King's Quest Collection

by VIVENDI JEUX PC

Product Features

• King's Quest I
• King's Quest II - Romancing The Throne
• King's Quest III - To Heir is Human
• King's Quest IV - The Perils of Rosella
• King's Quest V - Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000AYFPKG
• Item Weight: 4 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: September 15, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (71 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,797 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

A compilation of the classic adventure series originally by the beloved Sierra On-Line.Product InformationIn 1984 Roberta Williams introduced the first King's Quest adventure.  That game and the six adventures that followed set new standards foradventure games.Now you can get all seven King's Quest adventures together in the King'sQuest Collection Series.  Product FeaturesIncludes 7 Kings Quest games in 1 boxed collection:1. Quest for the Crown: The bravest knight in all of Daventry Sir Graham is appointed by the dying king to embark on a Quest for the Crown. By retrieving the three treasures of Daventry he will not only save the land but become its king.2. Romancing the Throne: Now the ruler of Daventry King Graham sees a vision of a beautiful woman trapped in a tower. Romancing the Throne won’t be easy with mermen and vampires separating him from his imprisoned bride.3. To Heir is Human: A young apprentice to an evil wizard must escape his captor or be faced with certain death. Upon the discovery that he is the long-lost son of the royal family young prince Alexander learns that To Heir is Human.4. The Perils of Rosella: King Graham lies on the brink of death and only a magical fruit from a far off land can heal him. The Perils of Rosella pit evil fairies and fearsome foes against the brave princess as she fights to save her father.5. Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder: Returning home one day to find the castle missing King Graham must don his famous adventurer’s cap once more to find his family. Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder and Graham must learn a little magic of his own to rescue his loved ones from an evil spell.   System6. Heir Today Gone Tomorrow: Haunted by the memory of the kidnapped princess who helped his family escape the malevolent wizard Mordack Alexander learns of a plot to force the beautiful Cassima to marry an evil Vizier. Sworn to protect the woman who saved his life Alexander takes to the Green Isles

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Confused by other reviews..., September 19, 2006

By 

R. B. Wilson (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: King's Quest Collection (CD-ROM)

I normally don't post reviews but for some reason, a lot of reviewers are giving this collection a one-star based on some fan-based game and are angry at the company. I thought I'd chime in with an, I guess, less biased view.

The Kings Quest series was basically the worlds first adventure game. The beginning by today's standards has a simple story. You're a knight, find three treasures. But in the telling lies some of the most creative ideas ever found in any game. Period. All the games are based on fairy tales or mythologies... the first game has a giant in the clouds, an endless stair, the witch in a gingerbread house, a troll under the bridge, and the land of the leprechauns just to name a few. Eventually you're running fromt the abonimable snow man, brewing a storm to slay a dragon and even descending into the minotaur's labrynth.

Gameplay wise, the four games are text driven, but the fifth on out uses an icon "point and click" system which makes things much easier for non-typers like me. All of the games are almost entirely nonlinear. Go anywhere, do anything at any time provided you have the proper equiptment. Now, its the norm, but at the time, it was revolutionary.

For the negatives... There are a few unalterable design flaws about the first few games. For example, in KQ2 there is a bridge that can only be crossed 7 times, and you HAVE to cross it seven times. If you cross it an extra time at any point, and have it saved... prepare to replay the first half of the game. A warning for those who hate typing though, KQ3 in particular has a very complex spell casting system where you have to type very precisely, very quickly at times. But really all these complaints are very minor and nothing an online FAQ won't help with.

Check the series out, you won't regret it.

-B-

53 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Vivendi cashes in on the classics..., May 20, 2007

By 

jTriPPY - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: King's Quest Collection (CD-ROM)

Fans of the classic King's Quest series have been clamoring for a re-release compatible on today's computers for a long time. Enter Sierra (Vivendi), who's ears clearly perked at the prospect of cashing in on a zero-effort package that their loyal fans would eat up anyway.

There's not a lot of good I can say for this package, except that it's exactly what you expected, and little else. You get King's Quest 1-7, complete with a launcher that allows you to play these ancient gems in Windows XP, and you won't have to insert their respective CDs again. That's all well and good.

What you don't get is a manual, which would have been nice seeing as they didn't bother to take the copy protection out of King's Quest IV. You instead have to sift through PDF copies of all the games' literature.

Seeing as this is a relatively new release, it's ironic that it's just now Windows XP compatible, just as Vista is becoming the standard. To get it to work on XP, they used amateur 3rd-party software, which you can get for free on the internet. I experienced some annoying speech stuttering with King's Quest 5-7. If you've got the games, don't buy them again expecting something different.

For a 'compilation,' it's sorely lacking one major thing: the last game in the series. Many series vets probably don't care, but there's really no other context Vivendi could still rightfully sell this game in today, and many fans still would have been appreciative. Also, the original King's Quest has been completely replaced by the 1990 remake -- not a phenomenal loss, but far from the 'complete series.'

There's no jewel case or liner notes or anything; just two cds in paper sleeves with a little piece of paper with installation instructions, made even more ironic by the fact that the install program doesn't work and you'll have to open the setup manually.

Instead of forking over 20 bucks with shipping, consider some alternatives: the previous edition, King's Quest: Collection 2, although hard to come by, is a fantastic product, featuring KQ 1-7, Laura Bow 1 & 2, Mixed Up Mother Goose, the old apple games that led up to KQ, including Mystery House, some trivia and arcade games, and some other nice bonus features.

If you're looking to breathe new life into the series, play through AGD Interactive's phenomenal remakes of King's Quest 1 & 2, as well as Infamous Adventures' similarly great remake of King's Quest 3, and wait until the fan-made KQIX is released. It's clear that their development have way more reverence for this classic series than Sierra does.

65 of 77 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A must for KQ fans, but very disappointing quality, October 8, 2006

By 

Mrs. Padilla (Washington DC) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: King's Quest Collection (CD-ROM)

I've been counting down until I could get this release and couldn't wait to play all these great games again. When I got it and started playing, it was fun but the disappointment kept mounting. Little things like no manuals (you have open a file and/or print them yourself... not a big deal in itself, but come on Vivendi, quit being so cheap) and no case for the CDs (you just get twopaper sleeves) make the package look incredibly cheap and low quality. Yes, these are computer games from the 80s and early 90s, but this package could have been put together better.

The graphics are the same as the originals, so I didn't expect any "update" there. I completed KQ6 and 1 with no problems, but KQ5 is annoying because you can't go back to text (or at least, I haven't figured out how). The "music" overpowers what the characters are saying. Any of the problems you had with the previous games, such as difficult maneuvering, remain the same, which is to be expected.

Overall I guess my disappointment comes from the fact that Vivendi COULD have made a really nice package with this, added some extras, beefed it up, included more information, stuff like that. Especially with how long it took to get this going. How many times was the release date pushed back?? But no, it's a bare minimim cheapo production. I know it's only $20, but still... could have been a lot nicer.

Still a must for any KQ fan and tons of fun to play, but I am ultimately disappointed with this product.