Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness

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Quest for Glory:
Shadows of Darkness
Single-player

Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness is an adventure game/role-playing video game hybrid. It is the fourth installment of the Quest for Glory computer game series by Sierra On-Line. It was the first and only game of the series to drop the numerals from the title.

Plot

Talking with Katrina. Typical gameplay for Quest for Glory IV.

Shadow of Darkness follows directly on the events of

Chernobog) to manifest in Mordavia's world. Naturally, the Hero escapes this control and thwarts their plan, destroying Ad Avis in the process. During the celebration of the Hero's somewhat pyrrhic victory
, the wizard Erasmus appears, along with his familiar Fenrus, summoning the Hero to the land of Silmaria.

Gameplay

The gameplay continued with Quest for Glory III's graphical, point-and-click interface, and also introduced a new combat system, which introduced a sideways perspective of the fights, and allowed players to check an option to let the computer fight the battles for them.[3]

Development

Quest for Glory IV features darker themes

Lovecraftian monsters differed significantly from the lighter monsters of earlier games (there were, however, vampiric rabbits reminiscent of Monty Python and the Holy Grail). The game was inspired by gothic fiction, "old horror movies and books about vampires and werewolves".[4]

Development for the game ran late, which forced Sierra to ship the game with inadequate testing. The first version of the game, which appears on floppy discs, is "almost unplayable"; however, the following year's re-release of the game on CD was much improved because a programmer had had a year to address the problems.[3][4] The GOG digital re-release has since resolved many of the remaining bugs.[5] According to one of the game's directors, Corey Cole, Quest for Glory IV was developed with a budget of $750,000.[6]

A particularly detailed sequence in the game involved the

Rider–Waite–Smith
clone deck, and the layout used appears to be unique to the game, though it is partially akin to the beginning of a Celtic cross layout.

Shadows of Darkness was developed with

SVGA graphics.[7]

The CD-ROM version of Quest for Glory IV is the first game in the series to feature voice actors.[2] The most notable voice actors for the game are John Rhys-Davies as the Narrator, Jennifer Hale as Katrina, and Bill Farmer as Leshy.[3] Additionally, the game featured a largely original sound track by Aubrey Hodges – although it did feature a reprise of the Hero's Theme from previous games and a rendition of "Anitra's Dance" by Edvard Grieg, which plays as background music in the Hotel Mordavia.

According to an InterAction magazine article, John Rhys-Davies' part took more than three weeks to record, causing him to refer to the game as the "CD-ROM from Hell".[8] Quest for Glory IV was the first video game in which Jennifer Hale voiced dialogue.[9][10] The dub of a trio of local farmers is conspicuous for its emphasis on quips and banter, and its indifference to what actually reads on their text boxes.

The end of Quest for Glory III referred to the game as Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness. The original manuals for the game referred to the game simply as Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness. It was later called Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness in the Quest for Glory Anthology collection manual. Quest for Glory II referred to it as Quest For Glory III: Shadows of Darkness.

Release

Initially, the game was released in December 1993 on nine 3.5" floppy diskettes (as were many other Sierra adventures at the time) to accommodate gamers who didn't have a CD-ROM drive. Pressure to adorn shelves before the holiday season marred the first release with bugs that frustrated the earliest players. Other factors were that the game was ambitious in scope and complex in design compared to other adventures, and Sierra's adventure game technology, the SCI engine, had been undergoing significant revisions during development. Sierra later shipped a version 1.1a patch that was completed on January 10, 1994, free of charge, to customers who requested it. This game was among the first few published games shipped with known software bugs that the publisher planned to later rectify by providing a patch. Fortunately, the main release soon followed. Appearing in September 1994, this finalized CD version brought full recorded dialogue, a new intro cinematic, and fixed gameplay. The jewel box came with a game CD, manual, store catalogue, and legalities. The floppy version came with a smaller and less detailed manual.

As the floppy version had no device-entrusted copyright protection, the player was asked to make several verifications at the beginning of each game. The CD version only required the disc.

Reception

end boss as "a letdown". Scorpia especially criticized its bugs, describing the game as perhaps "the sloppiest product ever released by Sierra" and requiring multiple patches and "numerous replays". She reported that the game's premature release for "'financial reasons'" had hurt Sierra's "reputation for releasing solid products", and hoped that "this is a one-time event and that Sierra is not going to join the ranks of other companies—too numerous to mention—who release shoddy product knowing they can get by with patches and upgrades, and who make 'pay-testers' of their customers", but concluded that "Shadows of Darkness was a disappointment".[12]

James V. Trunzo reviewed Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness in White Wolf #43 (May, 1994), giving it a final evaluation of "Very Good" and stated that "If you like your games bloody and macabre, this one won't satisfy your unusual (sick?) tastes. If you simply want some challenging fun presented in a gothic setting, try the newest Quest for Glory."[13]

Rowan Kaizer of

G4TV considers Shadows of Darkness "the most elaborate and well-designed" entry in the series.[15] PC Gamer's Richard Cobbett considers the game "absolutely wonderful".[16] In 2011, Adventure Gamers named Shadows of Darkness the 23rd-best adventure game ever released.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b Baker, Michael. "Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness - Retroview". Archived from the original on 2015-08-11. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Kaizer, Rowan. "The glory of Quest For Glory". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  3. ^
    ISBN 9781439865248
    . Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b Böke, Ingmar (9 November 2012). "Corey Cole: Recruiting for Hero-U: Rogue to Redemption interview". Archived from the original on 21 April 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  5. ^ "The Besties Podcast XIII". Polygon. 25 May 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  6. ^ "RPG Codex Interview: Corey Cole on Quest for Glory and Hero-U (Now on Kickstarter!)". 19 October 2012. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  7. ASIN B00NUIJSIY
    . Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  8. ^ Cobbett, Richard (19 March 2011). "Gaming Made Me: Quest for Glory IV". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 23 August 2015. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
  9. ^ Hamilton, Kirk (14 June 2012). "Quest for Glory's Unsung Keytar Hero". Archived from the original on 3 September 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  10. ^ Hamilton, Kirk (2 February 2011). "The Voice-Actors of Mass Effect, Placed Head-To-Head". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  11. ^ "Taking A Peek". Computer Gaming World. March 1994. pp. 174–180.
  12. ^ Scorpia (April 1994). "So You Want To Be A Hero?". Scorpion's View. Computer Gaming World. pp. 54–58.
  13. White Wolf Magazine
    . No. 43. p. 45.
  14. ^ Stevens, Ryan (10 May 2012). "Razzle Dazzle Root Beer: Quest for Glory Lives!". Retrieved 11 August 2015. [dead link]
  15. ^ Rosenberg, Adam (18 September 2012). "Quest For Glory Creators Turn To Kickstarter For Hero-U". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  16. ^ Cobbett, Richard (9 June 2012). "Saturday Crapshoot: Quest For Glory 4 1/2". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 9 July 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  17. ^ AG Staff (December 30, 2011). "Top 100 All-Time Adventure Games". Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on 2012-06-04. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
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