~Fun with Quest for Glory I - I heard you want to be a hero?
SO HEY the VGA fanremake of QFG2 is out! What timing. :O I am intrigued by this, but also in a way part of what I liked about QFG2 was the typing and the oldschool graphics and stuff, but I'm still totally going to check it out when I get the chance.
I do hope it doesn't suffer the same problem as the King's Quest III remake where Alexander was given the ugliest portrait known to man.
Also uploaded three more MGS4 vids, but to protect those avoiding spoilers, I won't mention anything specific about them, except all three are pretty early on (Acts 1 and 2). But you can see them here of course.
So anyway, Quest for Glory. Originally, Quest for Glory's original title was Hero's Quest (to better fit it with Police Quest and King's Quest and Space Quest no doubt), but there was actually a board game called Hero's Quest that sued them about it, so they changed the name to dodge some trouble. Quest for Glory is a better title if you ask me anyway.
Quest for Glory is unique among the Sierra quest series in that it's something like an RPG, in that you have stats to raise. A lot of your deaths as a result don't come from mistakes in judgement, but just death in battle, or your stats being too low when trying to do something. Although, there are still a lot of ways to kill yourself if you're trying. 8D
I spent A LOT of time playing QFG when I was younger. QFG games take more of an investment of time than most other Sierra games, simply because you HAVE to raise your stats to be able to get past some parts of it. As a result, you spend a lot more time in the QFG world, and I got really attached to practically everything.
There are, of course, two versions, like the other Sierra series. I will be honest with you guys - I never beat the EGA version. In fact, I barely got anywhere in it. Me and Alix are so used to the VGA version that the EGA version feels insanely difficult in comparison. :O BUT. I will provide both, in case you want them.
I REALLY RECOMMEND PLAYING QUEST FOR GLORY YOURSELF. Primarily because there are THREE different paths through it, and I can only do one. YOU WILL HAVE TO DO THE OTHER TWO YOURSELF IF YOU WANT TO SEE THEM.
But anyway - Quest for Glory VGA an amazing six and a half megs.
Quest for Glory EGA AN AMAZING 200KB.
BUT ENOUGH OF THAT, LET'S GIVE IT A WHIRL! Each game in QFG has a kind of "aesthetic" to it. WHAT DOES THIS GAME HAVE? CAN YOU TELL?
There's a lot of talking in this installment, but it's the kind of setting up for the world that's typical with this sort of thing. MUST TALK TO EVERYONE. As things go on the pace will pick up, but I love everything about this game to begin with so I could listen to everyone talk about everything all day.
Old adventures
Hero.bat. You don't need to type that. But for the longest time, me and Alix thought you did, since we weren't familiar with .bat as an extension. But eventually we figured out that you can just type in hero and it'll run anyway.
AS MENTIONED WITH KYRANDIA IT'S ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA TO CHECK YOUR SETTINGS FIRST
There we go.
Graphics - Don't screw with this. In fact, the only thing you generally should worry about is the music.
As I mentioned with Space Quest, DOSbox can emulate anything here successfully. However, the Roland32 soundcard sounds very different compared to the Soundblaster one. As a comparison
From a Roland32
From a soundblaster
The PC speaker of course I'd shy away from, unless you enjoy this kind of sound. And Midis are inferior to the Sblaster/Roland32 sound, so choose one of those. IT IS YOUR DECISION
As a kid we had a Soundblaster card (and how excited we were to get one) so I always choose the soundblaster.
You can safely ignore this.
HAhaha InterAction. I think we had a subscription to this.
WHERE'S THE ANY KEY
Alright let's get going.
Heh, echo off. GABE EXPLAINS THIS IN THE COMMENTS durr durr i blanked on it totally. Also the source of cheap pseudopuns.
look at that floppy disk there omg
Your waiting cursor. growl.
STAB
and I thought this kind of thing just sprung into being fully formed
This was a big problem back in the day.
And thus my immortal enemy was born - the copy protection. SCREW YOU, COPY PROTECTION.
Although come to think of it... I don't remember needing the copy protection for this game. For 2, the map was handy, but not necessary... 4 was the one where the copy protection got really irritating. Hmm. EH.
Oh Sierra. ♥ You will always have a deep place in my heart. The fanfare for this little logo is pretty much always the same from game to game. And it sounds like this! You do not even know how happy this little 15 second clip makes me.
Spielburg bought his own town now? HMM.
Let's do the intro just for the heck of it, although QFG1 doesn't have the most fascinating intro.
AND THAT'S ALL YOU GET
Here's the Introduction. You can pretty much tell where the dragon stomps and breaths fire and such.
The Quest for Glory main theme for me has such a huge, triumphant, rising feel to it. It always makes me feel really happy, really determined, you know? And the slow lead up to it for QFG1 has always been one of my favorites, since you can just HEAR it coming and aaaaaa. This theme means SO MUCH TO ME. It's just buried in my subconscious so deeply.
Fun aside - I was miserable in grade school, as I'm sure most of you were, and middle school as well, as I'm sure most of you were too. Whenever I'd come home feeling depressed, alone, just generally miserable, I'd load up Quest for Glory on our old computer, and I'd watch this introduction.
And I'd sing along. Over and over. I'd go through the introduction until it got to the character select, then restart the game to watch the introduction again, and I'd sing along with all my strength, as loud as I possibly could. I'd do the same for the opening to QFG2... just watch it over and over and sing. It always made me feel better, despite everything else sucking. THERE WAS ALWAYS QUEST FOR GLORY.
This is part of why this game, and that theme, mean so much to me. Man I'd link to a video but no one's done one for the VGA version it looks like. I SHOULD FIX THAT. In the meantime here's the one for QFG2.
Then it just goes through the credits. Lame.
OH KEN WILLIAMS.
The Coles were in charge of QFG, like the Two Guys for Space Quest, Roberta Williams for King's Quest, and Al Lowe for Leisure Suit Larry. There's so much space in my head taken up by stupid random Sierra trivia, I don't even know.
What are those lions down there doing
WOOOO
And here's where we get into the real meat of QFG, and why I recommend playing it yourself. There are three characters, and therefore three different solutions to most puzzles, and various character specific scenarios that can only be seen with a certain character class. I'll only be able to show you guys so much.
Fighters are pretty straightforward. They fight, that's what they do. Most of their solutions involve throwing things or busting things into pieces. They're strong, and the only class that uses a real sword and shield. This kind of sucks actually since they can't use magic in battle since you need a hand free to do that. LAME.
Fighters don't know magic, can't sneak, can't lockpick, and can't climb when you start out. They can do everything else though.
Fighters can also become Paladins in the future games of the series.
Magic Users use, of course, magic. Magic makes things so much easier in these sometimes, seriously. So of course, regardless of whether or not we're Magic Users, me and Alix tend to spring for spending some points in Magic to be able to use it. Magic Users, as you may guess, are smart but not particularly beefy (although I generally mention these as starting out stats... you can always change that as time goes on, and me and Alix usually did). They fight with a dagger, like thieves, but are generally intended to spam spells in battle.
I forget what sort of things they don't start out with, but off the top of my head I'll go with climb, throw, sneaking, lockpick.
Magic Users get some pretty neat special scenarios in 2, 3, AND 4. Especially 2. The cool thing is that the 2 one is only open to those who know magic, not necessarily magic users, which means I can show you that one. :D The 3 and 4 ones are more picky though.
Thieves are Alix's specialty, and the character class he always chooses. Thieves, while not as strong as Fighters and without the nifty powers of Magic Users (unless you spend points to give it to them... which we always did), are pretty lucky and sneaky. But primarily, they can rob people. Thieves get lockpick and stealth, which means they get whole scenarios where you rob people's houses for cash which are lots of fun. They also get their own Thieves Guild in most of the game, where they can fence their loot. Their ways through the games are generally sneakier and more dishonest than the other two, and therefore are a bit more morally grey, depending on how much you want to steal. They use daggers in battle, but can also use magic if you give it to them.
Like all the character classes, you can level your characters up obsessively and make them practically superhuman. By the end of it, Alix's Thief and my Fighters could wipe the floor with any monster, although Thieves are generally supposed to avoid battle in various ways. NOT ALIX'S THIEF.
I forget what they don't start with... magic, obviously. I'll go with parry and dodge, and maybe... hmm. I dunno. :O
Thieves get some really neat houserobbing scenarios. If you have lockpick and sneak, you can technically break into a house and rob it, but unless you're a thief, you can't do anything with the things you steal. You need to know the Thief Sign to get into the Thief Guild, and only Thieves know it. Thieves get some real fun stuff to do in 2, but kind of get put to one side in 3 and 4. Not as much fun stuff for them there.
Alix always plays as a Thief.
Me? I always play as a Fighter. I'm not sure why or when I decided this, but somewhere in the misty days of my youth, I just got attached to Fighters. I think this is primarily related to how over time they become Paladins, and Paladins can help people that can't be helped otherwise (somewhat unfairly, in Alix's opinion, why can't a thief help the rusalka wtf), and I have a soft heart. BUT I DUNNO, I LIKE BASHING THINGS TOO.
I was torn between playing as a Thief (robbing houses IS fun) or a Fighter to show you guys, but a Fighter for me is traditional... I always play as a Fighter. It feels weird if I don't. So to keep with that theme, I'll play as one this time too.
And here's our character sheet!
AND SO SHALL IT EVER BE, IN EVERY GAME THROUGHOUT THE AGES, AMEN
You see that red 50 down there? Those points can be spread out among your stats to help give you a boost when you start, and to give yourself abilities you normally wouldn't have. Starting out a new stat costs 15 points though, so you can't afford to give yourself everything you're missing.
Here I thought maybe I'd get stealth and picklock, to rob people anyway, but then I wouldn't have enough for magic AND climbing, and climbing's important to a fighter (to any character, really). :O
So I went for stealth, magic, and climbing (as I always do). WOO.
Luck is such a nebulous stat... it gets raised by the weirdest stuff. SO UP IT GOES.
Alright let's get this party started.
LOOK AT MY DASHING CAPE
Good lookin burg.
A YO YO GIVE ME THAT
That's some stache buddy
WELL THAT'S NICE GOTTA GO
Of the northern Von Goons, you know em.
Yeah thanks
Like many other Sierra games, this one works off an icon interface. Fairly self-explanatory, with some exceptions.
This swirly star thingy is special to QFG games, and handles the weirder things your hero has to deal with (in comparison to say, Roger Wilco).
From left to right - walk, run, sneak, sleep, character sheet, time of day.
Running is useless. You'll never use it.
Sneaking builds up your stealth. Sneak everywhere until its 100, then you can just walk normally if you want. One of the easiest stats to raise.
Sleeping lets your hero rest to recover his stamina. You'll be doing this a lot while raising various stats (like throwing. Screw you throwing.)
Character sheet to let you know how close to 100 your stats are. This can get glitched up real easy. More on that in a sec.
There are certain time specific things you'll have to do in this, and time passes by fairly quickly from night to day, and different things happen at night compared to day. It's generally a good idea to keep an eye on this.
also some things happen on certain days (15, 8, whatever) but it's not as bad as 2 or 3 in terms of BE HERE AT THE RIGHT TIME OR YOU'RE SCREWED kind of things.
60 minutes is pretty much all you'll need. Sleep all night you should only do, duh, at night. In a safe place.
In 1 you can spam 60 minute rests I think without a problem, although later on they'll give you the "you're too restless to rest now" and darn it I NEED MORE STAMINA but eh.
The magic icon is greyed out because I don't have any spells yet. Magic Users start out with a spell that you can't get otherwise... as the series goes on Magic Users get more and more specific spells, thus causing us Thieves and Fighters to shake our fists at them because we can't level those spells up to 100 anymore.
Me and Alix weren't obsessive about leveling everything to the max level in this what
Inventory! I gots a sword.
10 silver to 1 gold I think it goes.
If you carry too much equipment in this, for some reason it will cause your stat screen to spaz out, making it really hard to look at your stats. I have no idea why those two things are connected, but apparently they are. The VGA version of this has a lot of annoying bugs, but that one is really obnoxious if you're obsessively checking your stats as much as I do. Just keep an eye on how much you're carrying and you're fine.
As your strength goes up, you'll be able to carry more.
SPEED MUST ALWAYS BE SET TO VERY HIGH
Anyway lets talk to mustache here
One of the complaints about the remake is that it took the mystery out of typing "ask about _____" and seeing if they'd respond, since it lists all the things he'll talk about right here. I don't really care that much, myself, although I can see why it'd bother some people. Actually, I'm intrigued to check this out in the QFG2 remake to see everything Ali Fakir says.
IT WAS A HORRIBLE BLIZZARD AND I HAD TO EAT MY CLIMBING PARTNER OH GOD IT WAS AWFUL
Is it normal that when I hear "Spielburg" I actually think of this game before I think of the director?
Well, not really. Unless you're pestering people. AS I LOVE TO DO.
Note that it gave me a point for talking to him. THIS IS WHY I TALK TO EVERYONE.
Stefan von Spielburg.
Wears toast in her pants
MAYBE I WILL
Not really, but I'll indulge you.
MONSTERS YEAH TELL ME ABOUT THE MONSTERS
Darn it I want to know about monsters
WILL WE TALK TO HIM
VOTE NOW
That's good because I am all of those things.
Sorry I just rambled off there for a second
THIS WOLFGANG SEEMS THE INTERESTING FELLOW
Town lousy with heroes, just starts kicking them out
By the way, if you're a thief, you do NOT want to get caught by Otto.
THIEVES, YOU LISTENING?
As a thief you can actually rob the sheriff's house if you want. The Sheriff gets all leery at you afterwards, all SOOOOOMEONE ROBBED MY HOUSE LAST NIGHT >( and of course your hero is all i dunno what you're talking about
You can then try to rob it again, but he'll set a trap for you. AH, THIEVERY.
Say that out loud, it's way more fun than you think.
WHEEEEE
why back in my day
GIMME THAT YOYO
You can't steal the yoyo, I think.
who's going to cut my flowing blond locks now
A HERO'S TALE
Let's go inside.
The general theme that plays around the area is fairly sparse. You can hear it here, and then the change halfway through to the Hero's Tale inn theme. It's pretty easy to tell which is which.
I always liked Shameen and the Katta. That might explain some things, come to think of it.
He just cleans his paws while he sits there if you're not talking to him.
QUIET HERO
Later on in the series you can click yourself to introduce yourself, explain things, do the thief sign, bunch of stuff. I forgot you don't do that here. :B
YEAH
FOR NOW
your what now
A little expensive, especially considering there's a safe place to sleep for free outside of town. But I'll stay here one night or two to show you.
You can usually run into Abdulla around Sunset/Night is Young, although come too late and he'll be gone. We'll see him eventually.
DOES THAT SOUND LIKE SOMETHING WE'LL BE DOING
VOTE NOW
And is the place you go in QFG2. :D I love Shapeir.
You actually travel around in a caravan in QFG2. Ah, good times.
I'M ON IT
YOU HAVE FUR STOP WHINING
THE GOON
We used to think that if you came to the inn at some point in the night, like a specific day or time (midnight was the usual one), you'd see her dance. But you never do. Only in the second game.
Shameen: :3
CATS ALL OVER THE DESERTS, MEOWING
Heh
THE FIENDS
GET A JOB
It should be in Tarna, I bet.
ANOTHER PLUG? I'm not sure.
Do not pet the Katta.
Shameen claps away.
God now I'm hungry, thanks Shema
We usually bought food and a coffee just to be complete. also because by the end of this we'd be filthy rich, but aside from that.
Comes with being a DESERT but you know
OR CAN IT
it can't :( Although spreading rumors about it was always fun
Shema you aren't really telling me anything useful
Aww.
SILKS ARE BIG IN THE DESERT
pet the katta
Mauled to death by two Kattas D: That'd be a way to go
Anyway need to hang on to my cash for the moment, let's bust it
To the left, more odd buildings! I FEEL LIKE I'M BEING WATCHED.
POKE
FOR NOW
As a thief you can also rob her house. It's got all sorts of weird stuff in it.
SHE'LL NEVER KNOW IT WAS ME
Anyway adventurer's guild time.
Your hero has traveled looong and faaar
Comfy little place.
This moose comes back in later games. :O
Sauruses are easy to kill, but don't really give you anything for killing them.
There aren't any of these around here, so you can't fight them. At least, in this game. You CAN fight one in QFG2 though that's named Merv. Heh.
Ah, Cheetaurs. More on that in a second.
Trolls only appear after a certain point in the game, and only at night. They're not so bad if you're buff, and generally carry some good loot.
No dragonslaying in this one either I'm afraid. MY HERO COULD TAKE EM.
Cheetaurs also only come out at night, and I think also after a certain point. They can be pretty wussy if you're buffed up, but also drop a lot of good loot.
THE TWO GUYS FROM ANDROMEDA, EH?
Hee hee, Antwerp. You'll see.
LET'S CHECK THE BOARD!
Piece of cake.
WILL WE FIND ELSA
VOTE NOW
These all sound like problems that I, HERO will have to fix.
back in OLD ENGLAND, AROUND TOLKIEN'S TIME
Pffft a troll
THERE'S THAT WOLFGANG GUY AGAIN
like mine
i should add them
First let's wake up this dude who's been snoring this whole time
CURSED?
ANSWER MY QUESTIONS, OLD MAN
I like the idea of an Adventurer's Guild.
Aww.
TELL ME OF THESE MONSTERS
Make sure you're pretty buff before you wander around at night, basically.
THEY ARE CAKE
There's only one, really. I think killing that one triggers the release of trolls and cheetaurs if I remember right.
You can also farm them for cash!
If you suck.
Mantrays are a pain in the butt, especially for Fighters. Just stay away from them.
By the time you see these, they should be fairly easy.
I like the healer.
TELL ME MORE
WILL WE SEE THIS OTHER DRAGON?!!
Hee hee hee hee hee.
MAN TELL ME ABOUT IT
And you can steal their beards for cash.
SO MANY CLAWS
AN INSPIRING TALE
I always liked Abenteuer. It's a neat word.
Man adventurers are really organized, who knew
BABA YAGA YOU SAY
I'm going to have to do something about this.
YOU SUCK BARNARD
i mean
HMMMMMMMM.
See you mess with sorceresses, that's what you get
YOU DON'T SAY
by climbing a tree fifty times until his climbing stat is 100 yes i see what you mean
MORE TELL ME MORE
not my fault i swear
Most people in QFG are a little :O about magic. Heh. Especially in 3.
WHAT A WUSS
The tavern is a SEEEEEDY PLAAAACE
bonjour, bonjour
Heinrich PFERFERFERFERFERF
Centaurs what
SELLOUT
HEAR THAT THIEVES
Time to sign my name into the annals of history
BUT THE SOUL STILL BURNS
Anyway, probably a good enough time to save as any. You can see all my savegames here. YOU NEVER KNOW.
QFG is nicer about instant deaths than the other sierra games, but it always pays to be careful.
Haha I KIND OF SAVE A LOT OF GAMES WHAT
That'll work.
I'M SNEAKIN
Just walking like this will pump your stealth stat. SO IT'S A GOOD IDEA, GENERALLY. You can also hide from monsters sometimes, if you're a pussy.
Any stats in red have changed from what they used to be. I AM SMARTER NOW FOR TALKING TO PEOPLE
Let's see what the proprietor of this stalkhouse has to say
NEXT TIME! Since my god I've already taken a ton of caps what's wrong with me
I do hope it doesn't suffer the same problem as the King's Quest III remake where Alexander was given the ugliest portrait known to man.
Also uploaded three more MGS4 vids, but to protect those avoiding spoilers, I won't mention anything specific about them, except all three are pretty early on (Acts 1 and 2). But you can see them here of course.
So anyway, Quest for Glory. Originally, Quest for Glory's original title was Hero's Quest (to better fit it with Police Quest and King's Quest and Space Quest no doubt), but there was actually a board game called Hero's Quest that sued them about it, so they changed the name to dodge some trouble. Quest for Glory is a better title if you ask me anyway.
Quest for Glory is unique among the Sierra quest series in that it's something like an RPG, in that you have stats to raise. A lot of your deaths as a result don't come from mistakes in judgement, but just death in battle, or your stats being too low when trying to do something. Although, there are still a lot of ways to kill yourself if you're trying. 8D
I spent A LOT of time playing QFG when I was younger. QFG games take more of an investment of time than most other Sierra games, simply because you HAVE to raise your stats to be able to get past some parts of it. As a result, you spend a lot more time in the QFG world, and I got really attached to practically everything.
There are, of course, two versions, like the other Sierra series. I will be honest with you guys - I never beat the EGA version. In fact, I barely got anywhere in it. Me and Alix are so used to the VGA version that the EGA version feels insanely difficult in comparison. :O BUT. I will provide both, in case you want them.
I REALLY RECOMMEND PLAYING QUEST FOR GLORY YOURSELF. Primarily because there are THREE different paths through it, and I can only do one. YOU WILL HAVE TO DO THE OTHER TWO YOURSELF IF YOU WANT TO SEE THEM.
But anyway - Quest for Glory VGA an amazing six and a half megs.
Quest for Glory EGA AN AMAZING 200KB.
BUT ENOUGH OF THAT, LET'S GIVE IT A WHIRL! Each game in QFG has a kind of "aesthetic" to it. WHAT DOES THIS GAME HAVE? CAN YOU TELL?
There's a lot of talking in this installment, but it's the kind of setting up for the world that's typical with this sort of thing. MUST TALK TO EVERYONE. As things go on the pace will pick up, but I love everything about this game to begin with so I could listen to everyone talk about everything all day.
Old adventures
Hero.bat. You don't need to type that. But for the longest time, me and Alix thought you did, since we weren't familiar with .bat as an extension. But eventually we figured out that you can just type in hero and it'll run anyway.
AS MENTIONED WITH KYRANDIA IT'S ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA TO CHECK YOUR SETTINGS FIRST
There we go.
Graphics - Don't screw with this. In fact, the only thing you generally should worry about is the music.
As I mentioned with Space Quest, DOSbox can emulate anything here successfully. However, the Roland32 soundcard sounds very different compared to the Soundblaster one. As a comparison
From a Roland32
From a soundblaster
The PC speaker of course I'd shy away from, unless you enjoy this kind of sound. And Midis are inferior to the Sblaster/Roland32 sound, so choose one of those. IT IS YOUR DECISION
As a kid we had a Soundblaster card (and how excited we were to get one) so I always choose the soundblaster.
You can safely ignore this.
HAhaha InterAction. I think we had a subscription to this.
WHERE'S THE ANY KEY
Alright let's get going.
Heh, echo off. GABE EXPLAINS THIS IN THE COMMENTS durr durr i blanked on it totally. Also the source of cheap pseudopuns.
look at that floppy disk there omg
Your waiting cursor. growl.
STAB
and I thought this kind of thing just sprung into being fully formed
This was a big problem back in the day.
And thus my immortal enemy was born - the copy protection. SCREW YOU, COPY PROTECTION.
Although come to think of it... I don't remember needing the copy protection for this game. For 2, the map was handy, but not necessary... 4 was the one where the copy protection got really irritating. Hmm. EH.
Oh Sierra. ♥ You will always have a deep place in my heart. The fanfare for this little logo is pretty much always the same from game to game. And it sounds like this! You do not even know how happy this little 15 second clip makes me.
Spielburg bought his own town now? HMM.
Let's do the intro just for the heck of it, although QFG1 doesn't have the most fascinating intro.
AND THAT'S ALL YOU GET
Here's the Introduction. You can pretty much tell where the dragon stomps and breaths fire and such.
The Quest for Glory main theme for me has such a huge, triumphant, rising feel to it. It always makes me feel really happy, really determined, you know? And the slow lead up to it for QFG1 has always been one of my favorites, since you can just HEAR it coming and aaaaaa. This theme means SO MUCH TO ME. It's just buried in my subconscious so deeply.
Fun aside - I was miserable in grade school, as I'm sure most of you were, and middle school as well, as I'm sure most of you were too. Whenever I'd come home feeling depressed, alone, just generally miserable, I'd load up Quest for Glory on our old computer, and I'd watch this introduction.
And I'd sing along. Over and over. I'd go through the introduction until it got to the character select, then restart the game to watch the introduction again, and I'd sing along with all my strength, as loud as I possibly could. I'd do the same for the opening to QFG2... just watch it over and over and sing. It always made me feel better, despite everything else sucking. THERE WAS ALWAYS QUEST FOR GLORY.
This is part of why this game, and that theme, mean so much to me. Man I'd link to a video but no one's done one for the VGA version it looks like. I SHOULD FIX THAT. In the meantime here's the one for QFG2.
Then it just goes through the credits. Lame.
OH KEN WILLIAMS.
The Coles were in charge of QFG, like the Two Guys for Space Quest, Roberta Williams for King's Quest, and Al Lowe for Leisure Suit Larry. There's so much space in my head taken up by stupid random Sierra trivia, I don't even know.
What are those lions down there doing
WOOOO
And here's where we get into the real meat of QFG, and why I recommend playing it yourself. There are three characters, and therefore three different solutions to most puzzles, and various character specific scenarios that can only be seen with a certain character class. I'll only be able to show you guys so much.
Fighters are pretty straightforward. They fight, that's what they do. Most of their solutions involve throwing things or busting things into pieces. They're strong, and the only class that uses a real sword and shield. This kind of sucks actually since they can't use magic in battle since you need a hand free to do that. LAME.
Fighters don't know magic, can't sneak, can't lockpick, and can't climb when you start out. They can do everything else though.
Fighters can also become Paladins in the future games of the series.
Magic Users use, of course, magic. Magic makes things so much easier in these sometimes, seriously. So of course, regardless of whether or not we're Magic Users, me and Alix tend to spring for spending some points in Magic to be able to use it. Magic Users, as you may guess, are smart but not particularly beefy (although I generally mention these as starting out stats... you can always change that as time goes on, and me and Alix usually did). They fight with a dagger, like thieves, but are generally intended to spam spells in battle.
I forget what sort of things they don't start out with, but off the top of my head I'll go with climb, throw, sneaking, lockpick.
Magic Users get some pretty neat special scenarios in 2, 3, AND 4. Especially 2. The cool thing is that the 2 one is only open to those who know magic, not necessarily magic users, which means I can show you that one. :D The 3 and 4 ones are more picky though.
Thieves are Alix's specialty, and the character class he always chooses. Thieves, while not as strong as Fighters and without the nifty powers of Magic Users (unless you spend points to give it to them... which we always did), are pretty lucky and sneaky. But primarily, they can rob people. Thieves get lockpick and stealth, which means they get whole scenarios where you rob people's houses for cash which are lots of fun. They also get their own Thieves Guild in most of the game, where they can fence their loot. Their ways through the games are generally sneakier and more dishonest than the other two, and therefore are a bit more morally grey, depending on how much you want to steal. They use daggers in battle, but can also use magic if you give it to them.
Like all the character classes, you can level your characters up obsessively and make them practically superhuman. By the end of it, Alix's Thief and my Fighters could wipe the floor with any monster, although Thieves are generally supposed to avoid battle in various ways. NOT ALIX'S THIEF.
I forget what they don't start with... magic, obviously. I'll go with parry and dodge, and maybe... hmm. I dunno. :O
Thieves get some really neat houserobbing scenarios. If you have lockpick and sneak, you can technically break into a house and rob it, but unless you're a thief, you can't do anything with the things you steal. You need to know the Thief Sign to get into the Thief Guild, and only Thieves know it. Thieves get some real fun stuff to do in 2, but kind of get put to one side in 3 and 4. Not as much fun stuff for them there.
Alix always plays as a Thief.
Me? I always play as a Fighter. I'm not sure why or when I decided this, but somewhere in the misty days of my youth, I just got attached to Fighters. I think this is primarily related to how over time they become Paladins, and Paladins can help people that can't be helped otherwise (somewhat unfairly, in Alix's opinion, why can't a thief help the rusalka wtf), and I have a soft heart. BUT I DUNNO, I LIKE BASHING THINGS TOO.
I was torn between playing as a Thief (robbing houses IS fun) or a Fighter to show you guys, but a Fighter for me is traditional... I always play as a Fighter. It feels weird if I don't. So to keep with that theme, I'll play as one this time too.
And here's our character sheet!
AND SO SHALL IT EVER BE, IN EVERY GAME THROUGHOUT THE AGES, AMEN
You see that red 50 down there? Those points can be spread out among your stats to help give you a boost when you start, and to give yourself abilities you normally wouldn't have. Starting out a new stat costs 15 points though, so you can't afford to give yourself everything you're missing.
Here I thought maybe I'd get stealth and picklock, to rob people anyway, but then I wouldn't have enough for magic AND climbing, and climbing's important to a fighter (to any character, really). :O
So I went for stealth, magic, and climbing (as I always do). WOO.
Luck is such a nebulous stat... it gets raised by the weirdest stuff. SO UP IT GOES.
Alright let's get this party started.
LOOK AT MY DASHING CAPE
Good lookin burg.
A YO YO GIVE ME THAT
That's some stache buddy
WELL THAT'S NICE GOTTA GO
Of the northern Von Goons, you know em.
Yeah thanks
Like many other Sierra games, this one works off an icon interface. Fairly self-explanatory, with some exceptions.
This swirly star thingy is special to QFG games, and handles the weirder things your hero has to deal with (in comparison to say, Roger Wilco).
From left to right - walk, run, sneak, sleep, character sheet, time of day.
Running is useless. You'll never use it.
Sneaking builds up your stealth. Sneak everywhere until its 100, then you can just walk normally if you want. One of the easiest stats to raise.
Sleeping lets your hero rest to recover his stamina. You'll be doing this a lot while raising various stats (like throwing. Screw you throwing.)
Character sheet to let you know how close to 100 your stats are. This can get glitched up real easy. More on that in a sec.
There are certain time specific things you'll have to do in this, and time passes by fairly quickly from night to day, and different things happen at night compared to day. It's generally a good idea to keep an eye on this.
also some things happen on certain days (15, 8, whatever) but it's not as bad as 2 or 3 in terms of BE HERE AT THE RIGHT TIME OR YOU'RE SCREWED kind of things.
60 minutes is pretty much all you'll need. Sleep all night you should only do, duh, at night. In a safe place.
In 1 you can spam 60 minute rests I think without a problem, although later on they'll give you the "you're too restless to rest now" and darn it I NEED MORE STAMINA but eh.
The magic icon is greyed out because I don't have any spells yet. Magic Users start out with a spell that you can't get otherwise... as the series goes on Magic Users get more and more specific spells, thus causing us Thieves and Fighters to shake our fists at them because we can't level those spells up to 100 anymore.
Me and Alix weren't obsessive about leveling everything to the max level in this what
Inventory! I gots a sword.
10 silver to 1 gold I think it goes.
If you carry too much equipment in this, for some reason it will cause your stat screen to spaz out, making it really hard to look at your stats. I have no idea why those two things are connected, but apparently they are. The VGA version of this has a lot of annoying bugs, but that one is really obnoxious if you're obsessively checking your stats as much as I do. Just keep an eye on how much you're carrying and you're fine.
As your strength goes up, you'll be able to carry more.
SPEED MUST ALWAYS BE SET TO VERY HIGH
Anyway lets talk to mustache here
One of the complaints about the remake is that it took the mystery out of typing "ask about _____" and seeing if they'd respond, since it lists all the things he'll talk about right here. I don't really care that much, myself, although I can see why it'd bother some people. Actually, I'm intrigued to check this out in the QFG2 remake to see everything Ali Fakir says.
IT WAS A HORRIBLE BLIZZARD AND I HAD TO EAT MY CLIMBING PARTNER OH GOD IT WAS AWFUL
Is it normal that when I hear "Spielburg" I actually think of this game before I think of the director?
Well, not really. Unless you're pestering people. AS I LOVE TO DO.
Note that it gave me a point for talking to him. THIS IS WHY I TALK TO EVERYONE.
Stefan von Spielburg.
Wears toast in her pants
MAYBE I WILL
Not really, but I'll indulge you.
MONSTERS YEAH TELL ME ABOUT THE MONSTERS
Darn it I want to know about monsters
WILL WE TALK TO HIM
VOTE NOW
That's good because I am all of those things.
Sorry I just rambled off there for a second
THIS WOLFGANG SEEMS THE INTERESTING FELLOW
Town lousy with heroes, just starts kicking them out
By the way, if you're a thief, you do NOT want to get caught by Otto.
THIEVES, YOU LISTENING?
As a thief you can actually rob the sheriff's house if you want. The Sheriff gets all leery at you afterwards, all SOOOOOMEONE ROBBED MY HOUSE LAST NIGHT >( and of course your hero is all i dunno what you're talking about
You can then try to rob it again, but he'll set a trap for you. AH, THIEVERY.
Say that out loud, it's way more fun than you think.
WHEEEEE
why back in my day
GIMME THAT YOYO
You can't steal the yoyo, I think.
who's going to cut my flowing blond locks now
A HERO'S TALE
Let's go inside.
The general theme that plays around the area is fairly sparse. You can hear it here, and then the change halfway through to the Hero's Tale inn theme. It's pretty easy to tell which is which.
I always liked Shameen and the Katta. That might explain some things, come to think of it.
He just cleans his paws while he sits there if you're not talking to him.
QUIET HERO
Later on in the series you can click yourself to introduce yourself, explain things, do the thief sign, bunch of stuff. I forgot you don't do that here. :B
YEAH
FOR NOW
your what now
A little expensive, especially considering there's a safe place to sleep for free outside of town. But I'll stay here one night or two to show you.
You can usually run into Abdulla around Sunset/Night is Young, although come too late and he'll be gone. We'll see him eventually.
DOES THAT SOUND LIKE SOMETHING WE'LL BE DOING
VOTE NOW
And is the place you go in QFG2. :D I love Shapeir.
You actually travel around in a caravan in QFG2. Ah, good times.
I'M ON IT
YOU HAVE FUR STOP WHINING
THE GOON
We used to think that if you came to the inn at some point in the night, like a specific day or time (midnight was the usual one), you'd see her dance. But you never do. Only in the second game.
Shameen: :3
CATS ALL OVER THE DESERTS, MEOWING
Heh
THE FIENDS
GET A JOB
It should be in Tarna, I bet.
ANOTHER PLUG? I'm not sure.
Do not pet the Katta.
Shameen claps away.
God now I'm hungry, thanks Shema
We usually bought food and a coffee just to be complete. also because by the end of this we'd be filthy rich, but aside from that.
Comes with being a DESERT but you know
OR CAN IT
it can't :( Although spreading rumors about it was always fun
Shema you aren't really telling me anything useful
Aww.
SILKS ARE BIG IN THE DESERT
pet the katta
Mauled to death by two Kattas D: That'd be a way to go
Anyway need to hang on to my cash for the moment, let's bust it
To the left, more odd buildings! I FEEL LIKE I'M BEING WATCHED.
POKE
FOR NOW
As a thief you can also rob her house. It's got all sorts of weird stuff in it.
SHE'LL NEVER KNOW IT WAS ME
Anyway adventurer's guild time.
Your hero has traveled looong and faaar
Comfy little place.
This moose comes back in later games. :O
Sauruses are easy to kill, but don't really give you anything for killing them.
There aren't any of these around here, so you can't fight them. At least, in this game. You CAN fight one in QFG2 though that's named Merv. Heh.
Ah, Cheetaurs. More on that in a second.
Trolls only appear after a certain point in the game, and only at night. They're not so bad if you're buff, and generally carry some good loot.
No dragonslaying in this one either I'm afraid. MY HERO COULD TAKE EM.
Cheetaurs also only come out at night, and I think also after a certain point. They can be pretty wussy if you're buffed up, but also drop a lot of good loot.
THE TWO GUYS FROM ANDROMEDA, EH?
Hee hee, Antwerp. You'll see.
LET'S CHECK THE BOARD!
Piece of cake.
WILL WE FIND ELSA
VOTE NOW
These all sound like problems that I, HERO will have to fix.
back in OLD ENGLAND, AROUND TOLKIEN'S TIME
Pffft a troll
THERE'S THAT WOLFGANG GUY AGAIN
like mine
i should add them
First let's wake up this dude who's been snoring this whole time
CURSED?
ANSWER MY QUESTIONS, OLD MAN
I like the idea of an Adventurer's Guild.
Aww.
TELL ME OF THESE MONSTERS
Make sure you're pretty buff before you wander around at night, basically.
THEY ARE CAKE
There's only one, really. I think killing that one triggers the release of trolls and cheetaurs if I remember right.
You can also farm them for cash!
If you suck.
Mantrays are a pain in the butt, especially for Fighters. Just stay away from them.
By the time you see these, they should be fairly easy.
I like the healer.
TELL ME MORE
WILL WE SEE THIS OTHER DRAGON?!!
Hee hee hee hee hee.
MAN TELL ME ABOUT IT
And you can steal their beards for cash.
SO MANY CLAWS
AN INSPIRING TALE
I always liked Abenteuer. It's a neat word.
Man adventurers are really organized, who knew
BABA YAGA YOU SAY
I'm going to have to do something about this.
YOU SUCK BARNARD
i mean
HMMMMMMMM.
See you mess with sorceresses, that's what you get
YOU DON'T SAY
by climbing a tree fifty times until his climbing stat is 100 yes i see what you mean
MORE TELL ME MORE
not my fault i swear
Most people in QFG are a little :O about magic. Heh. Especially in 3.
WHAT A WUSS
The tavern is a SEEEEEDY PLAAAACE
bonjour, bonjour
Heinrich PFERFERFERFERFERF
Centaurs what
SELLOUT
HEAR THAT THIEVES
Time to sign my name into the annals of history
BUT THE SOUL STILL BURNS
Anyway, probably a good enough time to save as any. You can see all my savegames here. YOU NEVER KNOW.
QFG is nicer about instant deaths than the other sierra games, but it always pays to be careful.
Haha I KIND OF SAVE A LOT OF GAMES WHAT
That'll work.
I'M SNEAKIN
Just walking like this will pump your stealth stat. SO IT'S A GOOD IDEA, GENERALLY. You can also hide from monsters sometimes, if you're a pussy.
Any stats in red have changed from what they used to be. I AM SMARTER NOW FOR TALKING TO PEOPLE
Let's see what the proprietor of this stalkhouse has to say
NEXT TIME! Since my god I've already taken a ton of caps what's wrong with me