I thought the 4th Game was a lot of fun and I know I enjoyed playing it the whole time, at least most of the time.
As always the voice acting and music were topnotch. I felt the cutscenes told the story well and the way the story played out here made me want to see more. The story and the characters are always the best parts of The Silver Lining for me. For both of those aspects along, I'd say I was won over. I'm still very disappointed that Valanice and the twins are stuck doing very little for a majority of time in the present, but I do love seeing secondary characters we all know and love return and play a part in the story. I had been anticipating Beauty and the Beast coming back throughout the first 3 episodes and it was one of my favorite parts of part 4; as well as the short scene with Pan (loved the homage to KQ4's tunes). I've always felt we really could use more characters from KQ4 and KQ7 since it was Rosella and Edgar's wedding that was started things off, their guest list should at least include Genesta and King Otar if they really had to have the wedding in the Green Isles where they know no one! Sorry, I digress... It's always nice seeing cameos, I love them and I would love more of them. I also liked the new additions of the Muses, that addition felt very much like the kinds of quirky takes on mythological characters I expect to see in a King's Quest game. Also while on the topic, I think Edgar should get more to do, he's really understated here and I feel bad for him to not get to help.
The fight toward the end with Graham and Shadrack was well made and I was glad that the combat system didn't feel TOO out of place in a modern King's Quest game. It was still kinda out of place in a way since it wasn't a puzzle that forced you to use your wits, more of a the trial and error game. Besides that, we all kinda know by now Graham won't be defeating Shadrack at this point, so it felt more like a chore than a milestone to me.
I, like a lot of others, was a little annoyed by the Pandora puzzle box. I think I would have liked it more if it weren't so hard to click on the symbols when they fade. It was incredibly frustrating to keep hearing the narrator say the same phrase, I'd have preferred if her audio was absent all together for that part. Plus it took a lot longer than a puzzle like that had any right to because of having to wait for the spinning symbols. I'm not sure how it could have been done better because if it wasn't spinning it would probably have been significantly simpler and thus less challenging. Either way, I'm kind of dreading playing it again when I play the game with my younger cousins.
One thing I can't help but complain about is the fact that we're spending SO MUCH time in the Green Isles. KQ6 is my favorite game in the KQ series, King's Quest 6 is undeniably the most well made game in the series, and to top it all off it was first adventure game I was a little kid, so needless to say seeing the Green Isles was nostalgic for me... BUT I feel like there's so much more to be explored and when we spent FOUR whole chapters doing stuff on the same few islands over and over, I felt SO sick of the place and was dying for new scenery! There really is so much to explore in the King's Quest Universe besides The Green Isles. I'm glad the next part looks like it will take place in Daventry so we can finally see some different scenery. It makes me cross my fingers that we may get to see some other lands like Llewdor and especially Tamir, both would be good places to play as the Twins (if we'll get to play as them) since it's where both started out adventuring.
Speaking of playing as others, as much as I love playing as Graham, I will say I was always under the impression that we'd get to play as each member of the Graham Family for a good amount of time each. It kind of gets dull having all but Graham in coma or delirious for the majority of the episodes. It would have been alright if this chapter were early on but it's the 4th episode. I really just want to let Graham have a little rest (he needs one) and play as someone else for a while. It makes me a little sad that by the end of part 5 it seems somewhat inevitable that we won't be able to play as the others, or if we do it will only be in a brief sequence like the Pandora Puzzle part with Valanice.
