Opinions on King's Quest V?

[Fierce Deity]

Hell in middle school I thought the Matrix: Reloaded video game was really good. >__>

NEEEEOOOOO!!!!!

[MusicallyInspired]

The Matrix Reloaded didn't actually have a game. We did have Enter The Matrix, though.

[Fierce Deity]

The Matrix Reloaded didn't actually have a game. We did have Enter The Matrix, though.

That's the game that came to mind when he said Reloaded. I forgot the name. Didn't Enter The Matrix take place in between two of the movies? I remember that it was supposed to be an original entry but had a crappy story, and virtually added nothing to a series that pretty much became stagnant. I liked The Matrix till after Reloaded, then I decided to start living my life and stopped swallowing red pills. 

[MusicallyInspired]

The Wachowski brothers wrote and directed Enter The Matrix themselves. It was from the point of view of Ghost and...and...that girl. It was supposed to take place just before and during the events of Reloaded and ends somewhere towards the end. It was supposed to be a story that explained what how and why certain things happened in the movie. It even has live action scenes shot especially for the game that aren't in any of the movies. They meet the trainman for instance, I believe. Maybe...memory is funny right now. We don't see him in the movies until Revolutions.

[Baggins]

There is something wrong if KQ5 or any early KQ is being compared to Enter the Matrix or even Matrix Online.

The difference is Matrix games was nearly panned by all critics (the fate of most movie tie-in games).

Most of the KQ games on the other hand were praised industry wide, as she pushed the computer technology, and created fun whimsical original stories based on classic fairy tales, that couldn't be done previously. They were good and the industry knew it.

[Blackthorne]

I like KQ5.  But I think someone SHOULD make a v 2.0 with the changed we discussed here.  That would be cool - though it'll never happen.  It would be nice to see KQ5 in a newer, faster engine with some puzzles redone. 

I still think it's my favorite King's Quest game, but it does have it's flaws.


Bt

[Baggins]

If the changes discussed in this thread were made, some of the best scenes would be cut, just for the sake of it! Remember one person suggested removing the eagle and the roc sequence. Which IMO, is one of the best parts in the game, its like Gandalf being saved by Gwaihir the Windlord!

[Blackthorne]

Yeah, that's why I said some changes.  I'd also like to see -

- redone dialogue portraits.
- Get rid of the red "x" when you click on something it doesn't have a description for.  Go with the generic room description.
- a more helpful Cedric, and honestly, a new voice for him.  I don't think the high hooty-hoo voice really does anything for him.  I'd pick a more refined, yet older voice - with a little uncertainty to it.  Just enough to make it the right combo of wise and whimsical.

I wouldn't cut out anything, honestly - like the Eagle.


Bt

[Baggins]

Get rid of the red "x" when you click on something it doesn't have a description for.  Go with the generic room description.

The game already has generic room descriptions in every room! Roberta should have done a better job making them more global around the screen (Space Quest IV has a similar issue with the 'red Xs' as well).

Unfortunately there was a similar problem in the eariler games as well.

If you looked in the 'wrong places" in the earlier games, you'd get "I don't know what your are talking about" messages, the X's so to speak.

"look" often wasn't enough to get a room description, and 'look room' didn't always give a screen message!

The KQ1 remake might be the first game to have fully effective global room messages, and extra screen descriptions.

I was noticing the other day that there are a whole lot more 'X's in KQ7, and in that game you get no narration :p...

[Blackthorne]

Yeah, well KQ7 sucks pretty hard, so that's no surprise.


Bt

[Baggins]

Heh heh!

[Fierce Deity]

Yeah, that's why I said some changes.  I'd also like to see -

- redone dialogue portraits.
- Get rid of the red "x" when you click on something it doesn't have a description for.  Go with the generic room description.
- a more helpful Cedric, and honestly, a new voice for him.  I don't think the high hooty-hoo voice really does anything for him.  I'd pick a more refined, yet older voice - with a little uncertainty to it.  Just enough to make it the right combo of wise and whimsical.

I wouldn't cut out anything, honestly - like the Eagle.


Bt

I would want to see Cedric's appearance change too. I don't like how he looks like a know-it-all. The monocle makes me want to punch him. I'd rather he look like Kaepora Gaebora. 

[Blackthorne]

I liked Cedric's look.  It was cheeky and whimsical, which is really KQ to me.


Bt

[Baggins]

Most know it all owls' wear no clothing, see owl in Winnie the Pooh, Archimedes in Sword in the Stone. The Tootsie Pop owl only wears a graduation hat (that actually seems to be the most common theme)!

Very few wear vests, here is a good one;


Another;


and another;


Here is another, but it kinda looks like a bat!



This one is kinda creepy?

How about this one?

Here is one that wears specs;



This one appears to have two sets of eyes and two faces! Depending on how he has his head turned.


Wait a second this one appears to have stolen Graham's hat!

[Fierce Deity]

This one appears to have two sets of eyes and two faces! Depending on how he has his head turned.

I like Kaepora Gaebora. He differs from the vest-wearing owls that wear glasses. The owl is used as a wise creature in a lot of fiction, but I don't think that means he's supposed to dress like he's a professor at Stanford. He can just be wise, and look like an owl.

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

This one appears to have two sets of eyes and two faces! Depending on how he has his head turned.

I like Kaepora Gaebora. He differs from the vest-wearing owls that wear glasses. The owl is used as a wise creature in a lot of fiction, but I don't think that means he's supposed to dress like he's a professor at Stanford. He can just be wise, and look like an owl.

Yeah but there's something cheeky about an owl wearing a vest and monocle.

[Baggins]

Owl with a vest is probably the most original even...even if the idea isn't entirely original. It's definitely the rarest variation.

Kaepora actually sticts to probably the most common wise owl motif, the one found on ancient Greek artifacts representing athena. The earliest wise owls war nothing, and most images of wise owls wear nothing.

The most modern interpretation of wise owls add the graduation cap.

[MusicallyInspired]

Get rid of the red "x" when you click on something it doesn't have a description for.  Go with the generic room description.

The game already has generic room descriptions in every room! Roberta should have done a better job making them more global around the screen (Space Quest IV has a similar issue with the 'red Xs' as well).

Unfortunately there was a similar problem in the eariler games as well.

If you looked in the 'wrong places" in the earlier games, you'd get "I don't know what your are talking about" messages, the X's so to speak.

"look" often wasn't enough to get a room description, and 'look room' didn't always give a screen message!

The KQ1 remake might be the first game to have fully effective global room messages, and extra screen descriptions.

I was noticing the other day that there are a whole lot more 'X's in KQ7, and in that game you get no narration :p...

Don't forget that starting after SQ3, I believe, all SCI0 games had the option of right-clicking on objects on the screen to look at them.

[Baggins]

Right clicking only works in KQ1 SCI, actually. It doesn't work in KQ4.

But it would be interesting to see which game first included 'right cliking' to look. How effective that 'look' is. Are there blank areas with no descriptions (I wouldn't be surprised)?

KQ1 SCI probably took the complaints from KQ5 into account, as there are very few blank spots if any when right clicking. On the other hand Josh Mandel was noticing what was happening during the KQ5 development, and thought he could do better?

Right clicking may have first appeared in the SCI01 games. It wasn't in the SCI0 games as far as I know.

[MusicallyInspired]

I know, because KQ4 was the first SCI game. I said starting AFTER SQ3. Many SCI0 games (not SCI01) support the right-click look function.

The games I've tested that have it:

• Conquests of Camelot
• King's Quest I remake
• Quest for Glory I/Hero's Quest
• Quest for Glory II
• Mixed Up Mother Goose SCI (it doesn't have right click to look but it does have exclusive right click functionality apart from left-click)
• Colonel's Bequest
• Codename: ICEMAN

The only two SCI01 games on that list are KQ1SCI and QFG2. Actually, they're the only two SCI01 games Sierra ever made, besides the German version of SQ3. Larry 3 might have it as well I don't have it to test it. I doubt LSL2 has it because that was one of the early ones.