History VideoGame / KingsQuestMaskOfEternity

* PolygonCeiling: Technically it wasn't the FranchiseKiller, but many fans think it was. It did well enough (it actually out competed Grim Fandango and most other Adventure games at the time) to garner another sequel (but that sequel was cancelled along with everything else Sierra was working on when the companies who owned Sierra (and had very little understanding about video game industry) decided to shut down Sierra's Yosemite Studios for good killing multiple series, and any future adventure games from the company). On the other hand, it was also a pretty sharp GenreShift, from AdventureGame to Action, wherein large parts of the game were spent hitting things with swords and keeping track of hit points. It technically kept the adventure bits but added RPG elements (in a simplified Quest for Glory kinda way), and some platforming (Quest For Glory V also shifted to full RPG and dropped its adventure bonifides at the time)...

* WorldOfHam: Everybody speaks in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe, even the peasants.

While it was moderately well-received in its time, the crash of the adventure game industry killed the series (along with several other Sierra [=IPs=]), there was an attempt to make a King's Quest 9 (King’s Quest: Twins of Change, in the early 2000s as a Zelda-like action game, but it didn't go very far). Supposedly, Roberta Williams, creator and chief designer of the ''King's Quest'' series, was the one who had come up with the idea to add action elements (with input by Mark Seibert), largely due to the fact that there were long stretches of areas with nothing to do between puzzles, empty, barren, and uninhabited (or turned to stone). So adding monsters added something to see, and something to do in those areas.

While it was moderately well-received in its time, the crash of the adventure game industry killed the series (along with several other Sierra [=IPs=]), there was an attempt to make a King's Quest 9 (in the early 2000s as a Zelda-like action game, but it didn't go very far). Supposedly, Roberta Williams, creator and chief designer of the ''King's Quest'' series, was the one who had come up with the idea to add action elements (with input by Mark Seibert), largely due to the fact that there were long stretches of areas with nothing to do between puzzles, empty, barren, and uninhabited (or turned to stone). So adding monsters added something to see, and something to do in those areas.

* IdealHero: Despite this entry having a darker tone and being the only King's Quest game with combat, Connor is perhaps the nicest, most polite, and stalwart character in the series. While the situation sometimes leads him to [[KleptomaniacHero taking from]] [[TrespassingHero the homes he enters]] he always apologizes despite no one being around to even know he did it, he speaks respectfully to anything that does not aggress him, no matter how strange or monstrous it may look, and it's made clear that he's only taking up arms to begin with because the forces of darkness give him no choice. While it applies to everyone, the AntiquatedLinguistics seem to invoke GoodOldWays to highlight Connor's heroism.

* IdealHero: Despite this entry having a darker tone and being the only King's Quest game with combat, Connor is perhaps the nicest, most polite, and stalwart character in the series. While the situation sometimes leads him to [[KleptomaniacHero taking from]] [[TrespassingHero the homes he enters]] he always apologizes despite no one being around to even know he did it, he speaks respectfully to anything that does not aggress him, no matter how strange or monstrous it may look, and it's made clear that he's only taking up arms to begin with because the forces of darkness give him no choice. To some extent, the AntiquatedLinguistics seem to invoke GoodOldWays to highlight Connor's heroism.

* PolygonCeiling: This game was the FranchiseKiller. Technically it wasn't the FranchiseKiller, but many fans think it was. It did well enough (it actually out competed Grim Fandango and most other Adventure games at the time) to garner another sequel (but that sequel was cancelled along with everything else Sierra was working on when the companies who owned Sierra (and had very little understanding about video game industry) decided to shut down Sierra's Yosemite Studios for good killing multiple series, and any future adventure games from the company). On the other hand, it was also a pretty sharp GenreShift, from AdventureGame to Action, wherein large parts of the game were spent hitting things with swords and keeping track of hit points. It technically kept the adventure bits but added RPG elements (in a simplified Quest for Glory kinda way), and some platforming (Quest For Glory V also shifted to full RPG and dropped its adventure bonifides at the time)...

* BigBad: Lucreto.

* CaptainObvious: Connor.
* TheChosenOne: Connor.

''King's Quest: Mask of Eternity'' (also known as King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity, or simply [=KQ8=]) is the eighth and, [[VideoGame/KingsQuest2015 until 2015]], last official game in the ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' series. It was a notable departure from the previous AdventureGame format, and while it included about the same number of puzzles (actually more than most of them, except for possibly VII) as the previous two games [[http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Puzzle_statistics#King.27s_Quest_8 (or at least starting with VI and VII)]], the puzzles were overshadowed by more hack-and-slash Diablo-like RPG elements (which are included in the total 'puzzle' score for the game). It was also the franchise's first attempt at a 3D game.

* DarkerAndEdgier: While previous ''King's Quest'' games can get pretty dark, this game tops them all in some people's minds (although every single game has been targeted as 'dark' in some way, with even King's Quest 6 being called the 'darkest' game in the series at times), and Space Quest was created because the Two Guys from Andromeda thought the entire King's Quest series and most Sierra games were dark, dreary, and somber, and they wanted to do something 'silly'. It's especially jarring considering [[KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride the last game]] was considered LighterAndSofter.

''King's Quest: Mask of Eternity'' (also known as King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity, or simply [=KQ8=]) is the eighth and, [[VideoGame/KingsQuest2015 up until recently]], last official game in the ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' series. It was a notable departure from the previous AdventureGame format, and while it included about the same number of puzzles (actually more than most of them, except for possibly VII) as the previous two games [[http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Puzzle_statistics#King.27s_Quest_8 (or at least starting with VI and VII)]], the puzzles were overshadowed by more hack-and-slash Diablo-like RPG elements (which are included in the total 'puzzle' score for the game). It was also the franchise's first attempt at a 3D game.

* DarkerAndEdgier: While previous ''King's Quest'' games can get pretty dark, this game tops them all. It's especially jarring considering [[KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride the last game]] was considered LighterAndSofter.

* StoppedNumberingSequels: The game isn't listed on the box as ''King's Quest VIII''. Subverted a bit in that the official website and forums numbered it ''King's Quest VIII'' or ''King's Quest 8'', and WordOfGod called it ''King's Quest VIII/8'' in many interviews. Finally, it was repackaged as ''King's Quest VIII'' in the GOG digital release.

* PolygonCeiling: This game was the FranchiseKiller. On the other hand, it was also a pretty sharp GenreShift, from AdventureGame to Action, wherein large parts of the game were spent hitting things with swords and keeping track of hit points.

''King's Quest: Mask of Eternity'' (also known as King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity, or simply [=KQ8=]) is the eighth and, [[VideoGame/KingsQuest2015 up until recently]], last official game in the ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' series. It was a notable departure from the previous AdventureGame format, and while it included about the same number of puzzles (actually more than most of them, except for possibly VII) as the previous two games [[http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Puzzle_statistics#King.27s_Quest_8 (or at least starting with VI and VII)]], the puzzles were overshadowed by more hack-and-slash Diablo-like RPG elements (which are included in the total 'puzzle' score for the game). It was also the franchise's first attempt at a 3D game. While it was moderately well-received in its time, the crash of the adventure game industry killed the series (along with several other Sierra [=IPs=]), there was an attempt to make a King's Quest 9 (in the early 2000s as a Zelda-like action game, but it didn't go very far). Supposedly, Roberta Williams, creator and chief designer of the ''King's Quest'' series, was the one who had come up with the idea to add action elements (with input by Mark Seibert), largely due to the fact that there were long stretches of areas with nothing to do between puzzles, empty, barren, and uninhabited (or turned to stone). So adding monsters added something to see, and something to do in those areas.

* StoppedNumberingSequels: One supposes they thought it was getting ridiculous. Subverted a bit in that the official website and forums numbered it King's Quest VIII or King's Quest 8, and Word of God called it King's Quest VIII/8 in many interviews. Finally, it was repackaged as King's Quest VIII in the GOG digital release.

This is the first game where you play as someone other than a member of the Daventry royal family, with the exception that Graham was technically not a member of the Royal family through most of the first game except the ending (but also not counting the 'wanderer' in Wizard and the Princess, or the Captain in King's Questions, or the plot twist of Gwydion turning out to be Alexander). You are Connor, a young tanner and lesser rustic knight (much like Graham in the original game), who has a date with destiny. A piece of a mystical artifact called the Mask of Eternity falls at Connor's feet; at the same time, the entire kingdom of Daventry is turned to stone. To save the kingdom, Connor must find all the pieces of the broken Mask and restore them in the Realm of Sun, all while slicing his way through enemies.

** If you shoot at the [[DemBones skeleton archers]] from a very large distance, they will never shoot back. It's not just that you're outside their range of fire -- it will never occur to them to move closer so that they can shoot you. It is even more idiotic concerning the fact that they ''will'' shout at you, but won't shoot.

''King's Quest: Mask of Eternity'' (also known as King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity, or simply [=KQ8=]) is the eighth and, [[KingsQuest2015 up until recently]], last official game in the ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' series. It was a notable departure from the previous AdventureGame format, and while it included about the same number of puzzles (actually more than most of them, except for possibly VII) as the previous two games [[http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Puzzle_statistics#King.27s_Quest_8 (or at least starting with VI and VII)]], the puzzles were overshadowed by more hack-and-slash Diablo-like RPG elements (which are included in the total 'puzzle' score for the game). It was also the franchise's first attempt at a 3D game. While it was moderately well-received in its time, the crash of the adventure game industry killed the series (along with several other Sierra [=IPs=]), there was an attempt to make a King's Quest 9 (in the early 2000s as a Zelda-like action game, but it didn't go very far). Supposedly, Roberta Williams, creator and chief designer of the ''King's Quest'' series, was the one who had come up with the idea to add action elements (with input by Mark Seibert), largely due to the fact that there were long stretches of areas with nothing to do between puzzles, empty, barren, and uninhabited (or turned to stone). So adding monsters added something to see, and something to do in those areas.

''King's Quest: Mask of Eternity'' (also known as King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity, or simply [=KQ8=]) is the eighth and, [[KingsQuest2015 up until recently]], last official game in the ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' series. It was a notable departure from the previous AdventureGame format, and while it included about the same number of puzzles (actually more than most of them, except for possibly VII) as previous two games [[http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Puzzle_statistics#King.27s_Quest_8 (or at least starting with VI and VII)]], but puzzles were overshadowed by more hack-and-slash Diablo-like RPG elements (which are included in the total 'puzzle' score for the game). It was also the franchise's first attempt at a 3D game. While it was moderately well-received in its time, the crash of the adventure game industry killed the series (along with several other Sierra [=IPs=]), there was an attempt to make a King's Quest 9 (in the early 2000s as a Zelda-like action game, but it didn't go very far). Supposedly, Roberta Williams, creator and chief designer of the ''King's Quest'' series, was the one who had come up with the idea to add action elements (with input by Mark Seibert), largely due to the fact that there were long stretches of areas with nothing to do between puzzles, empty, barren and uninhabited (or turned to stone). So adding monsters added something to see, and something to do in those areas.

This is the first game where you play as someone other than a member of the Daventry royal family, with the exception that Graham was technically not a member of the Royal family through most of the first game except the ending (but also not counting the 'wanderer' in Wizard and the Princess, or the Captain in King's Questions, or the plot twist of Gwydion turning out to be Alexander). You are Conner, a young tanner and lesser rustic knight (much like Graham in the original game), who has a date with destiny. A piece of a mystical artifact called the Mask of Eternity falls at Connor's feet; at the same time, the entire kingdom of Daventry is turned to stone. To save the kingdom, Connor must find all the pieces of the broken Mask and restore them in the Realm of Sun, all while slicing his way through enemies.

** If you shoot at the [[DemBones skeleton archers]] from a very large distance, they will never shoot back. It's not just that you're outside their range of fire--it will never occur to them to move closer so that they can shoot you. It is even more idiotic concerning the fact that they ''will'' shout at you, but won't shoot.

* AntiquatedLinguistics: This was one of many, many jarring changes made to the series. For seven games everyone's talk was mostly plain and modern, and then out of nowhere it's pseudo-Shakespeare city, even though this is supposed to be happening a decade or two ''later''. (See also Graham and Rosella in Hoyle Book of Games, Volume I)

* BigfootSasquatchAndYeti: Whole packs of yetis will attack you in the Frozen Reaches. [[AllThereInTheManual According to the manual]] they're actually "snow demons".

* DarkerAndEdgier: While previous ''King's Quest'' games can get pretty dark, this game tops them all. Its especially jarring considering [[KingsQuestVIIThePrincelessBride the last game]] was considered LighterAndSofter.

* FreeSamplePlotCoupon: The entire reason why Connor is the hero is because he picked up a piece of the Mask (one out of five) before the spell that turned everyone else to stone could hit. Everyone acts as though he's the destined hero, but if that's true then Destiny must've aimed that mask piece directly at him. This is confirmed by a recording of a long dead Prophet (from a long dead civilization from aeons before) and several prophecies later in the game.

* InNameOnly: At first glance it seems whose only connection to the previous installments is being ostensibly set in the same location, and a couple of cameos.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfLoading: Possibly the worst loading times ever seen, with loads upwards of twenty minutes for each level. It takes forever to load each area, with multiple loading screens each time you load up the game. ''Mask of Eternity'', in order to conserve hard disk space, only kept the current region files on the hard drive. When you first started a region, it copied that region's files from the CD to the game folder and when you left for a new area, it uninstalled the previous region files and installed the upcoming area's files. There's only 9 regions in the game, two of them extremely small, and the other 7 quite large. That means switching levels was kinda like doing a semi-uninstall/install each time, deleting like 100 MB from your hard drive and then copying another 100 MB from the CD back onto it (real fun with a 2x CD-Rom drive). There was no official way to do a full install of the game either.

* MinusWorld: There are many interesting experiences and fights to be had if you manage to traverse beyond the boundaries of the map and can get beyond the walls of the Dimension of Death. You can go all sorts of otherwise inaccessible places in many other worlds too using cheats to teleport.

* MutuallyExclusivePowerups: The game has a limit of one short-range weapon ([=dagger/axe/sword=]) and one long-range weapon ([=bow/crossbow=]). When you pick up the new weapon you drop the old one. Leave and come back, and the old weapon is still there, in an aversion of EverythingFades. However, there isn't really any functional difference between the different short- and long-range weapons except for their strength - except the warhammer, which takes an annoyingly long time to swing. However many hand weapons do offer different enemy death animations (fire sword causes enemies to burst into flame for example, and ice weapons will freeze an enemy, and shatter). Also several weapons are needed for puzzle solutions (other weapons will not work). In third person there is also additional special moves for the hand weapons that does extra damage.
* NonCombatEXP: You gain experience for solving puzzles, apart from killing enemies.

* StoppedNumberingSequels: One supposes they thought it was getting ridiculous. Subverted a bit in that the official website and forums numbered it King's Quest VIII or King's Quest 8, and Word of God called it King's Quest VIII/8 in many interviews. Finally it was repackaged as King's Quest VIII in the GOG digital release.

[[caption-width-right:320:[[SarcasmMode Because savage battles are what]] ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' [[SarcasmMode is all about.]]]]

* ICantUseTheseThingsTogether: "This will not work."

''King's Quest: Mask of Eternity'' (also known as King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity, or simply [=KQ8=]) is the eighth and, up until recently, last official game in the ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' series. It was a notable departure from the previous AdventureGame format, and while it included about the same number of puzzles (actually more than most of them, except for possibly VII) as previous two games [[http://kingsquest.wikia.com/wiki/Puzzle_statistics#King.27s_Quest_8 (or at least starting with VI and VII)]], but puzzles were overshadowed by more hack-and-slash Diablo-like RPG elements (which are included in the total 'puzzle' score for the game). It was also the franchise's first attempt at a 3D game. While it was moderately well-received in its time, the crash of the adventure game industry killed the series (along with several other Sierra [=IPs=]), there was an attempt to make a King's Quest 9 (in the early 2000s as a Zelda-like action game, but it didn't go very far). Supposedly, Roberta Williams, creator and chief designer of the ''King's Quest'' series, was the one who had come up with the idea to add action elements (with input by Mark Seibert), largly due to the fact that there were long stretches of areas with nothing to do between puzzles, empty, barren and uninhabited (or turned to stone). So adding monsters added something to see, and something to do in those areas.

This is the first game where you play as someone other than a member of the Daventry royal family, with the exception that Graham was technically not a member of the Royal family through most of the first game except the ending (but also not counting the 'wanderer' in Wizard and the Princess, or the Captain in King's Questions, or the plot twist of Gwydion turning out to be Alexander). You are Conner, a young tanner and lesser rustic knight (much like Graham in the original game), who has a date with destiny. A piece of a mystical artifact called the Mask of Eternity falls at Connor's feet; at the same time, the entire kingdom of Daventry is turned to stone. To save the country, Connor must find all the pieces of the broken Mask and restore them to the Realm of Sun, all while slicing his way through enemies.

* ConvectionSchmonvection: One of the worlds has lava strewn all about the place willy nilly. The player character can stand within a few centimeters of the start of a lava pool or traverse platforms mere inches above it with nary a point of damage. Come into contact with the lava and he dramatically burns to death. Made even sillier by the game's technical limitations, with which Connor can take a running leap over a pool of lava, accidentally land in just the very edge of the pool, stumble forward a few steps completely unharmed as he does at the end of every running leap, and ''then'' dramatically burn to death.

* DarkerAndEdgier: This game took the series in a direction that embarrassed {{Sierra}}'s designers. Among them were [[VideoGame/GabrielKnight Jane Jensen]], who wrote:[[http://www.justadventure.com/articles/Love_Letter/Jane_Jensen%27s_Love_Letter_to_Sierra.shtm "Me and my poor befuddled brain, trying to fathom a Sierra where... the most recent King's Quest involves killing things? Whatever happened to saving the cute little bee queen? HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD?"]] (ironically, Jane Jensen's own KingsQuest6 was also noted for being darker and more ominous itself. Official Book of King's Quest, 3rd Edition states; "KQ 6 can be seen as a sharp departure from the previous quests, in large part because it was the first quest in which creator/designer Roberta Williams had a collaborator. There is a darkness to the scenes not found in earlier quests. Overall the sixth has an ominous tone." (The Official Book of King's Quest, 3rd Edition, pg 10)) In some ways, it might be seen that KQ8, after the atmosphere of KQ7, returned to a darker more realistic style. Note: Some people also view KQ4 (for its focus on topic of 'death and dieing', and for the dark and scary moments in the game), and the KQ1 remake (for its darker portrayal of the failing kingdom of Daventry) as falling into the 'darker and edgier' category as well, and to a lesser extent KQ5 (for its subject of kidnapping, and many dark, ominous or down-right demonic areas). Some fans even consider KQ3 to fall into a 'darker and edgier' category for its focus on kidnapping and slavery and the evil wizard (though most of that topic is touched with a sense of satire and whimsy, humor and jokes). According to Roberta Williams comparing KQ8 to KQ3 she noted: "KQ3 was very dark, and it utilized lots of magic and magic spells with the basic idea of finding ingredients for "black magic" spells and then casting those spells. (Certain religious groups were upset with me over that one!)"-Roberta Williams, 1997
** For added irony, in ''Mask of Eternity'', you do get to save the cute sprite/wisps of the Swamp, who are known for pollinating the flowers (like bees)!

* DarkerAndEdgier: This game took the series in a direction that embarrassed {{Sierra}}'s designers. Among them were [[VideoGame/GabrielKnight Jane Jensen]], who wrote:[[http://www.justadventure.com/articles/Love_Letter/Jane_Jensen%27s_Love_Letter_to_Sierra.shtm "Me and my poor befuddled brain, trying to fathom a Sierra where... the most recent King's Quest involves killing things? Whatever happened to saving the cute little bee queen? HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD?"]] (ironically, Jane Jensen's own KingsQuest6 was also noted for being darker and more ominous itself. Official Book of King's Quest, 3rd Edition states; "KQ 6 can be seen as a sharp departure from the previous quests, in large part because it was the first quest in which creator/designer Roberta Williams had a collaborator. There is a darkness to the scenes not found in earlier quests. Overall the sixth has an ominous tone." (The Official Book of King's Quest, 3rd Edition, pg 10)) In some ways, it might be seen that KQ8, after the atmosphere of KQ7, returned to a darker more realistic style. Note: Some people also view KQ4 (for its focus on topic of 'death and dieing', and for the dark and scary moments in the game), and the KQ1 remake (for its darker portrayal of the failing kingdom of Daventry) as falling into the 'darker and edgier' category as well, and to a lesser extent KQ5 (for its subject of kidnapping, and many dark, ominous or down-right demonic areas). Some fans even consider KQ3 to fall into a 'darker and edgier' category for its focus on kidnapping and slavery and the evil wizard (though most of that topic is touched with a sense of satire and whimsy, humor and jokes).

* DarkerAndEdgier: This game took the series in a direction that embarrassed {{Sierra}}'s designers. Among them were [[VideoGame/GabrielKnight Jane Jensen]], who wrote:[[http://www.justadventure.com/articles/Love_Letter/Jane_Jensen%27s_Love_Letter_to_Sierra.shtm "Me and my poor befuddled brain, trying to fathom a Sierra where... the most recent King's Quest involves killing things? Whatever happened to saving the cute little bee queen? HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD?"]] (ironically, Jane Jensen's own KingsQuest6 was also noted for being darker and more ominous itself. Official Book of King's Quest, 3rd Edition states; "KQ 6 can be seen as a sharp departure from the previous quests, in large part because it was the first quest in which creator/designer Roberta Williams had a collaborator. There is a darkness to the scenes not found in earlier quests. Overall the sixth has an ominous tone." (The Official Book of King's Quest, 3rd Edition, pg 10))
* For added irony, in ''Mask of Eternity'', you do get to save the cute sprite/wisps of the Swamp, who are known for pollinating the flowers (like bees)!