Class of Heroes 2G Remastered Edition review

Majoring in dungeoneering with a minor in party management.

Class of Heroes 2’s original stateside release didn’t come easy. The game’s predecessor was released to critical and commercial indifference in 2009, prompting Atlus to pass on publishing the sequel. But recognizing an inventory of improvements in the follow-up, a collaboration between Gaijinworks and MonkeyPaw Games initiated a crowdsourcing campaign to publish themselves.

While the effort wasn’t successful, the two companies remained committed and eventually published a special edition that included both a physical and digital edition of the game. Six years later, a PlayStation 3 iteration arrived which brought bug fixes, tweaks, and a few minor additions.

Roll Your Own, If You’d Prefer

Just like in 2015, the Steam version of Class of Heroes 2G kicks off by ushering you into an adventurer creation component. Comparable to Class of Heroes, generating new characters isn’t required, as the title offers a roster of prebuilt protagonists. However, those seeking stalwarts or even synergistic parties will want to venture into the game’s recesses. Here, a bevy of options exist, giving players control over alignment, race, and gender, and the allotment of an initial stat bonus. Depending on these factors, different classes become available for each character. Pleasingly, vocational tracks aren’t permanent, with gamers able to shift their members to new occupations.

Mercifully, COH2 waits to lay its grand narrative on players, transmitting a skeletal impetus about a school where adventurers strive to reach their latent potential. Most notable is the succinctness and autonomy Class of Heroes 2G exhibits: the menu-driven system shirks the need to traipse around towns instigating garrulous conversations with idle NPCs.

Contract Killer (and Collector)

Instead, players choose quests from an ever-increasing register of errands. Each of these missions is ranked – typically revolving around a school member needing a particular item or dispatching a certain creature. On the upside, these tasks aren’t bookended by long-winded conversations with little narrative payoff; directions are habitually terse. However, concise contractors will occasionally send parties scouring for an item with a meager number of details. It’s up to players to discover whether items have specific locations or are allocated to a random loot drop.

Delving into the title’s interior and exterior dungeons demonstrates several improvements over the first Class of Heroes. Wisely, the sequel discards the randomized designs of its predecessor, offering a selection of sizable maps equipped with traps, secret passages, and treasure chests. Adversity comes in two types: periodically, players will discover icons that signify elevated challenges, as well as the game’s onslaught of random encounters. While the first-person perspective (guided by an optional, translucent map) offers a refreshing change from the rest of Class of Heroes 2’s 2D delivery, the modest polygonal visuals don’t always match the charm of the title’s charismatic spritework. That said, this remaster ups the resolution of the artwork, while eschewing any improvements to animation. Notably, the script has also been relocalized, which removes some of the eccentricity of the original.

Farming the “B” Team

Combat during exploration adeptly balances tactical options with brevity. Although encounters give players control over battle formation, powered-up group attacks, as well as elemental and class-based advantages, these nuances can often be disregarded when confronting ordinary dungeon dwellers. Once some of the game’s more resilient bosses confront parties, then players will be urged to micro-manage every exchange of a confrontation. While the specter of perma-death looms over adventurers, the threat rarely crushes player morale. By that time, enemies muster up a serious menace, gamers will have created an emergency bravo team or at least learned to exploit the game’s convenient save-anywhere functionality.

COH2G has one conspicuous advantage over its peers: the game’s sense of scope is astounding. While peers like the Etrian Odyssey and Shin Mega Tensei spinoffs might have engaging character customization and demon cultivation components, Class of Heroes surpasses them with a cornucopia of equipment choices, prestige classes, and alchemic activities. Initially, the freedom can be daunting, but through a bit of trial-and-error players will develop their own solutions to the game’s meta-problems. This is especially evident in the later part of the game, where any gaps in a party’s ability set will be revealed by especially formidable foes.

Conclusion

The first few hours of the original Class of Heroes can be unforgiving, requiring players to do their homework if they want to survive. Class of Heroes 2G extends a more welcoming introduction, improved artwork, and a widespread streamlining of some of the first game’s systems. If you’re a stalwart dungeon crawler, pick up both. But for most players, Class of Heroes 2G Remastered Edition will meet your Wizardry-but-with-moé needs.

Class of Heroes 2G Remastered Edition was played
on PC with review code provided by the publisher.