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

[V_K]

There's one thing I didn't figure out (and possibly much more because of that) and would accept explicit spoilers about:

Spoiler

How do you open the door behind the golem guardian?

Spoiler

I asked this during beta testing and Cory said the door was for the next/future games.

My guess was that they'd planned more dark ones stuff, or another dungeon, but shifted it to the next game. Who knows.

Thanks!

Spoiler

Since posting this, I actually looked on the official forums and Corey wrote their that the whole last dungeon was designed by a backer (reward tier?) and there was much more to it but they've only been able to use a small part for this game. Tbh I was kinda disappointed to read that as that was the part of the game which was closest to original QfGs in terms of gameplay.

Although that means that even with the game doling out content along the plot I still had a few days with nothing to do at the end.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/transolargames/hero-u-rogue-to-redemption/posts/2237616

Fulfilling Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption

The response to Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption has been great so far! We have a Positive rating on Steam, 4.5/5 stars on GOG.com, and an excellent 7.9 user rating so far on Metacritic. The extra time we put into testing and getting the game right is paying off.

This post will update you on the most frequent and important issues that have been raised by backers and other players.

Digital Goods Including Game Keys
How to get your game key - All of our downloads for Kickstarter backers are on BackerKit. To get yours, log on to BackerKit at https://hero-u-adventure-role-playing-game.backerkit.com/backer/digital_rewards with your email. Usually that will be the same one you used on Kickstarter.

On the same BackerKit page, in addition to your game key, you can directly download the technical manual and the student handbook. As we complete other game books - the Yearbook, Art Book, Bestiary, and Soundtrack Album, we will add these to the BackerKit downloads of backers who ordered them.

If your email has changed and you no longer have access to the original one, use Kickstarter to contact me. Give me your name, old email, and current email. If I can find matching accounts on Kickstarter and BackerKit, I can change the BackerKit email. You will be notified by BackerKit when I do that.

Survey and GOG key requests - I sent the GOG part of the survey to BackerKit on Tuesday, and everyone who requested a GOG key by that time has received it. I’ve received several hundred more surveys since then, and will have to manually add GOG keys for everyone who filled out the survey after the first two days. I’ll check it about once a week since this will be tricky and time-consuming. If you requested a GOG key and don’t yet have one, please be patient.

Art Book - GOG Concept Art
Other Publications and Goods Still in Production
As mentioned in the previous update, most of the physical goods are not ready yet. We plan to mail all of the posters next month after we verify printer proofs of them. The boxed games, yearbooks, and other physical goods will be mailed this Fall, likely around the beginning of November.

We've already shipped all of the t-shirts, caps, and "Meeps," as well as key rings from this 2012 campaign that are not part of a boxed game order. I still have about 100 Meeps, and extra t-shirts and caps - see the "I Want Things..." section below.

For logistical reasons, we plan to do Yearbook autographs on separate bookplates and mail them with the books. That way we don't need to move thousands of pounds of books between two locations. Physical fulfillment will be done by Geekify.

Some digital goods are also still in the pipeline. We need to completely redo the Yearbook layout (we have finished all the pictures and text for it), so that will take time. We are very far along with the Art Book, which is going to be amazing. We've also made good progress on the Bestiary that was announced in the 2015 campaign as an add-on. We have all the tracks for the soundtrack album, but need to compile them into a pleasing sequence.

We've had a few requests for a hint book. We haven't done any work on one (or put much thought into it) yet, but it is something we might do once we have all the other promised items in production.

As mentioned in the first section, each time we complete one of these publications, we will upload it to your BackerKit DIgital Rewards and announce it in a Kickstarter update.

Bestiary - Warrior Gog
How to Get More - Coming Soon
Kickstarter is great for funding creative projects, but it isn't a store. Steam and GOG.com are great for fulfilling games, but I don't know if they handle game-related items. That leaves our web site (www.hero-u.com) or possibly a service such as Amazon or etsy.

We plan to reopen a store page through hero-u.com to allow both digital and physical orders not covered by Steam, GOG, or Humble. So far I've been mailing packages myself; we may be able to work with Geekify to ship them in the future.

The Hero-U Store will also include some items such as meep toys, t-shirts, and caps that we have left over from fulfilling campaign pledges - we ordered extras for promotions and to get quantity price breaks.

Fixing Stuttery Graphics
Some players have reported problems with Shawn's movement in the game or with the opening cinematic sequence. Most, but not all of these, have been players with very high-resolution displays or playing the game under Linux.

Fortunately, a player came up with a technical solution and posted it on Facebook. Here are the details:

I have found a fix for the slow mouse movement and choppy and stuttery animations and very slow and glitchy character movement you may be experiencing while playing Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption. These are caused by a problem outside of the game.

Misconceptions:

• It has nothing to do with resolution.
• It has nothing to do with bad code.
• Steam overlay is not causing this.

Everything is caused by NVIDIA G-SYNC and high refresh rates!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WINDOWS 10 FIX - NVIDIA GFX CARD

• Right click the desktop click " NVIDIA Control Panel "
• Under " Display " tab click on " Change resolution "
• Change " Refresh rate " to 60Hz.
• Scroll down and hit apply and accept all popup window prompts.
• Under " Display " tab click on " Set up G-SYNC "
• Untick the enable G-SYNC tickbox
• Scroll down and hit apply and accept all popup window prompts.
• PLAY THE GAME! Select any resolution you like on the pre-boot screen.

Once you are done playing you can change these back to your desired settings.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WINDOWS 10 - RADEON FIX:

• Right click the desktop click " Display settings "
• Scroll down on the Display tab and click on " Advanced display settings "
• Click on " Display adapter for Display 1 " (Or your preferred display)
• Click on the " Monitor " tab on the popup window.
• Change the " Screen refresh rate to " 60 Hertz " and hit apply, accept all prompts if there are any.
• PLAY THE GAME! Select any resolution you like on the pre-boot screen.

Once you are done playing you can change these back to the desired settings.

(I haven't received any step-by-step directions for changing the refresh rate or GSYNC on Mac OS X or Linux systems, but there should be a similar process available. Also, this might not fix the problem for all players, but it should help most of the ones having graphics issues.)

Poster of Caligari City and Hero-U

 

[V_K]

Ok, detailed impressions as promised to sstacks (and once again, huuuuge thanks for the key!):

The big questions:
Is it a true Quest for Glory successor? Yes.
Is it a Quest for Glory successor we (or at least I) have been waiting for? Probably not.

As I've said earlier in this thread (and I stand by this assessment), it's closest to QfG2 and 5 in the sense that both plot and gameplay are structured around timed events and your (and other characters') daily schedules. For obvious reasons, the schedule part is even more prominent here - which kinda makes sense: since your character is a rogue who's supposed to work around (or break) the rules, there have to be some rules to break in the first place. It reminded me of the survival elements in Heroine's Quest in the sense that it adds some challenge at the beginning stages but quickly stops being a problem. Same goes for money: there were a couple of times where I was a bit short on it, but it's also quite easy to remedy.
While you only get one class, unlike the QfG, the game still gives you a considerable leeway in how to play. Roughly, I would say (based on one playthrough, so people with more playthroughs may correct me here) that you can play the game as a fighter (engaging in straightforward fighting), proper rogue (stealthing around the fights) or a talker (never going to adventuring areas and focusing on building reputations instead). In my experience, fighter would be the hard mode, while staying a true rogue is the easy one - although I didn't care about the school sim parts too much, so I don't know how hard this part is. There are very few mandatory events, and the only plot-critical skill is lockpicking, so in some ways you get even more freedom than in QfG. Most of the time the game does a decent job of acknowledging your past actions, except sometimes it doesn't.
Speaking of combat, people in this thread have been saying it's shit but I'm not so sure. I mean, for a non-twitchy single-character combat system I'd say it's pretty decent (and certainly much deeper than anything QfG or, I'd dare say, anything QfG-inspired for that matter). It's not terribly deep, but you get a nice variety of combat tools and some situations (particularly in the catacombs) where you kinda have to use your brains a bit.
What I really didn't like on the other hand is the switch from point-and-click to text menu-based interactions. I can see that the Coles tried to work around the inherent no-brainer-ness of text menus: lots of quests (especially the ghots' ones) are quite vague and require a bit of exploration, and there are a ton of nominally-interactive hotspots that eat up time, so you do have to do a bit of thinking instead of blindly clicking through every text line. But it's still a lot less challenging and satisfying than figuring out which item to use on which hotspot. The ubiquity of such hotspots and text menus also gives off the impression of the game being over-written, but at least the writing is good. While the density of puns per pixel approaches that of a black hole, I genuinely laughed at some of them, and it doesn't happen often.
The timed nature of the plot and the class schedule also has quite a few obvious downsides. First, there's literally nothing to do in the beginning of the game (and even less so in the last few days, because there's no point in training anymore). Second, quite a few times I've figured out what I needed to do ahead of the plot, but still had to wait for the right plot day. When you're allowed to explore ahead of the plot, the game sometimes punishes you for this. For example, the Advanced Magic elective was largely a waste of time for my character, because it mostly dealt with anti-undead spells, and I've finished exploring the catacombs long before that.

So the bottom line is that it's a charming and entertaining game, but no masterpiece. Of the QfG series, I'd rate it about on par with QfG2, above QfG5 but below the rest. Of the recent QfG-likes, Heroine's Quest is a much better game, and I haven't played enough of Quest for Infamy to judge - the juvenile humor really puts me off (which, I guess, would put Hero-U above it in my personal rating).

 

[Hellion]

Corey Cole wrote today in the Hero-U forum that the game's sold "somewhat over 1000 copies so far between Steam and GOG", and also hopes "sales will pick up significantly once word gets around" since they decided to send out review codes for the game only once it was officially out (he says they're receiving about 50 press review code requests per day).

He also aknowledges that reaction has been very positive so far, with "a few players expressing frustration over the time limit and the somewhat slow start".

 

[MRY]

That's great! Given that level of press coverage and a strong sales start, seems promising for a sequel.

 

[fantadomat]

Does anyone know how to finish the quest "Spy on the librarian" ? I have rummage trough his desk before getting it,it could be a bug or is it a special thing to do?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Ok wow, that cash problem solved itself overnight.
Now only beef is having to spy on Urwald and I really don't want to. Hopefully there's a way to fuck it up.

 

[V_K]

Now only beef is having to spy on Urwald and I really don't want to. Hopefully there's a way to fuck it up.

Spoiler

Relax. It'll resolve itself in due time. I don't think you even can spy on him properly. There's one thing you can do to appease Trek a bit, but it won't harm Urwald or your relationship with him in any way.

 

[fantadomat]

Hahahaha just got a quest from the my roommate to talk with the pirate bitch,i talked and my talk ended with me get on with her. Decided to give her a ring gift it ended with a proposal to marry,then i get off with her to do some sucking on a date. The date ended with me in my room and my roommate singing me a song about the pirate bitch.

 

[V_K]

Funny thing is, there are at least three (that I know of) "one and only" rings in the game, so in theory you can larp a serial polygamist.

 

[fantadomat]

Funny thing is, there are at least three (that I know of) "one and only" rings in the game, so in theory you can larp a serial polygamist.

I found four,looting the burial alcoves pays off. Also there pile of skulls in the eater the shadow room or in the room with the fence that have nice hidden stash of money.



DID ANYONE MANAGE TO SPY ON THE LIBRARIAN OR IS THE QUEST BUGGED?????

 

[V_K]

According to the official forums, it's a known issue and you should be able to report the quest either way.

 

[DeepOcean]

what I liked about the old Quest for Glory games and now Hero U is the focus on the positive side of mankind and fairy tales inspired style, it is really cool to play a game where the writers aren't huge nihilist cynics assholes for a change.

There are a few rough spots, the art could be more polished, the animations are unintentional funny, they could make the pacing of the game better, the restrictive timer is annoying and don't add much in terms of gameplay but I'm happy they are getting decent enough sales, maybe a sequel could really improve things.

I just need help with something, how do you enlist to electives? I already did the first exam but got a low grade.

 

[sstacks]

Ok, detailed impressions as promised to sstacks (and once again, huuuuge thanks for the key!):

The big questions:
Is it a true Quest for Glory successor? Yes.
Is it a Quest for Glory successor we (or at least I) have been waiting for? Probably not.

As I've said earlier in this thread (and I stand by this assessment), it's closest to QfG2 and 5 in the sense that both plot and gameplay are structured around timed events and your (and other characters') daily schedules. For obvious reasons, the schedule part is even more prominent here - which kinda makes sense: since your character is a rogue who's supposed to work around (or break) the rules, there have to be some rules to break in the first place. It reminded me of the survival elements in Heroine's Quest in the sense that it adds some challenge at the beginning stages but quickly stops being a problem. Same goes for money: there were a couple of times where I was a bit short on it, but it's also quite easy to remedy.
While you only get one class, unlike the QfG, the game still gives you a considerable leeway in how to play. Roughly, I would say (based on one playthrough, so people with more playthroughs may correct me here) that you can play the game as a fighter (engaging in straightforward fighting), proper rogue (stealthing around the fights) or a talker (never going to adventuring areas and focusing on building reputations instead). In my experience, fighter would be the hard mode, while staying a true rogue is the easy one - although I didn't care about the school sim parts too much, so I don't know how hard this part is. There are very few mandatory events, and the only plot-critical skill is lockpicking, so in some ways you get even more freedom than in QfG. Most of the time the game does a decent job of acknowledging your past actions, except sometimes it doesn't.
Speaking of combat, people in this thread have been saying it's shit but I'm not so sure. I mean, for a non-twitchy single-character combat system I'd say it's pretty decent (and certainly much deeper than anything QfG or, I'd dare say, anything QfG-inspired for that matter). It's not terribly deep, but you get a nice variety of combat tools and some situations (particularly in the catacombs) where you kinda have to use your brains a bit.
What I really didn't like on the other hand is the switch from point-and-click to text menu-based interactions. I can see that the Coles tried to work around the inherent no-brainer-ness of text menus: lots of quests (especially the ghots' ones) are quite vague and require a bit of exploration, and there are a ton of nominally-interactive hotspots that eat up time, so you do have to do a bit of thinking instead of blindly clicking through every text line. But it's still a lot less challenging and satisfying than figuring out which item to use on which hotspot. The ubiquity of such hotspots and text menus also gives off the impression of the game being over-written, but at least the writing is good. While the density of puns per pixel approaches that of a black hole, I genuinely laughed at some of them, and it doesn't happen often.
The timed nature of the plot and the class schedule also has quite a few obvious downsides. First, there's literally nothing to do in the beginning of the game (and even less so in the last few days, because there's no point in training anymore). Second, quite a few times I've figured out what I needed to do ahead of the plot, but still had to wait for the right plot day. When you're allowed to explore ahead of the plot, the game sometimes punishes you for this. For example, the Advanced Magic elective was largely a waste of time for my character, because it mostly dealt with anti-undead spells, and I've finished exploring the catacombs long before that.

So the bottom line is that it's a charming and entertaining game, but no masterpiece. Of the QfG series, I'd rate it about on par with QfG2, above QfG5 but below the rest. Of the recent QfG-likes, Heroine's Quest is a much better game, and I haven't played enough of Quest for Infamy to judge - the juvenile humor really puts me off (which, I guess, would put Hero-U above it in my personal rating).

Nicely done

 

[SerratedBiz]

I'd also be happy with a speed slider for animations like, y'know, the Quest for Glory games had.

 

[V_K]

I just need help with something, how do you enlist to electives? I already did the first exam but got a low grade.

It happens during class, sometime at the beginning of the second week.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Still haven't bothered with electives, but by God, get that tool use up fast.

 

[fantadomat]

Still haven't bothered with electives, but by God, get that tool use up fast.

First few magic classes are very useful,detect magic and spark are the only useful spells that i have seen. All the rest are garbage or not working.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

Detect Magic and Spark are really useful. After that, you get to craft some magic items that do help against undead. But instead of waiting that long, you can get the special amulet that will protect you against their cold aura through a tough fight, and purchase the other items in a shop. The science class let's you build sticky goos and tossable bombs, and I found those had better utility against everyone. So maybe it would work better to start in the Magic elective and transition halfway to the Science elective.

 

[Gylfi.Fenriz.Conquests]

i am thrilled this game's gonna be a success, because it picked up the essence of Sierra games, not just Qfg... action-choices, not modern blabla choices.

If only other designers would understand that good rpg's are always like this, part hybrid, like the two FO's.

 

[fantadomat]

Detect Magic and Spark are really useful. After that, you get to craft some magic items that do help against undead. But instead of waiting that long, you can get the special amulet that will protect you against their cold aura through a tough fight, and purchase the other items in a shop. The science class let's you build sticky goos and tossable bombs, and I found those had better utility against everyone. So maybe it would work better to start in the Magic elective and transition halfway to the Science elective.

Most items are useless,just stab them for double their life and be done with. Last night i tried those anti undead magic,it was total shit. It did 6 damage per turn,when i did 30 per hit and one shot most enemy with a backstab.

 

[V_K]

Still haven't bothered with electives, but by God, get that tool use up fast.

First few magic classes are very useful,detect magic and spark are the only useful spells that i have seen. All the rest are garbage or not working.

I dunno, I had a lot of use combining traps with the fire aura spell.

Most items are useless,just stab them for double their life and be done with. Last night i tried those anti undead magic,it was total shit. It did 6 damage per turn,when i did 30 per hit and one shot most enemy with a backstab.

Well, since you cheated with freezing the schedule, it's no wonder you got OP.

 

[fantadomat]

Well, since you cheated with freezing the schedule, it's no wonder you got OP.

Nah,combat is one of the few stats you can't cheat with freezing time. There is no other way to learn than to train once every day and fighting. Freezing time helped only with the perception,lockpicking and a little bit of magic. Magic is far too easy to max even without freezing time. Combat was the last stat i got maxed out by day 40 .

 

[MRY]

At $35, we break even at about 50,000 sales and have a chance to make enough to make another game.

A typically thoughtful and friendly post from the Coles: https://steamcommunity.com/app/375440/discussions/0/1728701877526742940/?tscn=1531676197

 

[V_K]

Freezing time helped only with the perception,lockpicking and a little bit of magic.

Which means you had a few additional hours for fighting and training combat. Plus you're forgetting that exploring and moving around takes time too, if it's not frozen - which means engaging in fewer battles per day than you did. Normally, between the elective and the exploring most of the mid-game I didin't have a lot of time to train at all, and when I did it all went into lockpicking since area progress is tied to it.