The Quest For Glory Collection

by Vivendi Universal

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001NFRQ
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: August 27, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #32,483 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Collection of four games with bonus preview and soundtrack in Quest for Glory adventure series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A part of my childhood I'll never forget, August 23, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Quest For Glory Collection (CD-ROM)

This game series has a special place in my heart. I grew up with the Sierra adventure games, and its something I look back on fondly. I enjoy the first person shooters, real-time strategy and dungeon crawl RPGs of today, but there is something about the adventure game format that has been all but forgotten today. It's like reading a good book but being able to interact with the world and have it presented visually like a movie.

Quest for Glory was something different though. Far more ambitious on a technical level than the other Sierra games, the series had a certain level of immersiveness to it that made it worth playing over and over, and still sticks with me today long after I last played it.

The first obvious improvement over the other Sierra games was the adding of an RPG element. This was advertised as adding replayability to the game, but more importantly it adds a level of immersiveness that you don't see these days. When you start out in QG1, your ultimate goal is to be a hero, but first you gotta make some money so you can eat! You might take a rather humbling job cleaning out the stables every day. You'd also be looking for ways to build your skills, be it by throwing knives at a target or training with a master swordsman. Activities like these never really got repetitive and really made you feel that YOU were that character and you had earned those skills you spent so much time developing.

The dialogue system was the other major feature of the QfG series, which doesn't get talked about as much but was probably as critical to the success of the series as anything else. Dialogue is a critical part of the game, because you figure out how to overcome many obstacles by talking to various people who know something about the subject. But they don't just come out and tell you -- you have to ask the right questions, which comes from listening carefully to what people have to say and thinking about it. Particularly in the first and second games, with the text prompt, it plays a bit like a mystery where you are a detective finding the clues to solve the puzzle. The richness of the dialogue also adds to the "good book" like feel of the game and you will begin to develop a feeling of attachment to many of the characters.

The second game is probably the crowning achievement of the series. The world is huge and detailed, the combat system is excellent, the entire gameplay is much more polished, the ending is the best in the series and the story is perfect.

Which leads me to my last comment on Quest for Glory. The story of these games was truly something to behold. The plot of each game is the same, you arrive in a city and must become the local hero. The first game takes this little idea and runs with it, creating a nice game world with an authentic atmosphere. From there though, the game universe gets thicker as your character grows, relationships with other people deepens, and the game progressively gets more mature and darker.

The fourth game is particularly interesting. By far the darkest of the series, the game oozes story as you are thrown into an area with a very complex history, and are forced to confront much of your own past as well. The game is also much more "story oriented" than the others, with much of the game being dominated by your relationship to one of the characters. There is a bit of a love interest in the game, and for me it was very effective. At the time I was going through puberty and having my own experience with "the one that got away", which really fit in well with the game and cemented this series role as an unforgettable part of my childhood.

The last game of the series is fairly anti-climatic. The authors had the very difficult task of writing an acceptable set of endings for the many different characters you could have played, plus it's clear Sierra pushed the game out the door before it was finished. It's probably best looked at as an expansion pack to the series, as a chance to return your character to civilization, meet some old friends one last time, and kick some [backside] now that he/she has become the character you dreamed of becoming while you were shovelling horse [material] in the first game.

I'm not sure if others will be able to get the same experience I did from Quest for Glory. The games are difficult to run on modern machines and maybe don't speak as well to people of different ages or backgrounds. I have to say though that I think these were some of the best games ever made and they always be a part of my childhood. To me, that's the best compliment you can give a game. Congratulations to the authors and thanks for making such great games.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best RPGs ever, August 3, 2003

By 

C. Bedford Crenshaw "the Rebel Rockhopper" (Indiana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Quest For Glory Collection (CD-ROM)

I have been playing this series for thirteen years now, and have never grown tired of playing. Even now, I am discovering new aspect of the game.

QFG1 is set in a "Germanic" setting, with all the traditional flare of medievalism. Aside from the fact that there is not much point playing a mage character (just give your thief or fighter magic instead), it is a perfect little game.

QFG2 is set in an Arabic setting, borrowing heavy from "1001 Nights" to "Casablanca". It's use of text is quaint. Once again, the mage has little to do.

QFG3 is a Kenya-like setting. Unlike most reviewers, I liked QFG3 except that it was by far the most linear of the series. Sort of buggy, especially if you play a fighter/paladin, but rather good.

QFG4 could feel repetitive, as its Balkan-like setting is not that different from QFG1. All character classes will find things especially for them to do here. However, the game is horribly buggy; the Mad Monk Tomb section especially.

Due to the age of the game, you may find problems playing it. I bought a new computer in January 2003 and on none of the 4 games will my computer play any of the music from the game; although the voices of QFG4 do work. You will need to do a Google-search for a program called Turbo, which slows down your computer's processing speed, just so you can complete certain sections of the game, in particular QFG1's maze room and QFG4's Mad Monk Tomb. Even then, using a new computer makes the Mad Monk Tomb impossible to complete.

Even with its bugs, I can not help but give this my highest recommendation, if for nothing else than for the great joy the series has given me the past 13 years.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beloved classics; these games are forever., January 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The Quest For Glory Collection (CD-ROM)

No game, excepting perhaps Baldur's Gate 2, is closer to my heart than the Quest for Glory games. Ancient by today's standards, they are still worth the time of anyone looking for charming story and characters, good puzzles, a big sense of humor, and even a bit of role-playing. They were made in a time when computer games were not a money-grubbing franchise, but a quirky art form that abounded with love. A bit of a lowdown: your character has statistics, like strength and charm, that determine his ability to perform feats and what paths he can take to overcome challenges. There are three hero classes--fighter, magic user, thief--and the gameplay is different for each choice. Each challenge often has two or three solutions, and the best choice depends on your class as well as your skills. You navigate your character through a world that goes through night and day cycles. You must keep food to eat and water to drink. The more you use a skill, the better you get at it--for example, climbing walls and fighting with a sword will improve your strength.

Quest for Glory 1: So you want to be a Hero, aka Hero's Quest, was one of the first adventure games I ever played. In all its EGA glory it nonetheless made a big impression on me. I replayed it again, more than once, when it was re-released with then-fancy 256-color VGA graphics. The game takes place in a traditional forest/town/cave fantasy setting. Sounds like just another medieval game world, but the designers make it their own with eclectic style and winning humor. The quests range from thwarting a witch to dealing with a camp of brigands. You meet a diverse cast of lovable characters, many of whom make repeat appearances in later QFG titles.

Quest for Glory 2: Trial by Fire takes off where the first left off, in the Desert cities of Shapier and Rasier. Throughout the labyrinthine streets of the cities, and across the deserts lie many interesting characters to meet and puzzles to solve. One of the main quests is saving the city from four elementals--Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. I can still remember the fortune teller's beautiful description of the elementals' nature. QFG 2 is the only QFG game that is still text-parser based, which is actually quite wonderful because there is so much to talk about with the NPC's--the graphical dialog trees in newer games are convenient, but they remove a lot of detail. One of the most fun things about QFG2 (and the original version of the first) is just talking to the NPC's, trying to think up topics that they will have something to say about, and often being humorously surprised when, indeed, the game designers anticipated your question. The best example of this can be found at the Dervish's Oasis, out in the desert. His dialogue is well-written, eloquent and often funny (like all QFG dialog, come to think of it.)

Quest for Glory 3: Wages of War is the most beautiful of the series. It is the first game I played that utilized 256-color graphics, and I can still remember how utterly blown away I was by the artwork. The overhead map, with your hero departing into the jungle and the MIDI music playing, is a scene I might never forget. In another part of the game, you ascend a giant tree to seek a gem from some spirits--it is truly beautiful.

Quest for Glory 4: Shadows of Darkness, is thoroughly enjoyable but not as creative as the first three. It remixes elements from its predecessors into a setting that's something like the first, only darker and more gothic. The town and forest give a definite sense of deja vu, but again the characters and story, not to mention the gameplay, make the tale worthwhile. There's something very amusing about your big hero getting kidnapped by pixies...

The Quest for Glory games are classics, golden oldies by now. Their graphics are dated, but their stories, characters, humor, and gameplay are not. I grew up with these games. They are close to my heart and I will never forget them.