I have no qualms admitting that I like the Harry Potter novels. Who can blame me? It’s not so much the “modern high fantasy” setting as it is the school setting. There are tons of people who dream about a school like that. This goes beyond the adventures of the three protagonists. What would happen if you were given a scholarship to a place like Hogwarts? What would you do if you were given the opportunity to train as an adventurer? Well, Atlus lets all of us with an imagination indulge in that fantasy with Class of Heroes.
Class of Heroes takes place in a newly founded adventuring academy known as Particus. It is full of people of a wide range of economic statuses and races, which range from the traditional fantasy norm such as elves, humans and sprites to fulpers (a cat-like race) to erdigists (wind spirits who possess dolls in order to interact with the [physical] world) to the other-worldly celestials and diablos (angels and demons, respectably). You have the opportunity to enroll all of these different races to make up your class of heroes. Races coincide with classes, but there is nothing stopping you from creating a male diablian as a paladin, or a celestial as an evil ninja. All that’s stopping you are characters stats. Plus, once your characters reach those requirements, you can change majors. The only downside is that there are only two portraits for each race: One is for the men; the other is for the women. That means if you want to create a party full of one type of race (and sex), prepare to confuse everyone for everyone else. You really are meant to create a multicultural party. But I really would have loved it if there more portraits!
The story follows your class as the students progress through the school. They’ll take a variety of classes, meet a wide range of personalities from both students and faculty (one of them is a dwarf healer who doubles as a “juice” fan). You see, the school is surrounded by various dungeons that change form each time you enter. Well, they actually don’t change too much as each dungeon has about two different maps or so on each side and the center section is always the same. A map of the place isn’t always available for purchase from the school’s store, but thankfully, there’s a spell that fixes that problem — until you walk into an anti-magic field and lose it again. So obtaining a proper physical map is almost a necessity. But it is the perfect method for future adventurers and heroes to learn the ropes.
As such, this is an old-school dungeon-crawling inspired game. HOWEVER, this is not like Atlus’ previous releases. It doesn’t have the death hold of The Dark Spire or the sense of something constantly looking over your shoulder hunting for the perfect opportunity like in Etrian Odyssey. Instead, Class of Heroes is a much more welcoming game. Yeah, it still requires a decent amount of time to get off the ground (it was about five hours for me until I could explore for extended periods of time). Yeah, you’re only able to choose which group of monsters you attack instead of choosing which monster you want to kill with its old-school turn-based combat system. Plus, it does not help that the campus store charges an outrageous fee to fully equip your party (just like every other college in existence). While it has almost everything you need, it is a bit much trying to save up the 500 gold coins to purchase a decent sword.
Thankfully, the game has a robust alchemy system. Monsters constantly drop materials for synthesis. Once you have the proper recipe, you can look it up, hunt down the proper ingredients from monsters and in your inventory, and create it. It’s neat to find all of the required items and merge them together to create something that would take hours to purchase. The downside? You have to remember the recipe. You just cannot select a recipe and then go searching through your inventory or even cycle through the various recipes. It’s annoying, but it’s not game-breaking.
However, that’s the only doom and gloom you face. The game can be saved whenever you like — when you are exploring or on campus or even visiting another town. Random encounters don’t happen after every other step. It’s perfectly balanced as it is mega rare to fight a monster after every few steps like most old-school games. Ranged weapons actually have a decent bite to them, and the old-school magic system of using levels works in its favor. Despite its older “cousins,” it is a fast-paced dungeon crawler that is meant to be savored and enjoyed by all because it is well-balanced. In other words, if you want to understand why certain people love these types of games, this is the one to play.
The game is rather pleasant to listen to. There is the upbeat music of the campus and the somewhat intense combat music. However, the game is not afraid to turn off the music and let the background noise set the mood. Footsteps are heard as you move your party around the various dungeons, the whistling of the wind and the screams of other adventurers ... (No one said it was COMPLETELY safe to explore them; party members can permanently die if not resurrected properly). It perfectly sets the mood that something is lurking around the corner, waiting to pounce.
Overall, Class of Heroes is a wonderfully solid game for PSP owners. On the one hand, there are tons of modern conveniences in the game that makes it easy to get into and keep playing for as long as you like: cute graphics, fun school setting, audio and awesome save feature. On the other hand, it is still a hard-core dungeon crawler. The alchemy system is a little rough around the edges, there’s limited space for inventory (though there is a locker in the dorms to store your stuff) and it’s a real challenge to create a balanced party to get off the ground.
Class of Heroes could be considered a gem. If The Dark Spire and the Etrian Odyssey series scares you but also interests you, this is the game to play. If you like dungeon crawlers, Class of Heroes will not disappoint. If you want to learn why people like dungeon crawlers, this is, to date, the best one to play. In other words, it’s a solid RPG to play on the go or if you want to find some major alone time. So with that in mind, who knew school could be this fun?
