[fov]

Originally Posted by ATMachine

Nice to see a shout-out to the KQ5 thread a couple of weeks back too (the mention of the two Walk icons in the original disk version). Though of course they did work noticeably differently (the Walk icon made Graham move slowly in one direction, stopping if he hit any obstacles, SCI0-style, while the Travel icon made him move more swiftly to the point you clicked, navigating around things in his path, like LucasArts' standard walking mode).

I played the disk version for a while after finishing the CD version and can honestly say I didn't notice a difference. But maybe the screens I tried it on didn't have many obstacles?

And I did think that the problem of dead-ends might have merited a bit more emphasis in the review, given how it's one of the major sticking points for most gamers. You do a fine job of pointing out how bad they are, but perhaps there should have been a mention of just how unspeakably long you can play on before you realize you're stuck in one!

This is probably a result of me playing with a hint book by my side the very first time I played King's Quest V. I don't remember ever getting stuck, and I think that's why. (I'm not sure what possessed me to buy a hint book so early on -- normally I wouldn't have done that *until* I was stuck -- but it could be because I was playing with a friend who wasn't really into figuring the stuff out and she influenced me to get it. I do have very fond memories of playing the game with her, so it's not all bad, but this was not a game I solved on my own by any stretch of the imagination!)

PS - just thought I'd note something interesting: the inventory windows are different in the KQ5 disk vs. CD versions.

The original disk version had very large icons in the inventory window. To manipulate your items you moved the cursor up to the icon bar and selected the EYE or HAND. If you selected one of those and then wanted to get the pointy cursor back, you had to close the inventory and re-open it! Plus, your current score was also included on the inventory screen.

I noticed this when I was trying out the disk version and couldn't figure out how to

Spoiler:

open the pouch of emeralds.

I didn't actually realize I could get the icon bar to show up, but I figured out I could right click to cycle through the cursors. I'm pretty sure that the Mac version I originally played had the same interface as the CD, not the DOS disk version. It was released in 1991 so there would have been time for Sierra to revamp the interface for that release.

Originally Posted by Josho

Gotta say, I agreed with just about everything Emily said in her review -- and I thought there were times when she was quite merciful and tactful, even when she didn't need to be. I doubt I could've been quite as gentle as she was about some aspects of the game.

Such as?

When I was writing the review and evaluating what I liked/disliked about it this time around, I did rely somewhat on my memories of playing it originally back in 1992 (my parents got it for me as a 14th birthday present -- I even remember opening it!) Like I said, I kept the hint book close by and don't have any bad memories of getting stuck, and since I played a non-talkie version the voices were not an issue. It wasn't until more recently that I realized some people really disliked this game. I can look at it objectively and understand why, but deep down I still really do like it, myself.