Preserving adventure video game history one pixel at a time.
Playthroughs of classic adventure games with commentary. Sierra, Lucasarts and other classic games included.
We're close now. So close we can almost smell it - literally. Marcus starts off in the Breath Chamber, where he reads the ritual and its instructions for performing a little ditty on the altar/organ. Marcus gets it right the first time (which is good, since he'd be croaked if he didn't) and after another adventure in pixel-hunting is back in the main chamber. One last sphincter (heh) is pulsating. We step through and into..
Nothing.
At least that's what it appears to be. We wouldn't know. Marcus has completely lost his senses. Not in a 'he needs to spend some time in a padded room' sort of way, but in a 'he can't smell, taste, hear, touch, or see' sort of way. A brief wander around the room brings the senses back, and Marcus reads the appropriate ritual. And then leaves by the way he came.
There is one last ritual left - the Heart Ritual. Standing in this rounded chamber with its four stone valves, it becomes obvious what needs to be done. Soon Avoozl's evil stone heart is beating, and Marcus steps forward towards the altar - and his destiny.
Which we'll cover in the next update, when we complete Quest for Glory 4. See you then!
In Which Our Hero finds himself temporarily working for the wrong side.
So this is it. Helping Katrina and Ad Avis to summon Avoozl and cover the world in Darkness. At least a hero's life is never dull, eh?
We join Marcus in the Dark One's cave. There's a glowing, pulsing sphincter (heh) to his right, which he enters - and he's back in the bone chamber where we started the game. It's time to start the rituals.
The bone ritual isn't so bad: just light the torches, chant a few lines and then break out of the bone cage when it snaps shut around us. Marcus smash indeed.
The next chamber is the blood room. There's a lot of platforms which means pixel-hunting and hopping around, and after pricking our finger (really, is this such a good idea?) the chamber fills with a vile liquid that is.. yup. Avoozl's blood. Gross.
Back to the middle and on to the breath chamber, which is where we pick up next time.
Pay particular attention to John Rhys-Davies' awesome narration in the ending bit. He certainly hams it up but still manages to keep things within the realm of the game - no mean feat. You never get the sense that he's just doing it for a paycheck (and I'd like to think he was having fun with it!)
In Which Our Hero is Imported to Mordavia, escapes a gross cave and meets a new friend.
It's time to get our Mordavia on! Quest for Glory 4 picks up right where 3 left off: with Marcus doing the boogie down as he's snatched by Dark Magic. After a brief Sierra flourish and introduction, we go to Mordavia:
Note that John Rhys-Davies, the narrator of the game, even narrates the intro process. Aubrey Hodges' awesome score overlays everything so enjoy the kickass music while Marcus comes aboard.
If you look carefully at his character sheet, his official name has been shortened to Marcus Warwick the Pur. I guess the Mordavia DMV only has 22 spaces on their licensing forms. Oh well.
Without further ado, let's get down to the game:
Quest for Glory IV opens in a cave that appears to be made at least in part of the bones of some giant creature. There's a horrid altar made of bones, and human skeletons that have half-melted into the cave.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we aren't in Tarna anymore. Or Spielburg. Or Shapeir. Or even Raseir. This is the real deal. We're alone in a very dangerous place.
Our first item of business is what anyone in our situation would do: loot the fuck out of the corpses. Doing so yields some money (crowns and kopecks, the coins of the realm), a dagger, some flint, and not a hell of a lot else. We use the flint to light the torch by the altar, which glows a horrible green and doesn't seem to have any source of fuel.
Passing through the sphincter (heh heh) into the next room we find the corpse of a Warrior and take his sword and shield. The poor fucker doesn't need them anymore so we take them. On the way out of this place we're beset by Badders, which we dispatch by the power of our mighty chin.
Outside of the cave we meet a lovely young peasant woman named Katrina who tells us how dangerous it is to be out after dark, informs us that we're in Mordavia and the town is 'due north' of our present location and wishes us luck before she runs off to avoid the dangerous things lurking around. Good on her. Apparently we're in Eastern Europe. Man, Russian chicks have sexy accents.
Before we leave, there's something called a 'Dark One Sign' that we pry off an archway and take with us. It's almost like it's alive. Perhaps it will come in handy. Afterwards we slide down a gooey path and head into the swamp, noting the disembodied hands reaching up to grab at us. Mordavia looks like it will be an interesting place to spend some time.
