Is this game from the same people as KoL? It certainly is similar. Not that I'm complaining. Looks sweet so far, and it's the first online game where I joined early enough that I could use my own name.

Same with me, Brandon!

It appears to have been slashdotted, or perhaps JiGged, if this site was the source of the downtime. Aww...

Jay... If I were you, I'd take down this review until the lag problems have been taken care of -- the impact JIG is having on this game is giving server errors every other turn!

Aww. I hate to unpublish reviews. Is it really that necessary? Perhaps we just leave it up so there's a place for discussion on the development progress?

I don't know, but I'm going to leave it alone just for the sake of helping with the lag. It looks like a fun game, though! I'm a HUGE KoL fan, so this will probably hit home for me.

Over the weekend, this cropped up on some of the more popular pages in the KoL community, which was enough to burden down the servers on its own. Just a growing pains issue they can only solve by added more servers at this point I'd think.

This game seems pretty cool. I can't wait til the servers don't lag so much.

This is probably the buggiest online game I have played IN MY LIFE! Every other few things I do, "Error 500" or something!

The lag is REALLY bad. The help forum said they were getting new users at the rate of several hundred per hour, so until the hardware gets an upgrade this will be frustrating for all. However, it does look like a great game.

Very fun, and far more stable than earlier.

Oops. I guess it got too much publicity too early on. Must've been too hasty. How about if everyone edits their favourites and hold off the logging in for a week or two?

Yeah, this game is quite good. It's definitely in the vein of KOL, as the main dev was a heavy player, but this game has a charm of it's own, that I've seen in its alpha test. Once Ryme figures out how it'll deal with its traffic, It's a pretty interesting game, with a set of mechanics that are pretty subtly different.

Nooo! Another KoL game! And I'm already heavily addicted to KoL!

*sigh* well if you can't fight them, join them.

/em goes away to find some bugchips :)

I think I will wait for the server issues to be fixed. But it does look real cool. Thanks Gar!

Jay, in two days I've yet to get anything but an error. I know you don't like to do it, but it might be better to take down the review until they get the server issues fixed -- otherwise you'll have readers hammering their servers for the next few days, only to walk away from the game because it won't load, and having a bad taste in their mouth about the game that they can't go play.

Better to take it down, let the dust settle, then repost when their servers can handle it -- and let everyone rave about how great it is, instead of a long list of error posts.

OK I played around with it, so I'll put in my 25 cents.

First of all, a comparison with Kingdom of Loathing is inevitable. This is, after all, a KoL clone. I don't know if Jick&co are behind this, or some other talented team, but Twilight Heroes (TH) screams KoL all over.

First of all, I like the atmosphere, and I like the clever re-implementation of KoL mechanics. It all feels so familiar to KoL player. However, at this stage, I must notice that the writing is far sub-par to KoL, which far funnier and more clever with bad puns galore and multitude of references. Not to say TH is bad, it's more that it continuosly walks the line between serious and wacky, without actually taking sides, so more often then not it misses the mark.

The atmosphere is nice - I love the noir-comic book style. Interface is nice, too, although take some getting used to.

An average KoL player should enjoy this, because it will at the same time feel very familiar and yet it will be a whole new playground to explore. A non-KoL player should go and check Kingdom of Loathing first, because as it stands now KoL is still a far superior game.

And now about the lag. Currently it kills the game quite efficiently - the game's servers just cannot take the heat. Actually, I'm all in for Jay unpublishing this review because playing the game is painful. It's not just you have to wait sooo long to spend a turn, the lag actually doesn't let you pass some puzzles, which can be quite irritating. It's best to check the game out a little and then let it be for a few days or weeks - this game should be played smoothly, all those 500 errors are ruining it heavily.

Bottom line, this should be a damn fine game, not KoL exactly, but a few things on the web can reach KoL's standards. It just needs time (and probably donations) to become what it should.

*laugh* Hey, Baba, didn't know you were a JIG fan too (Vulpis from KoL here. ;-) ).

And from what I've seen from the site and their forums...yeah, this is very much a *clone* of KoL with a superhero theme..with all the good and bad that implies. (Smoot's on their forums, I noticed...)

Among the forum comments were one suggesting ideas for 'sidekicks' (aka familiars), and another that pretty much caused my interest to plummet in the form of *their* 'Item of the Month' system, whereby you 'donate' $10 and in return recieve a piece of equipment that's more powerful than what you can earn by actually playing the game. :-/

Oh, and as far as the lag goes--In one of the other forum threads, the main dev was commenting about going from a userbase of about 200 to 1500 overnight (and still rising as he posted) *just* from the mention in the KoL forums...and unlike KoL, they're still on a single server. ;-)

Lag is still an issue, but if you get in before 8:00PM Eastern the game works much better. After that, the lag is worse. I messed around a bit over morning coffee with no problems, and played between 7-8 EST with only a few "500" screens. After 8:00 it got bad and after 8:30 it was pretty much broken.

However, it is very much worth the effort. The game gets better as it goes!!!

Well. The game is basically unplayable much of the time because of 500 errors. As peeps have said above it is very much like KOL. Even the writing style and humor is similar so I have to assume it is the same developers.

But actually.... Its really not as good.

It does not seem to have the same depth of things to explore. Even with the goofy humor and fun stuff to check out, there seems to only be one area that you have to grind at each level. For example Level 2 and 3 I spent two days beating the snot out of the same drunk guy. Now I must go back endlessly to the rave party and smack around the same 3 people, and read the same three jokes. There don't seem to be "Quests" or other intriguing things to do.

Finally, the fact that cash seems far harder to get than experience means every time you buy something you ask yourself. Is this thing worth not being able to pay for my level. From I was forced to grind half way to level 5, in order to pay for level 4 training. So the cash system is basically hozed....

Though I suppose once more people are online the Auction system may help this. But considering how many items I've gotten (not many) it probably will not.

Anyway, its funny, and an interesting new take on the KOL gameplay style but needs a LOT more content.

Thats my two cents.

*sigh* I guess it would be better to take this down for a bit. Hopefully enough people will say, "This game is like KoL only worse" to lessen the lag a bit. I'm gonna get myself a credit card so I can donate a bit. They need another server.

I seem to be having trouble logging in. Does it require my forum username or my character name?

Well, although it might not have as many jokes as KoL, it still manages to make a point when it needs to. Not like it's supposed to be KoL anyway. This is a superhero game. You make superhero jokes. Just read the description for the leather gloves.

Anyway, it's not like the donation items in KoL aren't ALSO more powerful than things you can gain normally. All the other items that even come close to a Mr. A (or item of the month specials) are either a result from epic challenges which take a month to complete, or ultra rare items that you can't even hope to obtain normally without having luck crammed down your throat.

Perhaps currency (chips, as it were) is a bit tough to get early on, but if you take the time to look around the place and talk to people, there are a bunch of quests just waiting to be found, and the rewards from them are good enough to get you to your goals. And if you're hard up for transportation, they sell it in the shop, or can be "commandeered" from certain enemies if you take down enough of them. In general, always check your journal to see if anything new has shown up for you to do.

I like the game. Perhaps when the guy gets more bandwidth, it'll be another nice game to explore. Until then, I guess I'll be waiting for rollover so that I can take down this kingpin of the galleria. For I am.....Melon Maaaaaaaan.

Some more cents from me.

I have played - rather painfully - a whole session yesterday just to get the feel of the game a bit more. I'm not getting back to it though until they upgrade their hardware - it takes you a few hours at least to play through your turns and 90% of the time you are refreshing 500 Internal server errors. Ugh.

But let me make a few points about the game.

First of all - Thorin, there ARE quests. As far as I gathered, you start the quest chain by helping the cop in your neighbourhood (a non-combat adventure). After that you should check your journal it basically bluntly tells you what your next step is.

Unfortunately there is a glitch in the quest chain which happens very early, and the cause is partly a bit of a bad game design (in my opinion) and partly a result of heavy lag. I'll spoilerize it just in case.

Also, after my session I'm feeling a little bit underwhelmed (again, compared to KoL - sorry, I can't help it). The puzzles seem either too straightforward or too obscure (what the hell is going on with all that letter switching and the sands??). Jick's stick man are infinitely more amusing then those B&W Photoshop-filtered stock photographs. The description says a mutant, I see some TV-ad "hobo". Heh. The IoTM is very badly thought out - in KoL terms, it's a 20% +item MP-regenerating accessory. Since the game doesn't appear to have an alternate way of easily regenerating MP and/or getting +items, this accessory seems rather overpowered. Finally, as I already said, the game just cannot decide whether it wants to be serious or funny, and it ends up being neither.

Of course, I'm being too harsh to a game which is still very much in development. Bottom line is - it's not THAT good a game you'd want to suffer such heavy lag just to play it out. I guess people who discover it in about 6 months time will have much more fun with it. Perhaps waiting is the best option.

Oh, the lag is being worked on. Ryme (the sole developer) has just bought a couple of servers which are on their way....

I could rebuke most of these above comments, but I don't really have the time.........

Um... login trouble? Help? I'm not talking about logging into the forums either, I'm talking about logging into the game itself. I've registered, but it won't let me in.

To Baba44713:

The word puns are usually called "Spoonerisms". Those puzzles can be frustrating if you don't find them funny.

So, stuck? Have you tried shouting "OUENDAN!" really loud...ly? If that doesn't work, have you tried, say, using the gray sand on the Use Stuff page?

(Oh, and just remembering the "Gray Sand" will come in handy for a puzzle later on. If you have a Lack of Pies, I'll be happy to buy one from you; they're really funny)

baba44713: There is a link in the bottom left that will get you to the last area patrolled.

More specific(spoilery) info about the last patrolled link:

Oh, I give up. Can't find technical help anywhere. All you guys care about is spoilers. Well, they ain't doin' me much good cuz I can't log in! I can't play the game because it won't let me in!

Yeesh.

I think the db went down, maybe. I was getting seeing some mysql connection errors earlier and gave up.

I'm not sure about your problem Wolfgang - maybe you could try to create a new character? I just did, with no problem (start at the 'Create an Account' link).

Baba44713 didn't like the item of the month - the Hero's Cape. There are several items I've seen in shops throughout the game that rejuvenate your HP or PP (think 'MP' in Kingdom of Loathing terms) - so this one isn't unique. But regaining 1 PP per character level per turn is good, and getting a 20% increase in the chance of finding items is nice too. Is it overpowered? I don't think so - even the (easily obtained) flashlight I have equipped gives a 5% bonus to finding stuff.

Yes, as everyone's noticed, the 500 errors are a right pain. But I'm giving this one a chance - I donated cash today, and am now the proud wearer of a Hero's Cape and a Silver Star.

If you're ever around Twilight Heroes, or Kingdom of Loathing for that matter, the name is Guthlaf.

Arggh.... I hate the sewer quest! I am totally stuck!

Freddy,

Don't panic, you've done the right thing.

for those having trouble getting money

Yay, me again.

I heard about the new servers and came back to the game. It is much less laggy now.. well, actually it is still laggy in the sense that every click requires 10+ seconds processing, but the 500 errors are much less frequent.

So anyway.. the sewer quest, which I've found absurdly frustrating, is not so hard after all. The biggest problem was that 500 errors more often then not killed the char pane and the adventure pane quite efficiently, and this basically doesn't let you pass the quest.

As for the game, I still think the writing and jokes could be much better, and that the artwork is just plain terrible. Stock photographs and family photos totally break the atmosphere of the game. Ryme should really get hold of a comic book artist who would redraw all the pictures in Sin City style. UNLESS the real point of the game is that you are playing a deranged dude who fights ordinary people, senior citizens and small animals on streets thinking he is a superhero - in that case, kudos to Ryme for abstracting the game theme in such a perfectly subtle way.

Third thing I don't like is the Auctions. They are terribly implemented in my opinion. The interface is clunky, and it's hard to trade items because they are either tied up in an extremely long auction process or ridicilously overpriced. The KoL Mall is much better and preferable if TH wants to develop its internal economy further.

Bottom line, with less lag I must admit the game got exponentially more enjoyable, and the good old KoL-ish addictiveness starts to show up. I'm coming back to this and I hope it will grow in a damn fine game (and that those GM script geniuses will start tweaking the interface a bit with instant-use and one-click rebuffing functions, because frankly, you just can't play without those).

Glad to hear that things are working a little better. I haven't actually been on the forums, though I guess I should if I want a better sense of what goes on behind the scenes. For the record, I'd rather give hints than spoilers.

Oh, and if anyone wants one in-game, or if they implement a hero-team feature, you can give me a message: unfortunately, the only superhero name I could think of was "Doominator".

Man, Lag or no lag I getting in on the ground floor. I love KoL but it really gets my goat that I missed out on all kinds of "limited-time" goodies. How I longingly look at TPS's, Time equipment, Trophies no longer available. Lag or no lag... I'm sticking to it.
Plus I am in the process of trying to make my own browser based game (though not really anything like kol or this one) and it'll be good to see what kind of hardships to look forward to. hehe, I guess I already figured out i won't be able to run even an alpha off my home computer.

Speaking as one of the KoL developers, Twilight Heroes isn't anything to do with us directly, although the main dev of TH is a KoLer, and most of us on the KoL staff play TH.

Just wanted to clear that up. ;)

Just in case people don't know it, at midnight Friday the game was taken offline to upgrade the servers. This is supposed to take a few days (bad news) but the lag issues and "500" errors should be a thing of the past(good news).

The game is back online, without lag and it's a whole new ballgame. Of course once people start swarming in I guess it will not stay as lightning-fast as it is now, but still.

Unfortunately, for some reason I cannot get pop-ups (the good kind) in the game any more, which is bad because it's the only way you can get journal hints or see what each item does. I hope this gets fixed soon.

i still don't understand how to make the day shift over.
i maxed out last night, and this morning it's saying the same thing.

The Rock+Paper+Scissors game is a good way to get easy money. It seems to be a standard "pick at random" algorithm.

Brand new servers, and I STILL CANNOT LOG IN!!!!!

Someone help me...

Do I type in my hero's name and the password? What do I do? I've tried everything!

SUPER FUN GAME.

newandused, at 12:10 a.m. (in real life) you get more turns to use.
Currently, I cannot reach the servers. If any of you play, my ingame name is JLee23 =]

is there a new website for twilight heroes or is it still www.twilightheroes.com?

I must be stupid. I can't find the password for the sewers. I typed in 'grey sand' and 'gray sand' but neither of them worked. What is the password?

Phoenix, you're more than likely not stupid: you have the wrong idea but the right track. Spend a few more turns in the Maze and get a feel for the gist of how things go there (Like take off your Sandals, and put them back on again to see how things change).

Remember how the Mind Ben- I mean Bind Mender talked to you? He talked to you that way the whole time.

This seems to be one of the most frequently asked questions I've run into; if they ever implement a hero-team feature, I'm going to start a hinty team, the "Irradianti" or something, and shed light on the one true path of all those who seek help.

Sewer password problem:

I did feel really stupid after finally working it out!

Great game! I'm loving the sense of humour.

I'm close to giving up. For the sewer password I've tried everything I can think of.

Can someone please take mercy on me and give me a few more hints on what the password is?

Phoenix-

For those having problems with the password

I want to thank everyone tt helped me. I can't believe I didn't understand the sewer password before.

But now does anyone know how you find out what is causing the University Protest?

I loved the clerks reference on the docks. By the way theres a buncha savages in this town.

Please... someone help me... I can't log into the game... I've created three or four characters and none of them work!

Is it supposed to send out a verification email? Because I never got one.

OK the password for the sewers is not "say grand". So the password is not a true spoonism of "Gray Sand". The spoonism generator I found online says the spoonism of "Gray Sand" is "Say Grand" and vice versa. So then what the hell is it then? If it is supose to resemble a command line can someone give me a clue?

Thanks

Okay, you're beating your head against the answer, but you know you'll have to think differently for it. Imagine the Min- er, Bind Mender is telling it to you aloud again. Say it aloud to yourself a few times and see if it hits you. Got it?

If you don't, don't worry as a lot of people ask the question, even multiple times.

Hey Guys. I helped the old lady by the tavern and she told me the name of the guy there but I forgot what the name is and I can't get her to come back to the tavern. Can anyone tell me what the pizza guy's name is? Thanks.

Leah - Check your journal - it's all in there.

Ugh, level 10, and I'm trying to find quests to do. Done

Are there are quests available at level 10?

I'm stuck with nothing to do as well. I wonder if they just haven't gotten around to making more quests yet. Though I did just unlock a new area in the desert with supper tough enemies after gaining a level.

After the quests end, you can either try out new classes to see how they work - just transmogrify your starting talisman, you'll drop to level 1. Unfortunately, the quests don't get reset.

You can also farm chips and collect merit badges (which are similar to KoL trophies). One of the more popular and challenging ones includes

But if you want some long-term fun, then TH still doesn't provides it, at least not in the extent KoL does.

Okay, so far I'm at level fourteen. And these are the quests I have completed.

Has anyone else gotten to any more quests? I'm pretty much just stuck gaining levels and hoping I'll be given a quest.

I've played three characters on TH up to level 11, now, and I must say that this game has delivered a lot of entertainment. Other players have been extremely helpful, the quests have been entertaining, and I feel rather fond of my three urban heroes.

I've just started playing Kingdom of Loathing because of all the comparisons TH gets to it, and I must say that it IS extremely similar in mechanics, and there's no denying that KoL is an extremely rich, thoroughly developed game, while TH is clearly in its infancy. KoL also has its own voice in a way that few games I've ever played do. So, yeah: TH pales in comparison. But if the thing you pale next to when compared is REALLY GOOD (as KoL seems to be) that's not necessarily an insult. TH is still a whole lot of fun.

(It's also easier, which I appreciate. TH was a good trainer for KoL, which might have been too intimidating for me to start with.)

Say... TH has more stuff now, and the lag problem is long gone. How about an "Updated and Improved" bump or something? It just ended up here at a bad time to begin with.

I really enjoy this game a lot. I keep discovering new facets of gameplay as I wend my way through this world. Every couple weeks there's a reasonably large update, too.
I'm here to stay!

This game has come a long way since the introduction of the beta. It now has more than 9,000 players and the creator adds a new quests, zones, and fun objects constantly.

An updated article is appropriate on this!

how do you get a computer? AND WHAT DO I DO IN THE FIRST QUEST AFTER SAVING MELODY?!

BORING!!!! i like chat rooms/games like warbears or rune scape and dragon fable maybe it will become bigger and dus become a game/chat room

Phonix, I'm at the same place you are! There are some talks about a secret place in the forum, but I cannot figure it out...

Where can you find a data plate, memory tube, and electronic cabling? I checked the electronics store, but there weren't any.

Calendor 1!

@Phonix and Xlory

In addition,

now and then.

i don't know where to get data plate, i only get mangled data plate, can i turn it into a data plate?

This definately needs a new review, the game is much better. For those that are wondering, there is a new quest that's available

Also, I don't know if anyone could do this, but the misleading complaints on the 500 errors definately would make people NOT want to play. That isn't the point of this site, I'm assuming?
If you ever need any ingame help, you can

or go to the ingame Gameplay and Trade chat.