King's Quest: Mask of Eternity

King's Quest: The Mask of Eternity
Developer(s)	Sierra Studios
Publisher(s)	Sierra Studios
Version	1.3
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	December 1998
Genre(s)	3D Adventure[1]
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Teen (T)

King's Quest: Mask of Eternity is a "3D Adventure"^[2] written and designed by Roberta Williams and released in 1998 by Sierra Studios, is the eighth, and at present remains the final, official computer game in the famous King's Quest series. It is the first and only game in the series where the main character is neither King Graham nor a member of his family, the first in the series to use a full 3D engine as opposed to the 2D cartoon or pixel style of the earlier games and the first to omit the sequel numbering system of the previous games. The game was referred to as KQ8 in the directory containing the "Sneak Peek" videos in the King's Quest Collection II and Roberta William's Anthology.

It has been re-released as part of the King's Quest 7+8 pack through GOG.com and patched to work on Vista and Windows 7 32 and 64bit. A fan patch has been made to get the disk version working on modern computers. There is also a fan patch for the older version to get the game running on modern systems.[1]

Story

Early on in the game, the half-stone wizard whom Connor encounters conjures for him a magic map that shows all explored areas and allows Connor to teleport between lands once the teleportation sites in each land (except for the Realm of the Sun) have been unlocked.

The game ends with Connor rising to the top of the Realm of the Sun with the restored Mask. A beam of blue light shines on the Mask, seeming to restore its power and it sends out a wave of energy that restores everything to life. The game ends with the Archons being released from their stone prisons and joining Connor who triumphantly lifts his sword into the air.

Gameplay

Preface for gameplay

Above the Kingdom of Daventry is the Realm of the Sun, where magical beings called the Archons guard the Mask of Eternity, an artifact which upholds truth, light, and order. Their leader, Lucreto, turns to evil and shatters the Mask into pieces. When one portion of the mask falls at the feet of a humble tanner named Connor, he picks it up only to find that everyone in Daventry has been turned to stone, including King Graham, and the land sickened. Connor is then appointed by a wizard to travel through different lands and collect all the Mask pieces, eventually arriving in the Realm of the Sun where he must repair the Mask, defeat Lucreto, and bring life back to his land.[2]

Interface

The game combines the single multipurpose context-sensitive cursor from KQ7, and a variation of the Adventure-game item inventory along the top, in addition it also includes information about total mask pieces collected, and total gold coins. Another menu along the bottom of the screen includes information converning level, character experience, curative items, potions offering different abilities. As well as the two current weapons, and armor. On the rightside of the menu is the interface for the grappeling hook item, and rocks.

The cursor itself was dynamic, and could change into four different types of cursors depending on actions. The primary cursor is the Play Cursor, which functions much like the cursor in KQ7, it is used to; look, take, talk and do. Like in KQ7, if you pick up an item from your inventory, the game switches to an Inventory Cursor. This cursor shows an image of the item you have picked up, and allows you to click it on something else like in KQ7. Next is the Sword Cursor, much like the one seen at the end of KQ6, it is used for combat in the game. The final cursor is the Arrow Cursor, which lets you click on enemies from a distance, and fire projectiles.

The game was designed primarily to be played in third person mode, but also offers a first person mode for those who want to use it. The first person mode was primarily put into the game, to allow players a chance to better look around or get closeups of things the screen. But it can be used to play the game in most instances, except during character interactions.^[3]

Genre

Roberta classified KQ8 as a new genre, a 3D Adventure (not to be confused with two dimensional '3-D Animated Adventures' in Sierra's early history), and it was more than the classical 'Adventure' (with maybe the exception of other hybrid adventures such as Quest for Glory, Beyond Zork and Azrael's Tear). As a '3D Adventure' it included Action-adventure & RPG elements, as well as many actions and puzzles that could only be done in 3D, many based on physics, rock tossing, jumping, climbing or 3D combat.

The KQ8 Reference Card notes;

King's Quest: Mask of Eternity is an Adventure game. Follow the story, talk to everyone, explore, explore, and explore! If you see monsters, protect and defend yourself. If you find something you can take, take it! Most of all have fun, enjoy, and save often!

Lands

To complete the task of collecting all of the shards of the Mask of Eternity, Connor must travel to a variety of topographically different lands. These include:

• The Kingdom of Daventry is where Connor makes his home and where his kingly quest begins. Here he encounters a partially lithified wizard who offers him guidance in finding the remaining pieces of the Mask of Eternity. Connor returns here a few times after leaving to return various things.
• Castle Daventry a separate mini-level that loads from the Kingdom of Daventry. It includes the Dining Hall and Throne Room of Castle Daventry.
• The Dimension of Death, ruled by Lord Azriel, serves as a pseudo-purgatory where souls await judgement. This land exists in a plane outside of any other land in the game and therefore Connor must find portals to access it. Upon the shattering of the Mask of Eternity, the order of the universe was accordingly obliterated and the skeletal soldiers of Lord Azriel became unruly and rebellious. Thus, it becomes part of Connor's mission to quell this uprising. Ultimately he releases Lord Azriel and kills all of the Skeleton Guards. Here he also finds Gweneth and her brother both of whom came through the portal from Daventry with Gweneth following her brother who was on his own quest. Connor saves Gweneth and sends her home where she can be visited later, but her brother is found mortally wounded and dies after speaking with Connor.
• The Swamp bears within its boundaries a portion of the Mask of Eternity. Though the Swamp lies not far from the Kingdom of Daventry, the cataclysm incited by Lucreto caused the road to the Swamp to be blocked off by physical obstacles. Hence, in order to reach the Swamp and obtain another shard of the mask, Connor must travel through the Dimension of Death first. The Swamp Witch rules the Swamp ever since the cataclysm (it used to be ruled by the Mudge the Snail King) and the Oracle of the Tree is located here. In order to go on, Connor must get an antidote for the poisonous waters and kill the Swamp Witch. The Mask piece is in her tower and purifying the cauldron there purifies the Swamp waters and releases Mudge who opens a portal to the next area for you.
• The Underground Realm of the Gnomes is mainly made up of tunnels underneath mountains south of the Swamp. During his journey, Connor meets gnomes endeavoring to reestablish an exit topside of their subterranean home. Here the only way out is the portal back to the Swamp, but with a loadstone the Sage Nome is able to trick the Magic Map into allowing you to teleport to a new area. In order to get it you need to kill the Black Dragon Wyrm in order to get to the device past him. Using first the clear pyramid and then the pale one gotten in Daventry, you get two messages: one from Hector--a Prophet--and one from Lucreto himself.
• The Barren Region is located above the Underground Realm of the Gnomes and at the base of a volcano. It can be accurately characterized by its abundance of lava rivers and dry, hot terrain. Prior to the cataclysm, the inhabitants of this area traded regularly with those people who lived at the top of the volcano. It is now terrorized by the Basilisk and in order to go on you must kill it. But to kill it you need a black diamond and a shaft to form a black diamond pike. The black diamond comes from the heart of the Dragon Wyrm from the previous area, but part of the mission is to get that shaft made so you can get the pike you need. Once the Basilisk is dead you can find the key to the Fire Dwarves' Tunnels where you have learned from the Chief Archon holds another piece of the Mask. After dispatching the Fire Dwarves, freeing the Nymph Queen and retrieving the piece of the Mask, an elevator takes you to the next level.
• The Frozen Reaches are the frigid lands at the top of the volcano encircling a lake of icy water. It is inhabited by Snow Nymphs, Frost Orcs, and Gryphs. You have to face the invisible Snow Mane, get the Flame Sword (which proves useful later) and finally rescue the Gryph King from a fortress. After learning that another piece of the Mask is in the fortress you must kill the Ice Orc's Leader and then can get the piece of the Mask. After you have finished everything in the level, you head to an area where you face a Two Headed Dragon. Once it is dead you proceed onto Paradise Lost through a tunnel.
• Paradise Lost is a small caldera near the Frozen Reaches, and the location of a stonehenge which acts as a portal to the Realm of the Sun. There, placing the Crystal Pyramid in an indentation causes one of the Archons to teleport you to the Realm of the Sun.
• The Realm of the Sun, like the Dimension of Death, is not materially connected to any other part of the world in which Connor's quest takes place. This was holding-place of the Mask of Eternity and the site at which Connor should return all of its broken pieces. Here Connor confronts Lucreto to determine his ultimate destiny. The Realm of the Sun is made up of three levels each representing, Truth, Light, and Order.

In addition, another realm is seen at the end of the game within the Realm of the Sun, but is not accessed through a separate load screen.

• The Abyss: The black Abyss is a swirling bottomless pink and black vortex that opens up in the Templ's sanctum sanctorum once the Mask of Eternity is reformed. Lucreto is pulled into it, finally vanquishing him for all eternity. The portal into the realm closes behind him. Alternatively, Connor can be sucked into it, leading to his own entrapment.

Characters

Reception

King's Quest: Mask of Eternity was released to generally positive, but mixed reviews,.^[4] However, it sold well compared to other adventure games at the time; for example, it outsold Grim Fandango 2 to 1.^[5] There was a mixed response to the King's Quest: Mask of Eternity, although most reviews tended to be positive, with the most were 70% or higher, many were above 90%, only a few reviews dipped as low as 10%. The game earned Adventure Game of the Year on Adventure Game of the Year at Digital Entertainment On-line^[6]

Development

Primary development

Mask of Eternity went through two or three main development phases, in which Roberta's ideas changed, the engine was finalized, and the graphics were finalized. In Fall 1996 Roberta showed off some of her first screenshots of the game's levels, a few enemies, and the placeholder for Connor. Video showing the level development of this version of the game was included in the Roberta William's Anthology. There are scenes for two or three levels that were cut from the final game.

By July 1997, the game had gone into its final phase, and appeared much like it does in the final product. Roberta's team was forced to build a new engine from scratch based on an earlier version of 3Space (as Dynamix was behind schedule finishing the updated Red Baron II version of the 3Space engine). The first gameplay footage of this version appeared in the King's Quest Collection II. This version was completed until December 1998.^[7]

Davidson's involvement

Between September 1996 to January 21, 1997, due to conservative criticism over the content in Roberta's King's Quest: Mask of Eternity and Phantasmagoria by the Davidsons of Davidson & Associates, a team of managers was assigned to work above Roberta Williams. They began creating their own version of KQ8 while ignoring Roberta's version. Their version was purged of combat, violence and possibly religious themes.^[8][9] While Roberta continued to work on her own game including its own script and puzzles, the Davidson's team of managers began to design their script and puzzles for their own version of KQ8.

This ultimately lead to Roberta to believe she had lost control of the game during that period; she even thought about removing her name from the product.^[10]

Work on the Davidson version was ultimately cancelled (Davidsons left the company in January 1997^[11]) and Roberta reasserted her control. But this was not without its damage to the Roberta's version of the game's final release (due to loss of time and funding), which was already hurting from other technical issues caused by Dynamix engine development problem and others.^[12]

Notes

The game's dialogue has also been written in a more conservative style rather than the modern English style of King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride. Though conservative language does appear in other KQ games, such as the Godmother and Elf in KQ1 remake, Alexander in KQ6 occasionally speaks with more conservative terms. Graham and Rosella speak with a more conservative style in Hoyle, Book of Games, Volume I.

In this game Connor visits Dimension of Death rather than the Land of the Dead shown in King's Quest VI. However, as noted in the manual for King's Quest 6, Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles, the Land of the Dead is a legend specific to the Green Isles. It is the place where Green Islanders believe they go when they die. They journey to Samhain (Death) to be judged and end up in the Sea of Souls in preparation for the next stage of the afterlife. It is not a legend in Daventry, and author of the guidebook was the first person from Daventry to learn or write about it when he visited the Green Isles. Whereas according to Mask of Eternity's Manual, the Dimension of Death is part of Daventry's legends. It is a kind of limbo ruled by Azriel where souls are judged before being moved to their rightful afterlife.

According to the game's producer Mark Seibert, "Roberta's point of view was that the Dimension of Death was not the under world (KQ6). It was a unique and different place." Thus both places are considered separate locations which happen to share a similar purpose.

Marc Vulcano who is now at Heavy Iron Studios worked as an animator for the video game.

References

1. ^ http://www.sierragamers.com/uploads/24082/The_Games/kings_quest_8_e_spine.jpg
2. ^ http://www.sierragamers.com/uploads/24082/The_Games/kings_quest_8_e_spine.jpg
3. ^ KQ8 Manual, pg 17
4. ^ GameRankings
5. ^ Roberta Williams Speaks Out ...
6. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20011202094643fw_/http://www.sierra.com/games/mask/updates.html
7. ^ http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Mask_of_Eternity_Development
8. ^ All Your Base Are Belong To Us: How Fifty Years of Video Games Conquered Pop Culture by Harold Goldberg, pg 157, 158
9. ^ http://www.sierragamers.com/aspx/m/634063/bbs/Topic.13499.530202
10. ^ http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/King%27s_Quest_VIII_(Davidson_%26_Associates
11. ^ http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_1997_Jan_21/ai_19048930/
12. ^ http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/KQ8_development

External links

• Ken Williams speaks about MOE
• Mask of Eternity Website archive
• King's Quest: Mask of Eternity at MobyGames
• More information about Kings Quest: Mask of Eternity on SierraPlanet
• King's Quest: Mask of Eternity on the King's Quest Omnipedia
• King's Quest: Mask of Eternity development
• King's Quest MoE Technical Help on the Sierra Help Pages