Needs to be made: QfG-style game with an East Asian setting

[JustLuke32]

Ever since waaay back in the mists of time, shortly after QfG 2 was originally released, I've hoped to see a QfG-style game with an East Asian oriental setting. You know, something that mixes together Chinese, Japanese, and Korean myths and history. QfGs 3 and 4 were fantastic (and QfG 5 was, um, QfG5) but still, they were not quite what I was looking for. They didn't scratch my itch.

It seems a waste for the Anonymous Game Developers to throw away their QfG framework code after they complete QfG2 VGA. They should "donate it" to Himalaya Studios so that they can spend their valuable time and money creating an Oriental QfG-style game that, most likely, only I would want to buy and play.

[Dasilva]

Thats actually a great idea, a new QFG-style game would be super.

[DrJones]

Quest for Glory 2 already has an Oriental setting.

[JustLuke32]

Ok, Sir Pedant, an East Asian oriental setting.

EDIT: See, I've edited the topic title and my original message so that you look silly now, too. How'd you like that? Bwa-haha!

[Klytos]

Usually I read threads about this old games and think to myself "ho hum, heard all this before". Most of this stuff has been discussed inside out and upside down.

This idea though, an Asian setting, now that's an idea. In fact, a great idea!

(btw qfg2 is Middle Eastern, not Asian).

[JustLuke32]

You shouldn't be surprised that it's a good idea, because it's an uncommonly known fact that I'm the second most creative person who you'll never meet. And the reason that I say that I'm the second most creative is because I'm also the second most humble.

But, yeah, really, I think that the idea of a QfG game with a rich East Asian setting positively twitches with potential.

[Solarkid]

Maybe after the events of qfg5, he travelles with his family to the asian land of Japaneir where his son gets kidnapped and he must be trained in the arts of the samuri if he'll have any chance of defeating his new enemies.
Unfortunatly, he has much to do in training his skills before becoming a samuri because he only has 2350 Strength and 5670 Parry/weapon use, which was enough to render him a god compared to the weak people of silmaria, but here in Japaneir, only the weakest of heros start off with such low stats.

Dave

[JustLuke32]

Fair idea. Personally, though, I'd prefer to see a whole new set of characters, including a new hero. For better or worse, QfG V should be considered to be the end of the old hero's story, in my opinion.

[JonWW]

Yes I believe the Himalaya Studios game must use new characters. Here is my suggestion about the game that I posted in the Himalaya Studios forums.

I would love to see an Adventure/RPG series like QFG. Maybe make the base characters all be able to advance into two or more distinct professions late in the first or middle of the second game.

Fighter: Can advance to be a Knight or a Paladin. Knights will be allowed to wield more powerful weapons. And Paladins will have mystical weapons to use against evil.

Magic User: Can advance to be a Wizard or a Cleric. Wizards will have more powerful attack spells while Clerics have more healing and protection spells, both classes having basic spells for puzzle completion.

Rogue: Can advance to Thief, or Assassin. Thieves are Rogues who gained the trust of the thieves guild and are allowed to fence stolen goods. Assassins are trained and used by a society to use stealth and cunning to eliminate key targets. Basically the difference in the classes is their connections, thus different side quests.

[JustLuke32]

See, I would go the opposite direction - I'd streamline the game - because adding extra classes (etc) would make the game far too large and complex for a small team of developers.

No, I'd eliminate strictly defined classes from the game altogether. I'd retain the "use a skill to improve it" system, though, and make this (and perhaps the completion of relevent optional side-puzzles) the criteria for receiving class-like abilities.

For example, raising one's intelligence and honour to a certain level, and completing a quest for the local Daoist Monk, would allow the player to learn Daoist spells; raising one's strength and honour, and completing a quest for the reclusive romantic swordsman who lives near the peak of Mount Wu, would allow the player to learn sword techniques; raising one's dexterity and reducing one's honour, and saving the local beggar thief from punishment by the locals, would allow the player to learn thief skills. In many ways, you might say that this is akin to treating every class in a similar way to the Paladin class in QfG.

Each decision that the player made would narrow his selection of future options, thereby subtly "streaming" him into one of three unofficial classes - Daoist, Swordsman, or Beggar Thief - or into none at all. Keep it simple and allow the player to develop his "class" through in-game actions rather than by making a snap decision at the start of the game.

[JonWW]

Well that is what the branching classes are. Side quest inside the game would pick the player's "new class". I really enjoyed being able to become a Paladin though various actions in QFG2 and would like to see other classes become a so called super class. I think it would add to the character development.

[Kloreep]

I kinda agree that official classes could be dumped in favor of simply programming it by the skillset available to the character. Assuming, of course, that things aren't going to go the other way, with "pure" classes to which you cannot add skills.

That doesn't mean that professions and memberships should be done away with, though. Things like "Paladin" and "Guild-certified Thief" could still be in the game, but perhaps as "Titles" which would not necessarily be mutually exclusive.

[JonWW]

Are you saying you would want to be able to have a character wield Magic, and also be a Thief? Or be a Fighter and be able to cast spells? That I could see but not so much a character who gets knighted or follows the path of the Paladin also stealing on the side that would be against the Knight's code, or the Paladin's honor. Maybe instead of the "knight" character there should be a fighter class who doesn't have a code of law or honor to allow thieving.

[traveler.in.time]

How about setting it in the Himalayas? Seems only fitting. I too have always wanted to see a QFG game in this sort of setting. Of course, as the seasons have changed through the series, the only one left to use is winter (then again this wouldn't be a sequel...)

[MusicallyInspired]

What about different time periods? It would be fun(ny?) to have the hero exploring and saving modern day western civilization, or ancient cavemen, or futuristic aliens. That'd be funny. Aliens from the future are fighting a great enemy and all they have done has failed so they look through time at all the different species in the galaxy for a hero who was triumphant in every battle; the Hero. Quest For Glory: The Final Frontier.

[Solarkid]

Yes, the hero who would now be about 2000 years old. But hey if he can survive against a demon lord, a dragon, a troll and another demon lord, he should be able to achieve immortality.

Dave

[MusicallyInspired]

Well the aliens would time travel back in time to Earth to get him obviously. DUH!

[AsianMusicGuy]

I am totaly for the Asian setting

[Blackthorne519]

I am totaly for the Asian setting

This surprises me.

Bt

[MusicallyInspired]

HAHAHAHAHA

[AsianMusicGuy]

I am totaly for the Asian setting

This surprises me.

Bt

oh oh oh please tell me hero gets a Asian slave girl to "better" him !?

[Kloreep]

Are you saying you would want to be able to have a character wield Magic, and also be a Thief? Or be a Fighter and be able to cast spells?

Indeed. More than that, I'm saying that if that's allowed, character classes lose their meaning - so why have them? If you can just trigger things based off of whether a character has the Magic skill, or whether a character has the Pick Locks skill, why force the player to declare themselves as a single profession when they may have gone for a hybrid?

Of course, this would require skills to be balanced a bit differently than the classic QFG, or else the system would be a bit unbalanced. Under the classic QFG system, one new skill gets you Magic, whereas the traditional "thief" skills of Climbing, Lockpicking, and Stealth would require heavy investment. But why be beholden to the QFG system anyway? I don't think we're envisioning a straight sequel here.

One way to go that might be interesting would be a "jack of all trades, or master of one" approach. QFG has an all-or-nothing cap on skills: either you have it, and you can raise it all the way to max, or you don't have it at all. If you had to buy higher caps on your skills in increments, you would be forced into a trade-off, having to leave the potential of all your skills lower if you wished to have a lot of them. For instance, put two points into Magic and be able to raise Magic all the way to 100, or put one point each into Magic and Stealth, and only be able to raise each of them to 50. This would make for a pretty hard game balancing job, though.

That I could see but not so much a character who gets knighted or follows the path of the Paladin also stealing on the side that would be against the Knight's code, or the Paladin's honor. Maybe instead of the "knight" character there should be a fighter class who doesn't have a code of law or honor to allow thieving.

Certain events, like becoming a Paladin and joining the Thieves' Guild, could certainly be made incompatibile. But that could be done without having to rely on a strict character class definition.

I like your idea of having multiple ways for a fighter to progress, BTW. Noble fighters (and Wizards) got to hang with Rakeesh and become a Paladin, sure; but what about the more vindictive "I kill the bad guys" type of Fighter? This could be encompassed by anything from a code-of-honor Knight to a darker category like Vigilante, but whatever it is, it would be nice to give the hero more choice in what methods they endorse. Enabling a darker kind of play works well for the Thief IMO, it would be cool to see similar options for the Fighter. (They did kind of open things up for the Wizard in later games by enabling some substition of spells for thief skills.)

[JustLuke32]

I think that rather than having classes, a concept of "philophies" should be adopted. What I mean is, at the outset you could learn the basics of any skill through practice, and then, later, by being tutored by an expert. However, the fundamental philosophies that your tutors believe in would be mutually incompatible with each other, and so, if you progress to a certain level of experise in a particular area, the other tutors might consider you unsuitable to be taught any of their more advanced techniques. Going back to my example of the Daoist Priest, the reclusive Swordsman, and the devious beggar Thief (for that Oriental flavour), the concept that it is the player's compatibility with the philosophies of each potential tutor that matters, rather than any direct class based choices, would seem to fit quite nicely. To clarify this, what I mean is that the player would not choose to be a Daoist Priest, a swordsman, or a beggar thief, but he would need to demonstrate by his actions that he is worthy enough (compatible with their philosophies) to receive their teachings.

Also, the idea of various ancient philosophies being the gateway to greater understanding would enrich the mysterious and mythical oriental feel of the setting. And tying the character development system into the setting in this way would lend the game a greater sense of cohesion.

Or maybe I'm talking a load of gibberish.

[Blackthorne519]

It's "Tao"... pronounced like "dao", but it's "The Tao Te Ching". Good stuff - for a good read, try "The Tao of Pooh" by Benjamin Hoff!

And I do think an "East Asian" setting would be cool. Have to have a great artist, though, and a decent research team.

Bt

[JustLuke32]

No, it's Dao. I could explain why this is so, and why most westerners write it as "Tao", but unless you're interested in the differences between the old Wade-Giles and modern Pinyin systems for romanising Chinese characters, you probably won't want me to. My Chinese girlfriend and the friends and colleagues whom I got to know when I lived in Mainland China for two years would no doubt agree with me on this.

Sorry, I can be pedantic sometimes, and I have a head full of useless facts about China that no one else cares about. Don't get me started on Chinese mythology, for example, because I could write for hours on the subject of Fox Spirits alone; and mention Sun Wukong at your peril.

PS. It's really the "Dao De Jing" - and, yes, you're right, it is good stuff.