So You Want to Be a Heroine?

May 8, 2014 7:03 AM

Crystal Shard games presents Heroine's Quest: The Herald of Ragnarok. Modeled on the old Sierra Quest for Glory games, Heroine's Quest is available for free here and on Steam.

You can watch a trailer here and download the official guide here, and be sure to check out Crystal Shard's previous fantasy adventure game, A Tale of Two Kingdoms..

posted by dortmunder (21 comments total)

A much better idea than Heroin Quest.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 7:10 AM on May 8, 2014 [7 favorites]

Before Sierra rereleased the game, it was called Hero's Quest, so the wording of this post amuses me for some reason.
posted by Brocktoon at 7:12 AM on May 8, 2014

Have been playing some of this off and on -- it's a good game, and definitely worth playing if you were a fan of Quest for Glory/Hero's Quest. Especially at the price.
posted by asperity at 7:14 AM on May 8, 2014

it was called Hero's Quest after they released the game as well.. Somewhere along the lines, (maybe before the sequel came out ?) the trademark holder of a game (board game?) by the same name got lawyers to talk to Sierra. Thus the name change.

Curious how this one gets by the trademark folks ..
posted by k5.user at 7:38 AM on May 8, 2014

Huh? When it was first published, it was called Hero's Quest. When the graphics and sound were updated, and the game was rereleased, they changed the name to Quest for Glory (probably for the reason you mentioned).
posted by Brocktoon at 7:48 AM on May 8, 2014

Huh? When it was first published, it was called Hero's Quest. When the graphics and sound were updated, and the game was rereleased, they changed the name to Quest for Glory (probably for the reason you mentioned).

No, the history is more complicated than that. The original EGA release was titled Hero's Quest. Then they got some legal trouble from the makers of this board game. A second release of the EGA version was made with (as far as I know) only the title changed.

If you get the compilation version of the game that includes both the EGA and VGA versions you'll see that the EGA version has the updated title.
posted by jedicus at 7:54 AM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Curious how this one gets by the trademark folks ..

The HeroQuest trademark situation is kind of a mess.
posted by jedicus at 7:59 AM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

A much better idea than Heroin Quest.

Given the age of wonders we live in I googled "trainspotting video game" on a lark. The result was, well, see for yourself.
posted by jedicus at 8:22 AM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

Ahh, these same folks also made A Tale of Two Kingdoms, which I quite enjoyed but have never gotten to work on 64-bit Windows 7. Anyways, I love the Quest For Glory series a little more than is healthy, so I'm installing this right now.
posted by mstokes650 at 9:19 AM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I really don't understand why we're still making the hero/heroine, actor/actress, waiter/waitress distinction. Who gives a crap if they're male or female?
posted by nerdler at 9:19 AM on May 8, 2014

Who gives a crap if they're male or female?

Because the Quest for Glory games had a decidedly male protagonist, who could interact with female characters semi-romantically in the second and fourth games in the series and romantically in the third and fifth games.* I suspect the distinction is being made, in part, for reasons of balance and representation, and using a gendered term in the title is a way to call that out.

* And who could be involuntarily romantically interacted with by a female character in the first game. Man I have played those games way too many times.
posted by jedicus at 9:48 AM on May 8, 2014 [3 favorites]

* And who could be involuntarily romantically interacted with by a female character in the first game.

I don't remember that; who was the female character involved?
posted by Juffo-Wup at 10:13 AM on May 8, 2014

I regard Quest For Glory IV very very highly. Even if I never got very far in it. That gothic, downcast atmosphere and use of Eastern European / Slavic mythology was like nothing else.
posted by naju at 10:21 AM on May 8, 2014

I don't remember that; who was the female character involved?

When you return the Healer's ring to her she gives you a vigorous kiss (god bless YouTube; I can't believe someone made a clip of just that part of the original version of the game). You then depart her hut before she can do it again, hands raised in front of you and an embarrassed look on your face. After that it's never mentioned again.
posted by jedicus at 10:25 AM on May 8, 2014 [1 favorite]

I regard Quest For Glory IV very very highly.

Quest For Glory IV was the high point of the series. Unfortunately, it was also incredibly buggy, making it very difficult to get running properly.
posted by dortmunder at 10:40 AM on May 8, 2014

I love the Quest For Glory series a little more than is healthy, so I'm installing this right now.

Oh, man, I still break out my 4-game collection every now and again, and I've done 4 playthroughs of the QFG2 remake (previously). I'm sort of ashamed to say that I never played QFG5, largely because everything I heard about it was that it was a game that had a lot of potential, but was essentially unfinished even after patching.

I regard Quest For Glory IV very very highly. Even if I never got very far in it. That gothic, downcast atmosphere and use of Eastern European / Slavic mythology was like nothing else.

John Rhys Davies' narration in the talkie version is damn good for 90s PC gaming.
posted by zombieflanders at 10:41 AM on May 8, 2014

I'm sort of ashamed to say that I never played QFG5, largely because everything I heard about it was that it was a game that had a lot of potential, but was essentially unfinished even after patching.

It is pretty buggy, even patched (in particular, there's about a 50% chance that the climactic final battle will just bug out on you and be unfinishable), but it is well-worth playing anyways, because the good parts are really good. And it makes a nice capstone to the series.

Since we're fondly reminiscing about QfG games here, I suppose I should mention that for those of you who missed the Kickstarter campaign, Lori and Corey Cole are working on a new game.
posted by mstokes650 at 1:07 PM on May 8, 2014

I have just replayed this recently, so this game is perfectly timed. Thanks!
posted by corb at 4:24 PM on May 8, 2014

I would like to play this but got spooked that it was asking me to download Steam first. What is Steam, and is there a downside to downloading it?
posted by ubiquity at 5:31 PM on May 8, 2014

I would like to play this but got spooked that it was asking me to download Steam first. What is Steam, and is there a downside to downloading it?

Here's a non-Steam link.
posted by dortmunder at 5:41 PM on May 8, 2014

Sure, it had a male protagonist, but the universe was created and developed by a very talented and clever woman, for a company with a woman CEO. So while it follows some standard gender tropes, I don't know that this new game was really created for political reasons.
posted by Brocktoon at 12:07 AM on May 9, 2014