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Originally Posted by NemelChelovek
The only other argument I can make for #5's existence is the one about it being planned as originally part of the series, as the fourth entry. It seemed clear from the first game that they were planning to include a dragon as a big, big threat from the entry in the manual (Dragon: Avoid at all costs), which was one of the the only things they hadn't followed up on by #4, the other being the oft-mentioned but never-shown realm of Silmaria (mentioned in every manual).
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I'm not so sure how much of QFG5 (as it is now) was really planned - you're right about the threat of a dragon being built up, but it seems a bit of an anticlimax after the enemy of QFG4, doesn't it? I have no idea what was going through the mind of the Coles when they were designing QFG4, but my guess would be that while they wanted to make another game, they weren't confident they would be. That's pure speculation, but there is a definite finality to QFG4, it isn't just another episode in the series. I think they weren't sure if it was the end or not, so they played it safe and brought most of the series' plot points to a conclusion while still leaving room for the next game.
The Coles, if they didn't have an overall storyarc completely mapped out, definitely had a direction of where they were going, I think. Obviously, as you brought up, they knew what was going to happen in QFG4 as early as QFG2. And in each game there were always hints about the next game, usually someone would tell you about the location and some of the problems there.
But if there was a plan for a QFG5, and there probably was, I think it changed. I highly doubt it's the same game it would have been if it had been made in 1995. For a while there, QFG was dead, and the Coles must of known they were very, very lucky to get that fifth game. And realistically, it probably wouldn't do sell spectacularly, so it would also be last game. QFG5 feels like "This is our last game, and you guys are going to have a blast!" rather than "This is the series finale and we're going to bring everything to its conclusion". And they couldn't really do the latter anyway, because QFG4 already did most of that.
QFG5 exists in large part because of a huge fan campaign. And I think the Coles were humbled by that and in return made a game full of things fans would want to see. So you have all your old favourite characters returning and you have very definite 'closure'. But from a storytelling perspective, it doesn't work. It's all very artifical and contrived, because it deviates from whatever that series-wide plan was and instead the story feels like the poll results to "What would YOU like to see in the last Quest for Glory game?"
