Aside from classics like Nethackfrom the open source community, a few enterprising souls figured out there was money in old games. There's a reason why GOG first got it's start as "Good Old Games" encapsulting and republishing old games like the original X-Com, Ultima IV, and Privateer. The graphics may have been primitive at best, but the gameplay logic was outstanding and engaging.
The Dark Herald treats us to an overview of one such.
And after getting an infringement letter from Parker Brother’s it became Quest for Glory. Although most of it’s fans doggedly called the series Hero’s Quest anyway because Gen-X.
Honestly, of all the Sierra Quest titles this one was my favorite.* It had charm, humor, and fun. Unlike King’s Quest, it actually felt a little like a D&D game night.
The title card starts with an EGA card dragon that climbed over the top of the Sierra logo and roared in a bloopy kind of way. And you never saw that dragon again for four games.
It was the first PC game I played that let you pick a player class.** Fighter, Mage, Thief. No Cleric and really none needed since this was a solo outing. You start by meeting the sheriff of the town of Spielburg. A very German looking town and this was deliberate. The devs had wanted to set each of the games in one location with a very strong cultural motif.
Now before you begin the highest tech game that 1989 had to offer you would have needed a paper and pencil. Seriously, this was not optional. You were going to have draw something nearly unknown to Millennials and Zoomers. A map.
And this was not a simple map.
