Tag: fun

Let’s Play Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire Part Two

Day 1: Exploring Exotic Shapier

First, first things let’s see if Ol’ Garcon made it to Shapier safe and sound?

*trinkering*

*hackering*

*some of that old time DOS magicking*

What was the very first thing I did after loading in Perseii? Why, delete those three pesky spaces at the end of his name! The very next thing? Well it is the most important thing you can do in QFG2:

I turned Silly Clowns to ‘On.’ Now we can get started! Jackson was in a new city and that meant all his money was no good here he needed to find a money changer (those people Jesus hated) He asked Abdulla about it

Next was finding out where the Guild hall was:

Danar doesn’t think Abdulla is going to be that helpful! Here is hoping Shameen can help!

When asked about the Money Changer:

the Guild Hall:

The Fountain Plaza:

Okay, so not so much help. That is okay though. ‘Cause in the promotional material Seepgood got from the Shapier Chamber of Commerce was a map. It wasn’t a very good one but it will have to do until he gets a better one. He knows that the Money changer is on Dinar Tarik which is right off of Naufara Darb which is right off the Fountain Plaza which is just north of here! Garcon pats himself down before heading out to make sure he hasn’t lost anything:

As soon as Perseii leaves the Katta’s Tail he’s assailed by street vendors:

Ali Chica seems especially keen to let the hero know about his wares. Annoying as he may be a map and compass would be helpful.

Maybe he won’t notice the funny money? Gold is gold, right?

Continue reading “Let’s Play Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire Part Two”

Let’s Play Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire Part One

Vital Statistics

Published by Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Developed by Sierra On-Line, Inc.
Released in 1990

Credits

Executive Producer: Ken Williams
Creative Director: William R. Davis Sr.
Producer: Guruka Singh Khalsa
Game Designers: Lori Ann Cole, Corey Cole
Art Designer: Kenn Nishiuye
Lead Programmer: Robert Fischbach
Composers: Mark Seibert, Chris Braymen

Trial by Fire is the sequel to Hero’s Quest: So You Want To Be A Hero. It takes place in the town Shapeir and the desert surrounding it, in a Middle East-like environment. It seems that the powerful elemental spirits have been troubling the Shapeir folk recently. Something, or someone, is behind those troubles. It is the hero’s task to find out what is going on, get acquainted with the many inhabitants of Shapeir, and prove once more that he is worthy of his heroic title.

Like its predecessor, Trial by Fire is a hybrid game that incorporates elements from adventure and role-playing genres. It has a text-based interface, puzzles to solve, inventory items, characters to talk to, as well as pure RPG elements such as character growth system and battles. Player character can be either a fighter, a thief, or a wizard, and can also become a paladin during the course of the game if he follows a strict moral code.

Real-time combat is presented on separate screens and offers more options than the previous title. There are several types of high, mid-level, and low attacks, as well as parrying and dodging. The hero raises his combat proficiency and other skills by fighting enemies, training, and performing various actions that influence the corresponding parameters.

While in interviews the Coles have long claimed that QFG4 is their favorite game in the series, I can understand it is one of my favorite games of all time, fans have always seemed to gravitate towards the this QFG game. Two seems to take the wonderful system found in the first game and make just enough correct tweaks to make the game really, really shine. The most noticeable tweak being a more easily understood and navigable combat system.

Sadly, this game is saddled with a terrible maze city and timed puzzles. Despite that we should be okay.

Many of you commented at the end of the QFG1 LP that I did not max out Garcon’s stats before completing the game. I, incorrectly, stated that was because the game would give us points to catch us up to be speed. I did recall the correct reason though after playing as Garcon for a bit and playing as an old saved perfected character. The reason I don’t do that is because a maxed out beginning character makes many of the skill challenges in this game , as well as the combat, trivial. I find its much more enjoyable to play the game without a maxed character.

Of course, if that is what the people want I know of some way to do just that. A rare drug that can be found by ingesting the venom of a small tropical blue frog…

EDIT: If you want to read the manual you can find it here!

Introductory Videos and Miscellany

Opening Cinematic:

Character Select:

Game Beginning:

Next time I actually play the game!

Stamp Making

The completed FalseLogic stamp print

Remember in Art class in high school the unit you did on prints? The teacher stood at the front of the class and talked a little about print making; she made sure to mention woodblock prints and silk screening, the fact that woodcuts are reversals of the image you want and that you need to cut out the negative space… She might have mentioned something about good design. At the end of the lecture though the teacher handed out something she called linoleum but was really E-Z-Cut and some sharp objects with which you could carve it up. You then did so and at the end of class you rolled some ink on the block of E-Z-Cut and made some prints. It was a lot of fun and educational. What?! You didn’t take Art in school? Too bad. You could have learned a lot in an art class. Welp, now you know just some of what you were missing! (we also did a nude study and played with oil paints!)

Sketching out some ideas for my first stamp. The one on the bottom left is the one I decided to go with

I was thinking about art class last weekend and about those old print lessons. My town has a decent art supply store and on a whim I decided to make myself a stamp. At first I thought I’d do something fancy like a hanko seal but then I realized I didn’t have the delicate carving tools necessary for one nor did I really want to spend the additional $ to get them. I can always make one later, as the E-Z Cut blocks are quite large. I decided a simple stamp would be best to start with, especially so because I only had an x-acto knife to work with. The first step was to get some ideas on paper. I decided to do a 1-inch square stamp and because I couldn’t think of anything to do I just did an ‘f’ and an ‘l’ (for FalseLogic). After I sketched out a couple of variants I picked one and went over it with black marker. You really have to lay the ink on thick if you’re going to get it to transfer. Once you’re stamp design is drawn and inked press it on to the block and rub it in, without moving the paper around.

The stamp cut out and the design transferred over to it. Once the design is on the stamp you can go over it again. Make sure the lines are all clearly defined. You don't want to accidentally cut any parts out because of a faint line...

Now comes the hard part! Well, the hard part if you only have a razor blade, box cutter, or x-acto knife. If you have some actual lino-cut tools you’ll be in much better shape. I didn’t and I ended up cutting out part of my border and had quite the time removing the cut portions of the block. The actual tools are U-shaped and remove the block as you cut it. I had to get creative… Anyway. You want to cut out all the parts of the block that you don’t want to hold ink. For my stamp it was the white area. I carefully began cutting out the block, being especially careful between the border and the top of the ‘F’ and between the two letters. This step is by far the most time consuming; You want to go slow and not making any mistakes though. One bad cut and you’ll have to start all over.

The completed stamp. As you can see the top part of the border got cut off. I used some modelling glue to re-attach it. I admit it isn't very pretty and the cross on my 'f' is barely visible.

After I cut out all the white I went back in and tried to clean up all the lines and increase the depth of the cut. I wanted to make sure that the only thing that would transfer ink would be the black marked parts of the stamp. It didn’t take long and I only cut off one tiny part of the stamp (easily fixed.) Once that was all done I cleaned up the stamp removing any excess black ink and all the little bits and pieces of E-Z-Cut block. Then came the moment of truth. I didn’t have any of the fancy print inks (their quite thick and you’re supposed to roll them onto the stamp block.) I did have an ink pad though and it worked fine, the stamp came out a little more textured than I thought it would; I suspect that is because the stamp block doesn’t absorb any of the ink as a normal stamp would. I think it turned out good, you’ve seen the end result at the top of this post.

I’m hopeful about my next attempt. I might even attempt a more complicated design or one that at minimum more people would recognize.

 

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