Lost Hero

[Beastman666]

Another find from today. Anyone knows this game?

The version I have is in english, so don't to afraid to visit this tzech (?) site:

http://losthero.hide.cz/

[zoom]

They used the avatars of Wizardry 7 Gold edition.. so it is a fan project. Did not know about it.

[Jan]

so don't to afraid to visit this tzech (?) site:

Yeah, it's in Czech - although without diacritics, grrrr.

[raixel]

Wheres the english version of the game?

[raixel]

Hmm.. Evey time I try and d/l anything i get a similar message to this:
Soubor j2re-1_4_0-win-i.exe neexistuje.

I'm assuming the last word translates to 'non-existing' or something close. So are the links broken or what?

Jan, heeeelllp!

[Gambit37]

Three identical Draculas just looks silly

[beowuuf]

I assume that's to do with the game, and you haven't become a spy leaving cryptic coded messages for your contacts

[Jan]

Soubor j2re-1_4_0-win-i.exe neexistuje.

I'm assuming the last word translates to 'non-existing' or something close. So are the links broken or what?

Indeed - "the file does not exist".

I've tried it, and I got this message everytime except for the "DD2update - 0.8.9 -> 0.8.9.1", but this is just a full screen update.

There's nothing I can do, I'm afraid. Of course, if you or anyone else wishes, I can easily contact the developer(s), but the whole thing looks pretty old (the last "news" from 2003), so I don't know if the project is still alive.

[Beastman666]

So, I have version 0.9.9 and it is in english. I try to dig out the site where i got it from. Too bad I haven't saved this site i stumbled upon by accident.

As far as I can see you need Java (minimum v1.3 - I have newest on my machine) installed on your machine. I can run the game without problems.

If all else fails, I can sent you 0.9.9 via email

This is the readme accompanying the game:

LOSTHERO


------------------------------
1. About
---------------------
LOSTHERO is a freeware DungeonMaster-like game system. It is being
developed because I love dungeon games and I don't think that actual
trends on the market can cover my needs. I don't see the purpose of the
game in the graphical environment, but rather in the game itself.

2. License
---------------------
This game is distributed under Public Domain license. And of course we
don't give you any warranty

3. Start game
---------------------
To run this game you must have Java 1.3 or higher installed. You can
download it from http://java.sun.com. The game is running on Windows
and Linux and this is main reason why we use Java. If you don't know
anything about Java just download JRE (Java Runtime Environment), which
is exactly what you need.
Under Windows you can use the LostHero.exe to run the game. This program
will search for Java on your computer, set up a few parameters and start
it up.
On Linux you must run the game manually. Use this command:
java -jar dd2.jar

Optionally you can use some parameters on the command line:
NOSOUND - need we say more?
FULLSCREEN - this mode has been disabled, because Java 1.3 is unable to
recover the original video mode after the game terminates. JDK1.4 can do
that but now we are developing back on 1.3, which provides compatibility
with most of installed Java VM's.

4. Game system
---------------------
Game system is of our own design, but it was strongly influenced by
Wizardry VII.

Races:
We currently have only five races:
Humans - masters of balance
Elves - intelligent
Dwarf - vitality
Hobbits - skillful
Giants - strong
Pixies - weak, but good spell casters.


Professions:
In the beginning there are only 4 professions to choose from: Fighter, Rogue,
Mage and Priest. But how the LostHero will continue his journey is entirely
up to you. Every person can become a member of some clan and at various
places they can upgrade their profession, but only in their professional
area. For example a priest can become crusader, druid, monk, etc.

Spells:
We have our own spell system based on the following 6 elements: Stone, Water,
Wind and Flame are controlled by intelligence and their source is in nature
(Primary mage). Being and Void are coming from gods and is controlled by
spiritualism of being (Primary priests). Every spell is created from one
or more elements and depending on how the professions are upgraded there
will be different combinations of elements for special spells.

5. What we have
---------------------
Current state of game is "mostly finished game engine". Now we are creating
first games under it, where this one is representing them.

6. Recruitment
---------------------
This game is for you to play but also, you could create your own games
if you want. Download the editor and documentation and you can start
creating your own game. You can receive support from us and also in the
levels there are lots of tricks, which you can use in your own game.

7. Team
---------------------
Hideoshi - ideas, development
Oldrich Dlouhy - Main tester, Spell developer
Kamil Tatar - Monsters Pictures
Kriss Wells - Art of faces
Coriman - Walls textures, music
Karel Kohout - testing
Marinho Tan - Testing of editor, Linux testing
Alexander Enchevich - Text corrections

Thanks to David W. Bradley for creating Wizardry!

8. Bugs & comments
---------------------
If you found any bug please report it to bug@losthero.com. Or you can
report it on http://sourceforge.net/projects/losthero/. This is our main
developing site and you can get all updated packages here.

Enjoy it.
Hideoshi
---------------------------
LOSTHERO (c) 2001-2003
http://www.losthero.com
http://losthero.hide.cz

[Beastman666]

Oh well, here is the site i got it from:

Game was downloaded from FreeGame.cz
Visit us again! http://www.freegame.cz

[raixel]

The connection keeps timing out on that last link. Beastman, if you wouldnt mind emailing it to me, id love to try it out.

R A I X E L ! A T ! G M A I L ! D O T ! C O M

[Beastman666]

You have mail...

[raixel]

Thanks, i'll post my thoughts after i play with it awhile

[raixel]

Ok, everything came thru just fine.

First impressions-- Character Creation

The Wizardry influence (the first RPGs I ever played, I used to play Proving Grounds with my dad and his best friend when I was like 3, played every single one since then) really stands out. My biggest complaint is how tiny the window is, and I dont see any option to change it at all. (My monitor is my 32 in LCD HDTV). There are some minor translation errors, (fists and foots, Joga(?), Hidding) and there doesnt appear to be any pics for the pixie or giant races. I recognize a lot of the pics from Wizardry too(which is fine). Theres a lot of pics elves, dwarves, gnomes?, and humans, but just a few hobbits.
You apparently can't choose female dwarves or male pixies, I wonder if this is intentional or just something they havent implemented.

So far, so good though.

The character creation is 1 random roll at selection with a point based system, with a few points alotted to spend for stats, resistances, weapons skills(sword, axe, ect) , physical skills (climbing, swimming ect) and education (map-making, monster knowledge). If you have played any of the later wizardrys, you'll completely understand it. If not, it is still very intuitive. The skill names are for the most part labelled very clearly, with the exception of Joga, which I think is a mis-translation. I wish that there was a manual that explained it all, but fortunately they are simple enough that most of them are pretty self-explanatory. My biggest complaint in this section is that there doesnt seem to be any way to remove points if you accidentally put one where you dont want it, so you have to dump the char and start over.

So ow ive got my party created and im off to adventure...

Score for this section:
(Out of a possible 10 points)
Portraits: 4 - While the portraits themselves arent bad (standard mid 90s RPG fare) there is a definite lack of variety. All the dwarves have beards, the hobbits have fat cheeks, elves are thin, rogues lurk. Also having races without pictures for them knocks off a couple points.
Races: 8 - There is a good mix of fantasy races, with the inclusion of the giant and pixie keeping it from just being standard RPG stuff
Classes: 5 - Fighter, rogue, mage, priest at starting. It says in the readme that you can sub-class later. For now though, just the basic classes so an average score.
Ease of Creation - 7 If you have ever played a CRPG in your life, you'll figure it out right away. Points knocked off for not having the ability to reroll basic stats or remove a spent point.

I'll update this review as I go along in the game.