Just do not call it King's Quest!

Posted by Sean Molley.
First posted on 10 January 1999. Last updated on 25 February 2006.
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There has been a fair amount of debate in the adventure gaming community about the direction the industry is going and what must be done in order for the adventure genre to survive in an increasingly cutthroat marketplace. In a market where any game that does not sell over 100,000 units is unlikely to recoup its development costs, publishers are forced to try and appeal to the mysterious "mass…

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The article called "Don't just call it King's Quest" was well written in my opinion. Personally I have always been a KQ fan and always will be no matter what. I like new experiences. While I also enjoy the 2D games that have come before I am willing to give the 3D games a try as well. I will hopefully soon own my very own copy of KQ VIII!

By Rebecca Rutledge • On 17 October 2000 • From Jefferson City, Missouri

I read the commentary on King's Quest 8. It did say a little about the disappointment of combat added to the game, but not really enough. Please let Mrs. Williams know that we old Questers didn't get King's Quest to play Doom. We love it for the fantasy, the adventure, the puzzling, as well as the overall setup that you can pass an obstacle without having to kill anything. Brain over brawn, not mindless hack-and-slash, not perfecting your murdering skills but your logic, not the sigh of pained relief after violently vanquishing a foe, but the sigh that comes of seeing beauty, the joyful thought that "Look, good old Sierra's done it again! Look at those trees! Look at the lake!" Why use these incredible (which they are, though misused) new 3D graphics for monsters? And blood, too? This King's Quest needs a rating! It's shameful. You don't do a traditional "adventure game" (as I once so fondly referred to it as) having to watch your back, hoping against hope that if you pass that bush ahead nothing will jump out at you. I played about the first ten minutes of the game and gave up. On the "Easy" level I couldn't pass for anything the myriads of zombies. I couldn't even GET to the "rope-and-hook" "puzzling" adventures made so much of! I didn't even want to, at this rate. And picking up mushrooms for energy? Is this King's Quest or Mario Bros.? It's not a refined computer gaming experience, it's a terrible, tragic excuse for an "adventure", a promising saga blossoming and blooming only to fall to rot at the end, like the hideous dirt of programs around it. And the repulsive creature inhabiting the "outhouse"? What a last resort! King's Quest gone to elementary school "humor". That's sad. It's sad that, even if the rest of the computer games, the rest of the WORLD, is given over to slaughter and gore, we can no longer count on King's Quest as a support. It too, has finally entered the world of bloodshed, and fear.
I know that I sound entirely too pessimistic, but I really must be heard. Don't laugh. Please, take it seriously. King's Quest still has a chance, doesn't it? Can't King's Quest 9 overshadow the awful mistakes of its predecessor, can't it enhance the better parts and leave the bad ones far behind? Do technology and "what's popular today" leave no hope for the future? What happened to the King's Quest we know and love? Can't it conquer over evil? Will it return in glory, as did King Graham from his first quest, arms full of his prize, hands unstained by murder?
You will be laughing. You may even throw this letter out, thinking "forget it". Peace has no chance. The size of your knife, the amount of your coins mean much more than, oh, say, the improvement of your mind, your soul, your future. Well, if that's how you feel, toss the message. Don't worry anymore about me or any other ex-followers burning to be heard. Or maybe I'm the only one. Maybe sooner or later, everyone will be converted. Role-playing games will be boring and useless to us, we will all salivate at the thought of being able to chop one more monster throat. Then, I suppose, will be the day of Mask of Eternity in its glory.

By Meredith • On 20 October 1999 • From Texas