What sucks about QFG series.

This forum is a place to talk about AGDI games and projects.

Moderators: adeyke, VampD3, eriqchang, Angelus3K

Message
Author
DonQuixote
Royal Servant Status
Posts: 106
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:34 am
Location: New Hampshire
Contact:

#26 Post by DonQuixote » Mon Apr 02, 2007 9:49 pm

Ya, there really was quite a bit of variety in the battle system.  The main problem I had with it was the depending on what I was playing the game with, my stamina recovered way to fast.  As a Paladin I never needed to rest, all I had to do was fight, regain my stamina, and then heal.

User avatar
Ibanezrg82
Knight Status
Posts: 152
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:14 am

#27 Post by Ibanezrg82 » Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:30 am

Battle system in QFG1ega, original and cool. But four controls got too easy.
The battle system was good if QFG2, but it got too easy once you knew how to use all of the controls. Thank the gods for a difficulty control, but I confess to starting a weak character, just for a challenge,

Dont even talk about QFG3. Way too easy, point and click crap, all you have to do is click the shit out of the thrust icon.

QFG4, a little more interesting. Would have been pretty damn good, if they got the bugs fixed. I think sierra tried to jump on the whole Mortal Kombat bandwagon, but failed. Some of the keyboard controls rarely even worked.

Dragonfire, on the other hand, had the best out of all.
I never got killed on easy since easy was introduced with the original QFG2.

DonQuixote
Royal Servant Status
Posts: 106
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:34 am
Location: New Hampshire
Contact:

#28 Post by DonQuixote » Wed Apr 04, 2007 9:11 pm

There was something interesting Marc Hudgins brought up on a forum on myspace about QFG IV:  

"The trouble with QfG IV was that we had the game done and then had to port it to the new SCI32 interpreter before we shipped. Systems guys said it would take 2 weeks -it took 3 months and never really worked right. It was fun being on the art team though, got to play games for 3 months (well other games, ours was unplayable for the most part)."

So it wasn't so much that the game was poorly designed and brought up errors... just bad timing I guess.  It's still a great game though, I thought it was better than Dragon Fire.

Mithter Thibbs
Peasant Status
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Dec 18, 2004 2:20 pm

#29 Post by Mithter Thibbs » Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:12 pm

Like many of the games that came out before the mid 90's, the QFG games were dependent to varying degrees on the speed of your computer, and this meant that there could be a HUGE difference between the difficulties in QFG3 combat vs QFG2 combat.

Case in point: QFG3 had the Hero's animation for swinging that sword or firing those spells tied to the clock cycle speed (whereas the enemies weren't).  QFG2 had animations for both hero and foe that were tied to one Speed indicator.  A QFG2 game played on a 1.0GHz machine could be way, way too fast, with the hero shooting off through the desert with the speed of a bullet, unable to even turn or stop before hitting the edge of the screen, but the actions in combat were still in sync with each other.  Not so in QFG3.  There, if your machine was fast enough, you could get a fighter to make a single attack almost instantly, while the thing you were facing was still moving at the "correct" speed.  Huge advantage.  The machine I first played QFG3 on wasn't like that; it was actually a little too slow for that game, so I found combat to be almost too hard as a pure fighter (almost... but not quite).  Spells rocked, though, particularly outside of close combat.  I still didn't like that system much, though, and (again) tried to keep things at arm's length if I could.

I think QFG4 had a similar issue, only not quite as pronounced.  I vaguely recall the regeneration rate of the Hero's stamina going faster or slower based on the speed of the computer you were playing the game on, so if your machine was fast enough, you'd never leave a fight with anything less than full stamina no matter how hard you worked him.  

Heh.  Those games certainly had their issues as computers got faster.

Lambonius
Knight Status
Posts: 405
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:54 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

#30 Post by Lambonius » Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:17 pm

QFGIV is EASILY better than Dragon Fire, if not the best in the series, at least storywise (both statements in my opinion of course.)  Although, I don't sell Dragon Fire short, because it's still an awesome game in my opinion; there are a lot of things about it to really love, and the pros far outweigh the cons.  It was the only late-adventure-game-era Sierra game where they tried something new and it actually worked for the most part, unlike something like Mask of Eternity, which was an utter failure of an adventure game.  

I really actually dislike the combat system in QFGIV.  I find it to be incredibly unrefined and clunky, especially the keyboard controls.  I think my personal favorite of the combat systems was probably QFGII, simply because it seemed like an even balance of good stats and good dexterity was needed to really do well at it (although once your character was well-developed, it became a breeze.)  

People may complain that it was too easy, and they'd be right for the most part, but this is true of all the QFG games.  Combat in these games is easy as hell compared to other games where combat is actually more of a gameplay focus.  I don't really find anything particularly challenging about QFG combat, with the possible exception of crappy controls in a few of the games.  Honestly, with the exception of QFG1 and 2, (and 5, I guess, but that's only because there was so much of it) combat always seemed to be something of an afterthought, and always took a backseat to puzzle solving.  At least, that's the way it seemed to me.  I rarely found combat to be fun or interesting in QFG3 or 4, and pretty much a complete snore in 5.

*Mr Thibbs, you are absolutely right about computer clock speeds making or breaking these games.  I actually found it to be the biggest problem in QFGIV's combat, and one that none of the fixes seemed to properly address.  QFG1VGA had similar issues as well, since the combat system was pretty much identical to QFG3, except that QFG1VGA has an excellent timing bugs patch out for it, so those problems can be mostly fixed.

DonQuixote
Royal Servant Status
Posts: 106
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:34 am
Location: New Hampshire
Contact:

#31 Post by DonQuixote » Fri Apr 06, 2007 1:43 am

I think one of the most amazing things about QFG is that all these errors, when Sierra didn't correct them as the game aged--the fans did.

I tend to sell QG5 short because I had had really high hopes for it during the long wait after QG4.  The combat system bothered me (or rather the absence of one), the games wasn't as funny, some skills were too easy to improve while others were very difficult, there were importation problems, and a number of spells disappeared.  I know there wasn't any reason for the ritual of release spell and the glide spell would have complicated the game--but I would have like to have been humored with their presence.  Heck the whirlwind spell didn't do much, and the thermonuclear spell didn't really have a purpose, lol.

User avatar
Ibanezrg82
Knight Status
Posts: 152
Joined: Wed Mar 21, 2007 5:14 am

#32 Post by Ibanezrg82 » Fri Apr 06, 2007 7:54 am

yeah, but the price you had to to pay, about 5 years or so.

Give it a break. I know I will.

It's not alot like the others, and the text is smaller.
And from what I remember, there is actually an option to type.
At least in the demo.
I still beg to differ on the humour factor though.
I still think QFG4 had the least.
Im sure I will be getting some backlash still for that, but the humour
is dissipated in the story. The ending of Shadows is like an ending
sequence you watch in any other game, but are able to interact.
And the ending music, god damn. I love that song.
Pure metal. Pure passion. We were all told the series ended there,
but what do you know! Five or so years later, boom.

Lambonius
Knight Status
Posts: 405
Joined: Tue Dec 13, 2005 11:54 pm
Location: Illinois, USA

#33 Post by Lambonius » Fri Apr 06, 2007 12:47 pm

Ibanezrg82 wrote: We were all told the series ended there,
but what do you know! Five or so years later, boom.
But you're wrong, we WEREN'T told the series ended there.  

Like it or not, by the time they made QFG3, the series had been designed to be five games.  While it may have made more sense to end it after the storyline of QFG4 was finished, they didn't.  The epilogue of four clearly shows the hero travelling to Silmaria to right the wrongs in that land, the only remaining land repeatedly mentioned throughout the series (at least from QFG3 on,) like all the others to which he ended up travelling.  To my knowledge, every land that the hero went to was repeatedly mentioned throughout the series, including Silmaria.  

The reason QFG5 seems somewhat tacked on is a rather shallow storyline that included way too many of the series' recurring characters for its own good, as well as a newly designed battle system and pseudo-3D art style that didn't appeal to fans of the series.  But even with its flaws, Dragon Fire was a pretty awesome game.  There were a lot of new additions that were fantastic and really brought some new life to the series, most notably all the different weapons/armor/shields--even if they did end up not making all that much difference in the actual game, the concept was solid.  Even the Greek mythology setting was a welcome addition.  The multiplayer system would have been interesting as well, but like so many other great ideas from that era, big daddy Sierra pulled the budget out from under the project and/or pushed up the deadlines, forcing the cool new idea to get cut in lieu of releasing a crappier game slightly sooner.
Last edited by Lambonius on Fri Apr 06, 2007 7:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.

DonQuixote
Royal Servant Status
Posts: 106
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:34 am
Location: New Hampshire
Contact:

#34 Post by DonQuixote » Fri Apr 06, 2007 5:17 pm

Don't get me wrong, while I had some disappointments with Dragon Fire, I still loved it.  I think it's still the only game I've pre-ordered.  I thought the pseudo 3D world was great, the music by Chance Thomas was great, the animated spell/item inventory was interesting, I loved seeing so many returning characters, there were a large variety of creatures, more weapons, more spells, the Paladin had more subquests and abilities, the Thief finally gets the Blackbird, robbing and bank is something very new, more abilities (including swim), etc.

There were a lot of things to be really happy about; just a few things that always bugged me (but don't stop me from playing).  I don't how many of your remember "Quest for Glory Underground," I was apart of that and writing letters and emails constantly to Sierra.  On those forums we were constantly throwing ideas out and pushing for another game after SoD.  It basically made too much hype in our inner-circle and we only disappointed ourselves with those small things.  I think neither Sierra nor Lori Cole disappointed me.

TheSaint
Peasant Status
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed May 12, 2004 8:52 pm

#35 Post by TheSaint » Wed May 02, 2007 10:29 pm

i have a thing or two to add to this discussion

If you compare all parts of QFG game you might notice that, although all games include all 3 classes, they dont equally adress them:

In #1
Thief has a guild- mostly developed char
Fighter has adv.guild (useless) and Master trainer - average development
Magician has shopkeeper and erasmus and learns new spells - average development

In #2
Magician has wizard academy - mostly developed char
Thief has guild master and tasks - average development
Fighter has guild with uhura and rakeesh + paladinshood - highly developed

Game #3 is fighter oriented
Fighter has trainings with Simbani etc
Magician has only staff quest (which he loses at the end and that is really annoying) - poorly developed
Thief has a even less things to do - poorly developed
Paladin has tasks to complete - average

In #4
Thief has guild and quests - average development
Figher has fighting and possible paladinhood - average
Magician has few extra tasks but no staff- average
Paladin has fighters tasks plus some extra tasks - averagely developed char

i'd say game is balanced quite well

In #5
Thief has whole guildmaster thing + main quest - highly developed char
Fighter - adv.guild + main quest - highly developed
Paladin - fighter+ lots of other things to do- highly developed
Magician - few new spells + again making staff - average at best

I dislike this whole map thing in 3&5 but it's a change, an attempt to make something new.

Releasing QFG #4 without #3 would be too early, as someone already said (i agree).

Granted QFG3 would have been more interesting if there was more effort involved in building up a story.

My favorites are still 4&1 (in that order because i played them in that order) and i hope it will changed with the remake of QFG2 because i love the whole series, but hate the fact that you have to travel through corridors that much at start + poor graphics and text parser that i learned to enjoy only when i grew older. And also its true that the desert can be a bit boring.

Worst part in QFG series, in my humble opinion, is #5 - reason being new 3D system which killed old "feeling" (although positive thing for me in QFG5 is making magic use really beautiful, especially spellcasting with magic staff)

just my .02$
Last edited by TheSaint on Tue May 15, 2007 2:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Paladinlover
Knight Status
Posts: 296
Joined: Sun Dec 01, 2002 1:24 pm

#36 Post by Paladinlover » Sat May 05, 2007 2:14 pm

Then we have Quest for glory 2 which promises more of everything. More small events, a much larger world and a clear timeline. The second game is an improvement since there's alot of things going on. Still, I can't shake the feeling that it promises too much. It tends to drag a bit at times due to the timeline. If you solve things early, you are left with pretty much nothing to do other than killing monsters and talking to people. At one point it goes in the other direction. After days of doing nothing in the game you must, kill the earth elemental, talk to Aziza, save julanar, make a dispel potion and find the caged traitor in the desert(All in one day!). I managed to do this after reading spoilers but there was no chance in hell for me to get this right without detailed instructions.

Some of the choices are odd in storyline. The characters are a bit like shopkeepers, bland. You come back to them and just occasionally they have something different to say. In spite of all going on, they are very "at the side" in the game.
I wonder why they included that complicated animation about Shema dancing when they instead could've made more cut-scenes and minor events instead. The end game in Raseir is like a different game in that aspect. Things are happening all the time and I believe it couldn't hurt if the prior part had more of that instead.

There are, in my opinion, many things in QFG2 that are underused and I think it will become apparent in the coming enhancement(since it faithfully will follow the original).
Let me write this one comment made by the Coles regarding QFG 2. Firstly, you're correct in your assumption that there are many parts in QFG 2 that were underused... in fact, the coles intended to have interactions in the alleyways in Shapier and similiar cutscenes throughout the whole game, as well as newer shops and stuff.

So what led them to omitt those parts from the game? Hardware limitations. I know, I know, it sounds funny, but many people in those days didn't even  have harddisks let alone sound blasters or CD roms or any other fancy bits of equipment at the time. Much of the gameplay for those people would have involved swapping disks every now and then for the action sequences and new places and whatever. Adding all the stuff that the Coles wanted to put in would have meant more disks would be needed and it would result in a much harder time for the players than it would otherwise have done... and there came the development time and possibly other stuff. It was too much at the time, really.

Till next time stay cool  :smokin

Blackthorne519
Royal Vizier Status
Posts: 2301
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2003 3:37 am
Location: Central New York
Contact:

#37 Post by Blackthorne519 » Mon May 07, 2007 6:37 am

TheSaint wrote: Holy CRAP a lot of horrible grammer and spelling
Image

ENGLISH!  DO YOU SPEAK IT?


Bt

Brainiac
Royal Vizier Status
Posts: 2055
Joined: Thu Mar 18, 2004 6:20 am
Location: Somewhere in Ohio...
Contact:

Incomplete Pulp Fiction quote

#38 Post by Brainiac » Mon May 07, 2007 1:03 pm

Blackthorne519 wrote:Image

ENGLISH!  DO YOU SPEAK IT?
Blackthorne has practiced self-censorship.  I am shocked. :p

navynuke04
Honorary AGD
Posts: 5378
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2002 1:19 am
Location: US of A
Contact:

#39 Post by navynuke04 » Mon May 07, 2007 3:51 pm

What?

Blackthorne519
Royal Vizier Status
Posts: 2301
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2003 3:37 am
Location: Central New York
Contact:

#40 Post by Blackthorne519 » Mon May 07, 2007 5:46 pm

navynuke04 wrote:What?
Normally there's a part of that saying, "ENGLISH, DO YOU SPEAK IT?" that refers to a man with an Oedipus complex.  A term that was heavily co-opted by the sixties counterculture.


Bt

Anonymous Game Creator 2
The Prince of Shapeir
Posts: 8887
Joined: Tue May 08, 2001 4:12 am
Location: Phobos
Contact:

#41 Post by Anonymous Game Creator 2 » Mon May 07, 2007 6:01 pm

And if you still didn't get that, then:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=WCHzKs794yw

...and skip to 4:40.  :lol

navynuke04
Honorary AGD
Posts: 5378
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2002 1:19 am
Location: US of A
Contact:

#42 Post by navynuke04 » Mon May 07, 2007 6:06 pm

Wh-wh-what?


Whatever man. I'm just gonna go back to eating my cheeseburger breakfast.

DonQuixote
Royal Servant Status
Posts: 106
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 8:34 am
Location: New Hampshire
Contact:

#43 Post by DonQuixote » Mon May 07, 2007 7:15 pm

LOL, Pulp Fiction and Quest for Glory references  :eek

Blackthorne519
Royal Vizier Status
Posts: 2301
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2003 3:37 am
Location: Central New York
Contact:

#44 Post by Blackthorne519 » Tue May 08, 2007 7:47 am

navynuke04 wrote:Wh-wh-what?


Whatever man. I'm just gonna go back to eating my cheeseburger breakfast.
Aha!  You are more clever than I, sir.  I sit, shamed.


Bt

navynuke04
Honorary AGD
Posts: 5378
Joined: Fri Sep 13, 2002 1:19 am
Location: US of A
Contact:

#45 Post by navynuke04 » Tue May 08, 2007 11:28 am

lol! I was wondering if someone was going to get the fact that I was trying to play along... ;)

TheSaint
Peasant Status
Posts: 16
Joined: Wed May 12, 2004 8:52 pm

#46 Post by TheSaint » Wed May 09, 2007 3:03 pm

edited
Last edited by TheSaint on Tue May 15, 2007 2:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Schloss Ritter
Knight Status
Posts: 347
Joined: Wed Apr 03, 2002 11:07 pm

#47 Post by Schloss Ritter » Thu May 10, 2007 12:17 pm

Not to further bash QfG5, but folding Communication into Honor doesn't quite work in some ways.  Sure Comm had gotten pretty useless over the last couple games, but with this game's haggling system, it could've seen renewed usefullness.  But mainly (quoting a walkthrough), "A higher Honor means you can bargain better."  This means thieves, who should be the best at manipulating the best deals, actually have the worst chance because of their typically lower honor, unless you take the time to max it out again every time you practice your art (stealing).  Even then, the Paladin has a higher max honor but would be the least likely to try and smooth talk somebody into lower prices.  I understand they had to cut down on the less usefull skills to cut down the tedium, but I wonder what else could've been cut instead.

Also, an auto-haggling option would've been nice, instead of having to manually work the price down every time, even if it cost a bit extra.  The player could have the option to manually haggle down to the lowest possible price instead.  Maybe I'm just spoiled by a patch that does this for an old Rogue-like game named after Moria.

Quest For Glory Fan
Slacker of Shapeir
Posts: 2418
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2004 9:11 am
Location: Canada

#48 Post by Quest For Glory Fan » Thu May 10, 2007 4:28 pm

TheSaint wrote:
Blackthorne519 wrote:
TheSaint wrote: Holy CRAP a lot of horrible grammer and spelling
ENGLISH!  DO YOU SPEAK IT?

Bt
i made no "grammar and spelling" mistakes, i've used a few usual irc shortcuts for words due to simple laziness. So, unless you are illiterate, you will understand me.

ktnxbye
That doesn't make it any less annoying.

Blackthorne519
Royal Vizier Status
Posts: 2301
Joined: Mon Sep 08, 2003 3:37 am
Location: Central New York
Contact:

#49 Post by Blackthorne519 » Thu May 10, 2007 7:28 pm

Quest For Glory Fan wrote:
TheSaint wrote: i made no "grammar and spelling" mistakes, i've used a few usual irc shortcuts for words due to simple laziness. So, unless you are illiterate, you will understand me.

ktnxbye
That doesn't make it any less annoying.
Absolutely.  Usual IRC shortcuts are for window-lickers.  And, yes, I understand you - but with great difficulty.  Honestly, "knxbye" makes you sounds like a tard who can't say "Okay?  Thanks.  Bye."  As off topic as this is, in discussions such as this I won't be want to read what you have to say about the given topic, in this case "What Sucks about the QFG series".  And as I appreciate your enthusiasm and love of the games, I would rather be able to understand and read your thoughts an opinions than have to skip over them for illegibility.


Bt

Ghost_Rider
Knight Status
Posts: 315
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2004 3:45 am
Location: Ontario, Canada

#50 Post by Ghost_Rider » Mon May 14, 2007 3:23 am

TheSaint wrote:Your post made my head spin... I had to stop about halfway through it
Image


:p

Post Reply