Quest for Glory III: Wages of War

aka: Hero's Quest 3: Wages Of War, QFG3, Quest for Glory III: Der Lohn des Krieges, Quest for Glory III: Seekers of the Lost City
Moby ID: 173

Description official description

Wages of War is the third game in the Quest for Glory series. It is set in the Africa-like world of Tarna, where the hero travels with paladin Rakeesh, his new Liontaur friend he has met in the previous game. Shortly after his arrival, the hero learns about the conflict between the human Simbani tribe and the seemingly malevolent neighboring Leopardmen. It is now time for our hero to become a skillful diplomat and prevent an upcoming war between the two nations.

The basic gameplay system is similar to that of the two preceding games. The game has an adventure-like structure and gameplay elements, including puzzles to solve, inventory items to use, and characters to talk to, as well as a role-playing system with combat and character development. As in the predecessors, the player character can be either a fighter, a thief, or a mage; in this installment, the paladin class is selectable from the beginning of the game (unlike the previous game, where the hero could only earn the title of a paladin during the course of the story). Saved characters from the previous game can be imported.

Like in the earlier Quest for Glory games, the main character's parameters increase directly after battles or by repeatedly performing various actions. New to the series is an overworld map on which the hero travels between locations. Hostile encounters may occur randomly while traversing the map. Combat system is similar to the predecessors, with real-time battles where the player selects various offensive and defensive options.

Graphics engine and interface in this installment are the same as in the remake of the first game: it has 256-color graphics and an icon-based interface which was used by Sierra for their contemporary adventure games.

Spellings

  • Quest for Glory III: הדרך למלחמה - Hebrew spelling
  • 英雄傳奇3:戰爭的報酬 - Traditional Chinese spelling
  • 영웅의 길 III: 전쟁의 응보 - Korean spelling

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Credits (DOS version)

59 People (53 developers, 6 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 75% (based on 10 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 74 ratings with 5 reviews)

Most benevolent, non-violent, ultraviolet!

The Good
Wages of War is the first independent installment in the series that was made from scratch with Sierra's outstanding SCI engine. The previous game pushed the text parser interface to its limits, resulting in somewhat frustrating difficulty. Wages of War, on the other hand, aims for convenience and pleasantly flowing gameplay above all. While that is not always a good thing, this "QFG-lite" game can get surprisingly entertaining despite the overall reduction of complexity.

The overall user-friendliness is what you notice first when you fire up the game. In an attempt to soften the impression left by the rough Trial by Fire, the third installment eliminates its tedious aspects almost entirely. The game gently eases you into its world and remains a rather laid-back, consistently agreeable experience throughout. There are no mazes to map your way through, no countless repetitive desert screens where you can easily die of dehydration, and very few (if any) dead ends and contrived situations where you must perform obscure and unlikely actions to trigger events.

Most fans - myself included - didn't really like the simplification ensuing from these measures. That said, it is by far not as offensive as in Larry 5, mostly coming across as a reasonable decision to tone down the idiosyncrasies of the predecessor. This makes Wages of War a weaker, less rewarding Quest for Glory; but it doesn't make it idiot-proof. Compared to its two older sisters, this installment seems rather timid; but even this milder incarnation of the series offers plenty of things to try out and gameplay elements unseen in other games.

The base gameplay mechanics have been preserved, though their application is less expansive and varied than before. Like in the previous game, the Paladin class is accessible via performing good deeds; however, if you choose to import any saved character from an earlier installment, it will become available right in the beginning. The Paladin can acquire some powerful items and spells, which is a nice addition. Skill development remains unchanged, and the game retains such staple elements of the series such as day and night cycle, the necessity to eat and sleep, and fairly free-form gameplay with amusing secrets and optional stuff to do. The new world map is a step below the screen-by-screen exploration of the preceding games; but at least you can really move on it rather than jumping from dot to dot. Also, while it seems boring and uneventful at first, interesting locations do open up if you explore it thoroughly.

The icon-based interface was met with suspicion by some fans; personally, I found the necessity to type in commands the main cause for exhaustion in Trial by Fire. Quest for Glory games are already complex enough even without relying on a text parser for finding obscure solutions to problems. In particular, choosing a conversation topic from a menu is more intuitive than typing long lists of objects and characters - the games are anyway only designed to understand a limited amount of words. The game provides excellent descriptions if you look even at seemingly unimportant objects, enhancing the atmosphere.

The latter is probably the game's strongest suit. The Africa-like environment, populated by imaginative creatures such as liontaurs and leopardmen, is exotic and magically appealing, surpassing the dry Middle East that didn't really come to life in the previous installment due to graphical limitations. The relaxing adventure is accompanied by strong visuals, more music, and a good story involving a theme not treated in the series before: war. The hero must prove himself a skillful diplomat and prevent an armed conflict between two tribes. There is also a bit of romance in the game, and overall the plot moves along at a better pace than in the second iteration of the series. The trademark humor returns with even sillier puns and some truly hilarious characters: the hippie apothecary is one of my favorites in the entire series.

The Bad
Some players would probably appreciate the simpler, more streamlined nature of Wages of War as opposed to the complexities of Trial by Fire. Personally, I'd rather endure some frustration for a more fulfilling, challenging adventure. It seems that, alongside with the interface quirks and the annoyances of the previous title, Wages of War also discarded quite a bit of gameplay content.

The game's main problem is its low difficulty level. Battles are generally noticeably easier than before, and with a bit of practice no foe will be able to withstand a few sword strikes from our hero. I could certainly live with that, since combat is hardly what I play Quest for Glory games for. Unfortunately, the puzzles were downgraded as well, reducing the game's value as an adventure. The game's most important tasks usually consist of locating an item and bringing it to somebody who needs it.

In general, Wages of War feels rushed. The environments are interesting, but the game's scope is somewhat smaller. I didn't quite like the overworld map; I'd prefer a continuous world with interconnected screens. The locations are also less busy than in the previous games, with fewer houses and less things to do. This particularly affects the thief character: with only a few puzzles being different for his route, the thief feels like a wasted opportunity.

The Bottom Line
Wages of War is considered the series' weakest installment by many fans. While I agree with this judgment, it's important to note that it only highlights the game's position vis-a-vis the other Quests for Glory. Even with its somewhat limited gameplay, Wages of War remains an enjoyable game full of charm and atmosphere.

DOS · by Unicorn Lynx (181788) · 2014

Atmosphere counts too, not just the gameplay

The Good
As usually, the game has very good graphics. The VGA version of "So You Want To Be a Hero" was made some time after the original, but now, with "Wages of War", the series moves into VGA region for good. While I really enjoy good EGA graphics, I got used to this game in its only version and I couldn't imagine it having different graphics, despite some minor drawbacks (see "The Bad").
In this game we re-encounter characters from the previous one, especially Uhura and Rakeesh. Now they get a bit more three-dimensional, we can learn more about their stories and personalities. While it would be too much to call the plot very rich and complex, it does become emotionally touching as we see Rakeesh following the Way of the Paladin in practice and doing what he can to prevent war. The words he says are wise and it really would be better if more people remembered messages like this "in real life"...
However, what I liked most was the game's setting. The game never says directly Tarna is in Africa (the whole land is rather called Fricana), but it seems definitely African. I think this continent hasn't been the setting of adventure games too often, as if game designers too regarded Africa an uninteresting, backward land. Nevertheless, the Quest for Glory game model works as well in an African setting as it did in a Germanic one or will do in an Eastern European one.
(If only the hero would wear more realistic clothes... In Shapeir he wore a nice outfit in a local style, now his clothes get very plain, though at least more comfortable than the cloak he wore in Spielburg... OK, actually white shirts with long sleeves are a good choice in deserts and other hot areas, especially for fair-skinned blondes and redheads like our hero, but with the waistcoat - the same outfit the hero will get to wear in Mordavia - the clothes just look too thick and warm.)
I discovered yet better how I liked the game's atmosphere when it was already gone - after I had moved on to "Shadows of Darkness". There it got so creepy, cold, sad, autumnal that I just missed all these sunny "Fricanian" landscapes... The difference between Spielburg and Shapeir may be as great, but here the change in atmosphere is most pronounced.

The Bad
"Trial by Fire" already had the disadvantage of often dragging on. If you were quick to beat every Elemental, later you could just wait for a few days doing nothing, just following a very "busy" routine: talk to someone, go practise at the Guild, go lookin' for some trouble in the desert and sleep the rest of the day off. It got yet worse in Raseir which was so seedy the hero just wouldn't rest there - I could only keep walking back and forth and (when replaying as a Thief) train my Sneaking skill a bit. While "Wages of War" doesn't drag on as much as the previous game, it takes some time to kick into gear. In the beginning you can also spend some time pretty much doing nothing, waiting for some new events to happen.
Landscapes which repeat themselves, especially the savanna, look rather boring. Dangers (monsters) are encountered in a rather random way and you move from the map view to close view after you encounter one. In the beginning it makes getting around somewhat awkward, you just have to get used to this system.
Some aspects of graphics aren't too well made. Human proportions often don't look completely believeable (for example too broad shoulders). This will get slightly better in the fourth game and the big closeups, unfortunately absent from "Wages of War", will be introduced.
At some points the designers seem to be trying to squeeze a bit too many ideas into one box. Maybe the best example is Salim the apothecary. Judging by his name, he could have come from Shapeir or somewhere nearby. Judging by his style, he is a hippie - one of many anachronistic details in Sierra games. Actually I like such details very much, it's funny to meet people resembling modern Americans in a timeless fantasy game ("Quest for Glory"), Batmobile in a medieval-like fantasy world ("King's Quest 2")... However, when yet another idea is added - Salim becoming fascinated with the story of Julanar, the woman turned into a tree in the desert of Shapeir - this seems a bit too much for this definitely secondary character, all these different facets just don't suit one another. Maybe the tragic story of Julanar seems just too serious for this "light" character, anyway the end result is to some degree incongruent.

The Bottom Line
The game isn't a masterpiece or the best game in the series. However I also don't consider it a failure as some people do. While it has its share of darkness - anyway, in the end the hero fights demons in the Lost City - it is a welcome break before the heavy and creepy mood of the fourth game. And despite some drawbacks of this game, I tend to remember its sunny atmosphere more than "worse" details such as the game moving on too slow.

DOS · by Nowhere Girl (8680) · 2013

The worst of the series.

The Good
The change in the graphics and setting. The setting of Africa is incredible, as Rakeesh and Uhura are as much of the badasses in hand-painted color as they were as ugly pixels. The magic system was also better too, as symbols and mouseclicks were used instead of "cast dazzle" etc.

The Bad
The battle system sucked big time. I never figured it out, and I have no clue why they changed it from the second game, which was so good. Practicing produced almost no visible effect, while just a little practice in the second game could produce notable differences. The overhead map was also an unwelcome addition, as it took away the magic of exploring and made the game much more linear.

The Bottom Line
Play this game after you've played number 2 so you can appreciate all that was lost in the transition to the third one.

DOS · by SebastianLi (52) · 2000

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
Bypassing bugs with ScummVM, part 2 Nowhere Girl (8680) Apr 11, 2020
Trying to bypass the bugs with Scumm VM Nowhere Girl (8680) Mar 9, 2018
The honorless man - is some in-game trigger missing? Nowhere Girl (8680) Oct 4, 2015

Trivia

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

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Eurythmic.

Additional contributors: Terok Nor, Roedie, Unicorn Lynx, Indra was here, Shoddyan, Crawly, Paulus18950, lee jun ho, Patrick Bregger.

Game added July 19, 1999. Last modified January 20, 2024.