KING'S QUEST 3 VGA: TO HEIR IS HUMAN
INFAMOUS ADVENTURES REVIEW
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YEAR: 2006
SIZE: 125 MB
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+ Beautiful VGA artwork
+ Smooth animation
+ Fully voiced
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- Not able to retrieve just one item from under your bed
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STORY
King’s Quest III VGA: To Heir Is Human, is vastly different from the
previous King’s Quest games, namely, that it doesn’t focus on King
Graham or Daventry.
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As the story opens, you learn that your name is Gwydion. You are a
17-year-old boy living in the land of Llewdor. You’ve been raised from a
baby, by the evil wizard Manannan, and you are nothing more than a
slave to him. Your life has been hard, and you often long to escape
from Manannan’s cruelty. But his punishments are harsh, and your
fear of him keeps you from disobeying his orders.
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However, you recently found out that Manannan has previously had
other slaves before you, and he has killed them all on their 18th
birthday. With your birthday fast approaching, you don’t want to
suffer the same fate. So you must finally pluck up the courage to
escape. You gradually teach yourself magic, covering your tracks, so
he doesn’t find out. And when the right time comes, you will finally be
able to defeat the evil wizard, and be free at last!
　
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TECHNICAL TIP
I found that after the initial text, the screen would just turn black, and
nothing else happened. If you have the same problem, try deleting the
file KQ3.000 from the folder (thanks Klytos for this tip). You will get a
Video Playing Error, but you can just press Enter to get rid of it. After
that, the game should work fine.
　
GAMEPLAY
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This is a VGA remake of the original Sierra game. However, it is not just
a straight remake of the original. Infamous Adventures have taken the
time to add an extended intro scene showing how poor Gwydion came
to be in Llewdor. Another improvement Infamous Adventures have
made, is to greatly simplify the spell casting process. In this version,
you merely have to ‘Cast’ a spell, and as long as you have the correct
ingredients, Gwydion automatically performs the correct actions and
chants the incantation. This eliminates the frustration of making one
tiny typo to have the whole spell backfire on you. Thankyou Infamous
Adventures! Having said that, it’s still fun to try and cast spells before
you have the ingredients (just remember to save first, hehe). However,
one thing I did find frustrating was that when hiding stuff under the
bed, I wasn’t able to retrieve just one item. I would have to take
everything, and then re-hide what I didn’t need.
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Infamous Adventures also added a better end-sequence, as well as a
beautiful song that plays while the End Credits are rolling. They
definitely add their own magic touch to the game. And the results are
amazing!
　
While Sierra’s original game used a text parser in which you typed in
commands, Infamous Adventures have added a point & click interface,
which matches the later King’s Quest games.
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You interact with Gwydion’s world via a menu bar at top of the screen -
simply move your mouse up there to see it. Icons along the bar allow
you to Walk, Look, Pick Up, and Talk. The next box will show the last
Inventory Item used (so it will be empty as you begin the game). The
bag icon holds all your inventory items - just click on it to see what you
are carrying. The Scroll Bar is the Game Menu, and from here, you can
Save, Restore, Restart, or Quit the game. You can also adjust Speed,
Volume, Voice, and Sound Effects to your preference.
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GRAPHICS
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This remake uses VGA graphics, and is simply gorgeous! Everything has
so much detail! The backgrounds are stunning! I love how Infamous
Adventures have portrayed Manannan. Candles on the wall flicker
brightly. Infamous Adventures have added an amazing intro, showing
Gwydion as he sleeps, and also shows how Baby Gwydion was
kidnapped. I highly recommend you watch it.
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Gorgeous thumbnail portraits of characters are shown as they speak,
and I love all the detail poured into those portraits. Their eyes blink,
and their mouths move, which adds a touch of realism to the game.
Inventory items are shown as little pictures, so you can easily see at a
glance what you are carrying. All the animation is so smooth. There’s a
wonderful scene, where Manannan goes to visit his brother Mordack.
One of my favourite clips, is when Manannan is turned into a cat!
When you reach the mountain top, I just love those snow effect - it
looks so cold up there, brrrr! And that dragon! Oh, that 3-headed
dragon! VERY intimidating! I already mentioned the improved end-
sequence - seeing Graham and Alexander chat so easily as father and
son brought such a smile to my face!
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As you continue exploring Llewdor, you’ll find more and more things to
love about the game.
　
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SOUND AND MUSIC
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The game is fully voiced, and it brings a lot of life into the game. I love
Gwydion’s soft-spoken voice and Manannan’s spiteful voice. And later,
when Gwydion can understand animals, you can hear them talk, and
each animal sounds just right. All the animals have funny comments,
but Manannan’s cat appeals to me the most - I couldn‘t help giggling
when he refers to Gwydion as ‘Chicken Boy‘.
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Sound effects are also used wonderfully. In the intro, you can hear the
rain pouring down. Manannan’s front door creaks and groans at you
open and close it. A bell on the shop door in town clangs loudly as you
enter. The cat screeching as Gwydion pulls it’s fur was my favourite.
Chickens clucking outside. Even Manannan snoring is amusing to hear.
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Music is wonderful. The familiar KQ3 fanfare is heard as you begin the
game, and atmospheric \ dramatic music is heard periodically,
depending on the scene. ‘If You Go Down To The Woods Today’ is
played, when you see the 3 Bears leave the house, which really
appealed to me. Scary music is heard when Manannan pops in.
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The song, ’My Way Home’, that plays during the End Credits deserves
a special mention. That song is just beautiful! And it sums up
Gwydion’s journey perfectly.
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