King's Quest III

It's not readily apparent that King's Quest III continues the saga with the same characters, as you do not replay the role of King Graham and instead play a seemingly insignificant underhand of an evil wizard Manannan. Your daily routines include cooking your master dinner and emptying his chamber pot.

The last platform that Sierra's AGI adventure scripting development tools were converted to included the addition of fantastic sound and music capabilities - but the same blocky, colourful graphics. No colour palette changes either. As a plus however, all Sierra games do run under any version of the IIGS operating system, including System 6.

As a 3D Adventure Game, you controlled your character on screen with either the mouse (click where you want your alter ego to go) the arrow keys, keypad or even a joystick. You moved your character to avoid danger, or get closer to items or people so you could interact with them. A parser is used to input commands - get, talk, give, use, show, look, etc, that follow standard English conventions: Verbs are used first, then nouns. The parser understands most things you type in and has a relatively good vocabulary that allows for synonyms.

A good way to start adventuring with each new screen is to simply type "look" or "look room" which should supply some background information to what you can already see on screen. It's then a good idea to look at the individual objects given in the information you got from"look". You can never have too much information in a Sierra 3D animated adventure.

King's Quest III was my personal favourite among the series, being a little different from the previous two and including the clever use of magic spells. You certainly can't finish the game without the magic spells, so here they are (and type directions in letter for letter!):

Page II, understanding the Language of Creatures
Ingredients: small bird feather, tuft of fur, reptile skin, rounded spoonful of powdered fish bone, thimbleful of dew, magic wand
Directions:
I. Put the small feather in a bowl.
II. Put the fur in the bowl.
III. Put reptile skin in bowl.
IV. Add a spoonful of powdered fish bone.
V. Put a thimbleful of dew in the bowl.
VI. Mix with hands (mixture will now be doughy)
VII. Separate mixture into two pieces.
VIII. Put dough pieces in your ears.
IX. (Recite this verse)
Feather of fowl and bone of fish,
Molded together in this dish,
Give me wisdom to understand
Creatures of air, sea and land
X. Wave the magic wand.

Page IV, Flying like an eagle or a fly
Ingredients: eagle tail feather (to become an eagle) one pair of fly wings (to become a fly) one pinch of saffron, rose petal essence, one magic wand.
Directions:
I. Put a pinch of saffron in essence.
II. (Recite this verse)
Oh winged spirits, set me free
Of earthly bindings, just like thee.
In this essence, behold the might
To grant the precious gift of flight.
III. Wave the magic wand.
This only prepares the spell which can then be cast at any time. Dip the eagle wings in essence to be an eagle, dip the fly wings to become a fly. To end the spell before it wears off, say "Eagle begone! Myself, return!" or "Fly, begone! Myself, return!".

Page VII, Teleportation at Random
Ingredients: spoonful of salt grains, spring of dried mistletoe, smooth rounded stone of unusual colour, one magic wand.
Directions:
I. Grind a spoon of salt in a mortar (with a pestle)
II. Grind the mistletoe in the mortar.
III. Rub the stone in the mixture.
IV. Kiss the stone.
V. (Recite this verse)
With this kiss, I thee impart,
Power most dear to my heart
Take me now from this place hither,
To anther place far thither
VI. Wave the magic wand.
To randomly teleport, rub the stone.

Page XIV, Causing a Deep Sleep
Ingredients: three dried acorns, cup of nightshade juice, one magic wand, an empty pouch.
Directions:
I. Grind the acorns in a mortar (with a pestle)
II. Put the acorn powder in a bowl.
III. Put the nightshade juice in the bowl.
IV. Stir the mixture with a spoon.
V. Light a charcoal brazier.
VI. Heat the mixture on the brazier (boil the mixture until the nightshade juice is almost gone, then remove from heat)
VII. Spread the mixture on a table (wait until dry).
VIII. (Recite this verse)
Acorn powder ground so fine
Nightshade juice like bitter wine,
Silently in darkness you creep
To bring a soporific sleep.
IX. Wave the magic wand.
X. Put the sleep powder in the pouch (for safekeeping).
To use the spell, pour sleep powder on floor near person you wish to cast spell on in a dank, dark place then recite "Slumber, henceforth!".

Page XXV, Transforming another into a Cat
Ingredients: one-half cup of mandrake root powder, small ball of cat hair, two spoonfuls of fish oil, one magic wand.
Directions:
I. Put mandrake root powder in a bowl.
II. Put the cat hair in the bowl.
III. Put two spoons of fish oil in bowl.
IV. Stir the mixture with a spoon (dough will be oily).
V. Put the dough on the table.
VI. Pat the dough into a cookie (let harden on table)
VII. (Recite this verse)
Mandrake root and hair of cat
Mix oil of fish and give a pat
A feline from the one who eats
This appetizing magic treat
VII. Wave the magic wand.
Whoever eats the cookie, is turned into a cat...useful for disposing of a particular character ;-)

Page LXXXIV, Brewing a Storm
Ingredients: cup of ocean water, spoonful of mud, pinch of toadstool powder, magic wand, empty jar.
Directions:
I. Put a cup of ocean water in bowl.
II. Light charcoal brazier.
III. Heat the bowl on the brazier (heat slowly, but not to boiling, then remove from heat)
IV. Put a spoon of mud in the bowl.
V. Add a pinch of toadstool powder.
VI. Blow in the hot brew.
VII. (Recite this verse)
Elements from the earth and sea,
Combine to set the heavens free.
When I stir this magic brew,
Great god Thor, I call on you
VIII. Wave the magic wand.
IX. Pour the storm brew into the jar (to store).
To activate spell, stir the storm brew with your finger and recite "Brew of storms, Churn it up!".

Page CLXIX, Becoming Invisible
Ingredients: jar of lard, one cactus, one spoonful of cactus juice, two drops of toad spittle, magic wand.
Directions:
I. Cut the cactus with a knife.
II. Squeeze the cactus juice on spoon.
III. Put the cactus juice in a bowl.
IV. Put the lard in the bowl.
V. Add two drops of toad spittle.
VI. Stir the mixture with a spoon.
VII. (Recite this verse)
Cactus plant and horny toad
I now start down a dangerous road
Combine with fire and mist to make
Me disappear with a trace.
VIII. Wave the magic wand.
IX. Put ointment in empty lard jar.
The ointment only works where there is fire and mist. To use, rub ointment on body.

You have to turn to the correct page number in Manannan's spell book to start preparation of a spell. Remember to type in the precise instructions (directions in brackets do not need to be typed). All spells are prepared in the laboratory. Not all ingredients are to be found in lab, nor in the Manannan's whole domain...you must explore to find every necessary ingredient. Keep track of how long Manannan is gone on his journeys or sleeps. Save your game VERY, VERY often! Especially when you are to prepare a new spell as getting it wrong will kill you.