King's Quest III: To Heir is Human VGA
From King's Quest Omnipedia
This is an unofficial fan made expanded remake of KQ3 released by Infamous Adventures.
Infamous Adventures is proud to present a Remake of Roberta William's classic 1986 hit, King's Quest III. Remade in VGA color to match later Sierra releases, and using the AGS engine by Chris Jones, IA promises to make an enjoyable remake of King's Quest III, including new storyline material and new scenes. In the tradition of recent remakes, King's Quest I and II by Tierra/AGDI, Infamous Adventures hopes to create a new classic of the Beloved Series.
[edit] THE REMAKE
June 18th 2006
That's right, the wait is over. I smile with joy as I type these words in, thinking if this day was ever to come. The production is over, the testers are done and everything is ready to go. King's Quest III has finally been released. Remember this date, the 18th of June. The day KQ3 was released!
It's been twenty years since the evil wizard Manannan first appeared on our computer screens, but now, thanks to the hard work and dedication of the team at Infamous Adventures, he's back!
Kings Quest 3 : To Heir is Human was first released by Sierra On-Line back in 1986. As the second sequel to the hugely popular and successful Kings Quest series, it fast became a fan favorite. Roberta Williams, author of the Kings Quest series, broke new ground in computer games, introducing players to the magic map concept (making travel quicker between screens), timed puzzles and an in-depth spell casting system. All these things are standard fare in today's games, but were original concepts in 1986.
Unfortunately, due to the advances made in computer technology over the last twenty years, such classic games no longer run on the modern computer. It was with this in mind that Infamous Adventures decided to remake this game, bringing it up to the quality of Kings Quest 5.
[edit] Differences from the Original Game and Storyline
For the most part, Infamous Adventures' remake is similar to the original game. However, many "perks" such as extra scenes, easter eggs, new messages, new areas, changes to areas, and some changes to the original storyline and the like appear in their version as a treat to returning fans of the series.
The introduction now shows Gwydion having a dream about his kidnapping as a baby. Alexander is snatched from his crib by a female kidnapper instead of Manannan himself (as mentioned in King's Quest Companion, and other official sources). Manannan tells Gwydion that his parents didn't want him cause he's worthless, and that he should be happy that Manannan had the mercy to take him in.
Llewder was redesigned, leaving out the Magical Law of "Containment" and instead having natural boundaries preventing travel to the north and south. The new boundaries make Llewdor somewhat larger than it was in the original game by about 6 screens, coming to total of 22 over the original 16.
The top of the mountain is now a scrolling panorama 2 screens wide instead of being a single screen, with Manannan's house on one side and the chicken coop on the other.
The magic map takes Gwydion to the top of the mountain rather than the foot of the mountain so he doesn't have to worry about running up the mountain to make it back to the house in time before Manannan wakes up or returns. The magic map is not split into quadrants this time around, but instead is limited to only a few locations that Gwydion can teleport to. For example, of the 22 screens that make up main surface of Llewdor, Alexander is only able to teleport to five of them(including the top of the mountain).
The spell system is streamlined to the point that it does all the work for players, rather than the players having to set up the spells themselves. Since the spells can be cast in seconds, there is no reason to worry about racing the clock.
In version 1.0, you usually must first read about spell ingredients in the The Sorcery of Old before you can pick up certain ingredients. Due to a number of fan complaints, this was eliminated in version 2.0.
One of the ingredients for the Brewing A Storm Spell was altered from Mud to Swamp Mud, and can be found only in one of the new screens in Llewdor.
One of the ingredients in the Understanding the Language of Creatures Spell, was altered from "Tuft of fur from any animal", to "Tuft of Dog Fur". Additionally line II, of the spell infastructures was altered, "Put the Dog Fur into the Bowl", instead of "put the fur into the bowl".
In an easter egg behind a tapestry near Gwydion's room, it teleports Gwydion to Baba Yaga's hut, where during a cutscene Baba Yaga discusses how she knows Manannan and how Gwydion must be his slave. She then decides she is hungry and decided to eat him, resulting in a death scene. In the original game the Easter Egg just made reference to King's Quest IV.
Medusa speaks if you look in her direction, just before you are killed. She also asks that her sisters avenge her upon her death. There are death comments for the various ways of dieing in the game.
In a cameo appearance, Shamir visits Llewdor's town shop in his old man disguise to eat the mints there, and Gwydion thinks he hasn't seen the last of the old man, foreshadowing his later encounters in green isles shops.
The game adds a new scene in which during one of Manannan's trips abroad, he visits his brother Mordack to talk about how 17 years has passed, and his plans to soon destroy Alexander, and what he plans to do after that (send Alexander's body back to his family to cause more grief on Graham than the tragedy that already has befell the kingdom).
The scene with the oracle has been extended with new dialogue and new scenes showing the affects of the dragon on the kingdom and its family. Gwydion sees his father Graham and sister Rosella contemplating why she must be the sacrifice that year, when he doesn't want to lose her. Rosella believes she will not die, and will somehow survive.
The scene of Alexander turning Manannan into a cat is slightly extended with some close-ups of the now-feline wizard, however there is no way to interact with the cat after the scene.
While on the pirate ship, in a clever easter egg, Alexander can run into Guybrush Threepwood who claims he is captain of the ship but in reality has also been kidnapped by the pirates.
While you could look at the map while at sea in the original to see how far you were from land, in version 1.0 it is not possible. Alexander is afraid the pirates will discover how much of a treasure it and steal it from him. Due to fan complaints, this feature was restored in version 2.0.
A new cutscene has been added to when a player first climbs the mountains above Daventry. It shows a close up of Alexander looking into the mountains in front of him. One of the mountains bears a resemblance to Half Dome, the symbol of Sierra On-Line.
Daventry is quite a bit different than in the original game. Instead of paths being blocked by walls and fences with field behind them, there is instead dark and burnt forests. If a player tries to enter a forest, the game tells them that Alexander is not interested in going that way.
The map of Daventry is also quite a bit different than it was in the original King's Quest 3. When Alexander first comes down off the mountain near the door to Cloudland, he can initially go west to the screen with the ancient well. Then he heads north to the Old Gnome's house. At which point the map makes a major detour from how it appeared in original version of the game. The path no longer continues north as it did in the original, but instead, to the west of the Gnome's house is a bridge that crosses the remains of one of Daventry's rivers. To the west of the bridge on the next screen is the hill over looking castle Daventry as seen in the King's Quest V(though scorched). At which point the path continues north to the castle gate. To the east of the castle gate exists a second screen of the castle and a bridge that crosses the moat, but Alexander is uninterested in going that way.
The pathway to cloudland has also been altered, and now more closely resembles the the rope bridges and wooden planks seen in the King's Quest 1 remake.
The ending is extended, and includes many more scenes. Alexander talks to his sister about how he's afraid that he won't belong, but she assures him that he has the entire kingdom is behind him. Then upon the return to the castle there is a reunion of children and parents at the castle gates, with some close up scenes. Then it shows Alexander and Graham working to rebuild the kingdom for several months. Sometime later Alexander and Rosella are requested to come to the throne room so that Graham can give his adventuring hat to Alexander.
A bonus ending exists if you beat the game with full points. The ending shows Mordack teleporting into Manannan's House at night to retrieve his brother. He then burns the house down so that no one else can use the house. This is in contradiction with official timeline where the house was never burned down, and Derek Karlavaegen moved in and studied the objects Manannan left behind.
The ending is different chronologically from the official timeline. In King's Quest 4, the opening scene occurs directly after Alexander returns to the castle. In the remake, the ending scene (where Graham passes down his adventurer's cap to Alexander and Rosella, also the opening scene to KQ4) takes place months after Alexander's return.
