Overview
This guide is meant to introduce players to the multiplayer mode of Half MInute Hero 2, and show off a mode which puts a completely new paradigm on what players understand of the 30 second strategy game they know and love.
Opening
This is not a guide built on any particular strategies which will guarantee victories on the maps in multiplayer mode, but rather an introductory guide to multiplayer which will clear up some of the common confusions and misconceptions revolving around it, as well as teach new players how to make the most of this game mode.
Before reading this guide, you should be familiar with the gameplay of Half Minute Hero: The Second Coming. If you are not, then I suggest playing the first few levels of the game and familiarizing yourself with the gameplay so that you are able to enter multiplayer mode without having any sort of problems.
Objective
Multiplayer mode is a rendition on the single player mode of this game. The objective of multiplayer mode is to defeat the evil lord before your opponent(s) do(es). This game mode plays very similarly to the main game, but with the following differences:
-Time will not stop in towns or villages, much similar to Time Attack’s hard mode.
-In Half Minute Hero: The Second Coming, random encounters were replaced by on-screen monsters. After defeating any monster in a multiplayer match, there is a short cooldown time where you cannot engage in any battles. This cooldown time can be circumvented in multiple ways, which is addressed later in this guide.
Unlike the main story of the game, no matter how strong you are, you cannot circumvent any battles in this mode by being a significantly higher level than the monsters on the map.
-You will start with no equipment, and you cannot carry over your equipment from the main game to aid you in multiplayer mode.
-Herbs only recover a portion of a player’s HP instead of granting full recovery. When customizing maps in the mapmaker, the amount of HP recovered is determined by the herb’s level.
Multiplayer mode can be played with 1-4 players.
Options
Upon entering multiplayer mode, you can either search for a lobby which hasn’t been completely filled yet, or you can make your own game, in where you can indicate exactly how you wish the game to be played among you and your friends. When inviting players to a multiplayer game, know that you can only do so upon this initial lobby screen, and not in the map-selecting or character-select screens.
Upon entering the map selection screen, you will be presented with a variety of options, which only the lobby host may edit. These options are the following:
The map being which you and others will play on: Self-explanatory
Spell of Destruction (Formerly known as Countdown): This option can be turned on or off. The countdown in multiplayer mode acts very similarly to that of the gameplay in single player, except instead of a game over screen occurring when the countdown hits 0, the following will occur:
-All players will be returned to the beginning of the map.
-Every player will have their levels reduced by half.
-Every player will lose all of their equipment.
Player Battle (Formerly known as Challenge): This option can be turned on or off. Turning on this option will allow players to enter hostile mode by holding down the D key on their keyboards or by holding down the right bumper on their Xbox 360 controllers (default). The following will occur under the conditions of hostile mode:
-The player’s sprite will turn red.
-Upon running into another player who is not in hostile mode, the two will engage in battle. If a player’s HP reaches 0 while he/she engaged in battle with another player, he/she will be returned to the beginning of the map with half of his/her levels halved. As well, any experience from defeated monsters will be given to the player who won the battle. No result will occur if either player runs away.
-If the non-hostile player is engaged with monsters, the hostile player will not be able to fight these monsters.
Item Limit: This option can be turned on or off. Turning on this option will make it so that shopkeeps will only carry one copy of each item. Only when the countdown hits 0 will the items in the shops restock.
Goddess Whims: Upon the clock hitting 20 seconds at any given time, the Time Goddess will interfere with the gameplay of the current match, usually benefitting the weakest player and punishing the strongest. These whims come in multiple forms:
-The strongest player will have his level halved
-The strongest player will have his equipment replaced with the weakest possible equipment the game has to offer. This is regardless of whether or not that equipment is available on your map or not.
-The weakest player will have his level doubled.
-The weakest player will be granted a Hero Killer, a very powerful and potent weapon.
-The richest player will have his gold halved
-The poorest player will have his gold doubled
-Every player’s speed will increase
-Every player’s speed will decrease
-Every player’s level is increased by 10
-Every player’s gold will be increased by 2500
If I have missed any Goddess Whims in this revision of the guide, please feel free to inform me in a post below.
On the character select screen, you have the following options:
-A flag to select from. This will decide what team you are on in a multiplayer match. As common courtesy, please make sure your flag colour is different from that of anyone else in the current match, unless you discuss it with your opponents beforehand.
-A character to select from. Characters all play similarly to one another. However, Yushia is a slight different from the other characters. This difference will be addressed later in this guide.
-The amount of gold you start with. This can range anywhere between 0 to 100 G.
Overview
This game plays similarly to the single player mode of this game, but there are some very notable differences to such which should be understood.
There are 8 stages in multiplayer mode, each which can be approached differently in order to achieve victory. Each stage varies in length, and each evil lord varies in power. Not only will the time you spend leveling and making decisions factor into your success, but you must pay attention to what the other players are doing. You may also play any custom map which you have made in the map maker mode of this game, or have downloaded from the Steam Workshop prior. This can be accessed by selecting the “Load Map” option from the map selection screen.
Goddess statues work just as they do in the single player mode of gameplay. However, keep in mind that upon one player using the goddess statue in order to reset time, the price of the next usage will raise for every player by 100G. Keep this information in mind if you find yourself behind another player in terms of levels or equipment.
Food will always cost 10G multiplied by your current level. This is regardless of whether or not you have fixed the food prices in the map maker. Keep this in mind when not only playing, but when editing your maps balanced for multiplayer.
If you run into another player while he/she is engaged in battle (and you are not in hostile mode), then you will enter the same battle. When the battle ends, you will gain a portion of the experience that the other player may have earned, assuming you engage in battle with the monsters as well.
Each map has a set of caves, towers, and other landmarks which can be visited. These landmarks will contain powerful monsters which guard treasure chests. If you are able to defeat these monsters (and the treasure chests as well…which somehow are able to fight back and have a level of stamina in multiplayer mode, through some inane logic), you will be able to earn powerful equipment (assuming your opponent doesn’t steal it from you). Unlike equipment from shops, each piece of equipment found in these landmarks can only be found once, regardless of whether the item limit option is turned on or not. (unless the countdown hits 0, to where the entire map resets).
If two players are engaged in battle with the evil lord at the same time, it is the player who deals the most damage to the evil lord who will be declared the victor. Otherwise, it is the player who delivers the last blow to the evil lord who is declared the victor.
Oddities
What you may have noticed is that even though the mode is entitled “multiplayer mode”, you can play this mode alone. It’s more or less like playing on an empty server of a larger scale multiplayer game, and you can play alone if you wish in order to become familiar with each map.
If a player leaves mid-game, the game will continue without him or her. If Goddess Whims are still on, they will continue to target, yet not affect the player who has left the game. Whether this is a bug or not is something which the developers have not addressed as to date.
Offerings Of Wisdom
-Yushia has the particular advantage of being able to have access to female-only equipment, while the other characters cannot. The drawback of this is her lack of access to male-only equipment. Take this into consideration when on the character select screen, and if item limit is a selected option; Yushia alone on an item-limit forced map means that she will not have the disadvantage of racing towards armors in a 3 or 4 player match.
-The cooldown time on any map can be circumvented if Player Battle is turned on. By turning on Hostility Mode, you can immediately circumvent any cooldown time between fighting monsters, allowing for a much faster-paced game of multiplayer. Entering and exiting villages has the exact same effect. This encourages players to choose whether they wish to continue fighting, or use the mercy-invincibility granted by the cooldown in order to avoid other players and monsters to reach the evil lord.
-You can attack other players using hostility mode when they’re fighting the evil lord, in caves, or on any other event tiles by entering those areas with hostility mode on. This will hopefully prevent any potential victories for your opponent, and encourage one for you.
Other
Any multiplayer maps worth highlighting in the custom map maker will be posted down here for future reference, so that there are more than 8 maps to select from when playing with your friends:
[link]Ballad of the Cube Lord (By myself):
A map which focuses itself around being ridiculously large, winding, and fast-paced, Ballad of the Cube Lord’s design was built over the course of 4 days and rigorous balancing, to which has been unanimously acclaimed within the realm of multiplayer practice. Made by myself, with special thanks to Akay4444 and Diamondragon for assistance with balancing.
[link]Bomberman Hero (By Lunoracle):
A map which pays tribute to Bomberman by making various obstacles and layouts much similar to it. Each player starts off in a separate corner, and has to level themselves appropriately to face the Evil Lord. A map I found interesting, but haven’t tested that much due to a lack of players in multiplayer currently.
This guide will be updated to correct any grammatical errors, inconsistencies, or provide the player with more information which I may have neglected in previous drafts.
Onwards! (Revision Checklist And Miscellaneous)
This guide was mostly copied and pasted from my original thread on the forums, located at [link] It was requested to me by a few people that this guide were to be posted here, as Esteban refused to sticky the second iteration of the topic, as he did for the first version found on the first game’s forums. I complied, and did a few edits in order to ensure that this guide would be up to standard once again.
It is a disappointing thing that this game’s multiplayer mode isn’t played more often than it is. Thus, I have made the proposition to regulate (but not moderate) frequent multiplayer games, for those who remain curious as to what they are missing out on. To join in such a multiplayer game, if you cannot find a lobby or have no friends to organize a game with, the Half Minute Hero: The Second Coming’s chat is located at [link] and clicking the “chat” button located at the top right part of the page. It is nearly guaranteed that someone will show up there within the week to play a game with you.
For further revisions of this guide, I intend to talk more about the individual maps available to the players, various strategies which may be used upon them, and also discuss the rarely-used Team Battle feature.
Thank you for reading my guide, and be sure to leave a comment if you wish for any further revisions, ideas, or can point out any grammatical or wording inconsistencies.