It looks like the Cole's would also
prefer us to refer to Rogue to Redemption as an RPG, as well. Their reasons are ones we, in adventure gaming, are all too familiar with, i.e., problems with puzzle frustration in today's gaming audience and use of the Internet in cheating for solutions... and ultimately, replayability.
The basic contention is that the 'net spoils the adventure gaming experience, and that RPG creators have tighter control over the duration & challenge than today's adventure game creator. I see their point, but I also feel like this line of thought is a part of what caused the decline of adventure game publishing (not development).
Unfortunately, with classic Zelda-style tiled top-down view, Hero-U diminishes one of my favorite aspect of QFG by removing the beautiful background graphics. Classic hand-crafted VGA illustration is a hallmark feature of my nostalgia! I'm so glad that we've got Jeremy here, as well as others in the AGS community, to continue painting these gorgeous games.
As for Hero-U, without the classic graphics, that leaves story and gameplay... which the Cole's have in spades, so I'm really not worried. They can also include fantastic dialogue portraits, since they're hinting at aspects of adventure game puzzling. There
have to be some character dialogue sequences with portraits!
While I do fervently wish for another QFG, every time I come back to the forums, I keep feeling more and more that QFI is going to be enormously satisfying...