The original King's Quest is one of the earliest memories I have of playing through an adventure game. It was the first graphical adventure game I saw and the second one I sat down and played (Space Quest II was the first). I entered the scene a bit later than KQ1's original release.
I really appreciated the adventure game genre when I discovered it. Just as a joystick seemed natural for the Atari 2600 and its games, so also did the computer keyboard seem natural for adventure games. King's Quest paired this idea of kings, dragons, and medieval times with a gaming via puzzle solving rather than a platform game with its arcade approach or a dungeon crawler with its RPG approach. The graphics were still primitive, but they gave you just enough to get your imagination running at full steam. It all might seem dated now, but it was magical back then. The gamer wasn't reading the story, he/she was experiencing it.
I do not believe I solved all the puzzles for KQ1 without either having to look a few of them up or simply know them in advance having watched a friend solve them (with or without help) once before. I did solve many puzzles on my own, but some of them required a bit of assistance. At the time, I figured I just wasn't quite good enough to figure it all out. It was probably because of this that I adopted somewhat of an "adventure game masochism" approach to the genre as I continued to play through newer games in the KQ and other series - If I couldn't figure out a puzzle, then I was basically stuck. There were hint books available left and right, but I was determined to figure out the puzzles by myself. It was only after extreme boredom and frustration would set in that I would finally look up the answer. While this would occasionally present an answer that I should have figured out on my own, it many times would cause me to laugh and think that there was no way anyone could have figured out the puzzle. This happened several times throughout the KQ series, and they were unfortunately nearly absent by the end of the series. I say unfortunately because I hoped that as the games matured, so did the interface and puzzle "creation" by the developers. The rack your brain, puzzle solving nature of the adventure game was practically abolished by the final entry in the King's Quest series - Mask of Eternity. The very series that introduced me to adventure gaming ironically managed to put the nails in its own coffin.
The King's Quest series (as well as other Sierra adventure games) mirrored the evolution of computer hardware as time moved forward. Sound cards, 256 color VGA, and the now common "mouse" were fully utilized and integrated into the software and its interface. That perfect input device - the keyboard - was written out of the script, and something was wrong. Rather than let their puzzle creation skills and parsing engines (AGI, SCI) evolve the way the graphics and sound did, Sierra elected to just make things easier with the point and click interface and KQ5. Years later, KQ7 dropped the new point and click interface options and reduced the interface to a single mouse cursor that "sparked" when the user hovered over something that provided some form of interaction. The entire game was a tutorial. Mask of Eternity took the "aww screw it" approach and eliminated tradition completely by adding a hack and slash element to the series. I'd say the immersion - the magic - was completely gone by that point as the 3D graphics actually showed you what was around every corner rather than let your imagination create it on its own. The puzzles would pop up every so often, but the game as a whole just didn't hold my interest. I never completed it.
Finally - despite what would seem to be my soap box-like criticism of straying from the typing text interface, I would have to say the point and click, VGA release of King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow is my favorite entry in the series and arguably the best adventure game of all time. While it does have a few flaws, KQ6 managed to evolve the puzzle solving (with a sometimes frustrating dependence on item delivery) along with the graphics, story, and "imagination contribution" from the creators. The art was beautiful, the music was great, the narration was fun - It was "Alexander in Wonderland"...and it was where I hope the genre was headed circa 1992. Alas, this was not the case.
Hey Matt.
The original King's Quest is one of the earliest memories I have of playing through an adventure game. It was the first graphical adventure game I saw and the second one I sat down and played (Space Quest II was the first). I entered the scene a bit later than KQ1's original release.
I really appreciated the adventure game genre when I discovered it. Just as a joystick seemed natural for the Atari 2600 and its games, so also did the computer keyboard seem natural for adventure games. King's Quest paired this idea of kings, dragons, and medieval times with a gaming via puzzle solving rather than a platform game with its arcade approach or a dungeon crawler with its RPG approach. The graphics were still primitive, but they gave you just enough to get your imagination running at full steam. It all might seem dated now, but it was magical back then. The gamer wasn't reading the story, he/she was experiencing it.
I do not believe I solved all the puzzles for KQ1 without either having to look a few of them up or simply know them in advance having watched a friend solve them (with or without help) once before. I did solve many puzzles on my own, but some of them required a bit of assistance. At the time, I figured I just wasn't quite good enough to figure it all out. It was probably because of this that I adopted somewhat of an "adventure game masochism" approach to the genre as I continued to play through newer games in the KQ and other series - If I couldn't figure out a puzzle, then I was basically stuck. There were hint books available left and right, but I was determined to figure out the puzzles by myself. It was only after extreme boredom and frustration would set in that I would finally look up the answer. While this would occasionally present an answer that I should have figured out on my own, it many times would cause me to laugh and think that there was no way anyone could have figured out the puzzle. This happened several times throughout the KQ series, and they were unfortunately nearly absent by the end of the series. I say unfortunately because I hoped that as the games matured, so did the interface and puzzle "creation" by the developers. The rack your brain, puzzle solving nature of the adventure game was practically abolished by the final entry in the King's Quest series - Mask of Eternity. The very series that introduced me to adventure gaming ironically managed to put the nails in its own coffin.
The King's Quest series (as well as other Sierra adventure games) mirrored the evolution of computer hardware as time moved forward. Sound cards, 256 color VGA, and the now common "mouse" were fully utilized and integrated into the software and its interface. That perfect input device - the keyboard - was written out of the script, and something was wrong. Rather than let their puzzle creation skills and parsing engines (AGI, SCI) evolve the way the graphics and sound did, Sierra elected to just make things easier with the point and click interface and KQ5. Years later, KQ7 dropped the new point and click interface options and reduced the interface to a single mouse cursor that "sparked" when the user hovered over something that provided some form of interaction. The entire game was a tutorial. Mask of Eternity took the "aww screw it" approach and eliminated tradition completely by adding a hack and slash element to the series. I'd say the immersion - the magic - was completely gone by that point as the 3D graphics actually showed you what was around every corner rather than let your imagination create it on its own. The puzzles would pop up every so often, but the game as a whole just didn't hold my interest. I never completed it.
Finally - despite what would seem to be my soap box-like criticism of straying from the typing text interface, I would have to say the point and click, VGA release of King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow is my favorite entry in the series and arguably the best adventure game of all time. While it does have a few flaws, KQ6 managed to evolve the puzzle solving (with a sometimes frustrating dependence on item delivery) along with the graphics, story, and "imagination contribution" from the creators. The art was beautiful, the music was great, the narration was fun - It was "Alexander in Wonderland"...and it was where I hope the genre was headed circa 1992. Alas, this was not the case.
Whew! Okay. I am done.
Chris Kennedy, Editor
Location: Houston, Texas, USA
Email: chris@armchairarcade.com