speed is way to fast.. i didnt like it. they needed to tune it down abit.

[@R3GARnator]

Really appreciate the indie focus!

[@IRgEEK]

Really nice post. Thanks! I have been absolutely loving this game. I've gotten far but still haven't figured out all of it's systems. Like how overdrive items work and when to use whatever, but I have had a blast playing it. Your post is much appreciated. Filled in some gaps for me.

[@davidvinc]

Glad I could help!

[@bossbattlebonanza]

I haven't had as much time to play this as I'd like but from what I have played I've enjoyed. My only criticism being the enemies are way to tanky. The prologue boss (kind of a tutorial) went on for a good 10 minutes... It just dragged

[@craig581]

There's an option to change it so that enemies are less tanky and are more manageable.

[@dominicbonora6099]

Did you say Breath Of Fire 🔥!?!?! 😮

[@Robster5886]

Looks promising, sadly the physical edition is exclusive to a limited publisher here in Germany with less than stellar reviews. :(

[@Robster5886]

@@SnowCoveredKK Well collectors love physical releases. Furthermore you can sell it if you don't like it.

[@paulpabustan6320]

waited a long time for this! Fantastic review as always David! I just wish they had physical editions on launch but I guess ill get it again if ever they do!

[@airdrighmor1439]

You can always import it.

[@Tinbeef22]

You are the reason why they release digital version first.

[@aaronpischke5019]

Physical editions are releasing summer 2023!

[@paulpabustan6320]

@@aaronpischke5019 i heard! might as well get it afterwards :D

[@stevenjohnson8736]

I waited for a long time just so i can FART one in your face because i know for fact u just love smelling my FART 😃

[@Koby411]

Was hyped for this game for a few years it seems like... but learning it uses Chrono Cross' star system instantly killed all hype for me.

[@usaskjock]

Really? Yuck !

[@trollingisasport]

Yeah, fuck that shit.

[@WiiSage]

Been a long time since ive played chrono cross, what is the star system again?

[@PigDaddy2020]

@@WiiSage A sort of level capping system that only lets you get so powerful before needing to beat a boss and get a star, therefore allowing you to start leveling again. Intended to stop players from needing or being able to affectively grind, while creating a more balanced difficulty throughout. Devs here have employed a similar system to ensure the combat remains a challenge, so you can't just plow thru everything by overleveling your characters. This essentially eliminates easy mob enemies or being able to decimate bosses, needing to rely more on tactics to win rather than sheer power.

[@janusheldon]

thats too bad, youre missing out on the game chrono cross was trying to be, the sequel chrono trigger deserves XD

[@Pennance]

Man i can't wait. Fantastic video as always!

[@kraenk12]

This game is a masterpiece.

[@Sothpawman]

Can't grind or gain exp from battles? the game competely lost me after I heard that. What a shame. Thanks for the info though David.

[@Terranigma23]

But you can grind SP for new skill. It's a good way to balance the game.

[@Terranigma23]

@@omensoffate it depend of the game for me. Exemple, I really like to grind metal slime in Dragon Quest, because they give a ton of exp (it'a like a huge dopamine shot in the brai lol). But just grinding exp against basic enemy it's really boring.

[@janusheldon]

so you dont like grinding, you like feeling/becoming stronger, then this game sounds perfect, you can feel stronger by actually playing/progressing the game instead of having to stop for 3 hours because you got to the first place metal slimes are found and you wanna gain a quick 7 levels XD

[@MrJeffreyrichards]

I am in full anticipation of this game planning to get it as soon as it launches.

[@nathangillmore5064]

An excellent review as usual, David! Definitely getting this!

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Thank you for your honest review!

[@jiraiya0698]

The art sucks but it seems like a good game

[@KrsJin]

Sigh, I don’t need more to play and this wasn’t really on my radar. But this review makes me real interested.

[@kodytiffany5686]

Chronno cross plus SNES FF3... please and thank you. Have yet to play but now have one more game to sink money into. A Kefka fused with FATE boss battle for victory over main story line would complete it.

[@peterjohnston775]

Bro did you spoil one of the main aspect of Glenn’s story about that voice?

[@davidvinc]

No? The voice pops up pretty early in the game, even in the demo I think.

[@steveharmon3293]

Thanks for the spoiler alert.

[@Eagleknight815]

Wow. Quite the praise to related it to FFVI. I'll check it out knowing you and I have very similar taste. So much so that I too have fond memories of Christmas 94 playing FFVI

[@jediguy911]

This is giving me Golden Sun vibes

[@jamesa.646]

How is the characters and story?

[@jrpgaddict7726]

Looks amazing 👌🏾

[@MondoJohnny]

hmmm well okaaaaay. And you promise this isn't some kinda asdivine shovel ware? I trust you David!

[@Sctn187]

I've been waiting for thiß to come out I'm ordering it as soon as I get home. I was wondering if you knew if there were any missables like trophies or side quests

[@animegamergeek1427]

Love this game

[@regisalbert3851]

Can't wait !

[@Sion_Ash]

Hopefully when I get paid I will get this. Thank you, David. I hope you fully play thr game on your channel.

[@rpgfreak9999]

This is a Christmas present game, right here. Make someone smile; make them happy this holiday season. Buy them this game. ❤

[@theoakty9242]

Best jrpg in over a decade

[@Pimpjira87]

The lack of an XP system is a small blow to my interest in this title but I think I will still pick it up. I don't mind the 'glimmer' system in Saga games/Alliance Alive too much so the system in this makes it seem like random battles won't be as much of a waste as in Chrono Cross, also a shame about the HP sponge mobs though.

[@calvinmatthews1527]

Alright, you convinced me Davis, this game is on my radar now.

[@10k-Noodles]

Game looks sooooooo good. Unfortunately, I think I spent all of my game money for a while. Gonna need to drop gift hints and hope somebody still loves me. That, or wait for the physical(?). Can't believe it was just the one guy doing this. Those Kemco rpgs, I could believe that. This looks like they got an expert team of KZbin jrpg fans together and let them argue over Chrono Cross. Meanwhile, in the next room over a team of really talented people were busy making a great looking game and wondering why they assembled that team of YT jrpg fans they had to feed snacks to.

[@J.W.79]

I just pre-ordered this game on the switch. It's supposed to be out tomorrow on 12/8. I'm excited! They just don't make jrpg's like they used to anymore. Chrono trigger for the SNES is my all time fave, right up there with the original ff7.

[@johnphillipsjr9700]

10/10 honestly. i dont even want to finish it. We need a series!

[@adamclark8994]

This looks promising so I will be adding it to my 2023 games to play list. Thanks.

[@Mclearmountain]

Everyone has been talking about Chained Echoes. Yours is the first video I checked out. I can see the game probably isn’t for me. Nothing really stands out or pops out about it compared to something like Sea Of Stars for example. Well done to the person or team that made this Indie, and I hope people who are interested check it out.

[@Ziko577]

I'm gonna pass too. I don't have time for pointless encounters or a slog of an endgame. It's on game pass but I think that time would be spent better on other games.

[@lostnumber08]

Excellent review! This is a must-buy for me.

[@theparadoxrejected]

I'm definitely grabbing this and the Crisis Core remake this week

[@farrants3249]

I can't find this game yet and it's supposed to be on game pass

[@Koatl]

This wouldn't have even been on my radar, but now I'm excited for it.

[@FullMetalB]

Yeah, I normally need that XP and level boost in JRPGs. I'm still so excited to get this game this weekend but I'm really worried now after finding out about the lack of XP or leveling. Oh no...

[@mewichigo3410]

I'm the same, but this looks so good, and the SP & reward board looks like they might give me a similar sense of accomplishment.

[@thehoff3189]

Thanks for this review David, I think I'll pick this up!

[@InitialDL84]

I put this on my wishlist on PS5, definitely getting it to play this holiday season. Too good!

[@gdgdfdddfd]

Great review! About how long would you say the game is?

[@shnrmn]

RPGs just can't get enough of 3 empires 😄

[@AirGearikki17]

I love your videos man! I love videos games

[@strsocerplaya9]

Glad to hear they toned down the cursing. Even my daughter rolls her eyes when there's too much cursing. Like, buy a thesaurus, ok?