Chained Echoes: 16-bit Renaissance

I’ve been writing about video games for over a year now, and I realize that I’ve never yet talked about J-RPGs, a genre I’ve been particularly fond of since my childhood. After discovering Pokémon Red on Game Boy, Star Ocean, Suikoden II and the Final Fantasy license with VII, it’s a genre that has never let me go. To my great delight, it has come back with a vengeance in recent years, gracing us with varied, high-quality offerings. The choice of the game I’m talking about today is not insignificant, as it directly evokes this first golden period for the genre, as well as all the feelings I felt as a child discovering them. This game is Chained Echoes.

Genesis

The first thing to note is that Chained Echoes was developed by a German solodev named Matthias Linda. He has been a J-RPG enthusiast since childhood, having spent dozens of hours on Xenogears, Suikoden 2, Secret of Mana, Legend of Dragoon and, of course, Final Fantasy VI. Influenced by such icons, he even tried his hand at creating his own stories on RPG Maker during his teenage years. He admits to having had one model of choice to guide his early work: Final Fantasy VI.

Today, he remains marked by the turn-based J-RPGs of his childhood. It was these games, above all others, that inspired the universe, story and systems of Chained Echoes.

It was with all these influences in mind that Matthias Linda set to work in 2015 to lay out the first lines of his universe and the main thrusts of his story. Development of the game began in 2016, with a single goal in mind: not simply to copy his references, but to create a game that would live up to the nostalgia he feels for his titles. A game that uses its heritage to create something new.

Development got underway and, in 2019, Linda delivered a 90-minute playable demo and announced the start of a Kickstarter campaign to help him finance the game’s overflowing ambition and extend the development timeframe. The success of the campaign enabled him to continue with the project as he had imagined it, without the scope of the game taking on an inordinate magnitude.Matthias will admit, however, to having cut certain key features from his game. For example, as an inveterate Chrono Trigger fan, he had imagined a game with several endings, depending on the choices made and the companions encountered during the Valandys adventure. But, for the sake of his story and message, he didn’t want to include them.

Perhaps it’s an idea he’ll take up again in Chained Echoes‘ DLC, Ashes of Elrant, which was announced during the writing of this paper. The DLC is scheduled for 2025, and will feature the continent of Elrant, a new playable character and an entirely new story arc.

Development is proceeding relatively smoothly despite the accumulating years. Matthias Linda calls on composer Eddie Marianukroh to create the game’s music. After 7 long years of development, the project comes to an end and is released on all platforms in December 2022.

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a movement in European history that glorified Greco-Roman literature, philosophy and art, employing all the know-how accumulated over time and the trends of the times in terms of art. Chained Echoes is its videogame equivalent, except that it is not based on the ancient arts, but on the golden age of the J-RPG.Chained Echoes appears at first glance to be a quotation of its greatest works, while modernizing every aspect of them. Matthias Linda picks and chooses from a variety of influences: sometimes an idea from one of Chrono Trigger‘s gameplay mechanics, then an aspect of the universe of a Final Fantasy episode. The result could be an incoherent mix, a melting pot of influences that would result in a generic game that goes no further than a simple homage, but this is not the case. Chained Echoes exudes originality from every pixel. While it’s deeply nostalgic in many ways, it doesn’t forget to look at what’s been done to date, so as to offer a work that, despite its strong influence from the J-RPGs of the 16-bit era, isn’t outdated.

Universe

Set in the world of Eldrea, Chained Echoes offers us a rich, ancient continent over 3,000 years old to explore: Valandis. A continent torn between three great kingdoms – Taryn, Escanya and Garvos – who have been battling for control of the territory for 150 years. In terms of its universe, The Continent of Valandis has nothing to envy many of the genre’s classics, while relying on familiar tropes. First and foremost, it’s a universe that blends medieval ambience with technological elements. One example is the celestial armor, a direct reminder of the magitek armor in Final Fantasy VI. As you can see, like many J-RPGs, we’re dealing with a world where magic and technology meet and, after a certain point, merge. We discover a land plagued by war between rival factions, where politics, the army and religion are pillars. It’s a world where the small problems of everyday life rub shoulders with the great stories of destiny. It’s an ancient land, steeped in history, where many mysteries are waiting to be solved. We’re going to face many difficult moments, whether they involve large-scale issues such as war, famine or disease, or very intimate ones, linked to concrete feelings such as remorse, doubt or fear. We meet people devastated by war, individuals who have lost everything, still traumatized by the horrors they have experienced. This world is also filled with legends and beliefs that enrich its lore and give shape to its history. It is large, complex and steeped in mystery, three elements that make it the perfect candidate for a rich and profound story.

The continent of Valandis is deeply marked by the notion of destiny and repetition, directly materialized in the game by echoes. Echoes represent souls reincarnating in new bodies, death after death, and pursuing the same destiny. It’s worth noting that this notion of echoes resonates directly with the theme of rebirth, Chained Echoes itself being in some way an echo of the glory of past J-RPGs. Going even further, at a time when J-RPG licenses were renowned for representing the vision of a known and recognized creator – Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yoshinori Kitase or Yuji Horii, to name but a few – being a solo dev is a kind of realization of this legend of the visionary creator that still lives on today. If Valandis is such a compelling world, it’s because it’s driven by the grandeur of its influences and the accuracy of its writing.

Writting

I think the writing is one of Chained Echoes‘ greatest qualities. For a start, every character, whether main or secondary, protagonist or antagonist, is written with the same care. They come with a rich background, credible personal motivations and their own place in the game’s universe. Some, like Glenn, are broken souls, while others, like Kylian, hide deep secrets that are revealed as the adventure unfolds. Glenn may be considered the main character, but among the dozen or so recruitable characters, all have dense, complex stories that have the luxury of resonating with the title’s main quest. We feel the same attention to detail in the writing of Sienna, Lenne or Robb, and they will all have a role to play in the larger story. The game’s narrative structure is rich, and this famous great story conceals numerous plot twists, between betrayals, human errors and inextricable destinies. It dares to take a fairly straightforward approach, with a story that gets straight to the point. It’s an excellent choice when you realize how thick the storyline is. In the 40 hours that make up his script, there’s not a single dead moment, not a single superfluous passage.

Here too, borrowings from the classics are legion, starting with the name Glenn, inherited from the real name of Gren’s character (Glenn or Guren) from Chrono Trigger. Our hero shares a similar destiny and mindset with his Super Nintendo namesake. Namely, that of a chivalrous character, an excellent swordsman dedicated to protecting a princess. The introduction of the amnesiac, sheltered and hidden Glenn character is similar to the introduction of the Terra character in Final Fantasy VI. Glenn may also remind you of Final Fantasy VII‘s main character, Cloud Strife, who also underwent a highly traumatic experience that turned his whole life and person upside down. In the same way, a certain character and moment in the game may remind you of a certain Kefka from Final Fantasy VI. The game’s inspirations and references are numerous, well thought-out and, above all, perfectly integrated into the game’s universe and narrative.

Themes

Finally, Chained Echoes draws on the myriad of themes already tackled by its illustrious forebears. Whether intimate or more general, they are always treated with finesse and depth. If I have to single out one main theme in this title, it’s that of redemption. In a world at war, broken lives multiply and, with them, reasons to seek redemption. Right at the start of the game, Glenn (yes, I know, always that cursed Glenn) is responsible for a catastrophe causing the death of thousands of people, without even having understood how. Thinking he’d put an end to the war, he’s reduced an entire kingdom to rubble. With Glenn, the game tackles a whole theme of war and its horrors, weapons of mass destruction and life afterwards. Glenn is a traumatized character on a perpetual quest to understand and make up for the irretrievable. He was accompanied by another protagonist at the time of the disaster, Kylian, who is also in great distress and desperate between his own remorse and the serious illness his sister is suffering from. Then there’s Lenne, a princess on the run from her kingdom and hiding her identity, accompanied by her squire Robb. These are just a few examples of the game’s characters.

To this notion of redemption, we must add the notion of destiny, the force that guides the life of every being on the Valandis. Each being is assigned the destiny linked to its echo and will, life after life, pursue the same goal and face the same trials. Beings determined from birth to suffer, to make others suffer, then to redeem and rebuild themselves.

Gameplay

The J-RPG is also a whole set of codes and systems that make the genre what it is, and Chained Echoes takes its inspiration from the best. It’s a genre that evokes for me an exhilarating sense of exploration, escalation, strong and engaging characters, a compelling story and epic confrontations. Chained Echoes combines all these feelings and even takes the liberty of adding a surprise.

Exploration

Any self-respecting J-RPG needs to offer satisfying exploration, and Chained Echoes meets the challenge perfectly. It’s a direct invitation to the sense of adventure that its illustrious predecessors have managed to give us. To fail to explore in Chained Echoes is to miss out on the richness of the experience sought, as well as the means to greatly enhance our characters. Exploration takes place in three stages. There’s exploration on foot, which is slower and more detailed. We’re vulnerable to the attacks of the monsters we come across, and unable to reach certain areas. Each region is large, with a wealth of secrets, bosses and side quests. Then comes a second exploration, as we obtain the celestial armor. We can now navigate the same areas we’ve explored on foot, but by air. Flying gives access to new areas inaccessible on foot. We navigate the zones more fluidly, avoiding combat in favor of searching for caves and other hidden temples. A final stage comes with the opening of the exploration of the famous world map inherent to the genre. This takes place fairly late in the game, after the aircraft has been recovered. The aircraft can now be used to discover new locations directly from the world map, offering combat, loots, stories and, on rare occasions, even new travel partners. Exploration also allows you to collect a whole range of items needed for crafting, in the style of Monolith Soft’s Xenoblade series, or items sought by town merchants, as in Final Fantasy XII or, more recently, Unicorn Overlord.

Combat

When it comes to combat, Chrono Trigger‘s inspirations are numerous. For example, Matthias Linda takes up the idea of making enemies appear on the map. In this way, there are no random battles in the game. A surprising choice for the genre, but perfectly supported by other decisions. In Chained Echoes, you’ll recover your life and mana between battles. Battles are not designed to be a succession of small confrontations that drain your resources, but rather as independent challenges. Each battle appears as a puzzle that must be solved in order to overcome your opponents. In this way, we’re pushed to give our all to win, and not to play it safe. The result is a real sense of satisfaction in every battle, even against enemies who are usually insignificant. This philosophy gives the impression of fighting to survive at every moment, rather than passing waves of enemies designed to gradually weaken you before you finally come across a boss worth fighting for. Matthias Linda also asked himself about the balance between turn-based and real-time, a question that has recently come to the forefront of the J-RPG scene with the latest productions from Square Enix or Atlus. In an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun, he declares:

For this, he has found a formula that alternates, as always, between modernism and classicism. Chained Echoes is a classic turn-based game, but one that multiplies its mechanics to energize its rhythm. As with the exploration, battles are first fought on foot, then, after a certain point in the story, in celestial armor. While both combat configurations share the same major mechanics, their scales and our characters’ skills are quite different. It’s like discovering a new team of fighters halfway through the game, and it’s very refreshing. The confrontations themselves allow us to choose 8 fighters: 4 active and 4 in reserve, with the freedom to swap them on the fly. Of course, certain archetypes or skills allow for combos and synergies that you’ll be free to discover. It’s classic, but devilishly effective. This freedom adds extra depth to the way we approach each battle. The combat system is based on a traditional system of elementary resistances and weaknesses, so there’s nothing new to be found there either.

It was with this mechanic that Matthias Linda came up with perhaps one of his best ideas for modernizing the game’s combat system: the synergy gauge. Present in both foot and celestial armor battles, it dictates the entire rhythm of confrontations. It indicates the state of our characters in combat. It is materialized by a bar at the top left of the screen, with a yellow zone to its left, a green zone in the center and a red zone to its right. The yellow zone corresponds to the neutral zone where combat begins; the characters attack, but without yet deploying their full power. The green zone represents the moment when characters are at their best: attacks hurt more while costing half as much mana. Finally, the red zone indicates that fighters are tired, with attacks costing more mana and inflicting less damage. The challenge in battle is to keep the overheating gauge in the green. Every action will push the bar towards the red; only certain skills will move it towards the yellow. There’s also a small element of chance: each turn, the overheating gauge displays a different type of attack. If the player executes it, the group’s overheating will drop significantly. Battles are a constant alchemy between the desire to use our most optimal skills and the need to keep our characters out of the red zone.

Battles in Chained Echoes are constantly challenging and constantly renewing themselves. Attention to the synergy gauge must be constant; one mistake can literally turn a seemingly foregone battle on its head. It adds a welcome extra pressure, because as well as having to deal with everything that a turn-based combat system implies in terms of strategy, we now also have to deal with that overheating gauge that rises and falls in real time with every action we take. They are an almost perfect blend of past inspiration and original mechanics.

Progression

Another element that’s part of the fun of this kind of game is the lengthy character progression. Experience gauges, levels, skill levels, item levels, job mastery levels, relationships between characters… In short, you’re familiar with all these mechanics dedicated to progression. Chained Echoes does away with many of them, starting with the experience gauge. Characters in Chained Echoes don’t have experience bars, or even levels, because the game’s philosophy simply doesn’t require them. Battles representing challenges in which you have to find the right combination of characters and skills have no interest in being forced by too wide a gap in stats. The game chooses when to advance its characters, often after major moments in the story or bosses, by giving them a grimoire point to spend in their respective skill trees. In this way, the player doesn’t really have to worry about being up to speed for a fight, and Matthias Linda manages to keep the game balanced throughout. Thanks to this combination, it also frees itself from the sometimes redundant farming of 90s J-RPGs. What could be a flaw, Matthias Linda turns into a strength of his title.

Alongside this originality, inherited from a game like Chrono Cross, there are much more classic systems, but here too they are perfectly integrated into the game’s other mechanics: crafting, equipment upgrades and jewelry, which allows you to create gems. These gems provide stats bonuses or new skills. This is a direct reference to Final Fantasy VII’s famous matérias system.

Jobs

As you may have guessed, we’re talking about the last important system in a J-RPG: jobs. Chained Echoes adopts a particular philosophy here too, but always in keeping with the other choices made regarding systems. In many J-RPGs, jobs are something innate, something that comes with a character. In others, characters can take on or learn any number of roles, which are readily available in large numbers. Chained Echoes does just the opposite. Jobs are a precious asset that you’ll have to earn. They require a combination of extensive exploration and side dungeons. To get a job, you’ll need to find the corresponding statue in the lands of Valandis. Once you’ve found the statue, you’ll need sacred water to trigger a boss fight. There’s no miracle in obtaining this water: exploration is your friend here too. Once the boss has been defeated, you can finally enjoy your new, hard-won job. Other jobs require you to complete side quests in order to unlock them. There are 12 in all. Fortunately, this apparent difficulty in finding them is counterbalanced by the power they bring you: a big stats boost, of course, but above all powerful skills. Jobs are just one example of how Chained Echoes remains focused on exploration and a sense of adventure.

Art direction and OST

16 bits oblige, so let’s talk briefly about pixel art. Chained Echoes shines in terms of detail and color. It features vivid atmospheres, detailed scenery and some breathtaking panoramas. I can only speak of the clouds; rarely have I seen clouds with such attention to detail to create volume. Combined with the brilliant blue of the sky, they give the landscapes a striking rendering. How can we not think of the town of Farnsport, with its brilliant blue skies, multi-hued roofs and colorful pennants waving in the streets? The pixel-art characters are richly animated and feature sublime dialogue portraits with all the patina of their ancestors. The monsters are varied, and some bosses have benefited from special illustration and animation work. Each city and region has its own identity and colors. The amount of work put into the graphics for a solo dev is colossal.

For the OSTs, this is the only point where Matthias Linda has called on outside help: he enlists the services of American composer Eddie Marianukroh. Here too, inspiration comes from the best, namely the work of Yasunori Mitsuda, with the participation of Nobuo Uematsu and Noriko Matsueda, for the Chrono Trigger soundtrack. Chained Echoes‘ music exudes freshness and a sense of adventure. The various themes always accompany the scenes perfectly. Despite the long hours in their company, they are never repetitive and remain enjoyable at all times, the hallmark of great OSTs. Whether for epic moments, fights or more tragic moments, Eddie Marianukroh always finds the right tone, the right style. He doesn’t hesitate to vary the instruments: electric guitar and drums for the fights, brass for the most epic moments, piano, guitar and even panpipes or accordion for the themes of certain towns and regions. Chained Echoes‘ sound accompaniment is pure enchantment, varied and coherent. I’m still listening to it long after I’ve finished the game.

Class Emblems Battle – Eddie Marianukroh

Rohlan Fields – Eddie Marianukroh

The Dancing City of Farnsport – Eddie Marianukroh

Conclusion

Chained Echoes is a precious, unique game, which has understood and digested decades of a genre to serve up a synthesis worthy of all the nostalgia it carries. A game that reflects the singular vision of its creator, driven by his own love for the J-RPG genre. To have developed such a dense, rich experience, brimming with ideas and systems, all by myself, is a highly commendable feat. For me, Chained Echoes is the standard-bearer of an era: an ultra-satisfying turn-based combat system, a rich and wonderful world to explore, in which to live out a fascinating story and meet characters as nuanced and complex as they are endearing. It’s a game of chance and destiny. It’s as much a nostalgic slap in the face as it is a marvel of renewal. It retains the best of the past, sometimes correcting some of its shortcomings, while looking its present straight in the eye. I’ll end by saying that, in the age of 2D HD remakes of some of the great historical licenses, Chained Echoes appears to be the remake of an entire era, without forgetting to be much more than a simple homage.

sources :

Katharine Castle – Rock Paper Shotgun – Retro JRPG Chained Echoes has all the makings of a modern classic – 8 November 2022
Retro JRPG Chained Echoes has all the makings of a modern classic | Rock Paper Shotgun