The Music of Video Games [296] Quest for Glory IV

[Polymeron]

It sounds even better on my system... Still great though :)

[LatestUFOSightings]

LOVE THIS TRACK!!! IS THERE A HIGHER QUALITY REMAKE?

[Crymson1]

Ah, memories...

I've got to say, though, that QFG4 was my least favorite game of the series. I'd grown accustomed to adventuring in lush, sunny locales; Mordavia was, needless to say, a tad dark and dreary. It was a bit of a bitter pill to swallow after the beautiful and vibrant scenery of QFG3.

[PaulWykel]

sounds a bit like andante ma moderato by brahms at parts. QFG was influenced by the best

[Tubascope]

Aubrey, the music you made for this game constitutes a large part of my musical memory from childhood. thank you for putting together such a wonderful score.

[aubsta]

Thank you everyone for all the kind words regarding my music for this game. It's fantastic to know that you all still enjoy it after so many years. This was my last project with Sierra and I was terribly anxious about the direction I had taken with the score. Combining classical, rock and traditional folk music (and a bit of jazz) was a bit out there but in the end it seems like everyone got where I was coming from. Once again, thanks for such kind words. -Aubrey Hodges

[Daral0085]

@aubsta I love the music so much. This was one of the classic games from my childhood and the music is no small part of that. Fantom Erana's garden is the best. Thanks!

[rkingsboro]

@aubsta I have to say thank you to you as well, and it's a pleasure to discover that anyone who was a part of this game is available to receive the compliments they deserve. These scores have become fond memories of childhood days spent not doing my homework in front of a brand new 486DX2 (that came with a Sound Blaster 16 Pro already installed), particularly the music of the town of Mordavia. I still hum it out of nowhere from time to time. Cheers to one of the best games ever made. :)

[Crymson1]

@aubsta Wow! It's awesome that you posted here. The QFG IV soundtrack is one of my favorite game soundtracks of all time. Though I was only ten when I played the game, I've always vividly remembered the music. You did a brilliant job. I'd love to hear someone convert some of the tracks to real instrumental someday; I think they'd sound great.

Cheers!

[Senseman]

@aubsta

QFG4 was the first PC game I ever bought with my own money as a kid, and still my favorite. The music is no small part of that. The glorious title theme, all of the wonderful incidental music... Grieg's "Anitra's Dance" will forever conjure images of Yuri, Bella, Domovoi, and the smell of oiled hardwood and garlic.

Thank you, sir, for lifelong memories.

[mudanat]

Is there anywhere links to this music and all other that you've put up?

This is wonderful!

[Crymson1]

@mudanat The QFG4 soundtrack is available for download in many places. Just Google it.

[Francois424]

Kick-ass intro music. Someone should make movies of QFG2 and QF4 after.

[LatestUFOSightings]

@Francois424 Intro music is awesome!. I want a quality REMAKE!

[andrey22]

@Francois424 if you ever watch a movie based on a game , you'll understand what a terrible idea that will be.

[ErikNorseman]

I like that you start the game in a location which you spend much of the game trying to get back into, and fight the demon in. Novel concept. :)

[ErikNorseman]

This game introduced me to the noble trade of elephant herding.

[soyukichan]

For some reason I was humming this music today and really wanted to hear it. Oh how I wish my copy worked on Vista without the crashes. :( I miss the quirky humor and the million hilarious deaths. Such great music too.

[DamoclesAlpha]

To the uploader of this video: Out of curiosity, what is the source of the music used in this video? It sounds quite similar to the digital version of the soundtrack (recorded from the original MIDI version) available on the website of Quest Studios.

[nanuaraq0409]

I loved the narration, the music, the atmosphere, the voiceacting, the humor, the melodrama, the drawn graphics, the gothic feel, the storytelling and the both ironic and serious homages to everything from Frankenstein to Peter Lorre. They did everything right with QfG 4.

(And then they release QfG 5, what shame on them!!)

[irongollem]

Whats the piece called at 3:29 ?

[samuraiko]

@irongollem It's the music from the Inn, which is actually "Anitra's Dance" from PEER GYNT. :)

[pip9999]

thanks for this music / video!

[elmoman86]

The music in this game was absolutely genius! Although, when I played it in 93/94, we only had the infamous PC speaker, so I could hear only bleeps. And STILL the music was great! Later on we had a sound card, which was way cool of course. Didn't sound nearly as good as this, though.. Where did you record this with?

[DamoclesAlpha]

@elmoman86 The difference between the quality of the music in this video and on your sound card was probably related to the music being in the MIDI format. Due to this the result was dependant on the quality of the MIDI instruments of the used MIDI hardware/software. I have already discussed this with another user here, as you may have already noticed.

[yardeda]

Great job. One of the greatest games ever!!!

[Slumpnasty]

One of my most poignant memories occurred when I was attacked by the Vorpal Bunny. "He's just listening to some rock n' roll."

[DTraiden]

My absolute favorite game EVER. Terrific voice acting, terrific narration (GIMLI!!), beautiful backgrounds, gorgeous character design, great gameplay, tons of replayability. Oh. AND AWESOME MUSIC. RIP SIERRA and QUEST FOR GLORY.

[SharikSobaka]

what's the song called at 4:25?

[jgrdonquixote]

@SharikSobaka It's "Mordavian Inn," the game composer's rendition of "Anitra's Dance" by Edvard Grieg

[DarkF00L]

YES!!! Quest for Glory IV...Shadows of Darkness!!!

[HectorsLegion]

Any plans to include QfG3? Shadows of Darkness definitely had the strongest soundtrack, but three had some excellent stuff as well (Welcome Inn, Pool of Peace, Judgment come to mind).

[cannedcatfood]

i miss quest for glory!

[DrGreenfun]

tey sould make more games to import your character thats what made the game so fun!

man this music rocks id buy the soundtrack to the whole series

[MarkusRamikin]

So how do I get this quality of music in my game? I play the CD version in Dosbox, I managed to get speech, but the quality of the music is... not quite what this video plays. And the Windows version was even worse.

[DamoclesAlpha]

@MarkusRamikin Since the game uses MIDI for the music, the quality of the music depends on the hardware/software used in the MIDI playback. If I remember correctly, the Windows version uses the default MIDI device, which is defined in Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices. In the DOS version you can pick separately the soundcard/standard used for digital sound effects and MIDI music. When using DOSBox, using support for Sound Blaster and similar cards for music causes DOSBox... (continued)

[DamoclesAlpha]

@MarkusRamikin (continued from previous post)

...to play the music through its own sound card emulation. However, if you select General MIDI for music, DOSBox uses the MIDI devices of Windows for playback (default device by default, although user can select another MIDI device if he or she desires so). There are also some software synthesizers, which use their own MIDI instruments to produce MIDI music. With some cards this can allow better MIDI music than what they would produce "naturally".

[DamoclesAlpha]

@MarkusRamikin Finally, the MIDI devices in Windows can be either actual hardware devices or installed MIDI software which behaves like one. For example, some software synthesizers are installed as MIDI devices.

Also, it may be that the above video uses the digital version of the QFG4 soundtrack from Quest Studios, which contains downloadable soundtracks from various Sierra games. These soundtracks are often available in both the MIDI and digital formats. If you want, you can Google it.

[MarkusRamikin]

@DamoclesAlpha

Thanks for the detailed response. Yeah, I found some of them on google, but I thought I was missing out on something in the game itself. Also I did know midi could be realised in different ways, just hoped there was some simple, known trick to getting the 'good' QFGIV sound in dosbox.

[DamoclesAlpha]

@MarkusRamikin Apologies for delayed reply (I wanted to test the synthesizer myself in order to avoid giving bad advice), but I have found out that you can download Yamaha's S-YXG synthesizer from Microsoft for free.

By typing "S-YXG microsoft" (without quotation marks) to Google you can find a forum thread at VOGONS which includes the link and instructions. Synthesizer works like standard MIDI device and can be used with both the Windows and DOS versions of QFG4.

[DamoclesAlpha]

@MarkusRamikin Also, both the VGA version of QFG1 and QFG3 support directly General Midi, so you can use the synthesizer with them, too. While the original EGA releases of QFG1 (known also as Hero's Quest) and QFG2 don't initially support GM, they have fanmade patches/drivers for that, too. On the other hand, the 256-color remake of QFG2 is made by fans, not Sierra and uses digital soundtrack by the same Quest Studios that I mentioned earlier.

[MarkusRamikin]

@DamoclesAlpha

Thanks again, I'll look into it. :)

[freddicus]

I love playing this on my electric guitar.

[Whitegamer009]

I loved playing the version that had the voiceovers from John Rhys Davies

[Ascyltos]

I used to think that QFG2 was the best of the series but I'd actually plump for this one now. The only bad thing about it is that the game feels quite lonely and deserted, methinks.

[Whitegamer009]

@Ascyltos yeah I played it constantly thanks to my friend! It feels that way because the game takes place in the fall and the land you are trying to save is cut off from the rest of the world by a swamp! It has some glitches here and there but all in all its a great game and I cherish the fact that I had the privilege to play it!

[nanuaraq0409]

@Ascyltos Ohh, that's waht I loved about it. Falling from the heights of glory and fame in the north, east and south, into a cold, despondent grim world cut off from everything and having to start all over again, slowely gaining people's respect and acknowledgement. I think the story was much more immersing than any of the others, maybe except from the first one in the series.

[Guesswork01]

God I love that guitar solo in the theme.

[stinkclown]

sigh, katrina. For the longest time she was the hero's only friend, my only friend, until the end.

[campex]

freakin' love the trippy midi guitar! Makes me think of Salim in III, getting high in the apothecary. That solo around 1:20 rivals the best for epicness.

[Soulsphere001]

The song that starts at 7:22 has always been my favourite in this game.

[samuraiko]

So many great storylines - Anna and Nikolai, the Gypsy, the Rusalka, Tanya and Toby... and if you played a Paladin, the Paladin quests. Not to mention the beginnings of the possible love story between the hero and Erana. *sighs* I miss this game.

[nanuaraq0409]

@samuraiko Katrina is way sexier  :-)

[ErikNorseman]

@samuraiko Don't forget the romance between Olga and the gate keeper. Running back and forth between them 4-5 times.. such intense drama! ;)

[JacobSprenger]

Should have named the character "Prince Adam of Eternia" with that outfit... ;)

[Farafonov]

the game was outstanding... mainly because of music by Aubrey Hodges

[Destructiveforce]

And let's not forget that the cd version was narrated by John Rhys-Davies himself! ;) Awesome game. I finally got my hands on the cd version, and am loving every second of it. Brings back memories from childhood.

[donkeypoke]

one of my favourite games of all time, quite possibly the most amazing atmosphere and characters I have ever been immersed in by a video game

[bcrt2000]

Wish Activision would realize what a gold mine they have here and remake the series.

[bellby]

i just want ports for the ds. it's the perfect medium for point and click adventures.

[crayauchtin]

@bcrt2000 Or at least allow it to be sold on GOG.

[dahedgefox]

Thank you for sharing this!! I loved this game dearly, and this just gave me warm fuzzies of all the memories I had with the game. =)

[Godzilla1982]

Love the music, and the game. Its my favorite game of all time, and I'd do anything for a remake or QFG VI....

[Riboflavine12]

This was one of my favorites because I loved the dark theme, the characters and the story. Difficulty was just about right. Unfortunately the bugs made me less eager to play, if it wasn't for them it would definitely be among the top games of all time for me. Oh who am I kidding it still is!

[BroNarrow1]

this game had the most horrendous bugs, but still *so freaking awesome*.

[LordSolaris]

To this day, memories of this game's story and music continue to inspire me!

[nastyguard007]

My favorite music piece, was the rockin' fight music with the Necrotaur, and the Main Theme. If you got the sound effects, the music and the wolf howls sounds great!

This is by far the darkest atmosphere in a Quest for Glory game, and yet this is my favorite! (No scratch that, the 2nd was my favorite)

[SolarVampire]

This music most certainly does not sound like what I've heard in the game. Maybe an orchestrated VERSION of it, but I certainly have not heard this within the game.

Refer to the Let's Play from LateBlt for what the music really is.

[mageofthesands]

At first, I would have agreed. But then I found out that the music was designed for a Roland 32 sound card. Emulating the CD version with VDMSound and it sounds exactly like this.

[Bb0yDilemma]

@SolarVampire I think that LateBlt has the diskette version the first song is certainly on the cd version.

[Seydaschu]

The song at 3:30, I've heard it somewhere before! I think it's a public domain folk song. I'm not sure from where though, maybe it's Russian?

[Riboflavine12]

Sorry about before, I just remembered the music it's not Grieg. It's Tchaikovsky, from the Nutcracker suite.

[HectorsLegion]

A lot of the game's music was inspired by/dervied from Edvard Grieg's masterpiece "Peer Gynt". I believe the music from the Inn is more or less the same as Anitra's Dance from the same opera.

[Destructiveforce]

Yes, as has been said before, it is a rendition of Anitra's Dance from Peer Gynt, by Edvard Grieg. It and the theme were my favorite songs in the game. If you ever want to listen to the original version of it, just look up Anitra's Dance. :)

[Twilight8080]

goto the Quest Studios website they have all the sierra games in digitised audio either in .ogg or .mp3 format

[Night10194]

I loved QFG4, but 3 will always be my favorite of the series. Such wonderful games, both as RPGs and Adventure Games.

[glamrocker91]

How did you get the music to sound of that quality? I downloaded the soundtrack from a website and it isn't nearly as good as this sounds. Please tell me where to find it this good...?

[FrameRate22]

I'm pretty sure all of garudoh's audio is taken straight from the games themselves.

[Riboflavine12]

Very nice job. The Quest for Glory games are all beautiful and inspiring, but QFG4 and 5 stand out for their amazing music. Love the compilation.

[WhiteMageMentality]

Can't forget Erana's Peace. I understand, because of the difference in quality, why it was left out here.

[peoswriter1]

I loved this game, but it always glitched up when I got to the shrine in the marsh. That cut me deeply.

[Riboflavine12]

Yeah that always sucks but the solution is to turn Skill and Speed all the way down and then you can slide down without crashing. Now if all bugs in the game were fixable like that...

[SmokeScreen37]

Hey Give it another try, Install a program called dos box and you can turn up and down the speed it allocates for the processer :) game ran great on a 486 but ran bad passed 133mhz just kept glitching

[peoswriter1]

I might try that. QfG4 was probably my favorite point-and-click game. I would love to run it on my speedy laptop, but Vista probably won't like that. Maybe I'll try it on my crappy but Vista-free PC. Thanks, Smoke!

[SmokeScreen37]

Running on vista 64 uiltimate just fine :)

[Woden8]

Back when PC games were good. I don't care how good graphics are now, you don't get the fun that you used to. QFG5 went downhill a lot....and then poof...dead

[MetalOnAPlane]

Best of the series, without a doubt.

[kailkay]

Ah, QFG4, the awesome game of awesome awesomeness.

[JaroslavKrejcirik]

This is the best music ever. And QFG is the best game ever. I love it.

[cyberstal]

QFG, RIP :'(

[danny1st]

can anyone upload a part when John Rhys-Davies can be heared? never heard him on qfg4 before...

[melymbrosia]

He was the narrator of the game. You only heard him on the CD version when you chose Voice or Voice + Text under the Options --> Narration menu (I think it was Text only by default). He is heard speaking whenever you "Look" at something in the game. The narration starts right in the very beginning, when you wake up in the Bone Cave.

[jobreton]

nearly 2 hours of soundtrack resume in 10 min

[PowerFl00d]

I loved QFG4's music the most.

[Twigspeaker]

Heck yes, John Rhys-Davies. Best Narrator ever.

[davidcarterdavidcart]

yes man.. such nastalgia, ah.. take me away

[pogopogopogo3]

oh shiiiiiit, memories!

[fajla99]

This is one of best adventures what I play ever!

[duttydavis]

Superb. This took me back many years. Absolutely beautiful.

[yousini]

best QFG game! and music was awesome too!

[leethal59]

Can you put the Quest For Glory VGA remake music up. Thanks, I want to listen to Erana's Peace especially

[MetalOnAPlane]

Best QFG game out of the bunch; damn the bugs!

[SgtStrungOut]

Sounds like a crazy ass 80's metal solo!

[andrey22]

quest for glory = the best damn thing that has happened to me.

[freddicus]

@andrey22 Amen.

[elmoman86]

@andrey22 Amen!

[cloudwind1]

every single quest for glory game kicked ass

[Aspartamebraintumor]

Sounds like something Rick Wakeman would compose

[MetalOnAPlane]

Wow dude...you have Lunar, Warcraft 2, and QFG...you really know your quality games! Rock on!

[Shrack]

god i agree, what an amazing game

[chaohellsing]

Once you get past the bugs this is the most awesome game in terms of music and story.

[chucabravp]

wow i forgot how much i loved this game & the music especially, thanks for posting

[bigf00zle]

All the QFG games were so awesome.  This was the first one I played, so the music has a special place in my heart.

[Wolfgeist]

YAYYYYYYYY

[garudoh]

I'm going to assume with that comment that I did the game justice with my usual 10 minute limit. It's been a long time since I last played this one.

[Wolfgeist]

Very much so. It's hard to fit all the good music in, but I think you did a good job. My personal favorite was the theme when you meet Katrina outside town. By far the best QFG.

[garudoh]

...and sadly, the one I played the least. Dunno why, just circumstance I guess. There's a few adventure games I missed back in the day that I seem to have a hard time getting into now. Oh well, at least I can still enjoy the music. Anyway, thanks for the comment man.

[sassydude555]

@garudoh hey,yea it has been 2 years since you wrote this comment.Well lol anyways,if you don't have QFG: The Shadows Of Darkness then I can send it to you.Nice video/music, thank you very much I love this parts music.

[doppleganger4827]

I could never get very far in this game years ago, but the music is great. Too bad I didn't have to voiced version, that would of made it a lot more fun.

[toKs1c]

Awesome music