King's Quest VII
| King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride |
|
|---|---|
Cover art
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| Developer(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Publisher(s) | Sierra On-Line |
| Director(s) |
Roberta Williams Lorelei Shannon Andy Hoyos |
| Producer(s) |
Mark Seibert Craig Alexander |
| Designer(s) | Lorelei Shannon Roberta Williams |
| Programmer(s) | Oliver Brelsford Tom DeSalvo Henry Yu |
| Artist(s) | Andy Hoyos Marc Hudgins |
| Writer(s) | Lorelei Shannon |
| Composer(s) | Neal Grandstaff Dan Kehler Jay D. Usher |
| Series | King's Quest |
| Engine | SCI2 |
| Platform(s) | MS-DOS, Windows, Apple Macintosh |
| Release | November 23, 1994 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Score |
| Adventure Gamers |   |
| AllGame |
 (Mac) (Win)
|
| CGW | |
| PC Zone | 90% |
| Adventure Classic Gaming |
(Win)
|
| Coming Soon Magazine | 92% (Win) |
| Génération 4 | 63% (Win) |
| Jeuxvideo.com | 16/20 |
| MikroBitti | 92% |
| Next Generation |
(Win)
|
| Power Play | 85% (Win) |
King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride is a graphic adventure game developed and published by Sierra On-Line for the MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh computers in 1994. It features high-resolution graphics in a style reminiscent of Disney animated films and is the only King's Quest game with multiple protagonists: Queen Valanice and Princess Rosella, who are both spirited away to the land of Eldritch, and Rosella is transformed into a troll. They must find a way to return Rosella to normal and find her true love, rid of a powerful evil force threatening this realm, and get back to their kingdom Daventry.
King's Quest VII is the only game in the series to divide the story into chapters. Although less linear in terms of ending than earlier entries in the series, King's Quest VII does not include as many different endings or optional tasks and plot threads as King's Quest VI. Some puzzles do have multiple solutions, and there are two possible endings. The game's reception was highly divisive, but ultimately mostly positive.
King's Quest VII is different from the previous King's Quest games in terms of structure. The action is separated into six chapters, each set primarily in a different region of the realm of Eldritch. The player alternates between two heroines, Valanice and Rosella, with each chapter. The two heroines travel through some of the same places during the course of the game, finally meeting up again in the end.
Aside from the multi-chapter layout, the most significant change in game structure is the simplification of user interface by the use of smart pointer. When playing the game, the pointer lights up when passed over an object that can be used. Players can get or use objects 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, and can click on the environment without indicating which parts of the game could be interacted with.
One of the game's highlights is its graphics; King's Quest VII has very elaborate and colorful graphics, compared to other games of the time, with painted backgrounds and animation techniques. The game makes use of SVGA graphics, new at the time, before The Dig and Space Quest 6. Also included are certain areas that pan from one side to the other, rather than going from screen to screen. Despite the cartoonish graphics characteristic of family-friendly computer games, the game includes several violent death scenes.
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