King's Quest

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King's Quest IV screenshot
King's Quest IV screenshot

King's Quest is an adventure game series made by the American computer game company Sierra Entertainment. It is widely considered a classic title of the golden era of adventure games and was the series that primarily built the reputation of the company following the success of the first installment, the first "3D" adventure game. Roberta Williams, co-founder and former co-owner of Sierra, designed all of the games in the King's Quest series.

King's Quest chronicles the saga of the royal family of the Kingdom of Daventry through their various trials and adventures. The story takes place over two generations and across many lands, including Kolyma, Serenia, Eldritch, Llewdor, and the Land of the Green Isles.

Contents

[edit] Games

[edit] 2006 compilation re-release

In September 2006 Vivendi Universal released King's Quest Collection, a compilation CD for Windows XP encompassing games I-VII. Rather than porting the games directly, however, the release used the original, unmodified versions run under the DosBox emulator and a Windows frontend. As a result, it is also possible to run King's Quest I-VI on other platforms with a little tweaking and ports of DosBox versions .63-.65. (King's Quest VII runs natively on Windows XP, and compatibility for games I-VI was broken under DosBox .70.)

[edit] Description

The world of King's Quest is sophisticated and immersive. It encompasses many different kingdoms and supernatural realms. Technologically, the series pioneered the use of animation and pseudo-3D environments in graphic adventure games, so that the main character could, for example, walk behind objects on-screen.[1]

The main characters in the series are King Graham, originally a knight of Daventry who won the throne of the kingdom through questing, and members of his family: his wife Queen Valanice and his twin son and daughter, Prince Alexander and Princess Rosella. The exception is King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, where the protagonist is Connor Mac Lyrr, a tanner in the Kingdom of Daventry who is unrelated to the royal family. Because of this and the emphasis on RPG and action elements in Mask of Eternity, many fans refuse to consider this game a true sequel and call it KQ:MOE (for Mask of Eternity, the game's subtitle). Mask of Eternity also did not bear a number in the English speaking version.

Many famous fictional characters make appearances in the series, including Beauty and the Beast, Rumplestiltskin, Red Riding Hood and Count Dracula. They are featured most prominently in the earlier games, which focus on solving item-based puzzles in a fantasy setting. The later sequels have more elaborate story lines, more complicated puzzles, and more original and well-developed characters.

The primary way in which characters solve puzzles and advance through the game is by using items found earlier in the game and stored in their inventory. Even the most apparently useless item (a dead fish, a rotten tomato, or an old board) can have an unexpected and creative purpose in the right situation. King Graham's famous dictum, "Take anything that isn't nailed down," is generally a good rule of thumb, as is the fan addendum "And if it is nailed down, look for loose nails, or solve the nail-removing puzzle." When a situation looks completely impassable, a good idea is often to leave it and come back later with new items. Other puzzles include the mapping of labyrinths, deserts, or other inhospitable places; solving riddles; and tasks involving the use of logic or lateral thinking skills. People who play King's Quest should expect their characters to die rather frequently (due to the difficulty of many of the puzzles and encountering situations for which the character is not yet ready) and should use the "Save Game" option accordingly. Some parts of the game can only be solved by saving and restoring a character many times. Another important strategy is to use all one's character's senses to gather all the information available: look, listen, smell, taste, or touch whenever possible.

The region in which the first game takes place has no boundaries. Sir Graham can travel north, south, east, or west, but no matter what direction he goes, he will eventually loop back to the same screen where he began. This is the easiest way of programming a closed gamespace. Such a situation has been explained in The King's Quest Companion (retroactive continuity) by saying that the character is trapped in the region magically. King's Quest II, III, and parts of IV held on to this design, albeit in a more limited manner. The looping takes place only when the character goes north or south. Geographical barriers such as the sea, mountains, or deserts serve as boundaries to the east and west. Beginning with KQ V, looping was eliminated and all game regions had boundaries in all four directions.

[edit] Mythology

Many creatures, characters and situations from mythology, fairy tales, and folklore are encountered within the world of King's Quest. A Minotaur, Pan, Pandora, Charon, Cupid, Ceres, Druids, Harpies, Oracles, Neptune, Medusa, The Fates and the Graeae appear in various games in the series. In general, the mythology of the King's Quest world is derived from that of the Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Celts.

Magic plays a large role in the King's Quest series. Wizards, witches, enchanters, sorcerers, and genies appear throughout. In some of the games, the main character must use magic spells or items to achieve a goal.

[edit] Good and Evil

In the series, the player, as the main character, always plays on the side of that which is right and fair. King Graham, Queen Valanice, Prince Alexander, Princess Rosella, and Connor strive to serve the greater good. The main character is often motivated by a desire to protect his or her loved ones or protect the innocent from evil. The villains of the series have been characters who threatened the safety of Daventry or sought to rule other kingdoms as tyrants. In the first seven games of the series, emphasis is placed upon avoiding violence whenever possible. Many of the villains are not killed but instead are magically imprisoned or otherwise neutralized. Sometimes, especially in the earlier entries, there are multiple methods of defeating adversaries. When dealing with adversaries who are dangerous but not truly evil, non-lethal methods are always rewarded with more points and sometimes more tangible rewards too (most notably the snake in King's Quest II).

[edit] Villains

  • Hagatha: An evil, cannibalistic witch and the sister of Manannan and Mordack. Out of jealousy, she imprisoned Valanice in the Quartz Tower in King's Quest II. She lived in a cave near the coast of Kolyma and was never defeated by King Graham in the original Kings Quest II. In the remake of Kings Quest 2 however, she is apparently defeated when she is pushed out of the Quartz tower window imprisoning Valanice, but her ultimate fate is unknown.
  • Manannan: An old, twisted and evil wizard who had the custom of kidnapping infant boys and training them as his servants only to kill them at age eighteen. For many years he reigned as the absolute ruler of the land of Llewdor, and under his leadership brigands, thieves and the like prospered. Manannan made a fatal error, however, in the choosing of his final servant, a baby boy who he named Gwydion (who later was found to actually be Alexander, Prince and heir to the throne of Daventry and current king of the Land of the Green Isles). Gwydion was able to escape the clutches of Manannan and, learning several magic spells, turn Manannan into a cat. After the defeat of his brother Mordack at the hands of King Graham of Daventry, Mananan was never seen or heard from again and his fate remains unknown.
  • Lolotte: An evil fairy, and the ruler of the land of Tamir. She was an evil fairy from Etheria who coveted the Queen of the Fairies power. She stole Genesta's talisman (the source of Genesta's powers and her life force) in an attempt to murder her, and she kidnapped her nephew Edgar (the Prince of Fairies) in a plot to overthrow the queen of the fairies, Titania. She also sought the fabled artifact "Pandora's Box" in order to rule the world by unleashing its terrible evil. She was killed with Cupid's arrow by Princess Rosella of Daventry, and after her death, Edgar was released by Genesta, who was made the ruler of Tamir. Some have thought her to be a sister of Genesta, Malicia and Titania, but this was not the case according to references in King's Quest VII, and the backstory notes printed in various official hint guides; however the idea persists in fanfic.
  • Malicia: An evil fairy, the sister of Titania, and the Weaver of Dreams. Years before the events of King's Quest VII, she had attempted to overthrow the land of Etheria but was defeated by Count Vladmir Tsepish, protector of the land of Ooga Booga. During the events of King's Quest VII, she sought to destroy the realm of Eldrich by activating a volcano, thereby creating new land over its ruins. To achieve her goal, she kidnapped the troll Otar, the king of the Volcanix Underground, and replaced him with an impostor (Edgar, her nephew, whom she kidnapped and transformed into a troll). She had her pet, an evil gargoyle, behead Count Tsepish and let an evil undead creature known as the Boogeyman loose on that land. She imprisoned the Lady Mab (sister of the Dream Maker, a high ranking official in the court of Etheria, whose duty it was to send dreams to their proper receivers) in ice, transformed Attis (the Lord of the Hunt, husband of the harvest goddess Ceres, and a member of the court of Etheria) into a stag and Ceres, mother nature, into an oak tree. She fatally wounded the tree, placing the world in danger because if Ceres died, spring would never come again and the world would be in a state of eternal winter. Malicia was defeated by Princess Rosella of Daventry and through magic was changed into an infant. In her infant form, she was taken in by Queen Titania (Malicia's sister) and her husband Oberon to be raised and given a second chance at goodness.
  • Lucreto: Not much is known about Lucreto except that before his decline into evil he was an Archon, charged with protecting the Mask of Eternity, the Global Icon of Truth, Light and Order. Indeed, Lucreto had been the head Archon, and through use of dark and powerful magics, he shattered the Mask. Its pieces were scattered throughout different parts of the world of Daventry. As a result, Chaos reigned, and creatures of darkness were allowed to roam free in the world. Lucreto was defeated in battle with the hero Connor, whom the Mask had deemed its Champion Eternal, and was plunged into a magic portal. It was stated in the game that Lucreto could not be killed, but that pushing him through the portal would set things right. It is likely that the portal was some sort of magical banishment or "limbo".

[edit] The Society of the Black Cloak

In King's Quest VI, Alexander discovers a letter that makes reference to an organization called The Society of the Black Cloak (sometimes referenced by fans as "The Black Cloak Society"). Although brief, this reference suggests a backplot spanning the entire King's Quest saga.

The Society of the Black Cloak is a shadowy organization made up of malevolent wizards who desire power. Little is known about this group, although they have influence in various kingdoms across the King's Quest world. It is possible that all King's Quest villains are members of The Society of the Black Cloak, although the note found in King's Quest VI only names three:

  • Mordack: A sinister and powerful wizard, who is the brother of Manannan and Hagatha. He inhabits a large castle on an island to the east of the shores of Serenia. Mordack was a good friend and "Brother of the Black Cloak" of the former Vizier of the Green Isles, Abdul Alhazred. Through his relationship with Alhazred, Mordack was able to meet Cassima, princess of that land. He expressed his wishes to marry Cassima, and when she refused, he kidnapped her, brought her to his island, and put her to work as a scullery girl. In the opening of King's Quest V, Mordack casts a spell on the royal family and castle of Daventry in an attempt to avenge his older brother Manannan. Having shrunk them, he then places them into a glass jar in his possession. He plans to feed them to Manannan, who had been turned into a cat by Prince Alexander in King's Quest III. King Graham, the only member of the royal family who escaped Mordack's evil spell, later infiltrated Mordack's castle and saved his family and Cassima, using some newly-learned magic spells to kill Mordack in the process.
  • Shadrack: Very little is known about Shadrack other than that he is a powerful wizard. He is the author of the note found in KQ VI, but does not appear in any of the games himself. Shadrack may be the head of The Society of the Black Cloak or he may only be a high-ranking member.
  • Abdul Alhazred: The Vizier of the Land of the Green Isles. He came to the Green Isles and impressed the King and Queen, Caliphim and Allaria, with his intelligence and knowledge. Exploiting the King's desire for a male heir, he gained the King's absolute trust and was named Vizier, in charge of the day-to-day running of the kingdom. Cunning and nefarious, he sought to rule that kingdom and towards that end had the Princess kidnapped by the wizard Mordack. Shortly after her kidnapping, he murdered the King and Queen, claiming that they had died of heartbreak over Cassima's disappearance. With the help of his all powerful genie, Shamir Shamazel, he created feuds and bitterness between the four other islands of the Land of the Green Isles in order to isolate them from one another, thus allowing him to commit his evil acts without much resistance. He instigated these feuds by having his genie rob the islands of their most prized possessions and spread rumors of the other islands' involvement in the thefts. After the rescue of Cassima, he imprisoned her against her will within the Palace of the Green Isles, pretending she was sequestered in mourning for her parents. He made preparations to fake a marriage to Cassima by staging a wedding with his genie playing her role. He also arranged for the subsequent murder of Cassima, which would grant him total control of the Land of the Green Isles. His plot was eventually foiled by Prince Alexander, and Alhazred was imprisoned by the guards of the Green Isles. He is probably named for the prophet of Cthulhu with the same name from H.P. Lovecraft's short story, The Call of Cthulhu.[1] Lovecraft's Alhazred was the author of the infamous Necronomicon. [2]

[edit] Fan-created episodes

[edit] The Silver Lining

Main article: The Silver Lining (game)

In 2002, a group of fans, under the name Phoenix Online Studios, undertook to create a new episode to the King's Quest series. They intended to call it King's Quest IX: Every Cloak Has A Silver Lining. In 2005, Vivendi Universal sent a cease and desist letter and shut down the King's Quest IX project, a few months before the final release date. A Save King's Quest IX petition was started at http://www.savekqix.org/ to save the game.

On December 9, 2005, an agreement was reached between Vivendi Universal and Phoenix Online Studios to allow development to continue. The main condition imposed by Vivendi Universal was to remove the "King's Quest" brand from the name of the game, which was renamed as The Silver Lining. This created rumors that Vivendi themselves are either planning or developing the ninth game in the Kings Quest series, though there has been no information to prove this true.

The game is set 3 months behind schedule, but is back in development now. The developers were hoping to release the first game in the trilogy in 2007. No official date has been set. However Forum entries on The Silver Lining refer to this year, to finish beta testing.

[edit] Other fan-created content

There are also several fan-created remakes in the Kings Quest series, with a several being worked on currently. First, there was a basic remake with more advanced graphics and a voice soundtrack for King's Quest I, followed by a far more advanced remake for King's Quest II, both completed by AGD Interactive (Previously Tierra Entertainment).

Continuing in the same tradition (AGD having moved on to other projects), on June 19th 2006, Infamous Adventures released a remake of King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human. The release includes VGA graphics and an advanced music and voice soundtrack for the game. Included in the release are a digital manual and many classic King's Quest perks. The program can be downloaded from their website. King's Quest V was remade as a text adventure called, King's Quest V - The Text Adventure, it can be downloaded from Textadventures.co.uk.

Other original fan-created games which have been released include King's Quest ZZT 1 & 2 which follow Prince Alexander on new adventures using the ZZT game system. King's Quest 2 ¼: Breast Intentions by Intermezzo Software which uses AGI graphics. It follows Queen Valanice as she tries to track Alexander's Kidnappers to Llewdor.

[edit] Unofficial Games

[edit] Books

Three books have been published by Boulevard Books.

  • The Floating Castle (1995): Written by Craig Mills, placed between KQ IV and VI, it follows Alexander on a quest to discover what is behind the mysterious Floating Castle and the monstrous invasions over the kingdom.
  • The Kingdom of Sorrow (1996): Written by Kenyon Morr, placed between II and III, it follows the adventures of Graham, who moves to rescue an imprisoned Fairy Queen held by the giant Dunstan in order to return balance in nature.
  • See No Weevil (1996): Also written by Kenyon Morr and taking place 7 years after the previous book, it focuses on Rosella, who at 15 must run the Kingdom of Daventry during an absence of her parents.

The books haven't received high reviews, but King's Quest fans grant them a small cult following.

There is also the The King's Quest Companion that explores further the history of Daventry and the characters.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wagner, Roy (June-July 1987), “King's Quest III”, Computer Gaming World: 18-20 

[edit] External links

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King's Quest series