Quest for Glory III: Wages of War

Awan

The game that you can play in the Simbani village called Awari is an actual game in real-life. Oware (as it is commonly known) is the national game of Ghana and is played by people in West Africa and the Carribean.

Fricana

The game takes place on the continent of Fricana. Fricana is an anagram of the word 'African'.

Gags

• Start a fire in the savannah, and don't put it out. You will be paid a visit by Smokey the Elephant.

• If you venture too far into the savannah without food, you may be given a gift by the Awful Waffle Walker.

• In Salim's Apothecary try lighting the bong with a tinderbox and smoking it three times in a row (save your game first!). You'll get an important lesson on the ramification of taking drugs.

Kalb

The dog-like merchant Kalb is not named this way without reason: "kalb" is Arabic for "dog".

Kalb also boasts a good knowledge of English language; if you agree to buy something from him, he will describe you as "magnanimous, magnificent, beneficent, munificent, benevolent, malevolent, non-violent, ultra-violet friend of dogs".

Music

The background music in the apothecary is White Rabbit, by Jefferson Airplane.

References

• Quest for Glory III has cameo appearances by Sanford & Son, and Laurel & Hardy.
• Corey Cole makes a cameo appearance as the apothecary Salim.
• The Sanford and Son weapon seller in Tarna sells things, mentioning the "Lara bow" and the "Amon Re" tribe. This is a reference to the Sierra adventure game Laura Bow in The Dagger of Amon Ra.

Series

This game was added midway through the cycle. The original plan was to have four games, with a number of intentional metaphoric parallels built in. (four compass directions, four elements, etc) However, after finishing Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire, the Coles decided that the character of Hero wasn't developed enough to make Shadows of Darkness work, and invented this adventure to build his personality up a bit. (previously, the Hero was primarily a warrior. This game taught him to be a diplomat and peace-maker, virtues necessary in Shadows' This is the primary reason the game seems a bit short and less involved than the others.

Title

After the initial release of Quest for Glory III: Wages of War Sierra discovered that another developer had trademarked the name Wages of War. Thus Sierra decided to change the game's title to Quest for Glory III: Seekers of the Lost City for planned further releases. However since the other game was never actually released the name change never took place. However, the title Quest for Glory III: Seekers of the Lost City is mentioned in (at least) the disk version of the fourth installment of the series.

Awards

• Power Play
  • Issue 02/1993 – #3 Best Presentation in 1992

Information also contributed by Boris Stovich, OceansDaughter, Rambutaan, Roedie, Tim Takalo, Unicorn Lynx and WizardX