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EGA vs. VGA

Quest for Glory was originally released in 1989, under the name 'Hero's Quest'.  It used Sierra's standard adventure game engine, SCI0, with a few tweaks to create an RPG-Adventure hybrid.  The engine utilized the Enhanced Graphics Adapter (EGA) standard, which allowed for a total palette of 64 colors, 16 of which could be visible at any one time, with a resolution of 320x200 pixels.  In today's world, this seems like a joke, but at the time it was only slightly obsolete.  The creators of Quest for Glory used the EGA standard despite VGA having been released two years earlier, probably to maximize the market and not limit the game to only users with high-end computers.

By 1992, Sierra had upgraded their standard engine to a mouse-based system, SCI1.1, which used the Video Graphics Array (VGA) standard, allowing for 256 colors at a resolution of 640x200 pixels.  They had been enhancing and re-releasing their games for some time (King's Quest I, Leisure Suit Larry I, and Space Quest I, to name a few), and with the naming issue with Milton Bradley over 'Hero's Quest' and 'HeroQuest', a remake was not unexpected.

The Quest for Glory Anthology contains both versions of this game.  So the question is, which one should you play?  In many respects, they are the exact same game.  Puzzles function identically, the maps and conversations don't change much--it really comes down to a question of personal taste, or of conversation simplicity.  Because dialogue is typed in the EGA version, the player needs to pay close attention to what the NPCs are saying, and ask appropriate questions.  In the VGA version, conversation uses a 'tree' system, where asking about one thing will open the option to ask about something else (for example, asking the Sheriff about "The Brigands" will open the option to ask about the "Merchant" and "Treasure" he mentioned in his answer.

I, personally, prefer the EGA version.  I can type faster than I can click, and the action pauses while the text box is open anyway, so the interface of the VGA version bothers me.  I didn't like using it in QFG3 and QFG4, either. The EGA version is also what I started with, so it has that nostalgic value to it.  I'm writing this without having played it all the way through, though--the last time I tried, I gave up after ten minutes.  I do plan on playing both versions all the way through as I build this shrine, so we'll see what I think of the VGA version after that.  Most of the data in the shrine, however, comes from the EGA version.

Oh, I've also heard rumors that there's a bug in the VGA version that makes it impossible to export your character to QFG2.  Not sure if that's true or not, but I'll let you know.


I must admit that I was biased when I started playing the VGA version for the purposes of this shrine.  After so much experience with the EGA version, I didn't think the VGA version would offer much improvement, even with the enhanced graphics and point-and-click interface.  However, after playing through it, I have to admit... I still prefer the EGA version.

Most skills are easier to raise in the VGA version than in EGA.  However, the VGA version seems to be somewhat biased toward the Thief class.  Here are a few class-specific things I noticed:
  •   Fighters:  The combat system in the VGA version is difficult to get used to.  If you're playing with a mouse or touchpad, you can just about forget having an easy time with it.  The number pad combat controls work better, but are still somewhat confusing.  Combat skills don't seem to go up as quickly as in the EGA version, and fighting the Weapon Master in the beginning is all but impossible, since he pushes you back so quickly that there is little chance to use all of your SP to work on your defensive skills.  You also die if you run out of SP during combat, which makes it extremely important to save your game before nearly every fight, especially at the Goblin Camp.
  •   Magic-Users:  No more F3-Enter-Enter to repeatedly cast a spell for practice.  Now you have to click the Spells menu, find the icon for the spell you want to cast (not all of the icons are immediately obvious, so you might even have to check the icon description as well), and repeat that.  It requires you to move the mouse halfway across the screen each time you cast something, which is rather annoying (at least for me).  The only advantage is that the VGA version has the option to rest in 30- or 60-minute increments as well as in 10-minute, so you can restore more MP more easily.  But checking your Character Sheet to find your current SP and MP (to see how many spells you can cast before needing rest) is also tedious--rather than ctrl-S, you need to do the move-click-move-click thing.
  •   I think the VGA version is biased toward Thieves.  Stealth seems to have more of an effect on whether or not you'll meet monsters in the forest, and it rises much more quickly when you sneak everywhere (rather than switching between typing walk and sneak repeatedly).  Practicing at the Healer's tree offers a higher maximum Climbing skill (47-48 in the EGA version), and you only have to continually click the Hand icon on the tree to climb it, rather than typing climb tree and climb down for each circuit.  You also make a lot more money from your stolen goods in the VGA version--your fenced goods get you 295 silver in the EGA version, and 880 silver in the VGA version.
Conversation in the VGA version is also easier--when you need to give a specific response such as the Thieves' password or the answers to Erasmus's Gargoyle's questions, you just have to select it from the list rather than remembering or figuring it out--and you get points simply from clicking the Talk icon on an NPC, regardless of whether you actually ask them anything substantial.

Most manipulable objects in the VGA version are a brighter color than the background (sort of like old cartoons with painted backgrounds and cel characters), making it easier to know what you can interact with.  In the EGA version, with so few colors available, this wasn't an option for the designers.  The Hand icon also is somewhat intelligent, causing the Hero to do the most logical action with whatever you click it on, rather than forcing the player to deduce what the proper course of action is (i.e., taking something versus moving it).

There do seem to be more stability/processing problems in the VGA version than in the EGA version.  It may be because I was playing it unpatched in DOSBox rather than on a 486 machine, but I noticed many places where the game seemed to pause while it figured out what to do.  It even locked up completely the first time I went into the castle after freeing the Baronet, and I'll occasionally have a problem where I won't be able to go south from the Healer's house (the Hero simply won't travel to the next screen).

So I greatly prefer the EGA version.  I recommend it to anyone who wants to experience the game in the best possible way, and can put up with the relatively ancient graphics (but if you want snazzy graphics, you shouldn't be playing such an old game anyway :P).