April 22, 1998

Dear Adventurer,

Welcome to the twelfth edition of the Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School!

The story has been developing for nearly ten years in the form of Quest for Glory, or the Hero's Quest. It started with a simple request from a dire need; a post on a bulletin board that stated: Hero Wanted. So you want to be a hero? Four incredible tales later the fifth installment in the series, Quest for Glory V: Dragon Fire asks yet again, with a slight variation, So you want to be a hero or a heroine?

It's been a year since I started working full time on Dragon Fire. The game is finally reaching maturity. Our scheduled ship date in late September is still firm. The sound effects, character voices, Chance's awesome music, the brilliant effects achieved by our programmers and artists... it's all coming together. As I walk on down the hall, Craig Denny (our audio/sfx guy) will pull me into his studio to hear some of his latest creations. Last night we played the roar of the Dragon until I could guess the source of the sample. I won't tell you what he used but it sure surprised me.

As I've said lately at the web site the effects for the spells simply rock! So, without further brouhaha Lori Cole will now discuss some of the spells you may want to try in Dragon Fire.

Designer's Platform by Lori Cole

Magic Use in Dragon Fire

The Wizard in Quest for Glory has always been my favorite character class. Dragon Fire will handle things a little differently than previous games in the series. The base Class of the Character will make a greater difference in how the skills and stats begin and improve. While there are less artificial restrictions - the Magic User can wear Chain and fight with a Sword, there are more subtle ones - Armor interferes with your magical ability, reducing your skill, and you cannot cast spells while wielding a sword. Since you can equip and take off armor and weapons in the game, you can play the "Mounds/Almond Joy" game - Sometimes you feel like a Spell, sometimes you fight. There will also be some items in the game that will aid spellcasting while equipped and magic items that really affect the game.

Of course, the best part of being a Wizard is casting the Magic Spells. There are twenty spells the Wizard has learned over the course of the series. A beginning Wizard in this game will start out with all twenty spells. Those spells may have familiar names to you, but they will look very different and act differently than previous games. As you can tell from the Dragon Fire Sneak Peek Demo, (you can download the demo at http://www.qg5.com) "Force Bolt" really zings around now (Ah, the beauty and advantage of true 3D!). You will be able to see the effect when you have protective spells like "Reversal" and "Protection" active. You'll see the spell effects of Calm and Dazzle on the monsters, as well. Spellcasting at night can be pretty spectacular - create your own light show!

We are also adding nine new magical spells to the list. One spell was supposed to be in QG4, but never made it. Another spell was used in Wages of War by the bad guy (the spell inspired by "Lemmings"). Still another was used by someone else at the end of Shadows of Darkness. One spell I intended to have in Dragon Fire was "Sleep." However, I decided that the spell was just too dull and boring. Instead, two new spells took its place. One is a "Stupid Monster Attractor." The other is a spell that I am certain will be one of my favorites. I call it, "Boom."

All in all, for Dragon Fire, we are adding two defensive spells, one enhancement spell, five offensive spells, and one get-me-out-of-this-game spell. When you add this to all the new special effects for the old spells, you will find playing the Wizard in Dragon Fire to be the most exciting Role-playing game you've ever experienced.

Lori Cole

For a sample of what Lori is talking about download our Sneak Peek Demo. at the Dragon Fire web site: http://www.qg5.com

Speaking of the demo, to this date we have had over 23,000 PC downloads! GameSpot.com has listed The Dragon Fire Sneak Peek Demo as one of the top 5 demo downloads.

The Dragon Fire Sneak Peek Demo is also being distributed by the following magazines: Computer Game Entertainment, April; PC Games, May; Strategy Plus, May; PC Gamer, May; and finally CGW, May.

On June 1st, Dragon Fire will start 3 months of intensive Quality Assurance. Beta testing will be extensive so if you want to be a part of testing then be sure to fill out the electronic form for beta testing at sierra.com. You'll find it at their Tech Support division. You can also get there from our Dragon Fire web site at http://www.qg5.com by hitting the Tech Support button. I have already submitted my preferences for beta testers but Sierra will ultimately make the call based on data gathered from the beta request forms.

All Requests, all the time! The Questers' Forum

Smadhav (qg5@geocities.com) and Aragorn (aragorn@conquest.net)are having a QFG5 Demo Tournament on Friday, May 1 at 7:00pm EST (Eastern Standard Time) at http://www.conquest.net/qfg5. To register send a message with your WON.net user name to qg5@geocities.com.

Well, that's about it for this edition of the Famous Adventurer's Correspondence School. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please feel free to email them to comments@qg5.com.

Thank you for being a member of our F.A.C.S. newsletter, and we'll catch you in a few weeks with some more info on Dragon Fire.

Until next time,

Robin Bradley
Web Boy /Quality Assurance
Team Dragon Fire
Sierra On-Line, Oakhurst.