Where did KQ7 go wrong? What did it do right?

[Anakin Skywalker]

Figured we could discuss it.

[The Gentleman]

The deaths are very forgiving, perhaps too forgiving for King's Quest, and the animations and sounds can be a little choppy.

Otherwise the puzzles are nice, and the game is fun. I would link my review again, but I'd feel like a bit of a view-whore doing so.

[Lambonius]

KQ7 has some decent puzzles and generally pretty background art. Being able to closely examine items from all sides was a nice addition, but pretty underused from a puzzle solving standpoint.

That's about the extent of its good points. Let me see if I can even list all of its bad points. Here we go:

Its music is sappy, plodding, and uninteresting at best, and absolutely grating at worst.

The sound effects and voices are horrendous.

The art direction was a bad choice that was compounded by terribly choppy animation that was a clear sign that the technology just wasn't yet up to the task of what they were trying to do.

The story is uninteresting, poorly explained, loaded with illogical moments, and overall just badly executed--a problem worsened by its division into arbitrary chapters, which allows the ridiculous ability to break the story experience by playing it in any order.

The interface is needlessly visually intrusive (Why the fuck does it need to take up a third of the screen when previous games in the series SEAMLESSLY HID the interface entirely? Talk about a leap backwards. Good fucking Lord.)

The interface is oversimplified and takes away a major chunk of interactivity from the game. This problem is compounded by the switch to a "hotspot only" system of background interactivity.

The removal of the ability to save the game without quitting, or to make multiple saves from the same playthrough. This design decision was so bad that even Sierra opted to put it back in in later releases of the game.

The choice to turn Rosella's character into a ridiculous whiny spoiled brat, and Valanice into a stuck-up old crone.

A few utterly HORRIBLE puzzles, some terrible time sensitive bullshit and a bunch of "leave the screen and then re-enter until the passage-way isn't blocked anymore" type bullshit.

Ugh. FUCK. I have to stop now.

I mean, God. It's just an ugly, terribly written, terribly designed, awful game. There are no valid arguments to the contrary. It's so bad that thinking about it for this long has actually made me angry. FUCK KING'S QUEST SEVEN.

[MtnPeak]

I liked the song.

I also think Lambonius makes a lot of good points per

[Anakin Skywalker]

Right:
The song, the story, the art, the lands and characters, classic fairytale/KQ atmosphere, interesting direction for the series.

Wrong:
Lack of Narrator, poor interface system, poor save system, shouldn't be able to skip chapters.

[der_ketzer]

Originally Posted by Anakin Skywalker

shouldn't be able to skip chapters.

Who would do that anyway?

[Anakin Skywalker]

Originally Posted by der_ketzer

Who would do that anyway?

Lazy people, I suppose -shrug-.

[BagginsKQ]

The game was so buggy, and possiblity of a save corrupting (the only way to potentialy have a bug based dead end) in the first release (Win 3.1 only), that in some ways skipping was the only way to get past some puzzles!

There are a couple of semi alternate solutions if you do skip ahead. An alternate location for an item (maybe a slightly different name for the same item) if you somehow bypassed it, in a previous location.

Skipping was mostly there for people who got 'stumped' somehow...

[nikkko]

Originally Posted by BagginsKQ

The game was so buggy, and possiblity of a save corrupting (the only way to potentialy have a bug based dead end) in the first release (Win 3.1 only), that in some ways skipping was the only way to get past some puzzles!

For example, the first time I played KQ7 I had to restart the game from the beginning of Chapter IV because I couldn't finish Chapter III due to a bug.

I couldn't give the wooden nickel to the shopkeeper in Falderal because the hotspot just wouldn't light up...

I was able to fully complete KQ7 only a few years later when I got a patched re-release of the game.

However, I doubt that the chapter-skipping was intentionally introduced as a workaround for game-breaking bugs

[BagginsKQ]

I think it was mostly for people who got stuck (couldn't figure out a puzzle), had the chance move on and still enjoy the story. Even if you do miss parts of the story by doing that.

[MusicallyInspired]

It's a fair compromise, I guess. You get to skip ahead, but miss storyline sections. Good penalty.

[isocat]

Holy fuck. WELL said! Couldn't agree more with this post.

Originally Posted by Lambonius

KQ7 has some decent puzzles and generally pretty background art. Being able to closely examine items from all sides was a nice addition, but pretty underused from a puzzle solving standpoint.

That's about the extent of its good points. Let me see if I can even list all of its bad points. Here we go:

Its music is sappy, plodding, and uninteresting at best, and absolutely grating at worst.

The sound effects and voices are horrendous.

The art direction was a bad choice that was compounded by terribly choppy animation that was a clear sign that the technology just wasn't yet up to the task of what they were trying to do.

The story is uninteresting, poorly explained, loaded with illogical moments, and overall just badly executed--a problem worsened by its division into arbitrary chapters, which allows the ridiculous ability to break the story experience by playing it in any order.

The interface is needlessly visually intrusive (Why the fuck does it need to take up a third of the screen when previous games in the series SEAMLESSLY HID the interface entirely? Talk about a leap backwards. Good fucking Lord.)

The interface is oversimplified and takes away a major chunk of interactivity from the game. This problem is compounded by the switch to a "hotspot only" system of background interactivity.

The removal of the ability to save the game without quitting, or to make multiple saves from the same playthrough. This design decision was so bad that even Sierra opted to put it back in in later releases of the game.

The choice to turn Rosella's character into a ridiculous whiny spoiled brat, and Valanice into a stuck-up old crone.

A few utterly HORRIBLE puzzles, some terrible time sensitive bullshit and a bunch of "leave the screen and then re-enter until the passage-way isn't blocked anymore" type bullshit.

Ugh. FUCK. I have to stop now.

I mean, God. It's just an ugly, terribly written, terribly designed, awful game. There are no valid arguments to the contrary. It's so bad that thinking about it for this long has actually made me angry. FUCK KING'S QUEST SEVEN.