Eiyuden Chronicle Is How You Do A Crowdfunded Project, Not Star Citizen

If I was given a chance to relive some of the stuff I enjoyed as a child, I’d jump on it no questions asked, especially video games. What about you? Do you have some games you still remember fondly to wish to revisit if possible? I’m pretty sure you’re thinking of some of them right now. It’s such a shame that as rich as video game history is, it’s filled with many gems whose fate was nothing but abandonment.

The moment a particular entry to a series performs even a little bit under expectations, boom, axed. I’ve lost count as to how frequently this has happened. A lot of times, that’s just it for the series. However, in some rare cases, it breathes anew when the company re-releases games on modern platforms, or they live on as spiritual successors. The latest example is the Suikoden series, and its successor: the Eiyuden Chronicle.

Eiyuden Chronicle — A Brief History

You must be wondering, what exactly is Eiyuden Chronicle? To explain that, I’ll have to take you to the past, particularly to the late 90s. This is when Yoshitaka Murayama created the brilliant Suikoden series at Konami. A fantasy JRPG based on the Chinese Novel Water Margin and its 108 protagonists, the game consisted of creative party battle mechanics, explorations, and a thought-provoking story, all executed in a very appealing art style. 

Suikoden is a gem in JRPG history like none other and has garnered a cult following at this point. It received multiple sequels as well, but things went south when some internal problems led to the disbanding of the original development team. Despite that, Konami went ahead to produce another Suikoden without any original talent, which led to the inevitable horrible reception, and the abandonment of the series.

Konami: “The Suikoden team is now disbanded. We have lost our RPG know-how.”
byu/Tamed ingaming

Series creator Murayama and many other of the devs went on to form a separate company, the Rabbit & Bear Studios. Plus, they were eager to continue the work they poured all their dedication into in some way. This continuation was in the form of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, and they started a Kickstarter game to fund the game.

Considering how much people admired the original Suikoden, this Kickstarter surpassed the $500,000 milestone in mere hours, which gave the developers confidence that yes, this could work. It eventually did work, and now Eiyuden Chronicle is about to release two games, the prologue Rising, and the final Hundred Heroes. The trailer and the beta are here, and I must say it’s looking like a real treat; it’s the Suikoden I fell in love with.

Eiyuden Chronicle Respected Its Supporters

Do you know what my purpose is in discussing Eiyuden Chronicle’s story? It’s to establish right away that crowdfunding can do a lot of good if the developers handle it with utmost responsibility and respect the backers and their funding. 

Crowdfunding has gathered a lot of negative opinions recently, because of a certain project. That is none other than Star Citizen, the eternally funded game that gives Kickstarter campaigns a bad name and makes them out to be some sort of money-extracting scheme.

Just take a look at Eiyuden Chronicle. The dev team started the Kickstarter campaign for Hundred Heroes, but when there were inevitable delays in its production, they went ahead to release a short game called Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising. This was done as a stretch goal, and to thank all of the people that contributed to the production.

Eiyuden Chronicle delayed til Q2 of 2024
byu/IAteTheDonut inEiyudenChronicle

Delays are unavoidable, sure, but that doesn’t mean you use them as an excuse to get more money and do nothing to show for it. Rabbit & Bear Studios releases a whole game as both a prologue to the full story, and to let its fans and supporters know that the project is well underway and will surely reward their patience. It was a respectful gesture and I genuinely appreciate the developers’ goodwill.

“Star Citizen Is A Scam” And I Can’t Help But Agree

On the other hand, just take a look at Star Citizen. It’s been “in development” for a lot more than a decade at this point and has amassed a sum no other project has in history. Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes was released in four years, with a second game in tow, all within the budget of around $4.5 million.

In comparison, Star Citizen has collected much more than $600 million, yet it’s no closer to a release than it was a decade ago. It’s in a forever alpha, with stuff that can’t hold a candle to what was promised. Where is all that massive budget even going I wonder. There are too many internal disputes and mismanagement to justify Star Citizen as “no, it’s not a scam.”

Star Citizen – A Scam from Day One: The Evidence
byu/NEBook_Worm instarcitizen_refunds

Star Citizen alone has made people a little too wary of crowdfunded projects in general. There is a vast majority who think Star Citizen is nothing more than a blatant scam, and they’re not even hiding it at this point. How’s that? Every year Star Citizen comes up with an absurd pack of ships you can purchase.

3000$ for a space ship isn’t exactly what i call a ‘microtransaction’
byu/DoorUs55 instarcitizen

You must be wondering “Oh, microtransactions?” There’s nothing remotely “micro” about these. They cost tens of thousands of dollars, the latest pack costing a whopping $48000, which is plainly ridiculous. You’re a game that practically owes its existence to crowdfunding, yet you’re shamelessly demanding more money with these absurd packs and still have nothing to tell fans about when to expect the game. I just have no words.

When I See Star Citizen, My Respect For Eiyuden Chronicle Only Grows

All in all, we have two very contrasting examples of what crowdfunding can accomplish. On one hand, there’s Eiyuden Chronicle, which not only is a worthy successor but presented a second game to compensate fans for the delays and respect their funding. The other is Star Citizen, which continues to leech off the goodwill of people who wish to see it completed.

Backers, we hope you are enjoying the Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Beta! It is all thanks to you that we have made it to this point in our journey. Please let us know what you think of the Beta so far.
byu/MrGameTheory505 inEiyudenChronicle

At this point, I have given up all hope on Star Citizen and joined up with people who consider it a blatant scam. But that doesn’t mean crowdfunding should be abolished. There are projects like Eiyuden Chronicle that genuinely respect your money, and this deserves it. If our funding can realize creative projects like this, I’m all up for it.