Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire (1990)

I'd never played this in my childhood unlike the first Quest for Glory so I had no idea what to expect nor the draw of nostalgia to carry me through the game. That said I'm glad I played through this game and didn't feel too guilty about needing a guide to get through it.

It does not have the greatest first impressions. The character is almost immediately dropped into a maze where all sections are indistinguishable from another. It is slow, tedious, and frustrating to navigate through. It is probably one of the worst first impressions I've ever had of a game, but soon you'll have a quick travel map to avoid needing to navigate the maze as much as possible.

The music is amazing for its time and I appreciated the CGA graphics. I also enjoyed the story. It reminded me of a much more intriguing version of Aladdin.

Unfortunately the puzzles are not obvious. I found myself recognizing a puzzle existed but not sure if I should or could solve it at that moment. I also found myself having no idea what to do so I'd look at a guide and get spoiled on something cool that happens, but there was no indication that I just had to wait around for something to happen. I'm going to write some notes of my playthrough in spoilers ahead just for my own benefit.

I imported my thief character from QFG1 and as I said had a terrible first impression of navigating through Shapeir looking for a money changer. Eventually the elementals began attacking and there was a semblance of what this game was about. I always had to look up how to beat the elementals but I also didn't find Aziza until much later in the game. She had some good clues and great little cutscenes about how to beat them. Eventually I made it to Raseir which was probably the most frustrating part of the game for me. Again a maze of streets with no ability to use the map. You also have to wait for events but you couldn't sleep to pass the time so I tediously walked back and forth on the screen waiting for night to fall. Once I was captured, escaped from a dungeon, and caught by the evil wizard, the game was really hitting its stride. The CGA cutscene of the wizard mesmerizing me really creeped me out. (playing at midnight with the lights off) I really enjoyed finding magical treasure in a cave just like Aladdin and needing a genie's help to escape.