Quest For Glory II: Trial By Fire

"Quite possibly the finest parser based game ever made. A fine mixture of terrible puns, sorcery, and adventure"

Background:

Quest for Glory 2 is the second game in a five part series which did an amazing job of ensuring continuity between its titles and featured a gradually escalating plotline. You can begin the game by importing your character from the previous game, which you'll enter with all the daggers, potions, and reward money you accumulated there, or you can start afresh by creating a character and exploring the world of Shapier with a slightly less buffed out hero.

The conceit of the game is that you're a recent graduate of the famous adventurer's correspondence course, having recently proven your worth by becoming the hero of Spielburg, and you've been called on by your friends to aid the land of Shapier, which is under assault by elemental creatures and a plotting wizard . The twist on the normal formula of the typical RPG or adventure game is that the story can be played out as one of three different characters-a fighter, a thief, or a magic user. Fighters will rely on brawn to solve puzzles and advance, thieves will use stealth and trickery, and magic users will apply their ingenuity to using the appropriate spells.

The game as a whole is a hybrid of the usual sierra adventure where you use an inventory while conversing with characters and solving puzzles, with that of the usual RPG, based around building up your stats and advancing in levels. Each of the three classes possess different degrees of skill in different areas, and they improve in each skill the more they use it. Magic users in particular have a certain skill level assigned to each spell, although building those up as not as painstaking as it was for the first game.

The game transitions from day to night as you go about your heroic errands, and you're required to keep up your rations to survive. You'll go from wandering the alleyways of Shapier and Rasier, to exploring the desert, and fighting monsters throughout. Every character has a large amount of dialogue to be uncovered, which requires particular creativity since you communicate your actions almost entirely through text. In addition, the plot has three main branches for each of the characters, and puzzles which will have to be solved differently by each.

Review:

Story: 9/10 The game picks off from Quest for Glory I by taking you to the land of Shapier with your friends Abudlla Doo, Shameen and Shema. Cameos by Erasmus and Fenrus are the only other tie-ins to the first game, although the game throws in another reference to Erana if you look for it. The first main branch of the plot has you fighting elemental monsters, then trying to save Shapier from a prophesy about a sealed demon named Iblis. The storyline is not particularly compelling or original, what's most impressive about it is the way all the characters respond to the events which take place, and the amount to which the world reflects the changes which you bring about.

Gameplay: 9/10 The most frustrating part for most gamers will almost certainly be trying navigating the corridors of Shapier at higher speeds, or getting lost in the desert. Luckily the game provides you with a map you can use to either teleport or pinpoint your location inside the plaza, and it is possible to get directions on both the alleyways of Shapier and the desert by asking the right questions. The game also allows you to use a basic point and click interface, by right clicking on any part of the screen the game lets you view the text as if you looked at that object, and you can use the mouse to target spells or items thrown. Fighting is similarly easy, but the better part of the game will be spent figuring out the puzzles for each class, and conversing with people while asking about different topics and telling them about your discoveries to uncover clues.

Replay Value: 10/10 As previously mentioned, the game can be played with three different hero types, and successful enough heroes can even earn a promotion to the class of Paladin for the next three games. Thieves have a couple stealing errands to run, magic users have a sidequest involving W.I.T., and Fighters have a chance to join the EOF by proving their mettle. In addition, each character type must confront the puzzles in their own way, and the ending sequence of the game will be entirely different depending upon which class you choose. Even the most serious players will need to run through the game at least three times to see everything.

Music: 4/10 All the finest beeps and boops your PC's internal speaker can offer. Standard minimal sound effects as well. A joy for the nostalgic, the rest of us will probably prefer to mute it.

Graphics: 7/10 Once again, a limited color palette and resolution hinders the game, but the characters are clear enough to make out and some scenes are done in cinematic style to allow a closer view of the events at hand. There's plenty of detail, easter eggs, and bad jokes to be found too, and each screen is full of things to examine.

Overall: 9/10 This game is widely considered to be one of the better in the Quest for Glory series, although some like myself might consider giving the title to IV. It's an excellent job of a parser game done right. The stand up comic routines of Keapon Laffin alone make the game worth the price of admission. It requires a bit of background, but it'll most likely get you hooked on the series, and it's an enjoyable adventure that will stretch your creativity and tickle your funny bone.

Final Recommendation: Buy or track down if you can. It's included as part of the Quest for Glory collection, can frequently be found on ebay or amazon, and AGDInteractive is planning to do a remake of it in VGA style. It runs well on modern computers even, so don't miss the opportunity to indulge yourself in this classic series.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/14/04