Sierra On-line Teaches Typing: Let's Play King's Quest III

Lack of feasible opportunity, most of the time. Though Sierra did use the whole "manual contains puzzle solutions" thing in later games. Freddy Pharkas pretty much did that the same way this game does, while KQ6 did a much more tame variant where only two puzzles could be said to require you to have the manual on hand to solve.

I look into what happens if you don't do one of the chores given to you by Mannanan. I don't think there's going to be a Bizarro Gywdion in the game. While KQ1 and 2 had alternative ways to solving some of the games puzzles, KQ3 does not. Off the top of my head I can't think of a single puzzle that has multiple solutions.

I was going to save this for the next update (this weekend) but since you asked, I'll address it now. There are seven spells in the game you must cast. Unlike in other parts of the game you can not just quickly retype a spell if you have an error. The game immediately kills you. You also can't save the game while performing the spell, only before or after it is complete. Some of these spells have as many as 13 lines of instruction.

Having played this game multiple times before, enough so that I have some of the spells memorized, with the manual, and checking my spelling. I still killed myself over a dozen times. By far the most time I spent in this game was making these spells.

It's a terrible system. That, like other old forms of copy protection, inconveniences the player, but unlike them takes minutes to accomplish instead of seconds. And is as easily defeated by a xerox machine or even transcription of the spell directions.

EDIT: Freddy Pharkas system was also a pain in the ass. Also easily bypassed by a xerox...

Oh, I figured what we had seen was pretty much it. That's a little extreme. I still like the idea of having the manual or other documentation be involved in the puzzles more than having to pause the game to find some random factoid, but to keep coming back to the manual like that kind of defeats the purpose. You'd think they would just assume you had the manual after you made it through the first couple spells.

This is all so much! If the AGI system could have handled it I'm sure Gwydion would be swooning!



"Damn, 17 years as a slave to a closeted gay magician and now I've got to find some way to get home and save my sister from a three-headed dragon. Worst life ever!"



A piece of amber? Thanks for nothing, Oracle. Gwydion noticed in the spellbook, and I can plainly see here in the manual that there are more spells to cast so he heads back to the basement to do some magicking.



Okay, that's just disgusting



From this point onward. I'm not going to show the long sentences I had to type out for each step in the spells. You get the idea by now. It takes a lot of typing and it is easy to make mistakes...



Almost done everyone I swear! Then we can leave Llewdor for ever!

This is the last spell, I promise:



Oh wait... No, this is the last spell!



Now it's all over! Gywdion decides to see if this hairy, scaly, downy dough in his ears (so GROSS, why couldn't he just eat some white snake?) really does work:



I suppose if you hadn't seen the oracle yet these comments would have tipped you off that you were something quite different than you thought you were. Though you'd still have to defeat that spider to find it out... I don't know how they thought that was a clear puzzle either...

I didn't mention this last post cause we weren't there yet... After killing the spider and speaking to the Oracle things are a little different in town:



How fortuitous! Just when Gwydion needed to leave a ship shows up, Gwydion speaks to the Captain, they "agree" on a price and like that Gywdion is traveling first class to... where is it these guys are going?



"Not first class either?!"



Bastards robbed us too!



Oh, I guess the rats have something to say? Is it good news?



"Ouch!" Gwydion's got to get out of here. He grabs the small crate and takes it back to where he woke up. Maybe he can use it to jump onto the larger crate?

(Sierra: abusing crates decades before anyone else was!)

Now that Gywdion is safely out of Llewdor and entrapped on a ship... Let me show you the rest of the spell mishaps:

How to understand animal spell mistake:



Slumber spell mishap:



Storm spell hijinks:



Misteleportation:



Click in next time to see if Gywdion can escape the ship!

Gywdion stacks those crates high and then leaps for the rope ladder. How dumb do these pirates/slavers (?) have to be to leave a strapping young lad in a room full of various sized crates with a rope ladder just hanging there, begging to be reached and climbed? Pretty dumb I'm guessing



(Why is the ship's wheel below decks? Is that normal?)

Who knows? Gwydion is no sailor (a point he will prove once again three King's Quests hence!)

Despite never knowing any heroes, Gwydion easily assumes their loose moral code and immediatly begins rooting through the Captain's stuff... Yes, he did take our money and then throw us in the ship's hold, but it doesn't really matter this could be a Saint's room and Gwydion would do the same thing.



Good thing he did too, cause now he has all his items back! After exploring this part of this level of the ship Gwydion heads in the opposite direction. He picks up the shovel and then heads back. Uh-oh the captain's seen him. No worries he'll just duck back down into the hold. The captain will assume he's trapped down there (WHY?!) and leave him alone. (any sailor you see here can be avoided by just leaving the screen...)



With nothing else to do and no clear direction,Gwydion decides to hang out with the rats:



That could be useful if We can ever get off this ship. Gwydion thinks the Captain probably isn't hanging around the rope ladder anymore (and the fool is too dumb to remove it so he heads back up deck:



Then I went left the computer for about 10 minutes (check the game's clock) knowing that there wasn't anything else to do until someone said "land ho." Someone eventually did and after I had made myself a nice sandwich and ate it I came back to resume the game. A little magic will help Gwydion deal with the sailors, putting them to sleep seems like the best action



Ah, they look so innocent when their asleep... Too bad we can't smother them. With land near and everyone asleep Gywdion dives in and heads east (you missed the crazy cook and the crow's nest pirate (you aren't missing anything)):



I could pretend that the shark is hard to avoid but I'd be lying. Once on land Gwydion notices that "lone palm" the rats mentioned and investigates further (by that I mean he takes five steps east and digs):



(I'm sure the chest fits comfortably in his pocket. Now let's go climb a mountain! With a chest of gold. With our bare hands)



Yup, Gwydion just scaled that sheer cliff face with nothing but his hands and a chest full of treasure. What do you mean you can't do that? You some kind of pussy?



Look at that he can also scale waterfalls with nothing but the piss and vinegar flowing through his veins! I'm shocked he just didn't stare Mannanan to death. Astute readers will notice I have a command typed in and am just waiting for the right time to use it. Why would Gwydion need to turn in to an eagle you ask?



The Abominable blob of grey pixels has something to do with it.



Mountineer Gwydion continues to scale mountains no one has ever been able to, all while loaded down with large, heavy, clumsy items

I hope Roberta et al. weren't thinking that was going to be a difficult puzzle to solve? It might be the easiest task in this entire game to accomplish. Anyway, Gwydion has no accomplished what no one else has ever done! Climbed over a mountain! He isn't one to rest on his laurels though, let's get down on the ground and see what's happening!



Ouch. Notice the stairs behind us? If you don't please to return to my LP of the first King's Quest. I'll wait...

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Okay, I'm bored so I'm going to go on ahead, you catch up when you can:



Things are not looking well... If we want to be polite. Also, where did that wall come from? When was the geography of Daventry radically shifted? Who knows what madness lurks in Roberta Williams? (She and her husband write books about their vacations and use a vanity press?! Madness I tell you! Madness!)

INFO DUMP:



tl;dr Shit got real; you're a prince; your sister is food; your parents are useless; Daventry is less than ideal.

Don't believe me?



Guess, there is nothing to do but rescue our sister, Rosella. Gywdio... I mean Alexander heads back to those stairs and climbs them:



Yes, I know we just fell off the outside of the mountain we are currently climbing the interior of. Yes, I know there was no magical cloud land in the middle of it. What you don't understand is: MAGIC. MAGIC answers every question! Stop asking them.

Alexander doesn't like the looks of what he can just barely make out in the screen up ahead. It's big, it's green and there is fire involved. He quickly slathers himself in lard. Now he is invisible! or barred one of those!



Alexander tries to talk to the princess but that doesn't seem like a good idea and the dragons are beyond listening to reason... The teleportation spell is useless (as it has been the entire game) only one spell left! Let's brew up a storm:



(what you aren't seeing: tiny bolts of lightning zapping the dragon's heads)

Alexander takes a moment to admire his handy work and then rushes to his sister's side!



Alexander! Why would you tell her you're her brother? Now you'll never get that kiss! Man, you're going to be a virgin forever...



Rosella doesn't recommend going that way, she informs you her Dad cut that beanstalk down years ago in the hopes of attracting land developers... Instead it just brought a dragon... He's not the best business man. A crack adventurer though!

Alexander leads his sister back to the castle:



Well, he seemed excited! This is it! This game is almost over!

I'm so glad they kept the entirely superfluous interior shots of Daventry Castle...



Why is Graham still jaundiced? (I know why he's about to have a heart attack!)



WHAT?! Are you telling me that they haven't seen their son in 17 years and they're just going to send him away like that to go adventuring again?! Doesn't he have a lot of catching up to do? You know on etiquette, internal politics of the kingdom, foreign relations, powerful factions? Pretty much an endless list of things he's going to have to know to take over the kingdom when his father dies?

For those of you who have already popped over in the KQIV thread you'll know what I'm talking about. KQIV takes place right where III left off... Also, I'm having a hard time understanding why Alexander is so sad in KQIV, a stranger had a heartattack, why would that effect you? Even if you knew it was your father, there isn't any relationship there.

Anyway, that's King's Quest III. I feel it's the worst of the lot and with it behind us we can now move on to much more awesome things!

Namely, King's Quest IV

So you turned into a bird to bewilder a yeti? You and your moon logic, Sierra. Where's the Peculiar Purple Pieman of Porcupine Peak when you need him most?

Anyway, great LP as always, though it's freaky knowing that Graham has a heart attack right after tossing his hat to the son who's never known him. Great time to have health problems, Kingy. =/

Looking forward to Roselia's adventure!

If the family locked themselves away after Alexander was kidnapped, how did the dragon kidnap Rosella?

All the other virgins in the kingdom had already been sacrificed to the dragon... She was the only one left.

Once word got out that the dragon was after virgins, orgies became fairly popular in Daventry.

Still better than hitting it with a pie. Although it might be amusing to see a re-hash of that.

That's IT for this game? Wow, I guess it was kinda boring.

Still the cloud world looked pretty cool, all marshmallowy-cotton-candy-looking and stuff. Plus, at least this was a more impressive dragon than in KQI.

Onwards to KQIV!

I've updated the image links for this LP.

This is the best King's Quest game enjoy!

THIS IS THE WORST KQ! (Actually, Mask of Eternity is but...)