Empire Chronicles

Wow. This game. I have so much to say, and I'm going to forget a lot. I have a lot of criticisms, so let me be clear up front: this game is a feast for RPGmaker fans. The good: -- Easily 150 hours of gameplay, in the form of four intertwining plotlines. -- Above-average writing, a plot that keeps humming along. -- All the things I look for in an RPGmaker game: exploration, monster-hunting, questing, puzzles, loot, absolutely massive skill trees. The bad: -- The introductory chapter is probably the weakest. It's confusing, and sets up some misleading expectations for the rest of the game. -- A lot of things aren't explained well. This is a game that really needs/deserves a walkthrough. -- Various bugs, misplaced objects, typos, etc. It's a massive game and mostly the work of one person. It should improve over time! The weird: -- I get the feeling that this is a passion project that changed quite a lot as it went along. There are a lot of systems that end up being unnecessary (I didn't bother with fishing at all), and (as alluded to above) the first chapter gives the impression that this started out as a Harvest Moon type farming game. Well, there's a big rugpull on that, and then the plot takes off like a rocket. I worry that players are quitting before they finish chapter 1! Summary: I've played tons of RPGmaker games, and I think this one goes on my top 5 list. It's rough around the edges, but has the potential to be a classic.

This is a real hidden gem in this price range. The quality of gameplay and graphics punch well above its own weight. There are so many characters woven into an intricate storyline that make you laugh, cry and get immersed into their world. Don't miss this diamond in the rough. Update. I'm over 160 hours into the game now and I'm in Chapter 5. It doesn't feel like the story is ending any time soon. The world is absolutely massive and there's so many new plot discoveries. The characters are awesome and hilarious, like a group of siblings. I saw a guy with well over 300 hours played so I feel like I'm only about half way through the game. Can't wait to see the end. There are a bunch of bugs but the devs respond really quickly to the issues and patches are released often.

Changed the difficulty while in the game from the storymode to the 2nd one the game got a black error screen saying to report the error and hit F5 to reload the game, I can't get past the initial splash screen now to even get to the main menu the error screen keeps coming up. Verified files and rebooted pc, requesting a refund as the Dev has been nonexistant since the game came out not even replying to the few threads or questions, have no choice but to leave a negative review and not recommend at this time. Edit: Devs are around responding now and helpful changing to recommended

Picked up this game for steamdeck and was pleasantly surprised. The story line is good and the battle system is also a highlight for me. The battles are extremely fun and the skill tree is just amazing. There is a lot of attention to detail in every aspect of the game.

A nice rpg maker game with a bunch of stuff to do. I kinda wish you could save anywhere instead of using an inn, as I encountered an out of bounds area in Limepost that resulted in me getting trapped and becoming unable to get out of it, loosing progress as a result. Overall though, I think it's an interesting game, and will be looking forward to what the game will bring when early access is finished.

The game has some performance issues in some parts of the game, but it did not prevent me from playing. The world felt large and the mapping was well done. The storyline and narrative centers around 3 different people, it kind of plays like Octopath Traveler. The Skill Tree system was cool, more enjoyable than traditional level-up system. The battle system felt like an RPG. It did the job it needed to do. There was a lot of different equipment to build your team. So far I haven't gotten to the meat of the story yet, wondering when that's going to happen. Sometimes I could get lost/not knowing where to go. Overall I would recommend but they still have a few rough patches to work on. Full Podcast Review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAGWDxi_mFE

tl;dr: A fairly long and pretty fun rpg with lots of playable characters, albeit can feel a little bloated/overwhelming with the amount of optional side-systems. Empire Chronicles is a fairly standard JRPG in its basic gameplay, with overworld exploration coupled with ATB-based combat. Combat graphics are pretty high quality, with most characters having different in-combat sprites depending on the type of weapon they're using, and some pretty cool skill animations. The story is told from the perspective of 3 differents parties, each with its own characters, story and inventory. Each party's story is split into chapters and the order you play them in is mostly up to you, though you do need to complete everyone's first chapter to access the second chapter and so on. While all the parties eventually meet and band together, you're still only allowed to choose and play with one of the 3 parties at any given time. During each chapter you have a clear goal, usually a location you need to reach, and you journey through plains, forests, dungeons and towns to reach it while fighting enemies and bosses. There are no random encounters and enemies are interactable in the overworld, defeated enemies don't respawn (stronger enemies will spawn in previous locations as you advance through the chapters however). A rather unique system is the ability to chop down trees and stumps and break down rocks with the appropiate tools, allowing you to essentially open up your own paths. Most chapters also have a couple side locations you can explore or side quests you can do along the way. Once the parties meet up, the entire map essentially opens, at which point you're free to explore wherever. The skill system is one of this game's biggest strengths, with each character having their own skill tree with dozens of skills; later on, certain characters can also learn skills from other trees to further complement their skillset. A lot of time can be spent just optimizing your equipment and skills. The game does have a lot of optional systems like affection with NPCs, various types of crafting, building a village, fishing, etc. I feel like most of these just bloat the game rather than adding anything of substance (most of these are also rather grindy), but they can be completely ignored if you don't care about them. I played on Brutal on my first playthrough and didn't have too many issues with the difficulty, though an average I'd probably recommend Veteran or Elite for first time players. While the game is complete and the main story can be completed from start to finish, it still receives constant updates, adding new content such as side areas and quests. Bugs are also solved very quickly once reported.

For a game made entirely in a paint by numbers engine, the fact that it won't even start is not a good sign. Watched some videos to see if it was worth the hassle and it looks to be an even ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ octopath 1 which is a god awful bar to not even reach. Anyone who reviews this positively should try and develop some sort of standards for how to be treated by people they give money to. Gross.

this game is ♥♥♥♥♥♥' huge. I'm like 25 hours in (it got left running a few times), and i'm just about to complete the third chapter (or the first chapter of the third concurrent storyline). I could have done it much faster on account of me wanting to explore the big world and do all the side activities (sadly, without much to show for it since I just dont have acccess to smithing yet?), but it feels like soon it will open up a bit more and let me actually revisit some of these places to rebuild the bridges and stuff. The combat holds up, its action bar jrpg combat, but the (15!) main characters all have interesting kits, and play differently somehow. I'm also only like 1/4th the way through any of their skill trees, and i'm excited to dig in deeper. Could see myself playing this game for many dozens of hours.