Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire

The Good
This is truly a great game, the best RPG and/or Adventure I have ever played. It is has the best combat system of all QFG games (why did they ever change it?), the best setting, the most epic feel, and aside from Dragon Fire, it has the smoothest animation (when played from the CD of a modern computer any way). The different character types get to do more different stuff than any of the other games. It has the best conclusion, the funniest secrets, and so many different things to do you can play it again and again!

The Bad
I didn't like the maze-ish layout of Shapier, and it was a major turn-off at first, but I soon got used to it. Also, when in Rasier, there are times when you have absolutely nothing to do for 10-12 minutes, even when the game speed is on the fastest. They should have had a gambling table or something. Also, the fighter doesn't get to solve very many problems, he just smashes them apart.

The Bottom Line
Quest for Glory II is a true classic, the best I've seen to the series or even the whole genre. Don't let the maze keep you from finishing it!

The Good
Quest for Glory II: Trail by Fire was released in 1990 and published by Sierra On-Line, and if you have played the first game, you would realize that the game takes place in the land of Shapeir where elementals are threatening the peaceful city, while the Emir of its sister city Raseir goes missing and the city fallen under tyranny.

In Shapeir, the Kattas have set up their own inn which houses a few pieces of entertainment, and your hero, whatever you decided to call him, is welcome to stay the night there for free. Not only can you watch the wife's owner dance, but you can also listen to the Poet which reads poems, mainly about the hero's journey ahead.

As with the original game, you select a class then you assign character stats to it. On the class section screen, the animations of your hero are just fantastic. The second game gives you the ability to import your hero from the first game, while retaining the same character stats. This is recommended, since unless the future QFG games, you only have a certain number of days to complete your quest; after that's, it's over. I was actually thrilled that I didn't have to fight monsters and instead focus on the more important things in the game.

A fourth class is also introduced, along with the three other classes. However, this class is not selectable when you start a new game, and you must earn this class throughout the game by doing honorable things such as not breaking into people's homes, giving money to beggars, and returning an item to its owner (hence, the new “Honor” stat). You won't get to see all the locations in the game, but you do get an alternate ending if you get a certain number of points.

A majority of the game is spent walking the streets of Shapeir. You will meet all kinds of characters, including the Kattas themselves. You can ask most characters about anything, and they are happy to give you information relating to the subject. Raseir, on the other hand, has some unpleasant ones like the guards who patrol the streets and the plaza; and the only thing worth looking at is the women who you meet at the end of the game. I remember going inside the house in one of them, then watching a bit of nudity as she changes clothes that you offer her.

QFG2 has a Middle Eastern setting to it, so the stalls are scattered around Shapeir rather than shops; and like in real life in some parts of the world, you can bargain for items in order to get a better deal. The graphics blend in with that theme, and they are also on par with the first game, very colorful. The streets are nicely laid out, as are the houses that thieves can break into. The desert – where you fight the majority of monsters - looks spectacular during the day; and at night, I like the way that the developers got creative with the stars.

When it comes to sound, the music also blends in with the theme; and while all the sound cards are good at sticking with the Middle Eastern music, the Roland MT-32 sounds much realistic. As far as I know, QFG2 is the only SCI0 game to support Sound Blaster; and if you select this sound card, you'll get authentic sound effects that are not possible with the Adlib.

The developers threw in some humor into the game. Like what happened in the last game, QFG2 will produce a humorous message if you right-click on items on the main menu. Likewise, in the Blue Parrot Inn – Raseir's inn - you get to watch an amusing scene where a mouse pulls the hero's pants down while he's sleeping. Having said that, I am looking forward to the humor the developers threw in Quest For Glory III: Wages of War.

There are multiple paths you can take depending on the class you have selected. An example of this is at the end of the game, where you have to gain entry into the Raseir palace. The fighter takes on the two guards standing outside its entrance; while Magic Users levitate up to the lookout point, then enter the palace that way. As far as I know, there is only one ending to the three classes, but it only varies slightly for the hidden Paladin class. Having said that, QFG2 deserves to be played more than once, just like every other QFG game. This gives you the opportunity to experiment with classes other than your last one. You may enjoy some of your hero's alternate actions as a result of picking a different class.

The Bad
Other reviewers said that they didn't like the maze of streets that you need to navigate through Shapeir, and I agree with them. Although you can buy a map in the game, a location only shows up if you have already traveled to it before (similar to the magic map in King's Quest III); and the map that comes boxed with the game doesn't reveal any locations other than the Katta's Tail Inn and the Saurus Lot. Therefore, the only way you can get to new locations is through guesswork.

In the first game, monsters immediately appear in the forest after about two or three screens. In QFG2, however, it takes over ten screens just to encounter a desert creature. By the time you defeated it, half your precious day is nearly over.

The Bottom Line
QFG2 has all the features that make the original game great, but introduces some new ones, namely character importation and a fourth class. The game has a Middle Eastern setting, and the graphics and sound blend in quite nicely. There are also alternate solutions to puzzles, based on the class you selected. With the exception of the QFG1 remake, this is the last Quest for Glory game where you going to see yourself typing commands in while putting your class to good use; and it will not be the same with the point-and-click interface.

The Good
After Hero's Quest introduced the wonderful blend of quality Sierra-style adventure with light role-playing, Trial by Fire takes the same concept and transplants it into a Middle Eastern setting reminiscent of nostalgically cheesy recreations of popular stories from the Arabian Nights.

Trial by Fire expands upon the ideas of the first game. It is generally more challenging; and while some of the difficulty lies in figuring out rather vague clues and spending some time studying the world's layout, those are by no means the focus of the game. There are simply more things to do. As an adventure game, the sequel offers tougher puzzles and cleverer ways to overcome obstacles; as an RPG, it is somewhat more demanding in combat. There are fewer battles and generally fewer "shortcuts" to absolute dominance; but the fights themselves are more interesting, with a wider array of options and moves.

Of all Quest for Glory games, Trial by Fire probably has the highest replay value. The differences between the three classes are implemented most consistently. In particular, the Thief truly flourishes in this installment, having several unique options available only at his disposal, and generally turning sneaking and breaking into people's houses into a goal in itself. In addition, a fourth class (Paladin) opens up if you have performed enough good deeds, which are monitored by your new Honor attribute. But even within a same-class playthrough, there is an abundance of little side quests and secrets to discover. You'll be able to appreciate this game more if you dedicate enough time to exploration and trying out various actions at every location.

The first game had a small city and a large wilderness area around it. The sequel works just the opposite way. I actually prefer the world design of its predecessor, but it cannot be denied that the city of Shapeir is a great place. It is huge and remarkably lively, with colorful, vividly portrayed characters, and loads of things to do. Talk to anyone about anything, wander through tricky mazes, visit magic shops and other exotic spots, buy souvenirs, watch cool Oriental dancing, or just go back to the inn and sleep. While the desert is much less exciting, the contrast between its unfriendly, ominous repetitiveness and the cozy colors of Shapeir does add to the atmosphere.

Storytelling and characterization is where an improvement over the first game becomes clearly noticeable. The plot is more complex, has darker undertones, and involves more characters occupying important roles in it. The denizens of Shapeir are more interesting overall, many of them having developed background stories that flesh out the setting considerably. The side stories of the game are well done, with one particular quest standing out as one of the most moving events in the entire series. This emotional intensity doesn't in the least reduce the game's humorous elements, which are perhaps even more plentiful than in the opening title.

The Bad
Every major location in Trial by Fire is built like a maze. I know this sounds extremely off-putting, but I must say I enjoyed deciphering the twisted layout of Shapeir. Also, you can buy a map that will make navigation much easier. Unfortunately, there is no map available for the desert; while you'll spend significantly less time there, you'll still have to visit it to fight enemies and complete a few quests, submitting yourself to aimless wandering and becoming prone to death by dehydration.

The city of Shapeir is huge - but in the end, it's just one city. The desert is mostly bland and cannot compete with the individually designed forest locations in the previous game. The second city, Raseir, is disappointingly similar to the first one, and you don't have that much to do in it anyway. Also, you cannot visit it before you have completed all your Shapeir quests, which occupy the by far larger portion of the game.

There are other slightly annoying elements in Trial by Fire. You can get irrevocably stuck in the game if you don't rather counter-intuitively talk to all the citizens of the first city one more time before departing to Raseir, acquiring a vital item needed to complete the game. Some of the tasks are obscure, and a few puzzles depend on timing and can get a bit too hard to figure out.

The interface begins to show its age in Trial by Fire. In general, I think Quest for Glory games were the ones benefiting most from the switch to icon-based interaction. Pure adventure games owe their existence to text parser; but RPG elements add many more variables, making figuring out the correct sentences needlessly difficult. Conversations are a good example of this: since topics have to be entered manually, I found myself stuck in the game without having talked to person A about topic Y, simply because it never occurred to me that topic might be of any importance for that particular person.

The Bottom Line
Even though Trial by Fire can get mildly frustrating, creaking under the load of an outdated interface and favoring mazes a bit too much, it is a beautiful, rewarding game with a wealth of options and gameplay depth. Many people name it as their favorite Quest for Glory, and I can certainly see why.