Game 26: Hero's Quest - Final Rating

It’s taken me a bit longer than I would have liked to get to this final rating post. The reason for that is one to be happy about though, which is I’m desperately trying to get all my work done so I can have the entirety of January off! Anyway, I’ve been looking forward to finding out whether Hero’s Quest can top The Adventure Gamer leader board, so I’ll waste no further time...

Puzzles and Solvability
It’s strange really, but for an adventure game of such high regard, the puzzles are really not the game’s high point. There not particularly difficult, with the majority of them being pretty darn obvious. Brauggi demands handfuls of fruit. Go buy handfuls of fruit and give it to him! Much of the game revolves around a dispel potion, and the ingredients for that are pretty easy to find and collect also. With Hero’s Quest, it’s more about the journey than the destination though! What you need to do might generally be obvious from a puzzle point of view, but gaining enough skill to do it is where the fun is to be found. That’s why I consider the game to be a true RPG / adventure hybrid, despite the wrappings being very much in the typical Sierra adventure game mould.

Even once you figure out how to get past this scene, you still have to have the skill to do it

I can’t discuss puzzles without mentioning the replayability of the game. Being able to play the game as one of three character classes, or a hybrid of them, means the game can be played over with totally different solutions. Playing as a thief or magic user means you have to think very differently than you would as a fighter, and while the plot is generally unaffected by these distinctions in the game, it’s a pretty cool way to give the game some longevity. I do have to mention that the character class puzzle solutions system does have an unfortunate result, and I think I experienced that a lot due to choosing a pure fighter class. A lot of puzzles were solved by brute force or by throwing things, simply because those were the skills and attributes my character had. “If all else fails, throw some rocks” worked more often than not, which wasn’t as satisfying as it could have been. I also should mention that the scenes leading up to the climax were more about trial and error than logical deduction, which is not ideal.
Rating: 7

How to get that seed? Oh I know! I'll throw a rock!

Interface and Inventory
Hero’s Quest adds some nifty new features to this category, and they're all handled pretty well. The RPG aspect of the game demands a character statistics screen, and the one here has everything you would want it to and is easy to navigate. The addition of coloured numbers to emphasise the statistics that have changed since the last time you visited the screen is also a welcome feature. The inventory also requires some additional attributes to meet the hybrid nature of the game, with money and total item weight sections included. It all works well enough without demanding much further discussion.

Not the type of screen normally associated with adventure games

Movement in the game is handled as you would expect for an SCI0 adventure game, yet I don’t recall getting stuck or frustrated at any stage during the game (which can’t be said for Codename: ICEMAN!). Similarly, I can’t recall fighting with the parser very much, with the great descriptions on each screen giving you no need to guess item labels, and the parser itself not being limited to only precise wordings. I have to admit (and I hope this doesn’t turn out to be embarrassing), but I figured out after playing the game that I could right click on anything on the screen and be given a description of it. Has that feature been in previous games and I just didn’t know?

Not even Erasmus' stairs could halt my progress

Of course, the fighting sequences are a new addition, and require some focus. I have to admit that I really struggled with this part of the game during my first few sessions. Not so much because it wasn’t intuitive, but more because it simply wasn’t effective. I couldn’t be reactive at all and was forced to guess when to dodge and when to attack due to the high speed at which the enemies were attacking me. However, once I played around with the speed settings of the game (not enough to make battle too easy), the fights became very enjoyable. The more skill my character gained, the easier fighting was too, which really highlights how well executed the RPG elements are. Overall, the interface of Hero’s Quest is not highly advanced, but it’s extremely slick and professional, giving the player little reason to think about movement and commands, and more reason to just enjoy themselves!
Rating: 7

They even dealt with multiple enemies, albeit in a rather primitive way (one at a time)

Story and Setting
As with a lot of games from this era, the story is a very simple one. The setup it totally contrived, right down to the only exit from the valley being blocked by a snowstorm, and the game purposely steals clichés from other similarly themed stories. It’s pretty comparable to King’s Quest, although Hero’s Quest takes more of a classic fantasy approach (monsters, treasure, quests) than the fairy tale approach found in Roberta Williams’ series, which is definitely more to my liking. However, while the story itself is nothing to get excited about, the little (often humorous) details that flesh it out and the many unique characters the player meets on the way make the whole thing feel much more interesting. I guess it’s also worth pointing out that RPGs often have very thin plots, which is necessary to give the player freedom to forge their own path. I can’t say Hero’s Quest can completely use this as an excuse, but it definitely stops me from being too harsh.
Rating: 5

Snow you say? Looks like a pretty fine day to me!

Sound and Graphics
While the sound effects of the game are merely on par with other recent Sierra games, Hero’s Quest has hands down the best music of any game on the list so far. At first I thought that belief might have more to do with nostalgia than actual quality, but over time I have realised just about every tune in the game gets stuck in my head due to how catchy and entertaining it is. Even right now, days after I last played the game, the various tunes of Erana’s Peace, the goblin training ground, Baba Yaga’s hut, and most of all the battle music, are running through my head. The main theme itself was not as iconic as I remembered, but that I assume is because my more recent experiences with it came from later games in the series, where the sound quality was far superior.

The little Arabian flourish towards the end is a nice hint towards the sequel

Apart from the overuse of pink, which I think is supposed to be purple and merely looks pink in DOSBOX, the graphics are also really great for the time. They outdid King’s Quest when it comes to fantasy scenery (the healer’s house, the Dryad, Erana’s Peace and the Mirror Lake are all very attractive indeed) and some of the darker scenes are very effectively done also. Most of all though, it’s the animation where I feel the game forged new ground! There is a lot of scripted action in the game, much of which involves the main character performing arrogant flourishes and bows, and they’re all very convincing and smooth. The combat scenes don’t have the same silky feel to them, but the enemies are given good presence and expression-filled character (I believe they were created through using built models?) All up I’d say the game is not quite up to Lucasarts’ high visual standard, but easily makes up the deficit through the wonderful music by Mark Seibert.
Rating: 7

The action scenes are really convincing and often humorous

Environment and Atmosphere
This is another area where Hero’s Quest excels. The environments within the game are reasonably varied, and all of them are memorable. I’ve mentioned it many times already, but there’s just something really beautiful and magical about many of the locations found in the game, and the generated atmosphere is delightful. The game has a very open feel, and gets the balance spot on between making the player wander aimlessly through endless bland landscape and feeling like their part of a largish game world. That game world is packed with the unexpected, with too many strange creatures to mention here. It’s these inhabitants that really give the game it’s character, with residents like the Meeps,  the Antwerp, Baba Yaga, ‘Enry the ‘Ermit, Yorick and the Fairies all gaining a firm place in adventure gaming history.
Rating: 8

Yet another scene dripping with atmosphere

Dialogue and Acting
Of course none of these characters would be all that memorable if it weren’t for the dialogue attributed to them. The variety of accents, intelligence levels, rhyming tendencies, senses of humour and mysteriousness make each and every one of them stand out from the rest. There’s actually a lot of dialogue in Hero’s Quest now that I look back at it, and it’s consistently charming and appropriately descriptive. Once again I have to highlight the sheer professionalism that comes through in the game, right down to the dialogue having no spelling or grammatical errors, and always being positioned in the most ideal place to limit instances where it overlaps the items or events it describes. I guess I still can’t pass the 6 mark though, as adventure games have a long way to go on this front.
Rating: 6

Oo doesn't love ol 'Enry?

So there you have it! The game comes in at 67, and I’m going to throw another point at it just because I can. I love this game and am thrilled to find it leading the pack by a whole 6 points. I have a feeling the next game on the list (Emmanuelle) won’t be threatening Hero’s Quest’s place at the top.



It's time to go see who wins a copy of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade! The answer is Fenrus! Congratulations! Send an email to theadventuregamer@gmail.com and I'll respond with the neccessary details.

82 CAPs for Jarikith
* Hero-U Support Award -50 CAPs - For supporting Hero-U with cold hard cash
* Genre Support Award - 5 CAPs - For commenting about a new adventure game sale on GOG
* Unfortunate Riddler Award - 5 CAPs - For finding a totally correct adventure game character name that was actually incorrect
* Riddler Award - 12 CAPs - For deciphering three of the mixed up adventure game characters
* Companion Award - 10 CAPs - For playing along with me and completing the game

55 CAPs for Corey Cole
* Optimism Award - 5 CAPs - For predicting his own game will top the leaderboard by 10 points
* Developer Input Award - 50 CAPs - For adding invaluable insider knowledge throughout the posts

50 CAPs for Zenic Reverie
*Hero-U Support Award - 35 CAPs - For supporting Hero-U with cold hard cash
* Companion Award - 10 CAPs - For playing along with me and completing the game
* Captain Obvious Award - 5 CAPs - For letting me know I could simply have typed "fight" to fight the kobold

40 CAPs for Canageek
* Genre Support Award - 20 CAPs - For consistent comments about adventure game sales on GOG
* Genre Support Award - 20 CAPs - For consistent comments about adventure game sales on Steam

35 CAPs for Cush1978
*Hero-U Support Award -35 CAPs - For supporting Hero-U with cold hard cash

30 CAPs for Draconius
* Dedicated Noobi Award - 10 CAPs - For spending four weeks catching up on the blog. Welcome Draconius!
* Character Export Award - 10 CAPs - For helping me export my character for later use
* Right Click Award - 10 CAPs - For making me realise I've ignored a great new "look" feature for the last few games

20 CAPs for Lars-Erik
* Sponsor Award - 20 CAPs - For sponsoring the blog with free games!

20 CAPs for Andy_Panthro
* Companion Award - 20 CAPs - For playing along with me and completing the game with complete 100 stats!

18 CAPs for Ilmari
* General Knowledge Award - 10 CAPs - For informing me that the Baronet was merely using the royal we and not a schizophrenic
* Riddler Award - 8 CAPs - For deciphering two of the mixed up adventure game characters

15 CAPs for Charles
* Expolding Poetry Award - 5 CAPs - For writing a poem about an expolding head
* Woolly Mammoth Award - 5 CAPs - For announcing the announcement of a new Syberia game
* Band Camp Award - 5 CAPs - You know what for!

14 CAPs for Fenrus
* Clairvoyant Award - 10 CAPs - For predicting the score I would give the game
* Riddler Award - 4 CAPs - For deciphering one of the mixed up adventure game characters

14 CAPs for Amy K
* Riddler Award - 4 CAPs - For deciphering one of the mixed up adventure game characters
* Companion Award - 10 CAPs - For playing along with me and completing the game

10 CAPs for archivis
* Riddler Award - 10 CAPs - For solving my Dragonsphere riddle

10 CAPs for Mooki
* Baba Yaga Historian Award - 10 CAPs - For letting me know that Baba Yaga is based on an external source

10 CAPs for Deimar
* Mandrake Root Farmer Award - 10 CAPs - For picking and then regrowing mandrake root

10 CAPs for unimural
* Companion Award - 10 CAPs - For playing along with me and completing the game

10 CAPs for Novacek
* Riddler Award - 10 CAPs - For deciphering the last of the mixed up adventure game characters

Game 26: Hero's Quest - Won!

The Trickster Journal Entry 6: “I have achieved everything required of me to truly be a Hero! The success I had in finding and rescuing the Baronet gave me enough coin to be able to stock up on potions and to finally buy that chain armour I so badly wanted. With these in my possession, I was able to train myself in the art of fighting, with little real concern for my safety.  My skills improved, I went after tougher opponents, until I felt ready to storm the brigand fortress. I fought my way through many obstacles, including a huge Minotaur that I would never have dreamed of fighting some weeks back, let alone defeating! I stormed the brigand fortress with the intention of discovering the identity of the leader and the warlock, but when I found them to be none other than Elsa and Yorick, I suddenly realised that my work was nearly complete. I dispelled the enchantment that caused Elsa to be a brigand, before finally taking the magic mirror and using it to turn Baba Yaga’s frog spell back on her. She has left the valley now, and there is nothing more for me to do. I’ve had a Hero’s ovation for my efforts, but now I fear I must find some other place. A place that still needs a Hero!”

The Royal "We" you say! Oh I get it now! *facepalm*

After having rescued the Baronet from captivity at the end of my last session, I was very keen to go straight to the castle and collect my reward. On entering the castle grounds, the two guards blew trumpets to announce my arrival, and then told me that “the Baron von Spielburg and Baronet await you in the great hall.” (10 points) As you would expect, the Baron was extremely grateful to have his son returned to him, and while the Baronet himself continued in his arrogant manner, he was persuaded by his father to also express his gratitude. A few of you have responded to my confusion around why the Baronet speaks as though he is more than one person. Apparently that’s something that royalty does (ie. the royal "we"), but the joke clearly passed over my head.

That's probably true. How about gold? Will that work for you?

Before giving me my reward and sending me on my way, the Baron expressed his hope that I might also find his daughter Elsa and defeat the brigands in the fortress far to the south. You might recall that I didn’t come across the brigand fortress while mapping out the game area, nor did I have enough gold to convince Bruno to tell me its whereabouts. Had I just missed a screen during my exploration? The Baron talked about a rumour that “there is another way into their fortress”, but he had no further information on the topic, so I left it alone. I asked the Baron stacks of questions about all the remaining quests, but didn’t get anything I didn’t already know. (3 points) The guards gave me my reward on the way out of the castle, and I eagerly began counting my coins (ie. I looked at the inventory screen). 62 gold coins and 112 silver coins! That was more than enough to get that chainmail armour I desperately wanted!

I'm rich!!! Now for the famous bit!

I made a beeline straight for Spielburg, and more specifically, the dry goods store. The shopkeeper very helpfully gave me a 50 silver trade-in discount for my leather armour, and handed over the chainmail armour (3 points). Feeling invulnerable, I decided to go and find this damn brigand camp that had evaded me thus far. The Baron had said it was far to the south, so south I went, eventually arriving at the screen with the Antwerp. I should also mention that I defeated a brigand in battle on the way, gaining some silver and a point for the effort (1 point). The Antwerp seemed to serve no purpose, but maybe I was wrong about that! I then noticed there was a rock behind the bizarre creature that looked a little unusual. Checking it out closer, I discovered “a keyhole concealed in a crack in the rock”. Was this the secret entrance into the fortress that the Baron hinted at? Regardless, I had no key to open the door, and no amount of strength seemed to budge it. I decided to focus on the Antwerp.

Where the hell is the key to this lock? How did I miss it?

It seems that everyone else fought the kobold in the cave by typing “fight” rather than throwing rocks at him from a distance, so I tried typing “fight” here. Rather humorously, my character went through a lengthy and impressive warm-up routine in preparation for the battle, only for the Antwerp to bounce up in the air and off-screen as soon as I took a swipe at it. As soon as I made my way onto another screen, the Antwerp would come crashing down on top of me, crushing me into a pancake. Hmmmm...was there a way to change the outcome? I restored and tried again, only this time I typed “use sword” just before the Antwerp came crashing down on me. This caused my character to point the sword straight up, piercing the Antwerp and causing it to explode! Rather than killing it though, this just caused it to split into five smaller Antwerps. I gained no points for such a brilliant manoeuvre, so I really have no idea what the point of it was, apart from great entertainment.

Oh stop it! I'm BURSTing with laughter! My sides are SPLITting! etc. etc. Who's to blame for this Corey and was there a point to it? ;)

I went in search of another entrance to the brigand fortress, only to discover that I’d simply failed to completely map the game area earlier on. For some reason I’d failed to notice that I could go south a couple of screens east of the Antwerp! Going south and then west brought me to a rather daunting scene. Stacks of brigands were waiting for me there, either with spears or bows. Since I had no idea where to find the key that would let me in the back way, I decided to have a go at beating the odds and running the gauntlet. Thankfully I saved my game, as I didn’t survive very long. I could run straight through the middle without getting hit by arrows. I could then jump over the logs and get into combat with the three brigands with spears. Beating them was simply beyond my current stats though, so I realised I was going to have to go do some grinding if I was going to take this approach.

Oh this brigand fortress!!!! Why didn't you say so?

I won’t bore you with the details of exactly what I did for the next hour, but it involved fighting multitudes of goblins on the screen where they’re sneaking about, throwing daggers at the target leaning against the castle wall, and fighting and eventually defeating every creature I could find in the game. I got to the point where I could very easily defeat six goblins in a row without breaking a sweat, and while defeating some of the more difficult creatures of the night was more challenging, they too would fall to my mighty sword. I gained a heap of coin for my efforts, but more importantly I built my stats up to a level where I felt comfortable that I could go toe to toe with anything the game could throw at me. I got points for killing a saurus, a troll, a cheetaur and a saurus rex (13 points), and I also got points for taking a troll’s beard and some cheetaur claws to the healer, completing that quest (4 points). With close to 100 for agility and vitality, a throwing stat of 100, and over 75 for both weapon use and dodge, I felt ready to take on the fortress!

Now I finally have the skills to match my ego!

I was ready too, and was able to brush off those pesky brigands fairly easily to make my way past the gauntlet screen. What I found on the next screen had me doubting myself somewhat though. A Minotaur was guarding the door to the fortress proper, and there seemed no way to avoid battle with it. The first couple of attempts ended with me dying without hardly making a scratch to it, so I didn’t feel all that confident that I was going to be able to take him down. Eventually however, I figured out there was a pattern to his attacks, so if I could get the timing just right with my dodge and thrust, I could avoid the majority of his blows while getting plenty of mine in for damage. I felt great satisfaction when I defeated him (5 points), and felt like all the training was totally worthwhile. I searched the body and discovered 50 silvers hidden inside its flail.

Come On, You Know
 (Bad Bad-Really, Really Bad)

With no apparent way to get through the fortress door, I reverted to the typical fighter approach (no, not throwing rocks at it). I typed “force gate” and watched as my character literally charged and flung himself at the gate at full speed, peeling away like a pancake back to the ground. It worked though, as the gate slowly creaked open. I entered (8 points) and found myself in a rather innocuous looking room. Knowing it must be more than it appeared, I saved my game and started investigating. There was a note on the carpet in front of me that said “step here”, so I did exactly that, knowing it must be a trap. It was, and I fell into a hole and received a game over screen. Clearly this entire screen was booby trapped, so was I was going to have to have my wits about me. I’m pretty sure I set off every trap in the room, including causing a jack in the box to pop up and alert the guards who shot arrows into me, walking across the wrong plank to bridge the gap (this time I was supposed to use the one with the note saying “cross here” rather than avoiding it), and breaking the trip wire between the two barriers (causing an Antwerp to fall on me), but eventually I got through (8 points).

Haha...I'm not going to fall for that one twiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.........

The next screen was clearly another setup, with nothing but an unconscious drunk on the table to suggest anything was going to occur there. The scene turned out to be a pretty funny one, but it relied too much on trial and error than actual logic for my liking. Failing to lock and bar the door behind me resulted in a game over. Failing to push the chair in front of the right hand door resulted in a game over. Failing to kick the candelabra in front of “the three stooges” resulted in a game over. Failing to climb on the table at exactly the right time resulted in a game over. Doing them all in the right order at the right time resulted in an entertaining scene though, with my character swinging around the guards from up on the table and the chandelier falling on top of them. Fun...but it reminded me of the brainless trial and error of Dragon’s Lair too much to be a truly rewarding scene. (8 points)

Admiring my handiwork. Damn I'm awesome!

Onto the next screen, which was one I vividly remembered from my younger years! In fact, I felt a bit concerned when I arrived, as I remember being stuck on this screen for a long, long time, and possibly even getting help from a friend to pass it. Once again it’s a bit of an obstacle course, albeit one that makes no physical sense whatsoever. Walk through a door and reappear out of another on the other side of the room. Fall into the gap and reappear rolling out of the door at the back of the room. Everything seemed to be a trap, and it didn’t help that the little guy called Me (clearly Yorick, the Baron’s jester who went looking for Elsa) kept throwing items at me in an attempt to knock me off the walkways. Eventually I got a bit sick of him and went to throw a dagger at him. Seeing what I was up to, he disappeared through an exit, leaving me to concentrate on getting through the “maze”. The solution was actually quite straight forward (take the right door, then pull the chain, then go through the door marked “secret entrance”, then avoid the falling fake door and go through the real one). (12 points)

Yorick is like a mix between Dracula and John Travolta. Scary indeed!

It was at this stage that I realised I was about to finish the game! I’d entered the fortress with about 281 points out of 500, so at that stage I’d figured there was still a fair bit to do, but I was gaining points rapidly now and reaching an undoubtable climax. The next room contained stacks of treasure, but more importantly, the brigand leader was there. One look at her confirmed my suspicions that Elsa was the brigand leader, so before she could say or do anything, I used the dispel potion (35 points). She transformed before my very eyes into an apparently fine looking young woman, and one that was very happy to no longer have to be a brigand. It’s not exactly clear why anyone would want to place an enchantment on the Baron’s daughter to make her behave badly, but I guess it would make it very hard for anyone to do anything about the gang as they wouldn’t want to do her harm.

So...you're 18 right?

Elsa thanked me for freeing her and announced her intentions to go “home to her father and get his guards to capture the rest of the brigands before they manage to escape with the treasure.” Before she did that though, she invited Yorick in an told him excitedly that she was now herself again. I have to question Yorick’s motives. He clearly knew that Elsa was with the brigands all along and made life very difficult for me to rescue her. He’s also clearly the brigand warlock whose identity I was supposed to discover, yet I feel like there’s something I’ve failed to do with him. Anyway, Elsa and Yorick used a magic amulet to transport themselves back to the castle, but not before informing me that there were two healing potions in the desk (which I forgot to collect) and a mirror on it. I picked up the mirror (10 points) and left through the secret entrance that Yorick had used to come into the room. I have to admit that I struggled to find the secret entrance for quite a while, having failed to take notice of where Yorick came from, but eventually found it.

"This" secret passageway you say. Did you want to be a little bit more specific than that? Pointing works I hear!

With the magic mirror now in my possession, I headed straight for Baba Yaga’s hut, eager to make her suffer. As soon as she tried to turn me into a frog, I used the mirror to reflect the spell onto the witch herself. (50 points) Obviously she wasn’t impressed, and desperate to survive, she transported me outside of the house, which then flapped its wings and took flight (yes, the house)! Baba Yaga was gone, and I was a true hero! Before I could do anything else, I was transported to a ceremony where my exploits were celebrated (25 points). Pretty much every character in the game was there, including at least one that I’d defeated in battle (the Minotaur). A neat outro showed me in a very heroic pose, before Kattas (from the Hero’s Tale Inn), Abdulla Doo (who I don't recognise but if you're going to have a magic carpet...) and I got on a magic carpet and left the valley looking for further adventure. Hero’s Quest finishes with a small promotion for its sequel, Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire. I’m super keen, but have many games to get through before that happens.

So she should be! The good old salt and pepper look just doesn't work for amphibians!

Well, I’ve finished my beloved Hero’s Quest! Did it live up to my expectations? Yes, I think it did. It’s not without its flaws, and I think I probably highlighted them by playing such a limited character, but for sheer entertainment and charm, the game is an absolute gem. I don’t have any idea how the PISSED rating will turn out, but I intend to find out exactly where my missing 63 points are, and also what a thief or a magic user would go through to finish the game. My first stop will be Chet’s blog to read through his experience and then perhaps some sort of walkthrough to pick up any loose threads. How am I going to go from Hero’s Quest to Emmanuelle!? Well...I’ll at least try to make it entertaining for you guys, even if it most likely won’t be for me!

Minotaur! So glad you could make it! I'm really sorry about...you know...killing you and stuff.

Session Time: 4 hours 00 minutes

Total Time: 12 hours 00 minutes

Game 26: Hero's Quest - We Are Baronet, For We Are Many

The Trickster Journal Entry 5: “I’ve had some serious success since last I wrote! First of all I returned all the necessary ingredients to the healer so that she could make the dispel potion that the Dryad described. Once that was done, I returned to Baba Yaga’s hut and used the rhyme that Bruno told me about to gain entrance. The woman was more of a bitch than I could have imagined, but she at least found a use for me that didn’t involve being cooked in a pot. I collected the mandrake root for her from the graveyard at midnight, returning it to her before daybreak. She let me live, which is just as well, because a short while later I fought and defeated the huge ogre that was guarding the cave near Erana’s Peace! As if that wasn’t heroic enough, I then defeated the magic kobold inside the cave, and used his key to free a chained bear. Believe it or not, the bear transformed before my very eyes into the Baronet, meaning I’ve completed my second quest! Time to go get my reward, and let’s hope it’s enough to get that armor I’ve had my eye on in the dry goods store.”

Today is the day I gain some skills. I promise!

As I’d just collected the last ingredient that the Dryad told me to collect (fairy dust), I started this session by heading over to the healer’s cottage. I gave her the acorn, the fairy dust, the green fur, the flying water, and the flowers from Erana’s Peace (11 points), after which she informed me that the potion would take quite a while for her to make. I left her house and then immediately re-entered to find that she’d finished making it (a bit silly, but then making me wait an hour would have been pretty annoying). She gave it to me (7 points), saying: “Use it by splashing it on the victim of a magic spell. Mind you, this won’t work if the spell is caused by a magic item rather than a cast spell.” I can only imagine Elsa will be the target of this potion, as she has apparently been enchanted by Baba Yaga.

What if I step outside and then back in? Will it be ready then?

Ok, so I had my dispel potion. What should I focus my attention on next? I decided there were two things I really should do. The first was that I should go around chatting to all the important characters on the map, asking about topics that I may not have known when I first visited them. The second was that I really needed to increase my fighting skills if I was going to make it as fighter. I’d pretty much avoided battle at this stage, but from now on I was going to chase after it! You might remember that I restored my game after my first visit to Erasmus in case I did something wrong, so it made sense that I go back there now to see what I could get out of him. The gargoyle asked me slightly different questions this time around, including the “favourite colour” question that someone commented on in an earlier post. I was pretty surprised by the third and final question though, which was “what is the thieves’ guild password?” Since I literally didn’t know the answer, I typed “I don’t know”, which turned out to be the right thing to say (clearly Erasmus doesn’t want thieves entering his home). (3 points)

I spent some time checking out the items in Erasmus' house this time, including the cleverly named Rosella Stone.

Enry had suggested Erasmus liked nothing more than playing games, so the first thing I did was “ask about game”. “You must first develop more skill in the magical arts” was his answer, suggesting I’ll never be able to partake in whatever the game is, at least not with this character. I then asked Erasmus all sorts of other questions, including about his missing mirror (1 point), but eventually have had to conclude that he plays little role in the game for non-magic users (or so it seems to me). My next destination was the castle, where I intended to clean the stables once again for the increased strength and agility stats. I was shocked to find a sword wielding man in the castle grounds, practising his moves! I asked him about his sword (1 point), and he then offered to give me fighting lessons for a gold coin. Given my new goal of increasing my abilities, I quickly accepted! (3 points)

Better my skills? What are you suggesting?

Fighting against the sword master was a little tricky at first. I was required to use the exact same keys as any other battle in the game, but the shift to a side-on perspective made that less intuitive (pressing the up key to attack left just didn’t sit well with my brain). I got the hang of it fairly quickly though and while I don’t think I challenged the guy in any way, I dodged a few hits and got a few in myself before I ran out of stamina and collapsed to the ground. He concluded with a tip about how I could improve my skills before wandering off, leaving me exhausted and not certain what to do next. I decided it was time to go pay Baba Yaga a visit, stopping in to ask each character I came across on the way every question I could think of. I gained a point for asking the sheriff about the brigands, another point for asking the female centaur about her father, and then three points for asking the centaur father about the brigand leader, but didn’t gain any really useful information from any of them. Probably the most interesting revelation was that the brigand leader is a fairly compassionate individual. (5 points)

I feel like I should know who the leader is, but I don't remember!

After these slight detours, I arrived at Baba Yaga, telling the skull that I did indeed want to enter Baba Yaga’s house again. I repeated the rhyme that Bruno had told me: “Hut of brown now sit down”, and watched as the chicken legs bent at the knee and dropped the little house to the ground (7 points). I then entered (2 points), finding Baba Yaga stooped within among her friends (a bat and a spider). She immediately cast two spells on me! The first one was “Powers of Night, Shadows of Day, Heed now my Words, Henceforth you STAY!”, which froze me to the spot. The second one was “Hear me, oh Powers Of Klatha and Mana! Turn now my guest into species called Rana!”, which turned me into a frog! Baba Yaga then dangled me over a boiling pot while taunting me, before finally realising she might actually have a use for me.

You do like visitors don't you!?

She asked me whether I am brave, to which I naturally answered “yes”, and then gave me the task of collecting the root of a mandrake plant that grows in the graveyard. I’d tried collecting the root previously, only to be told that I was doing it wrong. So what was the trick? “Hear what I say and hear me right. Mandrake must be pulled at precisely midnight!” Aha!!! So that’s how you do it! Baba Yaga finally demanded that I return with the root before the break of the next day, and then teleported me back outside her house (firstly as a frog before turning me back into my normal form). Obviously the next thing to do would be to get that root from the graveyard, but I had a bit of time to kill before midnight. I decided to try and increase some stats, starting with my throwing skill.

I don't exactly have a watch you know. How am I supposed to know when it's precisely midnight?

I spent probably fifteen to twenty minutes throwing my dagger at the target on the Spielburg wall, then fetching it and doing it again. My throwing stat increased throughout, and I only paused to rest (to regain stamina) and check the time (to make sure I didn’t miss midnight). As soon as it arrived, I made my way quickly to the graveyard and pulled the mandrake root out of the ground (6 points). This time I wasn’t told that I was doing it wrong, and instead heard a “scream like that of a dying child” as I yanked it out. Since Baba Yaga had told me to bring the root to her before morning, I thought I better head straight back to her hut. On the way, I was attacked by a Mantray (which is pretty much a Manta Ray that can fly), and I decided to fight it instead of running.

Screams of dying children are always a good sign that you're doing the right thing.

Thankfully I’d saved my game just before the fight, as the Mantray crushed me. It was at this point that I realised once and for all that the game was simply running too fast. Corey suggested in one of his comments that the game may possibly be running too fast to fight properly on modern PCs, and I really do think that’s the case. As soon as I slowed the game down just a little bit, I was able to dodge attacks and pick the right time to thrust my sword into the enemy. It wasn’t guesswork anymore, and I was able to dispatch of the Mantray (2 points) while losing under half of my health points. Finally I gained some dodge skill points along with weapon use, and I was now feeling much more confident taking on monsters.

Is that all you've got!? What? I cheated!? Hell, things were running just as slow for you as they were for me!

I faced no further monster attacks on my way back to Baba Yaga’s house, where I entered with the root in hand. Once again she froze me where I stood and turned me into a frog, only to realise she would have to turn me back into a human so that I could give her the root (3 points). It turned out that the witch only wanted the mandrake root to make mandrake mousse, and the only reward I was given for helping her out was being allowed to walk away alive. I’d been hoping that this scene would somehow open up another part of the game for me, or at least give me a hint as to what to do next, but it didn’t. I stood outside Baba Yaga’s hut, wondering what I should do next. I looked at my map, and wondered if I would have any more luck fighting the ogre with the game speed slowed down a bit.

There's a pretty big hint there for those that pay attention.

I stopped in at Erana’s Peace to eat some fruit and sleep until morning, then saved my game and prepared for battle. I really didn’t think I was going to be able to beat the ogre, but I hoped I could at least get a few shots in and figure out how much more training I needed. Surprisingly, while I did die on my first attempt, I got pretty close to taking him down, giving me the confidence to restore and try again. Lo and behold, I defeated him on my second attempt, successfully dodging three quarters of his attacks while getting plenty of my own in. The big pink guy crashed to the ground and lay dead! (2 points) Now I could finally find out what was in his cave, but before that I searched his body. I’d read in the manual that all ogres have a treasure chest, but I didn’t expect to find one on him. I forced open the lock and found 1 gold and 43 silver within, which I eagerly collected.

No wonder he lost. How can you possibly fight while carrying a treasure chest!?

I walked towards the cave, having absolutely no idea what was in there. As soon as I entered though, it all came flooding back to me! There was a large bear in the shadows, and I had a flashback of this bear transforming into a human. Was this where I was supposed to use the dispel potion? Was the bear Elsa? These thoughts were all set aside when I was not able to use the dispel potion on the bear, so I was going to have to think about things a different way. If I got close to the bear, it would rise up onto its hind legs as though preparing for attack. I highly doubted that fighting it would end in my favour, nor did my instincts tell me that fighting a bear that was chained up was the way forward. I noticed that the game was making a real point of telling me how hungry the bear was, so I typed “give bear food” and it worked. (5 points) The bear took on a much friendlier attitude towards me, and I was now able to walk straight past it. (2 points)

That makes two of us!

The next screen was even more familiar to me, and I can only assume I spent quite a bit of time staring at it as a kid, wondering what to do. There was a kobold sitting rather meditatively facing away from me with a large brass key around his neck, and there were three items sitting on a table in front of him. If I made any move towards him, the kobold would become aggressive and start sending magic balls of light in my direction. A few hits and I was toast, but any attempts to get within fighting range would cause the kobold to teleport itself to the other side of the room. I wasn’t going to be able to beat this creature with my sword, so I was going to have to find another way. I threw my dagger at it, which made contact but didn’t kill it, and the kobold then teleported. I then threw a rock at it, which also made contact, before the kobold teleported again. This process was incredibly familiar to me, and I realised it was the way that I’d defeated the kobold in my youth.

We meet again Kobold after 20 years...

Unfortunately, despite being certain throwing things at the kobold was the solution, I quickly ran out of rocks. There were none to pick up in the cave, so I was forced to restore back outside the cave after just having defeated the ogre. I figured I should go in with 50 rocks to make sure I had enough, but unfortunately I was only able to pick up around 30 before I was over-burdened and unable to move. I began dropping unneeded items, including the 10 apples I had and two empty flasks, but it wasn’t enough. In the end I was forced to drop my shield, but I only went through with the plan once I satisfied myself that I’d be able to come back and pick it up later (there is no visual representation of anything that you drop). In the end I had 49 rocks and one dagger to throw at the kobold when I entered its cavern. I hit it with all 49 rocks, but it still wasn’t dead, so I was really holding my breath when I threw my lone dagger at him. Miraculously, the dagger finished him off (10 points), and I was able to collect the key.

...and you still are completely unable to dodge rocks.

I figured the key was likely to release the bear from captivity, but I thought I should thoroughly explore the kobold’s cave before I left. The items on the table ended up being some sort of mushrooms, and I received no points for picking them up. More interestingly though, as I walked around the bottom of the screen checking to make sure there were no other exits to the room, I bumped into a hidden chest (7 points)! The key didn’t fit the lock, so I used my strength to break it open. The chest was booby trapped and pretty much exploded when I attempted to open it. Thankfully it wasn’t enough to kill me (I hadn’t saved my game since beating the kobold!), and I was able to pick up the coins that had showered the ground around me. In total I found 10 gold and sixty silver coins (5 points)! Not enough to go purchase that much wanted armor, but it was still a significant amount.

Oh my god! My eyes! Damn it that really hurt! Ooooohhhhh!!!!! Gold!!!!!!

Happy that I’d done everything there was to do in the cave, I left the room and released the bear using the key (25 points). Just as those earlier flashbacks had suggested, the bear transformed before my very eyes into a man! It was the missing Baronet! Strangely, the guy started talking to me in a very disconcerting way. “You have the honor of meeting the Baronet Barnard von Spielburg. We are pleased that you broke our enchantment. Perhaps our father the Baron will reward you should you ever visit our castle.” Hmmm...I had to wonder whether the Baronet was completely insane, talking about himself as though he were more than one being, but he disappeared before I could question him further. I guess it’s time to go visit the castle to get my reward, but you’ll have to wait until my next post to see how that pans out. I’m keen to find out myself!

So were the huge claw marks that were found on the Baronet's horse from the ogre or the kobold? Or something else?

Session Time: 3 hours 00 minutes

Total Time: 8 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!

Game 26: Hero's Quest - So You Want to Be an Errand Boy

The Trickster Journal Entry 4: “So much to do! Being a Hero sure requires a lot of energy! Not only have I delivered handfuls of fruit to Brauggi in return for a glowing gem, I also managed to get my hands on the seed that the Dryad requested. Giving it to her obviously proved that I am capable and trustworthy, since she then gave me a recipe to give to the healer that will result in a dispel potion. I’m not exactly sure what enchantment the potion will dispel, but I was able to collect all the required ingredients relatively easily. I never thought I would find myself dancing with fairies in the moonlight in an attempt to get some fairy dust, but that's how my day ended! Now I’m off to get some rest so I can take all this stuff to the healer at first light. Who knows what magical adventures tomorrow holds!”

Before: I really need to work on those fighting skill stats!

After mapping out the entire play area of Hero’s Quest over the course of the previous two posts, I was very eager to get on with trying to solve all the quests I’d collected on the way. That experience has turned out to be just as enjoyable as I remember it being in my childhood, yet I can’t say I found it as easy as I expected. I'd kind of figured the solutions were all somewhere buried within my brain, and that over time they would seep out when needed. That hasn’t turned out to be the case, and I’ve really had to work for my reward. Anyway, there are lots of things to talk about, so I’ll cut to the chase. As mentioned at the end of the last post, I thought the first thing I'd do would be to pay another visit to the town of Spielburg. Maybe there would be some things to buy that would now be useful, and I could also ask some of the inhabitants about the various characters I’d met out on the road.

Bummer dude!

This plan turned out to be less productive than I expected! For some reason I’d expected to be able to buy the ability to cast one off spells such as fetch and open from the magic shop (like a once off usage type of scroll), which would have allowed me to get the seed from the plants and also open the stone at Erana’s Peace, but the shopkeeper told me in no uncertain terms that “the powers of magic are reserved for those with the potential to use them. I sense no such potential in you.” Well there went that idea! I was going to have to find alternate solutions to those puzzles, if indeed there are any. I did gain one point for asking about a room in the Hero’s Tale Inn (1 point), but since I wasn’t tired yet, I wasn’t even allowed to pay for one. Finally, I bought a stack more apples from the centaur to give Brauggi in return for the glowing gem, before setting out to go visit him.

It's not hard for them to be the finest in town when they're the only ones in town!

On my way out of the town, I was surprised to find a shady looking character by the gates, tossing a knife in the air. His name was Bruno, and he offered me information for coins. That seemed like a reasonable trade, so I saved my game before giving him one silver. For another, he offered me information “about where to go to find the Baron, Baba Yaga, or some goblins who have a lot of treasure”. Paying for information about the Baron disappointingly resulted in Bruno giving me directions to the castle. Likewise, his information about the goblins merely directed me to the screen containing the sneaking goblins. Handing over a silver for information about Baba Yaga did however prove to be useful, as he told me not only her whereabouts, but also the rhyme that would make her house on legs sit down (for an extra two gold). “Hut of brown, now sit down.”

Would that someone happen to be moi?

I don’t know why, but I actually remember that rhyme from my youth, yet I was glad to come about it in-game so it didn’t feel like I was cheating. Speaking of cheating though, it suddenly dawned on me that I could simply restore my game after paying for all of Bruno’s information, and since I got no points for any of it, I could continue playing with all my cash intact and with no consequence. I’m sure I’m not the only player to think about doing that, nor would I be the only one to go through a crisis of conscience regarding whether or not doing so was in the spirit of the game. In the end I decided was going to take advantage of a clear loophole in the game. After all, I’m an adventure gamer doing everything (anything!) I can to find the solution to the game, not a role playing gamer looking to experience a journey as though in the mind and flesh of another. At least, that’s what I told myself! What do you guys think?!

Is there any other way to get this rhyme in the game? I assume so!

So what other bits of information could I get out of Bruno? Well, for a gold piece he told me a lie about where the Thieves’ Guild is hidden. “They hid it in the graveyard. It’s under one of the tombstones. You can see the thieves if you go there at night.” Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t believe there’s anything beneath any of the tombs in the graveyard, and that the guild is in fact beneath Crusher in the tavern. For a ridiculously expensive ten gold pieces, he offered to tell me where the brigand’s camp is situated. I actually hadn’t come across the camp during my travels, so figured there must be some secret way to gain entrance. Unfortunately I didn’t have ten golds on me, so I was going to have to come back later to get that last bit of information. I restored my game back to first meeting Bruno, and set out to see Brauggi.

To restore or not to restore, that is the question!

Once again I came across something unexpected while following the path away from the town. There was a fox caught in a trap, asking for assistance (yes, the fox spoke to me). I freed him (10 points), and in return he gave me some advice and a bit of information. His advice was that “it sometimes pays off to be polite, even to rude people” and his information was “Baba Yaga put an enchantment on the Baron’s Daughter some years back. To break the spell you need to talk to the Dryad”. This was very useful information indeed, and made me more certain than ever that retrieving the seed for the Dryad should be high on my priority list. Still, these apples were weighing me down, so I once again set out to find Brauggi. Would anything else delay me on the way?

That's a litle presumptuous don't you think?!

Brauggi was exactly where I left him, waving his axe around as though ready to cut me to pieces. I gave him the apples (8 points), and was rewarded with the glowing gem, as well as the below non-rhyming verse. With that task completed, I decided it was time to try my luck with the seed, dropping in at the healer on the way to trade the mushrooms I’d found for a gold piece (1 point). On arriving at the cliff face covered in seed spitting plants, I began wracking my brain for ways that I might be able to get the seed without the ability to climb. I simply couldn’t come up with any, so I started throwing rocks at it again. I really hoped the solution wouldn’t be that simple, especially as it seemed to be the sole way to solve pretty much anything as the fighter. Sadly, after throwing about ten rocks, one of them stuck in the top of one of the plants, causing the seed to bounce down onto the ground rather than into the plant mouth. I picked it up, but felt no real satisfaction. (8 points)

Maybe it rhymed in his native tongue!

It was time to take the seed to the Dryad, but I took a detour to Erana’s Peace to collect some flowers, which I then traded with the healer for another gold piece. (1 point) On arriving at the Dryad, she immediately asked me whether I’d brought the seed with me. I gave it to her (7 points) and she rather humorously told me that “now this will boldly grow where none has grown before!” She then went on in less of a Star Trek fashion, stating “Friend, you must know that there is an evil in this valley which perverts the ways of nature. The prophecy says that a hero will bring a young human from out this darkness. If you are the one to accomplish this task, there is a potion to break enchantments which you must have the healer make.” She then gave me a list of ingredients that I needed to track down, which were Flowers from Erana’s Peace, Green Fur, Fairy Dust, a Magic Acorn, and Flying Water.

Let me guess. You have a long list of things I need to collect? Am I right!?

It was pretty clear to me where I was going to get all of these ingredients from apart from the magic acorn, but that issue quickly went away as the Dryad dropped one as she reunited with the tree. I picked up the acorn (1 point) and made a plan to collect the rest of the ingredients. My first stop would be the Meeps, where it seemed obvious I would be able to get some green fur. I was correct on that front, as the green Meep very happily searched through his extensive belongings and then handed some over. I picked it up (5 points) and then thought about my next destination. Surely the flying water would come from the waterfall near Enry’s home? I couldn’t think of anywhere else I might get it from, so that’s where I headed.

I had a feeling you might, particularly since you're made of green fur.

On arriving at the waterfall, I attempted to collect some water, only to be informed that I didn’t have a flask to store it in. I could have gone back to Spielburg to buy a flask from the dry goods store, but since I was very low on health at the time, I instead decided to drink one of my healing potions, freeing up a flask in the process. It worked, and I was able to collect the water in the flask, assuming that it was indeed “flying water”. I already had three of the five ingredients I needed to make the potion, and I knew exactly where to get the other two. The flowers were the easier of the two to collect, so I made my way to Erana’s Peace at the top of the map and grabbed a bunch. That left only the fairy dust, which was likely to take a bit more time to get my hands on.

I guess it's my own fault I didn't have a flask. Always be prepared for liquid in adventure games!

I recalled from my younger play through that fairies hang out at the mushroom patch in the forest, but only at night time. I can’t specifically recall seeing anything about this while playing the game this time, but it’s probably not a huge leap to realise that’s where they might be. I could have made my way to the mushroom patch immediately, but it was still a fair way from being night time, so I was going to have to do something else to pass the time. I looked across the map at the various locations, trying to find something I could do. One stood out from the rest. Baba Yaga! I’d received the glowing gem from Brauggi, and figured its use would be to place inside the skull on Baba Yaga’s fence.

Really? She seems quite accommodating to me!

I made my way to Baba Yaga’s hut, and got in a conversation with the skull. He started banging on about wanting glowing eyes like the rest of the skulls, so if I wasn’t certain about the gem's use before, I was now. In fact, he made me make a deal with him that he would let me through the gate to Baba Yaga’s house if I would give him a glowing gem (2 points). I gave it to him, which pleased him very much, and he lowered the gate as promised (10 points). It was only then that I started to wonder what would happen if I lowered the hut with the rhyme and entered. I couldn’t remember much at all about Baba Yaga, apart from something that happens much later in the game involving a mirror. Perhaps I wasn’t meant to enter yet? The time of day decided it for me, as night time had arrived. I could now go and see the fairies, so Baba Yaga could wait!

That's harsh coming from you! Have you seen a mirror lately!!! Actually, if you have, can I have it!

The fairies were indeed flittering around the patch of mushrooms when I arrived, and boy were they fascinated with me. I really love the way the Cole’s handled this scene, with all of the fairies constantly chatting amongst themselves about the silliest things, with speech bubbles of different colours to represent each fairy. They dared each other to touch me and eventually began trying to dance with me, so I typed “dance” (3 points). They then felt obliged to reward me in some way for putting on such a good show, and after much debate it was decided that fairy dust was the answer (1 point). Unfortunately, I was then informed that once again I didn’t have an empty flask to collect it in! I restored to my last save game, drank another bottle of healing potion (this time unnecessarily), and then visited the fairies again. This time I was able to collect the dust (8 points), meaning I had everything I needed for the potion.

You'd think I was made of empty flasks!

I’m afraid I’ve reached my 2000 word post limit! I’ve played a fair bit more of the game, so should be able to get my next post up pretty quickly. To be honest, I had to tear myself away from the game to write this one as I’m enjoying it so much, which is something I haven’t felt since Zak McKracken. As mentioned earlier, probably the only real criticism I have so far is the limited solutions to puzzles that the fighter character class has, but that may or may not improve throughout the rest of the game. I can’t help but be intrigued about some of the parts of the game I currently have no access to, such as the thieves’ guild and the stone in Erana’s Peace. I haven’t yet decided whether I’ll try to quickly play through the other classes on completion, or simply read other blogs (such as Chets) to get an idea how things differ. What do you think? Do we want an extended stay in Spielburg?

After: OK, so it wasn't exactly after, but it was very shortly after. Still need to work on those fighting skills!

Session Time: 1 hours 30 minutes

Total Time: 5 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!