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Part II: A New Era of Adventuring
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King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella
(PC, 1988)
After a two-year hiatus, Sierra introduced the fourth iteration of their hit franchise, and with excellent technological improvements, no less! The graphics look MUCH better and... er... slightly more realistic. Music now relies on sound cards, rather than the sometimes shrill PC speaker, which allowed for a much richer soundtrack (or one at all). We must still type in our commands, but at least we can use the mouse to make Rosella move around, and the characters are more well-defined and less Lego-like. This time around, it's Rosella that we follow, making for the first appearance of a female protagonist in King's Quest. Just as her father was ready to pass on his snappy blue adventurer's hat to his children, King Graham suffers a massive heart failure of sorts and collapses in the throne room. He becomes gravely ill and is clearly knocking on death's door. Just as Rosella sobs herself into a frenzy in the throne room later does a fairy appear, advising her to seek out a curative fruit in the land of Tamir (only accessible by fairy magic, it seems).
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King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!
(PC/NES/FM Towns/Amiga/etc., 1990)
King's Quest V is, for me, the point where the series truly started resonating with me. KQV is the first graphical interface game, featuring different mouse icons for looking, speaking, walking, etc., instead of having to type in everything you want to do. That's a sweet relief; it's hard to go backwards in the series and suffer through that, now that we have been blessed with point-and-click interactivity. KQV is also the first game to feature voice acting! Granted, it's not always top-notch, but it's lovely. For the first time in many years, we must reacquaint ourselves with King Graham as Mordack, brother of Manannan from King's Quest III (who was turned into a feline), is taking sweet revenge on the royal family of Daventry by using a spell to kidnap them and their castle. Fortunately, Graham was out on a nature walk at the time, though the shock upon arriving home and seeing the huge dent in the ground must not have been a picnic, either. It takes a goofy owl named Cedric to provide the help Graham needs to start on his quest to save his family. More often than not, however, Cedric is either useless or takes a severe beating.
Interestingly enough, Cedric takes King Graham to the land of Serenia, which ties in closely with "Adventure in Serenia", released eight years prior.
King's Quest V for PC was ported to many consoles, but of particular note is the NES, by -- of all developers -- Konami! That's right, the folks behind Castlevania, Contra, and Metal Gear took a stab at King's Quest V. It's the only non-PC King's Quest title to date, and it's a fair effort, considering the limitations of the NES. Most of the game is similar to its PC counterpart, though some puzzles have been changed and a few perils have been removed. There are also various minute changes that do not majorly affect the gameplay. All in all, if you don't have a computer (which makes me question how you're reading this), the NES version is a quaint alternative.
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King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow
(PC/Amiga, 1992)
A direct sequel to King's Quest V, we find our beloved hero, Prince Alexander, suffering greatly while thinking of Princess Cassima of the Land of the Green Isles, whom his father had rescued in Mordack's castle. He's smitten, no doubt, but as quite the grand gesture, he decides to hire a crew and sail to these lands as a courtesy (and maybe to take another gander at that cute princess). It's quite an effort, but he ends up shipwrecked from the foul waves and must find his way back -- as well as determine how to save the princess, considering her welcome home was rather... unwelcoming. King's Quest VI is a definite step up from King's Quest V with better voice acting, better visuals, an enchanting musical score, and the most exhilarating use of a xylophone to date.
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King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride
(PC, 1995)
Sierra took an intriguing direction with their next King's Quest game. While the previous two games used a look of hand-crafted backgrounds, King's Quest VII was produced with cartoon-based visuals. As well, the once versatile cursor was now simplified into a single icon that glimmered whenever you could interact with it. This may have alienated many King's Quest fans who saw this change as "kiddifying" the series. Nevertheless, King's Quest VII retained many of the challenges expected of the series. King's Quest VII follows the crazy adventures of Princess Rosella and (for the first time) her mother, Queen Valanice, after Rosella sees a mysterious kingdom in a whirlpool and hops in to find it as a means of avoiding further discussion of seeking a suitable husband for the aging princess. (She's 20. Ancient, right?) After Valanice leaps in after her, the two get separated and take quite some time to find each other again, meeting some very unusual characters in the process.
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King's Quest: Mask of Eternity
(PC, 1998)
If there was ever a polarizing King's Quest game, this is it. King's Quest: Mask of Eternity is the eighth official game of the series, even though the numeral was dropped. Mask of Eternity takes great strives... to be different. Because of a shattering of the aforementioned mask by the wizard, Lucreto, all the citizens of the Kingdom of Daventry, including the royal family, turn to stone. The only one spared is Connor, a humble fellow who happened to have found a section of the mask as it appeared from the sky. Mask of Eternity is indeed the first game not to star a member of the royal family. It's also the first game in 3D, as well as the first game in... well, first-person! And lastly, but most shockingly, it's the first King's Quest game that is an action-RPG as much as an adventure game. Yup, you go around stabbing crazy creatures and gaining experience for doing so. Although it sold pretty well, the game surely didn't feel like a King's Quest game at all. It is also the last official King's Quest game from Sierra.
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