It seems like I'm not awarded the 5 points for the thorn contest, and then Yesufu is declared the winner of the first half of the initiation contest, which only gives 5 points rather than 10. Has anyone been able to get the full score? Or is this a design bug?

I don't think it's possible to beat him in the race, unless maybe you run off when he gets trapped. You can beat him in the ring games, the spear throwing, and the bridge wrestling, though.

And no, you can't get a full score in QFG3, except by starting as a Fighter and becoming a Paladin late in the game. It's a bug, I think.

You can win in everything but the race. Even if you run off when he falls into the trap, he gets out and outruns you. During the race, you just have to think outside the box to secure victory in the events, otherwise Yesufu wins. But the race can't be beaten from what I recall. Not sure what happens if your Vitality is close to 300, but I seriously doubt you can win the race in general.

Your right about that. According to the game's hint book, you can receive 10 points for winning the initiation contest, and 5 for 'losing honorably'. It seems that no matter how well you do at the contests, you will always lose, honorably or not. I think it's a design bug. There seem to be some serious problems with the scoring system.

Does the hintbook say if you get 10 points for winning the overall initiation contest or just the race part? You CAN win the overall initiation if you win in all events (pit, thorns, spears, bridge) but lose the race. You don't lose if Yesufu wins the race, he just wins the first part. The final declaration is for the winner though so if Laibon said you won after the bridge event, it means you won in general.

The hint book is vague. These are the valid entries in the point list:
Lose initiation contest honorably - 5
Win initiation contest - 10
Win spear contest - 5
Win wrestling contest - 5
Stop to help Yesufu - 8
Win ring contest - 5
Win thorn contest - 5

This is my experience:
I win the ring contest with the spear at the tree. I am awarded 5 points.
I then use the log to get through the thorns and win that contest. I am declared the winner, but awarded no points.
Next I help Yesufu and, and I hear the point sound, but I cannot check the score yet. He of course goes on to win the race (and I don't think it's possible to beat him at that), and the Laibon declares me the winner. The point sound occurs again, and I check my score. I have been awarded 13 points total, probably 8 for helping Yesufu, and 5 for beating him at this part of the contest (but not 10 like the hint book leads me to believe I deserve).
Then I beat him at the spear contest: 5 points awarded.
Then I beat him on the wrestling bridge: 5 more points.
No more points are awarded after I am declared the winner.

They judge it faster and cleverer to use the tinderbox rather than the log, and you should get points for that.

If you get to request a boon at the end, that means you won the initiation, and you should have gotten the 10 points. But you only get 5. (You even get those 5 if you don't help Yesufu, which is dishonorable, and leads to a game over if you lose the initiation.)

The points you get are:
Ring on a Rope: 5 points (even if you lose)
Win Ring in the Thorns, Tinderbox: 5 points
Help Yesufu: 8 points
Arrive back at the village: 5 points (whether you won or lost the first two events, and whether or not you helped Yesufu)
Win Spear Throwing: 5 points
Win Wrestling Bridge: 5 points

The whole initiation is pretty bugged.

Ring on a rope:
Use the vine, declared winner, get 5 points.
Don't use the vine, declared loser, STILL get 5 points.

Ring in the thorns:
Use the Tinder Box, declared winner, get 5 points.
Use the Log, declared winner, DON'T get 5 points.

Spear throwing:
It is not possible to win the stationary target. Even if you get three bulls eye and Yesufu barely hits the target, it says "You both won".

But the strangest thing of all is that only the Wrestling Bridge matters. If you lose the other three events, but win Wrestling Bridge, you win the initiation. If you win the other three events, but lose Wrestling Bridge, you lose the initiation.

On a related note, I've read through the game's script see 'SCI Viewer'. I don't recall there being any alternative 'win' scenario to the race itself. I think it was part of the intended story to lose the race itself.

However, you can check for yourself here, and if I overlooked something let me know.
http://questforglory.wikia.com/wiki/QFG3_transcript

Yeah, you're definitely not supposed to be able to win the race. I'm still not entirely sure where the problem is, though.

So Fighter/Paladin can't possibly get max score because of the bug with the Initiation points. Thief and Wizard are screwed because they can't get full credit for chasing Harami at the very beginning of the game. So, it is not possible to beat this game with any class and get the max score.

But thanks to your script dump, I now have no reason to worry about those missing points. The only reward is one itty bitty line of text at the end of the game anyway:

"CONGRATULATIONS!! You have successfully completed "Quest for Glory III: Wages of War" with the maximum possible score! We welcome you to the ranks of the few, the proud, the True Heroes!"

"Thief and Wizard are screwed because they can't get full credit for chasing Harami at the very beginning of the game."

I can't remember exctly, I think you can trip the thief using a bowl of fruit, without losing points. On the thief and wizard.

Wizard I think you use calm, not sure.

But they may give less points than running after him, I don't remember exactly..

I know you can trip Harami with the fruit, cause him to collapse with the calm spell (I think dazzle works too), or damage him with any ranged attack (thrown dagger, attack spell).

To get max points for the thief, you have to both run after him AND throw a dagger to stop him. You can do one or the other, but not both.

To get max points for the Wizard, you have to both run after him AND stop him with a spell. You can do one or the other, but not both.