Game 42: King's Quest Remake - noituloser elddir s'ypmur

Sir Graham Journal Entry 2: "I've got the magic chest! It hasn't been easy though, having to pass an angry troll, solve a near-impossible riddle, scare off a wicked witch, climb a magic beanstalk, and defeat an enormous giant! I fear that getting my hands on the next two treasures will be no easier, but after coming so far, there's no turning back now!"

Someone wasn't sure what description to apply to this screen here.

The first half of my Daventry exploration had been fairly uneventful. Apart from rediscovering the location of the magic mirror, I’d only managed to collect a few unimportant trinkets. The second half was where things really got moving, mostly because I had the items I needed when I reached the more critical points. My first post covered exactly half of the Daventry gameworld, ending when I came upon the goat pen without the carrot I needed to entice the goat to follow me. From there I continued my zigzag approach to the west, passing harmlessly through a screen containing a waterfall and then another with a stone bridge. This brought me to another bridge leading to the west, but my attempts to cross it were interrupted by a large, ugly troll. “Well, what’ve we got here? You think yer gonna cross my bridge do you? Not for FREE, you ain’t. Dat’s right. Gimme somethin’ valuable and maybe, JUST maybe, I’ll letcha cross dis bridge. If I feel like it. Which I ain’t sure I do.” I probably could have given him one of the gold items in my inventory at this point, but I recalled from the original that trolls are particularly frightened of goats. I decided to save my trinkets and to come back with a horny companion later on. I travelled south through three more screens where there was nothing to do (a river, a lake and the left side of the goat pen), before once again moving on to the west.

This is one of the prettier screens in the remake.

This is not one of the prettier characters in the remake.

So that’s five columns of Daventry down, three to go. The sixth one started with an uneventful lake, but on the second screen I came across another guarded bridge. The same troll came running up and blocked my way across. This halted my progress to the south, so I decided to head north to cover the rest of this column. The first new screen I arrived on at first seemed vacant, but after just a few steps a floating woman sparkled into view and had the following to say: “Gentle Sir Graham, I am your fairy godmother. Your quest is indeed noble. What little aid I can offer you is this protective magic spell, effective but a little while. I shall be watching over you, Sir Graham.” Waving her wand in my direction, she cast the spell on me, resulting in me being surrounded by little twirling lights. I knew that the spell wouldn’t last for long, so I took the most direct path I could back to the Gingerbread House. I’m not certain whether there are other uses for the Fairy Godmother’s spell, but I distinctly recalled using it to evade the witch. As soon as I entered the house, the witch disappeared in a flash of light: “Be thankful that you have a protective spell or the witch may have stuck around to try and catch you!” I was now able to explore her home, starting with the cupboard on the wall. (2 points) Within I discovered a piece of Swiss cheese, which I picked up (2 points).

Aren't fairies supposed to be really small?

I took this screenshot in the witch's house. Check out the steam above the pot!!! I swear it wasn't there when I took it!

There was a note on the table in the second room, so I wandered in and picked that up too (1 point). It read: “Sometimes it is wise to think backwards.” (2 points) I knew exactly what puzzle this was referring to of course, but I remember a time long ago when I didn’t (we’ll come back to this soon enough). Having searched the witch’s home, I made my way back to the screen where my Fairy Godmother had worked her magic, then headed off north. The next location contained a “fragrant patch of clover growing in this lush meadow”. I wandered over and typed “pick up clover”, watching as Graham bent down and picked up a lucky four leaf version. (2 points) Continuing north, I ran into yet another bridge that was guarded by the troll! This was the third bridge that I’d been unable to pass, and this one forced me to leave this column incomplete and move on to the west. Thankfully, the next screen I visited was the garden, where I was able to pick up a nice plump, orange carrot (2 points). At this point I could have made my way back to the goat pen, but I decided to finish mapping things out before I did so. However, the next three screens contained little of interest, with the last of them having some “treacherous whitewater rapids” running across it that blocked my way to the north. I made my way back down to the garden and then exited the screen to the west, entering what would turn out to be the final column of screens to explore in Daventry.

One neat addition to the game are the birds and butterflies that move around the screen.

The western half of the garden offered up nothing, but on the next screen to the north I found a little elf running around. I talked to him, and my friendliness impressed him so much that he handed over a small ring. “I’ve had my eye on ye, Sir Graham. Methinks you might enjoy this little trinket. For just a wee bit o’ time, it has the power to make ye invisible. May it give ye as much entertainment as ye has given me this day!” After this act of generosity, the elf literally vanished into thin air, leaving me to ponder what the ring of invisibility might be for. Either I was really struggling to remember my play through of the original or I never found a use for it. I wondered whether it might be an alternate way of getting past the witch in the Gingerbread House, but for now I set out to complete the last few screens of mapping. On the next screen to the north I found a small yellow and red item on the ground. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, so I right clicked on it. “There appears to be some sort of bowl on the ground.” Oh of course, it’s the bowl! I must say it didn’t really look like one, and I remember the original one being much larger. I picked it up (3 points), recalling that the bowl had writing on the inside. It was at this point that I realised I’d not yet checked out the game’s inventory!

Let's hope Mr McGregor isn't around here!

An easily pleased little fellow!

Well it didn't look like a bowl to me!

The inventory at first appeared to be just a list of items, but I soon realised I could either scroll up and down it using the arrow keys or simply click on an item with the mouse. Selecting an item brought up a small picture of it along with a brief description. When I came to the bowl it said “Inscribed on the inside of this empty ceramic bowl is the word Fill.” (1 point) Since there were only two screens left to check out, I rushed to the north to finish my initial exploration. The first one had a cliff, yet there was nothing to interact with. Tthe second one really tweaked my memory though. I found myself standing on the left bank of a river. I could see the castle to the north, but my passage in that direction was blocked. Across the river I could see a single white mushroom. I wasn’t able to get to it, but I knew I would need to later on. I wasn’t at all certain how I would get over there, but something told me it involved a bird (or was that in King’s Quest II or III?). Alright! After an hour of play, I’d finally mapped out all 48 screens of Daventry with the exception of two screens. The first one would only be accessed when I could get past the bridge troll, while the second one was behind the mushroom across the river. All I had to do now was decide what puzzle I would attack first!

This puzzle is certainly a lot easier to solve in the remake.

Hmmm...there really isn't mushroom on this side!

I made up my mind to go back to the goat pen with my carrot. I opened the gate and offered the vegetable to the goat, which eagerly followed me away from his enclosure (5 points). I made my way to one of the bridges that the troll had been guarding. As soon as the troll wandered onto the bridge, I received the following message. “It is a well known fact that goats hate trolls intensely. You move aside and let the goat take care of this wretched, nasty troll.” It was actually pretty funny to watch the little animal charge the ugly beast, knocking him from the bridge into the raging river. (4 points) Its job done, the goat left me to go back to its pen. I now had the opportunity to cross over the bridge for the first time, and to see what unvisited screen was waiting for me on the other side. Having played the original, I already knew that I’d find Rumpelstiltskin there, but this time he was actually sitting down turning straw into gold. At least in the remake a player has a chance of figuring out who he is (in the original he was just an old man with a walking stick, with no spinning wheel to hint at his identity). “Welcome, Sir Graham. I have been expecting you. I have something that will be of great use to you. But first, Sir Graham, you must answer this riddle. I’ll give you three guesses. What is my name?”

One little billy goat, one little billy goat, one little billy goat gruff!

Is the fear of goats from a fairy tale I missed as a kid?

For a guy that can turn straw into gold, he doesn't exactly live in luxury.

For those readers that have never played the original, it’s difficult to portray just how difficult this puzzle was. Not only was the player expected to figure out that the old man was Rumpelstiltskin (based on nothing more than the fact the character in the Brothers Grimm story asks a similar question), but they then had to type it backwards to solve the puzzle (which they were supposed to figure out based on the note in the witch’s house). I believe the remake will accept the name in either direction, but I typed “nikstlitslepmur” anyway, thinking that might give me more points. “That’s right! Outstanding! I didn’t think you were THAT clever. As a reward for your sharp intellect, here are some beans. They’re no ordinary beans, but it’s up to you to find out why.” (9 points) After handing over the beans, Rumpelstiltskin entered his home in the tree and was gone. I tried following him inside, but I was told that I couldn’t as I wasn’t invited. It was great that I now had the beans, and I knew exactly what would happen when I planted them, but I wasn’t entirely sure where I was actually supposed to do that. Looking at my map I figured the screen with the wildflowers was the most likely spot, since I’d not achieved anything else there, and the ground was obviously fertile. I headed straight for it, typing “plant beans” as soon as I arrived. (2 points) A beanstalk burst out of the ground and rapidly grew off into the sky!

I look forward to hearing a voice acted version of this event.

Rumpel's magic pills gave Graham a truly impressive erection!

I distinctly recalled struggling to climb up the beanstalk in the original, continually falling to my death. I figured the team behind the remake might have made some attempt to make it a bit easier this time around, but that thought was quickly put to rest. I fell over and over again, despite Sir Graham appearing to be well within the stalks outer edge at all times. In the end I was forced to save regularly until I finally reached the summit (a couple of readers have suggested using the mouse makes these movement tests much easier in the remake, but I read that after this session was complete). (2 points) Anyone that has read Jack and the Beanstalk would know what I found at the top. “You are in the Land of the Clouds. It is rumored that a giant lives up here.” I walked through the strange land until I set eyes on the bearded giant. “The enormous giant has been carrying that heavy chest for longer than he can remember.” I knew that a single pebble would be all it would take to bring him down (David and Goliath style), but I also knew that I still needed the sling to have any hope. I left the giant and walked east until I found a tree with a hole in the bottom of it. Inside I found the sling (2 points), and returning to the giant I typed “use sling on giant” and watched as Sir Graham sent a pebble straight into his head. (3 points) The giant fell over dead, leaving me to pilfer the magic chest!  (8 points) The first treasure was mine! Two more to go and I'm done...

If only this were Les Manley's quest. He'd have no trouble picking himself back up.

Save 9

Fee fie foe f....ooowww, that really hurt!!!!

Now to go into hiding and wait for old King Edward to kick the bucket.

Session Time: 0 hours 45 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Note Regarding Spoilers and Companion Assist Points: I've written a set of rules regarding spoilers and companion assist points. Please read it here before making any comments that could be considered a spoiler in any way. The short of it is that no points will be given for hints or spoilers given in advance of me requiring one. Please...try not to spoil any part of the game for me...unless I really obviously need the help...or I specifically request assistance. In this instance, I've not made any requests for assistance. Thanks!