King's Quest II

King's Quest II:
Romancing the Throne

Amiga cover art
Developer(s) Sierra On-Line
Publisher(s) Sierra On-Line
Designer(s) Roberta Williams
Writer(s) Roberta Williams
Series King's Quest
Engine AGI
Platform(s) PC, Macintosh, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Amiga, Atari ST, PCjr
Release date(s) May 1985, 1987
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single player

King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne is the second installment in the King's Quest series by Sierra On-Line. It uses the same AGI game engine as King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown and features King Graham as the player character. The title is a spoof of the 1984 film Romancing the Stone.[1]

Story

The Magic Mirror shows King Graham a vision about a beautiful woman, Valanice, imprisoned on the top of an ivory tower. Being charmed by her, he travels to the world of Kolyma to rescue her. There he must travel through sea, air, and even death to gain the keys that unlock the three doors to the enchanted island where Hagatha the witch has imprisoned Valanice.

Geography

Like KQ1, the game world has 'wrap around' allowing player to travel infinitely in the directions of the north or south. The King's Quest Companion which represented a novelized walkthrough explains that the western side of Kolyma folds back upon itself to both the north and south, forever bringing travelers back to where they started;

"Geographers say that the magical law of "containment" operates in the western part of the continent. For reasons forgotten, or perhaps it was whimsy on the part of the multiverse—movement to both the north and south in this part of Kolyma eventually turned back upon itself, contained as if inside some transparent cosmic donut. East and west, one could travel at will until confronted by more physical barriers—the sea or mountains for instance—but those that journeyed far enough north of south, would always get back to where they started."[2]

To the west the sea leads to Neptune's Kingdom, a tranquil watery world filled with fish, sharks, mermaids, and giant seahorses. The east are blocked by giant mountains and the Bottomless Chasm. Only a magical doorway allows travel beyond, but only if they have the correct keys. At the summit of the mountains is the Top of the Mountain, a narrow plateau overlooking the kingdom. At the back of the plateau is desolate and empty cave where one of the three magical keys was hidden.

At the center of western Kolyma is the Poisonous Lake. In the center of the lake is an island. Castle Dracula rises from the island ominously, guarded by poisonous brambles and ghosts. The only way across is via the deteriorating boat of the Boatman. The castle itself looks largely abandoned, but its dark dungeons holds a secret.

The magical doorway is surrounded by the Bottomless Chasm, and the only way across is via a rickety old bridge, that will collapse if crossed one too many times. The door leads to one's greatest desire, For Graham this was the Enchanted Isles.

The Enchanted Isles exist in another world or a remote section of the world of Daventry. Strange pink skies float above the islands, and a turbulent iridescent crimson sea lies in between. It is the home to large magical fish. On the second island, the Enchanted Island lies a strange jungle with oversized plants, a tranquil lagoon laps to one side of the island. In the center of the island is the Crystal Tower, a large quartz tower where Valanice is held.

Characters

Good and neutral

Enemies

Throughout his quest King Graham has to overcome several enemies to find his queen:

Other characters

Releases

The game was first released in 1985 on a self-booting disk that supported CGA, PCjr, and Tandy graphics (as opposed to King's Quest I, which had separate versions for all three computers). It was also released on Apple IIGS version with improved soundtrack and sound effects.

Puzzle solving

All puzzles in the game are solved through a parser. The player may type a phrase with a verb and noun, for example 'Look at ocean' or 'Pick up trident', the word list in the parser is fairly robust and understands quite a lot of non-important verbs which will result in unexpected replies. For example, you could type, 'dig', or 'dig the beach' and receive messages about how pointless it is to be digging. Sometimes even illogical verb/noun combinations will net unique comments, such as typing 'Pick up horse' will mention that the flying steed is too fast to catch.

With this system the player is able to collect many items using 'pick up ____' placed into the games inventory. The items in the inventory have close up pictures giving an idea what the item looks like, or in some cases offering clues about the item. In a rare few examples an item may be manipulated in some way. For example, if you receive the glass bottle, looking at it shows that a sheet is inside. The player can then type 'remove cloth from bottle' to get the sheet.

'Puzzles' involve trading these or using these items to receive new items or to get past obstacles, allowing the player to progress. For example, the player could 'give basket to girl' and receive a 'bouquet'. The game in general honors non-violent solutions, so while you could 'kill lion' offering it something instead will net more points.

Many 'puzzles' have more than one solution, but only one optimum solution (earn maximum points). Alternate solutions will net less points or in some cases cause the player to lose points. Examples of alternate solutions are taking more violent approach to getting past an obstacle such as killing or stealing. For example, if you use the Trident to steal the 'key' instead of offering it to Neptune will net more points (just don't try offering the Trident to the king afterwards). The other type of alternate solution involves giving one of five discovered treasures (Sapphire Jewels) to individuals to trade for items or progress. For example, the player can 'give bracelet to mermaid' for her to call the seahorse, rather than give 'bouquet'. Giving treasures instead of the proper solution will cause the player to lose points equal to the value of the treasure.

In some cases taking the most complicated route. For example, you could take the bird cage from Hagatha's cave when she isn't around, or you could cover the cage and take it out instead (if she is there or not) to get full points. The sheet keeps the bird from making noise in the cave.

Some choices may lead to dead ends or death, for example if the player gives the trident directly to the mermaid, Neptune will kill the player the moment the player enters his presence.

The game also has a few obscure or illogical solutions to puzzles. For example, there is a viper blocking a path. Shortly before this the player receives three items from the same source (a magic carpet, a magic sword, and a magic bridle). The player can kill the viper with the sword (that has a marking of a snake, as if a clue) but receives few points. The optimal solution involves 'throwing bridle at snake' disenchanting the snake, and netting the player a magic 'sugar cube' in return. The first solution is a bit of a red herring, although the intent of the marking of the snake was meant to associate the various items with the snake. This puzzle appears to be inspired by several fairy tales and myths, including The Fairy Aurora, also known as "The Fairy of the Dawn" from Andrew Lang's Violet Fairy Book, in which the hero is tasked with throwing magical bridles at several beasts known as 'Welwas' who transform into horses. The first of the horses appears to even be a flying horse. In addition the idea that Pegasus sprung from the head of Medusa, who had snakes for hair, Perseus slew Medusa with a magic sword (which could cut through the reptilian scales of gorgons), and Belepheron used a magic bridle to tame Pegasus to fly to a mountain top to battle the chimaera (both the sword and the bridle were gifts from Athena).

Documentation

Manual

The manual contains a prologue short story by Annette Childs. The story covers Graham being told by the spirit of the former King Edward in the magic mirror that he must find a wife, or suffer the same fate of the kingdom as he had. Graham calls upon his prime minister Gerwain to prepare a great feast, and call all the maidens and ladies throughout the land. None of the ladies interest the king, and he is left solemn. The magic mirror activates telling him about young maiden Valanice trapped in a tower by the evil witch Hagatha. He is told he must travel to land of Kolyma to find the magic doorway that leads to the enchanted realm.

Hint book

Sierra's hint book for the game was written by Al Lowe the creator of the Leisure Suit Larry series.

Novelization

A novelization of the game is included in The King's Quest Companion which expands the details of story. It was written from the perspective of Daventry's prime minister, Gerwain (mentioned in the KQ2 manual). The first and second editions of the Companion also included articles within An Encyclopedia of Daventry (Abridged), which gave backstories for various characters and locations from the game. More back history about Kolyma can be found in the chapter, "The World of Daventry" in all editions.

Development

King's Quest II resembles King's Quest I in appearance and interface. King's Quest II contains fourteen musical selections, including Tchaikovsky's love theme from Romeo and Juliet.[19] Other songs include Greensleeves on the title screen, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor in Dracula's castle, and Michael Jackson's Thriller when encountering the ghosts outside the castle entrance (only the opening bars of the last are played so Sierra wouldn't have to pay royalties for using the song). The music for the game was produced by Al Lowe, who was an accomplished jazz musician.

Limited floppy space would have restricted the design, but Sierra had been compressing the pictures by drawing them as lines and fill colors for a while. The original version for PC/PCjr/Tandy does not support sound cards or mice, as they did not exist at the time of publication.[20] That scheme was kept all the way up to King's Quest V. This sequel to the original King's Quest provided not just a second look at the life of King (formerly Sir) Graham of Daventry, it also began a tradition of using King's Quest as a training ground for future designers. Future Space Quest series designers Scott Murphy and Mark Crowe joined the development team. They helped to make the game an even bigger hit than the original.[21]

According to Roberta Williams:

King's Quest II reminded me a little of Wizard and the Princess. We saw how previous games (Mystery House and King's Quest I) were received by the public, and I was anxious to try my hand at a bigger story right away. Graham would be king by now. What quest should a lonely king go on? What should he see through the magic mirror? A maiden in distress! I started to foresee a family for Graham in the future. I couldn't fit some ideas into King's Quest I, so I was happy to get a chance to include King Neptune, Dracula, everyone from Little Red Riding Hood, and that infamous rickety old bridge you could only cross so many times.[22]

My earlier games, from Mystery House to King's Quest II, were great games, but they couldn't have the deep complex plots I wanted due to memory and space limitations. Basically they were treasure hunts with lots of simple goals (you go from here to there) and fun puzzles to add to the challenge. King's Quest III had to push things a little farther.[23]

The story always comes first, but technology plays a big part in what you can't do.[24]

This was the first King's Quest to include an introduction cutscene, just past the credits. It also is the first game in the series with a linear story progression. The world actually changes as the story progresses,[25] new characters appear in the world, areas are opened up to the player, and closed off when no longer needed. For example, the mermaid appears after reading the inscription on the first door, the Antique Shop opens after reading the second inscription, the Boatman appears after the third door inscription is read.

It was first released in 1985 as a disk that booted on start-up but was re-released in 1987 with EGA and Hercules support to run under DOS. This is why most remaining copies bear a 1987 rather than a 1985 copyright date.

The Apple II version added improved sound over the PC version.

Credits

Version history

Reception

The game was well received in the press, for its innovation. Compute! magazine said the game was like playing an animated cartoon.[26]

...As a story, it's the best...an enchanting game...
— Scott Mace, Insider Magazine
If you liked King's Quest, you'll love the sequel
— Consumer Software News
Roberta Williams has simply outdone herself"
— Computer Entertainment
[King's Quest II has] the most lushly painted and highly detailed scenery seen since...well, King's Quest I.
— Questbusters Journal
The interactive story is presented in full color, animated, three-dimensional graphics and scored with multipart music and sound effects. King's Quest attempts to merge the best aspects of text adventures with graphics of arcade games. The animated graphics are simply the best we have ever seen on a home computer.
— Computer Gaming World, June 1985
I used to be a member of the I-Hate-Adventure-Games Club until I met King's Quest II, Romancing the Throne. This program is a breakthrough in game adventures. I say "game adventures" instead of adventure games because King's Quest II is mostly animation with a little typing thrown in. The first thing I said when I saw this game was ..WOW.. And I didn't stop being amazed. You never know what you might encounter just around the next bend. It might be a beautiful beach or it might be an enemy stalking you... Move King Graham to any edge of the screen and, seconds later, the next picture screen loads in. I still can't get over the graphics. The trees, buildings, lakes and ocean are all dimensionally correct. In other words, you can walk into a tree head-on, or from the sides, the back, or just walk around it. If you see a tree with a long branch that extends off onto the right side of the monitor, you will see the rest of the branch when you get to the next screen. Each screen is colorful and detailed with a good feeling of atmosphere. I thought there could be only a few screens on one 3½-inch disk, but was I wrong! I counted at least 35 screens on the first disk alone. And there are two disks to the game. As you travel about this strange land you may encounter other animated characters—each with his, her, or its own personality. You might recognize some of the characters from fairy tales and legends. And you will soon find out if they are there to help or hinder you...The story itself is very well laid out. It's obvious that a lot of thought was given to how the screens would fit together and how the characters would interact. The characters you will meet are delightful. Each one has a different facial expression and can move about as freely as you. And you will find yourself freely running from a few of them...If all adventures could be this enjoyable and visually stimulating, I would have been an adventure game freak long ago. I found myself up until the wee morning hours, with just the monitor lighting, the room, laughing and smiling at a new sequence I had discovered. Then I realized I was afraid I would complete my quest, and I didn't want it to end.
— Brad Kershaw[27]
I first experienced computer gaming through her early work...so I sort of grew up on her style of adventure game design. She has a clean and crisp style of design that states the goals of the game clearly and makes your challenges clear, which I find refreshing...I really do think King's Quest I was the finest adventure game ever written, and the most fun to play...I also liked King's Quest II a lot. I think both of these games are great examples of the kind of adventure games that I like to play and that started the whole adventure game following in the first place. King's Quest I and King's Quest II are unlike most computer games written nowadays. Frankly, they don't feature the deep, complex plots of games like Police Quest III and Conquests of the Longbow. Instead, these games are basically treasure hunts with lots of fun puzzles thrown in to add challenge. They feature simple goals—you know what it takes to win the contest with the computer. For me, adventure games have represented a pleasant diversion—something I could boot up and get lost in for a few hours at the end of a long day. I view them the same way some people review Rubik's Cube or a crossword puzzle. I want simple goals—something I can jump into the middle of and go...I want hard puzzles—real mind benders—so that when I solve one I can sit smugly... with a sense of satisfaction. This straight forward "goals and puzzles" approach to adventuring represents the oldest and purest approach to the art form. Everyone at Sierra has their opinion about how adventure games should work, of course, but as for me, give me the old-time adventuring. Give me the early King's Quests.
— John Williams[28]

Remakes

Sierra remake (cancelled)

In 1990 the developers at Sierra redevelop King's Quest with a new interface and up-to-date technology. The plan was to redevelop King's Quest II but due to rather disappointing sales of the 1990 remake of King's Quest I, the prospect of officially remaking and re-releasing King's Quest II was scrapped.

Fan adaptation

In 2002, AGD Interactive, then known as Tierra Entertainment, released an unofficial remake of King's Quest II under a fan license by Vivendi, known as King's Quest II: Romancing the Stones.[29]

The remake uses a point-and-click interface functionally identical to an advanced SCI game engine, VGA graphics and digital sound, including full speech for all characters. Notably for an unofficial, fan-made project, the game's protagonist King Graham is voiced by Josh Mandel, who also voiced the part in Sierra's official CD-ROM full-speech versions of King's Quest V and VI. In contrast to the group's remake of King's Quest I, a content-wise identical presentation upgrade, King's Quest II+ redesigns the original game by adding a rewritten plot expanding on the 1985 version (although it changes several points of the plot, 'Dracula' is now a good guy, and the 'Monk' is a bad guy, several characters removed), a number of puzzles, new characters and locations including a town, and references to future King's Quest games. In March 2009, AGD Interactive released version 3.0 of this remake. This version showcases redrawn backgrounds and dialogue pictures; the voice-acting was also dramatically improved and, thanks to fan feedback, many problems were attended to.

References

Notes
  1. ↑ Andreadis, Kosta (February 9, 2014). "A Year of Adventure #2: King's Quest II & III". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  2. ↑ Spear 1991, p. 35
  3. ↑ KQ2 narrator: "The monk declares you man and wife."
  4. 1 2 3 4 Spear 1991
  5. ↑ Spear 1991, p. 83
  6. ↑ KQ2 narrator: "You toss the leather bridle onto the coiled snake. Instantly, there stands before you not a snake, but a beautiful winged horse wearing the bridle!"
  7. ↑ The shrouded ghoul looks at the ruby ring on your finger and the black cloak around your neck. He motions for you to enter the boat, which you do. You must have fooled him into thinking you were someone else."
  8. ↑ Narrator: The shrouded ghoul looks frightening. His hands are little more than claws, and his face is completely hidden inside his hood."
  9. ↑ Spear 1991, p. 479
  10. ↑ Spear 1991, pp. 474–475
  11. ↑ King's Questions:
    • a. Endora
      • That's right! Endora is related to Samantha, Darren, and Tabitha.
    • b. Manannan
      • That is incorrect. Manannan is Hagatha and Mordack's brother.
    • c. Hagatha
      • No. Hagatha is Mordack and Manannan's sister.
    • d. Mordack
      • Sorry. Mordack is related to Manannan and Hagatha.
  12. ↑ Spear 1991, p. 500
  13. ↑ KQ2 narrator: "The wolf pounces on you! My, what big TEETH he has! Good enough to eat you with, my dear."
  14. ↑ KQ2 narrator: "Oh dear! A wolf in grandma's clothing is in the bed! Get out of there, fast!"
  15. ↑ KQ2 narrator: "These ghostly apparitions guard an evil being lurking within the castle walls."
  16. ↑ KQ2 narrator: "Oh no! The two spooks float towards you and enter your body. In a trance, the player walk toward the thorn covered brambles."
  17. ↑ KQ2 narrator: "The two spirits are fooled by the black cloak and the large ruby ring that you are wearing. They slowly float away... Maybe you remind them of someone else."
  18. ↑ King's Quest 2 manual
  19. ↑ The Royal Scribe, King's Quest Collection, 15th Anniversary Edition
  20. ↑ King's Quest Collection 2 manual, p. 4
  21. ↑ KQ8 manual, p. 3
  22. ↑ King's Quest Collection 2 manual, p. 11
  23. ↑ King's Quest Collection 2 manual, p. 14
  24. ↑ King's Quest Collection 2 manual, p. 21
  25. ↑ King's Quest II hint book, pp. 7, 15
  26. ↑ From the back of the box
  27. ↑ Antic, May 1986
  28. ↑ Interaction Magazine, Spring 1992
  29. ↑ AGD Interactive
Bibliography

External links

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