King's Quest V
Typed out by G. L. Sicherman
King's Quest V [NES-8Q-USA]
Konami, Inc.
--
CONGRATULATIONS!
You are now the proud owner of (King's Quest(r) V) from Konami. This is
the official Nintendo Entertainment System(r) adaptation of the award-
winning computer game by Roberta Williams. Before you sidle off to
Serenia and search for Mordack, please read this manual thoroughly.
THE QUEST THUS FAR...
Long ago, in the kingdom of Daventry, there were three magical treasures
that kept the kingdom strong and prosperous: A magic mirror that
foretold the future, an enchanted shield with the power to overthrow any
invaders, and a treasure chest that was never empty. These treasures
were taken from Daventry by deception and stealth, and without them
Daventry grew poor and weak and King Edward, once a stout-hearted and
vigorous ruler, had become powerless and sickly. Edward had no heir,
and everyone feared the chaos that would result upon his death.
King Edward asked his bravest knight, Sir Graham, to embark upon a quest
to recover the three treasures. Graham's quest was successful, and as
his reward, King Edward named Sir Graham his heir and granted him the
throne of Daventry.
King Graham was a wise and kindly monarch, and with his great wisdom and
the return of the three treasures, Daventry prospered once again. But
Graham knew that he must soon marry and establish his own royal line
with an heir to the throne. He searched far and wide, but no maiden in
the kingdom possessed the qualities he sought in a queen.
One day King Graham saw in his magic mirror a vision of a lovely young
woman held prisoner in a crystal tower. The mirror told him that her
name was Valanice, a girl both beautiful and good, who had been stolen
from her home and taken to a far land. Graham vowed to find her and set
her free. After a long journey with many trials, he did, and asked her
to be his queen.
In time, Queen Valanice and King Graham became the parents of twins, a
son and a daughter. Life in Daventry was peaceful and good - for a
time.
In a land far away lived an evil and powerful wizard named Manannan. It
was his wont to kidnap infant boys and raise them to be his slaves,
eliminating each in turn before he was full-grown and could pose a
threat to the wizard's dominance. His most recent vassal, a boy he
called Gwydion, was, however, unusually bright and perceptive. He
mastered several of Manannan's spells and cast one against him which
turned Manannan into a cat. With that, Gwydion was free!
After a time, Gwydion's travels brought him to Daventry, not the lovely
and peaceful Daventry of days gone by, but a land devastated by a
terrible affliction. The kingdom had fallen victim to the ravages of a
dreadful three-headed dragon, which had burned the land all around and
drove many people away from the town.
Gwydion was able to use his newly found powers to destroy the dragon and
rescue the intended victim from its lair. He was taken before the King
and Queen and rewarded in such a way as he never could have imagined in
his life as Manannan's slave.
In later years, King Graham's health began to fail, and the royal
physicians were powerless to help him. Only a magical fruit from the
faraway land of Tamir could bring about a cure and restore the health of
Daventry's monarch. Graham's daughter, Princess Rosella, set off in
pursuit of this healing magic for her father. On her journey, she
performed many brave deeds, and had many great adventures.
With the King's health fully restored, and his family together once
more, it was a happy and fulfilled Graham who set out for a walk in the
forest one spring day almost a year since Rosella had returned from
Tamir. The kingdom was peaceful and prosperous again, and the people
were content. Birds were singing in the trees. It seemed an auspicious
sign.
As Graham was contemplating his good fortune, a sharp wind blew into the
wood from the east, whirling up sticks and leaves into his path, and
startling the birds into silence. The air grew suddenly colder. It
seemed an unexpected storm was approaching. Graham began to walk back
to the castle, his joyful mood broken by a dark foreboding.
When he reached the top of the gentle rise overlooking his home, he was
horrified to see only empty space where the royal castle of Daventry had
stood only minutes before. Cold fear gripped his heart. Where was his
family? What had happened to them?
"Whoo-hoo... whoo-hoo." An owl hooted behind him, but Graham scarcely
heard it over the pounding of his heart. "I can tell you what happened,"
came a voice behind him, and Graham spun around to confront a large owl
in a blue vest and spectacles. "I know what happened to your castle. I
saw it all," said the owl.
Journey into the magical world of
on a mission to find
the missing castle and the royal
family of Daventry.
* "The Quest Thus Far..." was adapted from the Sierra game documentation,
written by Bridget McKenna.
HOW TO PLAY KING'S QUEST V
_King's Quest V_ is an adventure role-playing game in which you control
all the movement and actions of the main character, King Graham. You
will spend a lot of time in the game traveling to interesting - and
sometimes dangerous - places. You'll look for useful items to help you
reach your goal. You will also talk to people to get information and
clues. On the screen in front of you will be Graham and his sidekick,
the wise owl Cedric. Your actions will be controlled through the use of
an . This is a strip across the top of the screen which has
pictures (or ) that represent actions to be performed.
All of the activities performed through the icon bar are controlled with
your NES(tm) controller. Let's look at the controller functions first,
then the icon bar.
Control Pad - Press to move Graham in 8 directions. Also moves the
pointers (called ) from the icon bar around.
Select - Press to make the icon bar appear.
Start - Press to turn the Pause Game feature on/off.
B button - Quick-action button for using the Look, Talk and Action
icons. This will be explained in the next section. Also used to cancel
actions from the icon bar.
A button - Use to advance text. Also used to carry out a selected
action from the icon bar.
MY KINGDOM FOR AN ICON BAR!
Walk - In _walk_ mode you use the control pad to move Graham around on
the screen. The control pad will move him in eight directions. If an
obstacle is in the way, you will have to walk Graham around it.
Quick Travel - This is slightly different than walk mode, and some-
times a faster way to get around. In _quick travel_ mode you will see
an arrow cursor which you move with the control pad. Position the
cursor to the location you want Graham to travel to, then press the A
button. Graham will now walk to the spot. He will avoid objects that
are in the way, but he will still go by the shortest route possible.
Look - To _look_ at something on screen, select this icon, then move
the cursor over the object you wish to examine. Press the A button, and
if the object has a description, you will be told what that description
is. If there is nothing special about the object, an "X" will briefly
replace the arrow cursor.
Talk - Choose the _talk_ mode when you want to begin a conversation
with someone on screen. Select the talk icon, move the cursor over the
person you wish to speak to, then press the A button. To start a con-
versation with someone off screen, press the B button to pause the game,
then start talking to the person. Graham will wait, he's very patient
during the pause mode.
Action - The _action_ mode is used when you want to pick up items,
open doors, or generally perform an action on something. Select this
icon, then move the cursor over the item you want to act on, then press
the A button. If you can't act upon an item, you will see the "X"
appear.
Item - This icon displays the last item selected in the _inventory_
mode (described next). To use the current item, select this icon, then
move the cursor to the position you wish to put the current item on,
then press the A button. For example, if Graham has a key in his
inventory and wants to use it to unlock a door, make the key the current
item, then select it. Move the arrow to the door and press the A
button. If the key fits, the door should open.
Inventory - The _inventory_ is like a backpack which Graham uses to
store all the things he picks up on his journey. Choose the _inventory_
when you want to see the items. To select an item, press the A button
when the item is highlighted.
Memory - Choose the _memory_ mode when you want to save, restore, or
restart the game.
If you select Save, you will receive a password. The password can be
used to return you to that location with all of your items. To use the
file feature, select , then enter a new name to save your current
location. Press the A button to enter a highlighted number/letter. To
a password and make sure you wrote it down correctly, select
check, then use the control pad to select the password from the number/
letter list. Use to cancel the _memory_ mode.
To Restore a game, follow the same instructions, but this time you
will be sent back to the saved _file_ or _password_ location.
IMPORTANT: King's Quest V will save a file
location only while the cartridge is still in the
control deck and the power is ON. If you turn
the game off or remove the cartridge, you can
only return to a previous _password_ location.
Sound/music - You can use this icon to turn the sound and music on or
off.
THE WORLD OF SERENIA
As our adventure begins, Cedric leads Graham to the land of Serenia to
meet his kind master Crispin. Beginning from Crispin's house, Graham
and Cedric will journey far in their efforts to save the royal family.
Aided by the know-it-all owl Cedric, and with the powers granted to him
by Crispin, Graham will make his way across the countryside of Serenia.
His journey will take him to the barren desert to the west, and across
the treacherous mountains to the northeast. On the other side of the
mountains he must cross the sea and find the island stronghold of the
evil Mordack.
It is a dangerous quest, and Graham and Cedric will need all your help
to lead them and bring them home safely. It is a good idea to use the
_file_ save feature as you play, especially if you think you could be in
a troublesome situation. The game holds up to 20 file saves at a time.
(Remember, though, that all file saves are lost when you remove the game
pak or turn the control deck off.)
Another hint is to make maps of your journey. Writing down places
you've been and the things you see can be helpful in the game.
QUESTING FOR QUEST QUESTIONS...
A GUIDE FOR THE BEGINNING ADVENTURE GAME PLAYER
Adventure games are different from arcade games. The object isn't just
to shoot everything in sight and rack up a gazillion points. Some
adventure games don't even use points. They require you to solve
puzzles or problems and try to achieve a final goal. For example, the
goal might be to free your family from the clutches of Mordack. To do
this, you may have to solve a lot of smaller problems along the way.
There are common questions that new adventure gamers have, so we'll try
to answer them for you.
Q: What good does it do to LOOK at something?
A: LOOK tells you if an item has a special feature. For example, if you
look at a desk, you might receive a message that says "You find a statue
of a gold yak." If an item has a name and a description, then it is a
clue that something can probably be done to or with that item.
Q: What should I do with items that I find?
A: If you can pick them up, do. You never know when you'll need an item
that you saw once and left behind. For example, after battling all of
the Hideous Otter-headed Jungle Beasties, then freeing the Princess and
saving the farmer's son, you may earn a voyage across the Silver River
to the Wizard's Keep. Upon entering the Keep and ascending the Stairs
of Amazing Girth, you might encounter the Knight of Daze, who tells you
that the Wizard will only see you if you present a gift of gold. Now
don't you wish you picked up that yak in the desk?
Q: Is the TALK function useful, or just a distraction?
A: Well, if you had talked to the citizens of Serenia, we can't
guarantee that you would learn that there are no Otter-headed Jungle
Beasties in this game, let alone a Knight of Daze. However, they might
have information about Mordack and his secret hideout...
Q: What do I do when I get stuck?
A: We recommend throwing your arms up in despair and going outside to
play in the fresh air, but if you really want to stick with it, then
just try lots of new combinations. For example, if you come to a wall
of flame that prevents further progress, try the LOOK icon on the items
around you. Maybe something like a giant candle is in the room. You
might think "Hey, candles produce flames, and there is a giant wall of
flame in my way." Next you could try to use something from your INVEN-
TORY on the candle, or try to perform an ACTION on the candle. Maybe
the candle is really a lever that turns the wall of flame on and off.
Q: I keep failing in my quest. I'm tired of starting all over from the
beginning. What can I do?
A: Use the MEMORY feature often. Save, save, save. Save before a
fight. Save before you try something risky. Write down passwords and
check them. If you're going to turn the game off, you can only come
back to a _password location._ If you're in the middle of a game, use
the _file save_ to save up to twenty locations. If you encounter
trouble or get stuck, RESTORE your game from a previous save.
Q: I've tried everything I can think of, but I'm still unable to go any
further in the game. Is there anything I can do?
A: One idea is to enlist the help of a friend or family member. Some-
times when we try to solve a problem it helps to get another person's
insight. Everyone thinks a little differently, so a sticky situation
for you might be more obvious to someone else, and vice versa. Adven-
ture games are as much fun for groups as they are for one player.