Atlus Brings Us "CLASS OF HEROS" - April 7, 2009

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[quote name='"Atlus Insider"']
What do you think of when someone, some random stranger, says the term "dungeon-crawler?" Well, aside from, "Why exactly is a stranger talking to me about video games?" or, "This person seems a little strange," your next thoughts might include: first-person RPG action, deep character and party customization, a fun premise, a story that you get to tell as much as it is told for you, etc.

​
Those would all be correct, of course, if you're talking about the upcoming dungeon-crawler for PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system, Class of Heroes™. And, like all good RPGs, you'd only be scratching the surface. In the grand tradition of first-person RPG classics like Etrian Odyssey, Class of Heroes puts you in a world where everyone wants to become the next great adventurer, out in search of monsters to slay and treasure to uncover.
​
The twist with Class of Heroes is that you're actually a student in an academy for adventurers, and each subject mastered and quest solved is a step towards your graduation into full-fledged dungeon masterdom. What's more, you'll be hard-pressed to find a handheld RPG with more content than Class of Heroes: over five hundred character possibilities, over a thousand items to collect or craft, hundreds of foes to defeat, and over 80 hours of hardcore, tried-and-true gameplay translate into a heck of a lot of RPG goodness. Worried about battery life? Don't be; you can save at any time. How's that for convenient.
classofheroes_screens_01_b.png
Class of Heroes opens enrollment on April 7th. Don't forget your lunchbox.
[/quote]



Seems like it could be a lot of fun for fans of SMT, Mana Khemia, and OCD gamers. Its on PSP as well, so that will give me a reason to dust it off.

http://www.atlus.com/classofheroes/home.html
 
I'm intersted as I've played Etrian Odyssey and liked it (got the email a few days ago as well), but if IGN is to be believed, the retail is gonna be $40, which I am definitely not paying for this.
 
[quote name='Ryukahn']I'm intersted as I've played Etrian Odyssey and liked it (got the email a few days ago as well), but if IGN is to be believed, the retail is gonna be $40, which I am definitely not paying for this.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, throw in a cool preorder bonus and I'll consider it at $40. Otherwise I'll wait for the eventual price drop at Amazon or Gamestop.
 
Atlus has always been good at providing value. It seems like there would be a lot of value in a game like this, which if sold on PS2, might retail for $40 new. And they love to throw in "value add" items (stuff that costs nothing to produce basically, but gets them more sales) like sound tracks and art books.
 
Does anyone know where I could find a GAMEPLAY video for this game? That teaser trailer really doesn't tell me what I want to know about the game.
 
Just got an email from Atlus that they caught a bug right before it was going to publishing, and won't be released now until June 9th.

Props to them for holding it back and fixing the bug, if the story is true.
 
[quote name='Dezuria']Damn, I was looking forward to this! Oh well, just gotta be patient..[/QUOTE]

As long as it's to correct a bug, I don't mind to wait.
 
Yeah, I was disappointed with the delay since it will be that much longer I have to wait for the eventual price drop, but good for them that they are correcting a bug instead of shipping it.
 
[quote name='Lawyers Guns N Money']Just got an email from Atlus that they caught a bug right before it was going to publishing, and won't be released now until June 9th.

Props to them for holding it back and fixing the bug, if the story is true.[/QUOTE]

seen the release but i heard it was cancel due to lack of demand..

game really needed to come out in april or may cause the DS is just getting too many good RPG games in june for this to stand a chance

this was also my next game i was going to buy BUT now it seems that money will go into

Knights in the Nightmare

seems
Sands of Destruction is also pushed back
 
Tried doing a search but it failed, guess I see why now (Heros instead of Heroes heh).

Got an email from Atlus saying they will be doing Blog updates for this game to talk about varios aspects of it. Still very interested in the game, but $40 is too high. Hopefully the blog entries have cool stuff in them.
 
[quote name='Ryukahn']Tried doing a search but it failed, guess I see why now (Heros instead of Heroes heh).

Got an email from Atlus saying they will be doing Blog updates for this game to talk about varios aspects of it. Still very interested in the game, but $40 is too high. Hopefully the blog entries have cool stuff in them.[/QUOTE]

Unless they're planning on giving it the Devil Summoner 2 treatment, I'm not interested. Atlus is publishing a crazy number of games these days and they no longer seem to be in limited print. I'll wait until this hits the bargain bin or at least, Amazon's DotD.
 
One thing I haven't really seen an answer to is if there are alternate portraits for each race/gender combo. So far I've only seen the same ones used all the time, which would be a bummer.
 
I got this game the other day from Atlus and it really doesn't seem to be my game at all. When I read that it was a dungeon crawler, I thought that it would be more like a roguelike, which seems to be the user-friendly version of what this is. I've barely done any exploration of the beginner dungeon, but this seems like the extremely hardcore kind of dungeon crawling that is just not my thing.

To explain the stuff that's not interesting to me, I think I'll just list the stuff that is odd or confusing and see if this can be explained by any of you that may be more familiar to this type of game:

-Money isn't communal, as in there's not a collective wallet for the group regardless of who is in it, so I have to continually combine all of the money to be in one person's possession when I need to see how much I have.
-It's tough to get started, as I couldn't last very long without having somebody die. I got around with my third attempt to get some fighting done.
-Apparently if everybody dies, their bodies have to be recovered to get my stuff back. Not really what I want to hear, but I guess I could stick to saving mid-dungeon and trying to wander back to the entrance.
-No maps. I know it randomly generates a new dungeon each time I enter them, but shouldn't I get a map of some kind that fills in as I explore so I can find my way back if I need to get out quickly?
-The battle system is a bit weird, as I was disappointed that I couldn't put a ranger/archer in the back row to offer support attacks. It's best to have a thief, mage, and cleric in the back for traps, spells, and healing, respectively.
-You only have a few spells you can cast as one of the mage classes, so that can run out quickly and won't be refilled until they level up or I can get to a store.
-If I can get back to the entrance to get out of this dungeon, I need to buy some potions so I don't have to rely on my cleric to heal me whenever somebody needs.
-I do like that I could have a few different groups to use, depending on the situation, but I'm not sure if I would have the patience to level up multiple groups.

My opinion is turning around slowly from my initially hesitant approach to the game after seeing what kind of dungeon crawler it was.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']I got this game the other day from Atlus and it really doesn't seem to be my game at all. When I read that it was a dungeon crawler, I thought that it would be more like a roguelike, which seems to be the user-friendly version of what this is. I've barely done any exploration of the beginner dungeon, but this seems like the extremely hardcore kind of dungeon crawling that is just not my thing.

To explain the stuff that's not interesting to me, I think I'll just list the stuff that is odd or confusing and see if this can be explained by any of you that may be more familiar to this type of game:

-Money isn't communal, as in there's not a collective wallet for the group regardless of who is in it, so I have to continually combine all of the money to be in one person's possession when I need to see how much I have.
-It's tough to get started, as I couldn't last very long without having somebody die. I got around with my third attempt to get some fighting done.
-Apparently if everybody dies, their bodies have to be recovered to get my stuff back. Not really what I want to hear, but I guess I could stick to saving mid-dungeon and trying to wander back to the entrance.
-No maps. I know it randomly generates a new dungeon each time I enter them, but shouldn't I get a map of some kind that fills in as I explore so I can find my way back if I need to get out quickly?
-The battle system is a bit weird, as I was disappointed that I couldn't put a ranger/archer in the back row to offer support attacks. It's best to have a thief, mage, and cleric in the back for traps, spells, and healing, respectively.
-You only have a few spells you can cast as one of the mage classes, so that can run out quickly and won't be refilled until they level up or I can get to a store.
-If I can get back to the entrance to get out of this dungeon, I need to buy some potions so I don't have to rely on my cleric to heal me whenever somebody needs.
-I do like that I could have a few different groups to use, depending on the situation, but I'm not sure if I would have the patience to level up multiple groups.

My opinion is turning around slowly from my initially hesitant approach to the game after seeing what kind of dungeon crawler it was.[/QUOTE]

is the game anything like Etrian Odyssey games> from the pictures i seen it sort of looks like the samegame.... Love to find this game at 20 BUT would never buy it at 40
 
I've never played it, but I watched a couple of trailers and it seems to be the same style of dungeon crawler as that game.

I found the map that I should have had when I was in the dungeon, but somehow made its way to the locker at the dorm. I hope that should fix the map issue.

I was trying to get out of the dungeon quickly and somehow ran into a dead end that was electrified so that it killed three people in my party, so I had to stat over a few times before I could wander over to this magic orb that let me warp out of the dungeon.
 
Keep us updated on your impressions Frisky! It's a shame you haven't played Etrian to directly compare it, but your impressions are still helpful, thanks. :)
 
Going by what Frisky has said about the game, I think it sounds great! :)

Sometimes I just feel like sinking into a very challenging dungeon crawler, where you always feel in danger. This should fit the bill.

Obviously it's a niche game that won't appeal to most, but for us masochists, it should be fun. I don't like that money isn't shared between everyone automatically though. That doesn't add to the games challenge, just annoyances.

Oh, about the party makeup though, and not being able to have an archer in the back row due to needing your squishy people back there. You should usually have a tank type class that can defend characters, or taunt enemies to attack him instead of them.
 
I guess I'll post this here... I've seen other impressions of this in other threads, saying it's crazy hard... many of them citing the permanent death mechanic to back this up. But... I've read you can save anywhere. So why not just revert to a previous save if someone dies?

I keep toying around with the idea of purchasing this. I love the sound of the class theme... but people having said it's so hard has really put me off, as I am not the best gamer out there :p Is it something that can be overcome by grinding?
 
You can save everywhere, yes.

As for perma-death, your party will all die permanently if they all die in a dungeon (I'm pretty sure as I've always reloaded and not sent another party in). However if only one or two dies, you can leave the dungeon and go to the infirmary and have a chance of resurrecting them. It's not completely guaranteed it will work, but it's possible to resurrect people kindof.
 
[quote name='Draekon']You can save everywhere, yes.

As for perma-death, your party will all die permanently if they all die in a dungeon (I'm pretty sure as I've always reloaded and not sent another party in). However if only one or two dies, you can leave the dungeon and go to the infirmary and have a chance of resurrecting them. It's not completely guaranteed it will work, but it's possible to resurrect people kindof.[/QUOTE]


Hmm, if you lose your whole party, can you revert to a save? Or does it autosave somehow to prevent you from doing so?
 
It doesn't autosave and even if it did, you have more than one spot to save the game anyways. So yeah, you can load a previous save. Usually for me that's outside of a dungeon since I generally don't save in dungeons even if I have the ability unless I think a boss is coming up.
 
[quote name='Draekon']It doesn't autosave and even if it did, you have more than one spot to save the game anyways. So yeah, you can load a previous save. Usually for me that's outside of a dungeon since I generally don't save in dungeons even if I have the ability unless I think a boss is coming up.[/QUOTE]

Awesome! Thank you, kind sir, for the valuable info :)
 
This game is ridiculous. I spent a good hour rolling for stats, I looked through every "n00b, read this" topic at Gamefaqs, and I read the character guide there too. I had everything meticulously planned out for absolute pwnage, and then I got to the beginner dungeon after being unable to figure out what to do to advance the story...

Ugh, what the hell? What a terrible, terrible interface. I wandered around for a long time, getting myself utterly lost while my party members died off one by one. I found a map, but it needed appraisal or something and my cleric was dead by that point. By then, I just decided to cut my losses and drop this game.

I wanted to like it so much too. :(
 
This game is very easy if you choose the right classes.

I have a diablo (sp?) wizard who's breath can destroy almost every enemy and I'm 10 hours in.

Wizard classes are very overpowered, and once the devout is leveled high enough you get a skill that regenerates all your magic.

The stupid thing about the game is that all characters start with daggers, so if you think you're being smart and decide to roll some advanced classes, like a ranger, your ranger will still have just a dagger and be worthless in the back row. Most weapons and armor are hard to come by, and even then, are useless unless you spend the time upgrading your equipment through modifications.
 
My party was:

Drake - Warrior
Drake - Warrior
Felpier - Thief
Felpier - Ranger
Erdgeist - Devout
Erdgeist - Cleric

All with rolls of 20+ which I put mostly into Vit/Agi. I did a lot of research and you'd have been better of with Drakes. Diablos kill unity (or whatever that thing is that gives bonus stats based on race affinity) and their Breath ability comes on Drakes too.

My problem was getting lost with no recovery options. Oh, and I also set the difficulty to Maniac (or whatever it's called) to get better drops.
 
I have two warrios, a devout, a thief, and two wizards.

I chose a diablos to be my wizard, and all my characters have 100% affinity except the diablos which is at 97%.

Not sure what this means really, but if it's negative, it hasn't really affected me so far.
 
[quote name='FriskyTanuki']
-Money isn't communal, as in there's not a collective wallet for the group regardless of who is in it, so I have to continually combine all of the money to be in one person's possession when I need to see how much I have.
-It's tough to get started, as I couldn't last very long without having somebody die. I got around with my third attempt to get some fighting done.
-Apparently if everybody dies, their bodies have to be recovered to get my stuff back. Not really what I want to hear, but I guess I could stick to saving mid-dungeon and trying to wander back to the entrance.
-No maps. I know it randomly generates a new dungeon each time I enter them, but shouldn't I get a map of some kind that fills in as I explore so I can find my way back if I need to get out quickly?
-The battle system is a bit weird, as I was disappointed that I couldn't put a ranger/archer in the back row to offer support attacks. It's best to have a thief, mage, and cleric in the back for traps, spells, and healing, respectively.
-You only have a few spells you can cast as one of the mage classes, so that can run out quickly and won't be refilled until they level up or I can get to a store.
-If I can get back to the entrance to get out of this dungeon, I need to buy some potions so I don't have to rely on my cleric to heal me whenever somebody needs.
-I do like that I could have a few different groups to use, depending on the situation, but I'm not sure if I would have the patience to level up multiple groups.

My opinion is turning around slowly from my initially hesitant approach to the game after seeing what kind of dungeon crawler it was.[/QUOTE]

The money actually is communal, you can set everything in the bag and just buy stuff from there. Makes it much more convenient.

Yes, it is VERY hard to get started, but once you get the hang of everything it isn't as hard as you may think. Just gain a few levels and stay near the entrances, the dungeons get much harder as you go farther in.

Yeah, saving midway through the dungeons will save your life. You can also make 2 different parties incase one of yours falls in a dungeon, you can just go back in and save them. A word of caution, if your characters fail to be revived at the clinic on the second try they will die permanently. So save before you revive anyone.

There is actually a map, you must buy it from the store and use it any time in a dungeon. The names of the maps are similar to the names of the dungeons. The map will fill in as you go along. From my experience, after gaining a certain amount of a dungeons map, the dungeon stops being randomly generated. I'm not 100% sure on this.

The battle system is strange at the beginning. But if you look at the weapons themselves it actually works quite nicely. Every weapon has a range. Short is 1 block and Long is 2 and LL is extra long, etc. A short weapon can only be used by people in the first row. You can equip those in the back rows with Short weapons, however they cannot use them unless they are forced to the front. Long range weapons such as Bows, Slingshots and certain 2 handed weapons are able to be used from any row, and as such the back row can be outfitted to be able to attack as well. Extra Long range can be used from any row as well and is able to reach the back rows of the enemies. This is useful to damage those in the far back as they retreat.

The magic system is reminiscent of the older Final Fantasies, where you have a certain amount of uses before the spells cannot be used again. You gain more uses as you level up and you can get AOE spells as well.

I apologize if the way I formatted this is rude in any way. This was the only way I could think of doing this without losing my train of thought.

And yes, a Cleric is an essential part of any party. The ability to appraise things is a MUST as the rarer an item is the more expensive the thing is to appraise. FYI you can keep a cleric at the school incase you don't want to bring them with you, however their healing spells are very useful.

Edit : To advance the Story, you must do QUESTS. Talk to the girl in the library, don't just start running through dungeons before you even get a tour of the school.
 
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Not to be nitpicky, but the spell system is like the old might and magic and wizardry games, as well as D&D, which Final Fantasy borrowed from ;)
 
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