Quest for Glory 1-5

Before I get into the nostalgia, I would like to address my title. Quest for Glory 4 never got the treatment it deserved. It was the forgotten stepchild of Sierra's other "quest" games at that point, and it was released a buggy mess. But today it remains one of the most gloriously moody, hilariously weird, and supremely satisfying gaming experiences in my life. This is in no small part a result of things that most games overlook: 1. The story is genuinely creepy. A demonic force pulls you a thousand miles and drops you into a cave that looks like the belly of a giant hell-beast. A small town hides in fear of the spirit-creatures roaming the wilderness and the prince who never leaves his otherwise empty castle. And yet somehow there is as much humor as creepiness in everything. It's an atmosphere I haven't seen anywhere else. 2. The voice acting is not only second to none, they actually seem to have encouraged the voice actors to go off-script, resulting in a number of awesome ad libs (and a hilarious anecdote relating why there are no elephants in Mordavia anymore). 3. The visuals were something I had never seen in a game, and something that games today seem to eschew completely in favor of either a cinematic or a comic-book look. This game, by contrast, is sort of like a really dark children's storybook. Which I think is part of how they pull off the creepy-but-funny vibe. Quest for Glory 4 is still one of the paragons of gaming for me, despite its rampant bugs. Now, on to the caveat. QFG5, while it had a great concept, ended up being kind of cumbersome in its gameplay. I think, in general, they tried to make too many changes to the gameplay when compared to previous games in the series. And they diverged from the most enjoyable qualities of QFG4--one major disappointment being the voice acting, which was far too conventional. I'm not sure I would go as far as advising people to end their Quest for Glory after the fourth game, but if you love it as much as I did, and don't want to feel the series fall flat on its face at the end, then you might make that choice. And you might be wise to do so. Now for the nostalgia. One of my seminal childhood experiences was with Quest for Glory 1 (the remake), which I bought at Electronics Boutique in a big box with several 3.5" floppies. I played through the game with every class, but my favorite was always the thief--both because of the playing style and because some of the silliest moments in the game are associated with the thief class. It actually inspired a lot of play with my friends and my tendency to play stealthy in games even today.

Of all the "Quest" games, these were my absolute favorites. Not as serious as King's Quest, not as silly as Space Quest, just a happy, enjoyable medium. Every game was a new land, new characters, and new wild adventures. Probably the most unique part of the QFG series were the different player classes. Playing as a thief and breaking into houses was always a fun departure from the norm. For this price, it's a must-buy series!

I remember when the first game came out called Hero's Quest (before Milton Bradley forced them to change the name). Being a huge Sierra/Quest fan at the time, I immediately had have the game. It is what you would call a mix of King's Quest with some RPG elements thrown in (RPG lite). With 3 different characters to choose from - Fighter, Magic User, and Thief, you got a difference experience. I've always come back to this series every few years and just finished the entire thing from start to end (again). It plays great on my machine that was built in 2021 and using Windows 11. Highly recommend! Here are thoughts on each game: Quest for Glory 1 EGA version: Pretty much an English/Robin Hood vibe. I find the start of this game to be the hardest since you are a newby character that is very weak. Magic User to me has the weakest change in story. Thief has the fun "bad" elements that make it entertaining. EGA is the way to go to get the best original experience. Quest for Glory 2: This came out at the same time as Disney's Aladdin, so it fit in perfectly with the times. This one is more linear due to timing of certain events, but I liked the story the best overall. It introduces the series best villain. You can become a Paladin at the end, which adds the 4th class. Game looks just like the EGA version of QG1. Quest for Glory 3: Nice Africa setting with improved VGA graphics. Replaced the parser interface with a clickable option tree. Found the overall villain to be a bland one. QG1 VGA uses the same frame/system as this game. Quest for Glory 4: Transylvania vibes and best atmosphere overall. Buggiest game I ever saw in the 90s. Hate the fighting system, so just let the computer-assist do most of the work. Quest for Glory 5: Game was made after fans berated the company to complete the series. Great job overall, but feels different than the rest. They made this game-world huge, wrapped up some previous storylines, and graphics were improved.

I don't necessarily recommend this series for younger gamers. It's from a time long gone. EGA, even VGA graphic can be painful on the eyes now. That said, if you know a post-2000 series that lets you import the same character across five games, please send me a message to let me know. By the end of QG5, I would never forget the name Erasmus. And I never did.

Quest for Glory is a game series that does a lot of things in a time when such things was unheard of. On the surface the games look very much like Sierras classic adventure games of the EGA and VGA era. The first two games has the classic “type to act” system. The second two games, as well as the included remake of the first game, has Sierras icon based point and click system. In stark contrast the last game came out towards the end of the adventure games era, and is more akin to an early version of RPGs from today. But that’s on the surface, because Quest for Glory isn’t really your standard Sierra Quest game, this is a very early and surprisingly deep Role-Playing Game with: -An organic stat increase system -Action based combat -Pre-sistent character that can be imported from game to game -Hidden Subclass for one of the three main classes in one of the games -Open character development -Replay value as each of the three classes has different solutions to problems, and different options presented to them If you are a fan of RPGs and want to experience some of the innovations of the past, then the Quest for Glory series is the games for you.