King's Quest: Quest for the Crown (Video Game 1984)

The king of Daventry, King Edward, is dying. He sends his best knight Sir Graham to find 3 treasures to prove himself worthy of the throne

Director:

Roberta Williams

Writer:

Roberta Williams

Storyline

The king of Daventry, King Edward, is dying. He sends his best knight Sir Graham to find 3 treasures to prove himself worthy of the throne

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Plot Keywords:

king | written by director | role playing game | cult film | punctuation in title | 

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Genres:

Adventure | Fantasy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

King's Quest

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sierra On-Line

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

In order to guess the gnome's name, the player must first identify the gnome from the corresponding fairy tale, then alter the name according to the note found in the witch's house ("Sometimes it is wise to think backwards") - but not simply spell it backwards but in backwards alphabet (a=z, b=y, etc.), so the correct answer is neither Rumplestiltskin nor Nikstlitselpmut, but Ifnkovhgroghprm. Since the puzzle proved to be very difficult for the players, it was made easier in the remake King's Quest I: Quest for the Crown.

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Goofs

King Graham is depicted as walking on the tree branch where the nest with the golden egg is even though when he falls off the dialog in the box says that he has "lost his grip on the tree branch." This inconsistency is repeated in the two later versions of the same game.

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Connections

Followed by King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne (1985)

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Soundtracks

"Green Sleeves"

User Reviews

The first King's Quest game ...

The story: You are Sir Graham, a knight of the Kingdom of Daventry who has been summoned by King Edward the Benevolent to retrieve the 3 stolen treasures of the realm. If you should succeed you will be proclaimed his successor (Edward is old and has no heirs). Graham spends the game searching the kingdom for the treasures and encounters many puzzles and adversaries along the way.

This is the first King's Quest game released way back in 1984 (19 years old as I type this) and unsurprisingly is by far the simplest and most primitive of the series. The game is fairly short (the only necessary quests you need to do are the reclaiming of the 3 treasures - everything else is optional) and practically all of the puzzles you encounter are from well-known fairy tales, including Rumpelstiltskin (did anyone actually spell his name correctly in his challenge?), Little Red Riding Hood (well the wolf at least), Hansel & Gretel, Jack & the Beanstalk and many others.

The game is operated by text commands typed on the keyboard (search, pick up, talk, look etc.) with the arrow keys controlling movement. Simple stuff really, but hey it worked and it would remain the standard control system in the series until King's Quest 5 (which replaced the text commands with an icon-based system using the mouse).

All in all its nothing special by today's standards but worth a look if you're interested in seeing how the entire King's Quest series began. The game was re-released in 1990 with updated graphics and the aforementioned icon system replacing the text commands but from what I've heard the puzzles and the like all stayed the same. A classic of its time.