Quest for Glory I: So You Want to Be a Hero

Table of Contents
Quest for Glory I: So You Want to Be a Hero (originally titled Hero's Quest I: So You Want to Be a Hero) has seen both an EGA and VGA release, with a version of the game over a command line parser and with the usual three-verb Sierra interface. There are some minor differences between the versions mostly centering around interface--actions are easier to identify in the remake, as well as conversation topics, and certain actions are replaced by point and click actions, such as clicking the hand on someone replacing typing in thief sign. Whichever version you play however, the puzzles and strategy will largely be the same--it's just a matter of which looks prettier.

There's a patch to deal with timing issues on the vga version. If you intend to play this game on a modern computer, apply the patch from the previous link and I would strongly recommend using an emulator for older drivers such as VDMSound or DOSBox

Like all the games in the series there's a focus on solving puzzles, building up your skills, and fighting monsters. Most players will probably find this title the most challenging in many respects though, since quite a few basic puzzles can't be solved until you've built up your skills a fair amount--whether that involves throwing, climbing, or the fetch spell. Assigning skill point to those attributes early on can help, but you may also want to take the opportunity to add some skills to create a hybrid character. The pick locks skill will let you act as a thief and magic will let you do all the wizard related quests, and if you want to collect all the spells a non-wizard can have in the series you should start from the second game or earlier.

Your abilities and the ways you solve puzzles will vary with your character class. Fighters generally have to rely on brute force, fighting their way past monsters or throwing things from a distance. Thieves can pick locks, sneak around, or throw or climb to reach their target. Magic Users will want to use spells from a distance generally and find some creative application of magic to get through a situation. Thieves will also want to find the thieves guild and magic users will need to buy and find spells to become useful.

The game also uses a time-sensitive system where the game transitions between day and night. You can rest for an hour at a time to recover some health, stamina, and mana, and you can go sleep for the night to restore all your stats. Most activities can only be done during the day, although a few monsters come out at night and there are a couple things that only happen in the forest at nighttime. You can sleep in Erana's garden to the north, or at the inn in town although you may have a hard time getting in at night. Meals can also be purchased at the inn and rations can be stocked up on at the market, although Erana's garden has a fruit that will keep you full for a day.

General Advice
When you start the game, you'll likely be extremely weak and without much capital or combat skill. The first thing you'll want to do is go to the adventurer's guild and learn of everything you can obtain for the healer in town to earn some more money, and stock up on her potions to stay alive. The Goblin training ground is also a great place to go to build up your stats, every time you return to fight there, there will be an additional goblin, of up to ten. You'll build up a lot of strength and vitality and make some money to boot. You can also make money, let the time pass, and build up strength by hiring yourself out as a stablehand in the castle. Another thing to keep in mind is that it's almost always a good idea to rest for an hour whenever you're able to, to keep your health and stamina up.

Surviving in Spielburg
Food and Shelter:

You're best off sleeping and eating the fruit at Erana's Garden to the north most nights if you don't mind wandering through monster infested lands to get there. Otherwise, you can get a cheap room and meal at the inn, and it's worth seeing Abdulla Doo over there as well. Buying some rations at the market will also keep if you alive if you forget to run out and get a meal each day.

Combat/Survival:

If I'm not mistaken, tougher monsters will gradually start appearing as you gain more experience. Pick on the goblins initially, cast spells from a distance if you can, and get used to running away from anything bigger than you.

Monsters:

(Daytime)

(Day/Night)

(Night)

Building up your Skills
Strength. Strength can also be increased by most activities involving physical exertion or consuming stamina, including running and fighting.

Attributes such as Vitality can be increased by taking damage and engaging in combat, Intelligence can be increased by casting spells and solving puzzles, and Agility is increased by most any thief related action or dodging. Luck is increased by most random events including combat.

The easiest way to practice the Climbing skill is to climb one of the trees repeatedly even if you don't succeed, you'll consume a little stamina and build up your climbing stat.

The best way to build your Throwing skill is to pick up a large number of rocks and throw them at nothing in particular. Keep in mind you actually have to have the throwing skill as a thief for this to be of any use.

Pick locks. You can practice on a lot of the doors at night, including the healer's cottage without fear of capture.

Stealth is hard to build up, but choosing to sneak will gradually increase it.

Combat based skills such as Dodge, Parry, and Weapon Use can be increased by going into combat and doing those moves repeatedly. Only fighters have Parry, which lets them duel in the castle grounds.

Magic Users can increase Magic just by casting any spell and can level up any spell by casting it repeatedly. Most all of the spells will need to be levelled up to be used effectively, including zap which charges your weapon, flame dart which does some damage on an enemy, fetch which grabs something from a distance, calm which relaxes an enemy so you can escape or quells physical fires, and dazzle which stuns an enemy.

For a more detailed list of spells and abilities, see the main Quest for Glory page.

Points All Characters can receive
The point here is to combine all three characters, to do so, you must not have any stealth selected, for in the game to have all points you need all three characters, what also matters is which character points to use when....