Hey!
Welcome back to another dungeon delving adventure: after the events of Heroic Tale the realm of Albhain is in danger. Again! This time King Arthur is sick and only the Chalice of Life will heal him. Problem is that the artifact is guarded inside a dungeon, but a new hero is ready for the expedition!

If you missed the first 2018 game do not worry at all because this game also include the first adventure, but in any case this is a totally new scenario with new heroes, new maps and new monsters, with no relation with the first game.


The Buccaneer (Bucky in this case) is a weird guy that speak with his dead friends. Yes. But we need his help!

The protagonist and our alter ego is a martial artist (that is inspired to one of the classical rm2k3 rtp like all the other characters, in this case Enryuu) that fights unarmed (well he can equip gloves) and can heal himself (but you can also find a tome that let him learn a skill that heals all the party). He's an average combatant, but his attacks may paralize the opponent, and this is often an istant win. The other party members are a rogue that has no special skills but fights with two blades and can make a lot of damage to a single target, a buccaneer with a cannon that can use elemental magic or shoot a cannon that inflicts average damage to all opponents. Last party member is an archer elf that can also use spells to damage and heal (and it's also the only one that can equip heavy armors).
As you can see this time the party members are far more original and interesting, while keeping the semplicity of the first game. The protagonist may be a rather average fighter (he doesn't do a lot aof damage), but his special abilities make him rather useful (starting with a healer that is also able to paralyze is pretty cool!).

The game is somewhat different from the first: in the first we started at level one and we had to go deeper until last level, with the help of some characters that unlocked some locked passages (for example the mage was able to dispell an arcane wall, the warrior had the strength to pull a rusty lever, and so on). Here instead we start directly in the last level, and the fabled Chalice of Life is in next room! But the trick is that we need three statuettes to unlock the final passage, and these are found in three different locations: an abandoned prison, a pirate ship and a forest. The first "quest" then consist into finding a way to teleport to these three location where you will find some unvaluable allies that will help both in combat and to unlock some passages in the first dungeon.


Here's a couple of new monsters that ambushed us in the forest!

So the quest consist in going back and forth until you have the three allies and the three statuettes, after that you can get the chalice. Besides this little detail there are not many differences from the first game, here too each level have some kind of "gimmick" (for example the locked door in the prison that needs activating two switches, or the forest that changes between two layouts when you speak with the fairy). This is nothing really original or new, still it's something that makes the game somewhat different from its predecessor, still mantaining the same style with little differences.
For example there are still random encounters, blacked out tiles that have to be explored to reveal their content, healing safe rooms (even if this time the music does not change when you enter them!), and the absence of shops (except the one that let you buy upgrades between games) but the graphics are all new. New monsters and new allies awaits!

Combat is classic and in the same style of the first one, so I won't spend more time explaining that, anyway it seems rather easier in some parts due to the abilities of the protagonist and the first companion that complement nicely each other (one can heal, the other fights pretty well, in the first game you began with a fighter and the second party member was a warrior, both with no special skills), but do not underestimate the opposition since some enemies have particular special skills (like healing spells or poisoning attacks) and there are some enemies that will make you swear due to their lethal attacks (I'm talking about the Wraiths, that are also present during the final combat and can instant kill your party members! Maybe I missed something but I had no way to resurrect them during combat!).

Graphics and music are in the same style of the previous game, so yes they take the rtp and converts them in a different, more unique style without really changing the old classic rm2k3 characters and music themes. It's worth mentioning that I found no error, bugs, typos or problems with this game!


Good move, Bucky the Buccaneer! You're an useful member of our team!

Final Verdict
Heroic Tale VALUE is a cool addition to the series that has a more interesting cast and diverse adventure without introducing too many changes or variations. It's a bit a "more of the same" but being a short adventure, I don't mind and I appreciate some choices that makes the game easier even if maybe also a bit shorter (there are just four levels, unlike the first gsme that had more, and there is no "corridor of suffering" like the one with the unavoidable orcs!). Overall, despite being really similar to the first episode, I liked it more than the previous adventure, it's more original and balanced. Old style, but almost perfect, so yeah it's a 4.5/5, if you ask me what I'd liked to see, I'd say more: more story, more character dialogues, more adventure, but uhm it's ok for now since this particular adventure is both well done and stand out among other dungeon delving games!