Quest for Glory 1-5

'Quest for Glory' is one of the best Sierra adventure game franchises. While Roberta Williams might have been a pioneer storytelling in graphic adventure games, Lori and Corey Cole helped perfected it. In fact, 'QFG' exceeded 'King's Quest' in fantasy storytelling in every way. The Coles incorporated folklores and mythologies from various cultures into the storylines in a cohesive, meaningful and respectful ways. At the same time, 'QFG' featured some of the funnier writing -- mostly in forms of puns -- in Sierra adventure games. 'QFG' also featured design elements that were new in graphic adventure games at the time. These included the ability to play as one of three or four character classes (i.e. Fighter, Magic User, Thief, and later Paladin), the freedom to build your character's skill levels as the player sees fit, a meaningful and impactful day/night cycle, sensible puzzles that could be solved in different ways, as well as the options to export and import your character that you worked hard on building. The latter helped 'QFG' become an epic adventure game franchise that it is remembered for today. My current review of 'QFG' is based on my playthrough as a magic using Fighter turned Paladin. At one point in my youth, I also completed 'QFG1' as a magic using Thief with ability to parry. Below is what I think about each 'QFG' game: QFG1: My favourite of the 'QFG' games because of the freedom with which I got to explore the land of Spielburg. I enjoyed how I was not pressured by in-game time to complete quests and I could build up my character at my own pace. The story was whimsical and simple, and certainly not the strongest in the franchise given the flexibility and openness of the game. I loved the graphics in the VGA remake. QFG2: This was my first 'QFG' game in my youth, but I didn't know how to navigate the city well enough to make any meaningful progress back then. It had one of the better stories in the franchise, but the gameplay was much more linear linear than 'QFG1', especially during the last third of the game. Navigating your character in 'QFG2' could be challenging with the weird, questionable perspective changing layout. QFG3: As an adventure game, this was the weakest of the first four 'QFG' games, but it also had an interesting story that looked more into character motivation than in other games. I didn't feel like that was as much to do in 'QFG3' as in previous games, but it still afforded me the opportunities to build my Paladin character. I loved the grandness of the Tarna/Fricana setting, and welcomed the more leisurely change of pace. QFG4: The lessons learned from previous 'QFG' games allowed the designers to create what I believe to be this close-to-perfect ‘QFG’ game in the franchise. 'QFG4' played a bit more like 'QFG1', but with some time constraints like in 'QFG2' and 'QFG3'. It had an intriguing story, with weirder and wackier characters than before. It was tonally different enough for the game (franchise) to stay fresh. I didn't like the close-up character portraits as much as I loved the dramatic sceneries. The combat system was the worst of the five, and took some time getting used to. QFG5: This game felt more like a light RPG than a classic point-and-click graphic adventure game. I wasn't a fan of the graphics and interface. The 3D graphics made the game look cheap and lose the fairytale whimsy that previous games had. Battles could be challenging because of the zoomed-out camera angle. I often found myself clicking on the wrong “pixel” during larger battles. The story was okay, but enough for me to conclude my character's epic adventure. Overall, 'QFG' is definitely worth your valuable gaming time. There has been no other graphic adventure game quite like this since. With a great combination of adventuring, puzzles, humourous writing, I highly recommend 'QFG' to any fan of point-and-click adventure games.

Quest for Glory is one of the best series to come out of classic Sierra. The writing and art are well done, lovely in themselves and offering good homage to the folk and fairy tales they are based on. The gameplay holds up surprisingly well too: combining a stats sheet and combat and other minigames with traditional Sierra point and click adventuring makes for a much more balanced package of play than your typical Sierra Quest. Varied classes and skills provide excellent replayability for anyone interested in going through more than once. The series is not perfect: even the QFGs have the odd frustrating "guess the designer's thoughts" puzzle design endemic to Sierra adventures. Combat varies greatly from game to game in both design and quality, with 2 and 4 being the standouts where all classes are truly fun to bring to battle. Once upon a time, one could also complain of glitchiness in some of the titles, though thankfully GOG's collection comes with DOSbox tweaking and fan patches pre-applied to polish over most of the old bugs. All in all recommended for any lover of classic gaming. Make sure to play the fantastic AGDI remake of #2 instead of the EGA version in this collection!

An excellent adventure game from an equally-excellent series. Quest for Glory III was always my favourite because of the liontaurs and the Africa/Egypt-inspired setting. If you are a fan of point-and-click adventures filled with humour, mythology and a few puzzles, I warmly recommend Quest for Glory III and its sequels. This is still one of my favourite games of all time.

The Quest for Glory series is truly a gem. Although other Sierra adventure series, such as Space Quest, King´s Quest or the Leisure Suit Larry series, are more famous, QfG is by far the best of them all IMO. The combination of adventure with subtle RPG elements, the clever and funny dialogues, the memorable characters, and the replayability provided by the three classes you can choose from (Fighter, Thief or Wizard), make these games stand out, absolutely. Not to mention the possibility to carry your saved character along the entire series! If you like adventure games, you can´t let this series go by... it´s a must!!

This is the *singular* series release that I have been anticipating even when GOG.com was in beta. Quest for Glory chronicles the rise of a hero, from the fresh-faced Wannabe with his Famous Adventurers Correspondence badge pinned to his shirt, to the Legend laying waste to The Evil One himself; and it is not just any hero, but *your* hero that conquers the trials set before him. The class of character chosen is not merely cosmetic, for each has his own way of solving problems: while the thief might stealthily pick a door to get through, the fighter could elect to smash the door open instead. Can you nurture a wannabe and guide him to be a true Hero?