YMMV / Quest for Glory V

• Awesome Music: The entire game has glorious orchestra like music. Especially the dance with the Dryads is a very haunting and beautiful piece. Special mention should go to the town theme as well.
• Broken Base: This is by far the most contentious game in the franchise. A large amount of fans regard it as a lackluster sequel that was hurt by intrusive Executive Meddling and in particular the removal of noncombat options for solving the game, many outright calling it the weakest game in the series. Other fans are much more forgiving towards the game and love it, finding the game still supplies satisfying puzzles and gameplay despite the new focus on combat. Defenders of the game also find its story is just as strong as previous games and gives a satisfying conclusion to the franchise. Others are more neutral, finding the game barely qualifies as a Quest For Glory game, but is still a solid enough experience and that its quality of life improvements at least put it above the much more unpolished Quest for Glory II.
• Critical Dissonance: Fan opinion of the game has always been incredibly mixed, in contrast professional reviewers consistently gave Dragon Fire high praise.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: The Big Bad behind everything is... Minos. Considering he's Obviously Evil, no one trusts him - even Elsa whom he sponsors for the rites. Consider his family used to rule Silmaria, that of all the sponsors he's by far the most Jerkass, and is a misogynist. That he's about the only one who could afford a mercenary army (And according to Elsa has a history hiring mercenaries as he planned to lend her some for the first rite). His contact with Elsa in Spielburg means he's one of the few who could have hired Bruno (also from Spielburg) when Bruno is outed as the assassin. Even Toro (who isn't the sharpest tool in the shed) immediately figures he's up to no good and doesn't trust him. Pretty much the only person surprised by the reveal is Logos. Yet despite how obvious it is, Minos is only outed at the very end and mostly by him pretty much declaring to Elsa he's the villain. The game doesn't do a very good job of hiding this since he's explicitly shown directing the assassin in the introduction movie.
• Event-Obscuring Camera: Too often, the game treats you with a zoom-out of the scenery with the hero barely bigger than the mouse cursor. If you're lucky, you won't get a tree or a rock in your sights.
• Game-Breaker: The frostbite spell. Not only can you cast it repeatedly and causing it to stack, but you can walk around while it's still in effect. Prior to this, you can cast augment (which empower your next spell) before frostbite and it will make you like a dragon frost breathing killing machine.
• Genius Bonus: Kokeeno Pookameeso is one of the first arena contestants to die, and kokkino poukamiso is Greek for Red Shirt.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Before the release of the game, in an interview with PC Gamer magazine, Lori spoke of the game being more combat oriented and gameplay such as "oh-please-bring-a-feather" quests wouldn't show up anymore. Near the very beginning of the game, you get a fetch quest for Pegasus' feathers.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Some consider the changes made to Dragon Fire made it by far the weakest game in the series. Although not exactly jarring, the game's shift to more action-oriented game play certainly sets it apart from the previous installments. Not necessarily for the better.
  • Having no other solution but to fight the invading mercenary general in single combat really goes against type for the Paladin, Wizard (the Paladin and Wizard ought to be negotiating a treaty) and Thief (a stealth-based assassination would have been the most appropriate). This is just one of the more egregious situations where characters other than the Fighter are fairly poorly supported (seriously, trying to kill the guy with the Thief is an absolute bitch).
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Even detractors of the game agree that the opening movie has aged incredibly well. A particular scene was the invader ships arriving near Silmaria while the waves are moving. And this was done in 1998!
• WTH, Costuming Department?: Elsa's costume has drawn some criticism for being ugly or just plain weird. See for yourself◊.

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