Quest for Glory 1-5

This release has truly made my week. It’s been a long time coming—too long, really. While I love some of the LucasArts titles (particularly Grim Fandango), I’ve always been a Sierra guy. Unfortunately, most people’s only exposure to the Sierra library is the King’s Quest Series. Writing off Sierra after that is like writing off wine after a swill of Two-Buck Chuck. Quest for Glory has, like Space Quest, always been inexplicably overshadowed by Kings Quest which, apart from KQVI, is rankly inferior. Indeed, Quest for Glory is, in my opinion, the best adventure series of all time. It was absolutely groundbreaking at the time of its release and holds up just as well today. Seldom, if ever, have adventure games been combined with RPGs as effectively as they were in this series. Liked importing your character between Mass Effect games? QFG has that. Like well-written dialogue and narration in a videogame? Quest for Glory has that (John Rhys-Davies in QFG IV!). Like a little combat and stat building to break up the adventure game pointing and clicking? QFG has this too, and so much more. Each game has a unique setting and incorporates themes, foes, and creatures taken from that setting (Germanic, Arabian, African, Russian, and Classical (Greece, Rome) settings are explored). Trial by Fire, for example, features djinns, desert bandits, an evil vizier, winding city streets, etc. So, regardless of your preference for particular cultures and their mythologies, the series will have something for you. In many games, class selection is simply a matter of combat prowess and a unique sidequest or two. QFG has these sidequests, of course, but goes the extra mile by creating multiple solutions to each puzzle in the game, one for each class. The game won’t necessarily force you to solve it your class’s way, but it will usually be the easiest of the three solutions available to you given your character’s strengths. It’s odd to think of an adventure game having replay value, but QFG has it in spades. Please, please, please buy this game. You won’t regret it, and you will be finally giving a wonderful series a much overdue place in the sun. Two final notes: 1. Kudos to GOG for getting the publisher to agree to sell the entire series together and for a reasonable price. Splitting King’s Quest up into three packages was difficult to stomach. 2. Quest for Glory I and II were originally released in EGA. QFG I was remastered in VGA for the Quest for Glory Collection’s release (both versions are included in the GOG release). The fine folk at AGD Interactive released a free remastered VGA version of QFG II a few years ago, which I highly recommend playing through if you want something slightly easier on the eyes than the one in this package (make sure you buy the whole series from GOG first though, cheapskate :-)!

Very few games accomplish what this game series did. In the prime adventure era of Kings Quest, Spacequest, Maniac Mansion 1 & 2, and the like, emphasis was on a compelling story. Some would focus on constant humor, and others would focus on setting (Kings quest's fairytale setting). Quest for Glory did a unique and successful blend of both. Quest for Glory is generally a serious Adventure game with intriguing story focusing on becomming a "hero". These games have the right ammount of interjections of humor to enhance the playing experience, without overwelming or detracting from the story. It also blends RPG elements of chosing character class, allowing multiple ways of solving the same puzzle (according to class),has character atributes that affect in game puzzles and abilities, and incorperated some real-time action/fighting. While initially focusing on the "point & click", the later games add more action. Many critics rated Quest for Glory 5 negatively because of the greatest shift towards more action than the previous titles. Puzzles are generally logical and well done. Very few require you to pay attention to things said only once or twice, otherwise you will need some outside knowledge/assistance. The characters are enjoyable and pleasant to see them return throughout the series. While being a series, the games are also generally enjoyable without needing to play the previous game(s). With Importation of characters from one game to the next, different approaches for each class, the right blend of humor and seriousness, incorperation of RPG and action elements, and overall engaging story, this game will forever remain at the top of my list of all time favorites. A "must-buy" for fans of classic Adventure gaming and crossover fans. On a personal level, this series has remained at the very top of my list of adventure games, surpassing all Kings Quest, Sam & Max, Monkey Island, Space Quest, and Maniac Mansion (Day of the Tenticle) series, and singular titles including The Dig, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and other games that were made during the "Peak" of Adventure gaming. I also prefer it over new reincarnations by telltale games, though graphically lacking in comparison (and yes, I thoroughly enjoy all the titles mentioned above). Lastly, I believe any Adventure fan will enjoy this series and it's charm may capture the hearts of those who've never played them before!

[Hero's Quest: So you want to be a Hero] I was so impacted by it, that I hold it as my favorite video game of all time. I was so disappointed & even shed tears when it ended, but was also deeply surprised that it would continue. [Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire] I sought & it was so uplifting finally having achieved being one very special. [Quest for Glory III: Wages of War] I was awed by the -very atmospheric & VGA- setting. [Quest for Glory I: So you want to be a Hero (VGA)] VGA was stunning by itself at that time, but its scenes were also speciated compared to HQ and that stirred several un-familiar emotions. I enjoyed it but I still prefered the original. [Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness] I didn't enjoy it as much as its pre-quels. I found the setting very gloomy. [Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire] It didn't impact me much, probably due to not keeping the cartoon-ish pseudo-3D style like its pre-quels.

If you are a fan of RPG style games or old school adventure games, this series is well worth it. All of the games have amazing art, good characters and are fun to play through multiple times due to the different character classes and paths you can choose to take. I found the puzzles and combat challenging, yet they do not make you want to pull out your hair or cheat. Some parts of the games are quite linear, but the stories more than make up for that. I would also rank the series soundtracks among the best that Sierra ever did, especially the title theme; the Shadows of Darkness theme and the epically chill Simbani Village theme in part 3. The original Shadows of Darkness used to be a buggy mess, but I have yet to encounter any serious game crashing errors with it via GoG Launcher or actually installed on my PC. DragonFire had some bugs and issues playing on an older computer (Vista/XP), but those were fixed with help from the GoG forum. Overall, I highly recommend this series to old and new gamers alike.

Quest for Glory is among the very greatest series of all time. I cannot recommend them highly enough. These games seamlessly integrate the gameplay of classic point and click adventures with traditional RPG mechanics and combat. Not only does each game contain a distinctive path for each of the three classes, they also each have a distinctive and wonderful atmosphere that has rarely been matched. You owe it to yourself to play these.