King's Quest V, also known by its original full name King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!, is a 1990 graphic adventure game by Sierra On-Line. Originally released in November 1990, it featured a significant improvement in graphics and it was also the first King's Quest installment to replace the typing user interface with a point-and-click user interface. A Nintendo Entertainment System port was released in 1992 published by Konami.
Plot[]
In the introduction to the game, a view of Castle Daventry is shown, when suddenly, a mysterious cloaked figure appears. He enchants the castle, causing a whirlwind to appear, which soon engulfs the castle and lifts it out of sight. Because he is out walking when this happens, King Graham is the only member of the royal family to be left behind. He returns to the castle to find that it has disappeared, and is soon confronted by a talking owl named Cedric.
Cedric witnessed the cloaked figure's attack, and tells Graham that it was a powerful, evil wizard named Mordack who stole the castle. Cedric then brings Graham to the land of Serenia, where his master Crispin resides. Crispin is also a wizard, but a good one, who gives Graham some advice, his old wand, and a piece of white snake which allows Graham to speak with animals. Graham then starts on his journey.
Later, Graham learns that Mordack is the brother of the wizard Manannan, whom Graham's son, Prince Alexander, turned into a cat in King's Quest III. Mordack has imprisoned the castle and royal family of Daventry out of revenge, and threatens to feed the royal family to Manannan unless Prince Alexander agrees to restore him to his true form as the spell's nature means that only Prince Alexander as the caster can reverse it. King Graham travels through the land of Serenia, gathering helpful items and information, and eventually makes his way to Mordack's island, and to his castle lair, to save his family from their impending doom.
The owl Cedric accompanies the protagonist King Graham through the entire game to provide commentary and advice. He has to be rescued from danger at several points. The only useful thing the owl does is inadvertently saving Graham's life from a spell near the end of the game.
At the end of the game, with the help of another of Mordack's prisoners, Princess Cassima, Graham is able to confront Mordack in a magical duel, using spells he learns from Mordack's own spell book against him. After Mordack transforms himself into a ring of fire, Graham slays the evil wizard by conjuring a rainstorm to put the fire out. The good wizard Crispin arrives soon after and transforms the castle and the royal family back to normal. At Graham's request, Crispin teleports Cassima back to her home in the Land of the Green Isles and sends the royal family back to Daventry.
NES version[]
In order to make the Nintendo Entertainment System adaptation more family-friendly and release it to stores everywhere, Nintendo of America had to follow its Video Game Content Guidelines requiring it to tone down violence, nudity, language, alcohol reference, and religious themes in the games it released and it was published by Konami, rather than Sierra On-Line. One example is Graham's water-drinking scene in the desert, where the narrator's words say, "Ah, life-giving water. Nectar of the Gods. Graham can now feel strength and renewal flowing through him" in the PC version, while in the NES adaptation it says, "Ah! The cool water felt wonderful on Graham's parched lips and his body now feels rejuvenated". This was edited due to religious themes. Another example has Queen Icebella ordering the wolves to take Graham and Cedric to the dungeons forever, instead of actually killing them. Cedric is turned to 'stone', rather than Mordack actually killing him. In the Konami release, this obviously was to censor out the threatened violence, but the threatened violence was shown in the Sierra On-Line release.
Gallery[]
Promotional artwork[]
