King's Quest VII

The first game in the series to divide the story into chapters. Some puzzles have multiple solutions, and there are two possible endings. Critical reactions to the game were generally positive.

• Title — King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride • Developer — Sierra On-Line • Publisher — Sierra On-Line • Director — Roberta Williams Lorelei Shannon Andy Hoyos • Designer — Lorelei Shannon Roberta Williams • Producer — Mark Seibert Craig Alexander • Artist — Andy Hoyos Marc Hudgins • Writer — Lorelei Shannon • Programmer — Oliver Brelsford Tom DeSalvo Henry Yu • Composer — Neal Grandstaff Dan Kehler Jay D. Usher • Series — King's Quest • Engine — SCI2 • Released — November 22, 1994 • Genre — Adventure game • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — MS-DOS, Windows, Macintosh

King's Quest VII has a different structure compared to previous King's Quest titles. The action and story is separated into six chapters, each set primarily in a different region of the realm of Eldritch. The player alternates between two protagonists, Valanice and Rosella, with each chapter. The two protagonists travel through some of the same places during the course of the game, finally meeting up again in the end. The player has the option to choose the chapter from which to begin playing the game, and will enter gameplay from the beginning of the selected chapter. Aside from the multi-chapter layout, a significant change in game structure is the simplification of user interface by the use of a smart pointer. When playing the game, the pointer lights up when passed over an object that can be interacted with. Players can get or use objects, investigate areas, and talk to characters by directly clicking on them, whereas previous games required the player to select an action icon and then click on the environment. Occasionally, large environments are traversed across a continuous, panning screen instead of being divided into multiple screens. Additionally, although many dangerous characters and situations are encountered throughout the game that can lead to the death of the player character, the player is given the option to immediately return to gameplay and try again, rather than restore a saved game as previous King's Quest titles were designed. Notably, King's Quest VII makes use of SVGA graphics, new at the time, later used by other adventure games such as The Dig and Space Quest 6. As a result, King's Quest VII features painted environments and highly detailed and stylized animation.

• Illustration — Magazine ad. In Daventry, Queen Valanice pressures her daughter, Princess Rosella, to find a prince to marry, following the wedding of her brother Prince Alexander. Rosella resents the idea, desiring to have another adventure in a faraway land. Whilst they talk in a forest, the pair stop near a pond, whereupon Rosella witnesses an odd creature come out of the water before noticing a castle beneath the surface. Intrigued, she jumps in; Valanice, who hears this, jumps in after her, with both finding themselves within a magical portal. As she tries to grab hold to her daughter, Valanice witnesses something grab hold of Rosella and pull her out of the portal, moments before she herself arrives in a desert. Seeking to find her daughter, Valanice escapes the desert and finds herself in a magical forest ruled over by Attis, Lord of the Hunt, and his wife Ceres. Attis reveals that Valanice is in Eldritch, a realm of magic that is threatened by an evil enchantress named Malicia, who has caused havoc across the realm. After Valanice helps to remove a spell put over Attis that made him a stag, Valanice is arrested in the town of Falderal - home to anthromorphic animals - for seemingly stealing the moon from the sky (in reality, a wheel of cheese); the order for arrest given by the town's mayor Archduke Fifi le Yipyap. Meanwhile, Rosella finds herself in the Vulcanix Underground, a kingdom beneath Eldritch inhabited by trolls and ruled over by King Otar, who desires to marry her. Finding herself transformed into a troll, and repulsed by the marriage proposal, Rosella works with Otar's former nursemaid Mathilde to concoct a potion to return her to normal. During this time, she learns Otar is working with Malicia in regards to a machine that controls a volcano powerful enough to destroy Eldritch. Finding a strange creature, she brings it to Mathilde, who reveals it to be Otar's childhood pet called a Dragon-toad. The creature, once revived, reveals Otar is being held prisoner in the Land of Ooga Booga, leading Mathilde to conclude that the Otar Rosella met is an imposter. Using an elevator to travel to Ooga Booga - which collapses after she arrives - Rosella tracks down and rescues Otar with help from a local doctor, Mort Cadaver. Made aware of the situation, Otar recommends they return to Vulcanix; learning the elevator cannot be used, he recommends they find another entrance hidden in Falderal. To avoid detection, Otar uses magic to become a beetle, while Rosella dons a black hooded robe she finds to impersonate the grieving widow of Count Tsepish, Ooga Booga's ruler who was cursed to wander around the land headless. Travelling through a swamp, the pair secure a mysterious device from Malicia's home, which Otar reveals can help them defeat her. Making their way to Falderal's town hall, the pair find the entrance, where they discover the Otar imposter prepping the volcano for an eruption. Meanwhile, Valanice returns the moon to the sky, receiving a pardon from Fifi. Resuming her search, she travels to Ooga Booga, where she helps to return Tsepish's missing head, and reunite him with his wife and dog - all of whom suffered thanks to Malicia's actions. Given Tsepish's horse to reach Etheria, a kingdom in the sky, Valanice finds the Fates who tell her that King Oberon and Queen Titania, the rulers of Etheria who can stop the volcano's eruption, are currently away trying to find their missing son. Instructed to find the Lady of Dreams, known as Mab, Valanice seeks help from Dr. Cadaver to visit her realm in her sleep. Finding Mab was magically encased in ice. After aiding Attis end a curse on Ceres, his wife helps provide Valanice the means to travel to Mab's realm and end her curse. With Mab's help, Oberon and Titania return home, whereupon they work to prevent the eruption. At the same time, Rosella stops Otar's imposter by using the troll king's magic to restore them to their true self - that of Edgar, the young man she met before in Tamir who helped her save her father. After Malicia tries to interfere, sending Edgar away - who goes to find Valanice and bring her to her daughter - Rosella helps Otar shut down the volcano's eruption. Moments later, Valanice finally reunites with Rosella, only for Malicia to try to kill her; Edgar prevent this, dying from her magic, before Rosella uses the device she took to magically turn Malicia into an infant. At this point, Rosella revives Edgar with an extra life she received from a black cat she saved, bringing him back to life. Oberon and Titania soon arrive, revealing Edgar to be their son, who they lost years ago until Rosella helped him to return home to Eldritch. The pair reveal Malicia was Titania's sister, who wished to rule over Etheria but was driven out - she later kidnapped Edgar and brainwashed him, after deciding to destroy Etheria, not caring for Eldritch's fate. Titania vows to raise Malicia in hopes that she will not fall to evil again. After the revelation, Edgar reveals himself responsible for luring Rosella to Eldritch, apologizing for this, before later requesting her permission to court her. Rosella agrees, leading the pair to fly away in a white swan-like carriage as the realm celebrates their union. In an alternate ending, Rosella fails to revive Edgar and he dies. Oberon and Titania arrive and sadly explain what happened to him before taking Valanice and Rosella home in a black carriage.

• Illustration — Kings' Quest VII on the cover of the Holiday 1994 edition of Interaction, Sierra On-Line fan magazine. The developers aimed for the effect of traditional animation works by Walt Disney Pictures and Don Bluth. As such, the full game contains more than five times the animation of any other Sierra game of the time. Art director Andy Hoyos specifically cited the intensity of the colors in Disney's Aladdin as an inspiration model. Composer Jay Usher said: "Just seeing how a character carries himself, acts, or walks ultimately determines the outcome of the music. We've tried to give each character [their] own 'mini-theme'. Each character is unique, so the music should be as well". The final game was much shortened from an earlier concept in order to fit the game on a single CD-ROM. The game's backgrounds were hand-drawn and scanned. The game sprites were pencil-drawn on paper and also scanned, and then edited and colored digitally, not unlike the traditional animation process in animated feature films of the era. Of the 70 characters that appear in the game, some are more realistic and human-like (like the protagonists) and others more cartoony. According to lead animator (and character designer) Marc Hudgins, it was the first time when the art department had to use outside (Russian and Croatian) animation houses. Part of the challenge was that the animators had no experience in computer game animation.

• Title — Region — Date • King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride — US — 1994 • King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride — EU — 1994 • King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (Version 2.0)The Version 2.0 release of King's Quest VII omits certain parts of the game. It removes Valanice continuously dying from carrying a lit firecracker with her (the game allows the user to continue where the character died), as well as the volcano scene with Rosella in peril having the time limit removed (which would eventually have the volcano erupt). — US — 1995 • King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride (Sierra Originals) — EU — 1998