Game Club 199X: King's Quest V (DOS, NES)

[Snarboo]

I'm in the exact same predicament as Nameless. I've found a number of trinkets that don't seem to have any readily apparent use, and I'm not sure whether I should give the golden needle you find to the tailor or the gypsy fortuneteller.

I can already tell that we're in for one long ride.

[muteKi]

You can hide out at the stone in front of the temple and the bandits won't kill you. Apparently that's how you get past them there.

I have no idea how to actually sneak into their campsite though.

You can get through the smaller tent as long as you don't get too close to the guy in it (sleeping).

[muteKi]

OK. This is important enough to get its own post because I missed this the first time, and it's easy to miss -- THERE IS A GOLD COIN IN THE TEMPLE. IF YOU DO NOT GET IT THE GAME CANNOT BE WON.

anyway that's an hour of my life I won't be getting back make sure you save right before you go in -- don't overwrite it, just in case

[megatronbison]

It's kinda amusing reading the immense frustration but not partaking in it this month

[Deleted]

Mar 5, 2012 4:30:06 GMT -5 muteKi said:

OK. This is important enough to get its own post because I missed this the first time, and it's easy to miss -- THERE IS A GOLD COIN IN THE TEMPLE. IF YOU DO NOT GET IT THE GAME CANNOT BE WON.

anyway that's an hour of my life I won't be getting back make sure you save right before you go in -- don't overwrite it, just in case

There are a couple of items in the temple that you need to grab within the time limit. Make sure you save first and grab them all.

[kal]

255/260

No idea where I lost those points. Turns out the vague memories I had were enough once people ticked over the first couple of actions. In retrospect the game probably isn't as unfair (barring a couple of exceptions) if you're really OCD about it. Surprisingly a lot shorter than I remembered.

[muteKi]

OK, so in the crystal cave I am almost 100% sure that you need to use the hammer somewhere in order to knock loose a crystal. I'm having a devil of a time finding that spot though.

[Deleted]

Well, for those expecting me to swear up a storm in the upcoming podcast, I'll have to disappoint you up front. We're supposed to keep the foul language to a minimum, not insomuch because we're attempting to keep the podcast PG, but moreso to not look like Internet douchebags who have no language filter.

I will say this up front, though: Cedric is a fucking pantload.

Okay! With the temporary swear quotient satisfied, I must now say that I have no damn idea what I'm supposed to do. I've gotten tips but I have bad memory of what I need to do first. I think I heard something about getting a coin after entering a building? Well, I entered the inn briefly and fled (because I also heard you get bum-rushed in there), but I see no shiny coin at any of the places I've already been. Methinks I need to search a bit more... or a LOT more.

[Vokkan]

I'm still drawing blank.

How do you reach the mill?
How do you get the honeycomb?
How do you get into the thieves hideout/temple(?) in the desert?

[muteKi]

The first thing you need to do, oddly enough, is get the fish in the barrel in town (you have to look in the barrel first). That causes a bear to show up on the edge of town, who you feed the fish to.

The first time you visit the temple area, make sure to spend some time pulling a metal gear behind the pool of water.

I'm actually at the final areas. Was wondering if there was something in the cell I missed; I recall there being SOME reason to needing to get locked in there, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it was. Figured it out. Usually if you play a little ahead accidentally it ends up elucidating what else you need to do, based on whether or not you ever use some inventory items.

I still think I must be missing something. Hope it's not that I did something a long time ago that made the game unwinnable, though I doubt that...

[Vokkan]

But I do not receive anything after giving the fish to the bear, even though the bees say so.

[muteKi]

Gotta go in there and scoop it out yourself! (Also, get the stick. Stick's important.)

Generally, unless clicking on it with the hand is likely to kill you (in which case you should at least save before doing so -- watch out for animals, water, and cliffs), click just about everything with it, especially if you're stuck.

[Vokkan]

This is bullcrap! I've been clicking everywhere on that tree a hundred times already, and now I hit that one magic pixel in three tries.

[NamelessFragger]

It doesn't help that the cursors used for each action lack a distinct pointer, which just makes the pixel-hunting more of a pain in the ass.

For instance, when walking around, you don't want to use the center of the walking sprite, but the very bottom where its feet are. This is important when you're trying to navigate around those damn cliffs and rivers.

And speaking of moving around, this game's really unpleasant to play windowed, because Graham won't change screens unless the cursor's at the very extreme, with only one pixel showing.

[muteKi]

260/260. Of course I had the advantage of having played through the game previously and having seen a longplay of it even more recently (I always felt KQ6 was superior, and played it first, and the damn catacombs are still better than the desert).

Some other points of note:

• Talking to Cedric by the weeping willow triggers a little song. Might be worth listening to once, though the original text-based version doesn't do that. Speaking of which...
  
• If you're playing through that version, there's a little easter egg involving the sled and the cloak -- both of which you need before getting past the snake, btw -- that involves an incongruously-appearing boat. Might be funny for some, but save beforehand if you try this. And speaking of boats...
  
• There's nothing of importance too far out along the water. Just like the scorpion is there as a makeshift wall, there are things like that to take care of you going too far off the map. Where you need to go is a few screens due east of the hut-that-used-to-be-a-boat. Don't bother exploring too far out.
  
• There's a room south of the bedroom in the final area; this took me a while to figure out. Once most everything else is taken care of, you can (and should) wait here safely.
  
• Getting caught is not necessarily game over. There are some items that you can only get by falling into a trap. Again, it's something of a case of "past this point I couldn't find any use for this item, so it must be used somewhere here". Trial and error gameplay at its best!
  
• If you go back the way you came out of the forbidden forest, you can often trigger a glitch that involves a seemingly bottomless pit. Note also that you can go in and out of the forest with no issues once you've made that way out, which is good if you missed something in the witch's hut.
  

There are a few items that can be missed that will trap you in an unwinnable situation if you didn't get them. These include the following (though I may have missed one or two):

• Honeycomb
  
• Custard pie
  
• The stuff you can take from the thieves' temple
  
• Hammer
  
• Leg of lamb
  
• Harp
  
• Fish hook
  
• Crystal (well, I've just given the location of this one away)
  
• Locket (hard to miss, though)
  
• Rotting fish (yes, ANOTHER rotting fish)
  
• Bag of peas
  
• Cheese
  

Other things to remember, regarding cursors:
The HAND icon is used to climb on rough terrain -- you can't WALK across pits!
The CROWN icon means that Graham can't go anywhere but can interact with his surroundings.

Also, when in the final areas of the game SAVE OFTEN. If you encounter the black cat too early you are likely to get an (absurdly unfair) game over.

I forgot the totals up until that point, but you should have like 116 points before heading up into the ice mountain if you've done everything right (which includes giving the needle to the tailor).