King's Quest V: A Fair and Balanced Retrospective

[@RevScarecrow]

Ancient Rev Memes exposed. Turns out I'm really bad at computers and don't know things. My explanation was based on a game of telephone with a much more tech savy friend from my childhood who discovered the glitch we used to laugh at at LAN parties. True facts: I have never played the game normally so I had no idea what the plot was. I could only beat it on stream with walkthroughs. Good to know the experience would mostly be the same.

[@spacequesthistorian]

You'd better believe I played this with a walkthrough, too! 😁 Your video was and continues to be hilarious. I played all of the King's Quit voiceswap myself for this video to get the full experience and it's just as bizarre and hilarious as you showed.

[@cyberdalekyeti]

​@@spacequesthistorian Just curious have you played Rama or Lighthouse ? being you like space quest makes me wonder about other scifi adventure games you enjoyed playing.

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@cyberdalekyeti I'm not very keen on logic puzzle / Myst clone games. I did read the first Rama novel, though!

[@a.m.pietroschek1972]

@@spacequesthistorian Your psychiatry-on-the-go (drug crazed kings & batshit crazy wizards) sure scores!!!

[@aszahala]

I really liked this game, although it was cryptic af. The game also had some interesting issues with monochrome monitors, which we happened to have when this game came out. The water source next to the temple is invisible on monochrome, which means that once you went to the temple you always died of thirst. Me and my dad were stuck there until we got a color monitor years later. For me this was the first time I ever saw VGA graphics. After playing EGA/CGA games it looked just stunning. It's still one of the prettiest games out there due to the hand-painted backgrounds.

[@arcadenoah993]

The plot hole where Crispin could just teleport everyone at home could be easily solved with him saying: "I cannot enter Mordak's castle because he is more powerful than I. Defeat him so I can help you." The same with KQ6 where Crispin could say "I cannot transport Alex to the Land of the Green island because there is some powerful magic there."

[@spacequesthistorian]

That would indeed have solved the plot holes. Where were you when they were coming up with this shit?

[@arcadenoah993]

​@@spacequesthistorianin 1990? 😅 I wasn't born yet

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@arcadenoah993 That would indeed be quite the hurdle to overcome...

[@hoborg98]

13:30 The boot and the stick are interchangeable. You can throw the boot OR the stick to the dog at the anthill, and if you hang out in front of the bakery with the boot OR the stick it triggers the cat and rat scene.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Does that mean you can throw the stick at the cat chasing the rat? But even so, getting the cat to appear in the first place seems to be dependent on standing on the right hand side of the screen with your back turned to the bakery and then waiting for a bit; something I'm pretty sure most people (including myself at the time of making this video) chalked up to it just being a random occurrence.

[@amsbeats841]

Me: *jumps off of a cliff to my death* Fortune teller from 300 miles away: "Madame Ushka is tired! NO MORE FOR TODAY!"

[@Kingpinatron]

I remember that the game lets you eat the pie without any means of getting a second one. So, if you ate the pie, there is literally no way to stop the Yeti from eviscerating you. To make matters worse, if you didn't have a save before you ate the pie, you had to start all over. I swear this game is the reason I save every five minutes across a dozen slots.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yeah, this game does not fuck around. Or maybe it fucks around too much. And you may even be tempted to eat the pie when you're starving in the mountains. Either way, to hell with that puzzle.

[@JStryker47]

You could also feed the pie to the eagle; which would satisfy his hunger, but then he'd never be able to repay you because... yeah.

[@hotlavatube]

Everyone gives Cedric hell for saying the snake is poisonous, but Cedric is an owl and owls eat snakes. Thus, to Cedric the snake is poisonous. Furthermore, Cedric just saw Graham eat some white snake, so Cedric knows you eat snakes too. He's just saying, "I know that last snake you ate was delicious, but THIS snake is poisonous, so don't make a snack of him!"

[@spacequesthistorian]

Okay, I'll give you, that's a pretty damn good explanation.

[@neoqwerty]

@@spacequesthistorian ...Except that venom is usually not poisonous (it needs a different bunch of chemicals to cause problems when it's ingested VS when it's injected into the bloodstream, because digestion needs a whole bunch of different chemical stuff and it's basically better at being an isolated system until the intestines start transferring stuff to the blood stream, so poison has to make it through a very strong acid bath without losing its ability to do poisony stuff). Us humans can actually drink venom (if we do that too much we get stomachaches but then we also get it from eating too much clay or other non-food things) and cobra venom is reported as tasting "slightly sweet". We can't drink venom with impunity if there's a way for it to get to the blood stream though, like cuts or sores anywhere before the stomach acid bath point. Also owls eat poisonous snakes all the time and some specialize in ONLY eating venomous and poisonous snakes... Like the great horned owl. So not only is Cedric an idiot for not knowing the difference between venomous and poisonous, but going by his traits and colors, he's likely supposed to be a great horned owl or an eastern screech-owl... who both SPECIALIZE in hunting venomous snakes! So he's a lazy bastard to boot, you should have an option to sic him on that snake! Source: I had to learn what venom tastes like and if it's poisonous and if it's edible because of writing research.

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@neoqwerty I did not expect a thesis but I'm glad I got one.

[@ClefTheMouse]

​@@spacequesthistorianBy the way, I'm pretty sure the snake does have a voice line, but if I remember correctly, the game is just weird and to hear the snake talk, you use the hand icon on it instead of the talk one. It says "Stay away! This is my path!" with all of the cartoony sibilance on the S sounds you'd imagine was there.

[@jasonblalock4429]

I'm absolutely giddy in anticipation of the sheer rage this is going to inspire.

[@jasonblalock4429]

Regarding the cheese puzzle at the end. I saw an interview with an ex-Sierra employee (I'm thinking Josh Mandel?) and he said that Roberta refused to explain it when asked. Even within the company, no one had any fucking idea why the magic machine was cheese-powered. But you should have a nicer time with KQ6, which is widely considered the best KQ. And the one Roberta had the least involvement in. Hmm.

[@MagusMarquillin]

Obviously a cheese medium feeds the mycelium network that magic runs through. But if that's not obvious, at least it wasn't to hard to figure out when it's the only item that hasn't been used - assuming you knew to let yourself get captured and not immediately kill the blue meanie with peas. ...Was Roberta maybe smoking fairy dust?

[@Юрьич-ч7ф]

Because the Moon is made of it.

[@Bklyn93]

"Hmm. I hate Roberta Williams."

[@SoIarPIexusCIownGIider]

everyone asks this, but I always assumed the cheese was being used as a fuel source? it should have a decent amount of fat-calories for something that size, enough juice for one go of the machine.

[@ShreddingFinn]

Lol 6 the best?

[@DaveFu]

"Oh No!....Cedric was already in that empty sack of peas. Manannan will now feast on your good friend!"

[@Sarato]

One thing to mention about the cat and rat puzzle. It only activates when you're close to leaving the screen on the right side and if you have the stick or the shoe with you. Otherwise it won't trigger so that puzzle is actually one of the kinder ones in the game. I will still love this game as it was my first King's Quest game.

[@spacequesthistorian]

You may be right about the edge of the screen thing - it did appear as though I had to face Graham away from the bakery to make the cat appear. I'm sorry to say you are incorrect about it not appearing before you have the boot, however. It happened to me. At least in the original floppy version. It's possible they may have softened it up for the CD-ROM version.

[@Sarato]

@@spacequesthistorian You may be correct about the floppy version. I've only played the CD version and the rat never appears before the stick/boot condition is met there.

[@KenjuKizawa]

There are a few things I've come to understand about these games. 1: Either the King's Crown itself is cursed artifact or the very land of Daventry is cursed. Because how on earth is this place thriving then in disarray inbetween sequels with very little in the way of subjects to rule over? 2: Good or evil, wizards are extremely fucking lazy and malicious. They have little to no need of any items they ask of Graham's family. They are omnipotent with relatively no limit of their magic. They all know WHERE and WHAT they need but I guess humans sired into royal lineage make good fodder. Seeing as they can teleport willy nilly everywhere to tell others ah tut tut but here is your solution. 3: Witches are far more competent, yet no less vindictive. Even more so. At the very least they seem to be in more direct opposition with each other as they can get shit done. But alas, we can have another poor soul do it for us. 4: All this wackadoo magic has to be opening up dimensional rifts which is how Dracula, Pandora's Box and slew of other random people and things end up finding residence here.

[@scotia-drewshields1067]

Dude, that was hilarious! More people need to hear your material.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Thank you 😁 I mean, feel free to tell people about the videos... 😏

[@Geno2733]

I was going to ask "why isn't this loading", but then I realized it's dated two days from now.

[@randomold8618]

It doesn't seem that anyone know or talk about that this is the first ever talkie pc game after the short kids Mixedup mother goose game, this talkie version is released in early 1991 according to the official Sierra magazine

[@ultimateninjaboi]

I dont know why, but ive always found the vaguely bitcrushed audio of non-actors trying to voice characters in this era of gaming to be wildly charming. Like, as a child of the 90s, im sure its in no small part a nostalgia thing. But i think theres something so delightfully earnest about the coders, janitors, and grandmothers of these projects chipping in and trying their damndest. And the bad audio playback and mixing only adds to that effect. That said, the narrator for KQ5/6 are two of my favorite game voices of all time. Regardless of reasoning. I could listen to them both for hours.

[@deathstinger13]

for this one, it's a combination of modestly to slightly bitcrushed actors(or 'actors' as the case may be) talking(or singing, occasionally) over MIDI compositions. See Humongous Entertainment's faire as an example, everything from Freddy Fish to Putt Putt to Pajama Sam had that sort of audio-visual aesthetic. So did a number of other games from the era.

[@KM-hv1jg]

It really is charming! Like, the acting can be really bad, but it sounds like they’re having fun.

[@MattMcIrvin]

Harke's new KZbin channel is dripping with nostalgia for this thing specifically (she often edits herself in as a limited-animation VGA sprite with low-bitrate audio that makes her sound like she has a lisp).

[@MagusMarquillin]

Oh, and maybe Crispin could have teleported right there, but he couldn't have taken on Mordack with his wand as limp as it was, and he's not going to risk his own neck sneaking around his demonic fortress that's where he needed your youthful vigor. Besides, if we'd done it the easy way we wouldn't get to bottle a hag, reunite a man and his Willow, go sleeding, feed a starving eagle, melt a Ice queen, pie a Yeti and find an old man his hearing aid. Journey over destination - or Absence Makes the Heart go Yonder.

[@aydenottolini7994]

Watch these videos at least every 6 months. Idk why but they are my favorite kings quest videos. I’ve never even played the games and don’t have interest in doing so due to being an adhd addled boy but got damn I love these videos. And the other series as well

[@spacequesthistorian]

Thank you very much! I'm really glad you like 'em!

[@aratneerg1375]

Wow the graffics on this one looks really good.

[@4Legacy]

I grew up with King's Quest V on NES before knowing there was a PC version, so I actually kind of love that version. Don't get me wrong, I won't defend its a great game or anything. But, it was my first Sierra adventure game experience since Gold Rush on the Macintosh Plus. So after spending hours, days, weeks of my childhood exploring the NES version of Serenia, I have a soft spot for it over the other, better looking versions. Also, there are more than 2 save slots. Once you save in both, 2 more open up. I've actually had the game glitch out with a full screen of jumbled save states that would load you in random parts of the game with random items. I wish I would've explored that glitch more back when. I still own my copy though, so it's never too late to try and recreate it. Great videos btw! I'm quickly becoming a fan

[@MorklebBlack]

I have serious nostalgia for all the KQ games, because I played them through with my dad. We played all the way up to 7 together, and while they are quirky and weird and suffer from bad design choices, I still enjoy them to this day. Nothing you said in your video I can really disagree with, so I'll just say: "But... but.. nostalgia!"

[@chadamsler7287]

Another fine video SQH. Great job an on to Kings Quest6!

[@JuanAntonioHerreraC]

Now that you mentioned Beneath a Steel Sky, Sam and Max, etc... It would be awesome if you make some videos about those 😅

[@spacequesthistorian]

I did Let's Plays of them. Steel Sky was one of my earliest attempts at livestreaming so it's not terribly good but here's part 1: kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4momKSEfdqYotk I've been wanting to do a collective retrospective about Steel Sky and its disappointing sequel for a while but I've got other projects in the forefront first. There's also a whole Let's Play series of Sam & Max: Hit the Road on this channel (have a look under the Playlists tab). I'm not particularly fond of the Telltale games, though.

[@JuanAntonioHerreraC]

@@spacequesthistorian Great!!!! You're awesome!!!

[@tahustvedt]

I got this game for Christmas as a kid in 1990. It filled up more than half the 20 MB hard drive on my dads computer. Came on ten or eleven floppy disks I think. I didn't complete it until I downloaded a walk through from a BBS though but I got pretty far on my own, to the snow I think. The VGA graphics were amazing at the time.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Oh, it is gorgeous. It may be the best looking game in the whole series. People say it's KQ6 but I actually don't care much for the washed-out look that game has. KQ5 is goddamn flawless visually, no argument there.

[@Buzzou]

Hahaha this is probably the greatest video game review i've ever seen. I was hoping that you would play the audio where he drinks water in the desert "water, sweet nectar of the gods!", i still quote it sometimes when i'm really thirsty and quench it with water :) Apart from that, i never got anything out of this dumpster fire of a game.

[@FairuzAlBahr]

You have no idea how validating it feels to find out that I'm not the only one who considers this game to be an absolute mess. I genuinely think that every adventure developer needs to play this game at least once just so they know how NOT to make an adventure game.

[@spacequesthistorian]

It has great music, though. 😁

[@redshirtveteran5688]

@@spacequesthistorian WHAT? I CAN'T Y- Ok, it stopped. That town music, guh.

[@childofcascadia]

@SapphireBones Its better than 7. But anything is better than 7 so thats not saying much. Hell. Ultima VIII is better than KQ7.

[@FunnyGinMan]

I think this game is where my dad coined the phrase, "Save and save often". I honestly don't remember that many walking dead scenarios. We may have had a hint guide though, I can't remember.

[@Resulka]

My dad's version was "Safe Often and Save Frequently - Just SAVE!"

[@AdamAndThePants]

Shigeru Miyamoto: Yeah, we used owls as exposition dumps in Ocarina Of Time AND Link's Awakening. They can be pretty annoying lol. Roberta Williams: Hold my beer

[@lutfimakarim8258]

I love, love the king's quest series. I find your retrospectives! You blast each but do it in such details and you actually play them to death (pardon the expression) that i cannot fault your opinion. Any chance on doing the police quest series next?

[@spacequesthistorian]

Thank you! Yes, I am in fact doing Police Quest after I'm done with these. :)

[@lutfimakarim8258]

@@spacequesthistorian Wow cool! Did I just spoil it for everyone? :)

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@lutfimakarim8258 Nah, I actually mention it at the end of my KQ6 video. 😅

[@lutfimakarim8258]

@@spacequesthistorian wait.. the King's Quest 6 retrospective is not even out yet. Suddenly, I don't feel too guilty. :)

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@lutfimakarim8258 It goes live in 5 hours. :)

[@Thrakus]

I always thought they meant White Snake as in snake wine, where they take venomous snakes are just the venom which is mostly safe to drink if done right as the ethanol breaks down the venom. It so looks like an old dude playing with his cat and his action figures

[@Kawa-oneechan]

There are two walk icons for reasons similar to why KQ4 was released in both AGI and SCI. The "walk" icon uses the less CPU-intensive "just go in a straight line" code from the old parser games, while the "travel" icon uses the comparatively more costly polygon pathfinder. By the time the CD version came out, I suppose they figured they had enough market research to scrap the distinction and have only the "travel" icon, which would be called "walk" ever since. Also, the difference between the hourglass and crown cursors is described in the built-in help system.

[@Kawa-oneechan]

Also fun fact about the keyboard controls: some games, when you have the Walk icon selected, move the cursor when you press the arrow keys, while others move the player character. The latter is the standard behavior. This is entirely up to the game's script code. I wrote about how this difference works on my blog two years back.

[@Resulka]

My personal head canon for KQ5 is that Crispin has set up Graham to Kill Mordack for him. He doesn't show up until after Mordack dies. He may not have known that Graham was the schmuck he was going to get - But like Genesta with Rosella in KQ4, They get Desperate people to do things for them. He probably had Cedric following Mordack til he could find some loser to rope into the quest. He does say at the beginning that he was going to go talk to people - which is why he's not at his house for the whole game. Though really, He doesn't tell you anything you didn't already know by that point. From the Peter Spears Fuckery of a Companion - Graham adds the Cheese because the Machine... reminds him of a Fondue set. The thing I've always said about KQ5 is that Graham treats a good portion of it as a holiday from his responsibilities. He won't go do the efficent thing of being like "I AM A KING - i AM LOOKING FOR MY FAMILY, ASSIST ME PEASANT" instead he doesn't want anyone to know he's a king and he spends A LOT of time Antiquing. Listen to how he talks about that Marionette's Artistry or the Spinning Wheel, or the Sled... Let's not forget the fact that this is only a day after he's been on death's doorstep. There's SO little time between KQ 3-5, And then KQ6 takes place roughly a year later. and then KQ7 is mere months after that...

[@MagusMarquillin]

Whether or not Crispin already wanted Mordack dead, Mordack's demise was still mostly set up by Mordack, and a little from Alex and Mannanan. The only way Crispin could have "set up Graham" is if he was whispering to Mordack that he should avenge his brother. Fun head-canon, but not much to support it - unlike _sweet, pure Genesta,_ she's a lot more suspect then Chrispinofur, who I think just saw a chance to get some viagra in his wand by getting one young man to steal it from another. But even if he was duped, Graham is definitely enjoying his new vigor, he hasn't had an adventure for 20 years - he's not going to let the fact that his family is in danger stop him from stopping and smelling the Custard pies. Though, what told you this was the day after KQ4? I always understood it as more of a year.

[@Resulka]

@@MagusMarquillin I could have sworn I read it in the KQ Collection manual. I'll have to track down my copy. Possibly someone slipped in a line about Graham going to go for a walk as part of the recap in KQ4 and my brain just linked the two events. Still, it's a really short period. KQ7 is before they turn 20, and if some time has passed between that and KQ6 and the 6+many months of the intro of that. There's very little space for KQ5 to have a huge amount of time between KQ4 and KQ6. But yeah. I'll find my manual cause I really remember reading Graham was going for a walk, But it could equally be the Peter Spears book, and that's... Uhhhh. Special.

[@MagusMarquillin]

@@Resulka www.sierrahelp.com/Documents/Manuals/Kings_Quest_5_-_Manual.pdf it says he did go for a walk, almost one year later. The twins have just turned 18 for KQ3&4. KQ5 almost 19. KQ6 "Son, it's been months", plus 3 more months of sailing, so their 19.5? Enough time to get KQ7 in prior to 20. Crazy couple of years. I've never read Spear's unique attempt at making sense of these games - they seem a bit expensive to get ahold of now. Really - Fondue - that sounds hilarious! Graham always follows his gut! :P

[@spacequesthistorian]

The Peter Spears Companions are the ravings of a lunatic and I will not entertain anything they have to say. However, I like the head-canon of Crispin secretly wanting to get rid of Mordack. Cedric was probably following Mordack around, waiting to see if he'd pull some shit and then get the victim to go on a revenge quest for his employer. Worked like a charm. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it goes deeper: The Magic Mirror of Bullshit, sick of all this shit, rings up its old buddy Crispin in the middle of the night, while everyone else is asleep, and says, "Dude, you'll never guess who's home. Why don't you let this slip at the next Wizard's Council meeting? You'll get your wand back fully charged, and I'll have my revenge on that dumbass king." And Crispin's like, "Fuck, if it'll get Mordack off my back, you got a deal." But then, at the end, Crispin teleports in only to find Graham still alive, which wasn't part of the deal, and he couldn't just murder him in front of his miniaturized family in cold blood, so he had no choice but to act like he was coming to rescue them and turn everything back to normal. Also, him and the mirror were never really that good friends, and what's the mirror gonna do, anyway? Yeah. I like this. Anyway, Crispin doesn't actually say he'll go out and ask around for you. He just says he has business to attend to in another land. Nothing to do with Graham.

[@MechaDot1]

@@spacequesthistorian I like that Crisping secretly wanting to get rid of Mordack as well. That's why he didn't teleport you or himself straight to Mordack's castle cause he'd been zapped on spot, since Mordack felt more powerful than Crispin. Then he ports in just fine since Mordack no longer around. Also wouldn't be surprised Crispin plundered the castle for Mordack's secrets since he clearly remains behind with Cedrick.

[@amead78]

This game is nothing but a bunch of fetch quests just so you can charge the wand at the end.

[@scotia-drewshields1067]

This is rediculous you remixed the dwarves theme from KQ4! You're getting a thumbs up.

[@spacequesthistorian]

We're actually working on a chill-out album with remixed music from the King's Quest games. You know, because Graham is such a druggie, he'd probably love a chill-out record.

[@FunnyGinMan]

I shall be the first to like this video that I already know is going to be fun as hell.

[@trevorsreya8277]

I have a very vague memory of that poisonous/venomous snake talking one line of dialog in a very threatening manner.

[@MaleOrderBride]

He does. It's a weird glitch where the "talk" icon doesn't do anything to the snake...but if you click the "hand" icon on the snake, he does talk saying something about don't touch me!!

[@FAYZER0]

Jesus, King's Quest was never my series, and after seeing this I'm glad!

[@glokidd]

Why does nobody mention Mordack's Buffness? since when are there buff wizards? (okay okay i mentioned this on your stream but its a valid question) looking at any front facing closeup he looks more warrior class. Graham is buff as hell too so maybe they thought they had to make mordy buff for him to be considered a threat

[@spacequesthistorian]

I think we were all too captivated by Graham's pecs to study the villain too closely. Also, who really wants to get busy and freaky in that huge scary bed?

[@glokidd]

@@spacequesthistorian I dunno, if he keeps Kubrick staring at me through that prominent widows peak I might let him buy me a drink 😉 haha. he looks like a strong hugger 😀

[@cybercop0083]

Maybe he cast a amino-acid protein-‘roid spell on himself to woo kute Kaseema😘

[@torchiest]

This is the only game in the series I haven't completed (not counting Mask of Eternity, which isn't a King's Quest game). It's too horrifying to contemplate. Someone should really make a Cedric-free version of this game btw.

[@InfectiousGroovePodcast]

I have a strong core memory of my dad taking me to Babbages first thing in the morning to buy this game. It was funny to hear 20 or so floppy disks falling around inside the big box.

[@katiehal16]

YES, this, WHY is so much of this game completely disconnected from its actual plot? His family has been kidnapped and he's just mosying around freaking Serenia for the majority of the game!

[@Resulka]

Graham's Antiques Roadshow!

[@spacequesthistorian]

One word: drugs.

[@Thrakus]

He does not care; Most likely finds it funny like his idea of a joke to ram rocks into the only means of water in his kingdom back is 3. If he did care he would have taken his ship from 6. The wizard does not even care as he can just teleport you there if he wanted to.

[@mikeroagreschen5350]

Because he needs the staff to get into the temple to get the gold coin so he can talk to the fortune teller so that the gypsies leave a tambourine behind so that he can get past the POISONOUS snake. Duh.

[@MeowingKittens]

One thing that always bugged me about the cat/rat puzzle: Look closely, and you'll realize that's the baker brother's cat. So not only did you commit animal cruelty to someone's PET, but you actively prevented him from doing his job: protecting the bakery from rodents. That rat is terrifyingly HUGE, and also apparently raids the inn for their food as well. I'm surprised there's not a puzzle involving you cleaning up rat poop in return for an item, since she really gets around. Why does everyone in this universe hate cats??

[@spacequesthistorian]

You're absolutely right. And a boot is a terribly violent thing to throw at it. But the most infuriating thing for me is the logic behind the puzzle: You don't even have any justification for committing animal cruelty in the first place unless you know there's a rat hole in the basement - and the only way you can know that is if you've already died from being locked down there once. So from a story perspective, Graham sees a cat chasing a rat and lobs a massive lunk of footwear at it... for no goddamn reason.

[@MechaDot1]

@@spacequesthistorian Considering this cat mistreatment in KQ3 and KQ5, getting feeling Roberta Williams has/had something against cats.

[@micahbush5397]

I think you can use either the stick or the boot for either the cat or the dog. Either way... yeah, it makes no sense.

[@ashacklett01]

huh. you know, it never occurred to me that i struggled with these games because of some poor choices made by the designers. i thought i was just bad at video games. this is the first of your videos i've watched, and it was way funnier than i expected. looking forward to seeing your video on SQ6

[@spacequesthistorian]

Thanks man! I will readily admit that I am also quite bad at video games in general, so it's not *all* the designers' faults. 😅

[@meatrace]

Funny enough the first version of this game I ever played was on the NES. It made enough of an impression that I HAD to get it on the PC, which I did. KQ5 and 6 are the only ones I ever properly owned, though I had all the Space Quests.

[@shard_the_sage1320]

I feel like I've never seen the original Kq5 because that Cyan toolbar looks very alien to me, I remember the warm brown tool bar only. I remember being able to get the Cat and rat sequence to happen again after missing it the first time and without reloading the game. I believe that Crispin couldn't teleport to Mordack's place until you brought the wand there as a point of reference for him to teleport to once it was powered up.

[@redshirtveteran5688]

Ah, so it was a tracking device as well!

[@sticky737]

Good to see you re back, cheers from australia

[@spacequesthistorian]

Cheers from Denmark!

[@JStryker47]

Looking at the NES version makes me that much more appalled, that people actually slammed the SCI remake of KQ1. “Ruining old classics” they said. Bullshit! Giving a game improved graphics and animations, and a more fleshed out plot isn’t ruining it, it’s making it BETTER! If you want to see KQ1 ruined, look at the Sega Master System version!

[@spacequesthistorian]

I really need to play that Master System version to the end... and also the SCI remake of KQ1. When I made that first video, I didn't really delve into other versions of the game like I did in later videos. I'm actually kind of excited to see how it fares in its other iterations.

[@snapgacklepop]

Look I'll be honest... Cedric is my jam. Yes I said it and I'm a fan. This is an 'each for their own' and 'there's somebody for everybody' situation 😉🦉

[@pauls6416]

I love this game and I think it might’ve been the first I played from Sierra, however that friggin owl. Never stop roasting Cedric.

[@jamesstaggs4160]

No wonder I keep getting stuck in this game. Also seeing the conversion of King's Quest on the NES makes me really appreciate the conversion of Shadowgate from the Macventure games. It looks pretty damn good and also plays pretty damn good.

[@scotia-drewshields1067]

I'm pretty sure you can throw the stick at the cat and use the boot to distract the dog in the anthill. Which of course adds to the absurdity of the "puzzle".

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yes, you can! I think it gives you less points because throwing a boot at the dog is more cruel than throwing a stick and having it run after it. Apparently being cruel to cats is no biggie.

[@MonochromeWench]

endless desert, cause it was so good in 3 they had to do it again in 5

[@spacequesthistorian]

Except in KQ3 it was just a death trap whereas here, you actually have to map it out and find stuff in it. And there is literally no reason to go in there (from a plot perspective).

[@jasonblalock4429]

AND in Quest For Glory 2.

[@torchiest]

@@jasonblalock4429 QFG2 was "endless", but there were some boundaries, and it had a limited number of locations to find, many of which were along the edges. So I wouldn't put it in the same category of rage-inducing nonsense.

[@avasdv]

Omg this is hilarious. And thought provoking too. This is prolly your best one

[@michaelsmith4904]

my computer had a non-standard graphics mode that wasn't compatible with the VGA version so i had to exchange it. Then I got stuck because my black and white laptop screen effectively made the gold coin you are supposed to take in the desert cave indistinguishable from all the other treasure. had to get permission to play the game in the school computer lab after hours where it took me all of two seconds to notice the difference.

[@DarkMoe]

you should watch Mostly walking take on this game, the intro is so out of place that it's impossible not to laugh. That barman, "Rub him out!", all the voices, everything is stellar

[@dollors1]

13:57 IIRC the game will actually let you throw the pie at the cat and then you lose the pie but you still save the rat.

[@spacequesthistorian]

So many dead ends in this game. It's unbelievable.

[@ineztrevor7356]

The version I bought didn’t have the code for the mouse on the screen by the mill to throw your shoe at. Many hours/weeks later had to get Sierra to Re-Ship 16 3.5 floppies x. I both hate and love this game. I recommend Jontrons version to everyone (but sq historian, as I don’t want his content affected)

[@AlienCowThatMoos]

No mention of how the copy protection works? It was that stupid broken wand. The RNG would sometimes make you look up spells in the manual to progress. If you didn't have the manual, you could just reload and pray the RNG gods wouldn't do it again. But there's one last wand bit right before the finale that was not random. It always happens. So not having the manual is also a dead man walking scenario.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Very true, and I actually had to edit around that copy protection stuff in scenes like when Graham takes the boat with the hole in it out to sea. I could have made a point about it but I already had enough to rant about. 😅

[@SaxcatGamingCorner]

I REALLY want to get a hold of that 16 bit version of KQ V...I've been looking all over for it and cannot find it.

[@spacequesthistorian]

8-bit, actually... And yeah, it didn't sell very well, so I think the actual cartridges are pretty hard to come by.

[@SaxcatGamingCorner]

@@spacequesthistorian I meant the PC version. I have the NES one.

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@SaxcatGamingCorner Oh, the 16 color version! I'm sorry, I misunderstood you. Yeah, that one didn't sell terribly well, either - but I'm sure it pops up from time to time on eBay. I have similar EGA versions of SQ4 and SQ1VGA.

[@LuckyLuigi]

I admit I prefer your chronological approach is the previous episodes but I still really enjoyed this :)

[@XyNoST]

The song around 25:00 sounds like Boards of Canada !

[@spacequesthistorian]

I love "Music Has the Right to Children"!

[@XyNoST]

@@spacequesthistorian Awesome album for sure, never thought you would respond ! Love your channel, thanks One Short Eye for the discovery ! :)

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@XyNoST I like responding to things, having "Music" on vinyl, and OneShortEye. 😁👍

[@blankadams3120]

To be fair to Crispin about the teleporting into Mordack's castle... Graham did fix a lot of issues on his journey to save his castle, he dealt with a yeti, a witch, a bear, and an ice queen. The local village is now safer because Graham had to put in the effort.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Yeah, but none of those issues had anything to do with rescuing his family.

[@attractionzilla]

brilliant commentary. I'm surprised you played the NES version of KQ5, I feel so so sorry for you.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Thank you! It greatly helped that I had the benefit of emulator save states when playing the NES version. But I had to play it. It's such a weird anomaly. I even have a boxed copy of it on my shelf!

[@raccoon874]

*oh jeebus.. all the FRUSTRATING moments of these games, before you could search any internet*

[@Geno2733]

Little does SQH know... Cedric comes back later as Kaepora Gabora...

[@Zorothegallade-rpg]

"In fact every wizard he's met is kind of an asshole." His son Alexander, a self-taught mage: >:(

[@eddieking6723]

Those Harpies definetly confused a 10 year old me playing this game back in the day!

[@Thrakus]

1:55 to the left you can see the rock you pushed in the past game , But where is the Goat!?

[@biglos9d]

My parents caught me on camera rejoicing Christmas morning as my 10 yr old self got this game as one of the presents

[@spacequesthistorian]

I have a feeling this video might cause significantly less rejoicing.

[@spacepirate-ninja9284]

lmao

[@redshirtveteran5688]

Yay. Yay.

[@constancep7632]

OMG I loved this game as a kid. We used to play King's Quest (also the Myst games and Timelapse) as a family, so I'm probably just nostalgic! 😅 Your videos have me wheezing though. 30-40 years later, they *are* awful! 😆

[@spacequesthistorian]

Happy to hear you're finding some amusement in this. 😊

[@LoJo]

Speaking of annoying sidekicks, does Percy from 1984's Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom count? He was always dropping your stuff.

[@larzuthul5315]

What’s that game at 20:31?

[@spacequesthistorian]

The ImagiNation Network. Not really a game; more of a social network.

[@larzuthul5315]

@@spacequesthistorian oh ok

[@rocier]

I wonder if anyone ever beat this on the nintendo back in the day. Like literally out of the however many copies sold, I doubt one person figured it oiut

[@GyprockGypsy]

I spent fucking hours wandering around that desert as a child. Never found the boot.

[@spacequesthistorian]

I probably never would have found it, either, without a walkthrough.

[@Stiner75]

I have only played the NES version of this game, and I beat it. I got lucky and missed a lot of the "dead man walking" scenarios that are present here.

[@Sandata64RD]

So, We barrowed a few games from a, person. Not sure if it was a friend of my dad or just some random Co-Worker. But what we were given was King Quest 5 as one of these games. For our like first ever real dang Windows 95 computers or what ever. We were also given the Hint Book for KQ5 and it does have the secrets inside of it but you needed one of those anti-Red see through film sheets of clear plastic to remove the Red lines that blocked the text. I was not a smart child as a little one. I didn't properly used the Guide. I didn't get anywhere. But this and Hugo 3, yes the Jungle one, were my first Adventure games ever. Then later on in my teen's I found the line "You fight like a cow" and played those four games, and the Sam and Max one. TallTale supporter till the Zombie games, jumped back on Borderlands Tales. I think I found the better path? Maybe?

[@pikaace]

Mordack: You turned my brother into a cat, the worst fate that could ever befall someone! Me: ........Your brother was kidnapping babies, keeping them as slaves while abusing them their entire lives, and then killing them once they turned 18, I think he got off EASY

[@spacequesthistorian]

I guess Roberta Williams just hates cats more than she hates child slavery.

[@mrbannon0]

This is gonna be awesome!

[@funkyfox2041]

Hooo. Hooo. My very *first* exposure to Sierra games period was the NES version of King's Quest 5. I'd never even heard of them before (I didn't own a PC until the mid 90s). I've finished it on original hardware. IT IS NOT FUN. I only got through because Nintendo Power had a short walkthrough of the beginning and I got lucky and got the honeycomb by total accident. (Young me was rather traumatized by the evil forest, and how if you wander around long enough without the right items to get out Graham eventually just...sits down and dies of despair. Gooooodness.)

[@MrSamadolfo]

Print out a walkthrough and follow along as you play, if you dont do that dont even bother LOL 😊

[@spacequesthistorian]

You better believe that's how we rolled.

[@MrSamadolfo]

@@spacequesthistorian 😏👍 you know it!

[@davidpa9266]

Whitesnake lasts until you go again on your own.

[@seltsammithut8004]

actually the game tells you that theres a hole in the boat. when u get close and look at it, graham inspects it. its a common mythos that you have to die once there. its still an unfair game.

[@thesmithersy]

Are you going to do the Police Quest saga too?

[@spacequesthistorian]

Oh yes! In fact, that's why I've been playing and uploading streams of the first Police Quest game. It's to capture footage for a Fair & Balanced series on all the games -- PQ1-4. And I'm also going to throw in Blue Force and Codename: Iceman as a bonus. 😊

[@thesmithersy]

@@spacequesthistorian Excellent. I have to say that PQ4 is my personal favourite for so much detail they put into individual reactions for using items on random things (ie. using the gun on basically everything to hear the narrator complain etc.)

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@thesmithersy PQ4 is a contentious one for many reasons. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to it, but then again I've never played it for more than five minutes, so... We'll see how it goes when I get to it.

[@thesmithersy]

@@spacequesthistorian There are definitely some scenes that are a bit controversial (some you probably will have to censor to put on YT) but it is for me more enjoyable just to mess around and use everything in the inventory on everything.

[@-Tristan-]

The dead ends sucked like in any other Sierra game yeah. But still I love this game. The gritty, dark phantasy art was amazing, I even prefer it over the successor KQ6 which had great moments, but overall it felt like some 90s slushy love story. Mordacks castle looks even a bit alien like. Puzzles are Sierra like... hard. I had the floppy version so I have no gruel against cedric. And Graham was awesome in this. Anyways funny review, good channel.

[@lorigulfnoldor2162]

You say every wizard Graham met was an asshole, but wasn't Alexander technically a wizard, too? Just a young/apprentice/prodigy kind of wizard?

[@spacequesthistorian]

Alexander was a slave who had to use magic to escape. And he was also an asshole. :)

[@Slattstudio]

30 Minutes! Wow, there must be a lot that bothers you with this one! Also, that NES port...I'd be interested to know if *anyone* ever beat that as a kid. I'm guessing not!

[@jasonblalock4429]

I'd love to see someone attempt a head to head comparison of the NES KQ5 versus the SMS KQ1, to see which was worse. (And the sad thing is, the NES Maniac Mansion was actually totally playable. A good adventure game port COULD be done.)

[@NOopulence]

oh man.... i got this game bundled with my first PC in the 90s and not getting far in it. I forgot how insufferable cedric is haha

[@pauls6416]

I love this little creep.

[@spacequesthistorian]

Which one? Cedric?

[@pauls6416]

@@spacequesthistorian no, can’t stand Cedric, but I do enjoy the game a lot.

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@pauls6416 Well, then I'm almost afraid to ask who the "little creep" is. 😅

[@pauls6416]

@@spacequesthistorian sir, you’re great. You make great content.

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@pauls6416 I'm the little creep, aren't I? 😂 (seriously, thank you!)

[@mikeroagreschen5350]

A POISONOUS review!

[@spacequesthistorian]

Jazzercise will do the trick.

[@AlexMathiesen]

Alright I'm taking bets... What's going to be SQH's biggest problem with King's Quest VI - The Backtracking? - The Cliffs of Logic? - The whole "you don't know which item you need to borrow from the antique shop" aspect? - Anything else I didn't think of?

[@shard_the_sage1320]

If you have manual the cliffs of logic are easy.

[@cyberdalekyeti]

What about which Lamp to trade for ?

[@Resulka]

Alexander does all this shit at the behest of the mirror while Cassima's own letter says she's fine - go away? Alexander gives Beauty away to the beast without knowing that Beast is going to treat her decently? XD

[@spacequesthistorian]

- The butt-ugly hi-res portraits? - The wonky rotoscope animation? - Everything on the Isle of Wonder? - Everything Alexander ever says in the whole game? WHY NOT ALL OF THEM 😝

[@JStryker47]

@@Resulka Well, I mean... she does admit that she doesn't want to marry the vizier and tells him that she just needs some kind of weapon; which she's only able to get from Alex. And it's not like he *can* leave the Green Isles - what with his ship being wrecked and the only other boat around being out of commission as well. And in Beauty's case, it was either that or spend the rest of her life slaving away for an abusive stepmother. Besides, if Alex hadn't done that, he would've turned into a beast too - for entering the beast's lair. That's part of the curse.

[@spacepirate-ninja9284]

The video hasn't even aired and it has more comments than my entire channel lol.

[@spacequesthistorian]

It's getting more comments than my already-published videos usually get, too. ;)

[@Insane-Howl-Cowl]

Look out Graham!

[@DeejayVillain]

Do… not… eat… the… pie… You need to throw it at a yeti

[@hamishfox]

I take back my earlier comment on another video about games of this era feeling like a glimpse into someone's mind. I remember playing this as a kid and I absolutely hated this game. Even using a walkthrough in my teen years I got stuck at the end because the copy I had was broken and you couldn't get past the Merlin style wizard fight at the end. Fuck this game.

[@DeejayVillain]

KQ5 on the NES?! NO! That’s just cruel!!!

[@spacequesthistorian]

You should try playing it. That's even more cruel.

[@scotia-drewshields1067]

Alexander in KQ6 "the Answer is Love". Cheesiest King's Quest line ever? Elon Musk uses this line in his Joe Rogan interview lol

[@michaelcounsell9935]

Soo you are a closest super KQV fan..

[@kizmetmars]

20:45 I'm sorry but did he just say, "Now you spend the next 500 years in a bu tthole..."?

[@spacequesthistorian]

"Bottle" 😁

[@kizmetmars]

@@spacequesthistorian That's not what I heard first. A bottle sounds better than being trapped in KQ for 500 years.

[@spacequesthistorian]

@kizmetmars 🤣

[@MagusMarquillin]

The snake actually does talk to you, you just have to use your *hand* on it, not your *mouth*! Who would have thought Sierra wouldn't kill you for doing a thing like that?

[@spacequesthistorian]

I present you with Exhibit A to the contrary: twitter.com/SQHistorian/status/1365442821289893893

[@MagusMarquillin]

@@spacequesthistorian Fair point, I stand half-corrected. I suppose you played the disk version then? I failed to notice that most of the footage was showing the text, or what that meant. You haven't gotten the full KQ experience if you didn't fully bask in that programmer voice acting - it can't be that bad if you were willing to suffer the NES version!

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@MagusMarquillin There's a whole bit in the video about the CD-ROM and voice acting. 😁 Yes, I actually played through (all the way through!) the game 4 times for this video: 1) original floppy, 2) SierraOriginals CD-ROM, 3) NES, 4) King's Quit audioswap.

[@spacequesthistorian]

@@MagusMarquillin I only say the snake doesn't talk because I always consider the first version canon, and any future alterations as retcons. The snake didn't talk in the first version - therefore, its talking in the CD-ROM is some George Lucas'ing that I discount. Same goes for the SCI remake of KQ1 saying King Edward "lost" the three magic items, when in the original he just says they exists, effectively telling you to go out and steal them.

[@JeremyLeePotocki]

8 years later the second most annoying companion steps forward..... HEY! Make you wander if Miyamoto played KQ5 and thought to himself I can make a "better" Graham. lol