Is Heroes Rise 2 an improvement?

I enjoyed Heroes Rise during my first playthrough, but I grew frustrated as it had very little replayability – it’s very railroad. However I enjoyed the demo for Heroes Rise 2 and I’m wondering if I might give it another chance. Are there different endings (and not in a “you saved [number] people!” way)? Do your choices actually impact the story?
Thanks in advance.

If you enjoyed Heroes Rise 1 you’ll enjoy the sequel. It is better, with more choice.

I wouldn’t say it’s hugely replayable. I’d say it can be played twice and after that replays might feel a bit samey. There’s a few choices that do have an impact, some minor, some major. You get to choose an alliance, (or don’t choose at all), there’s three romance options, (or no romance). You can choose who you vote out and that has a small effect.

There’s one major decision near the end which does have a significant impact and you get two completely different branches depending on what choice you make there.

It does end mostly in the same place regardless of your choices. There’s a bit of variability in that end though and I’m sure it’ll be relevant in the third game.

Anyway the answer’s yes. Heroes Rise 2 is an improvement. If you liked the first game, you should like the second, and I’d definitely suggest buying it.

Well I’m pretty sure royally pissing Jenny off is gonna effect the next game a lo

I would be sincere with you. For me the 2 was even worse than one due it has something called be in role, But all fucking roles are the same except one viliain . if you dont choose exactly the one correct game wants you are screwed everyone hated you and called you Charmaleon you could end with 20 leyend points i was started with 60 lol. They did it on purpose to sell more guides a horribly nasty movement. The game except that is little less railroad there are two choosing moments could be interesting in the new one but i couldn’t recommend this but is well written at last.

@kourah I strongly disliked HR1 as well, but I’m in agreement with @FairyGodfeather on HR2 for exactly the reasons he gave. It is a significant improvement and I found I enjoyed it overall. Is it a sandbox? No, but I felt my choices did have an effect on the game, and I had fun playing it, which is a lot more than I can say for the original.

Zachary is an amazing writer, but most of the choices in both of the Heroes Rise are *fake_choices. In my opinion, one play through lets you see all there is to see, but the second one does give your choices a little more effect. If you didn’t like HR1, you probably won’t like HR2, since it’s just as railroaded. However, if you did like it, you’ll like the sequel even more.

Thanks for all the replies. To be honest I don’t expect like ten different endings but the railroading of the first game left a sour taste in my mouth. What MaraJade points about the role worries me though, I normally don’t aim for the best ending but for the ending I get even if it means screwing up every now and then, but…
Oh well, I guess I might give it a chance after finals. At least it’s pretty long?

@kourah
It’s long because at least half of the choices have exactly the same subsequent text:P

Yes it’s long.

There tends to be a compromise in most choice games of Length or Choice. Heroes Rise has chosen length. That’s not a bad thing and there is still plenty of stuff that’s different.

If you care a lot about Legend Points, HR2 is likely to piss you off. Like Mara says, getting a high legend score requires you to pursue a consistent reality-show strategy (the Villain, the Smarmbot, the Machiavellian, the Pollyanna, whatever), and it’s often very hard to parse which choice is consistent with which strategy.

Me, I take my “wins” from the narrative, not the Legend score… so I played through without being particularly bothered that I never got a perfect gameshow strategy, and enjoyed the journey. I was more annoyed than most by the reality-show conceit, so I still enjoyed HR1 better. But it’s still a good game, and a fun way to pass a few hours.

HR2 is worse than HR1. For once, I’m in complete agreement with Mara on something.

HR1 railroaded you down a certain path. Well, at least it was a great read, if not a great choose your own story.

HR2 is another matter entire., it was even more beautifully written than the first one, but italso exhibited the same flaw of HR1, just on a larger scale.

In HR one, you are forced down a certain storyline. In HR2, you are forced to force yourself down a certain storyline, or lose.

Basically, it wasn’t letting you choose a story; it was letting you choose between the writer’s perception of what a hero must be like, or choosing to be “something else”, which is basically anything that doesn’t conform with the writer’s views. Want to be a lawless but just hero? Sorry, these guys aren’t allowed in HR2, not unless you’re willing to get your legend stat down to 30 or so.

It wasn’t a choice of game at all; if it HAD to be called a game, it would be called “the game of pinning down the right stereotypes”. For example, as far as the writer was concerned, showing off meant you were automatucally a villain.

Being a team player meant you had to be loyal to the point of blindness.

You can’t choose to be a strategist only to a certain extent; sorry, you either go through the entire log and sell out your friends and your soul, or you’re just an unpredictable chameleon who is immediately branded as irrational. Sorry, on my phone, typing for any longer would probably break my mind from frustration.

In HR2, far more than HR1, your “legend” is how you’re seen by the TV-addled sheeple. That’s why it never really occurred to me to take it seriously as an indicator of victory. Of course they’re going to brand you a chameleon if you’re only a strategist part time; and sure, if you’re lawless, you’re not the kind of hero a nervous non-Powered populace is looking for. They don’t see what’s really going on. Why should I consider that a “lose”?

As I’ve said before, the one thing that annoyed me was not being able to explicitly and consistently treat the reality show with the contempt and suspicion it deserved. Other than that, I enjoyed it.

I’d have to agree with @Wrymspawn

I ignored the legend stat. I had fun with the game. I don’t think I ever lost because my legend stat was too low. I managed to reach the ending regardless.

It’s perfectly possible to enjoy HR2 without caring about the legend stat. And judging from the comments, it appears that the more a player obsesses over getting the highest possible legend stat, the less likely they are to enjoy the game.

Yeah i pay for a complete experience. Not for the text is like everybody else , you look your marks i have a F minus . Great. The game will have another part , 3. Well, what if you couldnt win because your legend is too low or you grandma die for that… i probably have to buy the next game IAP Legend bost only to the game begin due i got twenty or less that due fucking charmaleon. Also after pay a game and replay 5 times in two days and fail each time in a game with the replay value of a science final exam , its to much for me i pay FOR A COMPLETE GAME I DONT WANT PAY A IAP WALKTHROUGH TO HAVE A WIN CHANCE

Replay value of a science final exam! LOLOOLOL