Quest For Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero

"The GREATEST RPG Ever!!!"

My favourite game of all time, and believe me that is saying something. First off I must say that a huge pet peeve of mine in most RPG games is the whole "leveling up" concept in which you fight certain battles and your skills will increase by level when you gain enough experience points. I know this is an old method derive from D&D games, but it is totally unrealistic.

In Quest for Glory you actually gain skills by doing things that correspond with the skills your trying to learn. So your strength increases by fighting, training, working and so forth; while your intelligence increases by asking questions and completing tasks. Increase your throwing skill by actually throwing! Build up your magic skill by actually casting spells and not just simply winning random battles against randomly generated monsters.

The realism doesn't end there. Time actually passes, you have to sleep, eat and rest on a regular basis. You don't just wander adventuring for an unending "x" amount of days and only sleeping to recover HPs. Even the townspeople actually seem to "sleep" and go into their homes, close the stores and lock the doors in the late evening.

The conversation is also great. You don't just go to a person and push a button to talk to them, you actually have to ask questions yourself and get to know these characters! The original EGA version is fantastic as you actually have to learn, listen and type in questions to find out more information so you can ask even more questions. The later remake version relies on a conversation tree which I think ruins the whole "learning and listening" concept as you can ask about "Brigands", "Antwerps" or "Katta" even before your character has ever even heard of or encountered these creatures. You just keep clicking until the conversation tree is finished, no actual thinking involved.

It goes on... You want to climb a tree, then you have to type "climb tree", or if you want to throw at rock at a goblin you have to type that and actually specify your actions. There is no mindless clicking; you have to think of what you want to do yourself. It is great fun and a great change from the mindless point and click games of today.

It is an old game so the graphics are nothing at all like modern games, but the game play is beyond anything I've ever seen. Check it out for sure.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/09/06