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The Quest For Glory
What happens when you take the dour attitude and put-upon demeanor of an RPG NPC to the mean streets of ... Bath, England? Rock, Paper, Shotgun highlights John Walker's attempt to get the good citizens of Bath to do a quest for a kindly old wizard. As you can imagine, hilarity ensues. "In this time of rejection, I did learn a few useful things, however. Older people are much less likely to see the funny side of something, even when the safety of the universe is in the balance. Couples are far better at avoiding the magically hindered than individuals. Men with grey beards really don't like to be called, 'fellow wizard.' (Although, their wives are likely to find it funny.) And then, hope was restored in the form of a man in his 40s. His reaction was certainly the most peculiar of the day. He resigned himself to helping me as if he had to. Could this man have been a true adventurer? Someone who is aware of the demands of being a hero? Perhaps his acquiescent attitude was due to the low level of the quest, and the relatively poor reward for a man of such experience. But something about the simplicity of the task, and the accompanying XP, must have been enough."
I was thinking of that other Quest for Glory....
Misery loves company. Online misery loves unsuspecting random strangers.
LFM!
http://blog.heavensdomain.net
Looks to be word for word from the older article:
... the first time.
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/30/25
Although, I did find it amusing
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
And if one thing should be taken from this experience, above anything else, should the fate of the universe ever be in your hands, only bother to seek the aid of girls under the age of 30.
Finally, an explanation for the convention of magical girls. The scientific process truly is amazing. After all, without experimenting such as this chap has, who would have believed all of the anime telling us that young women are the only ones capable of saving the universe?
I used to wonder why we have all these people standing around in adventure games, offering quests to anybody who asks for them. Now we know that those people are still standing there because nobody but you, dear player, is willing to do their quests. And if their lines seem repetetive and stale it's only because they have had to say them so many times to indifferent adventurers who do not want a quest. This is indeed surprising, considering the amount of experience points and valuable enchanted objects that can be obtained only that way.
incidentally, although the original QfG was heavily RPG influenced, you didn't get random people you bumped into ask for your help.
In a little bit realistic manner :
- Random people you bumped into either tried to avoid you (citizens in QfG 2) or did tell you to move along and mind you're business (Sherif and several other caracters in QfG 1, most guards in QfG 2).
- Most people didn't spontaneously ask for your help, you had to search what quest are available (sort of classified ads in the hero guild in QfG 1) or try to imagine what people might need and spontaneously provide it to them (various caracters in QfG2 would tell you about legends or about ressource that aren't availble easily anymore)
- You had to insist and talk people into trusting you (the separated couple of QfG 4).
- Only very near to the end of the game by the time supposedly everyone has heard of your performance someone desperate may come and directly talk to you.
But the difference is that QfG series of games where primary Adventure Games with RPG elements thrown in and thus benefit from the usual characteristic of those categories (well written story telling as most games from Lucas Art and Sierra, as opposed to long chain of bring object A to person B à-la-Zelda and Link)
PS: Works nice with FreeSCI...
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
I've booked a flight to Bath so I can farm this guy for chocolate coins.
Whenever I put on my robe and wizard hat, all the young girls run screaming.
I agree--QfG1 remake and 4 were my favorite...5 was so terrible, felt like a slap in the face!
You might want to check out Tierra's remake of QfG2 -- looks like it should be fun. Also, QfG 4.5 is a fan made game that gives an interesting take on the series!