Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire (1990)
Lori Ann and Corey Cole's Arabian-Nights Parser Swansong Introducing Ethical Paladinhood in Shapeir
Released by Sierra On-Line in November 1990 as the studio's final major 16-color EGA text-parser adventure, Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire flew imported Spielburg heroes by magic carpet to the One Thousand and One Nights-inspired twin desert cities of Shapeir and Raseir. Structured around a thirty-day calendar of elemental crises and debuting the honor-earned Paladin class, it remains a masterwork of reactive moral role-playing.
Shapeir's Thirty-Day Calendar, Four Elementals, and Bazaar Labyrinths
Arriving aboard merchant Abdulla Doo's flying carpet with Katta innkeepers Shameen and Shema, the hero enters golden-walled Shapeir—mapped using a first-person compass street network requiring careful paper cartography—while dark sorcerer Adavis plots to unleash Djinn overlord Iblis from police-state sister city Raseir. Lori Ann and Corey Cole paced the narrative across a living thirty-day schedule punctuated by rampaging Fire, Air, Earth, and Water Elementals: Fighters join the Eternal Order of Fighting, Wizards pass the comedic Wizard's Institute of Technocery trials, and Thieves raid desert palaces while bargaining in dinars with oasis merchants.
The Honor-Bound Paladin Prestige Class and AGD Interactive's VGA Tribute
Trial by Fire's most enduring contribution to RPG design was its unadvertised fourth class: mentored by noble liontaur warrior Rakeesh Sah Tarna, players of any background who consistently refused dishonorable acts, spared helpless foes, kept promises, and returned lost valuables watched their hidden “Honor” attribute blossom—culminating in Rakeesh gifting his flaming sword Soulforge and anointing the hero a Paladin for export into Quest for Glory III. Because Sierra skipped a commercial VGA upgrade in the 1990s, dedicated fans at AGD Interactive spent seven years crafting a blessed, acclaimed 2008 point-and-click VGA remake.