I finished "King's Quest V" in 7 hours and with 55 save files!

Wow, didn't expect that score!

Wow, what a journey that was! I had no idea I would like this game so much. I had expected it to be a struggle, with lots of restores at the end, going back to the complete start of the game to pick up on things I missed. And yes, I did have to do that occassionally, but I never had to go back THAT far. I must admit, I had a little outside help. People had warned me about the rat, for instance. And about the pie. So that was great advice, and I was able to handle them appropriately and even at the first try. So, much obliged, dear fellow point 'n clickers! I'm sure the game would have taken a bit longer, otherwise.

Okay, let's mount this Caradhras!

Last time I thought it was time to get rid of the snake. And yes indeed, I succeeded after using a couple of inventory items. In hindsight, it makes sense what you need to use but I never thought of the solution myself; it was just trial and error at that point. I think what helped me through this first section of the game was my notebook: everytime I encountered something, I wrote down what it was and ususally what was needed there. Basically trying to compile my own puzzle dependency chart. Playing the game in this structured way has helped me before, with Quest for Glory 3, for instance.

Release the Kracken!

The second part of the game was easier, in my opinion, and I kinda rushed through the mountains. The next section, however, was terrible. I lost count of how many times that sea monster gobbled me up. This was like the desert; I had no idea where to go, so I tried to go about it systematically again, just trying directions, but this beast seemed to pop up randomly, at least I couldn't detect a pattern behind it which might have shown me the right way to go. I found the island by sheer luck. I don't know how much time I lost here. I did wonder if this section inspired the part in Beyond the Edge of Owlsgard where you have to maneuver the ship through the rocks.

Herman?

After the sea bit, however, I reached Mordack's castle. Now the first part of that, finding my way through the labyrinth, was pretty straightforward. I just followed the walls around, always keeping my hand on the right wall so to speak. Something I learned to do exploring the apartment building in Silent Hill 2. But then in the rooms of the castle itself, I was completely lost. I got locked in the dungeon over and over again, Mordack killed me over and over again, I got THIS close to getting completely frustrated because I knew this was the end game, and I just couldn't figure it out. I knew somewhat what I had to do, because I found a strange machine and it could do something to one of my inventory items, but I was still missing a counterpart and I had no idea how to get it.

Kinda looks like the Death Star...

So yeah, I admit I looked this one up and I was astonished, because there was a complete room I missed! But even had I found that room, I don't think I would've been able to progress without that extra knowledge. Then I still died a couple of times during the final battle, which reminded me of the wizard's duel in that old Disney movie, The Sword in the Stone. I finished the game with a final score of 253 out of 260 points. Which was the old Sierra equivalent of today's achievements and trophies in games.

Graham is buff!

So all in all, quite an enjoyable game. The first part was mostly exploring, finding the right items to progress, and trying to avoid the occasional death scene. The middle part was pretty straightforward, didn't have much trouble with that. The final part is where I restored the most games. In the end, I had about 55 save files; sometimes I would overwrite one when I was sure I had the right thing, but in that final part I think I added at least 20 unique saves because I was so scared something would go wrong; which it usually did.

The next "classic" game I'll play will probably be Willy Beamish, but I'll be playing some other things first, I think.