King's Quest IV: A Fair and Balanced Retrospective

[@Bklyn93]

I have maintained that KQ4 is a horror game, as much as it is a fantasy game. It's almost survival horror in how relentlessly dark it is, and how dreary it is, how almost every single thing in the game is out to kill you horribly.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I have to admit, when I started playing and saw a fairy with rainbow-colored wings, I was not expecting a zombie apocalypse to happen in the same game.

[@coolnut99]

Very late to the party, but I will note that the Magic Mirror was a jerk to even King Edward in the backstory of King's Quest I. In the backstory, it was noted Edward had no heir. The mirror told him that he would have a son and that caused Edward to do anything to do so -- including surrender the three treasures (for example, in one case, give the shield to the EVIL dwarf for a quack remedy for his sick wife which ended up killing her). So your theory has quite a bit of merit to it.

[@FunnyGinMan]

Did I mention that I absolutely love the new format? Your humor is just spot on for me. Great job so far. Hope you keep making more :)

[@spacequesthistorian]

Thanks so much! Yes, I do intend to make many more of these types of videos. :)

[@jasonblalock4429]

@@spacequesthistorian Yes, I'm also really enjoying these reviews. You should roast the Police Quest series next. They're every bit as obtuse as King's Quest, but with an extra layer of WTF due to their "real world" (hah) setting. (Unfortunately, NO ONE would pay money to rescue Sonny Bonds, so you may need a different evil plan to get Patreons.)

[@richardperspective]

Agreed on the above, these are really fun.

[@darkowl9]

Wow, I didn't know they had a cheaper version of KQ4 where they just re-used the day art with only minor tweaks for night... the day/night scenes thing was pretty much a selling point on the box! It was such a weird game.

[@PlasticCogLiquid]

I had to look into that, the reason they did it was because they were able to reduce the games size by one floppy disk.

[@PhantomFellows]

“Drunk dialing magic mirrors” 😂 Yet another reason I can’t wait to play the game you’re currently writing. Top material as always mate, thank you!

[@spacequesthistorian]

Haha thanks, mate. It doesn't look like we'll finish it anytime soon, so I could send you over the prototype with shitty placeholder graphics, if you like.

[@mjc0961]

"mount unicorn horn first" 🤣

[@spacequesthistorian]

I'm all about keeping it classy.

[@IanVersusDaddybones]

This channel is sick. I used to love playing all of these Sierra games back in the day. I played this one when I was in 4th grade. For some reason we had it in the classroom. My uncle gave us his PC in like 95 when he upgraded and we had 5,6,7 plus some Leisure Suit Larry and other stuff.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Thank you! 😊

[@Proatgtag]

You find out later that Edgar was actually kidnapped by Lolotte as a child and that form that Genesta transforms him into at the end is actually his true form....then, they pretty much cut out all of Edgar’s backstory from KQ7, so the only way you would know that is if you read about it in supplementary books (official strategy guides, etc)

[@micahbush5397]

In the KQIV Retold version (which converts the game to a point-and-click), they changed Genesta's dialogue; in that version, she knows Edgar was put under a curse by Lolotte and restores him to his true form. Of course, you can do that with hindsight.

[@spacequesthistorian]

@micahbush5397 Yeah, that's, like, the very definition of a retcon. 😁

[@piyoweb]

@22:35 Eat the fruit yourself....wait, so daddy Graham never wakes up? Sounds like the ultimate good ending to me!

[@ultimateninjaboi]

"Four little words, 'youre not close enough,'" gave me MASSIVE flashbacks to Future Wars. Although that one tried to be cheeky with "come a little closer!"

[@plixplux]

Still, I managed to beat Future Wars - even though it had the incredibly irritating shootemup sequence late in the game. But hot damn, seeing this review makes me understand why I never seemed to get on with King's Quest 4 - even though I distinctly remember being absolutely blown away by the graphics and the animation at the time..

[@acemcjack]

You really don't seem to like the KQ series very much. All the more reason to appreciate these videos. As usual, you've been a real hoot! 😏👍

[@spacequesthistorian]

I really dislike fantasy genre stuff, but I'm honestly having a great time playing through these games. With walkthroughs. If I didn't have walkthroughs, I would actually get very, very angry instead of pretending to be for comedy. :)

[@AlexMathiesen]

I think it's also worth mentioning that I think the golden years of sierra games were 1988-1993 when so many classic games got released, and Kings Quest released 3 of their games before this point. I think Kings quest became the flagship series because it came first and not because every game was fantastic. My hunch is that fans love 4,5, and especially 6, enjoy 7, and appreciate 1,2, and 3.

[@richardmahn7589]

@@spacequesthistorian Sadly I was one that did all these when they first came out, usually with a friend, but in your interlude about what adventuring in the 80s was like, it was spot on!

[@KSUTAU]

No idea ghost guards were such big fans of Michael Jackson's Thriller! The more you leam

[@joshmorgan6036]

The stairs!!! Those wooden stairs took my friend and I more than a week to figure out.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Diagonal keys are NECESSARY. I get this sinking feeling every time I see someone play Sierra keys with only four directional keys.

[@AP-eq6fv]

King's Quest IV has always been my favorite game of all time. Sure, part is nostalgia (OK, a LOT of it is due to nostalgia), but in spite of its flaws, I still think they did a great job with what they had. I love the dark horroresque aesthetic. Even to this day, I fantasize about creating a game in the same vein as KQ4. Maybe one day I will...

[@andreworders7305]

How did anyone finish this game first in order to tell everyone else how to?

[@spacequesthistorian]

Same as with KQ3: lots of patience and trial-and-error.

[@TysonJensen]

@@spacequesthistorian lol, no. They had a 1-800 number on the box that you could call if you got stuck. It was the 80s, after all.

[@jakeharrington5614]

IV was the most aggravating of the series and I remember nearly punching the screen of my Apple II-GS with my 11-yr-old fist. The whale tongue, sheesh. And Roberta's stupid smug face when she kills you.

[@zimriel]

I actually thought KQ3 was the most aggravating, just for mindless puzzles like the eagle/spider thing, and that you had to LOOK TOP OF WARDROBE for that wand. I had no idea about this as a kid; I ordered the hintbook. The worst game was KQ5. I actually liked KQ4, by then I'd figured out how Roberta's brain worked.

[@Kisai_Yuki]

This reminds me why this was my favorite game in the KQ series. None of the KQ games are fantastic for puzzles, but 4 was the first one that MADE SURE you did things in order by having these secret-envelope puzzles. While Ron Gilbert will rightly point out that the backwards puzzle is a bad puzzle, I'd say the greater crime is leading the player by the nose without giving them the opportunity to think.

[@amcclory77]

The hidden bridle stumped me for over a month back in 1988. I jumped through all the right hoops: the fishing pole, the whale escape, and the dolphin whistle. I just missed the bridle. I eventually realized that I must have missed something in that sequence as all those steps failed to provide a single new item or story impacting event.

[@eddieking6723]

I liked the part at the end with the Easter eggs. I never played KQ4 so that was all new info for me!

[@richardmahn7589]

Ok, I'm at 25:40, haven't seen the answer. The music made me think of either climbing a mountain or being at a waterfall.

[@4Legacy]

I just discovered that if you open Pandora's box while the goons are flying in to grab you, it.... breaks and closes the game. At least while running in Windows 3.1. I haven't tried it in Scummvm or Dosbox. It holds for about 10 seconnds after the "Okay, but you'll be sorry message", then tries to play the next cutscene. At which time, it flashes to monochrome and then shuts down. Not at all helpful lol, but I thought that was an interesting tidbit for someone who regularly likes to find new ways to break his Space Quest games. Also if I haven't said it yet, I love your channel! Keep up the great work. I can't wait for your Police Quest 2 retrospective.

[@endlesswonders5798]

30:15 what's the secret code for?

[@andreworders7305]

World’s slowest heart attack

[@chadamsler7287]

Another Fine Video from the King's Quest Historian!!! Lol. Great job SQH, on to KQ5 King Graham searches for Hemroid Relief!

[@karabeaner2145]

I loved KQ4. But everything you said is spot on. I think when you are a kid on summer break, having to do things all over again is less frustrating than when you have a finite time for “fun”. But I absolutely loved this game.

[@andreworders7305]

15:42 are those the Greek Fates?

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yes.

[@pauls6416]

Note to self, never fuck with Roger Wilco or any of his friends.

[@cybercop0083]

Friends?😅

[@MasterZebulin]

Wilco has no friends! 😆 That _really_ hurt to say. 😢

[@pauls6416]

@@MasterZebulin yes he does

[@MS-on9dy]

Ive stumbled upon you're channel recently. Man i played all these games when i was a kid. Even Codename Iceman which was the worst! My favorite was the OG Quest for Glory (Hero's Quest). They remade it later with the new point and click system, but there was really something about the original version.That was one of the best from Sierra. Thanks for the videos, really brings me back😊.

[@richardmahn7589]

I played this right when it came out. There WERE hints and walkthrus on BBSs, as well as the 1-900 line to Sierra which I called once to figure out how to get out of the whale, and that wasn't a simple answer, so wasted like $20 on the 4 minutes or whatever (parents weren't happy!). But hey, there were hints then!

[@arcanetrivia]

@17:00 These ^#$&ing stairs, man. It's not actually this screen but the next one, where there's a doorway leading off the landing, that was the problem for me. Even following along with the official guide's walkthrough, I got completely stuck literally for YEARS because I just could not find the magic pixel to begin ascending the next flight of the staircase. Then one day I found it and now I can basically do it every time without too much fuss. (I've replayed this game a lot; it was the first King's Quest I really played, other than tinkering around a little with KQ1 on the Apple II in after-school computer club.) "You're not close enough" is so insane in this game. Why could they not make the hitboxes just a few pixels larger? It defies all logic.

[@meatrace]

You should definitely sprinkle some random VIPER jump scares in your videos from now on.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Definitely tempted.

[@KagemaruHitokiri]

While I joined because I enjoyed the nerding out over the good qualities of many adventure games, I'm thoroughly enjoying the sarcastic exaggeration of the worst qualities of King's Quest. And while I am a fan of fantasy, it's true that a lot of it tries to wave things off with moon logic

[@spacequesthistorian]

Thank you! I'm happy you like them. :)

[@jennyvlogs7160]

Your KQ videos have become my go-to when there's nothing interesting on my youtube page.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Wow, thank you! I'm working on some Police Quest videos at the moment. Hoping you'll like those as well!

[@GeminiDoesEverything]

Is "VIPER" going to be the new "WORDS"?

[@spacequesthistorian]

We'll see if it makes sense to use in other videos. 😊

[@childofthe80s1981]

I'm absolutely loving these

[@cimmeriantower]

This is the only KQ game I was able to complete without a hint book.

[@arcanetrivia]

That's astonishing. I was following along in Peter Spear's "King's Quest Companion" at the time and would have gotten basically nowhere without it. Meanwhile I was playing Loom at around the same time, and to this day that's the only adventure game I've finished entirely without any hints (although some may say that isn't saying much as Loom is quite short and rather simple, and of course impossible to be fatally stuck in).

[@briandennison2146]

your killing me saying all the things i wanted to say when i was 9 playing this mess

[@Kawa-oneechan]

We have the technology to improve KQ4. Increasing the "close enough" distance, altering the RNG, removing the inverted stairway controls, having the 1989 backgrounds but with 1988-style night versions, all of that. We can do that. We can even have Genesta give you the fruit if you forgot it and your only punishment is an incomplete score. What's stopping us, really?

[@spacequesthistorian]

But how do we fix Rosella's godawful gullibility?

[@JStryker47]

Genesta: "You forgot the magic fruit for your father." Rosella: "Oh... uhh..." Genesta: "Well, I'll just go and get it then. Wait here." Rosella: Genesta: "...You didn't." Rosella: "Err..." Genesta: "Tell me you did NOT eat it!" Rosella: "...Maybe?" Genesta: "Ugh...!"

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

@@spacequesthistorian What about an alternative solution? If you open Pandora's Box, you find out that it's already been apparently emptied. But then if you reach inside, you feel something that feels like clothing, and if you remove what's inside, you acquire the Cloak of Invisibility, which lets you sneak into the castle and kill Lolotte that way.

[@paulchapman8023]

You don’t have to type “jump” 15 times; the F3 key or the spacebar will bring up your last command.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I know - I just liked to drag it out. 😅 I played the game four times for this video; you better believe I mashed the F3 key the other three times.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Heh. Regarding your little mirror theory, this isn't even the last time it'll send someone off on a quest. Yep, there's yet another mirror-ex-machina to come! And the next time it appears it will bring with it the power of... THE POP SONG! (dun dun *dduuuunnnnn* )

[@jasonblalock4429]

@@michaele1654 Eh, more like Ken Williams was jealous of Disney and tried to punch WAY above his weight class.

[@redshirtveteran5688]

@@michaele1654 Didn't they do that with Quest for Glory at least once?

[@Tazrael]

Today I learned about the Beam Me easter egg. All I knew about previously was the graffiti in LSL1.

[@zimriel]

>magic fruit that will cure anything this would have been the perfect spot for a Freddie Mercury spot

[@NixFanBoy007]

Hahaha. These Kings Quest videos are hysterical. Looooooove it

[@BenDaresAll]

I was surprised how big the sprite of Rotella is, compared to kq1-3.

[@Argol228]

What is it about the Fantasy genre you hate?

[@spacequesthistorian]

It's purely a personal preference thing. I don't like magic, fairy tales, swords, people who ride horseback, or anything that involves acts of chivalry.

[@torchiest]

I absolutely lost it here: 17:28 lol

[@tomh.648]

09:00 -- 100%, the most accurate statement about KQIV, like, ever. Watching your vid invokes mixed feelings for me; mostly a mixture of equal parts mild curiosity & absolute blinding rage. Why rage? This game is full of cheap *gotcha!* nonsense which kills and/or greatly inconveniences you, for seemingly little to no reason at all. It's also possible to essentially softlock your playthrough by saving 'too often'. There are many other reasons I detest KQIV, most of which are glaringly obvious in your video. Fuck this game, for real.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Thank you! When people say Sierra made unfair games, that statement should come with a screenshot of this game.

[@andreworders7305]

14:57 it just soft locks you? Is there no way to reload?

[@spacequesthistorian]

You're meant to keep savegames along the way. But, yes, breaking the shovel means you're softlocked and have to restore an earlier save. If you don't have an earlier save, then tough shit - you have to start over from the beginning.

[@NihilQuest]

The biggest surprise / laugh of this video was when I thought you will comment on the Thriller rip off but went on instead to praise KQ4 music as more memorable. Very good video overall, I'm enjoying the series. I'm glad you didn't make it into 4 hours of gameplay commentary or something like that.

[@spacequesthistorian]

The embarrassing truth is, I couldn't tell it was a Thriller rip-off until someone pointed it out to me on my Discord... after I'd made the video. 😅

[@andreworders7305]

13:47 they already did the work though, how would removing it save them any money?

[@spacequesthistorian]

Disk duplication. It saved them a whole disk.

[@redshirtveteran5688]

I was under the impression Red and Blue were helping Genesta get to Rosella. After all, her aim for teleporting Rosella was a bit off. (Maybe that's how the DeepShip 86's transporter works: Fairy magic!)

[@Xenolord]

Video Games have been overly monitized since the start. Today, we call this 'Loot Boxes' and 'Season Passes'. In days of Olde, we called them 'Hint Books' and 'Strategy Guides'. That's why these games had wonky, bass-ackwards, illogical puzzle solutions and Dead Man Walking situations: to force you to buy a hint book.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I seem to be reiterating this every week or so, but it's a myth that Sierra designers were told to make their games harder to sell hint books. Scott Murphy told me so himself. They came from the school of text adventures, and dead-ends and quote-unquote unintuitive solutions were the norm back then. I had a whole rant about that in my KQ2 video.

[@davecalvin5105]

Very entertaining! I don't know how I had the patience to finish this game multiple times as a kid. But there's a third thing that will drive you bonkers - playing from floppy disks. There were 9 of them and you often had to swap through several of them to load a screen. Sometimes more than once (insert disk 2, now 8, now 4, now back to 2). It was so painful to not have a hard drive. Also I think I had that submarine game you briefly showed (around 23:43)! I'd love to know the name of it if you remember.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Oh god, disk swapping. That sounds nightmarish. Maybe that was another reason they re-released the game on fewer disks. The submarine game is called Silent Service for the Commodore 64.

[@MasterZebulin]

@@spacequesthistorian I recognize that game since I had it for the NES as a child.

[@EddyOknows]

Tight video SQH

[@XX-sp3tt]

2:47 And nothing in Star Wars Episode 4 said that Vader was Luke's father, your point?

[@spacequesthistorian]

It's still a retcon as far as I'm concerned. YMMV

[@grenadier1972]

Any chance on doing this for Leisure Suit Larry or Police Quest? It would be a real hoot.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yes, eventually!

[@Юрьич-ч7ф]

Tamir, a family of hydroacoustic stations which Soviet naval ships were being equipped with in 1940s and later on.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Damn, I should have looked that up.

[@MagusMarquillin]

So, after Kolyma, that's two KQ settings with names repurposed straight out of Soviet Russia? WTF - Is this just your cold war subconscious Roberta?

[@Юрьич-ч7ф]

@@MagusMarquillin I vaguely remember a SF writer, who habitually used Russian words and names for anything 'exotic'. Not Herbert in 'Dune'.

[@rebelyell1983x]

I think you could do the same style for the Police Quest series and have it work very well. :)

[@spacequesthistorian]

Funny you should say that... bit.ly/sqhschedule

[@rebelyell1983x]

@@spacequesthistorian wow! Alright. Thanks for the schedule. Wish more youtubers would be so transparent. Keep up the great work.

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@rebelyell1983x Well, it's very much a flexible schedule, so don't be upset if things change around. 😅

[@rebelyell1983x]

@@spacequesthistorian haha no worries :) Don't forget to give Freddy Pharkas some love in the future as well! :)

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@rebelyell1983x I have actually played and finished Freddy Pharkas before, but I've never made a video about it. Maybe when Grundislav's Rosewater comes out, I'll do a series on Western genre games - Pharkas, Rosewater, and Al Emmo. And that weird one that turned into a meme factory, The Town With No Name.

[@MagusMarquillin]

While your past KQ episodes seemed to be going for low hanging fruit and hyperbole (making it unclear what is meant as comedy and what's your in good-faith arguments), for the Perils of Rosella you do make a lot of valid critiques - things I've noticed before but often gloss over thanks to nostalgia and enchantment. Because we know the game so well now we know how to avoid the dead-end situations by heart, and (some of us) were pretty forgiving of this somewhat common game philosophy back in the day. Because the game was so charming, we forgave it when it fucked us violently, with Roberta's sweetly smiling face always at the end - honestly, did she not know any better or was she a secret sadist? And some of that charm was the dangerous, and genuinely terrifying, situations we had to get through, however obtuse the solution was - I mean that Troll cave, and the Ogre's house, and those Jaws homages did have my heart in my mouth, and I'll remember that fondly.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I think it's because there was a lot more character dialogue and story in this one that I actually had something to grab on to, whereas with KQ1-3 I would often veer off on my own fanciful tangents about what I *thought* (not really) were the character's motivations. If you're ever in doubt, though, it's a safe bet 99% of the time that I'm being hyperbolic and not actually as angry at something as I appear to be. My purpose with this series is to make people laugh, not to provide thoughtful commentary.

[@Thrakus]

What is left of their mad max medieval county with most of the towns people dead, they even did cover up the only means of water in the town. The people left alive must be so happy he is on his death bed. It's been like this for 17 years of a king who has the means to print endless money, the towns people should be living large not dead and dying!

[@doomslayer6566]

Lol the music in the ghost castle sounds like a play off of thriller by MJ

[@spacequesthistorian]

It is. 😁

[@andreworders7305]

What happens if you open Pandora’s Box instead of bringing it back?

[@spacequesthistorian]

You die.

[@arcanetrivia]

You let out the evil inside and it's game over. IIRC it's not like a cool funny easter egg or something, just a death with "Oh Rosella, what have you done now?" but I didn't look up a video or anything to check.

[@andreworders7305]

What’s the score counter in the corner for?

[@spacequesthistorian]

That's a remnant of old adventure game design. You'd get points for doing stuff in the game. Some points were optional. Getting a full score was their idea of replay value.

[@chrismetafora6565]

Another why question: Why are there so many songs about raiinbows and whats on the other side?

[@norwegianharlekin5214]

The Rainbow has lots of old mythology/folklore connected to it. In Norse mythology it is the magical bridge that connects the world of the humans to the world of the Gods. In Irish folklore the Leprechauns put pots of gold at the end of the Rainbow.

[@chrismetafora6565]

@@norwegianharlekin5214 You never saw Muppet Movie I take it.

[@willielogan4811]

"..and off (he/she/they) fucks." is my favorite SQH phase. I pop every time.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I read that as "poop."

[@andreworders7305]

What happens when you bring the unicorn to the witch

[@spacequesthistorian]

She just goes "cheers, moron" and sends you on your next quest.

[@LuckyLuigi]

Omg it was even worse than the dark rumours I heard about it. Hilarious :)

[@YarisTex]

The NewRisingSun patch that allows Sound effects on the PC version were taken from the Amiga version so there's that. I thought you were going to mention the Amiga version too, but man, loving these reviews. You gotta do this for the other "Quest" games too.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I didn't think to play the Amiga version. I did a bit for KQ3, but I'm not very good at configuring/figuring out Amiga stuff. Are the sound effects the same as the IIGS version?

[@YarisTex]

@@spacequesthistorian They sound different to me, but i have no experience with the IIGS. Here, directly out of my real DOS setup. All the sounds in this patched version come out of a Sound Blaster and Gravis Ultrasound. Music out of an MT-32. And yes, in case you are wondering: it does use both the GUS + SB for Sound effects. Driver was created by NewRisingSun's wizardry. (Who else?)

[@andreworders7305]

15:09 do they warn you about this in any way?

[@spacequesthistorian]

No.

[@xRocketzFighterx]

I noticed in KQ5 one of the towns men sounds alot like Roger Jr from space quest 4, Stuart Moulder. But there is another actor named Mark Seibert who has the credit "man in town" on imdb. A little something you probably could add to your KQ5 video. I didn't notice the voice similarity until recently. Oh also in SQ3 there is a venomous scorpozoid so... free one on me mate.

[@spacequesthistorian]

The guy fixing the cart is indeed Stuart Moulder, who also voiced Roger Jr. in SQ4. The "man in town" credit probably refers to one of the pedestrians, though.

[@xRocketzFighterx]

@@spacequesthistorian I KNEW IT! But it could've also been a coincidence still. Thank you so much for the answer. Do you have some of the voice actors on your discord? I'm not a often user of discord.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Well, Josh Mandel has lurked a bit on the Discord. He played Graham. Most of the actors in KQ5 and SQ4 were just Sierra's own staff. Stuart Moulder was a programmer (I think). Mark Seibert was music director. Jane Jensen, designer of Gabriel Knight, played the robot clerk in Sacks in SQ4. Scott Murphy himself played Vohaul. The rat in King's Quest V was played by Roberta Williams.

[@xRocketzFighterx]

@@spacequesthistorian I know half of those casting roles. Oh god thanks for reminding me of the sassy robot clerk that was one of the best moments of SQ series. Josh Mandell, is THE king graham to me tho im not a nostalgic fan of the sierra games. He does have that feeling of like the Charles Martinet in the Mario series or Mike Pollock as Dr Eggman I would like to talk to Josh sometime. Nothing negative on some bad game design. I like to focus on good things. Probably throw in a dumb funny question of how much Graham can lift with them gigantic muscles he has (jeebus fecking chrost them muscles). Some of the sierra voice actors (not KQ5 obviously) are old school cartoon actors and anime actors who'm most of them are still acting.

[@xRocketzFighterx]

Yo I'm gonna be honest bruv. This is the funniest vid of the series also there are some small details i didn't know about this game. You really don't leave any stone unturned in this series which is both awesome af and madlad af to. All I knew was the agi ver exists and the beam me up reference. I'm a bit shocked I got through this game with no biggie. I'm a completionists with collectables who scans alot of shit in areas I get this strong feeling where there maybe a no point of no return or a suspicious area.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Phew, I'm glad you think so. It got off to a little bit of a rocky start when I started writing it, and I was a bit worried it wouldn't turn out as funny as the KQ3 video was (in my mind, at least).

[@xRocketzFighterx]

@@spacequesthistorian Well your way of writing is more unique than most youtubers I hear. It's tough to describe it for me but as I've said many times on your channel you do go into alot of very interesting deep details also your timing and holding comedic parts for later parts VIPER!! Also since you're not a fan of KQ it does make your views on these games more interesting than everyone else keeps on kissing KQ's feet. Also you're very good at roasting games and people which makes you more enjoyable. Actually just send king graham to the fire, he's an asshole anyway HAHAHA! (just kidding)

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@xRocketzFighterx Thank you, that's very kind of you to say. My writing style for these reviews is really just a mash-up of Spoony, Civvie11, Ross's Game Dungeon, Zero Punctuation, and the unnecessarily verbose cynical put-downs of the tv show Red Dwarf. King's Quest lends itself very well to hyperbolic critique because of its whimsical do-gooder nature. :)

[@Warr3nBuff3t]

Great video!

[@Actimus123]

NICE video - fun stuff

[@andreworders7305]

If you already got the fruit, why do you need to do Loltte’s quests?

[@spacequesthistorian]

Because Genesta can't teleport you back to Daventry unless you get her talisman back from Lolotte.

[@dosnostalgic]

This is the best one yet 🤣

[@spacequesthistorian]

Thank you, good sir :)

[@KSUTAU]

"Handsome" Edgar is one of the worst things I've seen. Ever.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Rosella seems to be on the same page.

[@chadamsler7287]

While I enjoy watching you play these memorable games (games of my childhood 30 + years ago). I'd like to see you play Police Quest series or Quest for Glory. How much would that take in dollars? I will give you 50 bucks to play and make a video.

[@spacequesthistorian]

If I ever get done with the King's Quest series, I'd love to take a stab at something like Police Quest - a series that, like KQ, I have never played for more than 10 minutes. So there's no need to lay down $50 for that. :)

[@SHR7778]

@@spacequesthistorian take the bribe

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@SHR7778 I mean, sure, I can do a video on Police Quest I now for $50... or you can wait a while and get one for free. 😅

[@richardmahn7589]

Re: the animation an how they move Rosella to get down and all that, I think this is why so many egos in such games are male is that a dress adds so much complexity!

[@yoursonisold8743]

I mean nobody made a rule that a female adventurer needs to wear a dress. I certainly liked the design Rosella had in the 2015 King's Quest that included pants for her travel outfit.

[@adamaccountname]

It's sad that kings quest 6 was where they finally made a good game and then they went off the rails before selling the company off

[@MonochromeWench]

Kings quest may have originally been arbour fairy tales and generic fantasy but by this game its clear that fairy tales cross mythology is what they are going for. About the stairs, its an sci game use the mouse. It was probably designed and tested with the mouse which would explain why it sucked navigating with keyboard. The agi version is a curiosity. I'm curious about how it was developed. Did they just port and tweak the sci artwork to agi or did they just redraw everything. The agi version's use of dithering is interesting as unlike sci its not an agi engine feature. all the dithering had to be drawn in manually. Seems like it would have been done more for artistic effect than false colours (agi pixels are too big for that to work well0

[@AlexMathiesen]

24:26 It's both hilarious and cringy to see you save after every time you move on the tongue while knowing you're on the wrong side to do it.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Actually, I got up there and did the thing from that side. I guess you can do it from both sides? Never tried it from the left-hand side.

[@arcanetrivia]

It can be climbed from either side.

[@childofthe80s1981]

Ah yes the dreaded you are not close enough I saw that message too many damn times playing a Sierra game

[@scheddoc]

25:31 Pretty sure this is just Michael Jackson's Thriller!

[@GeneralVanRyberg]

Mmmm, play through this title every year and while there are some elements I don't like (the stupid randomness of the trolls, shark and unicorn), I consider it a masterpiece myself.... but it's good to see a different opinion, because indeed, from a storytelling standpoint it is, ehm, not as strong as my mind will try to make me believe it was :-) I can't recall having any problems with finding the bird with the worm though, but that's probably because I immediately know what to do when it's there.

[@richardperspective]

"What is this music?" Well, it's Sierra's very carefully disguised version of Thriller... which would have been more fitting for the zombies in this one, really. My least favourite thing about this game is that when King's Quest 7 came along and Valanice is demanding Rosella get married, Rosella doesn't immediately turn and go 'Yeah, no, I'm calling in my marker from King's Quest IV.' And that's assuming she already called in the 'tried to feed me to a dragon' one between sequels, because if not I think she's got her independence until at least King's Quest X: Valanice Finally Does Something Useful.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Rosella goes along with anything. She doesn't strike me as a particularly headstrong person. Also, the KQ2 ghost music is so fun to me, but I never realized Al Lowe was riffing on Thriller! I'm gonna hand in my music snob card now.

[@richardperspective]

@@spacequesthistorian Yay, I never get to hit someone with a music reference!

[@andreworders7305]

Is the Peacock also RNG?

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yes.

[@Thrakus]

Will you do a let's play of KQ4 remake? Also, KQ4 the text game, you should make like Mazes and Stairs as Stairs quest 2. I think in KQ9 you would find out Edgar forced you to marry him via drugs magic. No way she be fine with all he did to her. Who was shipping toes two? I think no one! Maybe the full untold story redeems him?

[@RaposaCadela]

25:30 that Thrillar rip-off xD

[@toddfraser3353]

I think the Random encounters were part of a tradeoff between too many moon logic puzzles. Compared to the others, there were fewer do things because you can puzzle vs actually giving you some sort of hint, on what you need to do. Granted I said fewer not zero, (who the hell would drop a solid gold ball into a pond!). But for the most part things made some sort of logical sense. However in 1980's logic, if you are going to spend $60 for a game, that came with 8 floppy disks. You better get a good run out of your purchase. So lack of as many moon logic, they put in random encounters, to make sure you question yourself if you really should be there, or try again. The wonders in Space Quest III is that made the player to want to find ways to kill themselves, so the play time was extended by purposely trying to get yourself killed, vs. just walking onto the screen at the wrong time.

[@MagusMarquillin]

Who would drop a gold ball into a pond? A fairy-tale princess would. Ever heard of the Frog King, from the Grimm Brothers? These games expect a certain amount of basic Fairy Tale knowledge from the players, like knowing the name Rumplestiltskin in the first game is connected to spinning straw into gold (at least as a place to start), or what knowing what Goats do to Trolls. I've wondered before how many players got into trouble because of that assumption, if they had no story time growing up, or just not European folk tales. I personally liked the random stuff - it never seemed hard to activate the things that needed to happen, and it was thrilling to have monsters suddenly chase me (even if the shark and troll could get tedious) - it made the world seem alive and spontaneous in it's rudimentary way - a faint glimmer of sandbox games.

[@cimmeriantower]

KQIV is the 2nd best KQ game after KQVI

[@andreworders7305]

Stairs!

[@richardmahn7589]

Edger also wanted to eat Rosella....if you know what I mean.

[@andreworders7305]

Everything is RNG? Fuck that.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Amen.

[@Kawa-oneechan]

KQ5 may not feature the mirror, but it *does* feature a cat-wizard's vengeful brother.

[@jbh2]

Also, a cat-wizard.

[@asysz]

VIPER!

[@spacequesthistorian]

Where?!

[@phjesung]

VIPER!!!

[@spacequesthistorian]

AAAAHHH!

[@FASTFASTmusic]

Laughing my ass off.

[@johnpoole3871]

Please everyone realize that SQH is just making jokes about the plot here. don't make some remake trying to explain everything, you will only make it dumber. KQ functions on fairy tale logic. It is kind of its defining characteristic.

[@hamishfox]

Honestly I'd probably eat Rosella too.

[@MoxyDave]

Thank you for doing these my man. Not only are they entertaining, they are educational. It's amazing to me that I had so much nostalgia for such an atrocious game (entire series of games, really). It's amazing what the veneer of time does to your memory. Nobody could get away with this awful nonsense these days, but back then they were superamazing! I'm off now to staple my balls to my car door ... toodles!