Today we look at one of the original adventure classics, King's Quest. This better looking remake of the original is fantastic.
I've thought a lot about the state of gaming (why people play games nowadays, what's popular, what kind of features are important to people), and I'm of the mind that few will have the patience to play these classic games. While there is a storyline and a basic instruction of what the main goal of the game is, the rest is up to you. Early adventure games were a very strict definition of adventure. You had to go out there and discover new areas. You had to go out and find the items to reach your goals. You had to go out and figure out what those goals were. It was rarely easy. Players who get frustrated at the need to pay close attention to the smallest of details in a game need not apply.
King's Quest is another classic from Sierra Entertainment, the undisputed kings of early adventure gaming. The first King's Quest games required typing out what you want to do (also a defunct gameplay element), like Space Quest I and Police Quest I, and eventually moved to a point and click model. While these kinds of games may not have all the niceties of today's RPGs or the instant gratification built into modern FPSs, finishing one of them tends to be far more gratifying.
Sir Graham is your protagonist here, thrown into a mission to save the kingdom of Daventry by recovering it's sacred artifacts, and, if successful, become the next king in place of the non-existent heir. Recovering these items can be very tricky, as there are a lot of places to go, and a lot of items to find. It's almost never obvious what you'll need something for till much later in the game. I highly recommended drawing your own map, keeping track of any landmarks you find. Pay close attention to the landscape. Simple things like holes in trees and hollowed out stumps can lead you to essential items or locations. Be sure to examine (Look icon) everything that you pick up, as if could give you a hint on how to use it, and sometimes even alter what the item is.
I have to reiterate my previous rules for playing these games:
Rule #1: SNSO. Save now, save often. This is the most important rule of early games. There are many times where you may have missed something, but the game doesn't tell you. When you need it, it becomes obvious, but if you haven't been keeping multiple saved games, you may not be able to go back to where you need to and you'll have to start the whole game over.
Rule #2: Don't get frustrated at dying. Seriously. I would argue that the point of some of these games is to try as many things as possible and die horrible deaths. If you don't, you're actually missing out on a lot of content and sarcastic jokes from the authors. If you follow rule #1, dying for fun will become half the game for you.
Rule #3: At this point in video game technology, don't expect too much. It doesn't compare a single bit to the graphics and sound of today. Nonetheless, the gameplay is still solid and playing is well worth the experience.
The King's Quest series went through a lot in it's days. 8 official games. A number of ports to other systems. A cancelled 9th game that went through a hot political mess. Several remake attempts. The version I replayed I feel is a great representation of the original, while improving on it enough to make it seem like a more modern game. AGD Interactive has begun remaking several classic adventure games, and a few original ones of their own. They've done a great job keeping the nostalgic feel alive.
There are several sources for versions of King's Quest I:
AGD Interactive - The enhanced free version I replayed here.
Sarien.net - Online, browser version. Kind of difficult.
GOG.com - Commercial versions of the original 3 episodes. The original experience recreated to run in Windows.
If you try out the AGD version, be sure to set it to play in a Window, not Full Screen. That's the only way I could get it to work. Thanks for stopping by to learn a little bit about this very influential series in gaming history. Check out our Facebook Page for more screenshots, and be sure to follow us!
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