Half-Minute Hero: The Second Coming

About the Game (From the Steam Store Page)

The world's speediest homage/roast to JRPGs! Can you save the world in 30 seconds?

Get a quest, find those in need, fight through dungeons, earn cash, get cool loot and level up until YOU>EVIL. Don't have enough time? Pay the Goddess to reset the clock and try again! Over 100 mini-JRPGs for you to test your might with! Available outside Japan for the first time ever exclusively on Steam.

Previous Playtime

0 hours

What Was I Thinking When I Bought This

I didn't even know there was a Half-Minute Hero sequel until after I had bought and played the first game. Had I known, I would have gotten the two in a bundle and saved some money. As it was, I bought it about a year after I got the original game. I remember kicking myself when I first discovered it and added it to my wishlist and vowing to buy it as soon as it went on significant discount.

Expectations and Prior Experience

I've played and beaten the first game. I didn't feel like it particularly left anything unsaid, so I'm not sure what a sequel will bring. It looks like it might be parodying the late-16 bit, early PS1 era rpgs in much the same way that the original skewered games like the original Final Fantasy and Dragon Warrior, but that's just an impression based on its upgraded graphics.

If the screenshots are anything to go by, there's a new party system, which could potentially add an interesting wrinkle, but could just as easily wind up diluting the series strong core concept.

Best case scenario here is that it adds complexity and depth to the original game while retaining the series' trademark humor. If the second game is a true evolution of the first, it could really be something special.

The worst case scenario (at least for me) is that it's too much like the first game and starts to fizzle around hour ten or so (which is even more of a problem coming after a whole other game's worth of similar material.)

What I'm honestly expecting is something somewhere in between the extremes - an at times funny and engaging game that nonetheless retreads a lot of its predecessor. The original Half-Minute Hero was indeed running out of ideas towards the end, and I am curious as to where its creators found the inspiration for a sequel.