QUEST FOR GLORY FIVE

                 Reviewed by Stefan Herber

I bought QFG5 ages ago but only just got around to playing it.
Truth to tell when no.4 came out I restarted to get a really
powerful character as the game allows importing of previous heroes
but I never finished 4 as there was some bug that stopped a
sequence near the end running in a machine over a certain speed.
This was when I was introduced to MoSlo by the Sierra team - I've
still to make it work ... can anybody help?  I'm desperate to play
the early Ultima games.

So for QFG5 I created a new character knowing that as in the
previous games some missions were only possible with some
characters and if you're really taken with the game you can play it
all again from a different perspective. I really didn't have the
patience - once is enough on this occasion. I stuck with the
warrior which is probably the easiest option - the game may well be
more challenging in thief or sorcerer mode.

It's not actually all that bad though I've never known whether
these are RPGs, adventures or something between the two.  For those
who've never played them they can be summed up as fairy tale type
endeavours and often include characters out of folk lore or fairy
tales. As in RPGs experience = improvement in stats and you can
also improve them by doing things. So e.g. if you want to improve
your acrobatic skills go to a piece of open ground and practise
back flips for an hour.  Boring but worthwhile.

In QFG5 you are sent by your wizard master to find out who
assassinated the king. You then get drawn into a contest whereby
you have to solve five quests before your competitors and then have
the choice of taking the crown or giving it away to someone you
consider worthier. I doubt this is time-based - the other
characters never seemed to get a look-in on the missions so it's
simply a question of solving them when you feel able.  This
involves a fair amount of travelling and bumping off nasties
although the combat is fairly easy and unspectacular. In truth I

don't think I was killed more than twice in the whole game. The
puzzles are reasonably easy and it whiles away the time.

Trouble is it's over in a few days. Truth to say the format is also
looking tired and I suspect Sierra has put this series to rest.














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