Reception
Though for the most part well received, winning the Softsel Hot List Hottest Product Award in 1987, the release of this product in 1986 was quickly met with loud protests from gamers claiming that King's Quest III wasn't really a King's Quest at all. Because it focused on a young slave named Gwydion and his attempts to escape his evil master, players didn't grasp the connection between Gwydion and King Graham of Daventry until they finished the game some months later.
Notice the "automatic mapping feature" of the game. This feature was widely promoted on King's Quest III's introduction; however, it was not included in future King's Quests games as player feedback indicated it reduced challenge.
"KQ3 was very dark, and it utilized lots of magic and magic spells with the basic idea of finding ingredients for "black magic" spells and then casting those spells. (Certain religious groups were upset with me over that one!)"-Roberta Williams, July 7, 1997
King's Quest III was markedly more difficult than its two predecessors. The player was required to type in magic spells line-by-line from a spell book that came with the game. The spells partially served as a form of copy protection, although the game already had a disk-based protection. The spells were later reprinted in The King's Quest Companion. The spell book that came with the initial release of the game also had typos in it. In addition, the player has to work under time pressure, as certain activities like casting spells can only be done when the wizard is asleep or not home (this wasn't so bad as the game actually paused when typing or preparing the spells). The connection between Gwydion and King Graham does not become clear until the end of the game (unless the player overheard certain animal conversations), which also made the game's story line confusing.
A review in Computer Gaming World described the game as exceedingly frustrating, from the task of climbing stairs to identifying objects from their low-resolution graphics. The hint guide was highly recommended as a way to alleviate some of that frustration. The reviewer suggested gamers new to the series play King's Quest I instead, it being much easier.
Read more about this topic: King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human
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