the climax of “Quest for Glory 4”

I played “Quest for Glory 4” back in 1995, and they don’t make games like this any more.* They really don’t:

Throughout the “Quest for Glory” series, the Hero hears rumors of a mysterious “Dark Master”, an elusive and feared master of dark magic. And in “Quest for Glory 4”, the Hero learns that the Dark Master is in fact Katrina, a beautiful (and powerful) vampire. To make matters worse, Katrina raised the evil wizard Ad Avis (the Hero’s archenemy from “Quest for Glory 2”) as a vampire, binding him as her slave. And to make matters much worse, Katrina plans to force the Hero to perform the Rituals to bring the “Dark One Avoozl” (a Lovecraftian pastiche of Cthulhu) into the world, covering the lands in eternal darkness. That way Katrina, whose greatest fear is helplessness, will “never lie helpless in her coffin again.”

Of course, the Hero has also heard tales of another mysterious wizard; the sorceress Erana, who wandered the lands a century ago, creating magical gardens of refuge and beauty. She disappeared during the battle against the Cult of the Dark One a century past – and here the Hero, having already recovered her magical staff, can now find her final resting place. And as the Hero carries her staff, he starts having dreams -visions- of her imprisonment.

And here, in this clip, as Katrina forces the Hero to recite the final Ritual to bring the Dark One into the world, about four games’ worth of plotlines come together for a single conclusive resolution.

I think I like this ending so much because it’s not, strictly speaking, a very happy ending. Through wit and courage, the Hero defeats his enemies, and saves the world from the Dark One in the nick of time. But neither of his love interests survive, though strictly speaking, neither of the love interests were technically alive. The world was saved, but at a price.

-JM

*Except for maybe “Dragon Age”.