Watch out! A POISONOUS snake! - Let's Play King's Quest V

LP Part Index
Death/Dick Move List
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Part VIII

LP Complete

Prologue - From Legend to Irritation in Five Games Flat

Is it adventure game time again already? You bet your buns it is, and this time we have a Sierra "classic". First, some background on today's subject.



In 1984, adventure games changed forever. This inauspicious year, marked by the collapse of the console industry, also marked the birth of the King's Quest series. King's Quest gave new merit to the idea of adventure games being more visual than textual, and set a standard that held up for half a decade.



5 years later, adventure games changed forever once more, with the invention of the point-and-click interface. Unfortunately for Sierra, this was not done by them, but by LucasArts with Maniac Mansion. Which conveniently is also being LPed here at the moment. Nifty!



But that didn't stop Sierra from trying! In 1990, the very next year, they released their own point-and-click opus in their long-standing series of King's Quest games. This game was King's Quest V.



Strangely enough, there was an NES version of the game made too. By 1990, PC developers were noticing that pretty much anything released on the NES was making money in spades, and wanted in on it. Unfortunately, this usually resulted in decidedly sub-par ports. King's Quest V is a prime example of this.



Of course, no matter which version you play, this game is evil. Why? Well aren't you lucky, because I'm going to tell you aaaaall about it... But how to do so? In an odd sort of twist, it's up to you, the readers, to choose!



VERSUS



There are four options available to you!

Choice #1 - King's Quest V NES!



If this choice prevails, I will do the LP entirely based on the NES version!

Pros:
* You'll get to see one of the ugliest NES games ever made
* The LP can be done in screenshots, meaning low-bandwidth users can enjoy it too
* More reader interaction will be possible, making for a far more dynamic LP
Cons:
* You'll have to see one of the ugliest NES games ever made
* No bad voice acting to laugh at

Choice #2 - King's Quest V PC VGA!



If this choice prevails, I will do the LP entirely based on the PC VGA disk version!

Pros:
* You get the good graphics of the PC version
* The LP can be done in screenshots, too (low-bandwidth friendly!)
* Peanut gallery participation means a more engaging LP
Cons:
* Um, the cursor icons are a bit ugly?
* Still no bad voice acting to laugh at

Choice #3 - King's Quest V PC CD-ROM!



If this choice prevails, I will do the LP entirely based on the PC CD-ROM version!

Pros:
* The LP will be done in video form, meaning it'll be all fancy
* You'll get to be amused by the game's remarkably bad voice acting
* The visuals won't burn your eyes out
Cons:
* The LP will be done in video form, meaning it'll take longer and you have to hear me talk (resulting in less overall snark)
* Very little user interaction will be possible, meaning the LP will be pretty static

Choice #4: King's Quest V NES AND PC Original!

+

If this choice prevails, I will simultaneously play both the NES and disk versions of the game and post side-by-side screenshots of each as I go!

Pros:
* As it will be in screenshot form, it'll be more low-bandwidth-friendly
* You'll be able to marvel at how different the two versions are
* More reader participation than choice #3 will be possible
Cons:
* It'll take a while to do, owing to two simultaneous playthroughs
* Once again, no bad voice acting to laugh at

Incidentally, I am also open to alternatives to these four. So then, choose your destiny! Oh, and before you ask, no I will not work with the PC EGA version. Ever. The watercolor painting backgrounds of this game look unholy-ugly in 16 colors, almost as bad as the NES version.

I vote for option 4.

I like screenshots.

VGA or CD-rom. Not NES, though!

That NES screenshot is a crime against art. Say what you will about the actual gameplay, but when they put their minds to it, Sierra did nice work in 320x200x256.

On the other hand, I've never seen the NES version - it's like the (inadvertently) Horrifying Fanart version of itself. I'll vote 4, with 2 as backup.

Option 2. The PC VGA version is the true version.

My vote goes to option 4. I've actually played that NES version a bit, and while I thought it look decent-ish (and had Game Over music that freaked me out), I'd like you to show me how wrong I am by comparing the two.

Can you do 4 but with NES and the PC version, so that way when the voice acting gets real bad we can enjoy it with you?

Also, for non King's Quest aficionados and other normal people, we are one King's Quest away from it, but please endure Girl in the Tower - Love Theme from King's Quest VI. And while you cringe, please note that the original box version of KQ6 came with a sheet of radio stations the single had been sent to as part of a grass roots campaign to get word out about this wonderful song.

Also: I don't think V is that bad. Honestly, it's one of the better ones in a series that has aged incredibly poorly. Not that anyone asked, but my personal opinions lie somewhere in 6 being the "best", followed by 4>5>3>7>1>2>That Fucking Action Game. But since I never really played them in their prime, I can't really account for nostalgia.

The NES version is a MUST.

The NES version haunted my childhood.

I vote 1 or 4.

It must involve the nintendo. That version looks simultaneously hideous and rad. So, 1 or 4.

I like the cd version, but don't like video heavy LP's. So, 4 I guess?

I'll admit that KQ5 isn't AS evil as KQ1-4, but it's still pretty well out to ensure you never see The End show on screen. Incidentally, no matter what prevails, there will be an active Death Count and Dick Move Count. The former obviously tallies how many ways you can die, while the latter tallies ways you can make the game unwinnable and the various blatant crimes against logic (even in the context of video games) committed by the developers. Feel free to wager how high each will get, if you like.

I can't think of a single series that contains more dick moves than the King's Quest series. Even Police Quest, which has its dick move count drop way down when you get the message that not following proper police protocol inevitably results in trouble.

I vote option four. The side-by-side comparisons are really striking, and it'll let us (maybe?) try different things in each version.

The NES crime against humanity must be done. It is a shitty port with awful graphics and hard-to-click pixels of a shitty game. Seriously, fuck KQV. It may be my least favorite King's Quest (I've only played the first five). While all the King's Quest games had plenty of ways to screw you over, KQV's point-and-click interface made it seem like the game was trying to be friendlier, only to pull the rug out. Also, in KQ3 and 4 there were some truly clever (if inscrutable) puzzles. KQ5 is just plain dumb (and inscrutable).

Man, I'm having flashbacks.

While we're experiencing an adventure game bonanza here in Let's Play, I'd like to take a moment to remind everybody of this tasty classic.

I'm glad somebody agrees with me on that point. KQ3 and 4 (and 1 and 2, actually) suffered from "type exactly what the developers wanted you to type" issues, and had their own grand dick move of having typing going on in real-time (later releases of KQ4 pause while you type). This real-time parser led to one of the age-old traditions of command prompt Quest games, having to type what you wanted to do before you went on scene to do it so you could perform the action before you died. Meaning you HAD to die the first time to know what you had to do.

So yeah, KQ1-4 are hardly innocent (although KQ4 with the pause-screen text parser is surprisingly playable as long as you don't do anything stupid). When they lost that option with point-and-click, they found new dick moves to fill the void.

I think the NES versions graphics may constitute a hate-crime in some parts of the world.

Correspondingly, I vote for Option 1, and perhaps 4.

I want to see how ugly this rabbit hole goes.

While it's funny, Gabriel Knight 3 came out well after adventure games had "died". As an exercise in hyperbole, you can't beat Old Man Murray, but as far as I'm concerned adventure games died because they lost the monopoly on storytelling, and the stories they were telling weren't particularly entertaining.

King's Quest V is, for me, the Donkey Kong 64 of its era. It was supposed to be good, and at first people believed it was. But the more they thought about the game, the more they realised how the principles it built on were flawed. Unlike DK64, though, nearly everyone paid attention to the lessons it had to impart, even outside the genre.

I vote for Option 2.

Kings Quest 6 learned from KQ5, but it feels like they started running out of money toward the end, and it degenerated.

I dare you not to save Cedric.

I vote for option 5: You rig your computer to play both the NES and VGA games at the same time, and see if you can complete both games at once.

- Eddie

Not to take attention away from this LP, because I'm sure it'll be awesome, but Paw at That guy With the Glasses recently ran a video LP through this game and it was quite funny.

You can view the episodes here, or here if Blip is giving you issues at that site, it is for me at the moment.

Again, just making another really good LP known, but I'm still looking forward to this one (and voting for option 4, incidentally) since there's still a lot of stuff in this game to make fun of.

Option 2. That NES version is a visual crime.

I vote 4, but if you can find existing youtube clips of particularly funny bits from the CD version, you should link us up. But I wouldn't try to make you do three versions at once.

Yeah, Paw's LP is pretty good (I certainly enjoyed watching it). But this one will definitely be different, since it's looking so far like we'll have an NES/PC disk version combined screenshot LP going. And I will link to some of the most amusing voice clips at random, because really, it's not the same without Cedric's ridiculous falsetto voice there to make you wish the owl would just die already.

I vote option 2. It's easier on the eyes and will be most likely be more amusing to read then a video LP.

Option 2. Fuck shitty voice acting - in the King's Quest Collection, in either V or VI (I don't remember) you CAN'T TURN IT OFF. That collection is a crime in general - IV is virtually unplayable, and I mean that you literally cannot play it, because upon opening you need to enter the copy protection code from the manual. Where's the manual? In .pdf form. What happens when you try to minimize the game? It closes. Without two computers or a printer, it's impossible to play. FUCK.

I'm going to vote for option 2...

I really don't understand all the hate for KQ games (Sierra in general, who knew TT was full of Lucasarts fanboys?) going on here. The only KQ game I really had a problem with was 3 and that was merely because you had to type large portions of the manual into the game to correctly make the spells. I haven't plaeyed 5 or 6 in a while so, maybe I'm forgetting all the dick moves in them, but again my brother and I beat the 5th, and a friend and I beat the 6th, without any great difficulty (I'm not saying we got perfect scores though)

Maybe I'm too nostalgic... but maybe you guys are being overly harsh too? I don't recall Sierra games being any more brutal than their contemporaries (try playing the original Prince of Persia, or Gunship, or Falcon 3.0, or Airborne Rangers), it was just a different time, and game design has progressed

4 is probably my favorite of the series... From the puzzles to the graphics... that game has it all... The only problem I ever had with it was climbing the whales tongue (and then dealing with the seagull and bridle on the island. Even with that though my brother and I figured it out eventually...

Anyway I'm looking very forward to these, as I'll be doing the whole series for Hardcore Gaming 101 soon and getting others opinions and perspectives on the series will be helpful

It's not hard to see why LucasArts is preferred to Sierra when it comes to adventure games. LucasArts games, while they have their fair share of dick moves too, at least have the kindness of not setting you up with a can't-win scenario (well, except for a few of their earliest ones, but even there you have to try to make them unwinnable). Sierra games provide a higher challenge, but it's a false sort of challenge in that you can completely invalidate hours upon hours of puzzle-solving because you forgot to pick up Plot Coupon #4 back in the first area of the game and need it at the tail end of the game to proceed.

I seem to remember there being an "analog option" for situations like this.