Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness Retrospective
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While I like the whole series (with the possible exception of the third, which does nothing for me at all), Quest for Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness is by far the best. It's also the least welcoming. That's part of the charm. Its world, Mordavia, is far and away the RPG world I've most felt like I was making a difference in, not because there are lots of moral decisions to make (there aren't you're a Hero, and the game will kill you if you try to be anything else), but for how much you affect the characters lives. Here, even the villains are worth trying to save.
The Rusalka is the first you're likely to meet. In Slavic mythology, a Rusalka is a mix of mermaid and succubus, luring unwary men to their deaths. You soon meet one in Mordavia, a naked woman in a lake who pleads with you to join her in the water. Accept, and you're dead. She drags you down. You fool. But this is Quest for Glory IV, the game where you can befriend a number of the monsters, and completely change your perspective. A simple act of kindness, and suddenly the Rusalka is more than just another environmental threat and a sexy way to snuff it. As dangerous as she remains, she now begs you not to enter the water, knowing that if you do, she's cursed to have to drag you down to the depths. If you're a Paladin, you can save her from her fate. If not, at least you took the time to take the edge off it, if only for a few minutes. It's the first real hint that your real job in this miserable land isn't to save the world, but to bring hope and make it worth living in. Not necessarily by kicking green arses until everyone cheers up.
