King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! Episode 3: Over the Mountain
400:00 Starting Soon ("Ataraxia" by Aaron Hodges-Boyle)
05:56 Beginning
11:10 Tobogganing!
15:20 In the Hall of the Ice Queen
30:30 Roc On
32:07 Marooned!
54:50 Setting Sail
1:03:10 Have You Ever Spent Christmas on Harpy Island?
1:16:24 Talking to the Owl Vet
1:22:20 The Isle of Mordac
1:29:40 Labyrinth
1:37:34 Meeting Princess Casima
1:41:34 The Beginning of the End(ing Sequence)
3:10:40 The Cat's in the Bag!
3:31:10 Oh, Okay, Sure
3:32:20 The Final Showdown!
3:42:57 Dénouement
3:49:43 Roll Credits and Closing Thoughts
Well, this is it! 30 years or so later, I beat King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!
I head into completely uncharted territory pretty early on, as the pie fight with the Yeti--the last thing I remember hearing about as an example of the game's prolific dead-ending--turns out to happen *very* shortly after Cedric's kidnapping by the wolves! From there, it's just one fortuitous trip to a Roc's nest before we leave the cold mountains behind and hit the beach!
The beach sequence includes *another nature maze*, but it turns out the sea is *way* easier to map than the desert was! Cedric nearly gets killed by Harpies, but some of Graham's absurd luck extends to him as it turns out the hermit on the island is an owl veterinarian!
With the help of a mermaid, Graham and Cedric reach Mordac's Island, where what *should* be the toughest maze yet (the "camera" reorients on every screen, so up doesn't always equal north!) falls quickly to my strategy of "just keep clicking and see if you win"!
Then begins what is simultaneously the best adventure end-game sequence I've encountered yet and the most frustrating adventure end-game sequence I've encountered yet! At least we get to finally abuse Cat Manannan!
Eventually, with a bit--but not too much!--of gentle prodding from the audience, King Graham makes his way to the final showdown with Mordac, who demonstrates a significant lack of awareness of which four beginner-level spells are on the most notable page in his grimoire!
Finally, the family is reunited, Graham breaks out a bit of his asshole persona one last time to blame Alexander for "causing" Mordac's revenge scheme by escaping Manannan in the first place, Alexander realizes how great it would be to marry a Princess who lives far away from his parents, and we're all set up for King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow!
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*Intro Song*: "Ataraxia" by Aaron Hodges-Boyle. Aaron has an extensive catalog of "video game music to study or fall asleep to" on his Bandcamp page: https://aaronhodges-boyle.bandcamp.com/
This playthrough was originally broadcast live on Twitch, beginning December 9, 2023, at https://www.twitch.tv/58dreamstreet
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