Book of Heroes - Release Day

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Spaceman
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The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes releases today.



Based on THE DARK EYE license, Book of Heroes puts you right into the fantasy world of Aventuria where you can raid dungeons and experience adventures, together with friends or alone, that you can only overcome with combined skills and forces.

* Play with up to 4 players where you combine the specialities of the different species and professions to overcome enemies, puzzles and challenges in the myriad of procedurally generated maps.

* Choose from 12 different professions such as Assassin, Mercenary, Blessed one of Rondra, Knight or Black Magician and one of the four playable species: elves, half-elves, dwarves and humans and individualize the appearance of your character as you see fit.

* Enjoy extensive character development opportunities and item crafting in addition to common, improved and legendary items lootable throughout the game.

* Play with friends or alone in single-player mode with eight individual storylines. Hire a few companions at the Inn of the Black Boar for your adventures.

* Based on the popular THE DARK EYE (TDE) License and rules (5th Edition), the game is developed in close cooperation with the rights owner Ulisses Spiele. TDE is a role-playing system plunging groups of players into the fantasy world Aventuria. TDE has a long tradition, with the first Edition appearing in 1984.
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More information.
 
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I posed some questions on the Steam forum. These questions concerned me regarding the hired mercs' AI:

Question: If I'm a squishy, must I always enter a room first?
Answer (good): You can send in henchmen into a room ahead of you. You can also listen at the door and be warned of enemies if your perception roll succeeds.

Question: If one of my ranged/caster merc is threatened in melee, will he/she switch to a melee weapon?
Answer (good): Yes.

Question: If one of my squishy mercs is threatened, will melee mercs (if possible) peel off to defend them?
Answer (bad): No.

Question: Will my ranged/casters prioritize targets (i.e. go after healers/casters/archers first?)
Answer (very bad): No.

They also stated that the game balance is adjusted with the last two "bad" answers in mind. No idea what that actually means, other than the enemy AI is awful as well.
 
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tekulte said:
Question: If one of my squishy mercs is threatened, will melee mercs (if possible) peel off to defend them?
Answer (bad): No.

Question: Will my ranged/casters prioritize targets (i.e. go after healers/casters/archers first?)
Answer (very bad): No.

They also stated that the game balance is adjusted with the last two "bad" answers in mind. No idea what that actually means, other than the enemy AI is awful as well.
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The developer told me that "You can use the map to leave markers the AI companions will react to.". Not sure exactly how specific you can get with that, but I'd guess it will probably not adequately compensate for being unable to directly control your companions.

It definitely seems to be designed with co-op as the ideal mode. Unfortunately that, as well as the RTwP combat and procedural generation means this game is most definitely not my cup of tea. Alas, the wait for a new SP turn-based TDE cRPG continues.
 
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daveyd said:
The developer told me that "You can use the map to leave markers the AI companions will react to.". Not sure exactly how specific you can get with that, but I'd guess it will probably not adequately compensate for being unable to directly control your companions.

It definitely seems to be designed with co-op as the ideal mode. Unfortunately that, as well as the RTwP combat and procedural generation means this game is most definitely not my cup of tea. Alas, the wait for a new SP turn-based TDE cRPG continues.
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Hmmm... this is all sounding vaguely disappointing. I had hopes this would be a good return to the Dark Eye universe... still I'll keep my eye on this. Maybe at a deep discount down the road I'll give it a spin.
 
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I should note also that =the pause is disabled for co-op sessions. So it's purely RT for multiplayer and RTwP for singleplayer. However, as you're controlling a single character I'm not sure how much you'd need to pause anyway.
 
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Was going to put out a review today. But then an update came before launch and it no longer runs like ass. So will play a bit more before writing it all down. But, since the embargo is over, I'm gonna say that unless you have 3 super-dedicated friends who have the game, stay away from it for now. There are dozens of other good tactical RPGs that offer more for less money. It's just the same-ish looking generic maps over and over again with no real-rewards in the end. It kinda plays out like a generic NWN 1.
Such a shame though. I enjoy TDE setting.
 
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Thanks for the mini review, Yemeth. I was going to steer clear anyway (Procedurally generated dungeons and puzzles? Yeowch.), but TDE drew me in this far, just to make sure.
 
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Last truly enjoyable Dark Eye game was Blackguards I-II. Since then the IP was handed to multiple idiot teams, who managed to FCK the IP up... :( :( :(
 
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Mostly Negative on Steam, and pretty much everything people say I experienced as well.

. HORRIBLE henchman AI. I understand it's built for multiplayer, but I'm hearing that's laggy as all get go. Plus, horrible AI for single-player is not excusable.
. They'll wander off into another room, sometimes to engage enemies, despite your character not moving.
. I woke up from a Rest and found myself in another part of the dungeon NOT connected to the section I fell asleep in. Henchman was still in the original room.
. Rogue henchman won't disarm a trap right in front of them.
. I don't think healing potions work as intended - mouseover says 1d3 hp healed per use. I used 4 of them and only healed 1 hp every time.

Other things as well, too tired to type, got a refund anyway :)
 
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tekulte said:
Mostly Negative on Steam, and pretty much everything people say I experienced as well.

. HORRIBLE henchman AI. I understand it's built for multiplayer, but I'm hearing that's laggy as all get go. Plus, horrible AI for single-player is not excusable.
. They'll wander off into another room, sometimes to engage enemies, despite your character not moving.
. I woke up from a Rest and found myself in another part of the dungeon NOT connected to the section I fell asleep in. Henchman was still in the original room.
. Rogue henchman won't disarm a trap right in front of them.
. I don't think healing potions work as intended - mouseover says 1d3 hp healed per use. I used 4 of them and only healed 1 hp every time.

Other things as well, too tired to type, got a refund anyway :)
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That waking up in another section of the map is because of the 'sleepwalker' trait you picked during character creation. Everything else is spot-on
 
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The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes Reviews

GameWatcher - 5/10
Aside from that, the game is capable in doing what it sets out to do. It must be warned that I encountered a fair amount of bugs, including late-game characters becoming unplayable, rest menus getting stuck on the screen until I restarted the game, sleepwalking characters that would spawn out of bounds, and a very unusual bug which for reasons I can’t pinpoint, made every single one of my player-characters lose their hair styles. These bugs range from “nuisance” to “campaign ending”, so be aware that your experience may not be wholly smooth after a few hours.

If you are a fan of old-school RPGs or a fan of The Dark Eye, Book of Heroes should be right up your alley. The mechanics are complex enough to require you to know the rule book, the world is expansive enough to have a few playthroughs, and the scope is small enough to make it manageable. However, if you have no intense interest on old-school game design or the franchise itself, I recommend you stay away – the focus on maths instead of heart and soul makes this the kind of niche game that would feel dated 10 years ago, and the end result in modern times ends up being extremely boring.
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Critical Damage - 9/10
The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes is a great representation of the quality you can achieve when taking an excellent tabletop ruleset and building a video game around it. It stays true to its source material whilst not being afraid to bring some new concepts to the table that we haven’t seen in other RPGs.It does have some minor drawbacks and frustrations in both the graphical and AI departments, but I can’t say that either of these is enough to take away from how polished and fun the game is. The Dark Eye: Book of Heroes is a fantastic RPG with plenty to offer any budding adventure!
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yemeth said:
Polished and fun? Critical Damage must be playing a different game lol
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My first reaction was what the hell was this guy smoking.:lol:

As most user reviews agree more with GameWatcher.
 
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So...35% positive reviews on Steam. Thats even worse than expected. Guess that happens if you just give away the license to every studio which likes to put a label on their game to gain attention.
 
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From the currently top review (the position may change):
Characters run off, to do some ability check and die to the enemies in that same room, as you didnt go in there yet. I can't control their actions, only the main character of mine.
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We knew this, devs knew this and IIRC it was posted way back on steam forums.
Was it so hard to fix it till release?
 
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