King's Quest VII:
The Princeless Bride
Review
Storyline and
Gameplay
The tradition
of training new game developers with the King's Quest series continues
in King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride. This game is co-designed
by Lorelei Shannon, who had earlier co-designed Pepper's Adventures
in Time with Jane Jensen, co-writer of King's Quest VI.
Having two designers on this game was probably a necessity, considering
the fact that after completing King's Quest VI: To Heir is Human,
Roberta Williams took on not only this ambitious sequel but also Phantasmagoria,
the most ambitious project in the history of Sierra. Without doubt it must
have been a big challenge to focus on two big games at the same time, especially
two games so different. While Phantasmagoria is a chilling horror
story for adults with real actors, King's Quest VII: The Princeless
Bride is the most children's-oriented game in the entire series with
cartoony graphics. Right from the beginning, the goal was to make this
game "Disney-like" in appearance. King's Quest VII is also the first game
in the series designed entirely as a multimedia product. For the first
time in the series you will have the opportunity to control Queen Valanice,
a long-awaited feature. But as if this was not enough, you will also get
to control Princess Rosella again! Yes, this is an all-girls' adventure!
In the introduction to the game Valanice and Rosella are separated, and
throughout six chapters control switches between the two, as Valanice makes
her way through many strange lands in her search for Rosella, while Rosella
is working to stop an evil plan by the game's main villain, the evil fairy
Malicia. Eventually they end up in the same places, but manages to miss
each other right up until the dramatic ending. Each chapter ends with a
cliffhanger situation, motivating the player to finish the latest chapter
to reach the continuation of the previous one. It is an interesting design,
essentially making it like two separate stories in one game that gradually
merges together. The story is filled with humor and imagination and is
designed to appeal to a younger audience than previous King's Quest games.
At points the details of the story defies logic though, and especially
in the middle section of the game there are a few plot holes that may appear
confusing. Some of them are the result of changes in the script throughout
the design process. The more childish approach may also appear alienating
for players that are familiar with the previous King's Quest games. The
game is also designed so that you won't need to have played any of the
previous King's Quest games to enjoy the story. Nevertheless, there are
plenty of references in it to earlier games in the series. It is notable
though that Rosella, who we came to know as a strong, responsible heroine
in King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, appears much more childish
and irresponsible in this game. It is a bit hard to visualize that she
would behave like that after all the things she has been through. Valanice
on the other hand is presented as the loving and resourceful mother you
would expect her to be.
In an effort
to make the game playable for children and newcomers to the series, the
interface is very simplistic. There is only one mouse cursor, looking like
a magic wand. This cursor lights up at hotspots that you can manipulate
in some way. This is both a blessing and a curse. It makes the puzzles
less obscure, but also limits the interaction with the environment. You
can usually only interact with one thing in one way, which somewhat cheapens
the experience. The system for saving games is a bit peculiar. When you
start a new game, you create a new savegame spot and are allowed to start
playing from the beginning of any of the six chapters, even if you haven't
finished the first one before. Throughout the game you are then allowed
to save your game by making a bookmark at any point and returning there
later. But you only have one bookmark per savegame, so if you have made
a bookmark but would like to replay a part that you have already went through,
you have no option but to create a new savegame and play your way up to
that part. Of course you can skip any preceding chapters, but in the long
chapters this still means that you may have a long way ahead of you. This
is a drawback of the savegame system. A feature that speeds up this process
slightly is the option to skip the dialogue by clicking several times and
the option some of the longer cutscenes altogether by clicking on a fast-forward
button. On the plus side, you will never have to worry about death in King's
Quest VII. There are many ways to die in the game, but if you do you always
have the option to return to the point just before you died. Therefore,
there is no reason to worry about dying. Instead you should go ahead and
try dangerous things just to watch how you die, which is often amusing.
Overall, the story is fun but not flawless and the interface is easy to
learn but somewhat limiting if you are a seasoned adventure gamer. But
it's an excellent game for children and people who still enjoys fairy-tales
and wants to get introduced to the adventure game genre.
Graphics
King's Quest VII
is one of the first game in the series to use SCI 32, the most advanced
version of the SCI interpreter. The resolution is doubled to 640x480 and
the game is released on CD-ROM only, with digital speech. Unfortunately
there is no option to get text subtitles. Version 2.0 of the game supports
Windows 95. The artwork is done as in a traditional animated movie, with
painted static backgrounds and characters drawn on transparent plastic
cells, which has then been scanned into a computer and digitally cleaned
up and painted. This has given the game the intended cartoony look. The
characters are bigger and more free-moving than in previous King's Quest
games. They also fit in well with the background graphics. This approach
has made King's Quest VII the most graphically intense game in the series,
and apart from its in-house art team, Sierra had to use four external animation
studios to get the job done. This has resulted in slightly different visual
styles in the different chapters. The first chapter which takes place in
a desert landscape has a distinct style that doesn't quite look like the
rest of the game. This chapter was made by Animation Magic Inc.,
which also made the global animation of the main characters. Chapters 4
and 6 were animated by LA West Film Production and again has a slightly
different style. The biggest part of the game, chapters 2, 3 and 5, were
animated by Dungeon Ink & Paint with assistance on chapter 5
by Animotion, which also did the opening and closing movies. Despite
the use of different animation houses, the artwork has been nicely integrated
in the final product and the small differences in style provides a unique
feeling to the different parts of the game without resulting in an inconsistent
game as a whole. The quality of the animation isn't exactly Disney quality,
but
it does the job nicely. The style is quite different from anything seen
in previous King's Quest games though, so as part of the series this game
really stands out for its unique style. It is strictly a matter of personal
opinion what to think of the graphics in King's Quest VII. It certainly
gives the game a lighter, more cartoony style than any previous game. Inventory
items are not drawn in the style of the rest of the game though. They are
3D-rendered with a very simplistic style. It is possible to get a close-up
of every inventory item and in this view the item can be rotated, which
is a unique and interesting feature. Some inventory items hide secrets
that you can only reveal by looking at them from different angles, so it's
important to do this to progress in the game. The opening and closing movies
are avi files of relatively small dimensions and moderate quality, that
you can easily play outside of the game. They are not very impressive compared
to the animation within the actual game though.
Music and Sound
Effects
In the music department,
the game opens quite impressively with Rosella expressing her feelings
in song in the introduction movie, a song rivaling the grandiose Girl
in the Tower from King's Quest VI: To Heir is Human. From then
on the music doesn't stand out very much. It's mostly music designed to
fit the mood of the different areas. But it does that very good. The music
in the first chapter really emphasizes the feeling of desolation in the
desert Valanice ends up in. The goofy town of Falderal has the kind of
music to fit an adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, which fits it perfectly.
Ooga Booga is both creepy and comical and so is the music. And the cloudy
Etheria wouldn't be nearly as ethereal without the music. In Etheria there's
even a simple puzzle tied to the music, so listening skills is necessary.
All in all, the soundtrack fits the game like a glove. Although there's
nothing wrong with the way it sounds on a General MIDI interface, it is
designed to sound the best on a Roland Sound Canvas.
Technical Issues
Being a relatively
modern game, King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride works reasonably
well on a modern computer system. It should be noted though that the Windows
version, which is the one people are most likely to play nowadays, requires
the display to be set to a 640x480 resolution with 256 colors for the best
experience. Although the game runs in higher resolutions, it will not cover
the entire screen and a setting with more than 256 colors is likely to
result in problems with displaying the correct colors and loss of some
graphical effects. If the system allows it, the MS-DOS version of the game
may work better, but that depends on the specific system. Some speed-related
issues may also occur because the game is not designed to cope with the
speed of modern computers at certain points. This is not a game known to
have much problem with this, but it's a possibility to expect on a fast
system. As always, the game gives its optimal performance on a computer
considered fast at the time of its release. If the speed issue results
in unexpected deaths, the replay feature comes in handy. For instance,
there's a point in the game where Valanice has a lit firecracker in her
inventory, and it is supposed to explode in two minutes. On a modern system
you might find that it explodes within seconds, thus killing Valanice before
you've had the chance to get to the place where she's supposed to use it.
Fortunately, you can go back instantly to the point where the firecracker
exploded, but with the time reset. It is not a good solution, but it still
enables you to complete the puzzle. A program to slow down the speed of
your system may solve any time-related problems.
Final Verdict
King's Quest
VII: The Princeless Bride is a game that really stands out in the series.
It is designed to work well as a stand-alone game for players that doesn't
know the history of the characters, and it is specifically designed with
children in mind. The childish approach and the cartoony design that deviates
from the visual style of previous King's Quest games has given the game
a bad name among some King's Quest fans. Others find it to be highly enjoyable
and look at it with great affection. It is refreshing with a game that
feature female main characters, and the switching between characters is
an interesting touch. As a stand-alone game it is a fun adventure for children
and inexperienced adventure gamers, while its interface is a bit too limiting
for the experienced player who wants more interaction and tougher puzzles.
The story is fun and full of comical characters, but there are details
that reveal flaws in the script. Art and music are generally very good
and the appreciation of it comes down as a question of the style rather
than the execution. The quirky savegame system is an experiment that didn't
go down very well, but it doesn't hamper the game too much in the end if
you use it wisely. As a representative of the King's Quest series, the
game stays true to the philosophy of the series, but takes a fresh approach
to it. It doesn't stand out as one of the best King's Quest games, but
it has unique qualities that makes it well worth playing anyway.
Golden Moment
Reaching the points
where Valanice and Rosella reaches the same areas in the game and learns
of this from the other characters.
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