My Quest to Solve the Game

In the early 1990's, Sierra Entertainment released a game called King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow, which is the sixth instalment of the King's Quest series. The first time I got the CD, I wasn't sure if I would like it. I hadn't even heard of the game before. The CD cover depicted a young man ready to fight a horned beast; it seemed like a game that only boys would love. When I watched the intro clip, I fell in love with it right away. A handsome prince and a lovely princess - what girl wouldn't love it? The graphics were jaw-dropping at that time. It felt magical.

Prince Alexander, voiced by Robby Benson (also voiced the "Beast" from "Beauty and the Beast") is the main character of the game. His actions are controlled by you, the gamer. You tell him where to go, whom to talk to, what to look at, what to touch, and what to pick up. You can even experiment how the objects in his inventory interact when put together. The goal is to save Princess Cassima, whom the prince had fallen in love with since King's Quest V.

The game was very difficult for me. I got stuck at the place called Cliffs of Logic wherein some letters were written on the cliffs that had to be decoded. Unfortunately, I didn't have the booklet, which was supposed to be included in the CD (the CD was only given to me). That booklet contains guides on how to solve puzzles at different points of the game. Through the years, I had replayed and had given up many times on the game. As I grew older, I had slowly figured out some puzzles that were unsolvable before. But I never progressed on the Cliffs. That was one of the regrets in my life.

Two years ago, the game had crossed my mind once again. I decided to play it one more time. I had grown older and much wiser. Who knows, maybe I could finally solve it. Like what had happened many times, I got stuck. But lucky me, I already had the internet. I had searched and found the said booklet! The first time I had cracked the code, I was overwhelmed with joy! I was hooked with the game. Within two nights, I had finally finished the game. Whew! My sister told me, "Prince Alex must really love the princess. He was even willing to face the Lord of the Dead !" I thought to myself, "I must really love the game. I worked hard to finish it even after more than a decade!" It sure was a long quest, but when I saw Prince Alex and Princess Cassima finally together, it was all worth it.

Lessons:

You should work hard and never give up. If I had really given up, I would never have seen the game’s wonderful ending, and I would feel stupid for being unable to finish it. This might lead to low self-esteem, which could cause further problems.

Be resourceful. We are very lucky to have the internet now.

Nothing is impossible. Who could have thought that I would finish a game after more than a decade? If I work just as hard with the real puzzles in my life, I’ll be able to solve them, too.

Love conquers all. Prince Alex’s love brought her back to his arms. My love for the game made me finish it.

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