Sunday, October 12, 2008

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 176, 177 and 178: The Rite of Justice, Prelude to the End and Dragon Fire

In Which Our Hero unveils the conspiracy in Silmaria, raids Minos' fortress and witnesses the Dragon of Doom waking; is summoned to darkest combat by the woman he loves; and stands by his friends to defeat the Dragon of Doom, saves Silmaria, becomes King, marries the woman he loves and earns the title Hero of Five Lands.







Marcus goes to sleep and wakes up to the sound of the guard knocking on his door. It's time to set the plan in motion.

Minos attends the ceremony for the Rite of Justice, but Elsa is nowhere to be seen. Marcus and Logos confront Minos, who denies the charges - but the Ring of Truth proves otherwise. Like a petulant child, Minos declares he's going to destroy Silmaria if he can't rule it and teleports away. Marcus boards the kingdom's fastest boat and soon makes landfall at Minos' island fortress. He attacks Marcus-style, but instead of killing everything in sight he Awes the goons away.

A couple of doors stand in Marcus' way, but it's no big deal to smash them down. He's an old hand at that. Inside are more goons and two of those horrible centaur wizards, who are luckily vulnerable to Awe as well. Marcus makes his way upstairs, pausing to kill a particularly troublesome goon, then enters Minos' chamber.

Minos makes a little speech about how Marcus might have made a good King, then orders his paltry guards to attack. Elsa's trapped in a cell; Marcus frees her and the two of them make short work of the guards. Didn't Minos know that Marcus defeated Toro like four games ago?

Minos then decides to kill himself and destroy Silmaria if he can't rule it. He childishly throws himself off the balcony, breaking the Prophecy Stone and freeing the Dragon of Doom in a nicely-rendered cutscene. Elsa says that she has a bad feeling about this.

No kidding.

Marcus and Elsa quickly loot the room, stopping only to kick Minos' dead body (seriously.) Erana then shows up and summons them to battle the Dragon. The Dragon is still bound, but only just. Fenrus summons Toro and Gort to help them fight, and the five friends start attacking the beast.

Marcus distributes healing potions and passes Toro the minotaur axe he took off of Minos' guard. He, Toro and Gort restore the Dragon Pillar in the cave, binding the Dragon to the spot. Then it's time to simply hit it until it dies.

The Dragon eventually breaks free of its bindings and flies around vomiting fire on everyone and making a nuisance of itself. The friends continue to beat on it until it finally gives up and dies - and everyone can breathe a sigh of relief. The Dragon of Doom is defeated, Silmaria is saved and there's a ceremony to attend.

Marcus is faced with a choice: to become King or not. Thinking of the life he wants to share with Erana, who has made Silmaria her new home, Marcus decides to take the crown and retire from adventuring. It's been a long road from his time as a beginning hero in Spielburg, but it's been worth it.

The end credits roll - and that's the end of the Let's Play!

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 173, 174 and 175: The Rite of Peace, Marcus and Erana and Beginning of the End

In Which Our Hero journeys to Atlantis and brokers peace with the Tritons; proposes to a woman who's been with him since the beginning - and she says YES!; and discusses Minos with Elsa again, and hears about the Dragon from the Famous Adventurer.





We find Marcus swimming underwater in front of the gates to Atlantis. A little mojo with the magic spear and the gates open; Marcus is instantly attacked by two Tritons. Rather than fighting, he uses his Awe ability to scare them off and swims inside. Once in, he follows the Famous Adventurer's advice to find a couple of secret panels, bypassing and Awe-ing several guards along the way. Then he swims right into the Queen's chambers and discusses peace with Hippolyta.

She hears Marcus out and his Paladin promises resonate with her, so she agrees to a peace treaty, offering Marcus a statue as a symbol of the act. He swims back to the surface and flies back to Marete, but not before stopping off to see Erana.

Before Logos concludes the Rite of Peace, Dr. Praetorus and Gort stand accused of cheating and drugging the Wizards of Silmaria. Praetorus doesn't protest, but goes on a tirade about poppycock (where have we heard that before?) and eventually turns into Dr. Mobius in a strange twist of fate that no one, not even the game's writers, probably saw coming.

Now the game becomes about resolving plot lines before the finale. First, to the apothecary, where Marcus hears about how the Lethe water has cured the Wizards. Nice work. Marcus also stocks up on a bunch of potions, which really makes you wonder where the hell he's keeping all this stuff he's carrying around.

Next, back to Erana's island. Marcus talks with her some more and makes his feelings for her known. He gets down on one knee and presents her with a ring - and Erana says yes. A love across the ages, through all five Quest for Glory games, comes to a happy conclusion. And hey, it's not like it's Marcus' first marriage anyway.

Then it's off to the Dead Parrot Inn, where a rather-smug looking Ferrari takes the Tritons' peace statue in exchange for the deed to Ann's inn. What Ferrari is planning with that statue is anyone's guess - but at least we helped Ann, and she is extremely grateful.

Elsa comes for another visit that evening, where she lays out her plans for proving Minos' guilt. It sounds solid, but Elsa's putting herself in grave danger. Hope she's OK.

Next morning, Marcus heads out to the Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School and speaks to the FA one last time. FA tells Marcus about the Dragon of Doom, which is a far bigger and nastier monster than the little dragonlets Marcus has seen or encountered before.

Marcus kills a bit of time before nightfall and on his walk back to the Inn is trapped by a man in a black cloak. It's the assassin - who turns out to be none other than Bruno, the old thief from Spielburg. What the hell? During the battle Marcus kills Bruno but is stabbed by a poison dagger. Luckily Toro witnesses the whole thing and gets Marcus some much-needed help.

When he wakes, Marcus talks to Logos about how to approach Minos. It is agreed to lay a trap, inviting Minos to the Hall of Kings and using the Ring of Truth on him.

There's no turning back now.

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 171 and 172: A Midnight Meeting and Drugs and Dancing

In Which Our Hero learns from Elsa whom she believes is behind the problems in Silmaria; and discovers who drugged the Wizards and engages in some casual crossdressing.





After talking with Erana for a while (and doing a little behind-the-scenes grinding to get his vitality back up to at least early Shadows of Darkness levels), Marcus heads back to Silmaria and crashes at the Inn. Elsa wakes him in the middle of the night to talk to him about her suspicions regarding who is responsible for the problems. She points the finger at Minos, her sponsor, but has no real proof. Guess we'll need to be on the lookout.

Next morning Marcus has a sudden inkling to buy a magic spear, and then discusses Atlantis at length with the Famous Adventurer, who helpfully reveals the sunken city's location and some tricks for getting around once inside. Now all we're missing is some scuba equipment.

Marcus decides to pay Science Island one last visit. But hey, something really strange is going on. It seems Dr. Praetorus admits to being the one who drugged the wizards! A damning confession if ever there was one.

The next step on this disjointed adventure is walking into a trap. Gnome Ann confronts Marcus when he comes in that night and asks him if he'll do her a favor, without telling him what it is. He agrees - what is a Paladin to do? - and finds himself dressed as a woman, performing a belly dance.

Welp.

Next morning, though, it's down to serious business as Marcus takes his balloon and flies to Atlantis, where he discovers an ancient-looking sewer tunnel that may or may not lead to the lost city. We'll find out next time...

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 169 and 170: The Rite of Courage and Courting Erana

In Which Our Hero gets Styx water and must make two very difficult choices, and completes the Rite of Courage and begins courting Erana.





Marcus starts this video quite literally on the highway to Hell - or more appropriately, a highway in Hell. Too bad he needed to take the low way - so there's a little backtracking so he can dip an amphorae into the Styx and grab some water, along with taking the last step to create the Ring of Truth.

After that, it's back to the high way and the Guardian of the Underworld, who informs Marcus that there are two trapped souls who sense his presence and wish to be with him. It's none other than Erana and Katrina, and Marcus can choose to give one of these souls rest and send the other to Oblivion. He chooses Erana. Marcus is then given another choice: to bring Erana back to life, at the cost of his own (or at least, part of it.) Marcus chooses to bring Erana back, and is brutally beaten by two spirits until he passes out. He wakes up with half the vitality with which he started, and Erana tells him that she'll be waiting.

It's time to get the Hell out of Hell. Marcus backtracks until he finds himself aboveground once more, and the gates of Hell close behind him.

Marcus stands around dumbfounded, then activates his mystic magnets back to his room. It's late. Next morning, he's off to the apothecary where he proudly delivers the Lethe water in an awkwardly-acted conversation with Salim. Then it's off to the Hall of Kings where Marcus is declared the winner of the Rite of Courage.

The next Rite should come as no surprise: Marcus is to broker peace between the Tritons of Atlantis and the people of Silmaria. Hey, remember when this was called Quest for Glory 3? Yeah.

After receiving this Rite, Marcus visits Erana and showers her with gifts and affection. She seems somehow distant though, so the key to her heart might be a little more complex than Marcus first thinks...

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 167 and 168: Preparing to Go Down and Marcus Goes To Hell

In Which Our Hero readies himself for a journey into the Underworld, and goes to Hell.





Before we go to Hell, we're going to have to do a little research and prep work. First we warp back to our room and notice a very suspicious-looking box of chocolates sitting on the chair. Hmm. They have a funny smell, too. Maybe Salim would be interested in these?

We hustle them over to the apothecary and hand them to Salim, explaining they are not in fact for 'the munchies.' (Actual in-game quote.) Then Marcus has to waste a little time until the next day. So he goes to sleep.

Back at the apothecary, Salim has used the Black Lotus flower to upgrade Marcus' poison cure pills. He picks up a few more just in case - you never know when they might come in handy.

Marrak's gyros have been going down really well, and Marcus grabs a few more for the road. He also has a stunning premonition that he might need a pepperoni pizza, so he picks one of those up as well.

It's the off to the FACS where FA fills Marcus in on some of the lore of the Underworld; sounds like bribing Cerberus might be our ticket in. After that - to the Dragon Pillar and the gates to Hell.

It really doesn't look much like the gates to Hell, that is until Marcus befouls the water of the stream, recites some ancient cursing poetry and wakes up after the entire landscape has become a blasted wasteland. So far so good. Cerberus lumbers out to meet Marcus and they carry on quite the conversation before Marcus starts with the bribes, which include Chocolate, a Gyro and a Pizza (huh, what a coincidence!) Then it's into the bowels of Hell itself.

Hell looks a lot like it did in Monkey Island, and Marcus does some ghostbusting along the way. It's a lot of 'run down this path, kill ghosts, keep going' until he emerges in front of the River Lethe and scoops up some water to take back to Salim. The he misses the Styx by a mile, so we'll have to come back in the next video... before going even deeper into the burning lake of fire. Or something.

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 165 and 166: Dance of the Dryads and The Rite of Destiny

In Which Our Hero gets down in a grove of trees, with some trees; and learns about his future from someone other than a gypsy fortune teller.





We start off running back to tell Wolfie the good news about the balloon. He's thrilled that it actually works and says he wants to give it a spin someday. Why not; he's the inspiration after all.

Marcus swings by the Hippocrene stream to get some more water, which the Famous Adventurer said might be useful in dealing with the Dryads. And a good thing too, since it's just a hop, skip and jump to the next island where Marcus finds the Dryad grove. He waters each of the trees in turn and is then treated to a four-minute cutscene in which he gets funky.

Also on this island is the Oracle he seeks. Floating in a pool near her shrine is a Black Lotus. At the very least it's a valuable card, so he picks it up and puts it away for later. There's a pillar in front of the shrine as well which contains an interesting bit of rhyme. Might come in handy for later.

Then the Oracle (Sibyl) speaks after Marcus drops some gold in her pool as payment. She tells Marcus about his destiny: that he will have to walk through death itself to save the kingdom, and a lot of other metaphorical stuff. It all relates to the next three Rites and the endgame. He leaves not sure if he got his money's worth, but he does have a sigil to show for his troubles. It's a short flight back to the Inn where Marcus catches a few hours of shut-eye.

Next morning, the Inn has... changed. Wolfie's sitting there looking very proud of himself, and the Inn looks like a bunch of Photoshop filters threw up all over a coloring book. Well, it's an.. improvement of sorts.

On his way to the Hall of Kings, Marcus stops by Salim and Julanar's place and learns the Shakra too has been drugged just like Erasmus. Two drugged Wizards. Curious. He gives Salim the Black Lotus, and learns that he needs to seek the waters of the river Lethe - which if memory serves, is somewhere in the Underworld.

Logos is duly impressed that Marcus completed this Rite (was it really that hard? What was Elsa up to while we were running around building a balloon - she has a ship for God's sake.) The next Rite: journey into the Underworld (hey, great timing!) and bring back some Styx water. Not the band, the river.

Guess next time we're going to have to go to Hell.

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 163 and 164: Elsa's A Winner and The Balloon

In Which Our Hero does something nice for Elsa and starts making a balloon; and constructs a flying machine.





Back in Marcus' room, he tucks in for the night and is woken the next morning by the city guards. It's time to go to the Hall of Kings.

Elsa stands before Logos and wins the Rite of Valor, although Marcus is named as a kind of co-winner for helping her out. Logos then lays out the next Rite: to journey to Delos and speak to the oracle about destiny. Sounds fun. The main problem is: how the hell do we get to Delos?

With the Icarus wings well and truly busted, it's time to take some alternate opinions. Wolfie talks about flying, and he's got a really nifty painting of a balloon he saw once. Hmm. I wonder if we could make the same?

Marcus shows the painting to Marrak, who agrees to sell Marcus his spare brazier. Marcus then sets off to find some other elements for his puzzle, but not before stopping by Pholus' stall to sell a few unneeded items.

After that it's the Famous Adventurer's place, where Marcus hears about Delos and the Oracle - and more interestingly, the Dryads who also live there. We'll have to stop by and say 'hello.'

Next step: a bag for the balloon. Ann happens to have a sheet that might work, and she's so happy that we helped her with the seeds (and gave her a lead on Wolfie painting the Inn) that she agrees to sew the sheet.

After that, Marcus takes a well-deserved rest, then journeys to Science Island where he fishes the gondola out of the ocean. Applying the various pieces to it results in a workable hot air balloon. Pretty cool! The world is now our oyster - or at least this part of it.

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 161 and 162: The Rite of Valor and Drugs and Dragon's Blood

In Which Our Hero defeats the Hydra with a little help from an old friend, and graciously lets her win the Rite; and learns Erasmus has been drugged and begins making the Ring of Truth.





We pick up outside of the Hydra's cave, where Marcus is preparing for combat. He picks up his pre-combat sludge, draws his sword, horses around for a while, and then runs up to the Hydra and starts stabbing it repeatedly. He chops a head off before someone unexpected shows up: Elsa. She offers to help, and Marcus watches as the head he just removed regrows.

Maybe some help isn't a bad idea.

With Marcus on offense and Elsa on point, the two return to the Hydra, systematically chopping off heads and burning the stumps. It's a slog but the beast is eventually vanquished. Marcus runs up and pulls the teeth out of its ugly mug. Elsa protests: what is her reward for helping with this process?

Marcus thinks about this for a second, and then does the right thing and gives Elsa the Hydra's teeth.

A quick search of the cave reveals some good loot, which Elsa takes a part of and vanishes. Marcus loots around and goes back to his room with the Mystic Magnet, then heads to the apothecary to sell some loot. Julanar and Salim tell him a bit about Rakeesh's poisoning, then inform him that Erasmus has been drugged - although it's different from the poison. That's strange.

Marcus sells them the Hydra's scales, which they can use to make fireproofing potion. That will come in very handy, very quickly.

It's off to Shakra's to sell the spell, then off to roam around the island and the Dragon's Cave. Here, in a boiling pool of lava, Marcus dips Justinian's Ring to begin creating the Ring of Truth (yeah, remember that?) And it's back to the inn, where he tells Ann that Ferrari isn't playing - yet. But everyone has their weak spots. Even Signor Ferrari.

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 159 and 160: Gnome Ann's Blues and Icarus' Wings

In Which Our Hero learns that Ann paid far too much for the Inn and flies like a bird.





This next Rite is going to be a doozy. No matter who we talk to, they all agree on one thing: getting to Hydra is going to be the hard part. I suppose that's a good thing...

Talking to Ann, we learn that she owes a lot of money to someone for the Inn. Who? None other than Ferrari, our old 'friend.' Very interesting. We'll try to help her of course, but Ferrari being Ferrari we might as well be hitting our head against a wall.

We do however have two very interesting conversations with Pholus and the Famous Adventurer. We're reminded of stories of the hero Icarus, who built a pair of wings. I wonder if we could do the same?

In fact - we can. Marcus gets some beeswax, and then makes his way to science island (after a brief interlude where Ferrari confirms that he is, in fact, a complete asshole.) We make ourselves a pair of Icarus wings with the wooden frames on the wall, take off and arrive safely on Hydra. Well, mostly safely - we have to kill a beast that can't be killed. But we'll take care of that next time...

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 157 and 158: The Rite Of Conquest and Murder Most Foul

In Which Our Hero ahem, kicks a lot of ass and saves his friend's life, and learns of another assassination.





Alright you've waited patiently while Marcus has namby-pambied around. He's brokered peace deals, he's refused to fight or kill his opponents. No longer.

Marcus starts on the shores of the mercenary village. He looks around, calmly draws his sword, and runs at them presumably yelling something extremely badass. Like Lancelot at a wedding he cuts through wave after wave of mercenary invaders, leaving a stack of corpses in his wake.

Finally a centaur wizard appears, and Marcus demonstrates that his lessons with Uhura and Yesufu didn't go to waste as he turns the wizard into a living pincushion with some spears. That's what it takes to get Claudius to show up, and Marcus walks up to him and plants Piotyr's sword in his midsection repeatedly until Claudius will no longer trouble Silmaria ever again.

Then it's a teleport back to his room, collapse into bed, and an early start before it's off to the marketplace. The first stop is the healers to stock up on some much-needed supplies after the little fracas. After that it's off to Pholus and Shakra to ditch the weapons and magical items. Then up to the Hall of Kings, where Marcus proudly presents Claudius' shield.

Of course Marcus wins this Rite as well, and Logos announces that Magnum Opus has been killed offscreen. We're down to three contestants now. Logos then lays out the next Rite: to journey to the island of Hydra and kill the beast that gives the island its name. That's right, we get to kill a Hydra! Awesome!

Rakeesh isn't too keen on it though; he insists that this is an unimportant diversion. He then gets a sense of danger, and Marcus ducks only for a poisoned dagger to hit Rakeesh in the chest. Marcus thinks quickly and gives Rakeesh a poison cure pill, but even that may not be enough to save his old friend. It's a dark time in Silmaria...

Quest for Glory Epic Let's Play Parts 155 and 156: Overachiever and Come Sail Away

In Which Our Hero wins not only his Rite of Freedom challenge but those of every other contestant, and sells more loot and goes for a sail.





We're getting close now, so it's time to crank this baby up to two videos per update.

We open with Marcus taking a trip to the apothecary, where he restocks his pills for the trip ahead. And it's a good thing too; he's going to need them. Then he runs to the Hall of Kings and tosses the stack of sigils at the guards. The little overachiever then wins the Rite of Freedom easily and handily. Yup, it's good to be Marcus.

The next rite is the Rite of Conquest - Marcus must find the fortress of the Hesparian mercenaries and their leader General Claudius and return with his shield. He speaks at length to Rakeesh about the situation, and learns that Claudius is a ruthless and cunning strategist. Well, that's OK. Marcus has killed more ruthless and cunning strategists before. Khaveen thought he was pretty hot shit too once.

Marcus sells off the rest of his stuff he doesn't need, then charters Andre's boat to take him to Syfnos, where the mercenary base is rumored to be. After a little sailing around trying to find the right pixel, Marcus makes landfall just after dusk and prepares to launch an all-out frontal assault on the mercenary fortress.

Things are about to get bloody!