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‘So you want to be a hero...’
In the eighties, the American software company Sierra was famous because of its great adventures – in contrast to other games of this genre; these programs weren’t neither pure text adventures (like ‘The Guild of Thieves’) nor pure ‘point and click’ games (like ‘Zak McKracken’). It was a kind of mix of both types...
Before 1989, Sierra had released several parts of the popular ‘Quest’ series. After the ‘King’s Quest’, ‘Police Quest’, ‘Space Quest’ and the ‘Leisure Suit Larry’ titles, game designer Lori Ann Cole creates ‘Hero’s Quest’ – the first part of a new series. Because of Gremlin’s adaptation of the ‘Hero Quest’ fantasy board game in 1991, Sierra was forced to change the series’ title into ‘Quest for Glory’. Nevertheless this series should become one of the most durable ones – the last part ‘Quest for Glory V - Dragon Fire’ was released in 1998...
Unlike to the classic ‘Quest’ titles, this game had something special: it wasn’t just an adventure, it was an adventure/role-playing game hybrid! Similar to most RPGs, at first you’ve to choose a character class: fighter, magic user or thief are available. After your selection the ‘char sheet’ appears - here the character’s abilities are displayed: strength, intelligence, agility, vitality, luck and so on. Also there are specific skills like ‘weapon use’, ‘parry’, ‘pick locks’, ‘climbing’ or ‘magic’. From a pool of fifty points the player’s able to allocate these to each skill. After typing in a cool name, the game starts...
Welcome to ‘Spielburg’...
The adventure starts in the medieval town of Spielburg: here the player has the chance to visit the several establishments, like the magic shop, the tavern, the inn or the local adventurer’s guild. Last one is a good place to find out about jobs available and what rewards are posted – finally you want to become a legendary hero! On a bulletin board you can see the current assignments: find the ring of the local healer, bring back Elsa, Baron von Spielburg’s daughter or capture the brigand leader...
After he’d chosen the desired job, our hero should sign the ‘book of heroes’. A little chit-chat with Wolfgang Abenteuer, the guild master, might also be useful. Afterwards you go to the town gates and enter the rough and dangerous wilderness...
‘The Proof of the Pudding is in the Eating...’
That is just the right place to practice your skills. The completely wilderness is constructed like a maze – so you should draw a map to avoid to get lost. At first you visit the healer, who now personally assigns you to bring back her ring. Outside her house there is a tree – a birdlike creature sits on its branch and makes itself comfortable. The perfect opportunity to train your ‘climbing skill’. So you walk towards the tree and type in the command ‘climb on tree’ – unfortunately this very first try isn’t crowned with success. But if you take a look on the ‘char sheet’ you’ll notice, that the ‘climbing skill’ had increased (the respective digit’s marked red)...
Anew attempts to climb up the tree, however, don’t lead to upgrade this skill further – that would be too easy! Instead of that you’ve to find another ‘training arena’ to continue with your climbing practices. When the player has located such a place – e.g. a cliff – he types in the same command again. Sooner or later our hero has perfected that skill - so he’s able to tackle all trees, high fences or even defence walls...
‘Go in and Win...’
Because ‘Hero’s Quest’ is – like I said before – half a role-playing game, here and there the player will be involved in battles. Normally those fights are shown in a kind of 3D perspective: you see your own character from behind and look straight into the enemy’s countenance. On the left side the hero’s status is displayed (‘health points’, ‘stamina points’, ‘magic points’), on the right side you catch sight of the status of the adversary (‘health points’). However, the conflict isn’t turn-based but happens in real-time – by using the cursor keys you can hit, block or evade to the left or to the right. When all ‘health points’ of the enemy are gone, it is beaten. If you suffer the same fate, the game is over...
Certainly, after each successful confrontation, the fighting attributes of the hero increases – so finally he’s able to defeat even the ‘big bosses’. Furthermore you can escape during a battle at any time (just click on ‘escape’) – but thereafter the opponent chases you! But when the main character had passed several screens, the foe stops hunting him...
The hero reverts to different speeds of locomotion: walking, running and sneaking – the latter is only possible, if the respective skill has been upgraded...
Job-Oriented...
Actually each character class can learn all kinds of skills – nevertheless, the fighter is far better experienced in handling a weapon than his two counterparts. The thief’s speciality is of course the climbing and lock picking – finally, the magic user represents an authority in performing sorcery. So, there are several ways to deal with the different tasks – depending on the class you’ve chosen...
A good example is the abovementioned request of the healer: because the lost ring is hidden inside a nest on a tree, you’ve to reach it somehow. The thief makes use of his talent as a gifted climber, whereas the magic user casts the so-called ‘Fetch’ spell. The fighter, on the other hand, uses very rough methods: he picks up some pebble stones and throws them onto the nest – but it requires some tries to hit it...
Each character has his own strategy to solve the several problems – therefore, the motivation to play ‘Hero’s Quest’ again (with each one of the three classes) is extremely high...
Rewards...
Similar to other adventures of the ‘Quest’ series, here you get points for each solved riddle, too – you can snatch up to five hundred of them! Additionally there are separate puzzle and experience points – especially those are important with regards to the character’s progress...
All in all, with ‘Hero’s Quest – So You Want to Be a Hero’ designer Lori Ann Cole had created a successful prelude to a new adventure series. The program is quite diversified and also the humour doesn’t come off badly – for example, click with the right mouse button on the scorpion in the title screen and you’ll catch sight of the message ‘Congratulations! You have discovered the first bug in this game...’
Sequel and Remake...
About one year later the second part of the saga was released: ‘Quest for Glory II – Trial by Fire’. This time the event takes place in Shapier, a land with a touch of ‘One Thousand and One Nights’, including magic carpets, genies, magnificent palaces, endless deserts and oases. However, the gameplay hasn’t changed much...
In summer 1992 ‘Hero’s Quest’ was re-released under the new name ‘Quest for Glory’. But not only the name of the program had been changed: the graphics were completely redesigned and used the 256 colour mode of a VGA PC. Furthermore the user guidance had been upgraded: like in ‘Space Quest IV’ or ‘Leisure Suit Larry 5’ an icon-driven interface was implemented – not a single word you’d to type in! Sadly that modern version was never ported to the Amiga...
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Also this time Sierra hadn’t tried hard to use the graphical possibilities of the Amiga – instead of that the original EGA graphics of the PC version were ported 1:1. Nevertheless they are nice to watch. The same applies to the lifelike animations (sneaking, running) and effects. On the other hand, there’s no scrolling, because the several locations fit completely on the screen...
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The incidental background music is enjoyable and never interferes with the gameplay. Sound-fxs are rare, but when you hear something, it sounds good...
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Similar to the Lucas Arts adventures you control the hero via mouse – however, the pathfinding is all but ideal. Unlike to protagonists like Guybrush Threepwood or Zak McKracken, here the main character doesn’t evade all obstacles automatically, which stand in his way. No, it’s necessary to ‘guide’ him the right way. In very dodgy situations, it’s recommendable to make use of the cursor keys. Via keyboard you type in the several commands – normally, the integrated parser suits the action to the word. If it’s not the case, the player has to noodle around a short time. To examine the several objects in the area, clicking the right mouse button is all you’ve to do. Also disk changes and loading times keep within reasonable limits. Of course, installing the program on hard drive is possible, too...
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| ‘Hero’s Quest – So You Want to Be a Hero’ represents a good alternative to ‘ordinary’ adventures. Besides the integrated role-playing elements, like e.g. abilities, skills and action-based battles, the alternations of day and night produce an enthralling atmosphere, too. For adventure fans with addiction to role-playing games, this hybrid is a real good choice... |
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