External Links


heroes.zip
Contains heroes.z5
solution
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links. (Compressed with ZIP. Free Unzip tools are available for most systems at www.info-zip.org.)
heroes.z5
as entered in 2001 Competition
Requires a Z-Code interpreter. Visit IFWiki for download links.
t.txt
walkthrough for the Thief chapter
walkthru.txt
comment on the walkthroughs
r.txt
walkthrough for the Royalty chapter
e.txt
walkthrough for the Enchanter chapter
a.txt
walkthrough for the Adventurer chapter
d.txt
walkthrough for the Dragon chapter
heroes.txt
documentation

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Heroes

by Sean Barrett

Fantasy
2001

About the Story

"A most traditional CRPG experience." [--blurb from Competition Aught-One]


Game Details

Off-Site Reviews

>VERBOSE -- Paul O'Brian's Interactive Fiction Page

The intersection of landscape and character in IF is a highly fertile one, and Heroes reaps a great harvest from it... [T]he game's gimmick is this: set up a fairly simple landscape and a basic goal, then allow the player a choice of five viewpoint characters, each of which share the landscape and goal...

I can't say enough about how much I loved this. Because the characters are each limited to their own viewpoints, but we are able to see them all, the game gives us a far more complete and interesting picture of the area than any single viewpoint could provide. In addition, because we have seen the area through other eyes, we gain insight into the viewpoint character by noticing what that character does and doesn't observe. Where the adventurer simply notices what ways are open for travel, the enchanter observes how those avenues impinge on a geometrically-oriented magic system; where the enchanter notices only the direction of the walls' lines, the thief notices the lack of handholds and windows. Some games have begun to explore this dynamic -- Wishbringer and LASH displayed the changes of a landscape and the shifting meanings attendant to that change, while Being Andrew Plotkin gave us a variety of characters whose reactions to a particular area conflicted, to wonderful comic effect. Heroes takes the next step, opening up an endlessly fascinating vista.
See the full review

SPAG

It's a good game, but one that over-reaches -- if it wouldn't have tried to make the player go through all five possibilities, but instead just offered them as alternates, it would have worked much better. And I'd advise anyone who tries it to take it that way -- play the game in your one or two favorite flavors, ignoring the rest. That way, you'll be playing a solid, enjoyable game, that someone worked extra-hard on to provide additional paths to, but you don't need to work extra hard just to see them.
-- Eytan Zweig
See the full review

SPAG

Technically and artistically, Heroes succeeds admirably; the few bugs in the competition release appear to have been cleaned up, and the POV-shift is nicely done. The game does commit some design sins, but I appreciated the artistry of the multiple perspectives and the layered plot sufficiently that I gave it an 8 in this year’s competition.
-- Duncan Stevens
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SPAG
The big picture in Heroes is a complex one and probably won't be easily inferred by many except the most perceptive. The weaving of the story is not direct or blatant. Instead, interesting facts and tidbits are sprinkled throughout each character's prologue and epilogue; the interactions they have with other NPCs; and the various scenery, room, and object descriptions that change with each new player viewpoint.
-- Francesco Bova
See the full review

Page Update History

v.8: 18-Apr-2021 01:15 - Paul O'Brian (Current Version) - Edit Page - Normal View
Changed external review links
v.7: 07-May-2022 23:38 - Paul O'Brian
Changed external review links
  v.6: 18-Apr-2021 01:15 - Zape
Changed download links
v.5: 12-May-2013 07:46 - Edward Lacey
Changed external review links
v.4: 24-Apr-2008 16:52 - Paul O'Brian
Changed external review links
v.3: 24-Apr-2008 16:51 - Paul O'Brian
Changed external review links
v.2: 29-Feb-2008 15:01 - David Welbourn
Changed description
v.1: 16-Oct-2007 01:48 - IFDB
Created page