tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post7890032229024914582..comments2024-03-28T18:43:06.423+11:00Comments on The Adventurers Guild: Game 5: King's Quest III - Final RatingThe Tricksterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01419316208187255801noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-18586427342780510402017-07-18T10:44:09.482+10:002017-07-18T10:44:09.482+10:00It's interesting that you consider the technol...It's interesting that you consider the technology of KQ3 to be identical to its predecessors, because my impression is that a large part of KQ3 is based on its programmers showing off their cleverness by making technological improvements.<br /><br />In particular, having characters appear in multiple rooms to interact with you, like Manannan or the cat, is something never done before in graphical adventures, AND only rarely done since. Even having multiple rooms respond to you being a fly, or to having the magical dough, is pretty unique; e.g. you can transform in the bar to overhear the pirates talk, or get yourself killed by flying into the web or over the ocean, or use the storm spell in many places (including on the ship). There's even little touches like how Manannan doesn't appear in the first room if you've watched the intro (because he has already given you a chore), how he can appear even in Daventry to kill you (because the ship is triggered by visiting the oracle), and how the in-game debug menu common to AGI games uses the teleport routines, making this the only Sierra game where debugging can't land you in a wall.<br /><br />While the game has a clear overreliance on mountain path mazes, you can actually skip almost all of those via the flight spell (which is the only spell you can make just with ingredients in the wizard's house). Manannan will teleport you back home, although you are likely to carry one of the forbidden ingredients by that point. Once you hear "land ho" on the pirate ship, you can immediately morph into an eagle and fly all the way up to the yeti; touching him as an eagle is another way to solve that puzzle. Overall this gives KQ3 a playaround factor that most adventure games lack, albeit one that doesn't really work in the age of internet walkthroughs.<br /><br />The downside of all this is that showing off programmer cleverness doesn't generally make for good puzzle design, and that the player is highly unlikely to find any of this. So I'm not disagreeing with any ratings here, just pointing out the game has hidden depths.<br /><br />The clue to having to wait 15 minutes on the pirate ship is found on the magic map, which shows how far the ship has sailed. The five points you most likely missed is using the fly form to enter the hole underneath the bandit tree.Radianthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03866535042372152723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-76361064550953563132014-05-16T03:47:10.720+10:002014-05-16T03:47:10.720+10:00Trickster, I assume that you played all the AGI ga...Trickster, I assume that you played all the AGI games with PC speaker music? If you set DOSBox to emulate a Tandy, AGI games can use its sound chip. You get 3 voices instead of one, allowing polyphony and harmonies. The introduction has some beautiful baroque-inspired chords. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHpG94CPEGwLaukkuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16258625692586860655noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-8984151015172716702014-01-05T12:43:40.172+11:002014-01-05T12:43:40.172+11:00Hi, I've enjoyed reading these blog entries; I...Hi, I've enjoyed reading these blog entries; I love your sense of humor, especially in the captions. I spent a lot of time playing KQ I-IV when I was a kid, and it's a huge nostalgia trip to revisit them now.<br /><br />Regarding the frustration of having to wait for the pirate ship to reach land, it helps if you periodically look at the magic map. Check it every couple of minutes, and you'll see the ship's progress along a red line from Llewdor to Daventry. IMO that helps with the logic of knowing that you simply have to be patient and wait until there's land nearby.Sarahhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10449343447888432664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-55744666880679431422013-10-29T14:11:53.343+11:002013-10-29T14:11:53.343+11:00The Cutting Room Floor is a wiki dedicated to find...The Cutting Room Floor is a wiki dedicated to finding and documenting game content that is created, and in the final version (or demos, or released source code, or anything else that the writers can get their hands on) but not accessible during the course of normal gameplay.<br /><br />KQIII has a very large page: Cut text and graphics, and a bunch of version changes. No music this time though. http://tcrf.net/King%27s_Quest_IIICanageekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03770924810559440307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-62690610662790661172013-01-04T03:11:13.178+11:002013-01-04T03:11:13.178+11:00Ah, King's Quest III! This one started my love...Ah, <i>King's Quest III</i>! This one started my love for Sierra games, and the adventure genre as a whole. My uncle is considerably younger than my dad, and was still living with my grandparents back in the mid-to-late eighties. My grandfather, always one for new technology, had an at-the-time state-of-the-art Leading Edge machine, which my uncle bought a bunch of games for: this, <i>Space Quest I</i>, <i>Police Quest I</i>, and, much to everyone's chagrin, <i>Leisure Suit Larry</i>. All great stuff.<br /><br /><i>KQ III</i>, though, blew my mind. My brother and I spent months trying to get rid of Mannanan, but could never get the hang of spellcasting, despite having the manual. I remember even getting off the mountain was a Herculian endeavor. I wasn't able to beat this one until I was about sixteen or seventeen and picked up the <i>KQ Collection</i>. What a sense of satisfaction, though like you Trickster, I found the pirate ship and yeti sections pretty frustrating.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16946742995687817751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-26951919672662979402012-01-15T11:16:40.273+11:002012-01-15T11:16:40.273+11:00You're probably right Andy and it might just b...You're probably right Andy and it might just be that the solutions I've complained about are not the ideal ways. That's probably going to happen a bit and I welcome anyone correcting anything I've got wrong in my posts.<br /><br />Quest For Glory was the series that made me truly fall in love with adventure games. I'd played the likes of King's Quest and Leisure Suit Larry prior to that, but there was something really magical about Quest For Glory.<br /><br />I'll always buy games if they're available (I've got well over 100 games in my GOG library, most of which are adventure games), but anything I can't find for sale, I'll be downloading from wherever I can get it. Thanks for the tips.The Tricksterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01419316208187255801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-4767113692364543362012-01-15T11:10:06.283+11:002012-01-15T11:10:06.283+11:00Thanks for posting Scott. :) I think two of the gr...Thanks for posting Scott. :) I think two of the great things about doing this blog is that 1) it makes me work really hard to finish the games when I might otherwise have given up and 2) as much as I love adventure games, I haven't actually played a lot of the classics for some reason. Series like Gabriel Knight, Tex Murphy and Myst (yes, I've never played Myst!) avoided my attention in the past, so I've got a lot of renowned games to experience.<br /><br />As for the sameness of the games, the biggest challenge will be keeping the blog interesting when the games don't have anything fresh to offer. I'm sure the CRPG Addict will face the same problem and probably is right now with Wizardry V.The Tricksterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01419316208187255801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-31698828512228232092012-01-15T10:51:49.792+11:002012-01-15T10:51:49.792+11:00There is another way to get past the snowman, by u...There is another way to get past the snowman, by using a different spell - I think you never actually need to use the teleport stone, although it can come in handy (you can even get off the pirate ship when you've arrived, rather than swimming, if I recall correctly!)<br /><br />I saw the link to your blog via CRPGaddict like Scott above me, and have spent a while catching up to here! It's been a good read so far, keep up the good work. Not sure you'll ever hit that 6-hour limit though, I've played quite a few adventure games (mainly Sierra and Lucasarts) and most can be finished in a few hours or less (especially when you're replaying them! I replayed Space Quest 2 over Christmas and I think it took me about 90 minutes.)<br /><br />I can't wait to see you cover more of the Sierra games, they are still my favourites after all these years (especially Quest for Glory and Space Quest). My Dad borrowed King's Quest from a friend of his, to show me what his new computer could do. I was very impressed, and those early, relatively simple games were enough to keep me a PC gamer for life.<br /><br />In your quest to complete all graphical adventures, I'd point you in the direction of Abandonia, who host rather a lot of old games that are no longer sold (I've reviewed a few games for them and hang about on their forums). Won't link directly, never sure of people's opinions about "abandonware" sites. For freeware games and remakes though, I'd check out Reloaded.org.Andy_Panthrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18231815646876343380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3387495443226852794.post-22803704748257567692012-01-15T01:01:44.769+11:002012-01-15T01:01:44.769+11:00Just found your blog via the CRPGAddict. Great jo...Just found your blog via the CRPGAddict. Great job so far. I'm surprised you haven't had many comments thus far, so I though I would say a few words. <br /><br />I've played 3 of the 4 games you've completed thus far and it's great to re-experience the games via your blog. Space Quest I was the first Sierra adventure I actually purchased and played to completion (I had played KQ1, KQ2, and Below the Root; I got stuck in each and never returned to complete them). <br /><br />SQ1 remains my overall favorite adventure game (top adventure games for me included Codename: Iceman, King's Quest V, King's Quest VI, Maniac Mansion, Leisure Suit Larry III, Space Quest III, Space Quest IV, I Have No Mouth and Must Scream, Drowned God, Gabriel Knight II) <br /><br />I understand your rationale for avoiding the graphic/text adventures, but in many ways those games had an edge over the graphic adventures and much of my early time with adventure games were with those games. The storytelling was often far better.<br /><br />The biggest challenge I anticipate for you is the sameness of the games. You'll quickly realize there were really only a few engines used for the games (AGI, SCI, SCUMM), and as such, they very much feel like the same game over and over until you hit Myst. <br /><br />Best of luck and keep up the good work!Scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12663693065010056221noreply@blogger.com