Quest for Glory: Difference between revisions

So, you want to be a hero?

 

 

One series that differed a bit from this formula, however, was the ''Quest for Glory'' series, using a Mix And Match of Adventure and RPG. But that was not everything; the games also were a brilliant (and hilarious) Affectionate Parody of the adventure genre and had a very strong continuity despite being spread out over the course of nine years. Originally called Hero's Quest, before copyright issues with Milton Bradley resulted in them changing the name.

* ''[[Quest for Glory V]]: Dragon Fire''

 

 

The entire series can be [http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/quest_for_glory purchased] at Good Old Games. The second game has a [http://www.agdinteractive.com/games/qfg2/ VGA fan remake] that is compatible with modern computers.

* [[Action Mom]]: Uhura (No, not [[Star Trek: The Original Series|that one]])

* [[And the Adventure Continues...]]: The ending to {{spoiler|the fourth game. The final game can end like this if you so choose}}.

* [[Anti-Hero]]: The Thief character can do some pretty dickish things in his sidequests. Despite all this, the Thief is ultimately a good person, as he will still save the realm in each game. It's sometimes funny when your friends introduce you to others as an acrobat or spy, mostly because they're too embarrassed to admit you're a criminal.

* [[Bag of Spilling]]: Played with; games 2, 3, and 5 partially avert it by letting you retain your money and some of your items (though your money is confiscated near the climax of 2, limiting you to the "prize money" you get for saving Raseir). Game 4 plays it straight with the justification of a botched teleport spell, but in the long run there's a slight subversion as in game 5, Rakeesh will return something that you left behind when you teleported.

** For thieves, this actually makes ''Dragon Fire'' a bit easier: {{spoiler|A character transferred from ''Shadows of Darkness'' will retain the false Blackbird from the monastery, which you can then swap for the real one in order to steal it from Ferrari. If you don't transfer, the only way to get a false Blackbird is by showing the real one to Wolfie before you hand it over to Ferrari.}}

* [[Belly Dancer]]: The profession of the slinky and seductive Nawar, one of the possible love interests for the Hero. The zaftig bar tender/former harem girl Budar also does this in the fifth game, as does the Hero himself (the comedic male version of the trope). In the second game, the Hero's Katta friend Shema dances in the inn owned by her and her husband.

* [[Bloodier and Gorier]]: In [[Quest for Glory III]], many death animations show the hero melting, (if poisoned,) impaled by a spear, or turning into a food product such as a hamburger or (in a famous easter egg) a pizza. (When eaten. And no, it is not as graphic as you think.) While it is not overly bloody, it is certainly more so than the first two games. This is surprisingly [[Inverted]] in the fourth and darkest game, in which some deaths just show (vegetarian!) food products if the hero is eaten, and most deaths just show the hero falling. Only few examples avert this.

* [[Brick Joke]]: The QG3 documentation lists "Thermonuclear Blast" as a possible spell. It only appears at the end if the [[Big Bad|demon]] succeeds in opening the gate for the [[Bigger Bad]] to past through. In QG5, someone finds a scroll enabling the player character to learn the spell, which could be used to defeat the dragon in the final battle.

* [[Cap]]: Statistics are maxed out at 100, multiplied by instalment number. If you cheat and set it above the cap, it will reduce it back to the cap as soon as the skill is trained.

** Katta, catlike humanoids. A major species that crops up in all the games except the fourth one.

** Liontaurs, another major species, a sort of leonine version of a centaur. A warrior race, of whom the famous paladin hero Rakeesh is one.

* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: If the game doesn't like what you're doing, it sometimes kills you out of spite, often [[No Fourth Wall|breaking the fourth wall]] when doing so.

* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]: Katrina seems to be barefoot in some scenes.

** One of the most famous examples is in QFG2, where using X-ray glasses at a certain time allows you to see [[Fan Service|pixelated sixteen-color boobies]].

* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: Your character is rarely referred to by name. The first and fourth game, you're called "Hero", the second one "Effendi", and the third and fifth games "Prince of Shapeir." This is understandable in the last two games, as they are fully voiced.

* [[Fast Forward Mechanic]]: The games allow you to rest your Hero in intervals from 10-60 game minutes, or "until morning" (in the first game, this could easily trigger [[Have a Nice Death]] on the assumption that some monster killed you while you slept).

* [[Fetch Quest]]: Naturally, some of the quests fall into this category. The adventure game/RPG hybrid nature helps here though, and lots of times you need to think on how to restore the soul of a woman turned into a tree, how to build a flying machine, or how to capture a baby antwerp, rather than simply ferrying raw materials to some guy who'll do the thinking for you.

* [[Flat Earth Atheist]]: A lot of the Scientists believe there is no such thing as magic... in spite of there being plenty of mages whose magic is easy to verify empirically that it does indeed work. In the last game, some went so far as to try and murder a few of them. {{spoiler|It turns out that they consider all magic that does work to be "the crime of altering reality".}}

* [[Flaming Sword]]: If you're a Paladin. It does a bit more damage than the non-flaming variety (affected by your Honor rating), and can defeat Earth Elementals to boot.

{{quote|''To identify yourself as a Thief, you must make the proper 'Thief Sign'. This consists of placing your thumb upon your nose with the hand held perpendicular to the face and the fingers outspread. You then wiggle your fingers while focusing your eyes on your thumb and patting your belly with the other hand.''}}

* [[Have a Nice Death]], as with all Sierra games of the age.

* [[Heroic Mime]]: From the third game on, whenever you "speak", a dialogue box says something like: "you tell the people about your exploits". He has said a few things in the earlier games, mainly to Aziza and to himself, as well as have the narration box quote you.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|Katrina in the fourth game. Gort, Toro, Erana, and possibly the protagonist}} when facing the Dragon. All of the above are intentional, and the first is perhaps the best example, as {{spoiler|if the player is engaged to Erana, and tells her that he will sacrifice himself, after her protest (and, as I recall, declaration that she'd rather she die than the player), Gort instead offers to sacrifice himself so that the couple can be together.}} Points are awarded for averting this as it's considerably more difficult: the sacrifice cuts the dragon's health in half.

** Toby also from the fourth game.

** Rakeesh tried to do that, but it didn't work out so well.

* [[Hurricane of Puns]]

* [[Improv]]: In the fourth game, the voice actors of the three farmers in the inn actually abandoned their own scripts and improvised their lines based loosely on the actual ones, resulting in hilarious dialog that's only captured in the voice friendly version of the game.

* [[It Only Works Once]]: The Ultimate Joke. Also, the thermonuclear blast spell, albeit for [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|different reasons]].

* [[Jack of All Trades]]: It is easy to make the Hero into one of these, especially if you start with the first game and import your character to the others - it's relatively cheap to buy new skills in the first game, and gets progressively more expensive in the later games. So yes, you can be a Fighter or Thief who can cast a few spells, or a Magic User who can throw rocks and climb trees like a pro.

** The game does use Experience Points, however, as a [[Cap]]. So no matter how hard you try in the first two games, you will eventually reach a plateau that requires more adventuring before your training can continue at a reasonable pace (you can grind it if you ''really'' want to). From the third game on, this cap is removed, presumably because repeating actions became slightly more time-consuming with the point-and-click interface.

* [[Karma Meter]]: Honor, but only barely. It only matters if you want to be a Paladin, or already are (allowing you to unlock new skills). {{spoiler|Wizards who want to marry Erana also need sufficiently high honor.}}

** The Chief of The Thief Guild in the first game also qualifies.

** The player can become one as well (in gameplay terms at least), if you buy a ton of daggers and max out your Throwing skill. It's possible to hurl daggers at enemies and kill them before they can close to melee range.

* [[Knight Errant]]: Let's face it, the capacity for evil of all classes of Hero are limited, but the Paladin is the exemplar of the Knight Errant. Rakeesh also meets the criteria for a Knight Errant. He's somewhat past his prime by the time he and the Hero meet, but that doesn't stop him from getting around.

* [[Lady of War]]: Elsa von Spielburg

* [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]: Each installment, beginning with "Trial By Fire". [[Captain Obvious|The actual sealed evil]] is Iblis, not the elementals.

** The elementals were actually meant to attract someone that could fulfill the prophecy that would release Iblis.

* [[Shout-Out]]: So very many. Just to begin with, each game features a nod to a famous comedian or comedy troupe, including the Three Stooges in QFG1, the Marx Brothers in QFG2, Sanford & Son and Laurel & Hardy in QFG3, and Rodney Dangerfield in QFG4 (sadly, ''Dragon Fire'' lacked such a reference).

** Combined with [[Product Placement]] in QFG4. Dr. Cranium's descendant is [[Doctor Brain]], whose castle is the castle in the game.

** Any fight that you're obviously losing and don't run away from. You idiot.

** Asking the sheriff of Spielburg where you might find the Thieves Guild. You moron.

** The sheer number of stupid ways for you to die in the first game is impressive. You can shoot yourself with your own spells, throw rocks and daggers into your own face, and you can decide to sleep in the middle of a hostile forest. You get better as time progresses and things that would kill you in the first game merely hurt later on (try out the Dragon's Breath in the fifth game, it's surprisingly non-fatal).

* [[Unexplained Recovery]]: In QFG1, the fighter has to fight Toro apparently to the death, although the game [[Never Say "Die"|never confirms that he is dead.]] Toro is then seen alive (with his arm in a sling) when the credits roll, and is seen again in QFG5.

*** Of course, don't bother using Calm in combat. All it will do is make the monster/enemy [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|calmly kill you]]. Whoops!

*** Using it ''right before'' combat begins (When the enemy is still approaching you) is quite effective, though.

* [[Wizard Needs Food Badly]]: You die of starvation if you go too long without eating and can dehydrate without drinking in the second game.

** Due to a design oversight, it's not possible to die of starvation in either version of the first game, as was found out when someone put together a series of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ux7O9KfNqk videos] showing the ways to die in the series.