|
|
|
------------------------- |
|
Past Bargains : |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
On occasion, bargain shelves at your local video/electronics
store contain a semi-old title worth more than just a look. This
page reviews such titles...
The latest entry :
Quest for Glory V:
Dragon Fire
(No Longer Available: Sorry...)
 This Product is
iMac-friendly!
Friday,
May 12, 2000
Sure, it sounds odd to review this game, a full year and
a half (or close enough) from its initial release, in Fall
of 1998. However, can any fan of the series blame me? After all,
the whole QfG saga was starting to look not unlike the Alien
movie series, where the first two were incredible, and the latest
two totally sucked. That said, Wages
of War and Shadows
of Darkness (the third and fourth in the series)
were extremely disappointing. As a result, I was reluctant
to see what Lori Cole did, to the finale of this
series. Now that I finally got the urge to play Quest for
Glory V: Dragon Fire, I must say I am very, pleasantly
surprised! It's recently discounted price (a paultry $20) makes
it even better.
The story involves the last, most challenging (or so they
tell you) hero's quest of the title character (ie, "you"
in the game). Silmaria is a city in a bunch of islands on the
possible brink of war between themselves. Adding to the problems
of the kingdom is a Dragon underneath the island, which is kept
at bay by five dragon pillars...and the first of them has been
destroyed! To top it all off, the king has been slain, and a
new king must be found. Your mission is to bring peace to this
land, by any means possible.
The best element of the QfG series is still present, where
the game can be played as either a Thief, Wizard, Warrior, or
Paladin. Each type has an almost completely different game, with
totally different ways of solving each puzzle. A few even have
added areas to explore, based on that character's playing style.
A thief, for example, must complete his destiny of becoming the
best thief there is, via a secret "Thieves Guild" that
the other characters rarely hear of or see. The Wizard will search
for more spells, and use such spells to solve a few puzzles,
peacefully. The Warrior uses not only brute force, though also
gets the brunt of the adventure puzzles. The Paladin is a character
choice that can only be imported from a prior game's save file;
an exclusive expert-level choice, for prior QfG gamers (preferably
the earliest, Quest for Glory IV). This last choice
is the most challenging because of the virtues that a Paladin
must uphold.
The intrigue in QfG5
is how different character types lead to slightly different finales
as well. This is where the game becomes truly inspired; you can
choose to marry any of four possible heroines! Thieves
will want to court the lovely, mischievous dancer, Nawar. Wizards
will be able to bring the sorceress Katrina
(a sad story arc of QfG4) back from the dead, and
teach her how to love again. Warriors will meet and romance the
tomboyish Elsa, who is also in the contest for the crown (there's
even a humble story arc possibility, to give her the crown instead
of yourself). Lastly, Paladins get to bring back to life the
lovely Erana (remember Erana's Peace, from the first game?),
and live happily ever after with the fairest enchantress in the
land. Even better, while these heroines have been fine-tuned
to apply to each character type, you can actually choose whoever
you wish; the final choice of "happily ever after"
finale is all yours!
I will admit, however, that this game has its share of flaws.
For one, voice acting is often very monotone for lesser characters.
Unintentional humor includes conversation arcs with the calmest
of villagers, who often sound something like, "Oh, yes,
I've heard a rumor that there is an assassin killing everyone
in the village, one-by-one...care to buy some fruit?" Yep,
diolog is not this game's strong point. Equally disappointing
is the music, which is acceptable, though a far cry from the
inspired theme music from prior games (when you meet Erana, the
unforgettable theme from QfG1's "Erana's Peace"
doesn't play...why?).
 The "Julanar Gripe"? Fans
of Quest for
Glory 2: Trial By Fire (scene shown at left) will
be peeved at how casually the Julanar-the-Tree-Girl story arc
is resolved. For those who don't know, Julanar was a woman cursed
to be a tree, until true love broke her spell. Although you were
not her true love, you could give her new soil and water, and
revive her hope and spirit for when true love would come. Fans
who wanted to see her tree enchantment magically
broken by "true love," will be annoyed at how this
classic QfG story arc is "resolved" in a mere, one-sentence
F.Y.I. from her now-husband, where he says something like, "Oh,
hey, I woke up one morning next to my favorite tree, and there's
this woman there instead! Whoh, Dude!" How disappointing! |
Such flaws don't distract from the game's true success; this
is a decent enough finale to the series as a whole, finally!
Fans of earlier Quest for Glory games should run
out and get this game, right now. It even offers a number of
alternative routes to this finale, using whatever character type
you wish, whatever "heroic" ending you wish (you can
even turn down the crown, and retire as hero happily), with even
your choice of fiancee by your side! For people with a bitter
taste in their mouth after the "endings" of Quest for
Glory 3 and 4, you owe it to yourself to play this game. While
not worth its orignal price --and still not as good as
other 1998 releases at the time, like Thief
and Half-Life--
an ending to any game saga is definitely worth a mere twenty
bucks...at least, this one is.
(To buy this game, click here...)
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed product, are created by TECHtite,
copyright 2000; all rights reserved. Screen captures of program
reviewed are discrete thumbnails, used only for the purpose of
review, and by no means represent any affiliation with TECHtite
and the distributors of that product. For further "legalese"
& disclaimers, click here... |
|
