Video Game / Quest for Glory I

Covers Always Lie: The game features neither dragons, broken swords, stained glass windows nor left-handed heroes.

Quest For Glory I: So You Want to Be a Hero? (formerly called Hero's Quest), is the first entry in the Quest for Glory series of games. Your character, the latest graduate of the Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School, answers a newspaper ad from the valley of Spielburg, which is in dire need for a hero, "No Experience Required".

The local Baron was once a great protector of the people of the valley, but after crossing the ogress Baba Yaga she cursed him to lose all that he holds dear. Sometime afterward, both the Baron's son and daughter went missing, and in his grief and despair the Baron has virtually abandoned his duties and holed himself up inside the castle.

As a result the valley has become a nearly lawless ruin, bandits prey on any travelers and merchants, monsters run unchecked in the wilderness, and your adventurer just barely made it into the valley before a blizzard sealed off the eastern mountain pass. Now It's Up to You to break the curse while taking on the brigands, monsters, a magic wielding ogress that likes eating heroes, (and we don't mean sandwiches) and the dreaded Antwerp.

Good luck.

The game is set in a backdrop of Germanic and Norse mythology, (with a few exceptions, most notably the Katta innkeepers Shema and Shameen and the merchant Abdulla Doo, all three of whom are visiting from their native Arabian Nights themed land of Shapeir, the Greek Centaurs and Minotaur, and the Slavic Baba Yaga) and later received an Enhanced Remake with VGA graphics.

---

The game contains examples of the following tropes:

• All Trolls Are Different: The ones here are big, blue, dumb, and violent. They Carry a Big Stick (in the original) or a big hammer (in the remake) with which to smash you, and plenty of coin. You can also loot their beards to give to the Healer for a reward. And aside from the one who lives in the cave that leads to the Brigands' lair, you can only encounter them at night.
• Annoying Arrows: Downplayed. Should you choose to assault the brigand hideout's front door or make too much noise during the infiltration, you'll have to run through a gauntlet of brigands shooting arrows. Standing still is a great way to get killed, but the hero can survive an arrow or two with moderate hit point loss.
• Anti-Frustration Features
  • In the first version of the game you could only sell the magic flowers to the healer a couple times before she stopped buying them, and there would be days you couldn't get a job at the castle stables. In the updated version the healer will buy all the flowers you bring her^note though this can result in Guide Dang It! as she will tell you that she doesn't need any more flowers, and then take them anyway and give you the money and you can work in the stables every day. It'll still take a long time to save up for anything meaningful that way, but at least you're not scraping by on whatever you make killing goblins and brigands.
  • They also severely relaxed the cap on how much time you could spend resting before the game would stop letting you, a very welcome change with how this is your first quest and you'll get worn out pretty quickly. Originally you'd be stuck waiting for time to pass on its own a lot, unable to do anything because you'd worn yourself out.
• Anti-Villain: According to Corey Cole, neither Baba Yaga nor the Kobold Wizard are really villains. Though both are dangerous, and Baba Yaga has certainly done evil things, both acted only in response to the actions of the Baron and Baronet, respectively. Baba Yaga turns out to be far more of a 'grey' or neutral character in QFG, similar to her fairy tale name sake. And Famous Adventurer even shows she had a romantic side, as he once dated her.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: The Weapon Master is an arrogant sword guy.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The trophies on the walls of the Spielburg Adventurer's Guild Hall include such fantastic monsters as a troll, a dragon, a gryphon, and...a moose. To be fair, it nearly bit Wolfgang's nose off.
• Asteroids Monster: The Antwerp, upon being inertially impaled, divides into several smaller Antwerps. Downplayed in that the smaller copies are harmless.
• Backing Away Slowly: In Quest for Glory I's EGA version, returning the Healer's ring results in her suddenly grabbing the hero from across a table and kissing him. To escape being kissed again, the hero has a unique animation with wide eyes, nervous grin, and hands up as he steps backward. Although about the same thing happens in the VGA version, the animation on it isn't quite as exaggerated.
• Bears Are Bad News: There's one living in a cave. Trying to kill it will result in a Nice Job Breaking It, Hero moment. It's actually the Baronet that has been enchanted.
• Berserk Button:
  • After dancing with the fairies in Spielburg Forest, try taking their mushrooms or stepping into their ring and see what happens. You should probably save beforehand.
    • Also, don't tell them you don't want to dance. They don't care.
  • Mention one of the guards' bald spot, and he'll be hurt. Mention his mustache and he'll tell you that your manners have improved.
• Beware the Silly Ones: When raiding the brigand fortress, you encounter a trio of brigands resembling The Three Stooges. Goofy-looking they may be, but it's just as much of a game over if they catch you as it is if their more serious-looking compatriots do.
• Bigger on the Inside: In the VGA remake, the inside of Baba Yaga's hut is far bigger than it appears on the outside. Not only that, but there seems to be a large cave in the background.
• Bizarre Alien Reproduction: Antwerps apparently reproduce by an adult Antwerp hitting against something sharp, upon which it pops and splits into several baby Antwerps.
• Blatant Lies: Bruno will recommend the Dragon's Breath at the bar, and if you aren't a Thief, he'll tell you that the Thieves' Guild is in the graveyard and you can see them go inside it at night.
• Call a Smeerp a "Rabbit": The Spore-Spitting Spirea plant bears absolutely no resemblance to any real-world members of the Spirea genus, which are large bushes bearing clusters of small flowers.
• Character Customization: More so in this game than in later installments of the series. You choose from the Fighter, Mage, Thief trio, but you can add skills from outside of your skillset with relative ease, and as long as you have a single skill point in a given skill you can level it to its maximum by using it in the game. It becomes much harder in later games, as your hero becomes more and more specialized.
  • You can even solve certain puzzles using cross-class skills. It's very possible to be a Jack of All Trades in this game without the Master of None part.
• Cherry Tapping: You can constantly throw rocks at enemies. You can even whittle down Toro the Minotaur while hiding behind some bushes; while the EGA version keeps him moving, he'll be at zero health when you enter combat and fall instantly.
• Classic Cheat Code: Razzle Dazzle Root Beer in the EGA version, though it doesn't work in the bar (you order a beer) and when sitting with Erasmus (who will tell you about it)
• Continuity Snarl: A minor one, if you ask Yorick about the "Swordy Lordy". He'll talk about how the Weapon Master refused to train Elsa because she was a girl, and how upset Elsa was about that. "She came to me in tears. After all, she was only nine at the time." The problem is that Elsa went missing when she was eight, and after going out to look for her, Yorick didn't find her again until two years later when she was ten (and by then she had lost all of her memories of her previous life anyway). She couldn't have come to Yorick in tears about how the Weapon Master treated her when she was nine.
• Developer's Foresight: There are many different cases of this in the game.
  • Many actions require you to be standing in a specific location, and will give custom feedback if you aren't. However when trying to get the castle guard to open the gate, standing underneath the gatehouse will have him refuse to do so because he doesn't have direct line of sight to you from the battlements.
  • The Healer has two different lines for when you bring her a flask of Flying Water depending on whether you are carrying additional flasks of regular water with you at the time. The difference is one single word, has zero bearing on anything else, and could have been ignored entirely without anyone noticing - but that's not the Sierra way.
    The Healer makes some sort of arcane gesture over the flask of water, then smiles.
    The Healer makes some sort of arcane gesture over each flask of water, then smiles.
• Digitized Sprites: The remake.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • The biggest is that it's the only game in the series in which it's possible to complete the game without actually defeating the main villain.^note If the player goes to the castle after rescuing Elsa, rather than confronting Baba Yaga, he'll still be treated to a victory celebration and the game will end. However it will be noted that you've failed to break the curse on the valley. For that matter, it's the only game where the Big Bad isn't killed in the final confrontation, as the Hero instead subjects Baba Yaga to a Forced Transformation.
  • Additionally, unlike the rest of the series^note Iblis in II, the Demon Lord in III, Avoozl in IV, and the Dragon of Doom in V there's no Sealed Evil in a Can — Greater-Scope Villain or otherwise — in play. Baba Yaga is also virtually a Non-Action Big Bad who isn't even actively opposing the Hero. She's just there, and the Baron tried to get rid of her for no other reason than because she was evil, rather than because she was actively causing trouble. In fact had the Baron left her alone, she likely never would have cursed the valley in the first place.
  • The Fighter can drop his shield, allowing him to use magic in combat.^note Carrying your shield prevents you from casting spells when on the combat screen. The next three games will not allow you to do so.^note Technically the second game allows you to drop your shield, but that makes it impossible to fight Khaveen at the end of the game, making the game potentially Unwinnable. It's not until Quest for Glory V that it's possible for a Fighter to fight without one.^note Quest for Glory IV does allow a Fighter to cast magic spells, despite carrying a shield. However, the hero cannot use magic in Quest for Glory V, while wielding any weapon larger than a dagger. (Except for a magic staff, if he is a Wizard.)
  • The Paladin class is never mentioned (beyond a note in the manual for dealing with undead), making it the only game in the series without it.
  • It's the only game where the Hero's sprite (during gameplay) has a cape.^note The Hero does have his cape when first arriving in Shapeir in Trial by Fire, however he's given a costume change before gameplay begins.
  • There's no "Tell/Tell About" command. Instead, the Hero will automatically fill characters in on plot-relevant details as appropriate (although there's really only two instances: Telling the Healer about the Dispel Potion, and when you confront Yorick about Elsa).
• Easter Egg: Dancing for the fairies with less than 20 agility will have the hero "dance" by flailing around haphazardly, and the fairies will make fun of him. They'll still give you the fairy dust you need, though.
• Epic Poem:
  • The prophecy that you unwittingly came to Spielburg to fulfill; Erasmus and the Baron will tell you about it if you ask them the right questions:
  Comes a hero from the East,
  Free the man from in the beast,
  Bring the child from out the band,
  Drive the curser from the land.
  • If you get the Golden Ending (by doing all of the above), you get another one:
  Thus the hero from the East
  Freed the man from form of beast
  Saved beauty from the brigand's band
  And forced the Ogress to flee the land.
  The brigand band has been dispersed
  Their treasure has been reimbursed.
  And so with Kattas and Abdulla Doo
  You bid the valley a fond adieu.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: The only soft thing about the bartender is his "MAMA" tattoo (try typing "ask about mama" ^note "Look, buddy, don't get personal!").
• Even Evil Has Standards: The bandit leader prohibits the bandits from attacking the villagers. That's a big clue that the bandit leader is actually the kind-hearted daughter of the Baron.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Troll sweat.
• Explosive Breeder: The Antwerp, literally.
• Fairy Ring: There is a ring of magic mushrooms in the forest, which is protected by the fairies at night. If they see you go inside their ring, they will dance you to death. Their only true use is to be given to the healer for a gold coin apiece. Eating one will make the screen briefly flash with colors. Eating more will kill you.
• Fake Wizardry: A large group of brigands are terrorizing the countryside, aided in part by a strange wizard. Hints are dropped throughout the game, however, that said wizard isn't really using magic, and in the end the "wizard" turns out to be the local baron's old jester, who has been using a mixture of intelligence, stage magic, blinding powders, and the rudimentary magic that even a non magic user can wield by knowing the right words or ingredients to mix together. He knows he's out of his league against a real magic-slinger, and will run away immediately if you try to use magic of your own against him.
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: How you neutralize Die Drei Knochelkopfen.^note  The Three Knuckleheads
• Fast-Forward Gag: When you clean the stables, it's overlaid with a sped up version of the main theme.
• Forced Transformation:
  • Baba Yaga turns the hero into a frog.
  • The Dryad turns you into a stag or a flower if you attack a peaceful herbivore or kill a rare plant.
  • As you discover during the game, a Kobold turned the missing Baronet into a bear.
• Funetik Aksent:
  • 'Enry the 'ermit 'as all of 'is initial "h"s omitted from 'is speech. (Cos 'e's named after a cockney song, innee, guv'ner?)
  • Near the end of the game, you may encounter a troll in his cave; you can convince him to retreat deeper into his cave by asking him to play "hide and go seek" in his own accent: "Hiden Goseke".
• Gargle Blaster: "Don't drink the Dragon's Breath!" Also, Troll's Sweat, which tastes like troll sweat. Troll's Sweat is so strong it knocks you out after one drink, and you wake up with a much lighter coin purse. Dragon's Breath turns you into a pile of ashes.
  • The regular ale isn't much better.
  It isn't the worst beer you've ever had.
• Global Currency: Averted. You start with gold and silver coins in the first game, but once you get into the sequels you have to convert them into local currencies (dinars/centimes, royals/commons, crowns/kopeks). The last game doesn't have any conversion, you're given 200 drachmas regardless of previous income.
• Go Wait Outside: The Healer in the VGA remake does this when making the Dispel Potion. In the original EGA version, however, the healer actually does take an in-game day to make the potion for you, as does Salim in Quest for Glory III.
• Goomba Stomp: The Antwerp will use one on you if you attack it.
• The Goomba: The goblins and the purple Sauruses (Saurii?).
• Got Volunteered: None of the fairies want to give you fairy dust, so they make a fairy named Mikey do it. Which doubles as one of the game's MANY Shout Outs, this one to the Life Cereal commercials.
• Gratuitous German: We have places such as Spielburg ^note literally "Game Castle" and Zauberberg ^note literally "Magic Mountain". There's also a band of brigands with the motto "Brigands Uber Alles"^note "Brigands above all", a play on the German anthem that once began with "Deutschland über Alles", as well as a brigand trio called "Die Drei Knochelkopfen ^note correct: Die drei Knöchelköpfe - the three knuckleheads, though the word does not actually exist in German. The thieves' password in the VGA version Is Always Schwertfisch, and the random passwords in the EGA version are German words: Rheingold - Rhine gold; Schweinehund - pig dog^note a somewhat dated German insult, Deutschmark - German currency, and Schwertfisch - swordfish.
• Gravity Is a Harsh Mistress: The Brigand Fortress' deep chasm and rug trap.
  • Also, you can slip and fall from 'arry the 'ermit's front porch if you try to run while standing on it, as it's slippery due to the spray from the adjacent waterfall.
• Level Grinding: If you want to get good at something, you have to practice it. A lot. The closer you get to the cap (in this game, 100), the harder it is to raise your stat. Fortunately, there are many places in the game to practice your skills. You can reach 100 in all skills within just a few in-game days, making the rest of the game significantly easier - though the puzzles are mostly harder than the skill-related challenges.
• Guide Dang It!: Largely averted, as most puzzles in the game are fairly easy to logic out either from context, or simply paying attention. The exception is how to get the green fur needed to complete the Dispel Potion, which can easily leave a player stumped for days.^note There is precisely one green-furred creature in the game, the Green Meep. Just trying to get the fur, either by taking it or attempting to attack the Meep results in the Hero uselessly trying to manhandle the critter out of the ground, and there's no shed fur that you can collect on the ground. The solution is to simply ask for it. The only hint you get anywhere in the game how to approach this puzzle is that the Healer mentions that a green-furred creatures is undoubtedly magical. However magical doesn't necessarily mean sentient, especially as there are a number of magical or enchanted creatures in the game that are non-sentient and unable to be communicated with. This is far easier on the VGA version of the game, where you will, almost inevitably, try the "talk" icon on a meep at some point, but much more difficult on the EGA version where you have to figure out the correct command to type in.
  • The official guide also has a bit of a problem in the Brigand Fortress assault, where it will tell you what to do, but not when to do it: the dining room is the only room where you are expected to do things at specific times rather than immediately. If you block the right-side door before the brigand's peer through the window, they'll go to the unblocked door and you'll die. If you knock over the candelabra before Die Drei Knochelkopfen go behind the table, they'll go around the front and you'll die. If you climb up on the table before they get to the end, they'll just turn around and you'll die. Every other puzzle and situation in the game lets you do all of that immediately, but the official guide and hint book both tell you to do all of that, but not that you have to wait until the right moment to do it.
• Have a Nice Death: It's Sierra. Expect to die hilariously and often. For added hilarity, try using the lockpick on yourself at low skill levels.
• Heroic BSoD: Baron von Spielburg, ever since Baba Yaga's curse caused him to lose his son and daughter.
• Home-Run Hitter: Downplayed a bit with Brauggi. Pick a fight with him and he will swing for the fences with his axe, sending you across the screen, likely killing you.
• Honor Among Thieves: Slink and Sneak, who work the alley in Spielburg-town at night, won't rob you if you make the Thief sign the first time you meet them. If you ever meet them again, though, you'd better have a license...
• I'm a Humanitarian:
  • An oddly accidental case: If you cast the Calm spell in battle, you get a game over screen telling you that the monster calmly eats you. This will happen even if you are fighting a human brigand.
  • A complicated case: Baba Yaga is an ogre who likes to turn sentient beings into normally non-sentient animals (though the transformed beings retain their sentience). Then she eats them.
• Inertial Impalement: How to avoid the Antwerp's aforementioned Goomba Stomp: Hold up a sword or dagger and let gravity do the rest.
• In Name Only: The dreaded Antwerp has nothing to do with its namesake.
• Interface Screw: Eat some of the Magic Mushrooms for a minor one.
• Killer Rabbit: If you want to rob the old lady, beware her cute kitty.
• Laser-Guided Karma: The game deals a lot with the theme of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you". The valley is cursed specifically because the Baron decided he didn't like Baba Yaga in his valley, despite the fact that she was keeping to her own business. He tried to run her out of the valley and lost his children as a result. More directly, the actions you take can come back to bite you very quickly: killing the seed-spitting spirea flower to get the seed for the Dryad results in her turning you into one of the flowers out of vengeance; stealing from the Healer gets you locked out of her hut for the rest of the game; and on and on.
• Lampshade Hanging: Occurs several times (though not as much as later games in the series), but the most blatant example is when you kill your first goblin in the training center, where his corpse ends up quite a ways away from you after the battle^note The goblin corpse positions are predetermined, with eight possible positions available (and the position of the corpse determining the amount of silver they'll have to loot). The first goblin you kill always ends up in the position that nets you 6 silver coins, which is, coincidentally, halfway across the screen:

  Wow! You threw that dead goblin a long way!

• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: To a lesser degree than some of the later installments.
• Level Scaling: The difficulty of the random monster encounters in the woods depends on the Hero's experience points. After he reaches 1000 experience, Cheetaurs, Saurus Rex, and Mantrays start showing up during the day, and Trolls at night. Certain weaker monsters also stop appearing at all (especially the Saurus).
• Lineage Ladder: Henry the Hermit comes from a family of hermits, including both his parents and all his siblings, as well as a long line of his male ancestors. Ask him about his name and he'll happily share the details of his lineage with you:
  I'm 'Enry. 'Enry the eighth I is. Me farther was an 'Enry and 'is farther was an 'Enry and 'is farther was an 'Enry and 'is farther was an 'Enry and 'is farther was an 'Enry and 'is farther was an 'Enry and 'is farther was an 'Enry. And every one was an 'ermit.
• The Lost Woods: Spielburg Forest. By day you may happen upon the occasional goblin or brigand, but don't go out at night unless you're ready to fight (or run from) something much larger.
• Karma Houdini: You, if you do any breaking and entering in Spielburg and don't get caught. It also has no bearing on whether or not you can become a Paladin in later games, though stealing in those games can jeopardize your chances. It may be a bit of Gameplay and Story Segregation at work as there was no Honor stat in the first game.
  • The Baron and the Baronet did have bad karma for insulting Baba Yaga and the Kobold respectively, but the Hero ended up helping them escape from that karma. And the Baronet, at least, turned out to be just as much of a Jerkass after his curse was lifted as he was before. Quest for Glory V reveals that the Baronet got WORSE when he actually took the role of Baron, prompting Elsa to get the hell out of Spielburg so as not to deal with his nonsense anymore.
• Magic Dance: The fairies dance at night to make the flowers grow. They'll also make you dance if you do something they don't like.
• Magic Mushroom: There's a ring of them somewhere in the forest. The healer wants them for potion ingredients, just don't pick them at night, because they're guarded by fairies. You can eat 'em, too! Just don't overdo it...
• The Marvelous Deer: The hero followed the white stag to its resting place. It led him to the Dryad who was a spirit of nature. If the player attempts to harm the stag the Dryad will turn him into whatever he attacked, invoking a Game Over.
• The Maze: With The Trickster throwing items at you as you fumble through it. However, the bandits cross it quickly, since they've crossed it before, and don't have to deal with the Trickster.
  • In the EGA version, asking the right questions will prompt the Warlock to reveal his true identity, and he'll recognize you've come to help. At this point he'll leave the area to help prepare an escape, which makes the maze room much easier to negotiate since you don't have to deal with Yorrick. For some reason this trigger was cut from the VGA version; casting a spell will make him flee, but otherwise it's not possible to get rid of Yorrick and avoid having to navigate his room while you're under attack.
  • There's also a Minigame a character with magical abilities can play with Erasmus called Mage's Maze, which involves guiding a "bug" through a maze.
• Meaningful Name: "Schultz" is German for "sheriff" (though it is also a common surname), whereas Wolfgang of the Adventurer guild's surname is Abenteuer - adventure.
• Medieval European Fantasy: This game is more medieval and European than the others, although the fourth game comes fairly close.
• Milking the Giant Cow: The Chief, while he's ranting about yet another rookie thief joining his guild.
• Mini-Game: Mage's Maze, which you can play with Erasmus if you know the required spells.
  • Also Dag-Nab-It, a dagger throwing game available to the Thief.
  • And arguably sparring with the Weapon Master for the Fighter.
• Missing Mom: Hilde's mother. Same with Elsa and Barnard's mother who died shortly after giving birth to Elsa.
• Mix-and-Match Critter: The mantray is described as a cross between a manta ray and a sting ray... Except it doesn't swim underwater, it floats in the air and shoot lightning bolts at you!
• Money Spider: Averted. The only enemies that carry any cash are Goblins, Brigands, Trolls, the Ogre, and the Minotaur. Non-humanoid monsters like Sauruses, (Saurii?) the Saurus Rex, Mantrays, and Cheetaurs don't carry anything, though you can earn some coin off Cheetaurs by collecting their claws to sell to the Healer.
• Mr. Exposition: Most characters in the game can fill you in on a lot of backstory, or at least on whatever would be relevant to where they live or what they do.
• Multiple Endings: You can rescue Elsa and head straight to the castle. This will immediately trigger the ending, which mean you fail to beat Baba Yaga. You leave for Shapeir and you get a message that the valley is still cursed. Oddly, the only consequence of this is that your imported character in the second game starts with a little less money.
  • Though there actually was Developer's Foresight, finally picked up by the Fan Remake of Quest for Glory II. Back in the day, the Coles must have decided to store the flag for whether you had fought off Baba Yaga in your exported save character, but most probably realized that implementing it and acting upon it would result in a lot of headaches down the road, partly because of the technical limitations, partly because of plot points in future games like explained below.
  • Although killing the Baronet as a Bear nets you negative points, this only nets you the Standard Ending where the valley remains cursed, when it should actually screw the scenario down the road.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The only reason the valley was cursed is because the Baron decided he didn't want Baba Yaga hanging around. Sure, she's evil, (and cheats at cards) but she pretty much kept to herself and didn't actually do anything until the Baron attacked her first.
• No Canon for the Wicked: The Golden Ending is canon; there are important plot points in Quest for Glory IV and V that depend on the premise that the Hero had defeated Baba Yaga and rescued Barnard, respectively.
• Nose Shove: Don't pick your nose with lockpicks if your skill is too low or you'll die.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The Night Gaunts. Averted if you don't sleep in the woods at night.
• Our Goblins Are Different: Here they are little ugly blue-skinned guys (or green-skinned in the VGA version) who carry clubs and shields, and wear horned helmets. They are the lowliest of Mooks in this game and are only dangerous to very low-level players, or in the Goblin Central Combat Training Zone, where you can fight a group of goblins one after the other.
• Our Ogres Are Hungrier: The game has a single ogre guarding a cave. Baba Yaga is also an ogre, but female ogres tend to be much smarter than males, and are usually Evil Sorcerers rather than Smash Mooks.
• The Password Is Always "Swordfish": Well, it is, it's "Schwertfisch" (German for Swordfish) in the VGA remake, but knowing that doesn't do you any good unless someone actually tells you. In the original EGA game, it's random.
• Permanently Missable Content: The Fighter earns points the first time he kills a given type of monster. However because of the Level Scaling mentioned above, certain types may stop appearing if you advance too quickly. Reach that point before killing a type of monster, and you may never get those points. This is especially the case with the Saurus, which is supplanted by the Saurus Rex.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: 'enry the 'ermit is a hermit who loves company and loves to talk, so much so that if you give him some of your rations so you can crash at his place, he will talk all night, even while you are asleep.
• Poisoned Weapons: Bruno uses poison on his daggers. Make so much as a twitch that he thinks is suspicious and you'll get introduced to them.
• Police Brutality: If you get caught stealing in the town, the sheriff's deputy, a literal goon, will break your arm. The sheriff warned you he was only half-trained, didn't he?
• Pre-existing Encounters: Enemies appear and approach you while wandering around Spielburg Forest. You can run (though they can chase you through multiple screens), or throw daggers/stones or use magic to damage or kill the enemy before combat actually starts. These enemies always spawn from either the left or right side of the screen, so it's a good idea to wait a while on each screen (or check whether you can rest or not; you can't if a monster has spawned) before changing screens. If a monster is going to spawn from the west and you move west a screen before it appears, it will ambush you.
  • There are also certain screens that always spawn a particular type of enemy, specifically the path to the Brigand base front entrance, which always spawns a Brigand every time you enter the screen. This can be abused for quick money if you're good enough at combat, or to grind your stats.
  • Nonhumanoid monsters don't have north- or south-facing sprites, so it's fairly easy to escape from them just by fleeing north or south a screen or two.
• Press Start to Game Over: If you play a thief with a low lockpicking skill, you can pick your nose with the lockpick. If you do, you get a cerebral hemorrhage and die instantly. In the updated version, you can show the lockpick to the Sheriff and instantly get a game over. Both of these can be done on your very first move.
• Public Domain Character: Baba Yaga.
• Race Lift: An odd example in the VGA remake: Sauruses (Saurii?) are purple while Goblins are blue-skinned in the EGA version, while in the remake they're both recolored green. However the description doesn't change, and the game still refers to purple Sauruses (Saurii?) and blue-skinned Goblins.
• Real Is Brown: The remake (like most 256-color, VGA games) has a much more subdued, "realistic" palette than the original 16-color EGA game.
• Retcon: In the EGA version, if you ask Zara about Erana's Peace, she will tell you that it's Erana's final resting place. In the VGA remake, she says that it's rumored to be Erana's final resting place, but nobody knows for sure what happened to her. Quest for Glory IV confirms what happened to her, and that Erana's Peace was not her final resting place.
• Retired Badass: Wolfgang Abenteuer, the master of the Adventurer's Guild. He killed most of the monsters whose heads are now mounted on the walls of the Guild Hall. Schultz Meistersson was pretty badass in his day as well, and he and Wolfgang were able to keep Spielburg Valley relatively free of monsters. Nowadays Schultz is just the sheriff (though he's still no pushover) and Wolfgang spends his days napping in the Guild Hall and telling stories to anyone who will listen. The Baron, himself, personally prevented a pair of dragons from taking over the valley, one whose fearsome head overshadows the other impressive displays in the Guild Hall.
• Rule of Three: The Ale takes three orders before it does anything^note besides descriptions of not being very pleasant, then that this place is so much friendlier than you had realized, at which point you black out and wake up on the doorstep with your money gone.
• Running Gag: One from the FACS Guide included in the boxed set of the original game is a disagreement over whether the plural of Saurus is "Sauruses" or "Saurii."^note Presented in the form Sauruses (Saurii?) as seen throughout this article.
• Secret Test of Character: The gargoyle guarding Erasmus' house sometimes asks you what the Thieves' Password is. Only a thief would know the password (in theory), and Erasmus doesn't like thieves entering his home. The correct answer, whether you're a thief or not, is "I don't know." In the original EGA version, you can guess wrong and still be allowed in; in the VGA version, even a "wrong" answer other than "I don't know" will get you turned away.
• Schmuck Bait: Slink and Sneak use a glowing coin to lure people into the dark alley.
• Shout-Out: Quite a few. A sizable part of the game's humor in both the original EGA version and the VGA remake are nods to other Sierra games, films, books, etc.
  • The baron's name is Stefan von Spielburg.
  • Fellow Sierra employees Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy, creators of Space Quest, known as "The Two Guys From Andromeda", have the honor of having slayed an Antwerp. (Something that is virtually impossible in-game no matter how skilled you are)
  • As in most games in the series there are a number of references to the Marx Brothers. The centaurs’ family name is Pferdefedern- Horse Feathers and a thieves’ guild password is Schwertfisch- swordfish, which was a password in that movie.
  • ‘Enry the ‘Ermit, who is the eighth in his family to follow that profession, is a reference to the cockney song I’m Henry the Eighth I Am made famous by Herman's Hermits.
  • Walking by Mirror Lake will sometimes cause a submarine to surface, with the narrator noticing that the sub looks out of place in a fantasy game and probably belongs in Codename: ICEMAN. In the VGA remake, the submarine is replaced with Delphineus, who's looking for Adam, only to realize he's in the wrong game.
  • Erasmus’ home Zauberberg translates as Magic Mountain and may refer either to the amusement park or to the novel Der Zauberberg by Thomas Mann.
  • To get into Erasmus' Tower, you'll need to answer three questions in an extended reference to the bridge scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. One of the questions can ask for the answer to life, the universe, and everything. If you answer the "What is your quest?" question with "To become a pirate", you'll be told you're in the wrong game. If your answer is "I seek the holy grail" (as in the Monty Python movie), you are informed that "that Jones guy" found it already.
  • The lobby of Erasmus' house in the EGA version includes: the "Rosella Stone", which has an hieroglyph of Rosella from King's Quest IV on it, a genuine Peruvian onklunk, a model of a small plane from Lytton PD and a suit of armor from the Dijon estate.
  • The VGA version of Erasmus' lobby has a casket tied with a Laura Bow, and if you look at the portrait of Erasmus, the game will note that he looks "subtle and quick to anger."
  • When asked about his magic mirror, Erasmus says that his hand mirror had a handle with a dragon. Fenrus reminds him that it was the flagon with the dragon.
  • When dancing with the fairies, one of them will state "All he wants to do is dance!" in reference to the 1984 Don Henley song, "All She Wants To Do Is Dance".
  • The mounted moose head from King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human and Leisure Suit Larry 1: In the Land of the Lounge Lizards makes an appearance, lampshaded with a plaque that reads "Courtesy of Sierra Prop Dept."
  • Apparently The Three Stooges found work as brigands. You even dispatch them in a slapstick manner.
  • In the VGA version, going to a specific forest screen several times will result in Earl from Dinosaurs walking along the road.
  • Yorick the jester was likely inspired by Hamlet.
    Yorick: Alas, poor Yorick! I know me well.
  • While navigating Yorick's maze, the game will state that "M.C. Escher would love this place" (he was famous for drawing impossible rooms).
  • The black falcon in the thieves’ den refers to The Maltese Falcon (1941). You will see it again.
• Sore Loser: It is possible to beat the weapon master.

  Weapon Master: By your leave, I hope your sword rusts and your cape fragments in the most awful manner.

• Sorting Algorithm of Evil: When you pass a certain number of experience points, the game starts throwing much tougher random monsters at you in the forest. The weak saurus monsters you fought before are replaced with saurus rexes and some of the stronger monsters that only appear at night early in the game will start coming out during the day.
• The Starscream: Bruno and a partner named Brutus are planning to take over control of the brigands.
• Stone Wall: The Brigands. They fight defensively with their shields and do nothing but counterattacks.
• Stupidity Is the Only Option: Due to a lack of interactivity, in the VGA version, there's no way to leave Erasmus' tower without insulting him. Either you hear all his jokes and he kicks you out as a result, you try to stand up and insult him by trying to leave without saying goodbye (which is not an option), or you click the hand icon on something and he gets mad at you for trying to steal something. There are no other ways to get out of his tower. Fortunately, he never holds it against you.
• Take a Third Option: The importance of being able to recognize this is emphasized in the foreword of the adventurer's correspondence course manual that came with the game.
• Timed Mission: After meeting Baba Yaga, the hero has until the next sunrise to complete her quest before frog time. Oh, and the mandrake root can only be acquired at midnight.
• Troll: The game teases you if you mistake the huge approaching ogre for a troll, likewise slay the fiend and search his body for loot, it'll again taunt you by saying there's nothing on him... except a large treasure chest.
• The Unfought: Bruno, who the hero will never face, even if the hero kills his partner Brutus. Perhaps that's just as well for the hero, since regardless of how much level grinding the hero does in the game, making any suspicious moves around Bruno or running into him in the forest after his meeting with Brutus will result in Bruno instantly killing the hero with his poisoned daggers. He returns in Quest for Glory V, where, having stopped a few Eldritch Abomination-level enemies from getting loose, there's no arguing that the hero's ready to take on a human assassin anymore.
• Unintentionally Unwinnable: In the VGA version, you can save at any time, but in a couple of instances, restoring the save results in an in-game timer running out far faster than it otherwise would, preventing you from taking a necessary action and usually resulting in a game over.
  • The worst example is Baba Yaga's mandrake quest. It is timed and can only be completed using a very expensive potion. If you don't have the money, you'll find that it really isn't easy being green.
• Unwinnable by Design:
  • If you eat the magic acorn or do something that will anger the Dryad, you won't be able to make the Dispel Potion.
  • On a related note, if you steal from the healer, she bans you from her store afterwards. If you haven't already gotten the Dispel Potion, there's no other way to craft it.
  • If you confront the Brigand Leader without the Dispel Potion, then you're doomed. You can't leave, and any other action you take is a game over.
    • Though there is actually a bug someone exploited on a speed run in the VGA version, where you can throw a knife somewhere, regaining the ability to move, and just leave the room to go straight to the ending.
  • There are bonus quests for extra points, money, and the Golden Ending (saving the Baronet, dealing with Baba Yaga). You can make their completion impossible while still being able to finish the main goal of the game (dispelling the Brigand Leader).
• Video Game Remake: The game was re-released with VGA graphics, point and click interface, extra Easter Egg and some minor tweaks.
• Victory Pose: The Hero will do one if you beat the Minotaur in combat, rather than sneaking past or putting him to sleep. He apparently doesn't die, though, as you can see him in the crowd in the throne room at the end of the game, sporting bandages, and he shows up in a much friendlier capacity in the fifth game.
  • The Hero takes a bow after beating up goblins in the Goblin Training Center.
• Wide-Open Sandbox: Surprisingly for an Adventure Game, you are dropped in an open world where you can pretty much go anywhere except for some hidden areas and you can complete the main quest (And a few Side-Quests) in a non-linear fashion.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: The dragon whose head is mounted on the wall of the Adventurer's Guild in Spielburg was slain by Baron von Spielburg and the guild, but its mate is said to still be alive.
• You Shouldn't Know This Already: In the VGA version, you cannot give the Thieves' Password to Crusher until someone tells you what it is in-game even though it is always Schwertfisch (the EGA version gets around this by randomizing the password for each playthrough), nor can you loot claws off of a Cheetaur or the beard off of a Troll until you have asked the healer about those ingredients.

---