HEROQUEST - COMPANION APP discussion

[Kurgan]

Even the text for the update simply repeats the exact text of 5.0 mentioning Jungles of Delthrak. Perhaps the updates are focused there?

I was wrong about one thing... while the stats IN-QUEST for the Explorer Hero are now correctly set (to match the card image)... the profile equipment is not. That is, it still shows starting weapon as "Shortsword" (instead of "Hand Axe") and starting armor as "Shield" (instead of "None").

Not that it matters much, but when you're playing First Light, you're going to have the standard Dwarf with Shortsword instead of Hand Axe in your profile. Of course this actually doesn't affect anything, just noticing.

Issues that still remain:

- Elven Mercenaries (ROTDM) should be able to Use Special, but they cannot.
- Animal Companions were offered to be used in ANY group quest with 3 heroes or less and any solo quest, but they can still only be used in Into the Northlands (Wolf only), and JoD (Saberfang or Raptor only). *
- MOTM offered any mercenaries "available to you" should be able to be chosen in group quests, but only the human mercs from FH are available (no Eleven Mercs from ROTDM, no Ogre Merc from ATOH). Note that the human mercs are available automatically, the App doesn't care what other quests you have completed for this.
- ROTDM's Alchemy system is theoretically offered for any quest book you wish to use them in, but it is only available in ROTDM. However you are able to use any hero in any questbook inside the app (only exception being the Elf and Barbarian solo quests).

* In theory you can use the Fangwarden Amulet from the use special-->artifacts menu to summon a Raptor in ANY quest.

Missing Features:
- No alternate Knight hero design
- No alternate Druid hero designs
- No Rogar's Hall (Pulse Exclusive quest - should they call it "Quest X"? I think "Training Quest" is literal but also misleading, it is a special challenge; green fog of war?)
- No customizable "Tournament" to play between quests in ATOH. I guess this is close to the blank map which the App doesn't cover, but you're supposed to be able to do this between adventures in this campaign.

Untested as of this moment (from previous releases):
Diagonal (Advanced Skeleton, evil Halberdier in FH, Assassin in ROTDM) attacking heroes through walls (not open doors)
Ranged (Goblin/Orc/Skeleton Archers in ATOH, Elven archers in MOTM/ROTDM, Goblin archer in JoD) shooting heroes through walls
Unable to search for Treasure/Secret Doors/Traps in a room if a monster can be seen through a regular open door into another room or corridor
Unable to search for Secret Doors/Traps in a corridor if through a regular open door a monster can be seen in another room or corridor

I understand why they allow characters to pass through Treasure Chests (even if "intangible furniture" is turned off). This is to make it easier to accommodate disarming furniture traps.

I understand in First Light they are trying to accommodate different ways of playing when it comes to furniture (so Intangible furniture is no longer just a debugging feature for them) and also why Line of Sight is irrelevant when it comes to furniture.

I guess it's not a big deal that First Light still uses the default (2021-2022) board design for the main (non-caverns) quests. Owners of First Light could certainly play them on the big Game System's board, though that means we're still missing the BOOT TILE from the app!

Issues with running out of monsters or doors in expansions have to do with issues in the original quests (see FH and ROTDM especially) and can be easily ignored or remedied by owning additional sets for those that really care.

Displaying card images for items that have no physical cards is just a nice little bonus, and people can choose to print their own using the images if they wish to go that extra mile (normally we are talking about quest specific, single use items anyway). The App contains some alternate images of dice (the blue movement and combat dice from Frozen Horror at least) but doesn't let you choose them. No significant issue there, but it would be a nice thing to offer.

In Frozen Horror I was testing out the mercenaries... I hired 12 mercenaries before beginning Quest 5 but when clicking the "restart quest" button, it erased all the mercs I'd hired!

PS: I don't mind at all that they refer to Magus Guards inside the app as "Magus Knights" in their profiles.

[Kurgan]

Actually let me correct something... in the Frozen Horror it shows the "icy" combat dice when you click "attack help" but it never shows them in the actual attack rolls from the monsters when playing those quests.

When selecting "move help" it shows red dice... but they have rounded corners (shouldn't it be showing square cornered blue dice in this one?) like it shows elsewhere.

Some of the other little things I don't mind so much because they remind me of other versions of the game out there (accommodating people who might be using the App to play with a vintage set's assets!).

[Kurgan]

How feasible is it to use the HQ Companion app these days, using Vintage (1989-1993) sets?

Some expansions are obviously going to add assets you never had available back then that you would need to use proxies:
-About half the quests in First Light use the Caverns Board, and there's a 2 square dragon figure that is used quite often.
-Skeleton archers would have to be simulated (Orc and Goblin archers in vintage ATOH had no special miniatures) which isn't a big deal
-Some artifacts didn't exist, but could be easily simulated, since you can see the card images within the App (Fortune's Longsword, etc).
-New Monsters and tiles in Rise of the Dread Moon, Jungles of Delthrak
-Ogre bosses in ATOH take up 2 squares now, but you can kind of play around that

Using the EU rulesets sprung pit traps and fallen block traps should be removable. You can just using pass through rock (even Elven Cloak of Passage or Cloak of Shadows now that those are working properly) to pass through the blocks, and automatically say you jumped the pits... to simulate that you did disarm them successfully. Other trap differences can be handled pretty easily by doing what you do and then imputing the proper outcome in the app (on the honor system).

Monsters can be killed at any time by the touch of a button, rather than relying strictly on the body points granted them in the app, to simulate 1 BP monsters for example.
Various creatures are given more attack dice than before... but you could ignore one (or more) of their worst die rolls to simulate the lower power original. Not much you can do about their movement though, so Skeletons and Chaos Warriors will be more fleet footed than you remember!

Since hero attacks (and defense) are handled by the players rather than the app, issues like the Staff rolling two dice or the shortsword being able to hit diagonally are easily simulated. Same with the Wizard wearing Borin's Armor and wielding the Spirit Blade, etc.

The Treasure Deck relies on your physical cards, so that's no issue. Buying between quests is also not handled by the app, so you can use whatever armory or equipment deck you wish.

Mercenaries can have their stats adjusted in their profiles just like heroes and the costs are printed on screen but Gold is not tracked by the app, so prices can be adjusted to whatever they are in your edition.

Granted, the EU quests have some different layouts for rooms when it comes to monsters, etc. but it's pretty close. You could imagine that Morcar simply remixed the quest.

For First Edition you are able to search for Treasure in passages (corridors) but this can be simulated by just drawing a card when you're in the corridor sans monsters, since the function won't register in the app.

[SirRick]

I just finished Quest 5 of FL. The app still has issues with enemy spellcasters and line-of-sight. The boss had tried to cast Lightning Bolt through a wall to hit my Elf. I just had the spell hit my Barbarian, and the Orc standing right in front of her instead. There is also a mistake in room “B” in which the first hero who searches for treasure is said to have found a Healing Potion (with the rolling a die description). When you push the “Next” button it says you find an Elixir of Life. The title still says healing potion for both pop ups, and both pictures show the Elixir of Life art. I checked the quest notes, and you are only supposed to find the artifact, not both.

Once again the cupboard proved to be a deathtrap, but that is not an app issue, just an annoyance. I don’t think I ever got a good card using the Sly Storage feature. I will check my previous posts in case I am wrong about this. Maybe it would be useful if the very first room you search had a cupboard.

One last thing that I mentioned before, but it bares repeating now that I progressed further. You really miss a lot of the story if you only follow the app. It is best to reread the story portions in the quest book after finishing a quest to find any nuances you may have missed. You just have to try to ignore the Zargon Only passages.

[Kurgan]

Thanks for mentioning those issues...

Interesting, I didn't know that story parts were being clipped out... I thought if anything that the App added more lore and flavor bits. Good to know!

[SirRick]

Thanks for mentioning those issues...

Interesting, I didn't know that story parts were being clipped out... I thought if anything that the App added more lore and flavor bits. Good to know!

Yeah, its the, Message from Mentor, the Parchment Text, and the intermission portion of the story. It cuts out some interactions and dialogue of Mentor with a particular character. My guess these are removed from the app so the voice of Mentor doesn’t have to speak for other characters, it might seem kind of weird. You still get gist of what is going on, just a less interesting version of it in the app.

[SirRick]

I tried to play Quest 6: The Ring of Return from FL, however the quest seems unplayable in the app. As soon as particular event triggers, when your temporary characters get defeated, the game no longer lets you control your heroes. They seem to just disappear from top of the screen that shows your party order. There seems to be no way to regain control of your heroes. You can still activate the Zargon’s Turn tab, but after the turn is finished, the heroes still do not appear Hero’s Turn tab. Saving and Quiting, and continuing have no effect. Neither does restarting my phone. I seem to be stuck and unable to continue.

I do use the Advanced Goblins and Advanced Skeletons options, not sure if this affects anything. After the Goblins attacked the remaining 3 ran out of the room. Qwindrak then cast Firestorm and destroyed all of my minions. I will try to replay the quest with these options turned off to see if it makes any difference.

Another issue is the cupboard in room “B” does not trigger the extra treasure card mechanic.

At this point I could just use the quest book and wing it for the rest of the adventure. There is not much to this quest after the main event. However if my second attempt to play through the quest on the app fails, I will just use the “Lets not and say we did” strategy.

*Edit*: I restarted the quest with the advanced goblin and skeleton features turned off, and the quest seemed to proceed normally. Before when the 3 goblins left the main room, my theory is that messed up things somehow. In my second attempt, every monster stayed in the main room. My minions fared much better this time, but they still all died from Firestorm. My heroes had a lot of bad luck. I had 1 good treasure card per room searched and 3 bad cards each room. I think searching for treasure as written takes a lot of fun out of the game, but it does add a lot of challenge, but not in a satisfying way. Treasure has been scarce after the first couple quests. My heroes desperately need more defend dice and attack power which is why wandering monsters have been giving me such a beating. I could mitigate more damage by hiding heroes in the corner surrounded by other heroes or furniture, but that is tedious and takes a lot of time playing musical chairs in each room. Typically I only guard the Wizard in such a way since she goes last in turn order.

[Kurgan]

Thanks for mentioning those issues...

Interesting, I didn't know that story parts were being clipped out... I thought if anything that the App added more lore and flavor bits. Good to know!

Yeah, its the, Message from Mentor, the Parchment Text, and the intermission portion of the story. It cuts out some interactions and dialogue of Mentor with a particular character. My guess these are removed from the app so the voice of Mentor doesn’t have to speak for other characters, it might seem kind of weird. You still get gist of what is going on, just a less interesting version of it in the app.

Ah, a good point. They've had to hire other voice actors for some of the recent expansions, maybe it was done to save money. A pity to anyone only experienced it via the App, I agree!

[Kurgan]

Here is a copy of the email I just sent to androidapps@hasbro.com for errata within the companion app:

Hello,

Thank you for the many fixes that have been made in this app, it is much more playable than before! However...

I have noticed the following issues on the Android OS (google play store) version of the HeroQuest Board Game Companion (version 5.1).
I do not know if these same issues exist in the iOS apple version (but they could be).


#1: SEARCHING FOR TRAPS AND SECRET DOORS NEEDLESSLY RESTRICTED:

The rule is when a Hero searches for Treasure, there cannot be any monsters with them in the same room or corridor. I think this is widely understood.

In the App however, the following scenarios appear:

Hero is in an empty room and there is an open door that leads into another room (or corridor) in which there is a monster. So the hero has a "line of sight"
to the non-adjacent monster figure. The app says "monsters present" and prevents a search for Secret Doors or Traps. But it allows a search for Treasure.

If another hero (or mercenary, or animal companion ally) moves into the path so that it obstructs the "view" of the monster, suddenly the Trap/Secret Door Search is allowed again.

This is strange!

More on this. Let's say the hero is inside a corridor, instead of a room. There are no monsters in the corridor with him. But there is an open door, and the hero can see through the door
way into another room and inside that room is a monster. Again, the monster is not adjacent to the hero. However the search for secret doors/traps is prevented because "monsters present."

As soon as the hero moves away from the door (or the monster moves into the corner) suddenly the search is allowed again.

Where I see that this scenario does NOT take place is when the open doorway is a SECRET DOOR. Now the hero could be adjacent to the monster in the next room/corridor and searching is fine.


#2: THE RESCUE OF SIR RAGNAR PREMATURE END:

Game System, Quest 2: The Rescue of Sir Ragnar. The quest instantly ends when Sir Ragnar touches the spiral staircase tile. I disagree. The quest truly ends when the last surviving hero has left the quest via the stairs (or died). I think the App should have a pop-up here asking if the heroes wish to end or continue combing the dungeons for treasure and fighting monsters. I suppose this is a minor thing, but players who aren't reading the booklet will think that the quest is over, without realizing this. There is also another small minor bug in this quest... if a hero gets to Sir Ragnar's cell using Pass Through Rock, the alarm will sound, and "all doors open, all previously hidden monsters are placed on the board" but I see that Secret Door tiles are NOT placed... but monsters will plow right through the wall where the secret door was. A simple fix for this is to make sure that secret Door tiles ALSO appear when the "Alarm" is sounded, triggered by Sir Ragnar being found.

#3: SHOPPING PROHIBITED IN RISE OF THE DREAD MOON QUEST 2 BY ACCIDENT:

Rise of the Dread Moon, Quest 2: I don't know if this was something that was a mistake in the booklet that was added to "correct" it in the app, but it says you cannot visit the Underground Market to shop after this quest, while the physical booklet does not prevent it.

#4: ELVEN MERCS SHOULD BE ABLE TO USE SPECIAL:

As was confirmed some time ago, the Elven Mercenaries in Rise of the Dread Moon are intended to be able to use Artifacts, Equipment, Potions, etc. just like heroes. As Chris Nadeau pointed out when he was with the company, the text for the Mercenaries in the booklet does not mention restrictions on what they can carry. Compare this to the human mercenaries in "Frozen Horror" where it says they can only use their starting weapons and do not use other items unless specifically designed by them, etc. So within the app the Elven Mercenaries SHOULD be allowed to "USE SPECIAL."

#5: ADD UNDO FEATURE FOR MERCENARY DEATHS:

A much needed fix was added some versions ago where if a Hero walked into solid rock (using Pass Through Rock, Elven Cloak of Passage, or Cloak of Shadows) but the player accidentally lifted their finger off of the touch screen (removing the cursor too early) though they didn't intend to end their movement there, and had movement left to get to safety... ordinarily that player would be dead and removed from the board and the quest would be forced to be restarted.... but "Undo" (or "back" or "cancel") was inserted so that in these cases a simple mistake would be correctible and the quest could continue if in fact the hero didn't really mean to "kill themselves" like this. Unfortunately the Mercenaries do not have this ability. A hero could cast Pass Through Rock on a mercenary to send them through a wall and if the player moved their finger off the screen, boom they are dead and lost permanently. I think an "undo" feature would be needed here, for all types of mercenaries and allies.


#6: ANIMAL COMPANION OPTION IN SOLO QUESTS or with less than 4 heroes in group quests:

I understand that Jungles of Delthrak allows animal companions (Saberfang or Raptor) to fill in when there are less than four heroes for a group quest. Why not add this feature to all expansions within the App? At the very least, when it comes to the 3 "solo" quests for the Elf in Mage of the Mirror or Barbarian for Frozen Horror, a popup should give the OPTION to use an animal companion. "Into the Northlands" (Pulse Quest) has solo hero use the Wolf Ally. The Wolf ally could make a return for the Barbarian quests. I don't know what animal should be in the Elf quests, but it could be the Wolf again, or it could be any of the previous animal companions (let the player choose from a list, or choose not to bring one along).

#7: MERCENARIES SHOULDN'T DISAPPEAR ON RESTART:

I was playing a quest with mercenaries and partway through I checked the menu option to "restart the quest." When I did so, all of the mercenaries I had brought disappeared and only the heroes were left. Either the Mercenary data should be retained (like when moving from Quest 9 to 10 in a "double quest" as in Frozen Horror or Mage of the Mirror) or else the group should have the ability to revisit the "hire" screen for mercenaries again.

#8: MORE MERCENARIES AVAILABLE TO YOU IN MAGE OF THE MIRROR:

The booklet for Mage of the Mirror says that if mercenaries are available to you from other expansions you own, you can hire these mercenaries in group quests. It would be great if you could choose not only the human mercenaries from Frozen Horror (as the booklet gives as one example) but also the Elven Mercenaries from Rise of the Dread Moon or the Ogre Mercenary from Against the Ogre Horde. I understand with the Elven Mercenaries maybe the players have not played those quests and "unlocked" those mercenaries, but it would still be a great feature, even if the human mercenaries are the default choice.

#9: EXPLORER HERO HAS INCORRECT PROFILE STARTING GEAR:

The Explorer was previously using the wrong (profile, mid-quest, not matching the card) stats (thank you for fixing this) in the last update. But the "profile" for the Hero still says the Explorer has a starting weapon of a "Shortsword" (it should be a "Hand axe"), and starting armor of a "Shield" (it should be "None").

#10: DWARF STARTING WEAPON FOR FIRST LIGHT:

I realize this isn't too big of a deal, but it could be easily updated. The Dwarf's starting weapon has been a Shortsword since the beginning. But in First Light the Dwarf begins with a Hand Axe. How to adjust this without ruining anything? Simply list his starting weapon (in the profile, mid-quest) as "Shortsword OR Hand Axe." This would clue people in that they have the choice for the character when playing the app.


#11: FIRST LIGHT ABRIDGED STORY/LORE TEXT:

I hear that parts of the flavor text for these adventures are edited out of the App. I presume this is because someone didn't hire another voice actor or have "Mentor" reading the lines of other characters in an alternate voice. Still, that means those who play the App are missing out on some of the depth and fun of the adventures as they were originally written by Mr. Baker.


#12: MONSTERS ATTACKING THROUGH WALLS:

I haven't seen it myself but many have reported that there is a real issue with "ranged" monsters (Skeleton/Orc/Goblin/Elf archers in Against the Ogre Horde, Rise of the Dread Moon or Mage of the Mirror or the evil Crossbowmen in Frozen Horror) and some diagonal attack monsters (Advanced Skeleton, evil Halberdiers in Frozen Horror, Assassins in Rise of the Dread Moon or I suppose any large monster like a Giant Wolf, Frozen Horror, or Dread Wraith). Apparently sometimes these characters will think they can shoot at or attack heroes who are on the other side of a wall (and not an open door).


Besides the errata, there are some things I (and many other fans) would love to see added to future updates of the App:

FEATURE REQUESTS:

A) ADD ABILITY TO RENAME ALLIES:
I think it would be wonderful if we were allowed to RENAME mercenaries within the quest (just like we can rename heroes in their profile). Many players become attached to their mercenaries and give them names in game. Also sometimes it is a way to simulate having a "fifth hero" by giving them a new name.


B) MAKE ROGAR'S HALL PLAYABLE:
ROGAR'S HALL is a quest that really needs to be added into the "Pulse Exclusive Quest" section. I understand that there is already an "online Quest 0" perhaps it could be designated as "Quest X"?
Stephen Baker is a wonderful designer and while I agree that Rogar's Hall is very difficult, it is a piece of history, and it can still be used as "A challenge for the greatest heroes" (rather than just a training quest, it is probably too hard for many players to handle as their first introduction to the game). Also, the ability for Mentor to use the healing potions to save the life of heroes makes sense, and it could work by having a pop up when the hero dies and then a check box of healing potions. It could be implemented similar to the "Pass Through Rock death save" mechanic, or the Spirit Queen's Torment mechanic of the Orc Bard taking over after a hero died. The idea is that instead of heroes simply dying, they have extra chances to stay alive in this quest (3 chances, since there are three healing potions taken from the treasure deck). Players should be instructed at the beginning to remove the Healing Potions from the treasure deck and that Mentor will automatically use them to restore any hero who dies with them (but when they run out, then the regular death mechanics take place). It would add value to the set people already own and also the "Mentor" figure is not required to play (just as the Witch Lord figure is not required for playing Return of the Witch Lord) but the Dread Sorcerer figure can be used to represent him that everyone owns.


C) ADD ALTERNATE HEROES (DRUIDS, KNIGHT):
Since the alternates for the Wizard, Dwarf, Barbarian, Elf were all added previously, it would be so awesome if the GUARDIAN KNIGHT card from Rise of the Dread Moon was added when you select your hero. This is such a great design, plus, it is the version of the knight that more players will own these days. Don't get rid of the ones that are there (out of respect for those who got that rare limited edition version) but please add the new one! Also the two new Druid designs that came with Against the Ogre Horde should be added too, they were really cool looking!


D) ALTERNATE DICE COLORS OPTION:
When monsters roll their attack dice, it is always with the white combat dice. This is fine, but it would be super cool if, maybe in the menu, options could be done to change the dice color since many dice options have been introduced before. For example the monsters could roll the "ice dice" (clear blue) that came with Frozen Horror, or the "ghost dice" (clear green) in Spirit Queen's Torment, or the "flame dice" (clear orange) in Prophecy of Telor. First Light could have the "ivory" (bone) colored dice. Then there are the special fanroll dice colors... Jungles of Delthrak, Rise of the Dread Moon, and now First Light will have fancy limited edition dice, could the app display those while rolling (as an option of course, the white dice some prefer for everything)? The menus in Frozen Horror already show that you can use the blue dice for rolling combat for example (but don't show the blue frozen horror movement dice for other types of rolls). That's another thing... when movement dice are used (for "Spell Breaks" by monsters) the option for Frozen Horror could be to use the blue movement dice... or for First Light the white dice with red pips as an option.

E) VOICE ACTING IN OTHER LANGUAGES:
I realize this is a big one, probably the most expensive thing to add dialog in Spanish, German, French, Italian, etc. with voice actors recording all of the lines. Still, that would be absolutely amazing and memorable if it were ever to exist! I'm sure there are fans out there who would do it for cheap (or even for free!).

I am very impressed with what you have been able to do with the HeroQuest Companion App. I love that it is FREE and ad-free, and I hope that it continues to be supported at least for as long as HeroQuest games are sold (hopefully indefinitely!).

Thank you for reading!

[SirRick]

This weekend I played Quests 7 and 8 of FL. There were no app related issues playing through these. Here are just a few comments on the quests themselves in case you enjoy hearing about my chronic bad luck.

In Quest 7: Tomb of the Fire King there are a couple of rooms in which you are instructed to draw two treasure cards, take one, and put the other back. Both times I drew bad cards. Also once again in the cupboard room I drew two bad cards from the special Sly Storage rule. You do find some nice stuff in this quest, and as a result my earlier complaint of a lack of defend dice for my heroes was resolved.

Quest 8: King Forgrin’s Trove sounds like a great quest, but it was one of the most difficult quests i have ever played. This is mostly because of bad luck, as my heroes could not roll skulls while attacking. In the second room, I blocked the door from a Dread Warrior and managed to search for treasure only to reveal two Abominations hiding in the cupboard (from a freshly shuffled treasure deck that still had 23 cards). It took a couple rounds to kill them and slowly enter the next room. The constant harassment from Dread Warriors slowed progress greatly.

My Barbarian was stuck in the second room, blocking the door to prevent the Dread Warrior from entering the 3rd room. My other heroes advanced into room “B”. These heroes were overwhelmed by the Gargoyle, Abominations, and the Goblins. My heroes could not hit anything. Meanwhile my Barbarian was still stuck in room 2 battling the same lone Dread Warrior. Eight rounds later (no lie) she finally slew the troublesome warrior and rolled so well with her movement dice, she made it to the corridor outside the center room. This same turn was also the same turn my other heroes were finally able to clear room B so my Wizard could search the treasure chest. They cleared out of the room with a newly spawned Dread Warrior and Abomination on their heels. In the center room my party was almost wiped out from a particular event. All I can say is Healing Potions were used. Oddly after receiving so much damage, I was still able to use the Fireplace to restore 1 BP. I laughed at the irony.

This time my Dwarf blocked the door while the others advanced South. Fortunately I finally rolled so well he destroyed both the Dread Warrior and the Abomination in one blow on consecutive turns. This bought me some time so I could explore the remaining rooms. As far as I can tell, there is no “Puzzle” to figure out. As long as you are able have time to search properly you will find the hidden trove. The problem is if you are rolling poorly and can’t kill the monsters fast enough, you might not have a chance to search. I was able to get the treasure and escape before the next wave of monsters reached my group.

That quest was quite the doozy, but if I had better luck attacking things it might have been different. I burned 3 of my Oracle Blessings for no discernible benefit. I also used a number of Heroic Brews and Potions of Defense. One thing I do know, is this new group of heroes are going to have PTSD regarding cupboards from this point on. In 8 quests, I haven’t found a single good treasure card from the sly storage feature.