Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire
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| Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire | |
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| Developer(s) | Sierra |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra |
| Designer(s) | Lori Ann Cole and Corey Cole |
| Series | Quest for Glory series |
| Engine | SCI0 |
| Platform(s) | PC: DOS, Amiga |
| Release date | November 1990 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure game/CRPG (hybrid) |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Kids to Adults (K-A) |
| Media | Floppy disk |
| System requirements | MS-DOS |
| Input methods | Keyboard, Mouse (optional) |
Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire is a video game and the sequel to Hero Quest: So You Want to Be a Hero (following the series being renamed over copyright issues).
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[edit] Gameplay
The game follows the path of its predecessor, although there are distinctions in gameplay. Trial by Fire operates on a restricted time frame; the entire plot is concluded in 30 days. Many of the puzzles in the game do not appear or cannot be solved until certain days. This keeps gameplay on a tight, linear narrative. At some moments in the plot, such as the three days spent in Raseir, this slows down gameplay and can seem ponderous.
The player has the opportunity to advance his character and explore interesting side-quests. For example, a magic-user can earn the title of "Wizard" with the sponsorship of the wizard Erasmus, provided he can overcome a series of magical challenges and graduate from the Wizards Institute of Technocery. A fighter may earn a membership in the Eternal Order of Fighters. A thief may perform several thefts, including the running gag of stealing the Maltese Falcon. One of the unique features of this game, however, is that the character is not locked out of different side quests depending on class. If you play as a fighter with some magical ability (or import a magic user from Quest for Glory I and play as a fighter) you can utilize this cross-training to complete other quests. It is possible for your character to become a Wizard, complete every theft in the game, and join the Eternal Order of Fighters.
This is also the first game of the series where the hero may be awarded the title of Paladin. To achieve this status, the hero must act honorably throughout the game and Rakeesh, the liontaur (lion-centaur) will present to you his Paladin sword, Soulforge. Since the title of the Paladin is given at the end of the game, the Paladin abilities and Soulforge are only usable with characters that are imported into Quest for Glory III: Wages of War and later games.
[edit] Synopsis
[edit] Settings and Characters
Quest for Glory II takes place in the fictional land of Shapier, in the world of Glorania.
Quest for Glory II is the only game in the series without any influence of Erana in it. It does, however, feature a reference to Erana - as she is in one of the portraits of great mages in the Wizards' Institute of Technocery. If the Hero requests her sponsorship in his initiation as a wizard, he is told that Erana had not been answering the WIT's summons for many years now.
The astrologer may have been based on Omar Khayyám.
As in the other games of the series, there are a large number of in-jokes and mythological references, especially, from Arabian Nights. One of them is the name of the Sultan, Harun al-Rashid.
Signor Ferrari, Ugarte, and the Maltese Falcon all make appearances in Raseir. Caricatures of the Marx Brothers also play important roles.
At one point, the hero gives a spare outfit to a woman named Zayishah, who changes into it behind a veil. This sequence has a rare easter egg: a character wearing the otherwise useless X-Ray Specs will see through the veil as she undresses, albeit at the cost of the hidden Honor stat. Nudity of any kind is almost unheard of in Sierra adventures outside the Leisure Suit Larry series, but the low-resolution, 16-color graphics show no more detail than a mass of flesh-colored pixels.
There are several references to other games or movies in magician Keapon Laffin's shop: a princess Rosella doll, a Cookie Monster doll, and an antwerp doll, among other things.
[edit] Plot
Directly following from the events of the first game, the newly-proclaimed Hero of Spielburg travels by flying carpet with his friends Abdulla Doo, Shameen and Shema to the desert city of Shapeir. The city is threatened by magical elementals, while the Emir Arus al-Din of Shapier's sister city Raseir is missing and his city fallen under tyranny.
After defeating the four elementals that threaten Shapeir, the Hero travels to the city of Raseir. There, he is imprisoned by Khaveen and under hypnosis helps the evil tyrannous wizard Ad Avis to resurrect the evil genie Iblis. In the final fight, the Hero attacks the palace and battles with Ad Avis, who falls to his presumed death begging for assistance from his Dark Master. As thanks for the Hero's success in liberating Raseir and restoring its lost splendor, the Sultan of Shapeir, Harun al-Rashid, rewards the Hero by adopting him as his son.
[edit] Development
The final city in this game is Raseir, an anagram for Sierra, the company that produced the Quest for Glory series.
[edit] Reception
UK magazine ACE gave the Amiga version a score of only 600 out of 1000, praising its size, but criticizing it for its average graphics, grating music, slowness and for the large amount of disk swapping needed while playing.[1]
[edit] Legacy
It is the only game in the series to not be originated or remade beyond the EGA graphics engine by Sierra, but AGD Interactive is preparing a freeware remake of the game using the Adventure Game Studio engine.
[edit] Documentation
The manual is illustrated by Marvel Comics artist Ernie Chan.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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