Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire

Last updated
Quest for Glory V:
Dragon Fire
Quest for Glory V - Dragon Fire Coverart.png
Developer(s) Yosemite Entertainment
Publisher(s) Sierra FX
Producer(s) Jay D. Usher
Designer(s) Lori Ann Cole
Programmer(s)
Artist(s)
  • Jon Bock
  • Terry Robinson
Composer(s) Chance Thomas
Series Quest for Glory
Platform(s) Windows, Macintosh
ReleaseDecember 8, 1998 [1] [2]
Genre(s) Action role-playing game
Mode(s) Single-player

Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire is the fifth and final game in the Quest for Glory computer game series by Sierra FX, a former "sub brand" of Sierra On-Line. Unlike the first four games, Dragon Fire is primarily an action role-playing game [3] with some elements of graphical adventure. [4]

Contents

Gameplay

Dragon Fire retains its point-and-click graphical interface and introduces a new combat system. Previous entries had moved combat encounters to a separate, isolated combat screen, but Quest for Glory V's interface allows for these battles to take place in the same environment as the rest of the gameplay.

Quest for Glory V provides more variety in the form of story paths, sidequests, and puzzles than its predecessors. [5]

Plot

The wizard Erasmus introduces the player character, the Hero, to the Greece-like kingdom of Silmaria, whose king was recently assassinated. [4] Thus, the traditional Rites of Rulership are due to commence, and the victor will be crowned king. The Hero enters the contest with the assistance of Erasmus, Rakeesh, and many old friends from previous entries in the series. The Hero competes against competitors, including the Silmarian guard Kokeeno Pookameeso, the warlord Magnum Opus, the hulking Gort, and the warrior Elsa Von Spielburg, who played a significant role in the first game.

As the Rites commence, an unknown assassin begins systematically picking off the contestants. Each contestant is murdered by a poison dagger, and they all are murdered near Dragon Pillars, the objects used to keep the Dragon of Silmaria locked up. After completing the second Rite, defeating the General of the Mercenaries, Rakeesh is attacked by the assassin and, depending on the course of action chosen by the player, either lives or dies. The conspiracy is eventually unraveled and the Dragon, having been released due to the destruction of the Dragon Pillars, is defeated.

The characters Katrina and Erana make a return in this installment, as assistance for defeating the Dragon.

This installment also marks the return of Bruno, a character from the first Quest for Glory game. He is revealed to be the assassin who has been terrorizing the streets of Silmaria, characterized as a quiet, shady character until he reveals himself to the player.

Silmaria Marketplace QFG5day100.jpg
Silmaria Marketplace

Development

Lori Ann Cole, game designer. Lori Cole Sierra Entertainment 1998.jpg
Lori Ann Cole, game designer.

The first four games were intended to indicate the four elements and the four wind directions: in the first game, the player is the Hero from the East, in the second, the hero from the North, etc. Dragon Fire was always planned to be part of the series (whereas Wages of War originally was not), but it would not have been produced if not for fans' enthusiasm and their pleas to Sierra On-Line. [6]

The game originally had a voxel engine, which was later changed to a 3D engine because of hardware limitations. [6] According to Corey Cole, Lori Cole was predominantly responsible for the game's design, as he was preoccupied with programming on the game. [6]

Because of deadline issues and financial pressures, several features were dropped from the fifth game before release, such as the ability to use a bow, the ability to play as Elsa von Spielburg or Magnum Opus (two prominent non-player characters from the game), and multiplayer capability. A demo released in late 1997 contained a multiplayer game, but Sierra decided to remove it from the final product. Yosemite Entertainment, the development team responsible for the game, was closed on February 22, 1999.

The fifth game is arguably a different genre from the first four; while the first four are mostly adventure games incorporating role-playing elements, the fifth game is a role-playing game incorporating some adventure elements. For instance, the fifth game has a wide variety of weapons, armor, and magical items, whereas the first four do not. Also, in the fifth game nearly every major mission consists of going to some place and defeating some monster in physical or magical combat. Additionally, the controls and battle system are substantially different from those of the first four games and different from the fourth's side-scrolling, fighting game-like combat as well. [7]

Also differentiating the fifth game from the first four are a new graphics engine programmed by Eric Lengyel and a soundtrack by Emmy-winning composer Chance Thomas, which was released on CD. [4] Some tracks were made available for free download from MP3.com.

Compatibility

There is an official patch [ permanent dead link ] for the game itself, fixing several problems. To run this game under Windows XP, the compatibility mode can either be set to Windows 98 or a fan-made patch [8] can be applied.

There is an official installer named "New Quest for Glory V installer". This installer allows the game to be played without a disc and on modern versions of Windows. [9]

Re-release

The Quest for Glory I–V Collection released by Activision through GOG.com includes all the games including QFG5 patched to run on modern Vista and Windows 7 PCs. [10]

Reception

Chance Thomas' soundtrack was released alongside a demo prior to Dragon Fire's launch. This product sold 50,000 copies and made $500,000 alone. [15]

The game received mixed reactions from players, although "critics tended to be kind to the game".[ attribution needed ] [4] [6] Next Generation summarized it as "a fine contribution to the genre that is accessible to novice and expert gamers alike." [16] Joshua Darien Maciel of RPGamer scored the game 9 out of 10 points, considering it a polished and seamless combination of combat and gameplay. [5]

Dragon Fire was a nominee for CNET Gamecenter's 1998 "Adventure Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to Grim Fandango . The editors wrote, "What Dragon Fire does really well is give traditional adventure gamers a place to call home." [17]

Retrospective

G4TV's Adam Rosenberg considers Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire the best entry in the series. [18] Griffin McElroy of Polygon positively characterised the game as "fan service" for fans of its predecessors. [19] Rowan Kaizer of Engadget considers this entry the worst of the series, largely due to its use of primitive 3D graphics. [20] Richard Cobbet of PC Gamer considers the game a "stumble" due to the game's 3D graphics and arcade action gameplay. [21] [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>EverQuest</i> 1999 video game

EverQuest is a 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed by Verant Interactive and 989 Studios for Windows PCs. It was released by Sony Online Entertainment in March 1999 in North America, and by Ubisoft in Europe in April 2000. A dedicated version for Mac OS X was released in June 2003, which operated for ten years before being shut down in November 2013. In June 2000, Verant Interactive was absorbed into Sony Online Entertainment, who took over full development and publishing duties of the title. Later, in February 2015, SOE's parent corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment, sold the studio to investment company Columbus Nova and it was rebranded as Daybreak Game Company, which continues to develop and publish EverQuest.

<i>Quest for Glory</i> Video game series

Quest for Glory is a series of hybrid adventure/role-playing video games, which were designed by Corey and Lori Ann Cole. The series was created in the Sierra Creative Interpreter, a toolset developed at Sierra specifically to assist with adventure game development. The series combines humor, puzzle elements, themes and characters borrowed from various legends, puns, and memorable characters, creating a 5-part series in the Sierra stable.

Dragon Quest, previously published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005, is a series of role-playing games created by Japanese game designers Armor Project, Bird Studio and Sugiyama Kobo to its publisher Enix, with all of the involved parties co-owning the copyright of the series since then. The games are published by Square Enix since its inception, with localized remakes and ports of later installments for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch being published by Nintendo outside of Japan. With its first game published in 1986, there are eleven main-series games, along with numerous spin-off games. In addition, there have been numerous manga, anime and novels published under the franchise, with nearly every game in the main series having a related adaptation.

<i>Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire</i> 1990 video game

Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire is the second video game in Sierra On-Line's Quest for Glory series, and the sequel to Hero's Quest: So You Want to Be a Hero.

<i>Quest for Glory III: Wages of War</i> 1992 video game

Quest for Glory III: Wages of War is a hybrid adventure/role-playing video game released in 1992 for MS-DOS. It is the third entry in the Quest for Glory video game series, and the sequel to Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire.

<i>Kings Quest</i> Video game series

King's Quest is a graphic adventure game series, released between 1980 and 2016 and created by the American software company Sierra Entertainment. It is widely considered a classic series from the golden era of adventure games. Following the success of its first installments, the series was primarily responsible for building the reputation of Sierra. Roberta Williams, co-founder and former co-owner of Sierra, designed all of the King's Quest games until the series' reboot in 2015.

<i>Slime</i> (series) Video game series

The Slime series is a spinoff series of games from Dragon Quest featuring its Slime character. Three games have been released, the second of which, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, has been released in North America.

<i>Age of Wonders</i> 1999 video game

Age of Wonders is a 1999 turn-based strategy game co-developed by Triumph Studios and Epic MegaGames, and published by Gathering of Developers.

<i>Dragon Slayer</i> (series) Video game series

Dragon Slayer is a series of role-playing video games by Nihon Falcom. The first Dragon Slayer game is an early action role-playing game, released in 1984 for the NEC PC-8801 and ported by Square for the MSX. Designed by Yoshio Kiya, the game gave rise to a series of sequels, most of them created by Falcom, with the exception of Faxanadu by Hudson Soft. The Dragon Slayer series is historically significant, both as a founder of the Japanese role-playing game industry, and as the progenitor of the action role-playing game genre.

<i>Spyro</i> Series of platform video games

Spyro is a video game series originally created by Insomniac Games as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. The series features the adventures of the main protagonist of the same name, a dragon. Since the series' introduction in 1998, there have been numerous sequels and a reboot trilogy. The series was originally produced by Universal Interactive, later became known as Vivendi Games; the rights to the intellectual property were acquired by Activision after its merge with Vivendi in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Coles</span> Video game designers

The Coles is a colloquial term referring to Corey Cole and Lori Ann Cole, a husband and wife team who are both video game designers. Working together they designed the Quest for Glory series. They have also each designed games independently.

An action role-playing game is a subgenre of video games that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing genre.

<i>Drakan: Order of the Flame</i> 1999 video game

Drakan: Order of the Flame is an action-adventure video game developed by Surreal Software and published by Psygnosis in 1999. The game follows Rynn, a young woman with extraordinary martial skills, and an ancient dragon Arokh on their quest to free Rynn's younger brother from the evil sorcerer Navaros. The gameplay alternates between dungeon exploration and hack and slash when Rynn is alone and aerial dogfights when she mounts Arokh. A sequel, Drakan: The Ancients' Gates, was released in 2002.

<i>Janes AH-64D Longbow</i> 1996 video game


AH-64D Longbow is a realistic combat flight simulator of the AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopter. Released on June 3, 1996, for the PC, this simulation was developed at Origin Systems. AH-64D Longbow was the second simulator released under the Jane's Combat Simulators line from Electronic Arts.

<i>Lords of Magic</i> 1997 video game

Lords of Magic is a turn-based strategy Microsoft Windows game designed for Windows 95/98 by Sierra On-Line. The game was intended to combine elements of Heroes of Might and Magic II and Lords of the Realm II. The special edition also contains the Legends of Urak quest pack, a set of five individual quests that revolve around stories unrelated to the main plot of the game.

<i>Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness</i> 1993 video game

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.

<i>Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero</i> 1989 video game

Quest for Glory: So You Want to Be a Hero is a 1989 adventure game/role-playing game hybrid, designed by Lori Ann Cole and published by Sierra On-Line for MS-DOS. It is the first game in the Quest for Glory series, and has been credited for being a genre-defining game, as it tried to mix graphical adventure gaming with role-playing-like elements such as statistic building that would actually affect the ability to accomplish certain parts of the game. The game has a satirical and silly tone. Ports for the Amiga, Atari ST, and NEC PC-9801 were released in the early 1990s. A VGA remake, titled Quest for Glory I: So You Want to Be a Hero, was released in 1992 for DOS and later in 1994 for Mac OS.

<i>Warlords Battlecry</i> 2000 video game

Warlords Battlecry, sometimes mislabeled as Warlords 3: Battlecry, is a real-time strategy video game released in 2000 for Microsoft Windows. It was the first of new series of RTS games set in Steve Fawkner's Warlords franchise.

<i>Kings Quest: Mask of Eternity</i> 1998 video game

King's Quest: Mask of Eternity is a hybrid point-and-click adventure and action-adventure video game developed and published by Sierra Studios in 1998. It was the eighth official game in the King's Quest series, the first and only game in the main series where the main character is neither King Graham nor a member of his family, as well as the first in the series to use a full 3D engine as opposed to the 2D cartoon or pixel style of the earlier games and the first to omit the sequel numbering system on box artwork and title screen.

<i>The Witcher</i> (video game series) Video game series by CD Projekt RED

The Witcher is a fantasy action role-playing game series developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. It is based on the book series of the same name by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski, acting as non-canonical sequels to the story of the books.

References

  1. ↑ "News Briefs". IGN . December 7, 1998. Archived from the original on March 4, 2000. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
    Quest for Gold: "Sierra informs us that Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire, the latest installment in its long-running fantasy adventure game series, has gone to replication and should be hitting store shelves this week. Some gamers may already have copies."
  2. ↑ "New Releases for 1998". 2001-01-27. Archived from the original on 2001-01-27. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2016-06-06.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. 1 2 3 4 Barton, Matt (2014). Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games. CRC Press. ISBN   9781439865248. Archived from the original on 7 May 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2016.
  5. 1 2 Maciel, Joshua Darien. "Quest for Glory V - Review". Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 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.
  7. 1 2 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.
  8. ↑ QFG5Win2k patch Archived 2013-04-14 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ NewSierraInstallers Archived 2012-09-20 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ GOG.com gamecard Archived 2012-11-14 at the Wayback Machine
  11. ↑ Parker, Samuel (May 1999). "Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire". MacAddict . Archived from the original on 2001-07-17. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  12. ↑ Staff. "Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire". MacHome Journal. Archived from the original on November 5, 2003.
  13. ↑ Backer, Andy (January 14, 1999). "Quest for Glory V: DragonFire". Computer Games Strategy Plus . Archived from the original on May 23, 2003.
  14. ↑ Brenesal, Barry (February 1999). "Quest for Glory V". PC Games : 91.
  15. ↑ Bethke, Erik (January 25, 2003). Game Development and Production. Wordware Publishing. p. 349. ISBN   1556229518.
  16. ↑ Staff (December 24, 1998). "Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire". Next Generation . Archived from the original on October 12, 1999.
  17. ↑ The Gamecenter Editors (January 29, 1999). "The CNET Gamecenter.com Awards for 1998". CNET Gamecenter . Archived from the original on 2000-12-16. Retrieved 2018-09-13.{{cite web}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ "Best games of July 2014 - The Besties". Polygon . 6 August 2014. Archived from the original on 23 August 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  20. ↑ Kaizer, Rowan. "The glory of Quest For Glory". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
  21. ↑ Baker, Michael. "Quest for Glory III: Wages of War - Retroview". Archived from the original on 6 July 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.