Maybe, it’s because you can get high on hallucinogenic mushrooms. Perhaps, it’s because you can fight a monster called an Antwerp that moves like a bouncy ball with eyes. It could even be the ability to rob your neighbors and friends during the quest. Whatever it is, Quest for Glory I: So you want to be a Hero possessed everything a gamer could want in a series’ origin title.

The developers designed the gameplay in a manner that allowed the player to feel as if he was rookie learning his trade. Unlike the other titles in that series, which feature old friends and enemies, QFG1 starts the player off as a stranger. The character wanders into Spielberg valley, barely aware of what his quest is. Gameplay then unfolds by exploring and discovering the past.

While Spielberg is full of dozens of ways to get yourself dead it also has mentors for each character type that will help you gain the skills to survive. The Fighter can hire the arrogant captain of the guard to teach him where to stick his sword while the Mage might do best spending his days competing with the wizard Erasmus in a magical game called Mage’s Maze. Thieves can join the local guild and practice their knife throwing with The Chief. These mini-games become like workout routine that the hero can add to his day before he starts his exploring.

The quest itself is not set up in an A to B fashion. Events are occurring all over the valley. The Dead are crawling from their graves at night, mysterious plans of conspiracy and betrayal are being whispering around the tavern, a talking skull has a favor to ask, a bear is chained up in a distant cave and a spell wielding Kobold has the key, and why are so many archers pointing their arrows at you when you go to the mountain pass in the southwest? The valley is a mess, and the hero can choose in what manner and in what order he wants to clean it up. A great amount of freedom is available to the player.
No time limit prevents the player from accomplishing everything he wants to before leaving the valley. If you still need to train harder to better your master or wipe out a full battalion of goblins the time is there. Spend your days honing your skills: tossing your daggers at the target behind the town, work out by cleaning the stables, down some Brigands with your Flame darts, and be back at the inn in time for dinner and conversation with your new friends the Kattas; the quest will still be there in the morning.

Quest for Glory had one of the better early systems of time in video games. The passing of morning to sunset effects gameplay in a manner that separates your character’s life into days in a realistic fashion. The cycle of night and day forced the player to plan his week accordingly as some events only occur at night and others while the sun was still in the sky. Even the importance of finding a place to sleep becomes an issue since not every character will possess the skills to find their way back into town or the castle’s courtyard.
QFG 1 has four safe spots that the character can use to shelter himself from the night. This feature is just another little bit of charm that made this game stand out in its era and, I would argue, even now.

The biggest critique of QFG1, especially against today’s standards, is length. While the game does allow you the all the time in the world to play around the valley, with very few penalties, (After awhile the tougher night monster also appear in the day) the actually quest goals only number in about six: plant a seed, collect potion ingredients, Save the baron’s son, raid the brigands fortress/ save the baron daughter, get a mandrake root, and drive a Ogress from the land. Actually, you can complete the game without accomplishing half of these main quests, and therefore it can feel like a tease. Fortunately, there are four more games, and since the game allows you to save your character for use in the other titles, it is as if the gameplay never ended.

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