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KickStarter Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption - adventure-RPG from the creators of Quest for Glory

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I haven't been able to play the beta at length, but there are two things about the UI that I found irritating right off the bat:

- When you want to skip to the next bit of dialogue, you have to click inside the dialogue window (instead of anywhere on the screen)
- The way the character portraits constantly switch sides is really annoying. Speaking of character portraits, I honestly think they should have added some animation to those faces. Just three or four extra frames to animate the mouths should have done the trick. I guess they went with the portraits switching sides as a cheaper alternative to adding additional animations to clue in the player about which character is currently talking. But honestly, I find it irritating. It distracts me from the dialogue window.

The music is beautiful, but the sound design itself is a bit barren. They should consider adding some more foley effects. For example, when you train your knife throwing skills, there are no sound effects whatsoever. They made a beautiful knife throwing animation, but there is no sound to any of it: none for the dagger flying through the air, none for the dagger hitting its wooden target and none for the dagger missing and crashing against the stone wall. Even adding some perfunctory sound effects to these events would go a long way in making the game feel more alive.
 

Boleskine

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Based on these impressions it sounds like the Coles found a good balance that will satisfy both old QfG fans and newer audiences.
 

Irxy

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I hope there is a way to cheat with time to make it run slower or something, I really like exploring and checking everything. Being rushed is one thing I absolutely hate.
 

Taluntain

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Seriously, who the fuck LIKES being rushed in a computer game? For me the whole point of playing a game is to get a break from the RL stress, not add on to it in the form of an ominous timer.
 

MRY

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This is pretty much the new Quest for Glory I was waiting for.

Puzzles are a bit disappointing since the Coles basically cut out the traditional point and click inventory-item-on-hotspot and replaced it with a menu system. ... I haven't played far enough to see any solutions, let alone alternative ones.

My major complaint is that it seems like the Coles have mostly eschewed the old Sierra-style deaths/bad ends, at least for the first two weeks of class. I haven't seen a single game over and I go out of my way to do stupid shit.
I'm curious whether you've revised the feeling you had in the first post as you've gone on. For me, the major pillars of a QfG game include the deaths (often unpredictable and even unfair, but typically funny), the surprising responsiveness of the game in terms of offering multiple solution paths to (fairly easy) puzzles, and the ability to explore a fairly large environment. It seems like all of these are missing from Hero-U, so while it might be a cool game, I'm curious what makes it feel like "the new QfG." (Puns don't seem to me to rise to the level of a defining element of QfG.) Is it that there are multiple paths, even if they aren't puzzle-gated? Or the richness of the interactions, even if they're menu driven?

QfG is one of my all-time favorites, so I'm really looking forward to this, though like others I might wait till it's good and finished before diving in.
 

MRY

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Interesting. Sounds like it has drawn on (what I gather to be, never having played them) visual novel conventions and grafted them with the QfG mood?
 

MRY

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That the mechanics seem more directed toward deciding what subjects and relationships and values you're going to explore and develop, rather than being about a series of interlinking puzzles that you must figure out how to resolve, as a practical matter.
 

LESS T_T

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Codex 2014
http://hero-u.com/confessions-of-a-bad-beta-tester/

Confessions of a Bad Beta Tester

I’ve played a lot of Hero-U. It’s my job to make sure the game acts the way I intended it to act and more critically – make sure that the game is fun. During Alpha Testing, I’d play the game for a few minutes, fix a bug, and then play some more. Sometimes, the bug was something that didn’t work right. Other times, it was a line of dialogue that seemed out of place or needed to be rewritten. However, as testing continued and all the features were implemented and fixed, I got to actually play the game.

Huntingbugs.png


While testing the game sometimes I’d chortle at a clever response to an action written by Josh Mandel or smile at something that Dr. von Braun says in the Science Class. I’d get lost in the Catacombs or the Sea Caves and have to look at the diagrams in my design document to figure out where I was going. The tension in my body would rise as I tried to sneak through the Catacombs without getting caught… and I’d jump when the combat interface came up showing me that I failed my stealth.

I can honestly say that I enjoy playing this game.

I’d pick a different approach each runthrough of the game. One time, Shawn is a sweet, caring person who likes making friends, doing favors, and takes the First Aid class. Another time, Shawn is a sneaky, talented rogue who enjoys exploring the dangerous areas and takes the Science elective to blow things up. Then there’s the smart, sensitive Shawn who likes magic and learning new things.

This is, of course, a problem. A good tester doesn’t play the game. A good tester is like a detective who actively seeks to find a crime and bring the bug to justice (or something like that). Real Testers prod and poke the game, try things a dozen times, restore, replay, and do things that no one expects them to do.

Like my Cousin Charles, who once long ago broke the game Dungeon Master by stacking up more than 100 stacks of dead giant worm in the same spot… If anyone could find a way to crash a game, Charles would do it.

But I can’t do that. When I’m playtesting the game, I’m playing it. I can’t make Shawn do something that isn’t in keeping with the character I’ve set for him. I can’t play Shawn as a snarky, nasty, mean person who gets his own roommate to move out. I can’t make Shawn deliberately taunt Terk or fail tests to get kicked out of school.

I like Shawn. I like Aeolus, his roomie. I don’t like Mr. Terk, and sometimes I go out of my way to get back at Terk. Therein lies the problem.

I’ll never be a good Beta Tester. I care more about the story and the characters than I do about tracking down and eradicating problems with the game. Bad me.
Thankfully, we have many, many devoted Alpha Testers and Beta Testers who are actively playing and probing the game to dig out the bugs and get them fixed. They question inconsistencies in the game and make sure that everything is consistent. It’s the most complex game I’ve ever written, and they make sure that events play out the way they should.

These people test the game so that everyone else can enjoy playing Hero-U.

These true testers are my heroes. I can play and enjoy my game knowing that these wonderful Beta Testers will find all the bugs that I didn’t find. They make sure that Hero-U is fun.

manythanks.png
 

LESS T_T

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Codex 2014
Steam page, with release set in (tentatively, I assume) July:



After two successful Kickstarter campaigns and five years of development, we are proud to present Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. Created by the critically acclaimed game developers Lori Ann Cole and Corey Cole (Quest for Glory, Shannara, Castle of Dr. Brain, Mixed-Up Fairy Tales), the Hero-U series follows the role-playing adventures of top students at the Hero University.

In Rogue to Redemption, Shawn O'Conner strives to become Rogue of the Year while exploring a mysterious castle, making friends and enemies, fighting deadly foes, and uncovering the secrets of his own hidden past. Meanwhile players will enjoy the rich and humorous dialogue and descriptions as they guide Shawn through his adventures.

In the tradition we created in Quest for Glory, Hero-U is a hybrid adventure/role-playing game. During the day, Shawn attends classes at the University, practices his skills, and tries to make friends with other students. At night, it's time to pull out weapons, armor, and traps to explore the abandoned wine cellars, stunning sea caves, creepy catacombs, and deadly dungeon beneath Hero-U. Most combat is optional for those who prefer a pure adventure game, but there are ample rewards for those who choose to valorously fight the creatures that threaten the school and all of Sardonia.

Steam_HeroU_header.png



Key Game Features:
  • Story and Character-Driven Adventure Game
  • Role-Playing Game Featuring Skills, Equipment, and Tactical Combat
  • Many Ways to Play for Maximum Replayability
  • Turn-Based, Non-Twitch, Avoidable Combat
  • Seamless Blend of Dramatic Story and Comedy
  • Created by Acclaimed Game Designers Lori and Corey Cole
  • Soundtrack by Award-Winning Composer Ryan Grogan
  • Immersive Mini-Games and Challenging Stealth Gameplay
  • First of a Series of Games Set at the Hero University

Short manual: https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steam/apps/375440/manuals/Hero-U_Technical_Manual.pdf
 

MRY

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So I have a perhaps dumb but not disingenuous question: do you think the androgynous name Shawn (see data) and androgynous character design is meant to serve as a cheat for avoiding having to have male and female build options, with the ensuing art/writing demands?
 

Deuce Traveler

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So I have a perhaps dumb but not disingenuous question: do you think the androgynous name Shawn (see data) and androgynous character design is meant to serve as a cheat for avoiding having to have male and female build options, with the ensuing art/writing demands?

No, I am playing a second go through the beta right now and Shawn is definitely male, but he is young and going to the first year of university. You can flirt with most of the younger males and females though, if that sort of thing matters to you.
 

Blackthorne

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Codex 2014 Divinity: Original Sin 2
I'm glad they were able to follow through and finish this. Definitely a storied development... hopefully people like the game. Shit, I have the beta and I haven't touched it yet... I should see what it's like.


Bt
 

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Are you locked into playing a rogue or are you allowed to choose your class?
Unfortunately, you are stuck as a rogue, because that part of your background is absolutely vital to the entire plot. However, you are able to learn some side skills and beef up fighting. Healing, arcane magic and some chemistry skills act as electives. I played a rogue-mage specialist the first time through. This next time I'm going with a rogue-explosives expert.

I'm glad they were able to follow through and finish this. Definitely a storied development... hopefully people like the game. Shit, I have the beta and I haven't touched it yet... I should see what it's like.
Bt

I'm not going to get into spoilers, but I will say the game is a blast. I didn't realize how much I missed the Coles making games and their unique brand of cheesey humor until I started playing this. No one else in the industry balances mirth and whimsy with hints of darker lore. It's not quite Quest for Glory, but it is connected in the same universe in a logical manner.

Edit: I mentioned elective classes, but you can switch partway through and make a Rogue-Mage-Healer or Rogue-Chemist-Mage. I just liked to stick through the elective for the higher level magic.
 
Last edited:

V_K

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I'm not going to get into spoilers, but I will say the game is a blast. I didn't realize how much I missed the Coles making games and their unique brand of cheesey humor until I started playing this. No one else in the industry balances mirth and whimsy with hints of darker lore. It's not quite Quest for Glory, but it is connected in the same universe in a logical manner.
So how would you rank it on the scale of QfG5 to QfG4? :lol:
 

Deuce Traveler

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I'm not going to get into spoilers, but I will say the game is a blast. I didn't realize how much I missed the Coles making games and their unique brand of cheesey humor until I started playing this. No one else in the industry balances mirth and whimsy with hints of darker lore. It's not quite Quest for Glory, but it is connected in the same universe in a logical manner.
So how would you rank it on the scale of QfG5 to QfG4? :lol:

It's hard to make a comparison as this is more modernized. I'd say graphically Quest for Infamy and Heroine's Quest felt more like the old QFGs to me, but on the other hand several NPCs from the QFGs are given honors in this game and a certain familiar type of cute creature makes a return. This game is made with Unity and looks crisper. Not for better or worse, but the art is definitely its own thing.

Except for the room in the demo, this game takes place entirely in the university and in secret locations inside its walls and underneath its cellars. Both QFG4 and QFG5 had plenty of outdoor exploration. Quest for Glory 4 had better characters than QfG5, but was confided in the scope of the quest. Quest for Glory V seemed more stale, but also more epic than QfG4 in scope. This game is way toned down than either, so I would say your character is more like the starting character in QFG1, where everyone is new and you are learning the ropes. I think the NPCs and your relationships with them have more importance than in previous QFGs, and it feels more personal because of that.

This is just an effort made by the Coles without a studio behind them, so I think there will inevitably be more bugs and exploits than in previous QFGs. Us playtesters are doing the best we can, but we are limited in how much time we can devote and our dedication in finding errors. I've been focused on finding and taking advantage of exploits and being just a rat bastard type of min-max player, but I don't have the patience for spelling and grammar checks. Other players are just trying to beat the game, but do peruse the journal entries and closely read dialoge and readily point out typos to the Coles to fix. The Coles aren't asking any of us to focus one way or the other, but just play, have fun, and report. I have encountered two minor bugs, a few spelling errors, and have abused several exploits I've reported. Nothing game breaking though and no crashes in Windows 10 with a 6GB ram laptop. I have also started a second playthrough on my 8GB linux desktop and noticed a significant jump in loading time. I'm not sure if Linux is running Unity that much better, or whether the extra 2GB of RAM is making that much of a difference. Either way the only lag I get on my Windows 10 laptop is when the game is loading, and once I start a new game or load an old game it runs without issues. If any bugs and typos still exist when the game is released, blame us beta testers for failing in our job.

Should I add this to the upcoming rpgs thread?

Yes, seeing as it may be coming out on Steam as soon as next month.

The game is fun. I enjoyed the first time through, though I took my time trying to break things. The second time through I'll go a little faster. If there is anything else positive to say, it's that playing this game a second time doesn't feel like a waste of my day because of all the things I can try differently. Often I play a game and beat it and then don't need to see it again. This time around, I want to try to build up my relationships with some other characters, pull off some failed quests, take some other electives, and see where I stand again at the end game. You get different endings depending on who you ally yourself with and whose quests you champion. There are still some mysteries about some of the NPCs I am trying to learn since I failed in doing so before, but you are on a time limit and won't likely be able to find time to do everything you want the first time through.

I played a polite character this time, with a touch of cleverness. I was a little bit of an ass kiss. This time I plan to be clever with a touch of moxie (basically give smart ass dialogue responses). I beat the game without a walkthrough, of course, since there isn't one yet. I didn't find it hard, though I did end up in the infirmary and straight out died a few times. Sometimes I wasn't sure what to do, and wasted time which resulted in a few blown quests, but quests usually just affect the relationship you have with others.

I'm going to get ahead of the anti-SJW crowd. You can play a gay or bi-sexual character in this game, but you can also decide to be asexual. The game does not push you into a relationship you do not want to be in. It's completely in your control. NPCs also do not bring up sexuality in this game, except for your heterosexual roommate who is constantly trying to find a new girl to date. None of the main NPCs look very manly, but that's because they are students and are still young boys and girls. Sorry that I wasted a few sentences talking about this instead of the gameplay (which is solid, by the way), but that's the state of the Codex today. oasis789 and I are talking about doing a full review if we can set aside the time, but we haven't settled on the details.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
Definitely hoping to see more reviews from oasis789.

Tell me when you get started, I'll give you access to the content forums.
 
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So I have a perhaps dumb but not disingenuous question: do you think the androgynous name Shawn (see data) and androgynous character design is meant to serve as a cheat for avoiding having to have male and female build options, with the ensuing art/writing demands?

No, I am playing a second go through the beta right now and Shawn is definitely male, but he is young and going to the first year of university. You can flirt with most of the younger males and females though, if that sort of thing matters to you.

Another game with faggotry shoehorned in!!
 
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Sacred82

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that shit is not androgynous, that's a girl's head on a man's - or at least manly - body. And Shawn is not an androgynous name. You are being played, my friends.


The Coles are old scamsters, and if they don't take the money (which no one has any reason to assume really went into the game) and run with this one, they're at least going to lay their greedy little hands on kickstarter again. Habitual liars never know when to stop lying.
 

Deuce Traveler

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that shit is not androgynous, that's a girl's head on a man's - or at least manly - body. And Shawn is not an androgynous name. You are being played, my friends.


The Coles are old scamsters, and if they don't take the money (which no one has any reason to assume really went into the game) and run with this one, they're at least going to lay their greedy little hands on kickstarter again. Habitual liars never know when to stop lying.

I don't agree with Humanity has risen! 's post, but he can make an argument that he was shitposting about an artistic style. It makes him a bit of a graphics whore, but otherwise it's your typical Codex trolling commentary we've come to ignore.

Your post on the other hand is part of a larger trend that's been a problem lately on this website, as seen lately on the Harebrained Scheme Battletech threads. The Battletech game had obvious issues, but damn was it hard to find what folks thought about the actual gameplay. Instead the focus for the first few days seemed to be on whining about the game's use of gender pronouns and racial identity. We went through nearly a week of that bullshit before people really got into discussing the actual interface, conflict resolution, maps, and missions.

Your statement about being played makes it seem as you believe there is some sort of huge gaming conspiracy to push some sort of agenda. If that's the case, then this has been going on a long-time when you consider games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and its androgynous characters, Ultima VI and the fact you can solicit a same-sex gypsy prostitute, and Fallout with its various sexual options. The difference is that such things are sometimes mentioned on their respective threads, but hardly focused upon when we talk about those games. We instead focus on gameplay.

Fast forward to today, and now everytime some developer is going to be pushed out to the public, a bunch of you on this website try to hold it up to some social-political purity test, which is bullshit since many of the classic games we celebrate would have failed those same tests by the standards you are pushing. These rants that have become a constant do nothing to measure a game by its actual structure, but instead have effectively shut down meaningful discussions on a game's merits. If you have anything worthwhile to say or ask in regards to the actual game, please share. But if you want to keep pushing your political crusade as purity guardian, we have a political section for that.
 
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Your post on the other hand is part of a larger trend that's been a problem lately on this website, as seen lately on the Harebrained Scheme Battletech threads. The Battletech game had obvious issues, but damn was it hard to find what folks thought about the actual gameplay.

we can talk about gameplay when - and if - a game ever materializes.

Your statement about being played makes it seem as you believe there is some sort of huge gaming conspiracy to push some sort of agenda. If that's the case, then this has been going on a long-time when you consider games such as Final Fantasy Tactics and its androgynous characters, Ultima VI and the fact you can solicit a same-sex gypsy prostitute, and Fallout with its various sexual options. The difference is that such things are sometimes mentioned on their respective threads, but hardly focused upon when we talk about those games. We instead focus on gameplay.

Fast forward to today, and now everytime some developer is going to be pushed out to the public, a bunch of you on this website try to hold it up to some social-political purity test, which is bullshit since many of the classic games we celebrate would have failed those same tests by the standards you are pushing. These rants that have become a constant do nothing to measure a game by its actual structure, but instead have effectively shut down meaningful discussions on a game's merits. If you have anything worthwhile to say or ask in regards to the actual game, please share. But if you want to keep pushing your political crusade as purity guardian, we have a political section for that.

oh, so that's where you're coming from. Androgynous looking characters aren't a pet peeve of mine. They do represent an agenda, but I don't care that much. I didn't throw a tantrum about the character's looks in Numanuma, for example. They totally went beyond mere retardation there by making your portrait show both the male and female character at the same time, but the visuals themselves, not a huge issue.

The issue I'm getting at is that the Coles are scamsters. This character portrait is basically rubbing it in your face. They're basically laughing at you. Hi, I'm Shawn, you know, like the female name Shawna except not, and I clearly have the head of a girl and no tits. But don't you go complaining, or you're a bigot. This is not a game for bigots. It's a highly artistic adventure dreamed up by two totally skilled industry veterans. I'm so clever, I can make you read my completely corny puns in every update, which you deserve for being a little retard. We're much smarterer than you poor saps. Whoops, we ran out of money again. Don't know how that happened. Sorry about that.

If a game ever materializes and they go back to kickstarter again, the next time, there'll definitely be no game. Only two plane tickets to Russia.
 

Deuce Traveler

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If a game ever materializes and they go back to kickstarter again, the next time, there'll definitely be no game. Only two plane tickets to Russia.

Are you mentally imbalanced? A game does exist because I played 30-40 hours of it to its completion, as stated a couple times in this thread and in my signature. Also this, with a release date of July: https://store.steampowered.com/app/375440/HeroU_Rogue_to_Redemption/
 

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