Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero (EGA)

Quest for Glory I: So You Want to Be a Hero (also known as Quest for Glory: So you Want to Be a Hero or Quest for Glory I Original: So You Want To Be A Hero, Quest For Glory I - Original, and Quest for Glory I Original Version ) is an adventure game/role-playing game hybrid designed by Lori Ann Cole and published by Sierra On-Line in October 1989 for DOS, Atari ST, Amiga, and PC-98. The first game of the Quest for Glory series, it was originally known as Hero's Quest: So You Want to Be a Hero before it was discovered that the Milton Bradley company had already trademarked the name "HeroQuest".

The first Quest for Glory game has been credited for being a genre-inventing game, as no other game before it had tried to mix adventure gaming with role-playing-like elements such as statistic building (strength, intelligence, health) that would actually have an impact on the ability to accomplish certain parts of the game.

The game would be followed in 1990 with Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire.

Like some other games by Sierra, Quest for Glory was given a VGA version (Quest for Glory I: So You Want to Be a Hero (VGA)) in 1992, using Sierra's 'point and click' SCI1.1 interpreter.

Story
The game follows a customized adventurer (whose name is chosen by the player, but given the name Devon Aidendale in the Quest for Glory Authorized Strategy Guide), on his journey into the valley barony of Spielburg, he must help people and become a proclaimed Hero.

The evil ogress Baba Yaga has cursed the land, and the baron who tried to drive her off. His children have disappeared, while the land is ravaged by monsters and brigands. The Valley of Spielburg is in need of a Hero able to solve these problems.

The adventurer battles monsters, solves side quests (such as finding lost items and spell ingredients) and helps fairy-tale creatures such as a dryad, a hermit and a colorful collection of furry creatures called Meeps. Fulfilling quests will grant him experience and money, which he may use to buy equipment and potions. The game is open ended, which means the player can explore all the game at once and solve the quests in what order seems convenient to them. During the quest, the character also meets recurring series characters such as the wizard Erasmus and his familiar Fenrus (or is that the other way around? ), and first hears tales of the benevolent faery Erana.

While the game can be completed without solving the secondary quests, in the optimal ending, which nets the player the maximum score and serves as the official outcome for the remainder of the series, the player frees the Baronet, Barnard von Spielburg, from a powerful curse and thwarts the plans of the witch Baba Yaga. Finally, the adventurer frees the Baronet, Elsa von Spielburg, from the curse which had transformed her into the brigand leader. He also uses a magic mirror to return Baba Yaga's spell meant to turn him into a frog, causing her to flee from the valley. By doing so, the adventurer fulfills a prophecy, restores Spielburg Valley to prosperity, and is awarded the title of Hero.

After this, the Unknown Hero, along with the merchant Abdulla Doo and the innkeepers Shameen and Shema, leaves on a magic carpet for Shapeir, the homeland of the three, setting the plan for the sequel, Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire.

Gameplay
The game advertised itself as "three games in one" since it was the first Sierra game that (according to RPG customs) allowed the selection of a character out of three classes: Fighter, Magic User, and Thief.

What class the hero assigns to a character largely determines how they can solve puzzles and what quests they will run into. However, the distinction between classes was not an absolute one; players could add skills to a character and allow them to complete quests related to other classes in this game and others in the series.

Quest for Glory introduced a realism rarely found in RPGs and other adventure games even today. Day, night and the passage of time was a factor; the setting and scenery was different throughout the day and night cycles. The main character had to eat on a regular basis, he would become tired from running and fighting which required rest and sleep. Skills were not obtained by gaining levels through combat, but rather increased distinctly through the regular course of your adventuring. The more you used magic, the more your Magic ability would increase (followed by Intelligence); likewise the more you engaged in battle, training, or even cleaning the baron's stables, the more your Strength, Vitality and Agility would increase.

There was some criticism that the game (and subsequent chapters) were too time-consuming. For example, while adding to realism, in order to build a certain skill or reach a certain point of time, the player has to repeat for countless times some certain action (such as 'climb tree' to develop Climbing, 'get rock'-'throw rock' to develop Throwing etc), or walk aimlessly until the time passes.

This is one of the few Sierra adventure games where the player character has few or no speaking lines; although the player can input commands such as "ask about brigands", the player character has almost no dialogue.

Staff Roll

 * Director/ Writing / Dialogue / Story: Lori Ann Cole
 * Programming: Corey Cole, Robert Fischbach, Larry Scott, Jerry Shaw
 * Animation & Background Scenes: Jeff Crowe, Gerald Moore, Kenn Nishiuye, Cindy Walker
 * Music: Mark Seibert
 * Interpreter / Development System: Pablo Ghenis, Stuart Goldstein, Robert Eric Heitman, Jeff Stephenson, Corey Cole
 * Producer: Guruka Singh Khalsa
 * Executive Producer: Ken Williams
 * Quality Assurance: Mike Pickhinke, Sharon Hoban-Smith, Godzilla, Ghengis Khan, and the rest of the gang
 * Technical Documentation: Marti McKenna
 * Additional Documentation: Corey Cole
 * Cover Artwork by: Kenn Nishiuye
 * Atari ST version by: Corey Cole, John Rettig

PC-98 Staff

 * Japanese Executive Producer: Eiji Nagano
 * Japanese System Development by: Pablo Ghenis
 * Japanese Conversion by: Pablo Ghenis, Yoko Hayashi, Gary Kamigawachi, Mickie Lee
 * Japanese Translation by: Akiko Skjellerup
 * Quality Assurance by: Yoko Hayashi, Gary Kamigawachi, Mike Pickhinke

Trivia

 * The game parser responds to various off color terms or phrases (such as kiss, suck, etc) with either shock or criticism or inability to do so. There is only one instance where kiss is not treated as a dirty word, "ask for a kiss" to Hilde.
 * This is the version of the game that Corey Cole prefers.
 * This is the first time the game uses mild swearing. The word "Jackass" used by one of the thieves in both the EGA and VGA version of the game.

Goofs and in game references
The game's villain, Baba Yaga, is a creature of the Slavic folklore. Although her presence is incongruous in a Germanic setting (oddly some of the descriptions for QFG still describe her as being linked to 'Germanic fairy tales' see Quest for Glory Collections), Baba Yaga reappears in Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness, which has a proper Slavic setting.

Also out of place are two centaurs, as centaurs come from Greek mythology. A centaur also appeared briefly as the caravan leader in Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire, and centaurs also appeared (properly for the Greek setting) in Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire.

Walking back and forth between screens in the area where the character helps a fox (in the VGA remake), will trigger an Easter Egg, showing Earl from the TV show Dinosaurs trudging to work.

Before reaching Erasmus, the player must answer a set of 3 questions to a gargoyle. The sets are largely random.


 * One of them is inspired from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: "What is your name—What is your quest—What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?"
 * In the second question, the player can reply also 'I seek the Holy Grail' in which the gargoyle will reply 'Sorry, that Jones guy got it first'.
 * The reply 'I want to be a pirate' (an allusion to Guybrush Threepwood) is also available to which the gargoyle will reply 'Sorry, wrong game'; this is one of the few trans-in-jokes between the two rival adventure game companies.
 * Another question asks the player what the password is for the Thief's Guild in town. In order to proceed the player must give the wrong answer, to which the gargoyle will reply, "Good. You're not a thief."

Reception
Quest for Glory I: So You Want to Be a Hero sold over 250,000 physical copies and Computer Gaming World awarded it "Adventure Game of the Year".

Legacy
The game was later remade into Quest for Glory I: So You Want to Be a Hero (VGA) 1992 that featured 256 colors. While it turned out to be Sierra's most successful, and profitable remake, most of them did not sell well enough for the company to continue the line with Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire VGA.