To solve the problem, I had to download and install a substantial 'upgrade' package which allowed the game to run under good old speed-adjustable DOSBox. The issue turned out to be a CPU-sensitive timing bug in the original design, which, unlike Sierra's self-adjusting animation and music technology, caused a specific event countdown to happen way too quickly on a modern PC, allowing no time for the player to react. I was able to get it running under Windows Vista by invoking backward-compatibility features even then, the animated intro cannot be watched from inside the game engine, so we have to access an AVI version in a subfolder (and resist the urge to skip ahead to the ending cartoon also stored there.) With these adjustments out of the way, I soldiered along successfully through most of the game, until I ran into a puzzling problem in Chapter 5 (details are in the spoilers section below.) I like the looser, funnier characters a lot too - this entry in the venerable series plays it less 'straight' than its predecessors, thanks to a solid script by Lorelei Shannon, but the style is still in keeping with the King's Quest universe.Ī technical caveat is worth mentioning here: KQ VII's flexible structure came in especially handy during my playthrough, because I foolishly used the version included with Universal Vivendi's King's Quest Collection set, which as packaged runs under Windows XP. I really like this structure - the episodes are playable in several hours each, and the tighter plotting imposed by the chapter structure lends itself to better storytelling. These chapters can be played independently, so if one gets hopelessly stuck, one can just start at the beginning of the next chapter, giving even novice players a chance to experience most of the story. And it is indeed - there are still some tricky and obscure puzzles, but the design prefigures the modern episodic adventure era by dividing the story into six chapters, each a complete adventure in itself.

Longtime readers will observe that it's taken me a while to get around to this one, largely because I found myself fervently hoping it would be shorter and less convoluted than the (in my opinion) overblown King's Quest VI.

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