Gamertell

Title: Class of Heroes
Price: $39.99
System(s): PSP
Release Date: June 6, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Atlus (Zerodiv)
ESRB Rating: “Teen” for Alcohol Reference, Mild Fantasy Violence, Mild Language and Mild Suggestive Themes
Pros: Lots of character customization options. Save anywhere. You can have 100 characters. A nice selection of missions to undertake. Interesting alchemy system implemented to create items. Challenging and addicting.
Cons: It is very difficult and earning gold can be tedious. It also can take quite a while to unlock more desirable majors.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 90/100, A-, * * * * out of 5

The nostalgia factor is strong in Class of Heroes. It, like other Atlus games The Dark Spire and Etrian Odyssey, is reminiscent of a time when first-person, dungeon crawlers ruled. For the most part, you imagine your own story, motivations and personalities for characters. While there are missions to accept and complete, there are no grand goals. It’s more about growth and exploration. Discovering every nook of the dungeons, engineering god-like warriors and forging all sorts of useful equipment.

The tragedy is that many people are going to shrug off or condemn Class of Heroes because they don’t understand it and aren’t willing to put the necessary time into playing it. If you’re expecting to jump into the game and conquer the first few classes within the span of one or two hours, you’re doomed to fail. Class of Heroes is a good game, but only for players willing to take their time playing it.

Want to be an adventurer? Better hurry to class.

Class of Heroes is set in a world where labyrinths have sprung up everywhere, connecting locations to one another. Since monsters inhabit these dungeons, as well as all sorts of treasures and challenges, people have become intrigued by them. To make sure people are prepared before heading into these dangerous areas, schools have popped up to train adventurers.

That’s where players come in. You put together teams of students from 10 different races and train them, taking them through classes (missions) and helping them excel in 15 different majors (classes) so they can become strong, capable adventurers who can face the world’s dungeons without any fear. Along the way, you’ll encounter eccentric teachers who’ll help you along your way.

Know your limits, or your characters are toast.

Class of Heroes is an extremely challenging game. It’s very demanding, difficult and unforgiving. You have to be patient and willing to put in a lot of level grinding, hard work and effort if you want to pass the classes and survive the various dungeons. The graphics aren’t cutting edge, instead you see hand-drawn monsters and characters in the schools and dungeons.

You also have to understand early on that the game is more about collecting items than money. When it comes to weapons and armor, the Particus shop only carries one of an item. If you want more (say, 3 slingshots), you need to collect the required components from dungeons and combine them with alchemy. It may seem like a hassle, but it isn’t a bad deal. A weapon which normally costs 600+ gold can only cost around 10+ gold to put together with alchemy. Free, if you have an alchemist character on your team.

I’d also recommend going into Class of Heroes with the knowledge that your characters are going to die. Maybe not right away, but it’ll happen eventually. It’s really not that big of a deal, and part of life. Why else would white magic users learn a spell called Findum which lets you locate a fallen party in a labyrinth so you can rescue them? And keep track of how many times a character has died on its status page, now that I think about it. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad player, or incompetent in some way. It happens. Just resurrect the character or find the fallen party, make sure to level grind a bit more, and move on.

If you’re ready for a challenge, and don’t mind lots of “studying,” you’ll ace this class.

Class of Heroes is a very personal experience. Atlus touts 500 different character options, based on all the different race and major choices. As such, each players’ experience with the game will be slightly different, since everyone is going to have different goals, handle classes in different ways and focus on different parties. This means it can be hit or miss for people. If you enjoyed Etrian Odyssey, The Dark Spire, Wizardry and Might and Magic games, you’ll most likely understand, enjoy and appreciate Class of Heroes.

While it is also a very difficult, almost unforgiving, game, Class of Heroes’ challenges can be easily overcome with the proper amount of leveling and training. Save often, take your time exploring levels and don’t be afraid to leave a dungeon to have your characters rest up if you’re worried about their conditions.

Site [Class of Heroes]

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