Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition (PC) (GOG.com)

 

What do you know about voodoo?

Got this together with Legacy of Time and I had to take the bullet some time so why not now right when I was all in on Sierra Adventure games anyway? So I began playing. First of, the game felt a bit off. The character models in 3D is a bit wonky and Gabriel had this black shadow over his arm and Mosley looks a bit odd and so on. Nothing much really. I maybe prefer the pixel art over 3D so that can be part of it. And then the voices. Better be careful here. They are clearer this time around with better technology and such, but I prefer the original voice cast. You can't really beat Mark Hamill, Tim Curry, Michael Dorn and so on. The new cast isn't bad, but I just prefer the original. Some side characters like madam Lorelai and Markus sounds better in this version though.  Music is also in the same category. It sounds better for the most part, but I noticed in the dream sequence for every day doesn't reaches the same frantic chaos than the original. Don't know why, but it also diminishes my experience.

Now, to the game itself and the differences. Basically the same game for the most part. Investigate the voodoo murders for inspiration to your book and suddenly you uncover a shadowy voodoo cult that is after you and your family heritage as a shadow hunter. They made the game linear so that certain areas is locked out until certain days. Meaning I can't clear most of the points on day one, but have to wait. This also causes some troubles when they keep to the script. For example, Magentia Moonbeam you are recommended by Dr John in the original game and she mentions that the doctor called on your behalf, but in this game I picked her adress up by a flyer, but she still heard from Dr. John I was coming over. Now, maybe Dr. John figured out I was on my way, but still. 

They also added puzzles like a machine at Moonbeam that you have to solve in order to get the code and they changed the police station encounter so instead of getting the officers go out for a snack you sneak in by the windows, triggering a scene that was described in the novelization. A great scene, it was creepier in the book since here it seemed the zombified police found out about you while in the book they where just stationary until someone entered the station. Still, a great addition. Mostly the new puzzles stumped me the most, especially when they added them to already established puzzle, like needing to find another 20 dollars to get the animal mask or finding the key to the crypt drawer (mind you, after finding the puzzle it was rather easy). Not bad really, more to do, but it breaks the game logic when Mosley somehow figured out the skull puzzle and hid himself in the drawer. 

Now, I couldn't actually finish the game due to graphical glitches. First of, the Rada Drums was weird, but since I already knew what it says from earlier play I could brute force it, but there is a new puzzle in Rittersburg when you have to fix a shield and the graphics are so distorted that the panels changes every time I move them, and there doesn't seem to be anyway to get past it. I tried different graphical settings and compatibility versions, but no, same result what ever I do. Of course it's the damn library that screwed me over on the original game as well before ScummVM. So I can't continue. I even went so far that I charted out one version I could see on the web and tried my hand on that, didn't work since it seems that the shield is randomized... damn you game! I assume it might be the graphics card I have since it was mentioned that you should due some trickery with the ones you have... but it looks like I don't have one of the usual graphics cards so I'm stuck at the moment. So I replayed the original game instead, I also missed meeting the fortune teller the second day when she was possessed by the spirit so I was already on my way to a non-100% run. This is why I prefer consoles, do you have the hardware and software it's supposed to work. Hate computers. And of course I still wasn't able to 100% when I ended 3 points away from a full score and I have no idea what I missed (maybe showing Hartridge the voodoo murder photo is some of the points).

Doesn't look like this for me! And it's not really a hard puzzle if you can see! I even looked for a step-by-step guide to see if I could bypass it that way but the guide just mocked me for not being able to finish the puzzle! Could have told me it's randomized instead for wasting my time.

Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness - Enhanced Edition (PC) - Magus Awekens

 

Feed Me Seymore!

Well, went out with the fourth and furthest game I've played in the series. I got the Enhanced Edition for this as well. It added another hour of narration from John Rhys-Davies as the narrator and added in the 9th wraith from the Bargov Crypt that was dummied out of the game, probably due to time (said enemy only have 1 HP so is a bit of a pushover and you don't get anything so it doesn't add much). As usual for these play throughs it was trying to go only on information I knew, but solving the Squid stone I think the only information you get is from Davy after you been put under a geas to get the rituals meaning the final three days of the game. At least the game acknowledge different routes. For example the Leshy's riddles, being a magic user I could bypass the whole rhyming scheme and talk to Bonehead to learn that it is Baba Yaga, but the Leshy tries to shame me for not validating the fact.

Quod Erat Demonstrandum... I have no shame.

Still, a great game to play through with the voices and such. The add-libs or what ever from the three townspeople are a joy to listen too, and actually a bit more funny than the text as written. John Rhys-Davies is great as the narrator. Some blemishes like Magda that have two voices or when John Rhys-Davies have to step in for some reason like with Funny Bones in one scene. And that Igor's fate is spoiled by the voice over by the three locals in their introduction. But overall a great voice cast, I can still mimic parts of Boris speech pattern.

Now, last time I had a bit of problems with bugs and whatnot. In ScummVM I couldn't get past the Squid Stone on my way out of the Dark Ones Cave for the first time so I used DosBox to get it working. This time ScummVM actually runs really great. No problems with the Chernoevoy in Swamp or such things. I encountered another crash though when I left the Rusalka one time, but that seemed to have been a coincidence. There was another more fatal problem though, each time I entered a screen with a Wraith Mound the game crashed instantly. And that is a problem since I was running out on funds. Looking around for a solution on the internet I found out that you can get money from a lantern in Erana's Garden for free so I got that which forced me to avoid meeting the wraiths in the forest. Now, before the wizard seemed to be have been the most bugged out class of them all, but now it was to my advantage, since I tried it with fighter and couldn't get past the wraith either. And to get the final Ritual you have to find it in a Wraith mound, except for the Wizard who has to get Erana's staff and fight the fairies for it. Praise be the wizards. 

I tried playing the vanilla version instead of Enhanced Edition and it still crashes for me there, both with wizard, fighter and thief. But, the Floppy DOS-version works... don't no why since it's the same files, but it works. A pity the save files aren't shared between version so I can't play it with voices, change over to DOS-version to fight the Wraiths and then turn it back. Cause if I continue with the replaying as the other classes during this summer, I probably have play the DOS-version from the beginning. It might also be that the latest update of ScummVM broke something and will be fixed in the future (maybe I have to even make a complaint myself since I see no one else do it and it is listed as excellent on their compability chart). 

Well, did some digging and the fact is that the Floppy version wasn't the same files, it was something I got from another source, which made me think a bit. Was it the GOG files I've had on my computer, or was it files from somewhere else? Well it turned out to be from somewhere else. I got the GOG version installed and checked, that worked so I grabbed those files and put them in the map for ScummVM and after some back and forth I finally got it all to work, Enhanced Edition and normal version both. Sadly my Magus files where corrupted, but the save for V was saved I hoped.

Still a great game, but I hate the combat, which also makes a remark I saw someone make that 1 & 2 you max out your stats, 3 you do the best you can and 4 you just do whatever. I can really see it. Max Mana, Magic and Intelligence and the only spell that maxed out was flame dart. Ended the game also with 5 points missing. Have no clue what that could have been, or if I rushed the dreams of Erana or readings from Magda. Hopefully I can get 5 working so we finally can see something new. And what do you know, it doesn't work. Well I be... time to look for some launchers or patches that can get it working.

Quest for Glory III: Wages of War (PC) - Enhanced Edition - Magus Awakening

 

The Sacrifice for the Gaming Gods!

Continued directly with the next game. This time I played the Enhanced Edition (which means a fan made patch was applied to try to fix things that wasn't working and bringing back things that was left on the cutting floor). Now, I'm not that familiar with this game since I've only played through it once before so I can't really say what is different other than a scene with Uhura in the Simbani village after the failed Peace Conference and that the meerbat you can get the glowing eye from is gone for mages and thieves since they are supposed to get it from the statue in the Lost City. And you actually can train magic in your room in Tarna, but if you do your honor takes a real hit so be prepared to spend a lot of commons on the drummer in the market.

Overall the game felt better paced than last time I played and I can't say if it was due to me actually following the story or that the patch fixed the order a bit. I somehow was able to max out Strength and magic as the only major attributes. Magic I was able to get flame dart and force bolt to max. This time the game didn't majorly bug out on me, don't know if luck or that the patch and ScummVM have ironed them out, but leaving the giant tree I noticed I just walked across the screen. Same thing happened back at the Inn, and I actually got stuck in a loop where I tried to leave but Magus went back into the Inn. I was able to get out by going through the other door. 

Replaying it... I feel this is probably the weakest of the four I've played. Very much walking back and forth and the game feels a bit empty. I gathered 20 dino horns, but they where totally worthless for me. I could at least have sold them to someone? As I said last time, Tarna felt very small and it just shows again since it only took me one day too play through it. I can see that it was made in haste to cover a stopgap between Trails by Fire and Shadows of Darkness, that once again is teased at the end of the game. 

Quest for Glory 2: Trails By Fire (EGA) - The Grind of Magus

 

Dawn of yet another adventure!

Continued onward with the second game, also playing the EGA-version. Gotta say, the map for Shapier I had printed out looked awful so I had to write the names beside the printed names to know what the streets was called. And I have a terrible hand-writing. Anyway, I can safely say that when the first game is a matter of preference between VGA and EGA, the VGA-version of the second game is obviously better. I expected stuff I thought was part of the original game like the acrobat or finding the Poet in a plaza and returning his purse, but I guess it was only the VGA-version (I've later checked and no, they are in the game, the acrobat you need acrobatics and the poet in the plaza I just missed). And since it can allow you to use both parser and point-and-click the grinding for future wizards should go faster. It allows it to be more stuff to do and train your skills a bit easier. But I gotta assume it's easier to become a paladin in the EGA-version since I did become it without reaching max score and using the X-ray glasses while helping... hrm, maybe I should keep quiet about that.

Well, I maxed out magic and enhanced it with a wish up to 250 so I'm prepared for the next adventure. Dodge, Weapon skill, Intelligence and Agility was maxed out for 200 and I used the second wish to get Strength to around 195 so I can get the stamina and health high enough. Magic skills was harder. I probably began grinding them to late and should have bought more mana pills earlier, but I maxed Flame Dart, Force Bolt and Open. Fetch something around 179 and Detect Magic around 187. Most other spells around 100 (from the last game) and the new spell Reversal was around 63 while Levitate around 44. Had problems finding a place to cast the spells, but when I realized I could stand in the streets it went better. Wish I had thought of standing outside Aziza from the beginning instead of W.I.T. 

The parser makes the game immersive as the first game, but due to the need to "greet", "thank" and "Say goodbye" to grind on the communication and honor skills it was a bit irritating since I didn't always knew if I did it correctly. Much easier in the VGA-version since you have options. Also since they expected you to tell things I was a bit more lost and I didn't realize I could ask about rumors or news until a week in the game. It's obviously better than the original, but makes it harder for me. And sitting and typing out the wishes for the ring djinn was absolut hell since "wish transport" or "wish iblis" didn't work and I swear I wrote "wish for transport to iblis", but it didn't take the first time and it made it hard to understand what I was doing wrong. 

I won't say it was a bad idea playing the original version, it's still a great game, but I might go forward with only the VGA-remake from now on (unless I want a fighter-paladin on the first try compared to the VGA:s near-impossible list. It's also fun to look at the ending when they hype Quest for Glory III: Shadows of Darkness which is the fourth game in the series. Especially since that version getting added to ScummVM making it so easy just let the saves lie in the same place and no care in the world. 

Overall, if I'm gonna compare the first two games, the game has at least more instances of music, but the time limit is a bit annoying at times. Nothing obviously bad, but still. Still, the endgame feels more epic than storming the brigands fortress. Stopping the summoning of Iblis feels threatening and the much better music drives it home.

Quest for Glory 1: So You Want To Be A Hero? (EGA) (Computer) - Return of Magus

 

You again?

So, I finally got my hand on Quest for Glory V, but now I lost the save so what do I do? Well, it's been a couple of years... wow, 9 years? Really? So better start over and technically, my characters wasn't named Magus at the time, so let's fix that. How do I make it new? I play the original EGA-version, meaning I gotta type everything,,, how fun!

Same game so there's noting to comment there. I would say I think grinding with the magic user goes faster in this version sine type "cast #spell name" and then enter and bring up the spell again with space bar. Emptying the mana pool goes in seconds. So I actually maxed out all statistics beside strength that ended at 99... which I think also effected Health to stay at 99. 

So, the difference between EGA and VGA, besides the graphics and how you play the game. The EGA version forces you to interact with it on more levels. In the VGA all dialog is in a dialog tree which you have access to from start to finish, I can ask the Sheriff most of the things to get all points from dialog options. The EGA version on the other hand forced me to write down namnes and interesting things on paper beside me. I also kept a paper for writing what I got score for, enabling me to backtrack if I died without saving and writing a map (which I probably should do for all games anyway from Sierra). I also have all manuals in a binder together with other Sierra things like copy protection things so I might make the summer 2025 like a Sierra-summer.

I haven't played games like this since I played through Myst something like 20-25 years ago, pen and paper heightens it all. Could I have finished this as a kid? Probably not, I would probably have been afraid to enter the forest. It was kinda fun putting up a small TV-screen, connect it to the computer and keyboard and mouse. The mouse for this version is kinda pointless, the only thing I used it for was Mage's Maze (which I won on the first try... after restarting and reading the instructions on how it worked... it counts!). And another thing, the battles look better in the EGA-version, maybe doesn't play better, but getting the monsters and enemies front first in detail looks amazing. They are basically spam attack or flame dart until I decided to grind out certain spells like Zap and Dazzle. Also, music is very sparsely used, only having it at the intro, Erana's Peace, Kobold's Cave, Baba Yaga's place, the whole Brigands hideout and all battle scenes. Not much sound either, but checking on the VGA-version the instant you start there is a theme in the town and sounds from Otto's yo-yo. Music was more impactful  in EGA, especially when I accidentally pushed Ctrl-U and disabled all music and it took me a minute to get it back on.

Took me a weekend from Friday evening to Sunday evening. Helped that I knew what to do. I tried to play is straight, but I jumped finding the Baronet and went to overhear  the meeting between Brutus and Bruno since I didn't recall how to know about it until it just popped up that there was a supposed to be a note in the tavern, but as the magic user I don't really have a reason to be there than to drink ale or being robbed or killed. Nothing points me there and when I recalled it, it was to late. Probably the thing that missed me the last 8 points before hitting 500. Overall, games still fun and imaginative. Some things doesn't add up, like the Kobold fight. Apparently the optimal thing to do for the magic user is kill it with magic before it can do the same, but getting the key dismisses the kobold and you can get it as a magic user by using Fetch if your skill is high enough. Normally, using the non-killing solution usually give more points in Sierra's games, but not here funny enough. Instead MAGIC DUEL TO THE DEATH! OH YEAH! I forgot it was here. How fun.

Hero-U: Rouge to Redemption (Switch)

 

Is this gonna be a Harry Potter rip-off?

So why not continue with a game which is set in the same world as Quest for Glory? Made by the same developers? And Josh Mandel, the voice of King Graham, being one of the writers? Enter Hero-U. You play the newbie thief Shawn O'Conner who doesn't want anything else then become a thief. And after getting caught at his first break in is sent over to Hero-U, the university for heroes and is enrolled in the disbarred Bards class (aka the rouge class) to learn something. So you get to learn about the different classmates and personal at the university and unravel the mysterious encounter at the school. There's your teachers, rouge teacher herr Gerhard von Urwald, magic instructor Silvia, Paladin instructor Moira and the alchemist Emmet Braun... alright, I get a Back to the Future shout out when I see it. The salesrat Gregor that got the best deals, the receptionist Sophia, the chef and Twerk, the antagonist for most of the game and head administrator... and the librarian that just sits in the library. The students are Katie the pirates daughter, Sosi the aristocrat that is the second antagonist of the game, Thomas, smart guy, Esme, the rover girl and black market kid Joel. 

So you attend classes to learn about being a rouge, then you use the skills to uncover the secrets of the castle, earn money and get better so that you will pass the exams and avoid getting kicked out. Help in the kitchen to get money and get tales of the dead, and help Gregor killing drats and insects to get money to afford all the things you need. Study at the library, the training grounds and recreation room to hone your skills. Read all about different heroes in plaques all over the castle and uncover the history of the Illuminar castle and the evil that hides beneath it... which I didn't do I think, but I got to be the rouge of the year. And the puns, I see Josh Mandel been busy writing them.

Basically works like any Quest for glory game, training makes perfect and you got tool use, defence, attack, magic, smart... moxie (?), fitness, agility, climbing, charm, throwing, games and luck. Equip items to help in certain parts. Which caused a bit of problems when I found them a bit late. There was this ring in the wine cellar with the drats I found at the end of the game that enhances your intelligence (smart) which I already maxed out. And then it was the time I missed the entrance to the Sea of Caves missing out on several events and treasures. My fault since I forgot the key hole I found with my sense magic in the dark corridor. Same thing with the torture dungeon to find the drat queen when I didn't get that you could switch the lever around... mostly because the game told me I couldn't, until after I used it once first. So I blame the game for that.

Other than that I actually solved the puzzles myself and followed the flow of the game, proudest moment when I got into the secret corridor by solving the puzzle in rooms of heroes. With that in mind the game feels like encouraging several play throughs... which I might do since I didn't get how the traps worked until roughly the last 10 days of the game. Magic was optional since you have the possibility to choose between magic, healing, alchemy and nothing and I guess magic only if you choose it as a trait in the beginning of the game. Magic gives you several runes to use to trap ghost and deal damage to them making the catacombs easier. 

I really enjoyed the game. Had a bit of problem with the character art since they look weird, especially the main hero. He looks rather ugly, especially when he grins. Also, the school schedule was rather tight meaning very small window for exploring and training, notably since you tried to avoid the tired status..., but apparently tired is so minor that you can actually just ignore that and power through or get a nap for an hour. One thing I do find irritating though was that there needed to be some way too fast travel. Mostly since I don't want to remember every single maze and run away from the enemies to get through... which of course with my later knowledge of traps and such maybe wouldn't have been a problem. Still irritating to get to the minotaur to play chess every single time. At least Quest for Infamy gave you the skip travel option.

What I missed is the real final enemy that is the darkness sleeping beneath the castle that was sealed by the Illuminar knights and that every tapestry and relief told you about. The ghosts told you about it, but it never turned up in my playthrough... well, as of writing summer is closing in, maybe time for summer school. Still. It only took me a weekend to go through a playthrough. I think it was talk about several instalments in the series, one for every class (fighter, magic user and Paladin), but the school setting I could do without. There is something special with wandering around without getting punished by missing scenes and such. 

Phantasmagoria

Gregorian chanting is the soundtrack of the game

ScummVM is the nostalgia balm for all my old point and click adventure games, and now we even can play the FMV games. And why not to start with one of the more infamous FMV-games Sierra put out? Phantasmagoria, caused such an uproar at release due to the gore and rape-scene within it that religious groups asked for a boycott, which lead to the game being one of the best-selling games that year... or maybe overall for Sierra. Funny how that works. And I can kinda see it cause it's really grotesque, but it is quite clear this is an 18+ game, just look at the box art, beheaded woman with an M for mature plastered right there. On the other hand by todays standards it's really tame in comparison.

So basic story is that Adrienne Delany, writer, together with her husband photographer Don Gordon has bought a house that used to belong to the illusionist Zoltan Carnovach. While looking around Adrienne by accident released a demon from a locked box in a walled in chapel. The demon possesses her husband that becomes more violent and aggressive. Meanwhile Adrienne begin to notice unnatural phenomenas and having strange dreams. She begin to see things like ectoplasm in the nursery and visions through the different mirrors in the mansion. So during the course of the game you first piece together that Zoltan had been possessed by a demon and how it effects him as he kills his wives, one by one in very grotesque detail. The first gets a gardening shovel shoved into her mouth and then stuffed with dirt and thereafter her body is hidden in a pot. The second one get her neck snapped with a torture device, the third got stuffed with animal entrails until she suffocates, the fourth a drunkard gets her head shoved into a bottle of wine and the body gets stuffed in a wine casket. Gruesome.

Meanwhile Don is getting aggressive and starts by killing their cat, and in the last chapter while running around the mansion you can find the cadavers of several of the supporting characters as Don have been busy in preparation for killing Adrienne. You kill Don and then do a ritual at an underground study where you send the demon back into hell or wherever it came from. Adrienne escapes and a girl power song turns up during the credits. I never finished this as a kid, me and my best friend from school played from cd 1 to cd 6, but we stepped out after the ending scene when Don bash the head in of Mike the telephone guy.

So what do I think of it now? It's a slow game, to get the most out of it you gotta play the long game and go through a routine and click everything at every chapter. That way you can discover small changes to things like an absinth bottle that slowly gets more empty as time goes or a cigarette case that loses one of the cigarette between a chapter or the painting that's get more filled out until it shows the true face of the demon. And then of course the horrible murder scenes as shown in different mirrors at different chapters. Music enhances it as well so when you hear the Gregorian chanting you know it's about to get bloody. Acting is cheesy at times and really goes over the deep end at the last chapter. In the right mood it works all right, but it's maybe too slow for its best. Mostly the quietness. Other reviewers commented on it and I have to agree, since Adrienne very seldom inner monolog the player don't know what she thinks or get hints on what to do. Cause its hard to understand the logic that my hammer or crowbar isn't enough to break through the walled in chapel in chapter 1, but the secret letter opener is what you need. This of course is the puzzle that stopped my dad from continuing the game (which isn't a problem here since you can choose to start from any of the seven chapters). If you wanna know the solution its that a cat statue you picked up you can actually enlarge and find a button on the back. Some solution, that they only use for this puzzle which feels like a bit of waste. Of course other games used it much more often. They have an inbuilt hint system, but it's not always that good. For example in chapter 2 I though I had done everything and was looking for Don to give some drain cleaners, but I couldn't find him and all the hint system said was find Don to give him the drain cleaners. Turns out that I had to reenter the antique shop in order to get some more information and from there I could continue to find Don.

So it was a bit of a mess there. Past that no problem really, until the game crashed going into chapter 6 by missing some file for some reason so had to make a new save and start from chapter 6 directly. For a one time playthrough it can be fun if you like horror. It could have been a bit better though. For example Don goes crazy from chapter 1 to chapter 2 and constantly be aggressive from that point on. Part of me seem it a bit unrealistic, maybe he should have a longer more torn reaction to his behaviour as the demon take over his mind with the culmination in chapter 6 when he whacks Mike and then chapter 7 starts. Another problem is that in chapter 7 if you know what you do you can pick up necessary items before triggering the event that puts the game in "running from the crazy slasher"-mode, and it takes away a lot of the horror if you do. Really, in my playthrough only Mike and Don was killed and you hadn't found the bodies of the vagrants. Of course, it helps my squeamish heart as the games put it.

The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (Book)

Still can't get over the werewolf look

So I bought the book, got delivered and read it during the sunday after Halloween to get in some spooky mood for the holiday. And I couldn't stop reading until it was over, even though I know how it ended, or maybe it helped me just pass through it without problem. Pretty much the same as the game, but with some differences. For example the first chapter as Gabriel begins to get info from Herr Doctor Klingmann, instead of sneaking back to the office to get the hunting license and use the walkie-talkie to fool Thomas you first pick up another workers walkie-talkie when they are distracted by something and then he followed Klingmann through Munich to the club and asked around for information before entering. Not much changed, although the license is brought up in chapter 3. 

Chapter two works mostly like the game. No repairmen though, although it explains that Gabe called and left a message instead of sending a letter. Explaining the time frame. Not much here Chapter 3 is more interesting. They got rid of the cuckoo clock side quest, explained the dream sequence better, that there actually been two days since chapter one giving Grace some more time to get to Germany and do chapter two. And the ending where the werewolf stalks Gabriel near the Huber farm is described better, that it is a dead cat on the lawn instead of some other animal and how the wolf reacted to the medallion and so.

Chapter 4 is the same and covers the Ludwig II and even introduces a character not in the game, an old man who's father worked for Ludwig II that gave the family a golden ring containing a lock of hair. Also it flows a bit better instead of the rushed game. Also the book skips the subplot of Grace making up with Gerda by putting roses on Wolfgangs grave. Pretty much Werner Huber tell her instead of she finding it. Also, she actually have a german-english dictionary which makes it a bit easier to stomach as she translates some stuff and move along the plot instead of grinding it to a halt to find a translator. 

Chapter 5 follows the game almost to a tee. And it is the highlight of the book as Gabriel uncovers what happened to the missing wolves, connecting the dots of other mysterious disappearances and following the hunting lodge to their cabin and cornering von Zell. Small differences is that at the meeting at Dorns exotic animals he didn't need to feed a tiger with whitewurst or bring 14 000 mark on him. And at the night raid together with Friedrich the reason they get separated is that they ride on horses and Gabe is thrown of after his horse panic at the wolf howls and already were separated from Friedrich since he had plugged his ears. Much better than walking away and not seeing to it that Friedrich noticed him going another way.

Then chapter 6 of the book is a mixtures of some parts from chapter 4 and 6 where Grace connecting the dots of Ludwig II turning into a werewolf, his attempt to stop the Black Wolf with a secret hidden Wagner opera and then trying to know who the Black Wolf is. The part that stuck out was that the english copy of Ludwigs diary that belonged to a english nobleman. In the game I think he just changed his heart and send it over, but here it is explained that something mysterious happened. The box containing the papers fell from it's place in the attic like if it was pushed by a mysterious force, a force both the game and book hints, although with this the book is better at establishing this. It ends pretty much when Grace picks up Gabriel at the Huber's farm after the bit have began changing him, and here the book tells us the part from Gabriel's view. First by allowing him to walk freely at the day, but showing us his changed behaviour. They also hold a seance I think was hinted at in the game, but here is played out as intended, where we follow Ludwig's last hours at Neuschwanstein as he hides the opera and plans and then how he killed himself. Then it pretty much skips the gathering part and instead focus on how it's supposed to work. The plan doesn't have to directly kill von Glower, it just be part of his death as the spirit realm supposedly believe in intent (aka the one hired an assassin is as guilty of murder as the assassin) and therefore could be freed from the curse if someone else due to the actions would kill him.

This leads into the final chapter at the opera. Where they explain the plan in full. The sound and crystals are supposed to turn von Glower into a werewolf so that guards could kill him. But it failed and instead it's the howls of Gabriel in wolf form that causes the change. Then it plays out the same mostly, maybe not mentioning the apparition in the fires, but they instead mentioned the burning foot that weakly tried to break out through the grate. And the epilogue is not as philosophical as in the game where it is hinted that Gabriel felt some temptation to turn into a werewolf, to go with his instincts. Instead it's mentioned that he is set on bringing von Glower down and we get a happy ending as Grace get's full time partner status.

Overall I liked it, doesn't work that well as a walkthrough, but the story is still interesting and I really enjoy the inner monologue to flesh out the story and scenes. Other parts was left like the mention of Sons of the Sun, other groups of shadow hunters and that the Ritters aren't the only ones. So the final question is, where is the Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned novelisation?

Not a graphic novel, a real book?

Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned

A vampire angel?

So after the two first games I got the third game as a christmas present and I gotta admit, I was a bit confused playing it. It looked awful. I mean, really awful.

No one can say that this looks good?

So after getting used to the graphics I at least could enjoy the return of Tim Curry as Gabriel Knight, although he clearly changed the voice a bit. The game also came with a prequel comic detailing the events before the game starts which was a bit strange as well. The first game also had a comic, but that was a visualisation of the event when the Ritters lost the medallion to the voodoo cult. Apparently Grace and Gabriel been contacted by prince James of Albany, a descendant of the Stewarts of Scotland and been offered the job to look into something that appears to be vampire attacks. Mostly the prince is afraid for his newborn son and want the shadow hunter to guard him. Sitting in the darkness some kind of magic is at work as both Grace and the guard dog falls asleep as a vampiric shape appears and kidnaps the son. Gabriel follows suit and ends up on a train to Rhen-Le-Chateau. He gets knocked out and the game starts as he wakes up at the trainstation and meets the conductor that tells him where he is and then help him get to a hotel... and then the game starts at the hotel.

The suspects

So the story goes on for three days divided in time intervals which progress if you do certain activities or in some cases take to long. First day is Gabriel contacting prince James that send in Grace and two guards to help him. Meanwhile Gabriel gets to know the guests at the hotel that all could be the kidnappers, except his friend Mosley that are there on vacation for this treasure hunting trip. The area is supposedly filled with some templar treasure and everyone have that as an excuse. So treasure hunting, finding the baby and get to know the locals, which include a priest, a writer named Sinclair researching the templar and apparently a vineyard owner. As night fall Grace appears with two Scottish people that Gabe decided to spy on, revealing they are freemason and the local priest is Priory of Sion, the Sinclair guy is another templar and after that Gabe gives up. The next day Grace follows on the tour after researching the area and enters the vineyard for what she believes is a baby cry, but it turns out is a winepress, but the guy is still suspicious with all alchemy iconography and such so he gets on the list. And then they find the bodies of the scotsmen on the devils throne, a landmark made out of stone looking like a throne.

Gabriel meanwhile began sneaking in the other guests room and the local priest as he went with them. And as they meet up Grace begins looking into the treasure hunt while Gabe investigate the suspects. Grace finds that the place have a reconstructed Temple of Solomon under the ground built by the templars while Gabe uncovers that the baby they protected is a descendent of Jesus Christ and that the priory of sions and freemasons are fighting for power to put a monarch at the head of the European Union. An agent of the catholic church is present to stop them, the tour guide is a french secret service agent and Mosley is actually working for the CIA. Oh, and one of the guest is the walking jew that was cursed by Jesus to walk the earth until he returned. The third day is Gabe looking for a manuscript that follows the genealogy of Jesus that Sinclair been writing while Grace pinpoints the temple and another guest ends up the target of the vampires. And then uncovers that the old vineyard owner is a vampire that tried to drink the blood of Jesus as to awake Asmodeus, the demon king. And Gabe, Mosley and prince James bodyguard (who I get is some kind of holy protectors) enters the temple and fight it through until Gabe defeats the demon with a stab through the heart. And then it is revealed that the Ritter-family originated from the soldier Longinius that stabed Jesus to see if he lived and as to atone was granted the power to fight darkness. And then it ends as Gabe finds a letter from Grace who left after their relationship got a bit weird after a one night stand. And no more games after that.

This game come just at the right time for me cause I was so into the templar mythos and alchemy and so on. It took some time getting used to the free-floating 3D-camera and as stated, the graphics leaves a lot to be desired. Also, this game have the "cat hair moustache" puzzle that some says killed the adventure genre so certain puzzles was rather illogical. One of the harder one for me was entering everyones room as Gabe when they are out, mostly because it was so many steps that needed to be perfect in order to get right. The music is great and I really liked the story. Not the best ending since it pretty much ended on a cliff hanger and it doesn't even have a book or a follow up book. Which is a shame. Otherwise worth playing.

Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within

Psh, saw that in the 7th Guest

The second game in the series and this one is a FMV-game... and one of those good ones. Although it still shows the limitation of these kind of games. Looking at the same film clip over and over gets irritating as well as prolonging the game. My story is the same as the first game, they came in the same pack. And it took me ages to get past the first CD since I didn't have the necessary instructions to solve one of the puzzles. And after getting past that and playing the whole second CD the game crashes. If the reason was a bad CD or a bad computer I can't say. Later on I got it again as a birthday present for the Mac and could actually play through out the game. Difference was that the colours was a bit off and I believe one soundbite was missing on the second CD (which could also means other bites was missing as well, but I couldn't tell due to not being able to play that far). Later on with a stable internet compatibility I was able to get a free program to make a "DVD"-version where it pretty much assembled every CD and put it on my old PC drive with something like 2 GB. It was a rather good site. Also, the box came with the soundtrack for the second game. Great tracks, especially the opera scene.

The Scary parts of the games

The game starts with Gabriel in Germany as he tries to take up the mantle as shadow hunter after his great-uncle Wolfgang, but some villagers of Rittersburg arrive at night with a request to stop a werewolf. The supposed werewolf had as it latest victim killed a nine-year old girl and her father was able to get a look from the wolf and see its, as he called it, human eyes. So Gabriel heads to Munich in search of the werewolf. He starts by looking after the supposedly escaped wolves from the ZOO that are accused as the murder wolfs. As he finds out it's no ordinary wolf. It's paws are way to big and the hair sample he can get doesn't match that of a wolf. The curator of the ZOO is connected to some strange hunting lodge and with his blue blood Gabriel sneaks in and joins with the help of the owner Fredrich von Glover.

Meanwhile back in America

Grace is left in New Orleans and decide she has had enough when Gabriel sends a letter describing his current situation. Here is the problem with the timeline. She gets the letter that was sent at the day and the very same night she appears in Germany. And is not a telegram since it's an actual letter. And she herself sends a letter the very next day, that somehow appears the same day to Gabriel. And it gotta be the same day since the last thing in the first chapter is that he would return to the club the next day. Which he does. Still, now as Gabriel hunts the deadly wolf Grace does the research on werewolves which makes her look up the Black Wolf, a noble man the Ritters arrested and executed due to his werewolf curse. A curse he got for assaulting a gypsie woman and the matriarch of the clan cursed him. And they appeared again during the times of Ludwig II of Bavaria, the fairy tale king who built Neuschwanstein and Richard Wagner who did all those operas. It's a tale of political assassinations, cursed monarchs and a lost opera. Somehow I find the Grace episodes easier, might be to me liking history and such. And basically the Gabriel parts where the scarier ones.

Why is Gabriel undercover at some café in Seattle?

So Gabriel pretty much bumbled unto the murderer, but who could it be in the hunting club? Is it the doktor? The Lawyer? Politician? Butcher? Or the aggressive bank person that snaps at any thing? Well, obviously it's Von Glover that turned von Zell, the banker into a werewolf. Now, some LP I watched argued that von Glover didn't do anything worth killing, but that was missing the bigger picture. First, over 100 disappearances have been reported over 30 years alluded to be the work of the black wolf. He turned not only von Zell, but also Ludwig II of Bavaria as well as an officer in South America, which was subtle since it was mentioned in one of the books Grace read and sent to Gabriel about the officer, but in the same chapter von Glover shows of a mask he got from South America... hinting pretty much that he was responsible for that as well. And he probably have been doing it since his father's day, the original black wolf that was killed in 15th or 16 century. Well, Gabriel gets invited to join a hunt, and due to Fredricks fascination of the Ritters since they killed his father, as well as some means to get rid of von Zell who couldn't control his werewolf form. And that was the reason he gathered these very people in order to form a wolf pack by the best in every speciality and use their talents like law, politics, money and so on. During the trip Gabriel get proof of von Zell as a werewolf and prepares to kill him with von Glover during the night, but in the end Gabriel gets bitten and afterwards firing the killing shot when von Glover can't (hinting again he is the real bad guy since he is the alpha male and can't kill any of his beta). As Gabriel starts to turn and Grace picks him up and looks for the opera Wagner constructed for Ludwig II which sound and stage would somehow destroy von Glover. After an amazing cheesy opera scene a Gabriel in wolf-form hunts von Glover in the basement and puts him in the boiler rooms he pushes him into the fires, killing von Glover and with that releasing Gabriel from the werewolf curse.

The werewolves looks bad though, in more than one way

I love this game. It's scary, the music is fantastic, and even though the graphics at times shows it's age I can't help but feel immersed. It walks a fine line between education when it comes to things like Ludwig and Wagner and fantastical. Sadly, as most FMV-games by Sierra it seems like the end game was rushed due to going over budget and the game getting to big. Apparently the final CD would be divided in two with the search for the opera following Ludwig hiding it instead of watching it as a cut-scene. The box also came with a demo for the third game in the series that was about to be released. Looking awful due to the decision going all 3D. Progress isn't always a good thing.

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

Oh, this is gonna be good!

For some reason my dad wanted to pick up this game series, but I payed for it. We got it in a double combo of the first two games as a promotion for the third game. And due to the computer we didn't get it working... and the second game actually had a scratched CD (nr 3 of 6). So a bit of a downer, but the games are fantastic. It also came with a novel of the game... aka a walkthrough. I actually read it and it was rather interesting to see how the story worked in a coherent way compared to my try anything and see if it works. Of course I was able to cheat on some puzzles, like the cemetery code, the drum code and the clock code. In short a lot of codes. Funny enough it has a picture of the actor from the second game on the front.

My walkthrough

It is actually worth reading even if you played the game since it is more creepy at times than the game. For example near the end sneaking in to the police station nothing out of the ordinary happens, but the book hints that all the police in the office is actually controlled by the voodoo cult and if no one is there, they are lifeless zombies. It's a really creepy moment. But before I get a head of myself, let's start from the beginning. You play as Gabriel Knight (amazingly voiced by Tim Curry) who has constant nightmares since he began researching the so called Voodoo Murders that are plaguing New Orleans. He is helped by his part-time co-worker Grace and police officer Mosley (voiced by Mark Hamill) who gives him inside information on the cases. As he gets deeper he finds out about this ancient voodoo cult that lurks in the shadows and how it ties together with Knights own family, the Ritters of Rittersburg. The family is an ancient family of shadow hunter... or shattenjaegers which translates to Shadow hunter. For two millennia the Ritters have hunted the paranormal until one ancestor used the powers in their talisman to save a voodoo witch by empowering her leading to the death of a settlement in the new world and stealing the talisman. The loss of the talisman have lead the Ritters to ruin as Gabriel is the only one left since most Ritters die untimely death, including Gabriels father and grandfather. 

I'm already remembering being to scarred to play as a kid

If you don't get it is the same voodoo cult so he has get the talisman back and stop them. And if you wonder they are basically drug smugglers so they are obviously evil. The music is by Robert Holmes and is fantastic, creepy and atmospheric. The voice acting is amazing... except maybe for the narrator and some minor roles that just sound off. There is a remake, but I haven't played it and since it lacks the original voices I don't feel inclined to. The graphics of the old game is still good, but it might be my taste. It's also rather informative on both the mythical voodoo, but also it's real life origins. New Orleans history with Marie Levou is gone into detail and I get that the recreation of New Orleans was kinda good (well, at least before... Katrina was it?). I highly recommend it.

King's Quest VII: The Princless Bride

Well this look nice!

King's Quest VII is actually the first game in the series I ever played as a kid. We got it for Mac with a CD drive and you know it was gonna be something special when it opens with this intro:

This doesn't look that nice

Story is that one day princess Rosella and her mother Valanice is out walking, talking about marriage since Rosella is getting to that age. She detest the idea and instead focus on something in a small pond and decides to jump into it... I know this is a fairy tale, but what? Valanice follows and sees Rosella being grabbed by something and she ends up in some desert area.

Great, I HATE deserts!

So this game is divided in chapters with chapter 1, 3 and 5 following Valanice and 2, 4 and 6 following Rosella. Valanice is trying to find Rosella and it takes her from this desert to a magical forest where the guardians been transformed by an evil fairy and a town of weird animals. All this is on the borders of the were-beasts forrest and the land of the dead where the lord of land takes Valanice to Etheria where the fairies lives... I don't know why, the story pretty much lost me on chapter 5. All I get is that the evil fairy came from around here and some dream fairy could show her Rosella? It doesn't seem to matter that much since the important story is actually Rosella who was kidnapped by an ogre king and by some strange magic turned into a ogre herself. So first she has to revers the spell, then escape the land of the ogres to the land of the dead in search of the real ogre king that was trapped by the boogy man by the evil fairy who want's to let the volcano the ogres control destroy Etheria as revenge. Rosella finds him and a magical wand, escapes to the weird animal town and a secret passage down back to the land of the ogres where she confront the fake king and as the kings duke it out turn the fraud back to it's true self, Edgar, the prince Rosella saved back in the fourth game. I know, I didn't know who he was either first time getting that far.

What is it with the animation?

Yadda-yadda-yadda, Rosella turns the evil fairy to a baby, she and Edgar hooks up and they travel back home... I think, the ending isn't quite clear on it. And this is if you save Edgar who takes a blast to the face from the evil fairy. 

The heroic act of prince-what's-his-name

I do have nostalgic memories of this game, and sadly most is remembering how impossible it was for me as a child since I couldn't understand what to do since I didn't know english. And the game is probably best just remembering. The animation is best remembered since your mind will fill out the lacking art for you, the music... fine, but the intro song isn't girl in the tower. Voice acting... passable. As you can see, not the best in the series and there's a bit of a problem with it. And it's also the last King's Quest game I played. Well, except for the Silver Lining-games, but i'm still waiting for the final episode and it's been 6 years already. Someday I might play the new King's Quest-game with Cristopher Lloyd, but I just doesn't have the computer for it or the internet to download it. So we shall see... and I won't be playing the 8th game. Although I like the intro music.

King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow

I must have made a wrong turn somewhere

King's Quest VI, said to be the best of the series and I gotta agree. It is the most polished of the old Sierra games (one might argue the animated style of VII is better, but that's debatable), the voice acting is the most superb with people like Tony Jay behind it and the story is lovely and the music... is a damn masterpiece. But we don't begin there, instead to the end of the last game. As shown in there prince Alexander of Daventry tried to get it of with princess Casima that helped Graham defeat Mordak. Casima is taken back home to the Green Isles and Alexander waits... and waits. Until a horrendous cutscene with computer generated graphics where the queen comforts her son and suddenly the magical mirror shows Alexander Casima trapped in a tower with a star lit sky behind her. With the stars burnt into his mind he sets out navigating the seas with a loyal crew until they hit a storm and the ship sinks (the game goes out it's way telling the player that every crew member survived in the life boats). Alexander awakes on the shore and sets out to save Casima.

Great, at least not the beaches of Normandy.

That's the set up, and the story is that the lands of the Green Isles are in turmoil. Each island blames the other for some stolen artefacts and the king and queen died before Casima arrived home so the Vizir is ruling for the moment. Of course he is evil and the one that sent Casima to Mordak as well as murder the king and queen. As well as taking the artefacts and blaming the islands so to ensure no one tries to oppose his rule. Since Casima come back the plan have changed, especially with Alexander following, and he gotta marry her in order to keep the throne. And Alexander is about to stop him. First order is to get of the island by getting your hands on a magic map and survive the traps on the different islands, some natural and some imposed by the viziers genie that you recognise by the glowing eyes. The main island of the Crown is middle eastern 1001 Night-style, the island of the beast is basically a Beauty and the Beast island (even more fun that the voice of Alexander played the beast in the Disney animated movie).

Best movie ev... wait, that's the wrong one!

Much better!

There's an Alice in Wonderland-island and an island mainly based on greek mythology with angels and a labyrinth with a minotaur. The last island is the land of the druids which you can't access until later in the game. So you basically goes around and collecting items to solve different puzzles. Most important is getting a spell book and later finding a nightingale that sends message between Alexander and Casima to deepen their love for each other. As the vizier gets desperate he is gonna force a marriage between himself and Casima and then kill her to get the throne so in order to stop this Alexander travels to the lands of the dead where he find Casima's parents and the truth of their deaths. The vizier murdered them... the shocker, I know. He continues down to the underworld and challenge the lord of death to a duel and by showing the magical mirror to the lords face it forces the demon to shed one single tear as he faces his own horrors. It's a fantastic scene. You bring Casima's parents back and as they start a rebellion Alexander infiltrates the castle with the help of the castles clown and finds the artefacts and, like a good story interrupts the wedding and chasing the vizier up the tower where a duel of swords follows. As Casima throws a dagger in the Viziers back Alexander knocks him out with his sword. Alexander and Casima wed each other and the best cheesy love song plays.

Can't stop crying/laughing at the awesomeness!

It is the best King's Quest game by far. No dead ends and a couple of different endings. As stated a beautiful looking and sounding game. I came a long way without a guide until I falled for french manual that stopped most of the King's Quest-games I played, and that was to climb the Cliffs of Logic to find the angels and fight the minotaur. The horrors of the copy-protection. I probably wouldn't have finished the labyrinth since the terror of knowing the monster is out there would have scared me enough.

Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness: Wizard Edition

Well, that looks fun!

So the dark magic teleports me from Tarna to a dark mysterious cave. All your equipment is lost so Magus starts looking around. Find some crowns and kopeks and what this games currency, a dagger and a flint. There is an altar with torches and any normal person would use the flint, but I'm Magus the Archmage of Spielburg, Shapeir, Rasier and Tarna. I just flame dart one torch and light the other one to show me the way out. There's some sort of door which I pry open with the dagger and find myself in another chamber with 4 other doors and some sort of stone sculpture in the middle of the room. Another dead body with some money and a cloth. Magus leave the chamber and enters a cave. Somehow I need to cross a pit either on the rope that is already in place, but I'm a magician so I hold the cloth up as sail and use the wind to push my levitated character across. And at this moment the game tells us that it is a bit creepier since out of the pit long slimy tentacles emerges. Really, the cover says it all. Still, I'm out of the cave... and it's night time and some cloaked shadowy figure meets me at an arch outside what can only be described as a mouth.

Well hello there, who have we here? Nice accent!

This is Katrina and she tells me that I'm in Mordavia and that I just escaped the Dark One's cave and that there is a town just north of here. She bid me farewell until we meet again and she is gone. I leave and tries walk down a slippery slope when the game crashes. Get used to that since this game is notorious for bugs and crashes. In actuality I already crashed crossing the pit in ScummVM so I finally tried the DosBox I got for the mac and it actually worked. Until this moment that is. I restored a save and walked down. Now, later I found out I could just have Triggered the obelisk, but I forgot to use Detect Magic. I enter a swamp and see some Will O' Wisps and starts to head north. I cross a stream and suddenly I'm attacked by a Wyvern and boy this combat system. GOD! A 2D screen where I have to walk forward to and click the monster to strike at it, but if I click just at the wrong spot it interprets it to walk forward. The spell system I don't quite learn until I figured out the hot keys (z, x, c, v, b) and not even then cause it isn't instant so you need to hold a bit compared to the instant attack from the older games. And don't get me started on creatures flying or to small to be hit by a magic attack. The vampires bat I just put on auto and full aggression since I couldn't get the hang of high attacks. Yeah, forgot to mention that this game has an auto function where you slide 4 different sliders to adjust the way you attack or what you use. But that gets boring and when I got the hang of the magic system it was fine. Finally I reach town.

Well... they seem... friendly?

Since this is based on slavic folklore and such everyone speaks with an eastern european accent.  And I mean speak, the whole game is voice acted and they are really famous voice actors as well. The narrator is even John-Rhys Davies. Of course they all fear me since the road out of the valley is blocked by the swamp so how I got here is mysterious and mentioning the Dark One's cave makes them even more sceptical. Let's run down the cast. First is the burgomeister (mayor and sheriff), then we have the three amigos (which I just love due to the dialogue and the voice actors), there's the shop keeper who knits and gossip, the innkeeper and his wife who are sadden by their daughter's disapearance  years ago. Nikolai who wanders the town looking for his lost wife for 15 years, Igor the gravedigger and Dr Cranium who is the only one that's actually friendly towards me. Of course he's a mad scientist. That's the town people and they don't like me at all. Outside it isn't much better. There's bush who wants to kill me, killer rabbits roaming the countryside, shapeshifting wolf gypsies, a beautiful but drowning Rusalka in the lake and an old friend in Baba Yaga and the skull from the first game. And that's only during the day. At night we have murderous fairies, wraith, revenants, necrotaurs and ghosts walking the land. This place really needs a hero.

The Rusalka is friendly... but she kills me if I go near her... well worth it!

The first day is just exploring and train your skills. And one day Igor disappear. The towns people blame a gypsy they caught outside the town and are gonna burn him at the stake. So it's my job to save him. Of course the obvious place for the gravedigger would be the local cemetery so let's pay a visit.

Maybe I should go somewhere else?

Igor is of course trapped in a grave so you help him out and suddenly the people are getting more friendly. I even get to speak to the innkeeper's wife. I try to get in the gypsies camp, but they won't let me. Now this is a small problem. I'm forced to go through certain scenes to progress the plot. In this case I believe I had to enter town and speak to the Burgomiester and then wait until nightfall and enter the inn so they could thank me for finding Igor and then I had to leave town and the gypsy would invite me to their camp. This is important for the gypsies introduces me to Magda, their matriarch and fortune teller. Here I found another bug. When she tries to read my fortune the game cuts of the audio and rushes the text. An apparent speed problem. I try to lower the cycles, but nothing work. Best thing I found was turning the audio of and just read the text. And after that turn the audio on again. Annoying, but what are gonna do. So I'm just helping these people, but what's the story? Mordavia is the place where Erana died fighting of a cult trying so summon the Dark One. She sacrificed herself to banish him from this world. If you sleep in her garden or near her staff in town you will see visions that Erana sends you from the other side. The fortune telling also shows bad omen as one card always turns up at the end, The Void. In town there is an old monastery belonging to the cult members. Using an emblem you found just outside of the Dark One's cave you can force it's guardian to let you in and after some searching you find an secret passageway to a dungeon. 

I get a bad feeling about this!

Here Magus finds a dairy telling the tale of the cult and about 6 rituals in order to summon the Dark One, Avoozl! That's an interesting name since it both sound silly, but also somewhat scary. The rituals are hidden all across the valley, but there is clues for them all and the simplest one is just to drink from the keg in this very room. Of course it puts you to sleep and experience the coming of Avoozl.

I got a REALLY bad feeling about this!

In the meantime you meet Katrina outside at night and she wants you to help her by finding these rituals as well. Also, the there's a gnome at the inn that has lost his jokes due to a run in with Baba Yaga. . So your all set. Your second ritual is in the swamp. By using the glide spell Dr Cranium gave me (since he don't believe in magic and it's completely worthless to him) I traverse the foul swamp searching for the Chernovies guarding the tomb.

Found you!

The chernovies begin casting spells at you which you counter with a reversal spell, they in turn darken the whole screen so you cast juggling lights and they are in close combat position and... the game usually crashes. This is when I was forced to search for every single patch I could find, reinstall the game with them, copy over the save files, drag the cycles down to best which apparently was around 7000. Lower detail and I probably should have disabled sound as well, but I didn't have to. Then  you can enter close combat. Now stupid me couldn't figure out how to open the tomb the first time so I left the swamp and come back some time later and they were back and the game crashed again. This time I had to do some other tinkering with the controls to get it work, but I did it again and finally turned the dial correctly (apparently it was just moving it in order). I finally get out of the swamp with the bone ritual. Never again... until my paladin Roland comes around whenever that is. Next one is just beside the swamp, the obelisk just outside the Dark One's cave. Juggling Lights reveal something on the obelisk, but you need to capture the Will O' Wisps that are in the swamp at night, just Fetch them and store them in an empty flask. Show it for the obelisk and spell out Avoozl with the dark one's sign. Release the wisps and begin hunting wraiths since my funds are getting low. Get treasure, money and a new armour. Go to Baba Yaga who isn't pleased to see you, but will let you live if you bake a pie for her. Get some goo, a pie plate, some grinded bones and elderberries from the attacking bush. Cook it in the laser eyes of a guarding skull and voila. Also bring some goo or bone flour and you can get the gnomes humour back, a spell and another ritual that used to lie in the hangman tree. The gnome rewards you with the ultimate joke and I'm just two rituals away from finding them all. Oh yeah, and I burnt the monastery down. So what do I do now? Well, near Erana's garden at night some fairies hang out and they want Erana's staff. The staff is trapped in the stone in town and will only be released when a sacrifice of love have happened and they command me to make it happen. Really, the only place left is the castle, but I can't enter since the gatekeeper won't let me and at night it's crawling with necrotaurs. Doesn't matter that I can slay necrotaurs very easily with my spells. There must be another way. And of course there is. The castle used to belong to the Bargov family, the Boyars of Mordavia and their crypt is in the cemetery. Now, you can get from several people that there is a secret passage in the crypt to the castle. Several different ways depending on class or rather what the class is supposed to do. The one I can think of is a book in Nikolais home, perfect for a thief, but I got in there as mage first by telling him that his wife was dead and roamed the forest as a ghost so he pretty much went out and died... I feel awful for that. Then I just levitated up at night and searched his house. No ones there so I don't think I actually took a honour hit for that. Still, you also get a key for saving Igor, but as a wizard I just Open long before I'm supposed to go there. It leads to the crypt and a special crest in the floor with different colours. At first I thought I would have to find the answer, but in actuality I already knew it. I just didn't get it until I looked at the crypt door and it spelled out BORGOV and instantly it hit me. Blue, Orange, Red, Green, Orange and Violet. I feel damn smart for that. So I end up in the castle. In the top tower I find a monster called Toby and a little vampire girl... Tanya, the innkeepers daughter.

What sort of name is Toby for a monster anyway?

So she run away when her parents took a doll Toby gave her since they didn't know where it come from so Toby took care of her together with aunt 'trina. So if you get the doll she will tell you she misses her parents, but she can't go back due to how she is now. So you tell her of Erana's staff and that it can give life to her. Toby protest and wonders what it also does. And you tell him about sacrifice. Tanya doesn't understand, but Toby does. You bring them to the town square. You cast the spell of release the fairies gave you and it begins to speak. It outlines the rules that binds it and ask if Toby willingly and out of love will sacrifice himself for Tanya. He says yes and the staff takes his life force to give to her. This really gets me. It's the saddest part of the game. Even if Toby is a jerk throwing the door at my face all the time it feels sad. Tanya's cries and then when you take her home and the joy of her parents. GOD, I almost cries. 

TOBY NOOOO!!!

Then I take the staff to the fairies in the evening, but since the staff is bound to me now they try to pry it from my dead corpse. They underestimated the archmage Magus. Using the staff I throw Frostbite at the fairy queen Titania until she submits and disappear leaving behind another ritual. Now this also one of the buggy fights and I took of audio causing it to work properly. I hate the bugs. Still, it was a MAGIC DUEL. Sadly they tell you about your newest spell after the battle when you needed it. The Resistance spell which is good against spell casters, like the fairies and it only shows up when using the staff. Thanks for that game. Still, I return to the inn and get a message on my chest when I walk up from Katrina who wants to see me at the castle gate in the evening. On my way there after dark I'm intercepted by Ad Avis, the vizir I slayed in Trials by Fire and I saw at the end credits of Wages of War. He's alive... well, technically he isn't alive, rather undead actually, but you get what I mean. He set some necrotaurs on me and bring me to the castle dungeon and will leave me to finish me of tomorrow night. He puts me to sleep, but I awake some time later and it's still day. I unlock my bonds with the Open spell (feels like when I escaped the Rasierian prison) and takes the hammer and stake laying just beside me. Hmm, why would he give me the means of his destruction. I try to leave at the door, but it's locked and outside their is two goons standing guard. Don't want to mess with them. I take a look at the Iron Maiden and reveals a secret passage. I enter a chamber with a coffin in the end and inside is... Katrina?

You look... well... charming

Great, the cute woman is a vampire too. Really, all beautiful women in this valley always have a catch to them. She awakes and chain me up accusing me to kill her and stealing her child away. I try to pin it at Ad Avis, but she's still pissed. Although she still needs me and give me 3 nights to find the rituals and bring them to the castle. Had she just checked my backpack she would have found them all (she has the 6th ritual). I'm returned to the valley and since I'm pretty much finished I talk to the gypsies and Magda tells me her last fortune and I start to practice my magic. In the end the only maxed out spell is zap. The closest is Flame Dart, Force Bolt and Frostbite who are all above 300 while most of the others is somewhere around 250. Magic and Intelligence is maxed though so that means mana for 400 points. Third night approaches so I head out to the castle. Katrina congratulates me and take me to the Dark One's cave which I enter. The pit is now inhabited by a grotesque monster which apparently is the last Boyar who was the cult leader during the final battle. Before him lies a book which have a 7th ritual. I Calm the abomination and Fetch the book. Now, I can't let a monster like that live so I Frostbite to death. Didn't lose honour point. Apparently those are only affected if its humanoid. Magus Levitate down and then up to the top and enters the heart of the Dark One. You enters each chamber and have to reach each alter and perform each ritual and escape the traps unleashed by the Dark One awakening bit by bit. Last is the heart which opens up a chamber above it where I Levitate up and are joined by Ad Avis and Katrina. They force me to perform the last ritual to awaken Avoozl and just before I'm finished Ad Avis puts his diabolical plan in motions. First he attacks me forcing Katrina to attack him and due to that he can attack her freely. They are evenly matched but Ad Avis knows Katrina's weakness and prepares to attack me again. Katrina jumps between me and the spell and gets eaten by the Dark One who was attracted by the spell itself. Magus climbs up and prepares to finish Ad Avis once and for all. And here we are railroaded. Every class is supposed to use the Ultimate joke to distract Ad Avis. Then you use the staff. The wizard Summons it and throws an attack spell of choice which in my case was Force Bolt and it makes the Dark One swallow Ad Avis, just as it did Katrina. Why couldn't been a magic duel? I know it was a bit cheap in Trial by Fire just knocking out the fire so he fall of the tower, but come on. The demons where better done since it was unique for the wizard. I Summon Staff, catch the demon's attention with a Flame Dart and then the demon stole my staff and I used Trigger on it. It felt so smart. It was magic overload and almost a wizard 101 course, and the demon failed it. Here everyone makes Ad Avis laugh. It felt unfulfilling. Doesn't help that after this the most evil bug appears. As a wizard you have to Summon the Staff since you need it to free Erana's spirit so she can finish of Avoozl. Now, if you don't adjust something in the game you can't cast the spell since you are to busy. So you reach the end, have one action left to finish the game and the game won't let you. How did I solve this, by throwing a Force Bolt at the edge of the screen which often triggers shutdown, or if I'm lucky enables to get the staff so I can end the game. GOD!

I wonder if Erana's really worth it

Anyway, 3 weeks later everyone celebrates my deeds and some conclusions to the different stories, but who comes along if not Erasmus and Fenris shows up to get me to Silmaria since it's in need of a hero. Magus the Archmage wanders on. This game... it's both the best in the series so far as well as the worst. The story's great, the puzzles are great, the voice acting superb, the map fun to explore compared to the Savannah and there is actually something in it compared the Desert. And the music, atmospherical... but the bugs GOOD GOD! Game breaking bugs from start to finish, and the ending battle with Ad Avis was a bit anticlimactic as described above. Funny enough apparently the reason why few try the wizard through all games is due to this game where most bugs happen uniquely for the wizard. Even though I like these graphics it seems the jump from the old engine in the original 1 and 2 to the one used in 3 and 4 (as well as the remake of 1) caused more trouble, but I guess it was more due to not enough time to test and make sure these things wouldn't happen. I'm glad I played it the first time now with the internet and unofficial patches to take away some problems together with dos emulators making it possible to simulate slower cpu cycles. And I'm not even a technical wiz kid and I still got it to work thank god. Unfortunately I've heard that Quest for Glory 5: Dragon's Fire is a completely different beast to get working so let's see if I can get it running.