King's Quest VII

King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride is the seventh game in the King's Quest series, and the first where you play as multiple protagonists. The graphic design was a departure from the series' earlier games and was meant to imitate Disney animation and garner a younger, female audience; it resulted in a lot of glitches.

Rosella, princess of Daventry, is upset because her mother, Valanice, wants her to get married, while she just wants to have adventures. She falls into a whirlpool and is kidnapped by a troll; she wakes up to discover she has transformed into a troll and is engaged to the King of Trolls. Valanice dives in after her daughter, but winds up in a desert in the land of Eldritch. Gameplay alternates between Rosella and Valanice, who want to escape the Troll Kingdom and find Rosella, respectively. Later, they discover Eldritch is about to be destroyed by an evil fairy named Malicia, and their goals shift from finding each other, to saving the world.

Notably for a Sierra King's Quest, this game is impossible to lose -- in trying to reach younger audiences, the creators decided to make the game much easier than previous installments. It's still a Sierra game, though -- you die, and there are plenty of difficult puzzles, all the same.

""Eye of newt, tongue of frog, mono-sodium glutamate!""
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In Dr. Cadaver's bookshelf.

""The sorrowful Margery Pratt Liked to walk on the cliffs with her cat. One night, such a pity, She tripped on her kitty, And fell off the cliff with a splat.""
 * Art Shift: The previous game used video-captured actors for the animation. King's Quest VII switched to a Disney/Don Bluth-inspired art style instead.
 * Ate the Spoon: Rosella gathers ingredients for a potion to change her back to human form. One of the ingredients (used to stir the potion) is a silver spoon. After the potion's been mixed, the only thing left of it is a melted lump of silver. This being King's Quest, it still has a use later on.
 * Award Bait Song: "Land Beyond Dreams"
 * All Animation Is Disney: Despite being 2-D animated, the game itself has been bashed on by gamers as well as the reviewers for criticizing it for its art style mimicking Disney. It seems to be heading towards Don Bluth and Richard Rich's work.
 * Big No: Rosella, after being trapped in a coffin underground. Then, when Rosella escapes from said coffin, Malicia reacts with a Big No.
 * Brainwashed and Crazy: The Troll King working for Malicia. Turns out, he's
 * Brown Note: Lady Tsepish's face is so horrifying, everyone who looks at her dies.
 * Civilized Animal: Archduke Fifi le Yipyap, as well as all the other citizens of the town of Falderal. Although Fernando the bull might be a slight subversion in that he never exhibits any major bull stereotypes.
 * Cliff Hanger: Every chapter ends in one.
 * Creepy Child: Those two pests in Ooga Booga land.
 * Cute Monster Girl: Troll!Rosella.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Ooga Booga is a dangerous and scary place, but some of its inhabitants like the Gravedigger, Dr. Cadaver, the Black Hound, and aren't so bad after all.
 * Dude in Distress: Most of the male characters in the game. Attis, Dr. Cadaver, Lord Tsepish (cursed as a headless horseman), the real Troll King, and.
 * Evil Laugh: Malicia.
 * The Fair Folk: Averted Trope - there are both malevolent and benevolent fairies.
 * Fighting From the Inside: It's really subtle in contrast to the rest of the game.
 * Fission Mailed: If Valanice picks up the firecracker, it explodes and she dies. If you hit "restore," you still have the firecracker, and you only get a few paces before dying AGAIN. Turns out you need that firecracker to solve a puzzle -- which means you have to die, and hear the same Have a Nice Death quip, over and over for about 5-10 minutes.
 * This is because of an unfortunate side-effect of Technology Marches On. The fuse on the firecracker is programmed in terms of computer cycles. Too bad processor speeds have increased by leaps and bounds, so what used to take a few minutes now only takes a few seconds. At least you respawn exactly where you were before you died and the timer resets. Watch Let's Player Toegoff suffer through this here.
 * Four-Fingered Hands: Including the human characters.
 * Fun with Acronyms: Ricardo Eduardo Rodriguez Roo Rat.
 * Go Through Me: does this when.
 * Goofy Print Underwear: The werebear.
 * Grave Humor: Ooga-Booga Land, which can be read in limerick form on the many gravestones there:


 * I'm a Humanitarian: Most of the monsters, most notably the Boogeyman.
 * "I Want" Song: "I want to go to a land beyond dreams..."
 * Leitmotif: Malicia has one.
 * Light and Mirrors Puzzle
 * Magic Carpet: Instant transportation to Dreamland.
 * Mama Bear: Valanice, despite not being an adventurer at all, immediately flies to the rescue of her daughter.
 * Man-Eating Plant
 * The Maze: The desert
 * Mister Muffykins: Malicia's mutt "Cuddles." A sillier, talking variety is Archduke le Yip Yap.
 * Archduke Fifi le Yip Yap, to give him his full name. And if you don't think that's just the best name in the history of everything ever...
 * Multiple Endings: It is possible to win the game without rescuing Edgar, but it results in the "Bad Ending".
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Malicia.
 * Nightmare Face: Lady Tsepish's face is so horrifying, the player character will die if she sees it.
 * Off-Model: The cut scene animation is rather choppy -- for example, Rosella appears to be slightly cross-eyed.
 * Pseudo Crisis
 * Raise Him Right This Time:
 * Rebellious Princess: Rosella's response to Arranged Marriage is jumping into the first enchanted pool she comes across.
 * Say My Name: Frequently.
 * Scary Scorpions: There's a gigantic, roaring one in a ruin in the desert level.
 * Shout-Out: Loads, from man-eating jive-talking plants to the title. They even managed one to M.
 * Spinventory: Some puzzles can only be solved by looking at the inventory from all directions.
 * Spot the Impostor: The final battle, with the King of Trolls.
 * Standard Hero Reward: Again, Edgar and Rosella take this trope and run it through the obstacle course. Wisely, though, they agree to "court" rather than running off to get hitched. (At least in this regard, Rosella proves a hell of a lot more sensible than her parents or brother!)
 * Suffer the Slings: Rosella has to ward off a werebear by slinging a lump of silver at him.
 * Terms of Endangerment: At one point, Malicia calls Rosella "my dear princess".
 * Took a Level in Badass: Valanice was a very passive character in previous games -- her biggest roles were getting rescued in KQII and telling Alexander to find Cassima in the intro of KQVI. Here, she's out to save her daughter and adventuring with the best of them.
 * Unwinnable: Averted, which is downright bizarre for a Sierra game. Even if you forgot to get the flower in an early chapter that's needed at the end, an identical one is up for grabs at the end.
 * Voice of the Legion: The Boogeyman.