Despite its unique turn-based combat system, Chained Echoes fails to satisfy some hardcore JRPG fans. And many players are either looking for ways to make it more challenging or, the opposite, make it less frustrating. The only problem is that the difficulty settings in Chained Echoes are somewhat hard to find. With this guide, however, players learn how to change the gameplay difficulty to hard, normal, and easy quickly.
How To Change The Difficulty Settings
Chained Echoes’ difficulty setting is in the ‘Accessibility Options’ menu. To change it, players should pause the game, select System, and open the Accessibility tab in the Options menu. (Press the bumpers to swap between the tabs until you see the difficulty settings.)
Changing the first three accessibility options—Overdrive Area, Enemy Stats, and Aggressiveness—alters the gameplay’s intensity. Here’s how each affects the difficulty.
- Overdrive Area: Increasing it makes the game easier because players will need less TP for Overdrive.
- Enemy Stats: Decreasing the enemies’ stats facilitates battles by lowering the opponents’ HP.
- Aggressiveness: Putting it on “Low” means the enemies (especially bosses) will have less damage per shot.
How To Change the Difficulty To Easy
Beginner Chained Echoes players can lower the gameplay difficulty by widening the Overdrive Area and reducing Enemy Stats and Aggressiveness in the Accessibility menu.
The above setting helps players spend less TP to reach Overdrive and keep the bar on the green area longer. It also boosts their DPS, cutting the average battle duration. But old-school JRPG fans are unlikely to enjoy the easy gameplay as it takes the challenge away.
How To Make Chained Echoes More Difficult
Players who want hard gameplay should tighten the Overdrive bar and increase the enemies’ Stat and Aggressiveness in Accessibility Options. This will delay getting the Overdrive status while boosting the monsters’ HP.
With the above settings, players also spend more TP on each battle and inflict a lower DPS. But the game becomes likelier to let them farm SP with Unique Monsters and in the boss fights.
The Best Difficulty Setting For Chained Echoes
Putting all the difficulty settings on “Normal” is the best option for Chained Echoes. It balances the gameplay, creating challenges to keep players invested—while giving them space to recover between the boss fights.
Chained Echoes is available now for Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC.