Hero's Quest: So You Want to Be a Hero

aka: Hero's Quest I: So You Want To Be A Hero, Quest For Glory: So You Want To Be A Hero
Moby ID: 168
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

The little town of Spielburg is populated mostly by beer-drinking humans and some centaurs who like working in the field. Spielburg is surrounded by forests and mountains, where all kinds of weird creatures dwell: ogres, goblins, talking foxes, stupid magicians, and others. Lately, Spielburg has been assaulted by brigands; besides, the witch Baba Yaga is not to be trusted. The town has everything it needs--even a Thieves Guild--except a strong, brave hero who would protect it. So when a wandering adventurer enters the town, he quickly realizes that his skills might be of use.

Hero's Quest: So You Want to Be a Hero is a hybrid game that contains Role-Playing and Adventure elements. It is visually very similar to other Quest titles by Sierra (such as for example Space Quest), but the gameplay--besides the usual exploration, conversations with characters, and the solving an occasional puzzle with the help of inventory items--also involves combat and character development. In the beginning of the game, the player chooses a character class for the protagonist--either a Fighter, a Mage, or a Thief. The choice of class will influence not only the combat, but also many other events in the game. Puzzles might have different solutions depending on the class and the amount of ability points in various categories.

The main character's skills and abilities are raised directly by repeatedly performing appropriate actions, e.g. fighting enemies, practicing, climbing, throwing objects, etc. Many of those activities are necessary to perform in order to successfully complete the game. Combat takes the player to a separate screen (represented by the enemy's picture) and involves timed selection of commands such as Attack, Parry, etc. The interaction with the game-world is performed by typing verb commands or conversation topics.

The game features a day/night cycle, which also includes character schedules. The main character can get hungry and tired, so feeding him and getting some rest is essential.

Spellings

  • הרצון לעוצמה - Hebrew spelling
  • クエスト・フォー・グローリィ - Japanese spelling
  • 英雄傳奇 - Traditional Chinese spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

19 People

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 86% (based on 16 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 149 ratings with 13 reviews)

A True Classic

The Good
Quest for Glory is one of the deepest games I've ever played.I've put over a hunderd hours into it,and I'm still playing and finding new things.It's graphics are excellent for this time and the animation's just as good.There's so many things you can do in the first surrounding the first town.There's a wizard,a bear,a band of thieves,a witch and many more people and things to see while you're just walking around looking for adventure.And,you can play as three different classes.A fighter,thief,or magician.All three of them are well balanced and have many things to see on their own.

The Bad
The fighting in this game is very hard.A lot of the creatures you fight are tough and seem they cannot be beaten.Plenty of skill must be had if you want to fight your way to the end in this game.Sometimes,the forest can get confusing but that's not really a negative at all.

The Bottom Line
The deepest game in the Quest for Glory series,it's better than the next four games for certain.If you're looking for a fun,long,and addictive adventure/RPG,play this one now.And don't play the remake,it takes away all the fun.

DOS · by SamandMax (75) · 2001

Yes, sir, I want to be a hero

The Good
While I was still growing up, there were two major game companies that people around at the time would have been familiar with: Sierra and Origin. The former focused on creating top-notch adventures, while the latter dealt with role-playing games. So when Sierra decided to create a game that mixes these two genres together, it was unheard of back then.

The player controls an unnamed character who enters the town of Spielburg which is overrun by brigands; and to make matters worse, a witch known as Baba Yaga has cast a spell on the baron's daughter which has transformed her into their leader. At the start of the game, you choose one of three character classes: Fighter, Magic User, and Thief, and assign different traits to him. You have limited points to do this, so the player needs to decide wisely.

What I like about Hero's Quest is the way you can fight certain types of enemies including monsters, goblins, and brigands; and the way you can search their fallen bodies for coins to spend on restring your health and magic points. And the more you fight these monster, the more easier you can win. There are two very useful commands when you deal with these monsters. The "escape" commands lets you get away from those monsters, if you don't want to reduce your health or stamina points; while the command "Run" is useful for running across the screen in two seconds, therefore bypassing any monster.

Each character class influence what you do and the locations you are able to visit. For instance, if you are a fighter, you can't duel with Erasmus nor can you break into houses . You can however, as one class, be able to develop traits from another class. This way you won't have to replay the game with another class.

The graphics are the most colorful in any Sierra game. There are forests that are worth exploring, and the monsters are well drawn. (The Cheetaur must be the scariest monster I've seen in the game!) The music blends in well with your surroundings, as well as any situations you are in. The sound effects are atmospheric as well.

When you die, you see the usual Sierra dialog box with the Restore, Restart, and Quit options, with hints on how to overcome the situation instead of the usual humorous message which appears in brief within the title bar. I like this, as it is an unusual take of the normal death dialog box.

There are funny things you can do in this game. For instance, picking up a lot of rocks on the ground will result in your character walking like an old man. Also, making him run and slowing the game down will result in jerky movement.

Other things that I enjoy about the game: You can spend as long as you like in the game and the same things happen each passing day (It's like Groundhog Day!). You can save your character stats at the end of the game, and use these in Quest For Glory II, so that you don't have to build your character up again. Actually, this is recommended since you have thirty days to complete the game.



The Bad
I didn't like the way sometimes when you need to be somewhere in the forest where you have to deal with monsters. You get close to where you need to go, only to face a monster, and you have to load up one of your saved games. I remember loading up my game about five times then having to face a Cheetaur.

The Bottom Line
Up until now, I refused to play any game in the QFG series because I thought that it would be very difficult to complete. A bit of adventuring and fighting monsters and searching them for treasure just appealed to me. Yes, it is an adventure/role-playing game hybrid, so you get to select a class and assign certain stats to him. What you are able to do in the game depends on the class you selected. The debut in the series contains amazing graphics and great sounds, and the game can be replayed with a different class. Those who like adventures and role-playing games and anyone who is a Sierra lover should play this game, even if it means spending more time on it than other games.

DOS · by Katakis | カタキス (43092) · 2013

A solid opening for a great adventure/RPG

The Good
Hero's Quest tells about the first adventure of hero name your choosing. You set towards Spielburg, a town in a valley overrun by brigands, an ogress Baba Yaga and monsters. There's also a reward offered to anyone who can shed light in the case of two lost children of the local baron. So there's plenty to do and even a bit more depending on the character you choose to play with.

As in any RPG you can choose a character from three different classes: a thief, a fighter and a mage. You can also create a hybrid class, so if you know the game there's more ground to cover in a single game play this way.

Playing with fighter is the most straight forwarded thing to do. You choose brawn over brains the most of times, while mage and thief solve many puzzles a bit differently. Thief also has some side quest burglarizing houses and selling his loot at the thieves guild, while the mage (or any magic possessing character) has the possibility to play mage Erasmus's wizard duel.

On a side note, the score system gives points only if you solve puzzles in the way your character core class would even if you play a hybrid, so if you play as a thief/mage you should solve puzzles like a thief, not like a mage, despite that is possible to do.

Adventure/RPG is well balanced. You can spend time grinding your abilities, if you feel like it, but you can also just play the game through with out unnecessary buildup if you so choose. But the grinding is advised, as it does pay off in the sequels if you choose to export your character over to the later games.

The Bad
There's surprisingly little I don't like about the game. All the things I don't like are more like nitpicking, as the game is all around pretty solid.

There's very little music in the game and the sound effects are virtually non existing. The graphics are nice, but not necessarily as nice as in the other Sierra titles of the era. Also the plot is pretty basic, so it doesn't offer that many "whoa" elements.

The different classes also provide a different amount of missions and quest. The fighter is a class, that gets less quests, as if he doesn't know magic he can't duel with Erasmus and giving fighter a thieves properties is futile, as he doesn't get a lock pick or know how to identify as thief, so no guild entry for him.

But, as I said, the things I don't like are merely nitpicking.

The Bottom Line
Hero's Quest, or Quest for Glory as the series was later known, isn't among the most well known Sierra properties but it is among Sierras best properties.

As an adventure game it does much right, giving multiple ways to solve puzzles depending on your character class and the RPG elements give it more flavor, as you can do fighting in the middle of regular "look thing a from place b in order to achieve c" adventuring.

And as a bonus you can start a hero in the first game and export it in all other Quest for Glory games as well, so the feeling on continuity is always present.

DOS · by tomimt (397) · 2011

[ View all 13 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Problems with keyboard using DOSBox? Matt Neuteboom (976) Dec 26, 2009

Trivia

Balancing

Some people preferred to complete the game using this version -- opposed to the VGA remake -- because you could allocate magic points for any character class you chose, guaranteeing a somewhat powerful character for the rest of the series.

Development

From Hero's Quest I Hint Book:

You may be interested to know what goes into a game like Hero's Quest I: So You Want To Be A Hero. Development took over a year, with up to four programmers and four artists, a musician, and a designer-director. Hero's Quest I contains:
  • 111,000 lines of source code (well, so 30,000 of them are blank!)
  • 535,000 bytes of background pictures
  • 1,560,000 bytes of animation
  • 1,980,000 bytes of program code
  • 375,000 characters of text messages
  • 314,000 bytes of music and sound effects and over 200,000 bytes of compiled system code
And you thought this was easy!

Gags

  • The book that Kaspar, who runs the dry Goods store, is reading, is titled "Quest for Glory: A Hero's Death"
  • If you're a thief, try picking your nose with the lockpick.. but make sure you save your game first!
  • Attack the Antwerp with your sword and it will bounce high above your head and out of the area. However, when you leave the screen and enter a new one, a shadow will appear over you from above. Things aren't looking too good! If this Antwerp has it's way then he's gonna flatten you.. so, quickly pull out your dagger\sword and hold it above your head. the Antwerp will land on your blade and explode into lots of little baby Antwerps!
  • If you right-click on the scorpion walking across the main menu the message: "Congratulations! You have found the first bug in this game." will appear.

Title

Quest For Glory was originally named Hero's Quest, but the name was later changed due to a conflict with Milton Bradley over their board game Hero Quest.

References

  • Erasmus' house contains many 'relics' from other Sierra games:
    • A suit of armor bequeathed by Colonel Gulden Dijon (a reference the first Laura Bow game, The Colonel's Bequest).
    • A little chopper from the Lytton Police Department (a reference to Police Quest).
    • On the sarcophagus is a hieroglyph starring Rosella from King's Quest 4.
    • There is also a shield in the room that belonged to one of those "Once and Future" kings (a reference to the famous King Arthur novel "The Once And Future King" by writer T.H. White).
  • The moose head and 'Maltese Falcon' appear in this game, as they do in each Quest For Glory title (Courtesy of the Sierra prop department).
  • The Three Stooges make a minor cameo appearance in the game.
  • A creature called "Antwerp" appears in this game, which is the name of an actual city in Belgium (Europe).
  • The guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild, Wolfgang Abentuerer, mentions "two guys from Andromeda" when you ask about the antwerp trophy. It is a reference to the two designers of Space Quest, another Sierra game
  • If you visit Mirror Lake twice a submarine will emerge on your second visit. This is a plug for the Sierra adventure Codename: ICEMAN. In the VGA remake the submarine is replaced by Delphineus (the dolphin from EcoQuest) and the monster of Loch Ness (a plug for Conquest of the Longbow).

Awards

  • Amiga Joker
    • Issue 01/1991 – #2 Best Role-Playing Game in 1990
  • Computer Gaming World
    • September 1990 (Issue #74) – Adventure Game of the Year
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) - #73 in the “150 Best Games of All Time" list
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #15 Most Innovative Computer Game

Information also contributed by Belboz, Boris Stovich; Itay Shahar, Jiguryo, PCGamer77, Roedie, Roger Wilco and Timo Takalo

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Eurythmic.

Amiga added by POMAH. Atari ST, PC-98 added by Terok Nor.

Additional contributors: Trixter, Ryan Prendiville, Unicorn Lynx, Jeanne, formercontrib, Cloudschatze, Paulus18950, Patrick Bregger, roy guy.

Game added July 18, 1999. Last modified February 19, 2024.