Should I play Princeless Bride and Mask of Eternity before this?

[DawsonJ]

I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I've gotta say it. MoE should have been called, "Connor's Journey to Hell and Back." Not only literally for the character, but also for the User! The plot and cheat mode were great; EVERYTHING ELSE was torture. From Connor himself to the controls and camera to the first-person-shooter aspects. One problem being the dreaded Windows ME (A.K.A. Windows Vista 1.0) time period in which it came out, meaning NO program was stable. Other than a short time in Daventry and the occasional reference, the game had no connection to King's Quest. "KQ Meets Doom" is a good comparison.

I'm sooo happy that TSL isn't made in MoE's vain.

KQ7 was buggy, but enjoyable and funny. I've bought KQ7 (in one form or another) 3 times, and it was totally worth it each time, especially since GOG got it running fat and sassy on my Win7 laptop.

[Baggins]

KQ7 is my least favorite KQ... It's so juvenile, and has the worst and most silly villain.... I also don't like the art direction.

KQ8 has grown on me, I've beaten it like 4-5 times now. It's one of my top favorite KQ games after KQ6. It also has one of my favorite soundtracks in the series after
kQ4 and KQ6. I agree though the bugs (which apparently more of a problem on vista and earlier) take away from the enjoyment.

That said no you don't need to play it for TSL. In fact you really don't need to play any previous game in the series to enjoy other games in the series. All the official games are all pretty much stand alone, with only a few groupings that connect to each other. KQ3, KQ5 and KQ6 are sort of a group. KQ4 and KQ7 are sort of a pair. KQ5 and KQ6 make up kind of a pair. But the stories and lands are so separate that it's not required to play previous games.

Granted the way TSL is constructed it probably helps to have played KQ6 and KQ7, it draws on those the most.

[Enchantermon]

Granted the way TSL is constructed it probably helps to have played KQ6 and KQ7, it draws on those the most.

I would add KQ3 to that as well.

[Baggins]

Well I'm not sure how true it's sticking to KQ3 in that it's reinterpretation and internal explanation (including flash backs) in TSl is quite stand alone. It seems to me one might come out of learning less from the original kQ3 since TSl is a bit loose with the original facts and reinterprets things differently.

Or another way it putting it I don't think there is anything substantial in the original KQ3 that would explain anything in TSL. Considering TSl offers in some cases a more detailed or dramatic explanation of those events, albeit reinterpreted, at various points during the chapters. That being said KQ3 is largely simple by today's standards, so TSL embellishes things making things more complicated and detailed.

TSL also makes references to KQ2, but due to simplicity of that game it really doesn't offer insight or understanding to what is shown or discussed in TSL. TSL also contains some dramatic reinterpretations of that game in places, which the original will not help you understand.

[KatieHal]

We do take our own interpretation and spin on KQ3, but I would definitely recommend playing that one to get a better understanding of some things in TSL, if someone were asking.

Basically, when you get down to it, MoE is the only King's Quest game that does not show up in a noticeable way or have a larger influence over the plot of TSL.

[Enchantermon]

Basically, when you get down to it, MoE is the only King's Quest game that does show up in a noticeable way or have a larger influence over the plot of TSL.

You mean "does not," right?

[KatieHal]

LOL, er, yes! I'll go fix that...

[DawsonJ]

Right now, it's highly based on KQ1-3, 5 in the world of KQ6, having started with continuation from KQ7. Add a little KQ8, in the explanations. Interestingly, it's kind of a reversal of KQ4, with Graham saving Rosella this time.

All in all, an awesome conclusion to an amazing set of games. TellTale won't give us this kind of all-inclusive, drool-worthy story. That's for sure!

[Baggins]

The real KQ was not a series meant to have a conclusion, it was highly fluid and evolving series that changed directions with each game, based on technological innovations and changing development teams. The reason why the games took place in new lands each time, gave the series room to explore new places separated from Daventry proper. It followed people's of Daventry, largely the royal family to offer connected reason for exploring other places, but it wasn't leading to any specific conclusion. Connor was intact added to inject new blood, and new ideas for continuing the series, not to bring closure to the series.

Infact I'd argue the only game in the series to have an ending that more or less has a well developed closing theme and denouement would be KQ6, since it ends with Alexander's marriage, and end to his 'adventures' from Daventry. KQ7's ending was far more open. Unfortunately KQ8's ending is anticlimactic with no denouement at all.

At least Telltale is taking the KQ back to it's routes if they go back to the 'further adventures' format.

[Arkillian]

It's nice to not have a conclusion if you know there will be a next one. I don't think they should ever stop the series. I think there's alot of danger the family can face and conquer

[DawsonJ]

According to what I've read in interviews with Roberta Williams, the games weren't supposed to be reliant on one another. Also, after that horrible buyout of Sierra, all of the adventure games were cut from production, meaning they wanted a whole new take on Sierra games. Hence Roberta's vision of MoE, which she didn't even get to finish, according to an interview with Ken Williams. But, a "conclusion", though unofficial, for KQ would be unique and amazing... Especially if TellTale does something with KQ like they did with Monkey Island, namely, take an existing game, split it into pieces, then release it as 'new material.'

For more information regarding Sierra's buyout, and more or less destruction, here's a link with interviews and more details:

http://www.gog.com/en/news/from_monochrome_to_monarchy_kings_quest_history_final_episode/pp/972a67c48192728a34979d9a35164c1295401b71

[Baggins]

Hence Roberta's vision of MoE, which she didn't even get to finish, according to an interview with Ken Williams

Oh its much more complicated than that, much more. Ken Williams doesn't even cut the surface. It's a tale of technical hangups, failures by Dynamix to bring out the game engine on time, delays caused by the lack of engine to build the game on (at the last minute they had to spend a long time building a new one from scratch). Plus a game that was going way outside of budget and time issues. A total change to the art style, and to accomodate higher polygons (so the graphics wouldn't be out of date in 1998). It went a year over the estimated release date.

They had to make an engine from scratch (thanks to dynamix), which cut into their developmental time to incorporate scripted events, better cutscenes, more bosses, battles, action sequences, etc (that they had planned), this meant at least two levels were cut.

Even Roberta claims in interviews that she was starting to get tired of working on it for that long, the initial prediction was to finish it in 2 years (not counting extra year of design ideas), it got pushed to 3. Had she gotten the engine that Dynamix was supposed to finish on time, she might have made it.

Ken Williams says Roberta took inspiration from Duke Nukem when designing the game, it very well might have ended up being Duke Nukem Forever!