Eiyuden Chronicle by Suikoden Creators Reveals New Details as Crowdfunding Passes $2.8 Million

The crowdfunding campaign for Rabbit & Bear Studios’ JRPG Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is ongoing, and new information has been revealed.

Today the developer posted an update with more details about the game.

More specifically, we learn about the Guild System and Rune Lenses.

“Guild System

In the Fortress Town’s early stages, you will need to take a direct role in expanding the town by gathering resources, conducting trade, and so forth. However, as the Fortress Town gets bigger, you’ll gain the ability to found “guilds”: a miners’ guild, woodcutters’ guild, guardsmen’s guild, blacksmiths’ guild, cooks’ guild, traders’ guild, etc.

Once you’ve established these guilds around town, they will start doing some of the resource gathering and other legwork for you. And if you expand the guilds further, you’ll be able to set up special detachment parties (separate from your main party) to carry out guild work and amass even more resources and funds. These resources can then be invested to upgrade the Fortress Town and its guilds even further.

Now, we plan for these detachment parties to actually move through the game world toward their objectives. And while the more responsible heroes may head straight for the finish line and mine the ore or defend the town that’s in trouble, other heroes may be more inclined to warm a tavern seat or take side trips. Not only that, depending on the abilities of the heroes you choose for the detachment, they may bring home extra resources. Or, if they are attacked along the way without an able fighter, they may be put to flight and return home empty-handed.

Basically, since your characters have a variety of abilities, you’ll want to choose your detachment rosters carefully to maximize your results.

Rune Lenses
Rune-lenses are the backbone of all power in the world of Eiyuden Chronicles. Lenses have different significance from nation to nation and culture to culture, but people everywhere have learned to harness their magical power and have handed that wisdom down—whether it’s to cast spells; use supernatural powers; or wield the lens symbolically, claiming the “divine gifts” represent a communion with god. The lenses are commonly crafted into weapons and accessories. However, the Galdean Empire has figured out how to amplify the lenses’ power by placing them inside specially engineered rings called “regules.”

The most valuable rune-lenses are sometimes handed down through families. There are also some individuals who are born with them inside their bodies. Many heroes have their own rune-lenses—no doubt you’ve noticed the back of Marisa’s hand or Perrielle’s hairpin—but you may also encounter heroes who don’t rely on rune-lenses at all.

The lenses’ importance carries over into the game system, too. By affixing runes to your heroes’ lenses, you can give them new magics and skills, or perhaps improve their physical abilities. Each hero’s lens is unique and supports runes of different type, rarity, and quantity. Some lenses may already contain a specialized rune that cannot be removed. Others may require runes of a certain type be affixed in specific positions. And when your heroes level up, the number of runes their lenses hold can potentially increase. We hope that players will use this system to create a roster of heroes that feels personal and powerful.

I wonder where else a brave adventurer might find rune-lenses in the world of Allraan?”

Interestingly, the crowdfunding total is now over $2.8 million, currently sitting at $2,835,865 and growing.

This means that Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes is now among the ten most-crowdfunded games of all time.

Incidentally, this also means that the “secret stretch goal” teased a few days ago has been unlocked.

Appropriately, it’s not a secret anymore. Here’s what it’s all about.

“Psychic Detective Agency – Set up shop in your fortress town for a detective with the special power to glimpse fragments of people’s pasts. This detective doesn’t flex those muscles just to gossip. It’s purely business. Perhaps this person will be able to shed a little light on our heroes’ pasts…”

Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes’ campaign was launched on Kickstarter less than a couple of weeks ago, reaching its basic founding goal in two hours and unlocking console platforms shortly after.

As usual, the success of this campaign shouldn’t be too surprising considering that it brings back together Suikoden creators Yoshitaka Murayama and Junko Kawano, and appears to be a spiritual successor of the popular franchise.

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.

You can still contribute to the campaign yourself at the official Kickstarter site.