To play this game on a modern computer you will need to use DOSBox or download the AGD Interactive remake.
Early on in the game, the most important thing you can do is to avoid getting hopelessly lost in the streets of Shapier. Your first priority is finding the moneychanger so you can exchange your cash. Your second priority is buying a map and a compass so you can navigate the desert more easily and Shapier without even having to go through the alleyways. Ask Ali Baba for directions to the moneychanger and follow his somewhat confusing instructions carefully, then make your way back and get that map, you can use it from now on to travel anywhere you've visited instantly.
The game is on a very time-sensitive system, every few days a new elemental will show up and you'll need to find a way to defeat it. Build up your stats and explore a lot in the early days, and when an elemental shows up ask everyone you can find for advice. You'll want to sleep in the inn at night, buy rations from the meat seller, and have plenty of waterskins filled with water, and have sufficient pills for staying alive.
Surviving in Shapier[edit]
Food and Shelter[edit]
You'll need to buy rations from the meat seller in Shapier, or eat each evening at the Katta's inn, and you can rest at the inn for free throughout the game. Waterskins can be filled from the fountain in the middle of the city.
Combat[edit]
While melee combat is not required to complete the game, you may still need to enter combat to improve the stats of your character. When you enter combat, you can either attack, dodge or parry attacks.
The fighter class will need to enter combat to complete some areas. The mage and thief class can either use ranged spells or evade enemies without confrontation.
Building up your Skills[edit]
Strength. Strength can also be increased by most activities involving physical exertion or consuming stamina, including running and fighting. Training with Uhura is a good way to build up combat related skills, including weapon use, dodging, and vitality. Otherwise you'll need to leave Shapier and wander in the desert to fight monsters, and you'll want plenty of water to survive out there.
Attributes such as Vitality can be increased by taking damage and engaging in combat, Intelligence can be increased by casting spells and solving puzzles, Communication is increased by talking to people, and Agility is increased by most any thief related action or dodging, and challenging the rope walker may help as well. Luck is increased by most random events including combat.
To practice the Climbing skill, you can repeatedly try to climb the ledge with the griffin, and the best way to build your Throwing skill is to just pick up a lot of rocks, and throw them all at once until you run out of rocks or stamina.
Pick locks. You can practice on virtually all of the doors of Shapier, there's only one door that will actually take you anywhere in any case. Not used very frequently.
Stealth is hard to build up, but going to the character menu and 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.
Magic Users can increase Magic just by casting any spell and can level up any spell by casting it repeatedly. The only spells which are really worth leveling up at all are the combat based spells which do damage, namely zap, flame dart, and force bolt.
Honor is a new stat you can increase by doing honorable actions, and is dropped whenever you perform dishonorably. Completing all the optional sidequests, and avoiding robbing anyone blind or doing anything deliberately cruel helps.
For a more detailed list of spells and abilities, see the main Quest for Glory page.