King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne

King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne

IBM PCjr - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Sierra On-Line Publisher Sierra On-Line Published 1985-05-?? Platforms Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIgs, Atari ST, DOS, Macintosh Classic, PC Booter, IBM PCjr Genres Adventure, Graphic adventure, Passive puzzle, Puzzle Themes Adventure, Cartoon, Fantasy, Vampires Series King's Quest Distribution Commercial

King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne is a graphic adventure puzzle video game developed and published by Sierra On-Line for the IBM PCjr in May 1985 and later ported to several other platforms. It is the second title in the King's Quest series and uses the Adventure Game Interpreter engine.

In the story, Graham, now the king of Daventry, laments his inability to find a bride, but his magic mirror shows him a beautiful woman in a far off land who he may rescue and marry.

Personal

Own?	Yes. MS-DOS port on Steam.
Won?	Yes, 175 out of 185 points.
Finished	2007-04-15.

I didn't play KQ2 until 1997 when it was re-released in the King's Quest: Collection Series. I played it for awhile, but quickly got bored with it. Later, I finally hunkered down and beat it. Over all, I found it to be the weakest game in the series.

Review

3	3	3	3	2

Best Version: DOS (AGI Interactive Remake)

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The graphic art, animation, and music all see a decent amount of improvement over the first game.
• The art was more impressive than anything console games were capable of at the time.
• Some of the jokes are pretty funny.
• I like that the keys for swimming, ducking, and jumping have been removed; they were annoying to work with.

Bad

• There are far too many ways to die!
• The story doesn't make any sense. If Graham is a king, why didn't he bring his army with him rather than show up on the shores of Kolyma alone and empty-handed? And suppose the woman didn't want to marry someone just because he rescued her? And why did the witch imprison her in the first place?
• I didn't like the idea of collecting treasures simply for the sake of points. And why does Kolyma have so much jewelry littered about in strange places?
• It doesn't make sense for rooms to randomly become re-occupied each time you enter them. You can enter a house and see a wolf, then walk out and back in and grandma will be there. This random occupancy was used in several future King's Quest games as well.
• The wrap-around world layout is dumb. It basically means the world is a tiny torus floating in space.
• Several graphics and sounds are reused from the first game.
• Because your score increases each time you cross the bridge, it's pretty obvious, but any unnecessary crossings put the game in an unwinnable state which is kind of annoying.
• Some of the art is pretty bad, like the stairs in the final tower. And why is everything giant-sized in Dracula's castle?

Ugly

• Like the first game, too many of the puzzles are stupid walking hazards. Is Graham so inept that he blindly walks off cliffs and steps off ladders? This just slows the game down.

Media

Box Art

• 

  This is the original box art for the IBM PCjr release. It's pretty interesting, though Graham is awfully tanned, and he appears to be already in the New World, which doesn't fit the doors.

• 

  The tan background release was used on the later ports to match the new King's Quest look. I prefer the background over the gray gradient of the original, but I like the original lettering more.

Documentation

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  US manual.

• 

  European manual.

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  Strategy guide - King's Quest 2: Romancing the Throne - Hint book.

• 

  Strategy guide - Keys to Solving Computer Adventure Games.

• 

  The Official Book of King's Quest

Maps

• 

  Map of Kolyma.

• 

  Map of the dwarf's house.

• 

  Map of underwater.

• 

  Map of the mountain top.

• 

  Map of the castle.

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  Map of the New World.

• 

  Map of tower.

Videos

Review - PushingUpRoses.

Longplay - MS-DOS.

Longplay - Amiga.

Play Online

MS-DOS

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are a few women, but they're ancillary characters.
Bechdel test?	Fail	The women never talk to each other.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	Everyone is white.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Download

A non-playable demo of King's Quest II is showcased in Sierra AGI Demo 4.

Links