Preserving adventure video game history one pixel at a time.
Playthroughs of classic adventure games with commentary. Sierra, Lucasarts and other classic games included.
Voiceovers! 3D graphics! A guy who sounds a little like Sean Connery! It must be the Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire intro!
Legends tell of a Dragon that once ravaged the land of Silmaria, a peaceful Mediterranean island kingdom. The Dragon was defeated and imprisoned, but not destroyed. Five dragon pillars were erected with powerful magic to keep the dragon imprisoned, but if the pillars were broken the spell would weaken and the dragon would fly again.
The old King of Silmaria, who narrates this intro movie, is brutally assassinated - and there is blood on the dragon pillars once more.
This is going to be a job for a Hero. Too bad they got Marcus!
In Which Our Hero defeats Ad Avis once and for all, is saved by a woman who loves him, and finally meets Erana; and becomes Hero of Four Lands, and is summoned to the fifth by an old friend.
Who knew the end of the road would be in a dank, dark cave? Actually if you've played fantasy games before, you probably know that's exactly how many roads end.
I digress.
The Dark One's cave: there's no where else to go but up. Good thing we've got this rope and grapnel. A quick toss and a climb later and we're standing in what could only be described as Avoozl's brain, with a large piece of crystal, Ad Avis and Katrina. There is one final ritual, which we recite.
Katrina starts bragging to Ad Avis about her triumph. He casts a spell at Marcus. She casts one back at him, breaking his bonds. They fight for a while, and Marcus hangs on for dear life. Finally Ad Avis casts a powerful spell at Marcus, Katrina teleports in front of him to save him, and Avoozl.. well.. he eats her. No better way to say it. Chomps her down like a $0.49 Taco Bell bean burrito.
Marcus climbs up as Ad Avis gloats. Just as he's ready to destroy Marcus, we do the only thing we can to delay it: crack the Ultimate Joke. It works, and Marcus tosses Erana's staff through Ad Avis' chest - killing him. The staff then breaks Erana from her prison. She tells Marcus she loves him and they will be together.
After that, it's all downhill. The usual Hero Ceremony stuff (a 'party' in the castle.. sheesh) where Marcus gets a message from none other than Erasmus, who summons him to Silmaria for his next adventure - and the next game!!
The end credits are just a quick bit that plays after you save your Hero for import, so you can enjoy those too. The music and art is kind of nifty.
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 meets an old enemy and meets Katrina for real, gets smacked around a little, and defeats a really ugly monster.
Katrina called and it's time to answer. Her note said to meet her outside of the castle at dusk, so we'd better go see what she wants. After all, we don't want to piss off a vampire wizard any more than we already have.
Except, what's this? It's not Katrina at all! Ad Avis! Hey, we killed you once (sorry!) and we can do it again! Oh GOD please not the hounds.
Marcus wakes up in Katrina's dungeon - not the first time he's ended up in the slammer thanks to Ad Avis. Prick. Luckily the chains aren't hard for MARCUS SMASH to break and after grabbing a handy wooden stake and listening to some goons, Marcus locates the secret passage out of the dungeon which dumps him right at..
Katrina's bedroom.
Oh my.
She looks so peaceful when she's passed out and her hair isn't flying everywhere. Too bad that doesn't last, as Marcus hesitates Katrina wakes up and it's back to the dungeon where Dominatrix Katrina whips Marcus and smacks him around for a while until he is Geas-ed to locate the five lost rituals. Well, they aren't lost, because we already did that - so he can just turn around and go back inside.
Then it's off to the Dark One's cave, where we're going to summon Avoozl - but not before Marcus goes toe-to-toe with the pit horror, which turns out to be the last remaining Borgov. Talk about ugly inbred nobility...
In Which Our Hero attends a fine comedy show and enjoys his last morning in Mordavia Town.
"What do you know about show business?"
"There's no business like it. No business I know."
Ah, showbiz. The glitz and glam of being up on stage and having people pay attention to you. If you're a gnome then it's pretty much the beginning and end of your existence. So it's understandable that Punny Bones wants to do one last show in Mordavia before he moves on. Who wouldn't want these rubes laughing at his jokes?
Punny's in rare form, and his act takes up most of the first video along with the townsfolk's reactions to it. Marcus also pays a visit to Boris, who talks about snuggling with Olga again at night. Good deed done.
Marcus drop in on Piotyr too, who tells him that the way to greater light is to travel the path of Darkness. Very interesting advice. Perhaps the meaning will become more clear soon.
The next morning Marcus gets a note from Katrina asking him to meet her at the castle gate. They have much to discuss. Yeah, like why she's an undead freakshow with giant 1988 hair. There really isn't a hell of a lot to do but wait at this point, so Marcus kicks back and chills - and the next series of videos will be the climax.
In Which Our Hero is celebrated throughout Mordavia and learns more about his fortune.
There's nothing like the morning after a long night. Marcus stops for some hangover chow (garlic breakfast) with the Innkeeper and his wife, and talks to Tanya a little more. It seems like she's going to be OK.
Then it's time for the daily rounds: the burgomeister wants to congratulate Marcus, and even Olga has something nice to say. Of course, a hero can't let his muscles go to waste, so there's a workout session and an appointment with Dr. Cranium, where we discuss Silmaria.. sounds like such a nice place!
After that, Marcus hustles across the valley to the gypsy camp where his final fortune is read. It is about yet another of the women in his life... there sure seem to be a lot of them, but hardly any, ahem, reward for dealing with them.
Everywhere there are warnings that rescuing Tanya may have angered someone greatly. We'll see how this all plays out...
In Which Our Hero meets the Innkeeper's daughter and witnesses true sacrifice.
It isn't the finale of the series, or even the game, but this scene is possibly the best-written and most moving in all of Quest for Glory. As such, there isn't a lot of commentary here: I'll let it speak for itself for the most part.
Marcus is back in the castle, basically looting the place. There are a couple of chests, one of which is guarded by a wraith, so there's some fun interior combat. Then Marcus eventually finds what he came for: Tanya, the inkeeper's daughter. She's, um, different.
OK, she's a vampire. And she's guarded by a massive monster.
Showing her the doll from the Domovoi warms her up to Marcus a bit and we're finally able to get her side of the story: overprotective parents and an Aunt Trina who seems to have kidnapped her and kept her as her own child.
Katrina's kind of fucked up, huh?
Marcus then tells Tanya that there's a way to restore her to life: Erana's Staff and the Destiny Spell. He tells her what it entails, and Toby says he understands.
It's off to the Staff, where Toby makes the ultimate sacrifice to save Tanya.
In Which Our Hero learns a little more about his future and breaks into the castle.
The first video in this update covers Marcus' third fortune, where he learns about the mystery woman from the previous visions. She's a magic user, powerful but interested in more power. Her plans are grandiose but will ultimately fail - which may be good, because they are somehow linked to the Dark One as well. Who is this woman?
Marcus also hears about the Destiny Spell - something Erana's staff still contains. It is said that the staff has the power to bring the dead back to life, and that a loved one will bring a dead person before the staff to trade his (or her) life for the dead person's. Apparently no one has taken the staff up on the offer though, as it still stands in the center of town.
Then Marcus rests up for his big night ahead, then goes to the cemetery where he, ahem, enters the Borgov family crypt. A brief and obvious puzzle later and he's in the castle, where he is privy to a very interesting conversation between someone with crazy hair and..
In Which Our Hero enjoys the last normal morning in Mordavia and runs into Baba Yaga one last time.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is it: the beginning of the Quest for Glory IV endgame. The first video is really quite normal: it's the last real normal morning Marcus will have in Mordavia. He starts off with brekkie, talks to Bella and Yuri for a bit, then heads out to chat with Dmitri about Piotyr and being a Paladin. Igor has a few graveyard humor jokes too. It's on to the guild for a workout, on to Dr. Cranium's for some pills, and back to Dmitri to tell him about Nikolai. That's it.
There are a couple of loose ends to start wrapping up, the first being the final ritual we need to collect. The one hidden in the Hangman's Tree. Guess who's hanging on to it. Yup. So we get to visit our onetime foe one last time. She's far more cordial this time (probably because she isn't dead-set on having Marcus with a side of cordial), even taking the time to explain the Dark One situation in plain English. Or common, whatever it is.
That's where we leave off. Next time, we've got a fortune, then we're sneaking into Castle Borgov to start the final pieces of the game.
In Which Our Hero meets Bella and gives Punny his sensahuma back and he learns what happened to the Innkeeper's daughter.
These next two updates take place almost entirely in the Inn. Marcus climbs over the gate and Piotyr's ghost stops him again, this time to tell him about helping the grieving mother. He also mentions that Erana's staff may have some magic in it yet. Sounds like a hero-ish sort of job.
At the Inn, Marcus takes some time to talk to the locals before sitting down to have a meal. He is approached by a 'new' character, Bella, who up until now has taken a nonspeaking supporting role in the game. She seems to want to talk to Marcus about something, but can't quite say it, and Yuri isn't helping. Her accent also shifts around like a broken clutch.
Marcus bids her adieu and goes upstairs to meet Punny, who is understandably glad to have his humor back. He cracks a few jokes, goes on about dwarves for a bit, then tells Marcus something that may be very useful: The Ultimate Joke. And it's not even an aristocrats set-up.
Staying up late we meet up with the Domovoi, who tells Marcus a story about - yup - a grieving mother. Bella and Yuri once had a daughter, Tanya, who was taken away in the night. Yuri and Bella tried to protect Tanya, but when a mysterious and nice doll showed up from an unknown benefactor they took the doll away and locked it up. The Domovoi says that a big, friendly monster befriended Tanya, and that one night, Tanya was taken out of the house and now lives at the castle.
Looks like we may have to find that secret passage.
In Which Our Hero learns more about his future and defeats Janos' wraith, frees the Rusalka, gets a little action for his troubles and meets the OTHER girl he likes. What a night!
This update contains one of the most memorable scenes in any Quest for Glory game, and it's only available to the Paladin: freeing the Rusalka.
But first, Marcus starts at the gyspy camp, where Magda tells his fortune. This one is about the man from the original fortune: someone who was once powerful, but is now an angry thrall to a Master. A powerful magic user. I wonder who that could be.
After the reading, Marcus fights a couple of monsters and waits for darkness to fall, which isn't long. Then he heads to the graveyard, combines the Rusalka's hair with the hand broom and sweeps Janos' grave with it. Janos isn't too happy at being disturbed, and it's a bitter fight but Marcus prevails. Barely.
Now it's off to the lake, where Marcus must perform one last task to free Elyssa: give her what she desires, which is a kiss. It's a touching scene. He kisses her, and she disappears, free at last.
Back to town where Marcus meets the other woman in his life. Katrina's waiting for him outside the gates. She flirts a little and tells him very little actual information, except that she lives in the castle and shes afraid of her parents finding out about her and Marcus. Which is where we leave off for next time.
In Which Our Hero bakes Baba Yaga a pie and escapes from Baba's clutches with a new sensahuma.
Marcus starts off this series with a set of stunning deaths in the swamp. One of them is mere seconds after I decided to be smart and save, which just goes to show the old adage of adventure games: SAVE OFTEN.
Out of the swamp and it's time to make Baba's pie. We've already got the first ingredient and the second one is right around the corner, so we pick up yet another vial of Grue Goo. Next stop: the Elderberry Bush. It's a bush. With eyes. And tentacles. A veritable Cthulhu bush it is.
It's not hard to get the berries. A couple of well-thrown rocks knock a branch off, and our Monkey Island item acts as a fine bait. Bam, the berries are ours. We've got ourselves a pie.
Back at Babas, we mix the berries, goo and bonemeal together (after remembering where we left it and figuring out how to get it out.) The pie is cooked by the skulls and it's off to present it to Baba.
She's happy to take it, after a brief bout as a hedgehog we're happy to give it and get the hell out of there.
The second video is a little short, as the next update will have another fortune, which is long.
In Which Our Hero begins the process to save the Rusalka and deftly avoids Error 52.
Okie dokie. Picking up outside of Baba Yaga's hut, Marcus thinks about what he needs for the pie. Flour for the crust. Where can he get that? Right, the giant mortar and pestle that Babs uses to fly. Well, it just so happens that you can also use a mortar and pestle to grind things like bones. Bones make a fine flour for pie crust.
He's got none of the other ingredients though so it's off to do more damage around Mordavia. First stop: the Leshy. Marcus gets the last riddles out of the way, and the next time he visits the Leshy he'll actually be able to resolve that subplot. Yeah.
Then it's back to the lake to see the Rusalka. She's not quite sure why Piotyr wants her saved, but hey, an evil lake spirit isn't likely to understand the reasoning of a Paladin ghost. But she seems game. So it's off to the cemetery to discover her real name: Elyssa. And her old boyfriend was Janos. He's a bit of a douchebag. We'll meet him later.
Marcus runs back to tell her her real name, and she says that indeed Janos was a real douchebag. Marcus wasn't around to white knight then but he sure is now, and Elyssa needs a white knight. She even gives Marcus a piece of her hair so he can complete the ritual he learned from the gyspies.
Which he'll do after dark, and while he's down in this neck of the woods he might as well head into the swamp after one of the last rituals. A while later, slogging through mud and dead people, he reaches the Mad Monk's tomb and sees two Chernovy wizards guarding it. They are some ugly motherfuckers. A little Marcus magic later and they're sucking swamp and he's taking the ritual and going home.
In Which Our Hero finds out about his future and learns just how badly he pissed off Baba Yaga.
Back in Magda's wagon, Marcus further questions the gypsies about their freewheeling lifestyle and shapeshifting abilities. Then he gives Magda some gold and initiates the fortune-telling, a very long cut scene that reveals several clues about what's going on (although in a somewhat less-than-helpful way.) This is basically the setup for the next three fortune-telling sessions, which are far more specific.
Next video, Marcus carouses with the gypsies and is given the opportunity to bust his best moves with a gypsy hottie, at Davy's insistence. He wakes up on the ground and hung over, but ready for action. Good thing to: because he goes south, gives Bonehead the hat, and comes face to face with an old friend.
It seems things have changed very little: Baba Yaga has Marcus dead to rights, but instead of killing him sends him on a quest for some....
Pie.
I guess we'll be able to add chef to Marcus' list of abilities.
In Which Our Hero burns down a building and meets the gypsies. Is nice!
It is a beautiful Mordavian morning. The sun is out, the birds are singing, the Burgomeister is jolly, and the evil monastery is still standing. But not for long...
After doing Marcus' morning routine, we break into the monastery and find the Bad Place Domovoi that the Hotel's Domovoi told us about last night. With an application of Dr. Cranium's Rehydration Solution the Domovoi comes back to life and (presumably) gets the hell out of Dodge. Which is good, because Marcus is feeling a little left out of the action. So he takes a torch to the monastery and burns the building down.
We quietly slip out of town with no one the wiser (actually, we tell Dmitri about the evil inside and that it had to be done), and make our way to the gypsy camp where we meet Davy and Magda, the fortuneteller. The gypsies tell Marcus a little about themselves and the valley, most of which we already knew but it's helping to put some things in context for the last part of the game.
More importantly, she tells Marcus how to free the Rusalka so we can finally get Piotyr off our ass about it.
The second video is almost a cut scene unto itself (as the fortune-telling well be next video) so there's relatively little in the way of commentary there.
Next time: Marcus' fortune is read, and we come face to face with our oldest enemy.
In Which Our Hero reunites Nikolai and Anna and clears Mordavia of wraiths.
A big night after a big day: Marcus starts off traipsing and tromping through the woods after putting the Wisps back in their swamp. He happens upon Anna's ghost, who is now joined by the ghost of Nikolai: at last the lovers are reunited in death. And Nikolai sounds like Robby Benson!
We talk to them for a while, and then go on a little wraithbusting spree, taking care of the rest of the restless undead in Mordavia valley. Our loot haul this time includes a killer set of plate mail armor, so Marcus is finally covered (so to speak.)
Back at town we rest in our room for a bit before going off to meet the Domovoi, who tells us of another Domovoi in 'the bad place' near the inn. Presumably the monastery. Which is where we leave off this time.
In Which Our Hero solves the crime, saves the gravedigger and the gypsy; and reunites Boris and Olga.
Marcus' big day continues. We go into Dr. Cranium's lab looking for Igor and instead find that the doctor has sinned against nature - and apparently intends to do so again that night, and several nights thereafter. Maybe it's best that we as a Paladin don't get too involved in this little... um... affair.
Igor's not at Cranium's and he's not in front of the monastery. Maybe he's at the graveyard? Marcus rolls out of town and takes the opportunity to swing by Boris' to deliver Olga's latest message. Fun.
In the graveyard there's an awful groaning noise coming from one of the graves! Hands on his sword, Marcus pushes the fallen gravestone aside to find...
Well, what did you think? It's Igor of course, who runs back to town after expressing his gratitude that Marcus freed him.
Back in town, Marcus finds that the gypsy has been set free and everything seems to be on its way back to normal. Olga has another message for Boris, which Marcus delivers. And Boris finally admits he will go see Olga. Looks like those two are on the mend.
A brief wait later and night falls. We're going to go see a couple of friends, but first we head back to the swamp where Marcus captures some Will-o-the-Wisps to shine the light of dead children's souls on the Squid Stone to retrieve one of the rituals inside. He then releases the Wisps back into the swamp, and that's where we'll pick up next time.
In Which Our Hero pledges to help save an innocent man and teaches the Burgomeister what it means to be a Hero.
Picking up where we left off, we walk into the Burgomeister's office and pump him for information about this gypsy business. It seems that the gypsy was just wandering outside of town and happened to be there when people were looking for Igor. So naturally, they brought him in, locked him up and want to burn him. Reason is lost on the mob so unless someone can prove the gypsy's innocence - figure out what happened to Igor - this guy's going to burn for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The second video covers Marcus telling the Burgomeister about finding Piotyr's sword, the battle with the wraith and the ghost in the town square. It turns out that Piotyr was suspected of abandoning Dmitri's grandmother and this sword proves he didn't, that he was killed in battle instead. Dmitri is impressed, so much so that he gives Marcus Piotyr's Paladin shield as well (woohoo!) and tells Marcus that his faith in Heroes and Paladins is restored.
All in a day's work!
The rest of the video is Marcus' morning routine, talking to Olga, looking for Igor, and finally going to Nikolai and telling him about the ghost we saw in the forest. Before we can stop him, he runs off to find her.
