Heroes are overrated. Sure they take care of your odd rampaging Robo-Ogre, but they tend to be pretty full of themselves, and in general their inventories tend to be messier than my grandmother's handbag. (Is... is this lint on this Werther's Original or.. ?) Fortunately, you don't need organisational skills when you have cheap labour, and that's where you come in! Just imagine; all the menial tasks your heart desires with none of that pesky recognition or appreciation junk! Such is the case in Help the Hero from Antony Lavalle and Armor Games' super team of talent. In this quirky puzzle game, you follow in the hero's footsteps (literally) and make sure the great(?) and honorable(?!) Count Thrashwoode is properly outfitted for battle by gathering up all the treasure he uncovers.
RPG subordinates these days seem to be taking a cue from Leon Scott Kennedy circa Los Plagas, because all item management is handled by arranging as many items as you can on a grid that represents the hero's limited inventory space. As your hero adventures, he gathers items that scroll by at the bottom of the screen; click and drag them to your inventory, and use the [arrow] keys to rotate the item while you're holding it until you can figure out a way to fit it in. You likely won't be able to carry everything he finds, so try to prioritize based on item type and what you know about the monster he'll be coming up against. Before battle, you'll be given a chance to outfit your hero with the equipment he's gathered, boosting various stats, or sell off what you don't need to upgrade the hero's number of equipment slots or inventory space. The Count fights automatically, but his success depends on whether you've chosen the proper types of items to equip him with.
With its stellar presentation and clever premise, Help the Hero is a welcome change from the flood of samey games out there. From the passive-aggressive remarks made by the apprentice, to the old-timey theatrical soundtrack, and to the quirky character designs its a joy to behold on virtually every level. (Although you will feel somewhat cheated the first time the curtain falls on a battle.) Unfortunately, once you've played the first stage, you've basically seen everything the game has to offer apart from a few enemy design and a snarky comment or two. There's a lack of variety to the gameplay that means the longer levels get, the more they seem to drag, and it feels like throwing in a different sort of minigame in there, or even just altering the background with each stage so that you have something to look at, would have done a lot to keep the game feeling fresh. Still, it's a clever take on an RPG puzzle game, and a peek behind the curtains at what would probably be a pretty handy feature. (Do you know how much I would pay for an assistant like that for Commander Shepherd and crew?!)
Walkthrough Guide
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Re-written item list:
Attack Weapons:
Rock: What is this? Useless. (Sells for 0 gold, No Attack)
Dagger: Weak, but easy to store. (Sells for 100 gold, 1 Attack)
Axe: A simple effective cheap axe. (Sells for 10 gold, 3 Attack)
Club: Brute Force Medium Attack. (Sells for 10 gold, 1 Attack)
Sword: Good slashing power. (Sells for 40 gold, 3 Attack)
Katana: Sleek Slicing Shape. (Sells for 100 gold, 3 Attack)
Halbeard: Ultimate Attack Weapon! (Sells for 100 gold, 5 Attack)
Defense:
Armor: Large increase to defense. (Sells for 100 gold, 5 defense)
Helmet: Medium increase to defense. (Sells for 100 gold, 2 1/2 defense)
Greives: Small increase to defense. (Sells for 100 gold, 1 defense)
Range Weapons:
Slingshot: Weak Power, Fires stones. (Sells for 20 gold plus 1 per stone, Attack is 1/2 per Stone, Combines with Catapult Pouch and Catapult Stone)
Catapult Pouch: Can store stones. (Sells for 1 gold per stone, Combines with Slingshot and Catapult Stone, 10 Capacity)
Catapult Stone: Fire from catapult. (Sells for 1 gold, Combines with Slinshot and Catapult Pouch)
Crossbow: Medium power, fires arrows. (Sells for 100 gold plus 10 for each arrow, Attack is 1/2 per arrow, Combines with Crossbow Quiver and Crossbow Arrow, 6 Capacity)
Crossbow Quiver: Can store arrows. (Sells for 10 gold per arrow, Combines with Crossbow and Crossbow Arrow, 6 Capacity)
Crossbow Arrow: Increase Crossbow power. (Sells for 10 gold, Combines with Crossbow and Crossbow Quiver)
Musket: Very Powerful! But uses lots of room. (Sells for 100 gold plus 5 for each bullet, Attack is 1 per Bullet, Combines with Musket Bullet, 6 Capacity)
Musket Pouch: Can store bullets. (Sells for 5 gold per bullet, Combines with Musket and Musket Bullet
Musket Bullet: Fired from Musket. (Sells for 5 gold, Combines with Musket and Musket Pouch)
Magic:
Huge Potion: Huge increase to magic power. (Sells for 100 gold, 5 Magic)
Medium Potion: Medium increase to magic power. (Sells for 100 gold, 1 Magic)
Small Potion: Small increase to magic power. (Sells for 100 gold, 1/2 Magic)
Money:
Coin: Some bonus money. (Sells for 10 gold)
Coinbag: Stores money in one place. (Sells for 10 gold per Coin, 25 capacity)
Piggybank: Stores lots of money. (Sells for 10 gold per Coin, 99 capacity)
Thanks to everyone:
Bren for correcting my typo, and my missed range item.
JIGuest for attack mistakes and info about ammo.
DJBlayde and JIGuest for reminding me about the sword.
Posted by: CJ
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May 24, 2011 10:51 PM
Help The Hero! guide
How To Play
The game has two parts:
In the first you have to take equipment and place it in your inventory. The trick is to rotate the items (using the arrow keys or WASD) and combine items (for example, arrows go in quivers and both go with the crossbow). If an item can combine, its background will turn purple. Try and fit as much gear into the grid.
In the second you must equip your hero by dragging equipment to his slots. When he goes to battle, each of the four stats - attack, defense, magic and range - will be matched against the enemy's. The aim is to have a higher stat and win at least three out of four stat categories. So if you want a high attack, equip more attack items such as swords. An enemy is rated on what they are strong and weak at. Always aim to outdo the strong stat and then every other stat before getting to the weak.
Tips
Focus on what a monster is strong on, not weak.
Aim to balance at least three stats.
There is no need to take everything, but selling excess items will get you more gold. Primarily focus on the stats you want to bolster.
Clicking on an item on the conveyer belt will send it to the back of the visible queue.
Remember to rotate and combine items.
The amount of ammo you equip to a range weapon affects its rating.
Before starting a battle, sell everything you haven't equipped.
Gold can be used to buy more equipment slots and inventory space.
Equipment
Attack
Sword: +2
Samurai Sword: +3
Dagger: +1
Axe: +3
Club: +2
Defense
Armor: +5
Greives: +1
Helmet: +2
Range
Musket: +3
Crossbow: +3
Catapult: +4
Magic
Huge Potion: +5
Small Potion: +0.5
Medium Potion: +1
Containers
Crossbow Quiver: 6
Musket Pouch: 6
Catapult puch: 6
Coinbag: 25
Piggy Bank: 99
Combinations
Musket + Musket Ammo + Musket Pouch
Catapult + Stones + Catapult Pouch
Crossbow + Arrows + Crossbow Quiver
Piggy Bank + Coins + Coinbag
Enemies
The Ogre
Strong against: Range
Weak Against: Defense
Attack: 1
Defense: 1
Range: 2
Magic: 1
Woodie
Strong Against: Attack
Weak Against: Magic
Attack: 3
Defense: 2
Range: 2
Magic: 1
Snapdragon
Strong Against: Defense
Weak Against: Range
Attack: 3
Defense: 4
Range: 2
Magic: 3
Ogrus Maximus
Strong Against: Range
Weak Against: Magic
Attack: 4
Defense: 4
Range: 5
Magic: 3
Lancewoode
Strong Against: Magic
Weak Against: Attack
Attack: 4
Defense: 5
Range: 5
Magic: 6
Dragonsmith
Strong Against: Attack
Weak Against: Defense
Attack: 6
Defense: 5
Range: 6
Magic: 6
Robogre
Strong Against: Defense
Weak Against: Attack
Attack: 5
Defense: 8
Range: 7
Magic: 6
Hackwood
Strong Against: Magic
Weak Against: Range
Attack: 6
Defense: 5
Range: 6
Magic: 8
Dragonoid
Strong Against: Range
Weak Against: Magic
Attack: 7
Defense: 7
Range: 8
Magic: 5
Posted by: James Francis
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May 30, 2011 8:11 AM