Today Rabbit & Bear Studios had an update to share about its upcoming JRPG Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.
First of all, the developers wanted to confirm that, despite the publishing deal with 505 Games, the game won’t be exclusive to any store on PC.
If you were concerned about Epic Games swooping in and yanking this away from Steam (as it happened to a few Kickstarted games in the past), it isn’t going to happen.
“In combing through the various backer comments, it’s clear that there is a great deal of concern about Eiyuden Chronicle being released exclusively on a PC platform. As mentioned previously, we have confirmed with any potential publishing partner, including 505 Games, that the game needed to be released on PC in a non-exclusive manner.
We know that some people have had bad experiences with previous Kickstarters, specifically due to this point, and we wanted to reiterate our commitment to releasing the game without exclusivity to any one platform.”
We also get the reveal of a playable character and an enemy.
Barnard Sawad
Origin: People of the desert
Gender: Male
Age: 38
Favorite food: Spiced coffee
The enclaves of the desert are famed for producing well-trained, disciplined mercenaries, and Barnard is the leader of one such warrior clan. Armed with a slender, crescent blade in his right hand and a dagger in his left, he commands a unique fighting style as graceful as any dance.
To Barnard, a contract is bond. He would sooner die than break faith with a client. His people and the shi’arcs are sometimes rivals, sometimes allies, depending on who’s paying.
“A contract’s a contract. And a Sawad never breaks his word, or may the sands swallow him. Integrity is my people’s way.”
Kawano’s Comment:
I got “fighting with a sword in each hand”, so I had him mid-swing in an active pose in the first rough sketch. However, it seems it didn’t quite match the Barnard Sawad image…
Here’s the enemy:
Name: Wild Boar
Description:
This beast can do some serious harm if it decides to charge you. Whatever you do, don’t stand in front of one! Farmers are at wit’s end with wild boars ravaging their fields for food, to the point that entire patrols have been formed just to reduce their numbers.
We then hear from Suikoden creator Yoshitaka Murayama, talking about rewarding mechanics and… bento boxes.
“There are many elements that can make a game fun, such as thrilling action, a feel-good story, and puzzles to rack one’s brain over. And there are even more elements that make RPGs fun. I believe that the fun of Eiyuden Chronicle—and of RPGs in general— comes from the element of resource management. In short, defeating enemies and earning rewards.
With the money you’ve earned, you can buy equipment and get stronger, and then take down even stronger enemies to get even more money. In the gaming development world, we call this “expanded reproduction.” You invest the resources you’ve earned to earn even more resources. I believe that having that element scattered around in various forms is the fundamental joy of RPGs.
Put in some work and you can level up, get stronger equipment, meet new companions, complete dungeons, and progress through the story. In Eiyuden Chronicle, we also plan to include mechanics like expanding your home base, building new facilities, new minigames you can try your hand in, and new beigomas. These are the elements we plan to provide. Each and every player has the freedom to go after whatever goals they prefer—I believe that the fun of RPGs is in the culmination of those kinds of experiences.
Bento are Japanese lunches packed with various side dishes you can enjoy. We want to make a JRPG that delivers the same type of experience where players can enjoy a wide variety of choices.”
Last, but not least, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Director Osamu Komuta, who keeps the culinary theme going and mentions that a test build has been completed.
“We were finally able to give you a bit of a sneak peek at what’s currently being developed with last month’s update. What did you think?
The development team has finished the test build and is moving on to the next stage. We’re currently in the process of figuring out how to solve the issues and problem areas we encounter in the test build, as well as thinking about how we can reach the final product we’re aiming for. We’re also making decisions on how best to manage the information that will appear on screen, like the tons of characters, locations, and enemies that are present in those locations.
While looking at the characters, locations, and enemy designs, we’ve been coming at it like, “I want this character to do this kind of attack!” or “I want this kind of gimmick in this location”. Or how we can make even weak enemies look interesting and leave an impression. We have the most fun discussing those kinds of ideas, but…
In order to make those interesting things come to life, we’ve been poring over graphs and numbers, and talking through our plans of how to make it all happen, pretty much on a daily basis. Sometimes it gets a little tense, but the Eiyuden Chronicle team always pulls through with good spirit.
And in the midst of everything, the other day, we started gathering recipe ideas for food to put into the game. We’ve gathered character ideas,
but we think it’s crucial to convey the atmosphere of the world of Eiyuden Chronicle beyond the screen, which is why we’re also doing it through food! And now the time has come to showcase a dish that I’ve encountered on my travels!
This is a must-try that I’ve been really into lately. It’s a regional dish from Turkey known as hünkar beğendi, or “the sultan’s delight,” which is lamb meat stewed in a tomato broth and served with eggplant puree. I’m so hooked that whenever I find lamb meat at the grocery store, I automatically pick up some eggplant to complete the ensemble.
It even goes perfectly with alcohol! It’s also surprisingly easy to make, so please give it a try.
*Whether it will be used in-game or not is still pending.
And now that I’ve gotten hungry, I’ll be signing off. The next time we can show you some development screens is still a little ways off, so please bear with us until then. We look forward to your continued support!”
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes’ campaign was launched on Kickstarter a few months ago, reaching its basic founding goal in two hours and unlocking console platforms shortly after. It ended at a whopping $4,571 million, making this the third most-funded game on the platform.
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes will come to PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and a possible next-gen Nintendo platform in fall 2022.
For the sake of full disclosure, you should keep in mind that the author of this article is among the backers of the game.
Published: Mar 11, 2021 12:23 pm