King's Quest II

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

King's Quest II: Romancing the Throne is the second game in the King's Quest Adventure Game series. Graham, now king of Daventry, sees a beautiful maiden in his Magic Mirror and resolves to rescue her. He travels to the land of Kolyma, where he must find three keys and defeat a wicked witch, help King Neptune, and kill Count Dracula before he can reach the island Valanice is trapped on.

The game is generally considered one of the lower points in the series, with its flat storyline, frustrating puzzles, and confusing setting. A fan-made remake, "Romancing the Stones," was released by AGD Interactive, fleshing out the story and improving puzzles; you can download it for free here.

Tropes used in King's Quest II include:
  • Benevolent Genie
  • Black Cloak: Hagatha.
  • Easter Egg: Many, but the most famous is a plug for Space Quest. The parser also accepts some raunchy input for those who are inclined.
  • Excuse Plot: Much like in KQI, there are very few plot elements. The game plays more like a loose collection of unrelated puzzles. The Fan Remake has a more coherent plotline.
  • Fan Remake: "King's Quest II +: Romancing the Stones," which fleshes out the story and beefs up puzzles.
  • Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Probably the most bizarre combination of story elements, in a series obsessed with the trope-- the game mixes together Dracula, Pegasus, Little Red Riding Hood, King Neptune, genies, flying carpets, a modern-day antique store, a church, witches and fairies in your standard fantasy setting.
    • The fan remake fleshes out the story in an attempt to make these elements fit together better.
  • Far Side Island: Some perfect examples (minus the weird colors) appear in the background to the side of the island with the crystal tower.
  • The Ferry Man: You have to trick him in the original to get to Dracula's castle. In the Fan Remake
  • Genie in a Bottle: You get one from the Antiques Store; rubbing it gets you a flying carpet, a sword, and a bridle.
    • Averted in the remake, where all you get is a note from the genie saying that his last master already released him and warning Graham not to trust the antiques dealer.
  • Girl in the Tower: Valanice is locked away in an quartz tower.
  • Magic Carpet: Which takes you up a mountain.
  • Mercy Rewarded: Probably one of the most infuriating examples in the series -- instead of killing the snake with the sword that has a snake pattern on it, you should throw the bridle on it, so it will turn into a flying horse that will give you a magic sugar cube that neutralizes poison, so you can pass through the poison thistle patch on the way to Dracula's castle. How does that make any sense?!
  • Mission Pack Sequel
  • No Antagonist: While there are a few enemies here and there that you defeat, there is no central end-game Final Boss to defeat even though "an evil sorceress" is mentioned in the backstory.
  • Plot Coupon: The three keys.
  • Public Domain Character: Dracula, King Neptune, Red Riding Hood...
  • Rope Bridge: THE most infamous puzzle in the game, bar none.
  • Red Herring: The sword the genie gives you has a snake on it, implying you should use it to kill the snake. You shouldn't.
  • Rule of Three: Three keys, three doors, three bridge crossings...
    • Or, in the case of the remake, Three Gems, three tests, three Vampires.
  • Solve the Soup Cans: More than any other game in the series -- for example, throwing a bridle on a snake so it turns into a horse, and eating a sugar cube to neutralize poison. Abuwhuh?
    • Particularly notable is the bridle on the snake, since the writer of the novelization was able to come up with plausible ways for the characters to think of every puzzle answer, except that one. He resorted to having Graham reach for his sword, and somehow pull out the bridle and throw it on the snake by accident.
  • Standard Hero Reward
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill: See "Mercy Rewarded" above.
  • Unwinnable by Design: The rope bridge breaks after exactly seven crossings. If you aren't carrying the third key at that point, restart the game, because you will never win if you try to cross an eighth time. There is no warning about this. Again, averted by the Fan Remake.
  • What the Hell, Player?: Kill a monk in the church and you instantly die with this message:

Anyone who would kill a man of the cloth doesn't deserve to play this game. Therefore, we will end it.

The Fan Remake provides examples of:

Graham: "Why, you-"
Hagatha: "Witch?"
Valanice: "I am sure it would have rhymed."

Neptune: "We can say that Air is not my element..."

King Graham: You seem to have quite a selection of... well... quite a selection!