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A look at the King’s Quest series

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Total Posts: 523

Joined 2010-02-08

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Sorry for the double post but I just remembered…

Wilco, you might want to set up KQ6 in ScummVM and select the Windows version as described here. This will yield some enhancements like hi-res UI elements and hi-res character portraits not available in the DOS version. It’s a matter of taste whether you like the lo-res or hi-res portraits more, but the biggest advantage of the hi-res portraits is that they have more expressive facial animations and the lip-synching is more nuanced.

For just one example, note how Alexander’s brow furrows in the hi-res version, when he says “guardsmen—uh… er… guard dogs”:
hi-res portraits (Windows version)
lo-res portraits (DOS version)

Minor note, but the Windows video I’ve linked above is actually the real Windows version (because that’s the video I happened to find), not ScummVM’s interpreter running the Windows version of the game. ScummVM’s Windows version is actually slightly better than this video because it doesn’t have the Windows title bar at the top and ScummVM lets you use the colorful DOS cursors instead of the white Windows ones, so it looks a bit nicer.

     
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Ugh, I hate the Windows version. There are all these annoying inconsistencies between the portraits and the characters’ bodies. Saladin, for example: his high-res character portrait has the pink and white coloring the opposite as it is on the sprite.

I originally played the Mac version, which had a slightly different opening movie than either the DOS and Windows versions. I’ve always wondered why. In the Mac version Cassima doesn’t actually say Alexander’s name, he just sees her in the mirror, so there’s more mystery about whether or not she’s going to want to see him. I wish it were available somewhere, at least as a video, but the game isn’t playable on today’s Macs. (I actually did sort of manage to rip it, years ago, but the speed was wrong and there wasn’t any audio and it was a weird file format. Don’t think I have the file anymore.)

     
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It’s true that Saladin’s character design was substantially reworked for the hi-res portrait while his walking sprite was left alone, but what are the other sprite inconsistencies you have in mind? To my recollection, most of the hi-res character designs are similar to the original and still match the walking sprites.

Unfortunately I can’t find a page with a side-by-side comparison of all the portraits, but for anyone curious:
Most of the lo-res character portraits can be seen on this SierraChest page.
The hi-res portraits can be seen by clicking around the character pages of this King’s Quest wikia.

(Be warned that the KQ wikia sometimes plays annoying video ads with sound.)

     

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fov - 16 September 2014 05:06 PM

I originally played the Mac version, which had a slightly different opening movie than either the DOS and Windows versions. I’ve always wondered why. In the Mac version Cassima doesn’t actually say Alexander’s name, he just sees her in the mirror, so there’s more mystery about whether or not she’s going to want to see him. I wish it were available somewhere, at least as a video, but the game isn’t playable on today’s Macs. (I actually did sort of manage to rip it, years ago, but the speed was wrong and there wasn’t any audio and it was a weird file format. Don’t think I have the file anymore.)

If you can find it, see if you can get it working with ScummVM.
I did get the Mac version of KQ5 (floppy version) working in ScummVM on an Intel Mac with Snow Leopard, so the Mac version of KQ6 should also work in ScummVM as long as you’re able to read and copy the files.

     
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Oh interesting! I found a playthrough on YouTube on a Mac with ScummVM, but it seemed to be the DOS version. I’m not sure if I have my old KQ6 Mac floppies… but if I do, and if I can figure out a way to read them, I’ll give it a try. I do still have one old PC with a floppy drive, it’s on the verge of being carted off to electronics recycling though…

About the character portraits, I don’t know if there are other obvious examples, they just don’t look right to me (which surely has something to do with the fact that I played the original version so many times before I ever saw them). Alexander’s head for example—it looks so long and rectangular as opposed to the rounder head on the sprite. I like the version of Jollo that looks like a real person rather than his high-res cartoony face. Cassima’s heavy eye make-up and angular face make her look kind of severe. Dunno, they just make me cringe. Pan

     
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fov - 17 September 2014 04:29 PM

About the character portraits, I don’t know if there are other obvious examples, they just don’t look right to me (which surely has something to do with the fact that I played the original version so many times before I ever saw them). Alexander’s head for example—it looks so long and rectangular as opposed to the rounder head on the sprite. I like the version of Jollo that looks like a real person rather than his high-res cartoony face. Cassima’s heavy eye make-up and angular face make her look kind of severe. Dunno, they just make me cringe. Pan

I kind of agree, though I’m not sure it’s for such specific reasons.  I just don’t think the high res portraits are very good from a drawing standpoint.  Proportions in some of the human characters are really iffy, but others are just fine.  Ironically, Saladin is one that I have the least problem with, but YMMV.  Smile  The low res portraits aren’t much better, in my opinion.  In general, I don’t think Sierra ever had truly GREAT portrait artists.  I can’t think of any Sierra game that had what I would consider amazing dialog portraits.

**I take it back.  QFG4’s were amazing.  But they were really a different animal altogether, being full-body and all.

     
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Looks like I’ll have some experimenting to do before starting the game. I’ll compare the Dos and Windows version to see what feels better.

About the intro I saw an interesting video showing the different intros (Too bad it still misses the mac version, fov):

     

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fov - 17 September 2014 04:29 PM

Oh interesting! I found a playthrough on YouTube on a Mac with ScummVM, but it seemed to be the DOS version. I’m not sure if I have my old KQ6 Mac floppies… but if I do, and if I can figure out a way to read them, I’ll give it a try. I do still have one old PC with a floppy drive, it’s on the verge of being carted off to electronics recycling though…

I used a USB floppy drive with my Mac.
I’m not sure if you can read a Mac floppy with a PC, though there might be some utility that allows it—maybe something like this
http://www.emaculation.com/doku.php/hfvexplorer

     
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Finally got back to Kings Quest 6, it’s a really big game, enjoying it so far. I remember playing part of it before but I definitely never ended it.

Just two questions about the game because i’m trying to avoid a walkthrough.
Can I enter the minotaur labyrinth immediately or I need some specific items before?
Also, does this one has dead ends? There’s lot of stuff to experiment and just wondering if I can relax and continue (for example: the frozen lettuce has melted, is this a dead end?)

     
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About the labyrinth - the game will let you enter before you have everything you need. So yes, this is a potential dead end. (If you want to know, the items you need are brick, tinderbox, Hole in the Wall, red scarf)

Besides that, the other potential dead ends I can think of are near the end and I think they all have to do with not having the item you need when you get to a certain place. I might be mistaken but I don’t think you have to worry about “using up” an item. With the lettuce, for example, you can just go back and get another one.

     
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fov - 06 October 2014 02:16 PM

About the labyrinth - the game will let you enter before you have everything you need. So yes, this is a potential dead end.

But at least the game is nice enough to give you ONE warning if you haven’t got all the items you’ll need. You can enter the second time, though, so yeah, potential dead end.
There are a few others but there are nowhere near as many as in KQV.

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Thanks. I think KQ5 has made me paranoid, every time I use an item I get afraid of having reached a dead end Smile
The minotaur labyrinth I was kind of expecting it to be a dead end because of that warning and did mapped it and eventually got stuck.

     
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As fov says, a melted lettuce can be easily replaced with a new frozen lettuce from the garden.

However, I believe there are indeed a couple items in KQ6 that you can use improperly and not get back again like the rotten tomato and the rotten egg. Wasting the rotten tomato doesn’t lead to a dead end, per se, but it does force you to take the shorter of the two ending paths, since the longer path is no longer achievable. Wasting the rotten egg can lead to a full dead end, but it’s unlikely you’ll encounter this scenario. Generally, wilco, if you use an item and you feel like you didn’t accomplish anything by using it (like how eating the pie in KQ5 didn’t accomplish anything), you may want to reconsider and revert to a past save. But these are rareties; you needn’t be paranoid all the time as it should normally be fairly evident if using an item accomplished anything or not.

fov is right that you can also run into dead ends toward the end of the game if you’re missing items or forget to do something. I’m sure you know already, wilco, but with old Sierra games the best defense is to keep multiple save games at various points throughout, so that even if something goes amiss you hopefully never have to repeat too much. When I would play through old Sierra games, I usually had 15+ save game files by the end of the game, because it was safest to keep creating new saves often instead of just writing over old ones.

Overall, KQ6 is better than KQ5 in terms of dead ends, but it still has them, so better safe than sorry. As I recall, KQ7 will (finally!) be free of dead ends, aside from one bug that should already be patched in the GOG version.

     
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Caliburn - 08 October 2014 01:35 AM

As I recall, KQ7 will (finally!) be free of dead ends, aside from one bug that should already be patched in the GOG version.

Free of dead ends and free of good gameplay Frown I had to replay solid portions of KQ6 because of a couple dead ends at the time, but it was still a very enjoyable ride. And they tried their best to make the game more comfortable, yet still challenging, with fair warnings, multiple paths and puzzle solutions.

     

PC means personal computer

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Doom - 08 October 2014 04:21 AM
Caliburn - 08 October 2014 01:35 AM

As I recall, KQ7 will (finally!) be free of dead ends, aside from one bug that should already be patched in the GOG version.

Free of dead ends and free of good gameplay Frown I had to replay solid portions of KQ6 because of a couple dead ends at the time, but it was still a very enjoyable ride. And they tried their best to make the game more comfortable, yet still challenging, with fair warnings, multiple paths and puzzle solutions.

Well, I don’t want to discuss KQ7 too much until wilco has played it. I may say more about it then. In the meantime, I’m just giving due credit to KQ7 for being free of dead ends, since wilco wanted to know when he can relax and no longer be paranoid. Smile

And yes, I agree with you about KQ6—it’s my favorite.

     

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