King's Quest II was released hot on the heels of the first game, only a year later, bringing with it...well, not a whole lot of new stuff. It's kind of hard to call it much of an evolution of the format in any sense - the game reuses the first one's game engine and most of its art assets, bringing with it a new story (if you can even call it that) and a new setting to romp around in, and as such fans generally consider this game as the low point of the series...Mask of Eternity notwithstanding, natch. True to the fashion of the first game, this one borrows heavily from myths and fairy tales, as you'll find later on.
The game kicks off when the newly crowned King Graham, after his first adventure, has settled on resting on his laurels and watching as a new era of peace and prosperity falls upon the land of Daventry. That's not quite enough for him though, as he peers into the magic mirror and sees a princess locked away in a tower in the far-off land of Kolima. Called to adventure once again, Graham sets aside his crown and dons his old, blue adventuring cap again, setting off to Kolima to see what he can do. And that's pretty much it, the game more or less drops Graham on a shore and leaves him to his devices.
Right off the bat, going from the KQI remake to this feels like a right step backward: KQII runs on Sierra's ancient Advanced Game Interpreter engine, compared to the Sierra Creative Interpreter that ran the KQI remake, so everything looks much less detailed, blocky, and...well, generally dull. I know it's par for the course for the era, but it just feels like a little bit of a disappointment. That being said, at least it'll make it easier to see what's supposed to be important and what's not.
Romping past the coastline, I come upon a quaint little house in the middle of a field with a mailbox on the outside. Opening it reveals a basket filled with goodies inside, which I decide to keep for myself. It doesn't take a genius to figure out who'd be waiting inside the house, and with a rap on the door, I come in...only to be greeted by a wolf waiting on the bed. Taking the game's advice, I run like hell and slam the door behind me, hurrying out. I'll have to be better prepared if I want to take this wolf down.
Up north is a hollowed-out tree with a door on the front, presumably home to a little gnome of sorts. Knocking on the door yields no response, so I carefully enter, descending down a ladder, and finding the gnome I presumed to be there - and damn, is he pissed. After a scuffle, he kicks me out of his abode, leaving me no worse for wear.
Romping further to the west, I find myself outside a very out-of-place church, complete with crosses and bells. Inside, there's a preacher sitting quietly at the front, praying. He doesn't answer to my inquiries, so I sit beside him to pray...which finally catches his attention, and he awards me with a cross to carry around my neck that'll keep me away from harm. This'll be convenient, I think, until after stepping outside, I take another misttep and fall down a ravine.
Hm. Dilly-dallying around at random doesn't seem to be getting me anywhere. I think I'll need to take the systematic approach...
