Quest for Glory 4 -- the endgame (um, spoilers)
Nicholas Jong
Well, I've gotten to the very end of the game (CD version; playing as
a wizard): I've completed the last ritual, Katrina has sacrificed
herself to save me, and I've finished off Ad Avis. Now what? I found a
walkthrough at Games Domain which says I'm supposed to cast the Summon
Staff spell again. However, whenever I try to cast a spell, the games
says something like "You're too busy too cast a spell now." So just
what am I to do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
--
"I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool."
-Katharine Whitehorn
Trina Borras
knj...@worldnet.att.net (Nicholas Jong) wrote:
>Well, I've gotten to the very end of the game (CD version; playing as
>a wizard): I've completed the last ritual, Katrina has sacrificed
>herself to save me, and I've finished off Ad Avis. Now what? I found a
>walkthrough at Games Domain which says I'm supposed to cast the Summon
>Staff spell again. However, whenever I try to cast a spell, the games
>says something like "You're too busy too cast a spell now." So just
>what am I to do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, Nicholas,
Keeping in mind that I played the whole series as a thief, and don't
know anything about KFG magic spells, I would think that after one
defeats Ad Avis the ending would require the same from any type of
character and that you wouldn't need to resort to special powers to
take care of unfinished business. On the other hand, you mention a
"summon staff" spell -- don't you *have* the staff right now? You do
need it ... anyway, if you've got it, you're all set. Use it!
Hoping that helps,
Trina
Trina Borras * tbo...@mindspring.com
(posted/e-mailed)
Lynda Thornton
In article <5ovg6v$n...@mtinsc03.worldnet.att.net>, Nicholas Jong
<knj...@worldnet.att.net> writes
>Well, I've gotten to the very end of the game (CD version; playing as
>a wizard): I've completed the last ritual, Katrina has sacrificed
>herself to save me, and I've finished off Ad Avis. Now what? I found a
>walkthrough at Games Domain which says I'm supposed to cast the Summon
>Staff spell again. However, whenever I try to cast a spell, the games
>says something like "You're too busy too cast a spell now." So just
>what am I to do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
>
>"I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool."
> -Katharine Whitehorn
>
Unfortunately, you may be stuck, as I am. I played QG4 as a magic user,
got to the same position you are in, and then got exactly the same
message. I think it's a bug that Sierra kindly left in for us - and I
don't think you can get past it once you've encountered it. If you do,
please let us know, cos I would really like to finish the game too!
Lynda Thornton
Nicholas Jong
tbo...@mindspring.com (Trina Borras) wrote:
>Keeping in mind that I played the whole series as a thief, and don't
>know anything about KFG magic spells, I would think that after one
>defeats Ad Avis the ending would require the same from any type of
>character and that you wouldn't need to resort to special powers to
>take care of unfinished business. On the other hand, you mention a
>"summon staff" spell -- don't you *have* the staff right now? You do
>need it ... anyway, if you've got it, you're all set. Use it!
When I picked up Erana's staff, I claimed it as my own (this is
automatic). That means it doesn't go to my inventory. Instead, it goes
to wherever that realm is that magic staves go, and I can cast a spell
to summon it (so I can cast other spells). In short: no, I don't have
it.
Nicholas Jong
Lynda Thornton <B...@wuli.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>Hello Nicholas
>Unfortunately, you may be stuck, as I am. I played QG4 as a magic user,
>got to the same position you are in, and then got exactly the same
>message. I think it's a bug that Sierra kindly left in for us - and I
>don't think you can get past it once you've encountered it. If you do,
>please let us know, cos I would really like to finish the game too!
Fortunately, someone e-mailed me the way to get past the problem.
Before you levitate up into the last chamber (the Essence Cave), you
have to go to the game's control panel and set the detail bar to
minimum. It has to do with CPU speed, I think, so your mileage may
vary. Some people (myself included) also have to set the speed bar to
maximum.
Good luck!
--
"Any dream worth having is a dream worth fighting for."
-carved on a tombstone, somewhere
Trina Borras
SPOILER ALERT -- re last moments in QFG4, uncensored spoiler-laden
discussion of how endgame went for me ("thief"); if you've not gotten
this far, proceed at your own risk and don't blame me if you read
something you'd rather not have!!!!
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knj...@worldnet.att.net (Nicholas Jong) wrote:
(my half-baked advice snipped)
>When I picked up Erana's staff, I claimed it as my own (this is
>automatic). That means it doesn't go to my inventory. Instead, it goes
>to wherever that realm is that magic staves go, and I can cast a spell
>to summon it (so I can cast other spells). In short: no, I don't have
>it.
Gosh, Nicholas, this is perplexing -- that you're told you're too busy
now to cast that "summon staff" spell, which it sounds like you would
need to do, that it would be quite "the ticket." Doesn't that sound
to you like casting spells is now off limits to you, that it's the
game's way of letting you know you don't *need* to anymore? But,
then, what to do???
Now, as a thief, when I was just about to fight Ad Avis there at the
end, I did have the staff in my inventory. And what happened was that
it transformed itself just then -- when he was laughing I suppose --
(I'd been wondering what on earth I would ever be able to use it on)
into a sharp stake (such as to kill vampires with), and I had to jump
(I think, it's been a while now, memory's fuzzy) over to where he was
and drive it right through his black heart! And after I accomplished
that, well, the weapon magically turned itself back into the staff.
And then (after a while of not seeing the only obvious place I might
now do anything at all) I approached those, um, crystals (?), up north
in that screen, in the middle I think, and just touched them w/the
staff, and something lovely happened (I shan't say what though). (I
wonder if something like this is what happens to the "fighter" too, if
he's got the staff and it turns into a super-duper excalibur type of
sword or something...) So ... since something's blocking you from
casting a spell to bring forth your staff, have you tried simply
walking up to the crystals and just touching them? Maybe in your
capacity as a magic-user you don't need to have the staff in hand as
lesser mortals do, maybe you are, by virtue of having removed AA from
the face of Mordavia (?), imbued somehow with its power now.
Did you meanwhile check any other sites than where you found that w.t.
to see if there were any by other authors? Sometimes w.t.'s assume
knowledge. When I was playing this very same game, for the second
time around, with a buddy, we got stumped on the breath ritual. I
recalled how difficult it had been for me to crack it the first time
and was so sure I remembered how, but I didn't. We struggled over it
forever, I mean a long long time -- days in fact, although we'd take
breaks from it. We put it on our mental backburners but nothing
occurred to either of us. In desperation, I did go and read one or
more walkthroughs (not feeling guilty as I normally would, since,
after all I'd played it before and somehow figured it out the first
time), and damned if one and all didn't just say something to the
effect of "do what needs to be done and then..." So I then broke down
and dialed into Sierra's bbs (a very costly and trying sort of
experience if you've never tried it, but if you want to, let me know
and I'll find that telephone number for you) to browse their hints,
and, they, too, didn't detail how to solve the ritual! At that point,
well, I went out and *bought* the (expensive) strategy manual for the
whole series (although I'd already played all four games!), I mean we
were really DESPERATE. (I don't know why it never occurred to me then
to write to this group..,) And IT didn't explain how to solve it
either!!!!! It must have been around *two months* later that I went
back to the damn puzzle and sat here for several hours brooding before
it when suddenly the light dawned (after I reread the ritual about a
hundred times for lack of anything better to do). It was all a most
appalling experience, and I hope something similar isn't your fate!
I'd look up the ending, for the magic-user, in that manual of which I
spoke, but I misplaced it sometime ago and have no idea where it might
be. But ... maybe someone else has it!!!! And could look this up in
it for you -- although based on my breath ritual frustrations, who
knows if it would be worth checking it out. While I didn't read the
whole essay on QFG4, not all of what I did read was what I'd call
enlightening. E.g., even though we were past all that, we'd had some
problems with the Leshy which i didn't recall having had the first
time around so out of curiosity I read whatever was there about him
and it was woefully vague and unforthcoming on *that* score too.
SOMEONE out there must have played this game as a magician. Maybe you
should resubmit your query under a different title, such as "QFG4 --
calling all *MAGIC USERS*, help needed on endgame"?????
I'm sorry you're in such a limbo state, but I must say you've really
peaked my curiosity, for I think that game got under my skin more than
any other I've ever played.
Let me know, would you, if simply *touching* the crystals, even though
you don't have the staff now, "works." Wishing you all the best in
this your time of trial,
Trina Borras
SPOILERS -- total ones, gotten from two different walkthroughs, for
QFG4 endgame.
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Nicholas, I wish I'd done this before I wrote that last long message,
what a waste of your time, sorry, i.e., go and read that w.t. at the
GD myself, for I just did so, and it appears that, yes, you *must*
have the staff!. For I found another at "the spoiler centre" which
echoes the directions in the one at the GD, here's what it (at the
s.c.) had to say (I copied that little section for you):
****
"Problem:
I'm a Magic User. How do I make sense of the Essence Cave?
"Hint:
It's just you and Ad Avis, and he thinks he can block all of
your spells. Summon Erana's Staff and use it to cast protective
spells. Tell the Ultimate Joke. While Ad Avis is helpless, hit him
with a Force Bolt. It won't hurt him, but it will knock him back. The
Dark One does the rest. Click the Staff on the large glowing crystal
to release Erana's spirit."
****
Now this one's a bit different from that at the GD. This one makes it
sound like once you've first (before telling the joke) cast the summon
staff spell, you'll continue thereafter to have the staff in your
possession (probably presuming knowledge?). But the one at GD
specifies:
1 - cast summon staff
2 - tell joke
3 - cast forcebolt at AA
4 - cast summon staff again (!!!)
5 - touch crystal w/staff
I wonder how come that at the s.c. doesn't mention casting the summon
staff spell twice. Well, neither look promising, even though there's
some variance here in *expression* about what you're to do, since both
have you ending up w/the staff.
Do you suppose ... oh horror! ... that you have come upon one of the
infamous QFG4 bugs? Did you use the patch (the famous one without
which most can't get anywhere, without which all collapses when you
get to Tanya and the castle, and installation of which at such late
date entails one starting all over from the begjnning) when you began?
Or do you have an "all patched up already" version of the game? Even
though I used the patch (but, drat, not at the beginning), I still
found the game to be full of bugs, although they were the sort one
could avoid after first encounter by staying away from the area or
touching the thing that invariably brought the game to a halt. OTOH,
when I found those, I'd get one of those ghastly error messages and
get thrown out of the game. I never was told I was "too busy" to do
something, But not all bugs manifest themselves the same way I
suppose.
I'm sure you must have, but, I'll ask anyway, did you deal w/AA
*precisely* as these w.t.s advise (which I don't understand, not being
a magic user), in terms of which spell(s) to use? If so, gulp, do you
think you need to visit Sierra's -- as well as others' to cover all
bases because you never know -- web site(s) and see if there are any
"fixes" for this section available? (I just can't *believe* there'd
be a need for one at this late date, it would be really *criminal*,
especially if fixing/patching set you back in the game.)
And, I'm sure you have done this too, but, anyway, did you save your
game and then replay it several times just to make absolutely sure
that unspeakable message you got wasn't just a one-time anomaly?
Trina
posted/e-mailed
I'm sure you must have, but, anyway, did you save your game and then
replay the scene several times to make sure that message you got
wasn't just a one-time anomaly?
Jay Shah
Check out my site: The Hero's Tale Inn, it has the walkthru for the
game!
http://www.seas.ucla.edu/~ravi/qfg.html
Nicholas Jong wrote:
> Well, I've gotten to the very end of the game (CD version; playing as
> a wizard): I've completed the last ritual, Katrina has sacrificed
> herself to save me, and I've finished off Ad Avis. Now what? I found a
>
> walkthrough at Games Domain which says I'm supposed to cast the Summon
>
> Staff spell again. However, whenever I try to cast a spell, the games
> says something like "You're too busy too cast a spell now." So just
> what am I to do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
>
> --
> "I am firm. You are obstinate. He is a pig-headed fool."
> -Katharine Whitehorn
--
-----------------------------------------------------
J A Y S H A H @ L O O P . C O M
-----------------------------------------------------
There are three kind of people in this world:
those who can count and those who can't.
-----------------------------------------------------
Q U E S T F O R G L O R Y 5 :
D R A G O N F I R E
http://www.seas.ucla.edu/~ravi/qfg.html
http://www.sierra.com/titles/qg5/site/main/main.html
-----------------------------------------------------
Nicholas Jong
tbo...@mindspring.com (Trina Borras) wrote:
>Gosh, Nicholas, this is perplexing -- that you're told you're too busy
>now to cast that "summon staff" spell, which it sounds like you would
>need to do, that it would be quite "the ticket." Doesn't that sound
>to you like casting spells is now off limits to you, that it's the
>game's way of letting you know you don't *need* to anymore? But,
>then, what to do???
It was what I needed to do; apparently, the game wouldn't let me do it
because of a technical problem (as I described in my last post).
>I'm sorry you're in such a limbo state, but I must say you've really
>peaked my curiosity, for I think that game got under my skin more than
>any other I've ever played.
Agreed. The technical problems are all the more frustrating because
they mar what was otherwise a really good game (IMHO). I love the
series and especially its characters, but the satisfaction I got from
avenging Katrina's death (by killing Ad Avis) was blunted by the
game's refusal to let me complete it. In effect, the problem I
encountered cut off the story right at its climax. How annoying.
>Let me know, would you, if simply *touching* the crystals, even though
>you don't have the staff now, "works." Wishing you all the best in
>this your time of trial,
Actually, when I click the hand icon on the crystal, the game says
that it's just out of reach, and I can't move anywhere (the walk icon
is disabled).
Nicholas Jong
tbo...@mindspring.com (Trina Borras) wrote:
> ****
> ****
This (above) is actually the exact procedure for the endgame (for
wizards), except that step #5 seems to be automatic -- the player's
last action in the game is the casting of the Summon Staff spell.
>Do you suppose ... oh horror! ... that you have come upon one of the
>infamous QFG4 bugs? Did you use the patch (the famous one without
>which most can't get anywhere, without which all collapses when you
>get to Tanya and the castle, and installation of which at such late
>date entails one starting all over from the begjnning) when you began?
>Or do you have an "all patched up already" version of the game? Even
>though I used the patch (but, drat, not at the beginning), I still
>found the game to be full of bugs, although they were the sort one
>could avoid after first encounter by staying away from the area or
>touching the thing that invariably brought the game to a halt. OTOH,
>when I found those, I'd get one of those ghastly error messages and
>get thrown out of the game. I never was told I was "too busy" to do
>something, But not all bugs manifest themselves the same way I
>suppose.
I'm playing the CD version of the game, which, to my knowledge, has
included all the patches Sierra has released for the game.
>I'm sure you must have, but, I'll ask anyway, did you deal w/AA
>*precisely* as these w.t.s advise (which I don't understand, not being
>a magic user), in terms of which spell(s) to use? If so, gulp, do you
>think you need to visit Sierra's -- as well as others' to cover all
>bases because you never know -- web site(s) and see if there are any
>"fixes" for this section available? (I just can't *believe* there'd
>be a need for one at this late date, it would be really *criminal*,
>especially if fixing/patching set you back in the game.)
Actually, I did visit Sierra's web site. I had even gone there earlier
for help with the Mad Monk's tomb problem. In the support section,
they have an entire document dedicated to each version (CD and
diskette) of the game (the document had the fix for the Mad Monk's
tomb problem, but not for this one). They also have a technical
support message board, which seems to work quite well.
>And, I'm sure you have done this too, but, anyway, did you save your
>game and then replay it several times just to make absolutely sure
>that unspeakable message you got wasn't just a one-time anomaly?
<nod> It happens every time I try it without using the workaround I
posted earlier (changing the speed and detail settings). I had tried
it from Windows (95), from DOS, and from DOS with mo'slo, but nothing
worked. (Oddly enough, the Mad Monk's tomb problem and the wizard end
game problem seem to be related, but mo'slo worked (for me) to solve
the former but not the latter.)
DemonLord
Its been quite a while since I played through this game as a magic user,
but I seem to remember in some order you tell the ultimate joke by clicking
the hand on yourself, cast force bolt to kill Ad Avis, and summon the staff
which then frees Erana. Experiment a little.
