King's Quest III +: An Heir Raising Tale is a cancelled expanded remake/remix of King's Quest 3 by Radiant. It would have expanded the story, and made it more linear. There is a playable demo containing most of locations in Llewdor, the first third of the game.
Background[]
- The storyline has been improved, for instance the villagers now show the fear they feel for the evil wizard. Several facets of the original story have been changed or tweaked, making this an alternative version.
- The game ties its story in with the other games in the King's Quest series.
- A number of scenes have been added, particularly in the part of the game that plays in Daventry.
- More puzzles have been added, especially to the objects that were just lying on the ground in the original.
- While most people could only hear PC speaker sounds in the original, this version plays multi-channel MIDI music.
- And finally, a point-and-click interface has been installed.
- KQIII+ contains 48% more rooms, 74% more sounds and musics, and 59% more sprites.
Expanded material[]
- The game would have had its own timeline, it set the birth of the twins at 1595 A.W.(after withdrawal). Alexander is kidnapped seven years later, so 1602 A.W. Alexander escapes 10 years later, or 1612 A.W.
- In the released introduction in the demo, Manannan places an egg of the three-headed dragon in the Dragon's Lair cave some seven years after the children's birth, so that it will hatch bring havoc to Daventry, and then kidnaps Alexander from his cradle in the castle nursery. That same night, Graham discovers the missing child, and tries to consult the mirror. Manannan explains to them through the mirror that he stole the child, and that they will never see their son again. Manannan then casts the spell of darkness over the mirror, so that they will not be able to track him down.
- Based on some of the concept ideas, it appears that the Enchanter from KQ1 and KQ2, may have been Mordack. There would have been a scene in which Mordack visited his brother.
- Daventry would have included the entire map from KQ1, with locations in KQ3 in their original 'correct' locations. This Daventry would have included even more puzzles.
Demos[]
There are two known demos, a Beta 5 and a Beta 7 version. Beta 5 Demo shows off the VGA graphics that would have been in the completed game (but lacks the extended introduction, and some of the game's puzzles, released in later version of the demo). Beta 7 uses the AGI graphics, and has an extended 8 minute introduction scene, and puzzles go up to day 7.
Beta 5 Demo technical support[]
In order to run the demo, create a shortcut to KQ3.EXE (the demo file), and add the line "--setup" at the end of the shortcut's Target field. This will load up the graphics and sound setup window. On modern machines switch the graphics to 640 x 480. For best results play in full screen mode. Once you have changed the settings then you can use the KQ3.EXE to enter the game.
Gallery[]
