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Scariest KQ moments?

Started by Sir Perceval of Daventry, July 02, 2011, 07:50:50 PM

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Sir Perceval of Daventry

What, for you, were the scariest KQ moments?

For me, growing up, I couldn't even PLAY the Land of the Dead sequence, I had to have someone else play through it for me. I'm talking a young kid--I was 6, 7, 8 maybe. At that age, the rotting zombies seemed realistic and very very freaky and creepy--the stuff of nightmares. Even today I still find the sprites of the zombies in KQ6 spooky, for example, the blue skinned female zombie with the butcher knife jammed in her back. That was a disturbing image for me at 6 years old.

Also, whenever the Blue Monster in KQ5 in Mordack's castle would come, I'd jump out of my seat. I still do at times today. There's just something so unexpected about it, even if I've played the game a thousand times, that it makes me jump. It's not so much scary as it is unsettling.

KQ4 is just one plain creepy game as I've elaborated before; I find most of that game to have an eerie, almost Twilight Zone-ish feel, like it's a desolate, eerie land where death lies just around every corner. The whole land of Tamir is just as creepy as the Haunted House in it, at least for me.

kindofdoon

Back in the day when I was younger and not intelligent enough to figure out how to do basic things in KQVI, I used to accidentally make Alexander drown in the sea on the very first scene in the game. Now, whenever I play that scene, and Alexander walks knee-deep in the water, when the narrator warns me about the water not being "as calm as it seems", accompanied by that high-pitched eerie MIDI note, it scares me.

Daniel Dichter, Production/PR
daniel.dichter@postudios.com

MusicallyInspired

#2
Off the top of my head:

KQ6 Catacombs
KQ5 Enchanted Forest
KQ6 Ooga Booga Land - As a kid, this area scared me
KQ4 Night Time - Mostly around the graveyard.
KQ4 Troll Cave
KQ3 Manannan's Appearances (in any version of the game)

Haids1987

There are sooooooooo many eerie moments in the whole of the King's Quest series, and I think every game has that one scene that sticks out to you and makes your skin crawl.  If you played it as a child, too, you probably have more frightening memories than people who only recently played--trauma sticks to you, man!  :o

1. As a three year-old, it was definitely the music that would play in KQI when Dahlia swoops down on Graham in the woods and grabs him, closely followed by the gnome/wizard/wolf randomly showing up on the screens in Daventry.  I don't like things popping out at me when I'm not expecting it, and video gaming is no exception!

2. The graveyard and haunted house in KQIV still get to me, especially before I knew about the scarab protecting Rosella against zombies.  I was on the edge of my seat trying not to let them touch me!  Plus, as you have mentioned, game 4 in itself is just overall kind of gloomy and spooky, with this strange helplessness underlying the adventure.

3. There's not much in KQV that I remember being freaked out by, except for when the blue creature shows up in the dining room at Mordack's and it plays the music.  Again, it pops out at me and I don't like it!

4. The Land of the Dead scared me, but not so badly that I wouldn't play.  I uaually could handle it, but only as long as there was a dog or an older sibling somewhere nearby.  I think it was the music and sound effects that scared me more than anything, though!  The music is so nightmarish. *Shudder*

5. Oooga Booga Land.  I HATED when I'd blow the whistle at the wrong time or place, or if I'd be standing one spot too long, and the Boogeyman would pop out.
STATUS:
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Perpetually. ;D
Erica Reed is Katie Hallahan.
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Enchantermon

As has already been mentioned, KQIV's zombie screeens always scared me before I found out about the scarab, as well as Sam popping up randomly in KQV. Besides that, I absolutely could not play Chapter 4 of KQVII because the Boogeyman randomly showing up scared the mess out of me, so I always skipped it. :P
So what if I am, huh? Anyways, I work better when I'm drunk. It makes me fearless! If I see a bad guy, I'll just point my sword at him and saaaaaaaaaay, "Hey! Bad guy! You're not s'posed to be here! Go home or I'll stick you with my sword 'til you go, 'Ouch! I'm dead!' Ah-ha-ha!" Ha-ha. *hic* See? Ain't no one gonna be messin' wit' ol', Benny!

Big C from Cauney island

I would say the troll cave in KQ4, though there are many scary moments in kq.  The blue monster in mordack's castle for sure, and I would say all of kq4 had a creepy feel, the haunted house stuff freaked me out. But the troll cave tops them all.

However, as far as scary in sierra... I would say the beginning of space quest 4 was REAL freaky. I was scared of that zombie that screams at you. A very scary sierra moment.

Haids1987

Quote from: Enchantermon on July 03, 2011, 05:20:54 AM
...as well as Sam popping up randomly in KQV.
Is Sam the blue guy's name?
STATUS:
-Drinking water
-Checking the forum. 

Perpetually. ;D
Erica Reed is Katie Hallahan.
Leader of the "I <3 Doon" Fanclub

Enchantermon

So what if I am, huh? Anyways, I work better when I'm drunk. It makes me fearless! If I see a bad guy, I'll just point my sword at him and saaaaaaaaaay, "Hey! Bad guy! You're not s'posed to be here! Go home or I'll stick you with my sword 'til you go, 'Ouch! I'm dead!' Ah-ha-ha!" Ha-ha. *hic* See? Ain't no one gonna be messin' wit' ol', Benny!

Haids1987

#8
Is that who she means?  I always assumed she meant the spidery thing that creeps around the catacombs maze while Graham is walking around it.  I wouldn't think that she would make friends with the blue thing, since it never shows a good side to Graham!

EDIT: Well whaddya know, I found an old thread that discusses this very issue! ;D
STATUS:
-Drinking water
-Checking the forum. 

Perpetually. ;D
Erica Reed is Katie Hallahan.
Leader of the "I <3 Doon" Fanclub

darthkiwi

#9
As a child, I was most scared of random beasties popping out from the edge of the screen in KQ1 and 2. That really scared me, because there's no way to stop them. I was particularly scared of the point in KQ2, after you've got the bird from Hagatha, when she starts popping up on any screen, since I had to endanger myself to progress.

Also, Manannan arriving in a puff of smoke. Scary and unpredictable (or so I thought back then). Also, the awful, awful 8-bit music was a torture in and of itself. :S

But I got over those little fears quite easily. Ironically, the single most terrifying thing for me in the KQ universe, which has affected me so badly that I can no longer play that scene without wincing, is the "boink boink!" noise that the Touch gnome makes in KQ6 when he touches Alexander to see what he is. It took me ages to figure out how to get past that bit, and, as a result, I died A LOT from that "boink boink!" noise. So much so that I now think "Oh no, I'm going to die!" whenever I hear it. XD
Prince of the Aquitaine. Duke of York.

Knight errant and consort to Her Grace the Empress Deloria of the Holy Roman Empire, Queene of all Albion and Princess Palatine.

Enchantermon

#10
Quote from: MusicallyInspired on July 02, 2011, 10:04:35 PMKQ3 Mordack's Appearances (in any version of the game)
Quote from: darthkiwi on July 03, 2011, 02:19:52 PMAlso, Mordack arriving in a puff of smoke. Scary and unpredictable (or so I thought back then).
I assume you two are talking about Manannan?
Quote from: Haids1987 on July 03, 2011, 01:59:21 PMEDIT: Well whaddya know, I found an old thread that discusses this very issue! ;D
Eh. I always just assumed that was Sam. Maybe not.
So what if I am, huh? Anyways, I work better when I'm drunk. It makes me fearless! If I see a bad guy, I'll just point my sword at him and saaaaaaaaaay, "Hey! Bad guy! You're not s'posed to be here! Go home or I'll stick you with my sword 'til you go, 'Ouch! I'm dead!' Ah-ha-ha!" Ha-ha. *hic* See? Ain't no one gonna be messin' wit' ol', Benny!

darthkiwi

QuoteI assume you two are talking about Manannan?

Wuh?! How did I...? ???

I apologise profusely for my awful, awful mistake. XD
Prince of the Aquitaine. Duke of York.

Knight errant and consort to Her Grace the Empress Deloria of the Holy Roman Empire, Queene of all Albion and Princess Palatine.

MusicallyInspired

Dear God how did I screw that up...

Lambonius

I would say some of the gooier conversations in TSL rank up there pretty highly on scariest KQ moments.  lol

Sir Perceval of Daventry

Quote from: Lambonius on July 04, 2011, 12:13:29 PM
I would say some of the gooier conversations in TSL rank up there pretty highly on scariest KQ moments.  lol

Lol. The scariest for me would have to be the awkward Graham-Edgar conversation in the Garden. Graham has no sense of tact. He asks Edgar point blank, "How did it feel to be stolen from your parents and grow up without a family?" I mean, thanks for being subtle Graham. If I was Edgar, I'd be like, 'How do you think it felt, you insensitive jerk?!"

But instead, Edgar is made to look like a moron. He retorts by telling Graham that he should probably ask Alexander instead. BUT ALEXANDER IS COMATOSE. Edgar has been reinvented as the Fredo Corleone of the KQ universe.


Baggins

#15
QuoteEh. I always just assumed that was Sam. Maybe not.
If its any help, the 2nd Edition of King's Quest Companion, suggests that Mordack's Henchmen is possibly related to Dink. It describes it as a 'nameless henchman'.

The book also adds that Sam is the brother of Dink.

If the blue creature is not Sam (and there are reasons to suspect it isn't, Cassima doesn't seem to like the 'blue meanie', and its described as being 'nameless', etc), it is apparently a third related creature (perhaps a kind of evil sibling).

The book does seem to suggest that Sam probably looks alot like Dink, the two are probably indistinguishable, and the only thing that separates them, is the sounds they make, 'Dink, Dink, Dink', or 'Sam, Sam, Sam'.
Well, ya, King's Quest is on Earth. Daventry is very old city from a long time ago. It's in ruins now and people aren't quite sure exactly where it used to be. There are some archaeologists searching through the ruins, they think they know its Daventry. But its somewhere on Earth."-Roberta Williams http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/File:Daventryisearth.ogg

DawsonJ

It's good to know I'm not alone in being scared by certain parts of KQ games. However, I find it interesting that the scariest game of the KQ series hasn't been mentioned. MoE scares the crud out of me when I play it, even recently.

Sir Perceval of Daventry

Quote from: DawsonJ on July 04, 2011, 07:05:38 PM
It's good to know I'm not alone in being scared by certain parts of KQ games. However, I find it interesting that the scariest game of the KQ series hasn't been mentioned. MoE scares the crud out of me when I play it, even recently.

Which parts? I thought the dark, lonely Daventry, populated only with monsters and humans turned to stone, was creepy when I first got the game at age 8. The Underworld wasn't really that creepy but the Zombies of KQ8 were creepy.

DawsonJ

Of MoE, probably the whole creatures-coming-out-of-nowhere concept, which was in nearly every area. The beginning of the Land of the Dead, with the initial attack of the skeletons gets me every time. Also, the Swamp has an atmosphere of fog that makes it hard to see upcoming enemies. In the caverns of the gnomes, the strange creatures that attack from the ground and ceiling seem to come from nowhere, and quickly.

Damar

As far as the moments that scared me the most, the answer would be any of the bad guys from KQ II and III.  Mainly because they were random and when they appeared you got that ungodly loud theme music blaring from the computer.  And what made it worse was the fact that you knew certain areas had these baddies but you couldn't avoid it.  As a kid, I would creep around the sides of the screen, then venture close to the bandits tree to get acorns (which you always had to search around for) all the while dreading the inevitable moment the silence would be shattered with a DA-DA-DADADADA-DA-DAAAAAAA!  The troll in KQ IV was the same, but at least the music was quieter.

As far as actual scary moments, King's Quest never outright scared me.  The closest it would get would be unsettling.  The Realm of the Dead first screen was unsettling, but then it got awesome.  Other unsettling locations would be Daventry and the Dimension of Death from MOE (mainly because of the music).  Mordack's castle from KQ V, which was just unlike anything else in King's Quest prior to it and even afterwards.  Also, western Tamir always unsettled me.  Basically once the pine trees started, this creeping feeling started crawling through my head.  You were no longer safe when the pine trees started.  You were closer to Lolotte, the ogre, the troll, the trees, the witches, and that graveyard.  Tamir went from happy fairy land to dark in one screen.