Quest for Glory

Quest for Glory was a series of hybrid role-playing/adventure computer games designed by Corey and Lori Cole. The combined entertaining humor, good puzzles, elements and characters borrowed from various legends, and atrocious puns with memorable characters, became one of the most enjoyable series in the Sierra stable.

Although the series was originally titled Hero's Quest, Sierra failed to trademark the name. Consequently, the electronic adaptation of the Hero Quest board game forced Sierra to change the series' title to Quest for Glory. This decision was made after the publication of Hero's Quest II, causing all future games in the series and new copies of existing games to switch over to the new name.

The series contained the following games:

Hero's Quest I: So You Want to be a Hero (1989; VGA remake renamed "Quest For Glory I" released in 1991)

Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire (1990)

Quest for Glory III: Wages of War (1992)

Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness (1994)

Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire (1998) (A CD sountrack was released both on CD and some tracks for free on Mp3.com)

Each game drew its inspiration from a different culture and mythology (in order, Northern European/fairy tale; Arab/Middle Eastern; Egyptian/African; Eastern European; and finally Greco-Mediterranean) with the Hero facing increasingly powerful opponents with help from characters who become increasingly familiar from game to game.

(Baba Yaga is a character borrowed from the slavic folklore and therefore should normally appear only in the fourth part [Eastern European setting], but the designers were eager to make her appear from the first part [northern European setting], as the villain. However she finally reappears in the fourth part as she always should, helping the Hero.)

The enjoyment was enhanced by the player's ability to choose his character's career path from among the three traditional role-playing game backgrounds: fighter, spellcaster and thief. Further variation was added by the ability to customize the Hero's abilities, including the option of selecting skills normally reserved for another job class. During Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire the character could be teached into a Paladin by performing honorable actions, receiving a sword in the end. Any character that finished any game in the series (except Dragon Fire, the last in the series) could be exported to a more recent game, keeping the stats and parts of the inventory. If the character received the paladin sword, he would keep the magic sword and special paladin magic abilities.

Each career path had its own strengths and weaknesses, as well as its own unique quests and scenarios. Each class also had its own unique way to solve various in-game puzzles, which encouraged replay. For instance, only the Thief would see what the inside of the Thieves' Guild looks like, and generally only a Magic User could play the Mages' Maze against the wizard Erasmus.

The Quest for Glory games also had some memorable Easter eggs, including a number of subtle allusions to other Sierra games. Perhaps the most notable Easter egg appeared in the EGA version of Quest for Glory. The player could type "pick nose"; if his lockpicking skill was high enough, he would successfully "open" his nose, killing himself.