Game 45: Quest for Glory II - Butt Kicking for Goodness

Tricky Journal Entry 5: "Things were pretty quiet in the days following my capture of the Fire Elemental. I took advantage of the lull to get some training in at the guild, and then tested my increasing skills out on various villains I crossed paths with in the desert. The hard work is really paying off too, as I finally managed to defeat Issur in an arm wrestle. More importantly though, today I captured an Air Elemental that was tearing up the city in a similar way to the Fire Elemental. I guess it's only a matter of time before Wind and Earth come to complete the set!"

If I only had a dinar for every thanks I received!

Right, I’m back from my little break, and completed a lengthy four hour session of Quest for Glory II last evening. It was a session I needed to have, spending the vast majority of the time grinding and trying to defeat the various creatures found in the desert surrounding Shapeir. I’ll include a screenshot of my character stats before and after the session so you can all judge how successful I was.

If I haven't already mentioned it, the numbers in red are the ones that have changed since I last viewed the character screen. Very helpful!

My session began mid-morning on day 5, having just captured the Fire Elemental in my oil lamp. With the first of four Elementals out of the way, I had a think about what I might be able to achieve while I waited for the next one to arrive. I decided heading back out into the desert was the best thing to do, giving me the opportunity to increase my stats fighting foes while hopefully uncovering some interesting locations. I’d found the griffin while walking directly west of Shapeir, so this time I traveled east. After passing through five or six barren screens, I discovered an odd tree! It was the human-shaped tree that Aziza had told me about! I was happy to have found it, but I also knew that I was not going to be able to help the poor woman that was trapped within. Aziza had told me that I would need to give her three gifts, with the first one (the gift of Kindness) being some water, but she’d also informed me that I didn’t have the sacrifice needed to fulfill the second gift (the gift of Magic). I considered giving the tree some water from my waterskin, but decided it was too valuable to me while I was still exploring the desert. I soon made my way back to Shapeir, defeating a couple of Brigands in battle on the way.

I'm surprised my wussy saurus didn't bolt at the sight of this creepy tree.

Given my success rate with other creatures, this Brigand should be ashamed of himself!

After filling my waterskins and having some rest at the Inn to recover my stamina, I spent some time training with Uhura in the Fighter’s Guild. I have to admit that I really struggle with the combat system early on. Hitting things wasn't the issue, as it was just a matter of choosing whether I wanted to swing high or low, or thrust my sword up the middle. Defending was something else entirely! I was determined to increase my Parry skill, since it was higher than my Dodge skill by default, but I never seemed to be able to choose the right block. It was only when I realised the three parry keys were low, middle and high rather then left, middle and right (it’s really not that clear from the visuals and I obviously didn’t read the manual properly) that things started to click a bit. Soon I was doing much better, training for quite some time before running out of stamina. I spent most of an entire day going between the Fighter's Guild and the Inn, recovering my stamina before expending it once again. Doing this not only increased my stats fairly significantly, but Uhura also gave me some tips on how to fight some of the creatures found in the game. “Scorpion always wiggle tail before it strikes. Be ready to dodge.” “Jackalmen may be cowards, but they fight well. Keep sword on one at a time. Take it out as fast as possible.”

This lesson wasn't particularly helpful.

By midday on day six I’d increased my Strength stat to 92, my Agility to 87, my Vitality to 89, and my Weapon Use to 105. My Intelligence, Luck, Honor, Parry, Dodge and Communication were all gradually increasing as well. I’d planned to train for a bit longer, but when I next visited the Guild, Rakeesh announced on my arrival that the city wished to reward me for saving it from the Fire Elemental. “You have saved the city with your courage and your resourcefulness. The land of Shapeir is indebted to you. By order of the Sultan, Harun Al-Rashid, I have been asked to give you this reward for your actions.” The Liontaur gave me 50 dinars! (3 points) This sudden increase in funds reminded me that Issur was selling a sword for 100 dinars in the Weapon Shop. I now had over 150, so raced over and bought it! “Having traded in your old sword and paid 100 dinars, you now have one of Issur’s swords. For all his bragging, he does make a fine weapon.” Having been totally embarrassed by Chet’s magic user earlier on, I decided to try my luck at arm wrestling Issur while I was there. I lasted a bit longer this time, even getting into a winning position temporarily, but couldn't finish the guy off before running out of stamina! Either Chet’s character was seriously buff after being imported, or I’m really losing my touch when it comes to action mini games.

Hey, you don't think you could get me an invite to his palace do you? Cause that would be like, cool and shit!

Oh come on! You could have at least called it a Fine Sword of Lightning Bolts + 2!

YOU: Suck. ISSUR: Doesn't suck.

After another morning of training on day 7, I felt determined to go and fight some nasties. To this point I’d only managed to defeat Brigands in the desert, having been crushed in battles with Scorpions and Terrorsaurus’. It didn’t take me long to find a Scorpion, and while my stamina was pretty much gone at the end of the fight, my hit points were well and truly intact. I’d won! (3 points) I remembered to pick up the Scorpion’s tail before leaving the scene, as that was one of the ingredients Harik had asked for at the Apothecary. (5 points) I was feeling much more formidable after this victory, and with all my major fighting stats now over 100, I raced back to Shapeir to rest before taking on Issur once again! I finally defeated him on my next attempt, not only having the required strength, but also finally getting the hang of the wrestling system. (7 points)

Of course it might just have been the sword!

YOU: Finally don't suck! ISSUR: Has taken over suckage.

All my grinding was finally paying off, so after selling the Scorpion tail to Harik for 20 dinars, I went Terrorsaurus hunting! It actually took me quite some time to find one, but when I did it simply didn’t stand a chance. Just about every one of my swings made contact, and I was able to parry the majority of its kicks as well. It went down quickly, giving me no reward apart from pride and some increased stats. (3 points) My supply of water seemed to be decreasing much slower now, probably due to my increased Vitality, so I figured I could spare some. I made my way east to the woman shaped tree and typed “pour water on tree”. Tricky bent down and poured it into the roots, and while nothing visible occurred, I gained some points for it. (7 points) I recalled that Aziza had told me to tell the woman about myself to “give meaning to the gift”. I typed “tell woman about self”, at which point Tricky told her of all my adventures, covering all the major events from Spielburg to Shapeir. (5 points) When the story was complete, the tree twisted around, revealing the woman’s face in the wood. I still couldn’t give her the second gift, and didn’t yet know what the Gift of Love even was (perhaps a kiss?), but at least I was making progress.

20 Dinars!!! I'm going on a Scorpion hunt!

Damn straight it is!

She's a little stiff for my liking.

On the morning of day 8 I awoke to another crisis. An Air Elemental was causing much destruction in the Plaza of the Palace! I raced over there, confident that I would be able to handle the situation. It was only when I was standing in front of the twister-with-eyes that I wondered how the heck I was going to do anything about it. Nothing in my inventory looked like it would be useful, so I went through my screenshots to see what Aziza had had to say: “The essence of Air is freedom of movement. As long as there is a place for Air to go, it will continue to grow in destructive power. Only when it is bound to the Earth can it be contained. You should ask someone better versed then I in the nature of Air how to go about this.” Someone better versed in the nature of air? Well, Keapon Laffin seemingly spends his whole life levitating in the Magic Shop. Perhaps he would have some cryptic words of wisdom.

Perhaps the Air Elemental is a blessing in disguise!

As soon as I walked into the Magic Shop, I knew it was the right place to be. Keapon started spurting out lines about the Elemental with his usual play-on-word aplomb: “I heard the gusty Air Elemental has a tempestuous relationship with his own twister. They had a whirlwind affair, but it’s winding down if you catch my drift.” I asked him about the Air Elemental, and got the info I was after: “If you’re led to behead an airhead, don’t let him lead the chase. Glue his shoes with goo, Blue, and throw mud in his face. It’s fair to snare the air there, then put him in his place.”(5 points)  Did he mean that I should literally throw mud at the Elemental? I asked him about mud, and it turned out he had some Fooler’s Earth in stock that he was willing to part with. “It used to make dark stains on light clothes. If you need it to ground old Blowhard, it’s yours for a song. Dust in the Wind. All you need is dust in the wind.” I took the pot of dirt and went to leave, but the crazy shop owner had something else he wanted me to know: “The Dervish of the desert sent a Bedouin to my boudoir, and I hear he needs a hero for to help him bait a beast.” Now I had another reason to pay the Dervish a visit in his Oasis, but first I had an Air Elemental to catch!

I'm inspired to use the word "dearth" in a normal conversation before the week is out.

This time when I was confronted by the Elemental in the Plaza of the Palace, I typed “throw mud at air elemental”. Tricky did as I commanded, but the projectile failed to hit the mark. I tried a couple more times and finally received a message saying “You have managed to throw the dirt into the centre of the funnel.” The Elemental continued to spin, but now it appeared to be stuck in the one spot. Clearly I was supposed to capture it was restrained, but unlike the Fire Elemental, I didn’t seem to have anything that would be suitable. Eventually the Air Elemental broke free of its captivity and continued on its merry way around the plaza. What would I catch air in? Bellows? Had I seen bellows somewhere? I thought perhaps I had in the Weapon Shop, but since the Magic Shop was on the way, decided to drop in and ask Keapon Laffin how to contain the air. His answer confirmed my belief that bellows were the key: “Go find a fellow who’ll loan you his bellows. And if you can’t play, just take them away, Jay.” I made my way to the Weapon Shop and asked Issur about bellows: “The bellows is a sign of my trade. What about it?” I asked him for them and to my surprise he actually gave them to me! “You have shown yourself worthy by defeating me at arm wrestling. Let me get them for you.” (7 points)

I'm glad I had a Throwing skill of 50 to begin with.

Has anyone tried just taking the bellows as a fighter? Keapon seems to suggest it's possible.

With the bellows in my possession, I went back to the plaza, threw some dirt into the Air Elemental’s funnel, and then used the bellows. It worked perfectly, and the Elemental was sucked into the bellows before my eyes! (20 points) I’d now captured the Fire Elemental and the Air Elemental, and had them in my inventory within the oil lamp and the bellows respectively. I figured this meant I likely had a few more days to grind away before a third Elemental attacked the city. I'd have to come up with an efficient use of the time. I’d already defeated all the foes I’d seen in the desert during the day, but I’d never been out at night. If Hero’s Quest was anything to go by, the creatures I would find after dark would be different to the ones that roam in the sunlight. Now that this post is done, I plan to rest Tricky until nightfall, then head out to see what’s about. I may pay the Dervish a visit while I’m there, since he seems to have a quest for me to undertake.

Who ya gonna call?!

Damn I'm good!!!

It took a near four hour session, but I finally feel like a Hero!

Session Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
Total Time: 9 hours 00 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!