In retrospect, was KQ a bad series?

[kyranthia]

In my book, while it had some flaws, it was not a bad series.

I know some people hated the updated KQ I but I honestly liked it better than the original.  KQ II was all right.  I HATED KQ III.  That time limit thing drove me crazy since I'd get stuck and even if I saved and restored, if I saved too late, it didn't matter and I would have to go back multiple save games.  KQ IV...it's been awhile since I played it but I remember it being decent.  The night mode was a nice touch for its time.

KQ V...eh.  It was a bit of a mixed bag for me.  I played both the NES and computer versions of the game and kinda felt the NES one was a bit easier.  There were things about it that didn't make sense to me.  Like you release the genie and it traps you in the bottle - game death.  But you're supposed to know to the genie will do that to use the bottle on the witch.  Huh?  I always thought this puzzle would have made more sense if you did it once and the genie warned you the next time you rubbed the lamp, then it would trap you (or the witch).

I did very much enjoy KQ VI.  To me, that was my favorite one of the series.  The puzzles were good, the story worked decent, the portrait animation was great for its time.  And it had multiple endings, two main ones and variations on those two.  Pretty neat, I thought.

As for KQ VII, yes, it is flawed a lot.  The animation is so-so.  The voice acting was...eh.  (Way too small of a cast and you could easily tell most times if one voice actor/actress was playing multiple people.)  The auto save wasn't a bad thing totally.  But the plot suffered some major fridge logic.  It had some fun and cute things so I could replay it.

I didn't like KQ VIII.  I remember getting to the end and being like 'that's it?'  The ending really was nothing for everything that you had to do in that game.

[stika]

I generally enjoyed all games but I do have to agree with the time limit on KQ III.

As a general rule, I hate time limits, they limit exploration :\

[JDHJANUS]

Stika, don't ever play LSL2. That's like a collection of time limits that just tries to make you go crazy. O_o

Also, don't play any of Jim Walls' games. Exploration takes a 3rd or 4th seat to procedure and simulation.

King's Quest III is actually my least favorite of the series (I haven't completed MOE yet, so I don't include it). While I know a lot of people liked it, I think it is by far the hardest game in the series, and one of the only ones that doesn't provide a good direction as to what you're supposed to do and where you're supposed to go. I don't like games that don't have a somewhat linear story direction and clear goals. I mean, yeah, you kind of get the idea you're supposed to get rid of the wizard, but there's no direction to show you HOW to do that, or any clear idea as to what direction you should take in order to DO that.

King's Quest VI and IV are my two favorite in the series. Both incredible games. I agree that King's Quest V was kind of "meh" in and of itself as well. The main thing I hated about KQV is the ABSURD number of unwinnable dead ends that game has. O_o

Talk to you later!

JDHJANUS
Josh

[Blackthorne]

I enjoy all of the King's Quests up until VII.  I don't care for it much, and Mask of Eternity?  Yeah, that's not King's Quest!


Bt

[Numbers]

King's Quest or no, MoE is still better than 7. I'm not exaggerating when I say KQ7 is probably my most hated game I've ever played, and this is coming from someone who played Command and Conquer 4, which currently sits at a 1.5/5 star rating on Amazon from more than 300 reviews. That's how much I hate 7. Then again, I explained why I hated it so much in this very thread, so I probably don't need to repeat myself.

[stika]

I think the issue with Mask of Eternity was largely a marketing one. They should have made it clear that it was a spin-off.

As an action adventure game it's a good game by mid-to-late 90s standards. Now that I think about it, they also should have done something about the fact that Graham does not look or sound like Graham.

[Numbers]

It'd have been as simple as saying that the game took place in a neighboring kingdom to Daventry. Change a line here and there, and there you have it.

[stika]

Wow, so here I was thinking how they could have gotten the same actor and created a new model and here you go and create a much simpler and cheaper alternative