Game Title: King's Quest III: To Heir is Human (Gold Box)
Release Date: xx-xx-1987
Release Number: 2
Part of Series: King's Quest
Designer: Roberta Williams
The king and queen gave birth to two children, Alexander and Rosella,
and the kingdom was once peaceful. It wasn't long until Alexander was
snatched from his crib and things started to take a turn for the worse.
A three-headed dragon threatens the ever-peaceful Daventry, and
requires a maiden to be sacrificed every year. Rosella is the chosen
one.
Alexander, meanwhile, is taken to a faraway land of
Llewdor. Named Gwydion, Alexander becomes a slave to an evil wizard
called Manannan who prepares to kill Alexander on his 18th birthday,
for fear that he would discover the wizard's spells and use them
against him. (From Mobygames description)
Alternate Releases:
King's Quest III: To Heir is Human (Grey Box)
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King's Quest 3 History
Roberta says:
My earlier games, from Mystery House to King's Quest II, were great games, but they couldn't have the deep complex plots I wanted due to memory and space limitations. Basically they were treasure hunts with lots of simple goals (you go from here to there) and fun puzzles to add challenge. King's Quest III had to push things a little farther. The designs had to be more complicated, the plots better and longer, and the characters more developed with personalities and more dialog. First I'd start with a mystery: "Who's that character? Where's King Graham?" Then I'd add the pressure of an evil magician watching your every move, ready to kill you for any mistake. The puzzles were focused on helping you struggle to escape the wizard and right an old wrong you know nothing about, to tie up everything with a climactic ending. Rosella was introduced toward the end of the game; seeing her on screen for the first time, I suddenly saw her on her own adventures in a sequel. (From Roberta Williams Anthology manual, 1996)
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Roberta Williams, who designed Sierra's first game, Mystery House
in 1980, felt it was time to write another murder mystery which lived
up to the computer capabilities of the late eighties. Mystery House,
which was put on public domain in 1988, was the first computer game ever
with graphics, but it lacked colors, animation and sound. The Colonel's
Bequest was developed, using EGA graphics, Sierra's SCI engine, sound
and a music score, as well as featuring a deeper plot and more detailed
character descriptions.
The game has a sequel, The Dagger of Amon Ra, which is also the last Laura Bow game. Both games are also included in the 1997 King's Quest Collection and the Roberta Williams Anthology. Although the original release of The Colonel's Bequest can still relatively easily be found on online auctions, a complete
original game is considered as a true collector's item, as it contains
many goodies which are often missing from second-hand sales,
particularly the Laura Bow pen and notebook. The games copyright
protection is also quite original: the gamer needs to use a magnifying
glass (included in the box) to identify a fingerprint on the game
screen.
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