Video Game: King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella
King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella is the fourth game in the King\'s Quest series. Release in 1988, it was one of the first games to implement beyond-PC sound, improving overall sound quality, and the first Sierra game with high(er) resolution graphics. It also has a largely-unknown version with the graphics and (lack of) music of the previous three games.In this game, you play as Rosella, the twin sister of Alexander and daughter of King Graham. Your father has fallen deathly ill, and his only hope is a magical fruit that grows in the island of Tamir. A good fairy named Genesta sends Rosella to this land, but her powers are weakened by the evil sorceress Lolotte, meaning the trip is one-way. To win the game, you must find the fruit, defeat Lolotte, and return Genesta's powers to her— all in the span of a single day.
There is some justification behind this: you're put on the island after a complicated series of events, and the only other object you can find there does nothing but get you back to the mainland from the island. As per standard adventure game mind-think, there has to be something else there.
Gorgeous Garment Generation: Inverted at first when Genesta changes Rosella's gown into peasant clothing. Played straight with Rosella and Edgar at the end.
In-Universe Game Clock: You only have a day to get the fruit and save Genesta, plus some tasks have to be completed at night.
Fortunately, night normally won't fall until you need it to fall, and dawn won't come until you reach the end of the game. Night will fall on its own if you wait long enough, at which point you end up getting killed by zombies pretty quick. Fortunately, the time it takes is literally hours of real-time, and if you do the event that causes night to fall earlier then the zombies aren't a problem.
King Incognito: Rosella is a princess in disguise, dressed that way to avoid the suspicion of the evil Lolotte. It doesn't really work, as Lolotte nonetheless suspects that Rosella is something more than she seems because she's just too beautiful for a simple peasant girl.
Luck-Based Mission: Navigating the damn cave and avoiding the troll. The troll can appear from any of the room entrances, at any time, and kills you instantly if it touches you. And it moves faster than you. And it will always show up. You have no defense other than running away, and you can't even do that. And you have to navigate the cave twice.
The Maze: The maze of caverns behind the waterfall, which you have to navigate in the dark. Well, you do have a lantern, but it doesn't give off any light *
the "sprite" for the lanterns light hovers directly behind Rosella, and there's only a few pixels around that allowing you to glimpse the path, or lack thereof
. Oh, and there's a troll in the cave trying to eat you.
It's not really a maze: it is four rooms arranged in a square.
Yes, he has a crush on Rosella, but that leads to him pleading with Lolotte to spare her and let her go after the treasures. Rosella gets the treasures, and Lolotte pulls Standard Hero Reward in forcing a marriage between Rosella and Edgar. Edgar, however, smuggles Rosella a key attached to a single red rose so that she can free herself. Rosella breaks out, fatally shoots Lolotte with a love arrow, and makes off with the talisman. After Rosella's saved Genesta, Genesta teleports Edgar to her island, and transforms him into a handsome young man (we find out later that she was restoring him to his true form). Edgar then inverts it by offering himself as Standard Hero Reward, and Rosella turns him down ("Sorry, Eddie. My dad's dying of heart failure, and I've gotta cure him...."). The end of the seventh game has them meeting again, and Edgar wisely asking to court her instead of rushing into anything.
Suddenly Suitable Suitor: Rosella's suddenly a lot more interested in Edgar after Genesta transforms him.
Timed Mission: Although you'll never notice it in actual gameplay, you really do have exactly twenty-four hours to save Genesta and Graham.
Wandering Minstrel: Rosella meets one who is absolutely terrible at his job. She gives him a copy of "The Compleat Works of William Shakespeare" [sic], so he can go off and become an absolutely terrible actor.
Zombie Apocalypse: The cemetery and manor house after dark. One touch should result in Rosella turning into a zombie, but this is unlikely to happen: zombies don't show up until night falls, and night won't fall for 12 hours of real-life time or once you get both the fruit for Graham and the item that protects Rosella from zombies. The zombies end up being a little pointless, even. The final Fetch Quest of the game even requires Rosella to venture into a tomb where a mummy tries to attack her, but it's repelled by the protective item! What a waste of a puzzle!
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