Sierra Quest for Glory Series Retrospective 

Sweet retrospective, really enjoyed this! Still haven't played any of these, really makes me want to. Liked all the tidbits popping up too, especially about things at Sierra

It's a damn shame quest for glory isn't being remade or continued. One of a kind.

QFG4: Shadows of Darkness is one of my all time favorite games. Sadly, I couldn't run the speech audio on my Packard Bell. Sneaking around the castle put me on edge as a kid, and the game-over/death screen was creepily awesome. I played the others when I got older via Boxer, but Shadows of Darkness is still my favorite (even better now that I can hear the speech audio). I like the darker, slavic environment of QFG4 over those of the first 3. Plus, I think it just has that nostalgia factor since I played it as a kid.

The quest for Glory vga remake! This was the first RPG/computer game I played all the way through. I loved it as a kid. My favorite were the cameos and puns. I remember you could see Earl from dinosaurs walking around the forest occasionally. I was like two or three years old at the time but I remember it was a blast and I loved all the mythological type characters

I spent so much of my life on this franchise! I love it so much!

I preferred the EGA QFG 1 to its VGA successor. The EGA version's combat "camera" was placed high and directly behind your character's head and shoulders so that you could see most of the opponent facing you. It was also the best way to see your your sword burying itself in your enemy's abdomen, which made combat in this version so much more satisfying. :) Since dodging left and right are integral to combat, this was the superior view for that purpose as well. The graphics may not be as polished but they struck me as being more "mature" than the VGA version. A good example of this is that the enemies in general look a lot more menacing. I had no issues with using the keyboard entirely for the game either. If I recall correctly, the game is paused when you're typing. Anyway, great retrospective. Brings back a lot of memories. :)

I started with Hero's Quest and remember being mightily disappointed when they had to change the name. I think my favorite, though - and quite possibly my favorite PC adventure game of all time - is QFG2: Trial by Fire. I loved the setting, the Arabian Nights trappings, the story (including the larger meta-story they now had the opportunity to start rolling out in the background, making the world of these games feel much more connected and real), the Sauruses (Sauri?), the Marx Brothers references, the Casablanca/Maltese Falcon references, the Lawrence of Arabia references, the Silly Clowns function, the elemental magic, the uses of astrology and astronomy, the explorations of new races, the explorations of different types of djinn... heck, EVERYTHING. To say it was awesome would be a tragic understatement. That said, if you thought typing in commands in SCI games was bad... try doing it in the old AGI games like the early King's Quest or Space Quest games some time. You had to type the commands in REAL TIME! I died in the ogre's house while desperately trying to hammer out commands in the AGI version of KQ4 soooo many times... And let's not even TALK about falling off every cliff and chasm edge... ;)

I adored QFG4 when I was a kid, it's amazing how much of the game I can still remember. LOVED IT!

As I'm 40 and was a avid and still PC gamer. Sierra adventure games were one of my favorites on my old 386. I bought Quest for glory 1 when It was still called Heroes quest and was my favorite. I still remember the house on legs where ya meet baba yaga, lol. Quest 2 I still remember also and the endless drawing out maps on paper, lol. Great episode, brought back some good memories, but so many of their games do.

Config.sys...... Autoexec.bat..........I'm old. If you know what I'm talking about, we'll be in a nursing home around the same time.

This is my favorite Quest series from Sierra. I started with King's Quest and then Space Quest like most other people, but I loved the Quest for Glory series. I still have all of them sitting on my shelf, including an original Hero's Quest version of the QfG1. Very much QfG4 is the best in the series when it comes to the story and the depth of the game, but Trial by Fire holds a very special place in my heart. And will always be my favorite. Parser system be damned. There was a VGA remake of Trial by Fire with mouse support released by an independent group of developers called AGD Interactive that is very very good, but I love the original version more. Nostalgia will do that to you.

This video made my day! I was 10-11 years old and my dad had everything Sierra put out and we would play the shit out of these games. Quest for glory was one of our favorites along with leisure suit Larry and kings quest. Sierra is the reason I am the gamer and collector I am today. Great video.

I only just found this channel. QFG games were some of my favourites growing up. Great vid.

thanks for sharing this, brought back a lot of memories! I sunk many, many hours into hero's ques on an ancient CGA

I love that you are doing Sierra retrospective videos.

Finally got around to watching this. Great job, guys. It's the only Sierra series I never played but I'm definitely curious now.

Haven't paid much attention to this series in the past, but after watching this video I'm excited to give them a try. Thanks so much for sharing !

I've never played this series, but I definitely played the King's Quest series, those were my favorite Sierra games and I had the first 5 when I was a kid, with KQ4 being my favorite. I need to go buy the collection on Steam or GoG.

Thank you for this. Hero's Quest was one of my favorite games of that era. I remember sitting up all night on my dad's Toshiba T3100e with stunning monochrome graphics for what seemed like weeks to finish it.

Qfg4 was potentially my favorite video game of all time. It really transported me into a different world, and the adventure, trait building elements, and overall passage of time really immersed me into the character (of course, those factors were common in the series as a whole). Qfg4 had such a mysterious and enigmatic quality, and the music was really great in supporting that mood. Just a fantastic part of my youth.

Man, these are some of my favorite games, ever. My absolute favorite, though, is the EGA "purple suit" version of the original QFG. I preferred typing the dialog options instead of choosing from a tree. Thanks for this video!

I loved these games so much! I was in my 20's and just had a blast playing through all of them; however, I never got to the end of #4 which was my favorite. It had a glitch! I still remember how bummed out I was. They have these games on Steam! Now that I have been reminded of how much I liked them maybe I will play through 4 again and get to the ending. Thanks for the nostalgic tour.

I have so many memories with this series. My parents bought me a Tandy 1000hx and this was the first game I ever played or bought. QFG1 was my first step into becoming the gamer I am today. To this day Quest for Glory is my favorite game of all time.

awesome video, i grew up playing quest for glory and kings quest love love love them

This was great to read you guys; thank you! Your comments are particularly interesting, because two of the major gripes you mentioned about the games...are my favorite aspects of them! The QG4 "portrait" dialogue scenes that seem to have annoyed you so much -- over the years has remained my favorite of any game. To me, at least, it felt much more like a real conversation, instead of having the 'talking head' that all the games from the period had. I also enjoyed the black backgrounds during them, since it made for a bit more dramatic lighting in how the characters were painted, and kept the focus on the conversation. QG2, I have likely played through more times than any other game -- ever! The typing, for me, was a major draw here, with the benefit being that it felt like a real conversation, instead of going through a list of pre-canned questions. It gave the feeling of an interactive process in which you were conversing with the characters in a naturalistic manner, and then receiving their responses. When my [much] younger sister played the games years later, she'd tell me about dialogue that would come up in her playthroughs that I had never even thought of (including a great poem you get when you ask the poet Omar 'about paladin'). Will be subscribing to your channel & checking out the rest of your videos; found my way to you guys through your Gabriel Knight 1 Anniversary video, which I just finished playing tonight -- and had never played the original! Great stuff; makes me want to try and visit all the Sierra classics that I never did play.

I first played QFG 1 (remake), followed by part 3, 4, 2, and then 5. I agree that for whatever reason, it was hard to finish 5, but I'm shocked that people talk trash about 4. I think 4 was the hands down best game in the series. It's certainly the one that inspired me the most and swept me away as a kid and is definitely the one for which I feel the most nostalgia.

wow, this was a wonderful informative video!!! the text descriptions were hilarious :)

i absolutely love seeing a game i totally forgot about when i was a kid. i only played quest for glory 1 in the series. loved this game as all the other quest games i use to play on my old tandy computer

QG4 was my first and is still my favorite QG game. The characters and the setting are so good. I love it.

My intro to Sierra was the original King's Quest when I had a Tandy 1000. Then Space Quest, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, and Manhunter. While I was in the Army, I discovered QFG after I returned from Iraq in 1991, and played QFG1, 2, and 3. It became my favorite of the Sierra games, and I of course played 4 and 5 as well.

Huh, I just bought these games on GOG 2 days ago. I'm quite excited to try QFG4 especially.

QFG5 was not all that bad. I actually liked it.

Loved this series. It's probably my favorite series and QFG 4 is the best, in my opinion. Those old Sierra games are some of the happiest memories I had growing up. Me and my brother, cousins, would play together trying to figure out the puzzles and ways to advance. I did like 5 but just thought the budget short falls were evident in the rushed ending. KQ8 was not good, comparatively. Thanks for this!

I have really fond memories of playing Quest for Glory II at my babysitter's house as a kid. It took me forever to beat it, but it was a genuine sense of accomplishment when I finally did.

Cool. We need more Quest retrospectives.

Didn't play Quest for Glory but was a huge Space Quest fan. Oh the memories.

Love the Quest for Glory series! John Rhys Davies was the best narrator! I wish he did all the games. King's Quest are really good too. ....Pizza is the 5th element.

Good job! Nice retrospective!

Great new show! Keep up the kick ass work!

I played these games when QfG1 was still called Hero's Quest. One day at school, we had to write a story as a part of an exam. I basically just novelized the game, and it received standing ovation from everyone in class. If I had the budget for it, I'd start a games company and hire Lori Ann and Corey for the story writing. I don't use "underrated" very often, but I think this series was the finest that ever came out of Sierra On-Line.

I loved this series as a kid! My favorite was the first game EGA version, because that was the first game I played and beat on the PC. Wow, so many great memorjies. Nice video!

Yup, you are right Quest for Glory series is like visiting and old friend. The first two was my favs.

Age 18: Played the entire QFG series. I enjoyed the first (in EGA 16-color Mode!) the best, but I would have to say that QFG III came in second place after that. I loved how they improved their use of color as the games went on, and in general, how the series got better as time went on. That is similar to the good ol' "plateau" that an English teacher would put on a chalkboard during class - you've got the building action/rising action (QFG 1/2), to the Climax (QFG 3), to the falling action (4/5). I'm seriously enjoying this channel, more so than the 25 others that I watch regularly.

Best game series of all time. Number 3 definitely my favorite. Wish sierra had continued all the quest games. Especially police and space quests

Great series. One of the biggest games of my childhood.

QFG2 was outrageous! The story was just incredible. I also loved the first one because you actually felt like a Hero! And the soundtrack was the best of all of them.

I loved QFG4 and enjoyed it most out of the series. I got really wrapped up in the atmosphere and tone, and I can still feel it when I hear the music or see pictures of it. My version had a crashing bug, right after you get out of the cave, and you walk along the slippery slope. I remember reloading saves over and over, knowing that if I could just get by that screen I would be able to unlock another class.

My introduction to the series was QfG1 VGA in Mar 94 followed by QfG2 in Sept 94, then the floppy version of QfG4 in July 95, and finally QfG3 in Sept 95. I preordered QfG5 and got it as soon as it was released in Dec 98. QfG4 was one that I struggled to get working for the longest time. I couldn’t play it when I first got it because the family 486 only had 2MB RAM, which I painfully discovered. My dad bought a new Pentium in Apr 96, but I still couldn’t play QfG4 because he insisted on getting Windows NT 3.51 and it’ll crash as soon as you move the mouse or press a key. Finally, in Jan 97 my dad relented and let me format the hard drive. I put MS-DOS 6.22 on one partition and reinstalled NT on another. That’s when I was FINALLY able to play QfG4.

Yeah, those text parsers... When I was young and played Police Quest to death - and that was the EGA version - looking back I'm amazed at how I managed to keep at it and never lose interest. And I discovered everything by trial and error, trial and error, trial and error - because the game was _extremely_ unforgiving. And in the early Sierra adventure games, the game didn't even pause for you to type. I guess I was around 12 when I first played PQ1, and English being a second language, you can imagine I levelled up my English and typing skills. But when Sierra started pausing the game when you started typing, I was so grateful for that. Before _that_ marvel of game design, it was: show morror "what's a morror" show midroot "what's a midroot" show mirrtoot "what's a mirrtoot" show mirror "who do you want to show the mirror to?" THE MEDUSA!! THE GODDAMN MED... aw, crap.

There are very few reviews for the QFG series, I appreciate the stroll down memory lane (I started out on hero's quest 16-color and progressed to 5 or as I call it *the big headache*) this was great, Sierra was, is, and always will be one of my favorite companies. The titles Kings Quest, Space Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, Quest for Glory are a part of my childhood and bring back so many memories and for that Sierra has a customer for life :) btw I subscribed :) I look forward to other vids by you guys.

i just loved playing back in the day on my commodore 64 ,the game conan the barbarian . love your show keep up the great work tc

Nice to see videos about these great games. I used to love playing through these adventures back in the day. The first and the fourth being favorites of mine. Would love for this series to get the "HD remake" treatment. One can hope I guess. 🙂

The 1991 QFG I remake was the first game I ever played; I was 5 years old when I first booted it up. Today it remains my favorite game of all time, over twenty years later. I wish so much there was some way to tap back into such a lovingly crafted franchise (currently replaying Shadows of Darkness!)

I remember getting Clouds of Xeen on a bunch of 3.5" floppies. And the boot disk trying to get the EMS/XMS Memory to have full speech.... Priceless. I miss those days of Memmaker. Life was so simple. :)

yoo the typing interface was hard, but THAT is what makes a game like this amazing. as a player you have NO idea what you can and cant DO in order to solve puzzles. In games with speech trees, you just click through every available tree and eventually you will find the right one that will solve the puzzle for you. In "Speech Trees" your character often (somehow) has access to information that the PLAYER doesnt know about yet, so there is no detective work other than potentially clicking around a room with every possible combination of actions or items... this is not gameplay. Talking to NPC's and finding a name drop is motivation to dig deeper, then you find that person and essentially interrogate them. Multiple NPC's have info about the same puzzle, but each has bits and pieces, its up to the player to but those clues together to solve it. The typing style means you are on your own to learn and read and find the right way to phrase your inquiries. this is what makes you feel like you accomplished something when you beat a game like this.

I played Quest for Glory So You Want to Be a Hero (VGA remake) and LOVED that game! It was one of the first games we got when my dad brought home the new IBM computer (1992 I think). Then I was introduced to King's Quest 5 and later played King's Quest 6 (probably my most favorite of all Sierra games). I didn't know that there were more Quest for Glory games until much later on. I really like the look and feel of parts three and four; but man part five looks janky! I remember in the late 90's that there were so many game companies trying to make 3D work; it really was a race to get 3D right as "the future of gaming". I think there were several development companies that folded because of the 3D battle. What's interesting is that there were a lot of great 2D games that were coming out at the same time that were a lot of fun! Thanks for the video!!

From Sierra, I played mainly the King's Quest and Leisure Suit Larry series. I have a lot of good memories of those games, and they are very nostalgic to me. I completely missed out on the Quest for Glory series unforunately. The remake of the 1st game looks very appealing!

WOW!!!!! SIERRA IS ALL MY CHILDHOOD GAMES!!!

Also, the parser interface is still the best, even after all these years. What better way to play an interactive story than by using language? Just clicking on everything is lame.

Hero's Quest... Greatest game ever made. This began my love of RPGs and I've never regretted it. Still have all of them installed on my PC to this day.

I have very fond memories of playing Discworld 1 & 2 on PC in the mid nineties. I love the graphics, the music and especially the voice-acting. The player character, Rincewind, is voiced by Eric Idle (of Monty Python) and he did a great job in both games. The fact that I was reading Discworld-books at the time didn't hurt, either. :)

Oh the great memories! I love the series, and it is my favorite series from childhood. Love the comment about playing on an old Hercules monitor! Yes, played QFG1 when it was HeroQuest, on an amber screen. EGA was impresive. The remake, though removing(possibly a good thing) the Infocom-style text interface, gave a new and immersive experience giving us a new wow factor in trying to decide whether you were more attracted to Zara or Hilde. QFG 2 was excellent in EGA, and AD Interactive did an AMAZING job on the VGA version. QFG4 was a new beast. The combat was clunky and took getting used to, but the storyline was THERE. I had the 3.5" disks and the cd version. Some of the recording wasn't as smooth as it could have been, but it was a new level of magic for the world. QFG3 Wages of War. Yes, I skipped it in the lineup. It didn't have the enchantment of QFG1, the vampire noir of QFG4, or the epic achievements of QFG2. Or did it? It had its own charm, from the apothecary, the meat vendor(I ALWAYS feel guilty haggling him down to 1 common) and even Manu the monkey. Who didn't flirt with the welcome woman? Discovering Erana has made her mark gives you a wash or warmth, comfort and familiarity. From competing in the Simbani village to the magic duel, were epic feats not achieved? How about the magic of creating your own staff? While in some ways brief, QFG3 did provide us all the heroic moments and even an intimate one. QFG3 was my favorite. I used to think it was 4, but several years ago I figured out that THAT was when I specifically was attracted to women of color. My hats off to Sierra of old, the Coles, and others involved. The story woven truly had an impact, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

These games bring back so many memories

man look all these races and style, never heard of this game, but now i give it a try.

So many awesome old school computer games. Hope JB gives us some more reviews.

Played these games in the 90's and loved them. My favorite is part 4. I loved all graphic adventures but my favorite is Simon the sorcerer and it's sequel, closely followed by the entire space quest series. More retrospectives of these series would be fun.

really enjoying jb's videos :)

A great walk down memory lane. I enjoyed every game..... Played part 1 in ega and vga. I actually bout the series again on GoG. Great storytelling and underrated graphics for its time. Economical use of every pixel. And I couldn't help but hear a bit of bitterness on your review of part 5. Don't be bitter man... your contribution was amazing.

I liked the text interface. It added realism to the games and a sense of almost infinite possibilities. I also feel that improved my english through these when I was young. The EGA graphics have something special. I only played 1+2 and loved them. Could never get into the rest and sort grew out of this genre.

I LOVE the Quest for Glory series! QFG4 ate up so much of my time back in the day--probably my favorite of the four (I won't even acknowledge 5's existence), though the first was truly excellent, as well.

EGA Hero's Quest was the best... great game. dazzle dazzle root beer anyone?

This brings back so many great memories as a kid.

I've always loved the musical composition piece playing in QFG111 at 5:39 of this video. Each Quest for Glory game had their own special time out place. Where you could listen to a valiant balled and rest before more action.

Pretty cool. I was always a big fan of Sierra's King's Quest series, but sort of missed out on the Quest for Glory games. I just bought them all on GOG the other day... and I'm excited to play them!

I still have the original 'Hero's Quest'. I think it was my favorite Sierra game. I also still have Quest for Glory 2-4. I remember the 'painful' transition to CD ROM. Sierra began putting out games you wanted on CD ROM only, but you didn't have a CD ROM to play them, which by the way were pretty expensive back then. I do remember an article put out by Sierra in their magazine (Interactive?) that addressed the transition to CD ROM. I completely understood why, but it sucked when you couldn't afford to upgrade. I played these games originally on a Hyundai computer 8088 XT. No hard drive. Dual floppies. I remembered swapping disks while playing, but I completely forgot about 'boot disks'. I remember now having to do that.

thumbs up for making a second video this week!

What was cool about this series was that you could save your character at the end of the game, and continue using him in the next game with all the stats you had built up. Worth mentioning.

great video!!!

having had only very outdatted computers for a long time I played these in middle school a lot after being introduced to them by an older cousin, still love to start up dosbox and play them once an a while.

I was a HUGE fan of the Sierra games, King's Quest and Quest for Glory in particular. The increase in the graphics quality over time was interesting, but it was the stories and the music that made the games much more memorable for me. My favourites of the QFG series were Wages of War and Dragon's Fire. Oddly enough I rarely had bug issues with QFG4, probably because I saved my game frequently. I liked to play as the Paladin because of the cool glowing sword.

Good review, thanks.

QFG 5 - it was so good i miss these kind of games!

I completed QFG1 a week ago and i'm starting QFG2 with my import character. So far I love this game. One of the best adventure/RPG games on PC. On a sidenote I played the EGA version of QFG because I realy love the EGA graphics. Must be because I've been PC gaming since 1988.

I did not play the Quest games back in the day although I was aware of them. The game I remember from Sierra was The Black Cauldron. I didn't get very far, but it was fun!

Quest for Glory 5 reminds me my childhood ... and I would like to play it again.

I love them all. In original format. Great games to experience when they came out. Each one was better than the previous

I've been waiting for The Big JB!!!

One of the first games I ever owned on my first PC was the VGA version of Quest For Glory 1. The PC specs were : IBM PS/1, 486SX 25Mhz, 2MB of RAM, 512k of onboard graphics memory and a 129MB HDD. Tons of nostalgia!

I played the first three games. EGA version of the first one. Have really fond memories of it. What a great series!

I spent maaaany hours playing all these games. Good Times! I miss Sierra putting out games.

I just bought Quest For Glory 1-5 on gog.com for $3.99 (it's on sale for 60% off right now). I hadn't heard of the series before this video, but you guys made it look like a lot of fun! Can't wait to check it out!

awsome Freaking love these kind of vids :D

These games meant the world to me and still do!

Sierra games are awesome! I still need to get into the Quest for Glory games, i purchased them from GOG.com, just haven't got around to playing the Quest for Glory series, i started off on the Quest series from the beginning, i start off by the graphic engine of each series in the Sierra adventures! Anyway very awesome retrospective my friend!

Played all the SIERRA QUEST series...Space, Police, Hero, King....

wow, qfg! blast from the past indeed.

Just a note one of the amazing things (At least for me) was that you could take your creator through the entire series. I still have and use my saved files to this day :D

Great work JB. You earned your stripes. Really liked your style and your aproach for this reviews. You are a great adition for Metal Jesus, and hope to see you grow in this channel. For me ... Space Quest 3 is still the best and still love to text silly things in that kind of games.

Love that games and i wish i could go back to this time again…….

You know, if Sierra brought back King's Quest, maybe they could give Quest for Glory a new lease on life.