King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! (also known simply as King's Quest V) is a 1990 graphic adventure game by Sierra On-Line. Originally released in November 1990, it featured a significant improvement in graphics (achieved through the introduction of VGA into the series). It was also the first King's Quest installment to replace the typing user interface with a point-and-click user interface. The title is a spoof on the proverb "Absence makes the heart grow fonder".

King's Quest V sold over half million copies and won several awards. It was later released as a fully voiced "talkie" CD-ROM, done by members of the Sierra staff.

Gameplay

King's Quest V is a 2D graphic adventure game with a point-and-click interface; unlike previous game's in the series before it, which relied on a text parser system where players had to type in commands and actions for the character to perform. Each icon represents a different action, from moving around, examining the scene and objects (with the narrator providing the description), picking up or using items, and talking. Much of the gameplay revolves around solving puzzles and overcoming hazards, some of which must be done in a timely fashion.

The diskette version (EGA and VGA) differs from other versions, in that players are required to cast spells throughout the game through referring to the manual as a form of copy protection; this was omitted from other versions.

Plot King Graham of Daventry returns from a walk in the countryside to find his castle and family have mysteriously disappeared. To his surprise, he finds himself greeted by a talking owl named Cedric, who reveals they were taken by an evil wizard named Mordack; though he does not know the reason why. Seeking to help him, Cedric brings Graham to the land of Serenia, where his master, the good wizard Crispin, resides.

Upon meeting him, Grahma learns Mordack lives in the ocean far to the east of Serenia over its mountain range. To help him on his way, Crispin provides him with two items - his old wand; and a piece of white snake, which allows its user to speak with animals and the natural world. To assist him further, Crispin orders Cedric to accompany Graham on his quest.

Whilst seeking supplies, Graham meets with a travelling gypsy fortune teller, who allows him to see a vision of his family imprisoned within Mordack's castle. Through this, Graham leans that Mordack is the brother of the wizard Manannan, who his son Prince Alexander turned into a cat. Mordack found the spell can only be reversed by the one who cast it, and thus kidnapped Graham's family in order to force Alexander to reverse it; something he reveals he cannot do, even though Mordack threatens to feed his hostages to Manannan.

Securing what he needs, Graham travels across the mountain and across the ocean, dealing with a yeti, harpies, and a large two-headed roc, whilst rescuing Cedric from dangerous situations. Eventually, the pair reach Mordack's castle, with Graham forced to gain entry on his own. Once inside, Graham encounters a young woman named Cassima, a princess from the Land of the Green Isles, whom Mordack is holding prisoner. With her help, Graham overcomes further hazards, gains access to Mordack's lab, and uses a device to repower Crispins's wand. After Cedric saves his life upon Mordack discovering his intrusion, Graham defeats him in a magical duel, killing him with a rain storm when Mordack transforms into a ring of fire.

Crispin arrives after the duel is over, and uses his magic to restore Graham's family to normal, who Graham introduces to Cassima; with Alexander falling in love with her. After Crispin heals Cedric, he magically sends Cassima home to the Green Isles, and Graham, his family, and his castle, back to Daventry.

Development Work on the game was done on a budget of around one million dollars, with Sierra using similar animation techniques that Disney had applied for The Little Mermaid. Live-action actors were used for rotoscoping the framework of the character sprites and the animation frames, while background scenes were hand drawn, painted and scanned. Several characters in the game featured large closeup pictures during conversations.

The game was the last in the series to feature EGA and Tandy graphics at 320×200: a separate EGA release contained 16-color 320×200 versions of the graphics, whereas the VGA release featured 320×200 256-color VGA graphics (and, unlike later SCI games, did not support rendering these into 16 colors at 640×350 resolution on EGA cards).

CD-ROM Development of a CD-ROM version focused on basing the game within the High Sierra Format, unrelated to the publisher's name. Work included the addition of voice acting with a voice-sampling technique for spoken words - which effectively removed the need for text boxes - and changes to descriptions, including modification or removal of some close-up scenes. The finished version was released in 1991.

NES A Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game was later developed by Konami and ported by Novotrade; it was released in June 1992 .

Cancelled Versions An Atari ST version was announced via Sierra Online's magazine: Sierra News Magazine for a Spring 1991 release but was later canceled.Staff (Spring 1991). "Atari ST Owners Set To Enjoy Two Brand New Products Plus Reillustrated Versions Of Two Classics In Spring '91", Sierra News Magazine. p. 13,22 Sierra's Srini Vasan and Sierra UK fought for continued Atari ST developmentMagpie, Johnny (Spring 1991), "Rumor Mill: Atari ST Owners Will Still Be Supported...", Sierra News Magazine. p. 46 but Sierra Online discontinued Atari ST support entirely shortly afterwards.

A Sega CD port of the game was announced, but was never released. Sega Visions, "February/March 1993", page 100. Mega, "October 1992", page 27.

Reception

King's Quest V sold 250,000 copies by February 1993, and sales ultimately surpassed 500,000 copies.Roberta Williams Biography According to Sierra On-Line, combined sales of the King's Quest series surpassed 3.8 million units by the end of March 1996. By November 2000, PC Data reported that King's Quest Vs sales in the United States alone had reached between 300,000 and 400,000 units.

Computer Gaming Worlds Scorpia in 1991 praised the "tour de force" VGA graphics, sound card audio, non-typing parser and user interface, but criticized the gigantic, yet almost pointless, desert map. She concluded that the game was best for new adventurers because of its easy puzzles, and a "pleasant diversion" for more-experienced players. In 1991, Dragon gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.

In April 1993 Computer Gaming Worlds Charles Ardai called the voice acting in the CD-ROM version of the game "wooden". In April 1994 the magazine said that "the quality of the voice acting covers the gamut from excellent to mediocre and, in some cases, can grate on the nerves", but the CD version was still preferable because "other enhancements are excellent". In 2007, Adventure Gamers gave the game a three out of five stars. Allgame also gave the PC original four out of five stars, while giving its NES adaptation two-and-a-half stars.

King's Quest V won the 1991 Software Publishers Association Excellence in Software Award for Best Fantasy Role-Playing/Adventure Program, Computer Gaming World named the game as its 1991 Adventure Game of the Year, and in 1992 named it to the magazine's Hall of Fame for games readers rated highly over time. In 1992 King's Quest V was voted "Best Multimedia Fantasy/Adventure Game" by readers of MPC World.Interaction Winter 1992, pg 49 In 1996 Computer Gaming World named King's Quest V the 94th best game ever. The editors wrote that "Roberta Williams horrified Sierra traditionalists by getting the parser out of the way of some of the most beautiful graphics ever".

References

External links

King's Quest V Technical Help at the Sierra Help Pages King's Quest V at the Sierra Chest