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I rented Quest for Glory 4 from a computer store that happened to rent PC games. Nine or ten 3 1/4 floppies that were immediately copied by my younger self. And the pizza codes. That place went out of business shortly after, I wonder why?
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Aug 30, 2017 19:33
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Aces High posted:only dragon we experience in that game is a drink that kills us when we drink it, FALSE ADVERTISING That's clearly a Saurus Rex on the cover though, which you can certainly fight, so it's legit. Applesnots posted:I rented Quest for Glory 4 from a computer store that happened to rent PC games. Nine or ten 3 1/4 floppies that were immediately copied by my younger self. And the pizza codes. That place went out of business shortly after, I wonder why?  Nine 3 1/2" floppies.
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Aug 30, 2017 19:40
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:KQ1 came out in '83 and KQ4 came out in '88. That's five years to think about what you're doing and what you're trying to accomplish here. It's not that they didn't understand how to design videogames. This poo poo was intentional. Here's the problem, though. They stayed in business those five years, and more besides. King's Quest was huge; it was an enormous pillar in the PC gaming world back then. These were very successful titles. They were successful despite being what we look back now and say "what the gently caress" levels of difficult. The PC gaming market was just different back in the day, and I'm not saying that as some sort of "get off my lawn" poo poo. I'm not saying better, just different. Stuff like this wasn't "crimes of game design," if nothing else because it succeeded in making Sierra a lot of money. game design, much like the market, changed since. I think we'd both agree it changed for the better, but there's still a vocal minority of people who've complained for the last 20 years that games are too easy now, it's not like you should be unfamiliar with the market that drove KQ to success, especially when you consider the context of when they were released. 
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Aug 30, 2017 20:17
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ulmont posted:That's clearly a Saurus Rex on the cover though, which you can certainly fight, so it's legit. It has been so long since i have actually had to think about them I forgot.
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Aug 30, 2017 23:18
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Applesnots posted:It has been so long since i have actually had to think about them I forgot. As long as you don't call them "hard disks" we're OK.
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Aug 31, 2017 00:28
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The thing I remember most about 3.5" floppies (since I went straight from using a C64 and a Tandy 1000 (both of which systems used only 5.25" disks in the configuration available) to a 486 with a hard drive and CD-rom) is how absolutely garbage they became in the last couple years they were made. Taking a brand-new disk out of the package at school, saving on it, and having the file be corrupt when I got home was common enough that I usually used four disks to make sure I got one good copy of the file.
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Aug 31, 2017 00:37
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 Hello and welcome back to King's Quest IV. We're now past the biggest source of bullshit in the game. There's still more to come, don't you worry, but we don't have to ever return to that cave.  The game world looks much nicer at night.  We also have the prize we came for. Now we just have to help Genesta and get back home in time to save Graham.  So way back at the start of this game, I discussed how the end of it would revolve around Whateley Manor and the surrounding graveyard. Well, now that night has fallen we're at that point. The game also did us a kindness by not advancing to night until after we got the obsidian scarab. If you recall last time, the crone said that it would protect us from the undead, and that we would need it.  When we're on either of the graveyard screens, we're going to be harassed by zombies. Word is they will kill you if you somehow get to this point without the scarab. I have many questions I'd like to ask the person who confirmed that. Because that involved wasting 12 actual hours. I will not actually show that death off because I value my time too much. Now excuse me while I play Factorio until the sun comes up.  So let's go into the manor.  That candle on the left wall was not lit this morning. After a few seconds...  : What's that?! Why, it's the sound of a crying baby, and it's coming from upstairs!We want to go in the left door upstairs. Periodically now, we're going to get a narration message while in the house. : Rosella hears a baby crying! This looks like it was once a very nice bedroom. That bed looks super plush. We, again, want to go in the open door on the left, into the nursery.  : The crying baby seems to be in here.>look in cradle : With trepidation, Rosella peeks into the rocking cradle and sees nothing. Tentatively she reaches her hand into it. There's nothing there!Okay, so we got a ghost baby to deal with.  You might think I'm running away, but no. This next series of puzzles isn't well thought out. Basically, we need to calm the spirits in the house. Typically, this sort of thing requires us to find an object that belonged to the ghost in life and return it to them, usually into their grave. That puts the spirit at rest and lets us continue on. We're going to be doing the exact opposite of that. We'll be robbing the graves of these spirits to give to them the items they mysteriously can't find anymore. No it doesn't make any sense. Oh and there's an extra special layer of "gently caress you" sprinkled on top. You remember that shovel we found much earlier in the game? Here's where we need it. That shovel is super rickety and basically falling apart. It will last through exactly five digs. There's five spirits we need to put back to rest. Dig up the wrong grave by accident? Congratulations, the game is now unwinnable. To make matters In a well designed game, the zombies would spawn, test that you have the scarab, and then stop spawning altogether because you've solved the "puzzle". The entire section after we're sent to find Pandora's Box, until we return with it, is probably the worst part of the game collectively. There's a lot of bullshit that only serves to test your patience. So let's get this crap over with.  If you look at the graves, the game just gives you a generic description. You have to actually type in >read tombstone. As is standard for a video game graveyard, there's rhyming quatrains discussing the person buried underneath. I'm not going to be covering them all, but here's an example. Tombstone posted:I plant these shrubs upon your grave, dear wife, It's pretty obvious which graves are the ones we need to dig up. The one next to the shrubbery quatrain, for instance... Tombstone posted:Lord Coninsby 67 years old and a lord. It doesn't sound like our baby, but we'll keep his grave in mind.  When a zombie comes into contact with you, and you have the scarab, the above message plays. This happens no matter what you're doing. So expect to have your excavations interrupted by annoying messages. The grave in the far left corner reads... Tombstone posted:1643 At first glance, this reads like a red herring tombstone. But nope, this is one of the five we'll need to dig up.  Just above Rosella here is a grave. It's in the far back of the screen and partially obscured by the creepy oak. Tombstone posted:To the ever living memory of Hiram Bennet, This sounds like the grave we need. >dig  : Rosella carefully digs a small hole at the poor baby's grave. What is this?! She has uncovered a silver baby rattle!  Back in the haunted nursery... >give rattle to ghost : Rosella drops the silver rattle into the baby cradle. As she does so, the crying of the baby ghost and the rocking of the cradle cease. She breathes big sigh of relief.: The sound of loud moaning and the rattling of heavy chains disturbs the peace and quiet. >look ghost : The ghost of a stooped old miser trudges through the house, lugging heavy chains behind him. He moans loudly in frustration as he appears to be searching for something he can't find.Sounds like his current unliving nightmare is his just reward for being a greedy bastard. Anyway, we already found the miser's grave.  : Rosella digs a small hole at the grave of the old miser. Aha! She has found a bag of coins.  I do like that time actually advances to the PM hours when night falls. I'm not entirely sure where it's getting 9:25, though. An hour and four real time minutes ago, it was 8:10. Even allowing for the 12 hour jump when night falls, I have no idea why it's a completely different time from what it should be.  >give coins to ghost : Rosella offers the bag of gold coins to the old miser ghost. He greedily snatches it from her hands, and then promptly disappears. Shortly thereafter, the sound of sorrowful weeping floats down from upstairs. This is in the righthand room of the upstairs. You may not immediately find the ghost unless you know exactly where to look.  She only fades into view when you're nearby, and she takes a second to do so. >look ghost : Rosella sees the sad ghost of a beautiful young woman. She sits in her rocking chair and weeps as if her heart will break.>talk to ghost : Rosella tries to comfort the lady ghost, but she doesn't respond. It seems as if she doesn't even know anyone else is here, as she continues her deep sobbing. We're back on this screen again. Two of the five graves we need to dig up are over here. The first one is this big one in the immediate foreground that sticks out. Tombstone posted:Betty Cowden Sounds like our ghost. >dig  : Rosella carefully digs a small hole at the sad lady ghost's grave. She has found a lovely locket! While we're still here, the last grave we'll need is in the far back on the left side. The one that looks cracked. Tombstone posted:1546 That was super meandering and also badly written and reads like another red herring tombstone, but that's the last one we'll need.  >give locket to ghost : Rosella hands the lovely locket to the distraught ghost. The locket seems to make her very happy as she vanishes into thin air. Suddenly, a loud wailing can be heard from downstairs. This man looks like both an ex soldier and a lord of the manor. So I guess we know where to go next. >look ghost : Rosella has encountered the gentleman ghost of the distinguished Lord of the Manor. He wails despondently as he seems to be looking for something he desperately wants. : Rosella digs a small hole at the grave of the Lord of the Manor. Gotcha! She has found an impressive Medal of Honor!  >give medal to ghost : Rosella offers the Medal of Honor to the wailing ghost. He takes it from her hands with great reverence. Satisfied, he vanishes into thin air. : A cute, little boy ghost suddenly appears! He grins mischeviously at Rosella, begins to giggle, and runs from the room.I'm actually going to call the update here. NEXT TIME: We find Pandora's Box and enter the endgame. We're very nearly done! List of Points +3 - Silver Rattle +2 - Baby ghost helped +3 - Ghost money +2 - Jacob Marley helped +3 - Buried locket +2 - Sad ghost helped +3 - Medal found +2 - Lord ghost helped Total 154/230 Register of Deaths None this time
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Aug 31, 2017 04:46
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If you get caught by a zombie without the scarab, Rosella turns into a zombie, wanders around the screen, you get the death message: "To wander forever is now your fate." Fun fact: If you go into the manor at night without the scarab, a zombie will jump from the hedges and auto kill you without warning. Don't believe me? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUYu565Shvk&t=162s
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Aug 31, 2017 05:18
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did you choose Max Payne as the narrator just because of the baby ghost? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exp3KfqckTw
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Aug 31, 2017 06:04
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Psion posted:Here's the problem, though. They stayed in business those five years, and more besides. King's Quest was huge; it was an enormous pillar in the PC gaming world back then. These were very successful titles. They were successful despite being what we look back now and say "what the gently caress" levels of difficult. The PC gaming market was just different back in the day, and I'm not saying that as some sort of "get off my lawn" poo poo. I'm not saying better, just different. Stuff like this wasn't "crimes of game design," if nothing else because it succeeded in making Sierra a lot of money.  I remember loving the KQ series when I was a kid, but replaying them a few months ago was more of an exercise in frustration than anything. But replaying the Space Quest and Quest for Glory series has been actually fun.
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Aug 31, 2017 06:35
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There is actually another way to screw yourself over that was missed during the last update beyond having the shovel break on you, where you can put yourself in a dead man walking situation. I don't know if you intend to show it off since the text is basically 'well you shouldn't have done that, idiot' and you can't really do it by mistake, but it is a loss state, so... You can eat the fruit.
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Aug 31, 2017 06:44
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Tombstone posted:1546
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Aug 31, 2017 06:57
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Prism posted:There is actually another way to screw yourself over that was missed during the last update beyond having the shovel break on you, where you can put yourself in a dead man walking situation. I don't know if you intend to show it off since the text is basically 'well you shouldn't have done that, idiot' and you can't really do it by mistake, but it is a loss state, so... You can eat the fruit. That's not technically a dead man walking situation though, since you can still complete the game, you just get a less than optimal ending. Erpy fucked around with this message at 08:42 on Aug 31, 2017 |
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Aug 31, 2017 08:15
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Prism posted:There is actually another way to screw yourself over that was missed during the last update beyond having the shovel break on you, where you can put yourself in a dead man walking situation. I don't know if you intend to show it off since the text is basically 'well you shouldn't have done that, idiot' and you can't really do it by mistake, but it is a loss state, so... You can eat the fruit. There's a better spot to show the spoilered thing off that doesn't involve me replaying the last quarter of the game. I'll show it off then.
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Aug 31, 2017 08:30
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Outpost22 posted:
I STILL replay Quest for Glory 1 and 2 every few years. King's Quest is... a lot more frustrating and annoying.
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Aug 31, 2017 08:56
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Erpy posted:That's not technically a dead man walking situation though, since you can still complete the game, you just get a less than optimal ending. Ha, can you? I never thought to actually finish it since it yells at you right away; I figured it'd just give you a game over when you left. DoubleNegative posted:There's a better spot to show the spoilered thing off that doesn't involve me replaying the last quarter of the game. I'll show it off then. Fair enough! I didn't know it changed the ending, so that makes sense.
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Aug 31, 2017 14:40
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As it was a pain in the rear end to turn a computer on and off back then, we'd leave the comp on for hours while we did our chores and whatnot. So yeah, we got to see the zombie deaths. It's also possible to avoid the house zombie going in. It's impossible to avoid it going out though (at least to my knowledge) so there's another dead (wo)man walking  scenario.
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Sep 1, 2017 00:38
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OAquinas posted:Thexder 1987 This loving game.
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Sep 1, 2017 06:38
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Count me in the camp that thinks people give these games too much crap. The whale tongue is the most egregious thing about this game. That's something that presents itself as a puzzle, and so a person might go scouring Tamir for a grappling hook or something else to scale the tongue, never knowing the solution was just to slam their head against the wall a hundred times until they get the exact right pattern. That's baaaaad. This? This is the best part of the game. What's unspoken by the let's player is how creepy the manor is. The first time you peek into the nursery and see the crib tipping back and forth while Rock-a-Bye Baby plays spookily over the Roland, it can be legit unnerving. Forgive me, I'm going be a little critical here. It's exasperating to see the music, atmosphere, level of innovation, historical context compared to other games in 1988, etc., all go glossed over in favor of savaging the game. Yeah, the shovel's stupid. But emphasizing totally minor, nitpicky stuff like "The zombies should just stop spawning once you have the scarab because having to hit enter whenever one reaches me tests my patience" is just over-exaggerating something that's only debatably a flaw. It's really not a big deal. Don't get me wrong, KQ4 has it's fair share of bullshit, but it's tiresome when so many King's Quest LPs drift into IGN "Sonic was never good" territory. Consumer tastes and theories about game design have changed since 1988... They're changing all the time. Skyrim players trash Morrowind because it didn't have fast travel. Modern WoW players trash vanilla WoW because the endgame was too exclusive. This isn't so very different.
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Sep 1, 2017 16:49
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Leif. posted:This loving game. If anyone wants a game that mercilessly punishes anything less than perfect reflexes and coordination, they want to see this game. "Hope you can master transforming into a plane in a splitsecond to get through this gap!" I really liked the CONCEPT, though. It was a fun IDEA for a game.
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Sep 1, 2017 16:59
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Bloops Crusts posted:The whale tongue is the most egregious thing about this game. That's something that presents itself as a puzzle, and so a person might go scouring Tamir for a grappling hook or something else to scale the tongue, never knowing the solution was just to slam their head against the wall a hundred times until they get the exact right pattern. That's baaaaad. The cave is just as bad...keep doing the same thing until this time it works by RNG. And the combination of both - whale tongue and cave - will lead you in the exact wrong way towards the shovel. Suddenly you're punished for trying something that doesn't work.
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Sep 1, 2017 18:30
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Wasn't Thexder one of Game Arts' first games, and Sierra published it in the US? I know they published Thexder, Silpheed, Zeliard, and I think Ys I?Bloops Crusts posted:In defense of King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella The whale tongue is stupid, as is the troll cave. But you're pretty much right; people kinda unjustly poo poo on KQ4 because of stuff like that. Meanwhile, the whole atmosphere of the game gets buried (to be fair, there's some more stuff involving the scarab we'll get to in a bit that's somewhere between "legit poor design" and "at least someone in Coarsegold planned for this.") under the complaints. Besides, there's gonna be plenty of time to (sing the praises of, sling poo poo onto) KQ5 when we get there. =p
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Sep 1, 2017 18:40
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Yeah, I've been fairly quick to call out the series' BS, though (I'd like to think at least) I've been trying to temper it with historical context. Each game pulled the industry forward in some regard, and there are interesting concepts and ideas there along with some genuinely good art and writing. It's just that they're sometimes/often buried under questionable implementation. And interesting ideas are not always good ones--sometimes innovation just produces new and unique bullshit. Up until around this point the KQ series has been the solitary trailblazer in the genre from Sierra, but (actually starting at KQ3) the other -Quest series have been established and can be used as comparison foils for the game...and it's difficult to assert that most of them don't come away looking favorable to KQ. KQ5 is even worse. 6 though...they did everything right there.
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Sep 1, 2017 20:02
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A big problem is that it is incredibly difficult to forget later inventions. Sierra deaths were less a gently caress you to players and more a solution to the problem of a branching story exploding if you actually provide content for the "wrong" branches. Instant death solves that, but so does "no, you can't do that" as later invented by Lucasfilm Games (they still had gently caress-you deaths at this time). They all tried and abandoned things around the time (such as close contemporary Indy3's health bar and the gently caress-you blimp). Heck, Wolfenstein 3D had gold pickups awarding you points. For no reason at all (except awarding you and extra live every 20000 points). It was just what games did (because in arcades that served as an incentive to spend more money), and it wasn't until Doom thy thought they could get away with that. Wolfenstein and Doom also had lives, because nobody had realized yet that wasn't really necessary when you weren't paying for gameplay in bundles of 3 lives. Even if it's 30 years ago, two games just 3-5 years apart had huge differences, and comparing KQ4 to Day of the Tentacle makes no sense. I was always more into the LSL series over KQ, because Roberta was a bit of a hack writer.
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Sep 1, 2017 20:20
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Snorb posted:Wasn't Thexder one of Game Arts' first games, and Sierra published it in the US? I know they published Thexder, Silpheed, Zeliard, and I think Ys I? I think the DOS version of Ys I was actually published by Broderbund. I seem to recall seeing flyers for it alongside/with the Carmen Sandiego games.
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Sep 1, 2017 20:51
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klafbang posted:Wolfenstein and Doom also had lives, because nobody had realized yet that wasn't really necessary when you weren't paying for gameplay in bundles of 3 lives. Just Wolfenstein. DooM did not have lives. Part of the reason the KQ games get so much flack is that even Sierra itself was otherwise on the way to a better game design path with other titles. But King's Quest was Roberta's baby, and she's the perfect example of why someone who doesn't play games has handicaps in designing them.
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Sep 1, 2017 20:58
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Seyser Koze posted:I think the DOS version of Ys I was actually published by Broderbund. I seem to recall seeing flyers for it alongside/with the Carmen Sandiego games. Seems right: http://www.oldgames.sk/en/game/ancient-land-of-ys/
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Sep 1, 2017 21:02
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It's unfortunate that adventure games didn't follow the Quest for Glory route and include RPG elements. Combining the two genres fixes a bunch of issues with both. All those bullshit deaths make players want a tool set for finding a solution instead of reading Roberta Williams's mind/calling the Sierra hint line.
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Sep 1, 2017 21:31
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There was Mask of Eternity, which I will absolutely defend as a good game to this day. Just let's not talk about the ending.
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Sep 1, 2017 23:10
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So what were the "good" Sierra games as far as Sierra deaths are concerned?
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Sep 2, 2017 03:19
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Snorb posted:There was Mask of Eternity, which I will absolutely defend as a good game to this day. Just let's not talk about the ending. Mask of Eternity is an ok game. It's god awful as a King's Quest game though.
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Sep 2, 2017 03:34
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Bar Crow posted:It's unfortunate that adventure games didn't follow the Quest for Glory route and include RPG elements. Combining the two genres fixes a bunch of issues with both. All those bullshit deaths make players want a tool set for finding a solution instead of reading Roberta Williams's mind/calling the Sierra hint line. 
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Sep 2, 2017 03:45
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Bloops Crusts posted:Forgive me, I'm going be a little critical here. It's exasperating to see the music, atmosphere, level of innovation, historical context compared to other games in 1988, etc., all go glossed over in favor of savaging the game. Yeah, the shovel's stupid. But emphasizing totally minor, nitpicky stuff like "The zombies should just stop spawning once you have the scarab because having to hit enter whenever one reaches me tests my patience" is just over-exaggerating something that's only debatably a flaw. It's really not a big deal. Your point is fair, and I have been super critical of the game. It's going to continue into the future though, because I stand by what I said earlier with 5 being the peak bullshit the series engaged in. On the whole, I like King's Quest 4. But even setting aside the nitpicking I do, there are actual design problems with the game, looking at things from a modern eye or no. Like that entire cave section, for instance. An invisible maze in pitch black, with a largely useless "light source," where every time you change screens there's a random chance you'll just die. Even in the 1980s that poo poo was, at best, the developers being spiteful to their players. The zombie thing I didn't do a very good job explaining apparently. Three of them spawn each time you enter a screen, and they start chasing you immediately. Unlike the giant from the first game, if you get them caught up on terrain, they just despawn and reappear a second later. So each time you enter a graveyard to, say, dig up an item, you have to deal with three separate interruptions. So, if you know exactly where to go and what to do, that's still 15 interruptions for this section of the game. So when I say that there's no need for them to test you having the scarab more than once ever, that's the reason why. You can't drop the scarab, so the game is just needlessly repeating the same puzzle over and over because it can. Because, I suppose, it never occurred to anyone in 1988 that there was any other way to do things. Being interrupted 12 more times for a "puzzle" you've already solved, is just annoying. Minor annoyances like these compound over time into major issues. It's why in the coming updates I'm going to be doing a lot more bitching about platforming, because there's yet more stupid design decisions that do not make sense to anyone in their right mind. As to the other point, about consumer tastes and design theories changing... the only perspective on this I have is a modern lens. I didn't play the first four games for the first time until this decade. In 1988 when this game originally came out, I was still young enough to be in diapers. So the only perspective I have is looking at more than half of this series with a modern eye. I'm going to be at my most negative about the series until the start of King's Quest 6. 4 has a lot of annoyances backloaded, and 5 is an entire can of worms I'm going to get into in a few weeks. So just bear with me until we get to the only good one in the series, when the love-in will start. After that we'll have some fun making fun of 7, and then end the thread on a high note with something completely different and super fun. Also update in a few hours. Been a busy day for me and I haven't started working on it yet.
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Sep 2, 2017 04:05
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Honestly, I can't WAIT for the 5 thrashing. 1-4 (and 7 for that matter) I have legit good memories of, even if I realize they have problems. 5 I have nothing but spite for. Thankfully 6 makes up for that in spades.
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Sep 2, 2017 05:43
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Aces High posted:So what were the "good" Sierra games as far as Sierra deaths are concerned? Police Quest 1 is pretty good. You get a lot of surprise deaths, but almost all of them are caused by something close by so you shouldn't lose much progress. When you do something dumb, the game is not very consistent on choosing between telling you it's dumb and killing you. PQ2 has some rougher dead man walking scenarios and felt like a lot of worse deaths. Conquests of Camelot is absolutely fantastic. It has more and more interesting deaths than PQ, and the main way to be far removed from the cause of death requires the player to be doing something they know is very very bad to make the game easier. However, it probably also has more deaths that are a few screens behind (not a huge distance, but enough that you might be a little annoyed?). I'd like to see a proper LP of this game, not impossible that I'll do it myself sometime but LP skills/laziness are likely to prevent it.
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Sep 2, 2017 08:38
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 Hello everyone, and welcome back to King's Quest IV. We just have a few puzzles left until we're locked in the end sequence, so the end of the game is in sight! A worse fate yet awaits us still. So let's see what this young boy wants.  A trapdoor has opened and a ladder has lowered in this smaller bedroom.  Rather than deal with the ladder four times, we'll just go dig up his grave. : Rosella digs a small hole at the little boy ghost's grave. Aha! She has uncovered a toy horse! That's a pretty rad toy, not gonna lie. A miniature version of the Trojan Horse and all.  I was gonna make a joke about Rosella being super slow at climbing the ladder, but it does make sense. There's no telling just how old it is, and if it will even support her weight. So good on her for being careful.  >look ghost : The little boy ghost laughs, and refuses to budge from his seat on top of the chest. It might help if he had a toy to play with.>give toy to ghost : Rosella gives the toy horse to the little boy ghost in hopes that he will vanish like the others before him. For a moment, she fears that he will not, as he takes time to examine it carefully. Suddenly, he grins at her, and in a twinkling, disappears.>look : After adjusting her eyes to the gloom, Rosella soon sees that she has stumbled upon the musty attic of the old house. The trapdoor in the floor is open, and from it, a ladder leads down to the room below. Useless junk and boxes clutter the room. There is an interesting chest near the open trapdoor.>open chest >look in chest : Rosella peeks into the old open chest, and finds... an old set of sheet music! She takes it and carries it with her.  To get back down, we have to approach the edge of the trapdoor and type >climb down. Be careful on the right edge of the trapdoor. Everywhere else won't let you walk off, but you can there.  Anyway, the sheet music was the whole reason we've been running errands for ghosts. I mentioned way back in one of the first updates that the only thing in the tower above the manor was an old pipe organ. So guess where we're going...  I want to preface this next section by saying that I actually like this game. I know in all the nitpicking and complaining that I do that it can be easy to lose sight of that. I'm not gonna claim it's a good game, but I like it regardless. It's markedly less bullshit than previous "wait 16 minutes on a pirate ship" entries "put bridle on snake" in the "Ifnkovhgroghprm" series. I say all of that to give context to my next complaint.   After 3 games of spiral staircases working one way, Sierra changed it for no particularly good reason. Do you see where the stairs start approaching the screen again?  It's right around where Rosella is now. When you disappear behind the stairs, the up and down controls are reversed. Pressing down to make Rosella move toward the camera will have her moving back down the stairs instead.  It's not so bad going up, because you can just mash your face against the tower wall and slowly creep your way up. But when going down the stairs? You will die and you will die over and over and over again. Even knowing that the up and down controls are reversed, you will be caught off guard by it every loving time it happens. It's not limited to this staircase, either. Lolotte's castle is infested with spiral staircases, and the control reversing happens on every one of them. I can't even begin to guess why someone would program the controls to work this way. It makes absolutely no sense. The only reasons that come to mind all involve the developers having antipathy for the players. That's a dangerous road to start down before King's Quest 5.  When you get up here, be very sure to type the right command. >play music is not the same as >play sheet music : Rosella finds it difficult to read the old sheet music, but she attempts it anyway.The sheet music is the right command, as it will actually progress things along. I'm also kind of amazed that the sheet music wasn't just reusing Toccata and Fugue in D-minor. : What is this? A small drawer has opened in the organ! Rosella peers inside and sees a skeleton key. She takes it.  We're over on this screen again. I've mentioned a crypt a few times, and you can see it just in front of Rosella here. >look crypt : The stone crypt is built into the mountainside.>open door : The crypt door is locked.>unlock door : Rosella places the skeleton key in the lock of the crypt door. Slowly, she turns it. Click. It unlocked! You ever get the feeling that you weren't supposed to be somewhere? This crypt gives me that feeling. >look : What an incredible place! This looks like an ancient burial tomb, with hieroglyphics written on the walls, and an old coffin against the far wall. A pile of rope is at the edge of the upper platform. Rosella sees an odd-looking, little chest here. It must be Pandora's Box.>get rope : Rosella reaches down to get the pile of rope. To her happy surprise, she finds that the rope is actually a rope ladder attached to the end of the platform! Gladly, she throws it over the edge of the platform, where it falls to the floor below. >climb down : Look out for the mummy!>look mummy : This mummy appears to be at least a thousand years old! Its' wrappings are loose and ecayed... and it stinks!>look box : Pandora's Box is on the floor of the crypt. Rosella, reluctantly, picks it up.Alright, while Rosella walks out, I want to show off a very special death that you will never see in normal play. To even get to this point, you have to have the scarab. I've been informed that if you don't have it, you will be killed when entering or leaving the mansion. A zombie will jump out of the hedges and condemn Rosella to wander eternally as one of the damned. So what happens if you somehow get into the crypt without the scarab?  Here we are way back at the start of the game. I've called in some help for this one. Goombella and Professor, if you wouldn't mind... >overtime nosleep  : You see nothing special.  : These options are somewhat treacherous to mess with, especially the bottom three. We're only interested in the "Show Room" item, which tells the room ID. Pandora's Crypt is room 69. Armed with this knowledge...>TP : A box will pop up asking us where we want to teleport to. Just type in the ID and off you go!  : We're back in the crypt! Look at our score. We've got 0 points. If we walked outside, it would be broad daylight. So, not armed with the scarab, let's try to loot Pandora's Box... : How did you get here without the scarab? You will be the next victim of the mummy!: Boy, these guys are sometimes fast for their age! Thanks to those friendly archaeologists for coming out of retirement to help me show that off. Back to the game already in progress... Going to cut the update here, but let's leave off on doing something monumentally stupid. >open pandora's box : OK, but you'll be sorry... NEXT TIME: The endgame of King's Quest IV. List of Points +3 - Exhumed a toy horse +2 - Made a dead little boy happy +2 - Got some old sheet music +4 - Played creepy music +2 - Looted skeleton key +3 - Entered the forbidden crypt +2 - Lowered the ladder +4 - Legendary source of all evil Total 176/230 Register of Deaths Taking a Shortcut from the Attic Cheating Opening Pandora's Box. You moron.
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Sep 2, 2017 10:36
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That mummy is giving me some unpleasant flashbacks to the one from Hugo's House of Horrors.
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Sep 2, 2017 14:41
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The regular organ music is some recognizable classic piece, but I can't find the title.
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Sep 2, 2017 15:02
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The idea behind reversing the controls there is, I assume, so that 'up' moves you higher up the staircase. It's horrible. It killed me so many times. Game designers should never do this. Always map in relation to the screen (unless it's a tank controls game, I guess). Don't change the rules! Ugh. I have opinions on that choice.
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Sep 2, 2017 15:09
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...shouldn't the only thing left in the box be hope? Or did all the evils that plagued the world just decide to go home for the weekend?
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Sep 3, 2017 02:02
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