Quest for Glory is a series of hybrid adventure/role-playing video games, which were designed by Corey and Lori Ann Cole. The series was created in the Sierra Creative Interpreter, a toolset developed at Sierra specifically to assist with adventure game development. The series combines humor, puzzle elements, themes and characters borrowed from various legends, puns, and memorable characters, creating a 5-part series in the Sierra stable.

The series was originally titled Hero's Quest. However, Sierra failed to trademark the name. The Milton Bradley Company successfully trademarked an electronic version of their unrelated joint Games Workshop board game, HeroQuest, which forced Sierra to change the series' title to Quest for Glory. This decision meant that all future games in the series (as well as newer releases of Hero's Quest I) used the new name.

Series

Lori Cole pitched Quest for Glory to Sierra as a "rich, narrative-driven, role-playing experience". by completing non-linear quests.

The game also was revolutionary in its character import system. This allowed players to import their individual character, including the skills and wealth they had acquired, from one game to the next.

Hybrids by their gameplay and themes, the games feature serious stories leavened with humor throughout. There are real dangers to face, and true heroic feats to perform, but silly details and overtones creep in (when the drama of adventuring does not force them out). Cheap word play is particularly frequent, to the point that the second game's ending refers to itself as the hero's "latest set of adventures and miserable puns."

The games have recurring story elements. For example, most installments in the series require the player to create a dispel potion.

Each game varies somewhat from the tradition it is derived from; for example, Baba Yaga, a character borrowed from Slavic folklore, appears in the first game which is based on German mythology. The second game, which uses Middle Eastern folklore, introduces several Arab and African-themed characters who reappear in the third game based on African folklore and Egyptian mythology, and also features some elements inspired by American culture, including references to the film Casablanca. Characters from every game and genre in the series reappear in the fourth and fifth games. In addition to deviating from the player's expectations of the culture represented in each game, the series also includes a number of intentional anachronisms, such as the pizza-loving mad scientists in the later games.

Many CRPG enthusiasts consider the Quest for Glory series to be among the best in the genre, The games are notable for blending the mechanics of adventure video games and roleplaying video games, their unique tone which combines pathos and humour,

The gameplay standards established in earlier Sierra adventure games are enhanced by the player's ability to choose the character's career path from among the three traditional role-playing game backgrounds: fighter, magic-user/wizard and thief. Further variation is added by the ability to customize the Hero's abilities, including the option of selecting skills normally reserved for another character class, leading to unique combinations often referred to as "hybrid characters".

|imdb1 = (PC) 92%

|game2 = Quest for Glory II

|gr2 = (PC) 78.33%

|imdb2 = (PC) 89%

|game3 = Quest for Glory III

|gr3 = (PC) 63.75%

|imdb3 = (PC) 81%

|game4 = Quest for Glory IV

|gr4 = (PC) 73.75%

|imdb4 = (PC) 88%

|game5 = Quest for Glory V

|gr5 = (PC) 72.57%

|imdb5 = (PC) 87%

Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero

In the valley barony of Spielburg, 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 original game was released in 1989 while a VGA remake was released in 1992.

Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire

Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire takes place in the land of Shapeir, in the world of Gloriana. Directly following from the events of the first game, the newly proclaimed Hero of Spielburg travels by flying carpet with his friends Abdulla Doo, Shameen and Shema to the desert city of Shapeir. The city is threatened by magical elementals, while the Emir Arus al-Din of Shapeir's sister city Raseir is missing and his city fallen under tyranny.

Quest for Glory II is the only game in the series not to have originated or have been remade beyond the EGA graphics engine by Sierra, but AGD Interactive released a VGA fan remake of the game using the Adventure Game Studio engine on August 24th, 2008.

Quest for Glory III: Wages of War

Rakeesh the Paladin brings the Hero (and Prince of Shapeir) along with Uhura and her son Simba to his homeland, the town of Tarna in a jungle and savannah country called Fricana that resembles central African ecosystems.

Tarna is on the brink of war; the Simbani, the tribe of Uhura, are ready to do battle with the Leopardmen. Each tribe has stolen a sacred relic from the other, and both refuse to return it until the other side does. The Hero must prevent the war then thwart a demon who may be loosed upon the world.

Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness

Drawn without warning from his victory in Fricana, the Hero arrives without equipment or explanation in the middle of the hazardous Dark One Caves in the distant land of Mordavia. While struggling to survive in this land plagued with undead, the Hero must prevent a dark power from summoning eternal darkness into the world.

Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire

Erasmus introduces the player character, the Hero, to the Greece-like kingdom of Silmaria, whose king was recently assassinated. Thus, the traditional Rites of Rulership are due to commence, and the victor will be crowned king. The Hero enters the contest with the assistance of Erasmus, Rakeesh, and many old friends from previous entries in the series. The Hero competes against competitors, including the Silmarian guard Kokeeno Pookameeso, the warlord Magnum Opus, the hulking Gort, and the warrior Elsa Von Spielburg.

Collections

  • Quest for Glory Anthology (1996), a package that includes the first four games, including the fully patched CD version of QFG IV; game copy protection codes (a feature of Quest for Glory IV) are included in the manual and on CD, while game saves are included in the save folder of the CD and the VGA version of Quest for Glory I.
  • Quest for Glory Collection Series (1997), a re-release of Anthology with a Dragon Fire demo and sample soundtrack.
  • Quest for Glory 1–5 (2012), a digital collection on GOG.com and Steam that includes all five games in the series (including the EGA version and VGA remake of QFG1).

Original concept

Originally, the series was to be a tetralogy, consisting of four games, with the following themes and cycles: the four cardinal directions, the four classical elements, the four seasons and four different mythologies.

Characters

Along with the Hero, several recurring characters appear and re-appear throughout the series including: Rakeesh Sah Tarna, Baba Yaga, Abdullah Doo, Elsa von Spielburg, the evil Ad Avis, and others.

World

The fictional world in which the Quest for Glory series takes place includes the town of Spielburg (based on German folklore and Norse mythology), the desert city of Shapeir (based on the Arabia of One Thousand and One Nights), the jungle city of Tarna (based on African mythology, especially Egypt), the hamlet of Mordavia (based on Slavic mythology) and Silmaria (based on Greek mythology). Adventures, monsters and story of the games are usually drawn from legends of the respective mythology on which a title is based, although there are several cross-over exceptions, like the Eastern European Baba Yaga also appearing in the first game, which is distinctly German/Nordic.