Welcome to Let's Play #250. Every multiple of 50, we play a game that is either acclaimed, responsible for shaping me, or both. I have memories of this one, but while this game fits in the latter category and was acclaimed back in the day by reviewers, this one has not aged well.
The story takes place after the sixth game. Princess Rosella is enjoying the single life, but Queen Valanice reaaaally wants her to marry. Rosella isn't willing to settle down just yet, as she wants to go on an adventure, of course, and as Valanice talks about possible suitors (one of whom can conjugate Latin verbs), Rosella sees a flying seahorse come out of the water. Rosella takes her golden comb out of her hair and jumps into the water after seeing what looks like a castle, and Valanice quickly catches wind of this, grabs the comb, dives into the water and tries to grab on to Rosella. As she does, a beefy green arm comes out of the wall of the whirlpool and yanks Rosella in.
At least, I can tell that is what's going on by clicking on "Watch Intro" after starting the game and OH MY GOD IT LOOKS LIKE CD-i
Well, that's because the animation was outsourced to Animation Magic, which was based in America but has a fully-owned subsidiary in St. Petersburg, Russia, where all the animation was done. If their animation style looks familiar in any way whatsoever, that's because you've probably played (or seen), I.M. Meen, its sequel Chill Manor, footage from the cancelled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans, and the CD-i games Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, Link: The Faces of Evil and Mutant Rampage: Bodyslam.
After naming your save file when starting a new game, you'll get to choose which chapter you play. We're playing on Chapter 1, because.
Chapter One: "Where in the blazes am I?"
Queen Valanice materializes in a desert. As she looks around, part of her petticoat gets caught on a cactus and comes off when Valanice tries to yank it off. After that, a mouse is running away from a bunny with small deer antlers.
If you click on the "fast forward" button that pops up on the HUD at the bottom of the screen, you can skip cutscenes. I know I had to press it to skip the very beginning of Chapter 1, because we had Version 1.0 and that cutscene tended to lock up on it, forcing a computer restart. (Thankfully, Version 2.0 fixes this.)
The HUD is pretty simple, and it replaces the action menu from the fifth and sixth games. The King's Quest logo on the left is just for show. The black rectangle with the comb is your inventory, and if you click on something, it will replace the wand cursor. You can use it on things in the environment, or even your current character. Just move it over something, and if the item turns white, click there and see what happens. You can also move an item to the eye, click on it, and click on the sides of the window that pops up to look at things in three dimensions by holding the left mouse button and moving the mouse left and right. This will be very useful with some items in the game, as you can only interact with certain objects in this way. To bring an object back to the inventory, just move the cursor to the inventory and click there, and you'll put the item back.
The red jewel all the way to the right is your options menu, which you can use to save your game and even check your progress through the story. This progress bar is more or less your "score" for the game, since there are no points to collect like in the first six games. If there is a black bar with a golden orb with two arrow-like triangles on the side, it acts as a scroll bar. Click and hold the left mouse button on that orb, and you can scroll the screen. This bar and orb will only show up in more lengthy horizontal areas like the desert that you start in. If you want, you can turn it off in the options menu.
Instead of saving your game, you make a "bookmark," which you can only have one of at any given time. Be sure to make a new bookmark when you make significant progress so you don't lose that progress in case you need to save for whatever reason. Be careful when selecting "Exit" in the bookmark options; as it is the same as "keep old bookmark and quit the game." (The bookmarks only exist in Version 2.0; in Version 1.0, the game only saved when you quit.)
The cursor is shaped like a wand. To move somewhere, click on that area and Valanice will walk to it. If the jewel on the wand cursor is glowing, you can interact with that object. Beware, as this can lead to trouble. Sadly, this means that a lot of the interactivity from the earlier games is gone, and can make players feel like their hands are being held.
If the cursor changes into an arrow, that means you have found another area that you can go to.
Click on the piece of Valanice's petticoat to get Valanice to pull it off the cactus. That petticoat piece will appear in your inventory.
If you use the Golden Comb on Valanice, she will weep for Rosella having gone missing.
In Version 2.0, you can speed Valanice up by pressing +.
If you click on any of the cacti that cause the cursor to glow, Valanice will prick herself, but thankfully she will not die.
If you go south, west or east beyond where you started, you'll be in the desert. It is best not to explore the desert yet.
Go north from the start, and you will be near a small door in what looks like a tiny rock home. This is the Rare Curiosities shop, owned by one Ricardo Eduardo Rodriguez Roo Rat, proprietor. If you click on the door, Valanice will knock and be met by one of the two animals from the opening cutscene from this chapter. He will tell you that the jackalope - the other animal who was chasing after him - swiped his glasses, and he is unable to see because of that. Unless he can get his glasses back, he cannot help you. After he shuts the door, the jackalope comes out of a nearby hole - wearing the glasses - and kicks sand at Valanice before going back into the hole and blowing a raspberry at her. If you click on the holes, the jackalope will blow a raspberry at you again and refuse to cooperate.
Going west from here, gives you can opening as well as some more pictures on a nearby wall. The pictures tell of a well of deadly water, followed by dripping water, a hand holding a semi-circular object, and an empty well. What are these about, I wonder...?
Going south from this particular points takes you west of where you started and leads to a pool of water, some sparkles and a statue of a person carrying a bowl carved into the rock. If you click the pool, Valanice will look down into the pool and notice a statue carrying two objects in a bowl. If you click on it again, Valanice will notice that the pool is full of salt water.
The stick can be picked up and added to the inventory if you click on it, and the sparkles are actually salt crystals. You can pick those up, too, but you cannot eat them by using them on Valanice.
For some reason, the jackalope shows up whenever you approach the road at the start of this area.
The statue has some pictures on the base, and you can read them if you click on them. Clicking on the base will cause Valanice to go "Hmmmm..." If you click on the base again, you'll actually look at them. From left to right, it looks like the base is telling you that the water is deadly, but if you cry tears into the bowl and add both salt water and corn, you can somehow drink the water in the bowl. That is a weird, peculiar and downright inaccurate way to make fresh water, but given that we're in the seventh game in the series, anything is possible at this point, I guess. The problem here is that we can't carry water right now and we don't know where to find corn.
You can also click on the blue beads of the necklace and move them around, but it doesn't look like they do anything for right now. It also triggers this weird glitch that is easy to do even on Version 2.0. Just look at the beads up close, then immediately move north. You can walk anywhere in the background until you go someplace you're meant to go.
If you click on the arm of the statue carrying the bowl, you can turn the bowl upside down in case you mess this up. If you click on the statue itself, Valanice will assume that the statue is expecting something.
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