Quest For Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness | Part 12
The Adventurer's Log
I had three nights or two more if the night Katrina sent me back out counted. Either way I spent the day wandering and doing last conversations. Nothing much to report there.
I slept at the staff mound again for a last dream. I wonder if it is the last one. Last one for me anyway.
I was looking for something and Erana was with me. I turned to her and felt her sorrow and loss. The darkness came for her again. The darkness was trapped between worlds.
And I got a vision of what looks like the Dark One sign.
Quite the start to my day of going back to the castle with those Rituals.
I went to the castle and castle gate was open at last for me.
Here we go.
I entered to the Great Hall to find Katrina, Ad Avis and presumably Cuddles the Necrotaur. Katrina was immediately passive-aggressive: "What a good boy you are. You would never do anything to hurt me, would you? Unlike some others I could name."
Then she addressed me and took us all straight to the Dark One's Cave.
She opened the mouth and then told me I had to do the rest. I needed to find the last Ritual with the High Priest and needed it before beginning the other Rituals. And she told me to be careful.
Ad Avis was snide and sneering. "We would hate for anything unpleasant to happen to you."
I might have found the High Priest immediately?
I entered to see some kind of oozy creature anyway. With a gross description:
I did not need a cross between squid and chocolate pudding. The narration further added that something about its appearance suggested it was once human, so yeah I'm going with High Priest here.
And there was a book near it. I tried Fetch, but that'd be too easy. Critter just lashed out and stopped it. However a Calm Spell put it to sleep and then I could Fetch it. It was easy after all. The book was the diary of the last Boyar confirming that critter was him. The last page had the Ritual of Essence, so that makes all of them. I had to figure out how and where to use them...
I went to the cave where I first appeared as it seemed to be the only place I could reach and it had the altar. I had to get the lighting right, so I put back my trusty torch.
Sand was on the altar and there were lines in it like it had once formed a picture. I placed the Dark One's Sign on it and formed an image of it in the sand. The Sign sunk into the sand and vanished. I'm finally rid of it I guess.
Then I used the Ritual of Bone, I'd say because this place is all bone, but it just happened to be first in my list... and only then it clicked for me. I was told this place WAS the Dark One. I've been waiting for the valves to open, so one ritual for each based on what they are...
Avoozl is said with such gravity and was said several times. I am having a little trouble taking that name seriously I admit. Don't get me wrong, still all very eerie. Just... Avoozl sounds a bit silly especially drawn out a little. Avooozl.
I got caught in a bone cage after this Ritual was complete. Teach me to laugh at its name.
Open spell didn't work--too much chaos twisting my spells. But a combination of Flame Dart, Frost Bite and Force Bolt broke them.
The next valve started wiggling more in the central room becoming available for me to enter.
Well there had to be somewhere hellish looking in here... in the more hot looking red sense that is. The whole place is kind of hellish after all.
By examining this altar, this one was clearly the Ritual of Blood.
Ergh.
After conducting the ritual acidy red stuff started flowing all over from the stone statue and blocking my way out. I had to freeze it with Frost Bite, to stop it long enough to get out.
Onto the next one and not sure what to make of this one exactly.
Tentacle flutes? Horns?
There were also bubble-like stones around.
I needed the Ritual of Breath this time.
Once complete I sensed an awakening, but also had the sense it was expecting something more. Trying to use the tentacles to blow into them just got me sucked in and killed...because I did the wrong ones. Follow the ritual words: right, left and centre. Though the structure is all a bit hard to make out in my defence.
That started a wind blowing like its breath coming through the now open door at the back and I got sucked in. A calm spell and then open got me out, but I think it was bugged or something the first time. The calm worked but the Open did nothing and I had to reload.
Next one was all dark.
Well, it was obvious this would be the Sense Ritual anyway. I could see me and my icon and that was it. I just walked whatever routes it would let me and as I progressed my senses came back one by one until the room was fully revealed with sight.
Once the ritual was complete the dendrite got lightning and I got zapped a couple times leaving. There was a probably a way to avoid that... but I survived and got out, so if it works it works.
And that just left the Heart Ritual for the centre.
Once the ritual was complete a passage opened above the stone heart.
A dramatic levitation up!
I entered an inner structure with a large crystal. Katrina and Ad Avis were waiting and Katrina commanded me to perform the final Ritual. Soon Darkness would return to the land and she would never be helpless in her coffin again. She taunted Ad Avis too calling him jealous of her triumph when he'd failed to summon Iblis thanks to my actions. Yeah, taunt the angry vampire man.
I recited the last Ritual which got very unpleasant.
Katrina was triumphant, but ya know things can't be that easy even for the antagonists.
Ad Avis zapped me and I was left dangling.
They started fighting each other, but he couldn't directly harm her. So he launched a spell at me.
Katrina threw herself at me in defence and a shadowy tendril of Avoozl took her away. Ad Avis knew that spell would attract Avoozl and she was lost to the Darkness.
That empowered Cinder Win though.
And I was able to get back up.
I summoned Erana's Staff and he wasn't particularly phased by that. He had protections against my magic. This took me a few tries to figure out as none of my spells were doing anything. I got some deaths.
And dying wasn't enough oh no! I had to listen to Ad Avis gloat about taking the town and the peasants being his fodder now that they were no longer protected by Erana's Staff. And then I got the rise of Avoozl.
It took me a few tries to figure out what to do before I landed on talking with options. Most of the options simply led to more disdain from Ad Avis.
Except one.
Oh one I was told about, but forgot. One I was told to use against a big bad trying to do me in.
The Ultimate Joke.
Ad Avis got to still be disdainful, but despite that he was compelled to laugh anyway.
And I force bolted him off the platform. Ad Avis meets his demise by falling again... falling laughing now. What a way to go.
I... I wasn't expecting that and I had forgotten it amidst everything else. After a brief bit of reflection I did decide after all his pride and taunting me, there is something satisfying in taking him down like that.
I just...
I was essentially saved by Punny Bones. That's harder to swallow. Quite a win for gnomes I suppose.... he's still no Yorick or Keapon Laffin.
Things weren't over quite yet. I had to use Erana's Staff with the crystal and then Erana's spirit was freed. Freed, she was able to drive Avoozl back to its dimension.
After four games there she is at last! Outside a portrait in the WIT (that was just Genesta...). Stories were that she was part-faerie. She looks fully faerie to me...
However, she was only a spirit and it would take more magic than she had ever known before we'd be able to be together again, so she could only thank me.
Everything resolved! I got a two weeks later message--nice to know my hero got a break--and a party was held for me in the castle.
A full gathering! With some other random people I don't know too.
The swamps were drying up so trade would be able to reopen. The king sent word and appointed Dmitri as the new Boyar. Good for him!
I'm sorry I didn't trust you at first.
One by one the remaining townsfolk and Davy thanked me for everything I'd done for them.
Still not over just yet. Erasmus finally got the crystal ball focused now the Dark One's influence was gone. They could see me at last. Fenrus said it was either a reward ceremony or a lynch mob. Thanks buddy.
Silmaria is in need of a hero and "everyone knows a Hero has to go where a Hero has to go."
I ended another game being teleported away. But at least I know by whom and why this time!
And I got to actually see Erasmus and Fenrus.
I was given my final character sheet.
497/500 points. Three points off! Oh well, that seems pretty darn good for a first time to me.
Maxed out intelligence and Flame Dart (of course).
Got congratulated for finishing the game along with the usual nudge to replay as a different class and to look forward to future Quest for Glory.
That's Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness complete and what a ride!
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Final Thoughts
My favourite of the series so far and my second favourite Sierra game of what I've played/watched. King's Quest VI still comes on top for me.
I'll get my negatives out of the way first.
Combat. I continue to not be fond of it in this series. I ultimately settled for strategy mode. Maybe I should have tried the more manual arcade version more, but eh. Just never got comfortable with it. On the bright side the combat rate is low, especially felt so after my frustrations with the third game, and running away doesn't take so long freaking long, and there are various locations you can get to that'll stop the thing chasing you anyway.
Some glitchiness. I didn't run into anything game breaking for the most part except the possible lock-up when I got stuck in the lung hole near the end there, but a reload fixed that. There were some spots where the narration would cut out and a spot where the text zipped by. There was at least one spot where the wrong voice clip got used.
Now I've played through I also see where it's possible to get softlocked if you don't get the doll from the Domovoi since he stops showing up after a while. I don't know if that's actually a bug or deliberate or an oversight.
Now onto the good stuff.
The return of screen-by-screen exploring the map instead of the over-world. I vastly prefer that. It felt like a good area size too--big enough to feel like exploring, but not so big as to be a pain to navigate or feel pointless. There were plenty of areas of interest. Day and night really mattered. I also appreciated that when you'd examine the area the narration would provide some orientating directions. It definitely helped for getting around.
I enjoyed the overall atmosphere. It was darker in going for a more gothic setting, but there was still lots of humour around that gave it a nice balance. Never went into grim-dark territory though did get surprisingly sad at points. And the narration was superb.
I liked the music too! I can't say most of the music in the series up to this point really stood out to me outside an exception or two, but I've been enjoying this one's soundtrack.
Most of all: the characters! For a place full of darkness and fear it sure felt lively. It's not a big cast, but that meant there was plenty to talk about with everyone. The villagers would actually refer to each other and it just felt more lived in. I loved how much people had to say overtime and how they'd warm up to me. Characters would react to things that happened. I really felt like I was making a difference. While I enjoyed my time in Spielburg well enough, I can't say I got particularly attached to it. I got a little more attached to Shapeir. I didn't feel at all attached to Tarna, or I guess Fricana in general. I do feel more attached to Mordavia. I'm a little sad to be leaving now.
It was also nice to have some threads continue and have some closure. I learned a lot more about Erana. It was fun to see where Baba Yaga ended up after she fled Spielburg. Ad Avis is hopefully really gone now. I even got a couple tiny doses of Erasmus and Fenrus.
I felt like I had lots to do as a magic user and didn't even take as much advantage of some of my spells as I ought to have done. I'm the most curious about how the other classes are handled in this one. I felt very catered to and I hope the other classes feel that way too.
I had a very good time and it very much feels like a big enhancement on the first game specifically. I enjoyed the first game so having it but better is great.
My current rankings as stands would be 4, 2, 1, 3, but I think 1 and 2 are very close.
Next up Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire. I'm nervous but we'll see how it goes.