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King's Quest Chapter I: A Knight To Remember (aka King's Quest: A Knight to Remember) is the first chapter (aka as the First Quest) of the five part series King's Quest: Adventures of Graham.

Background[]

Chapter 1: A Knight to Remember, the first part of a five-chapter game series that boldly reimagines one of gaming’s most groundbreaking franchises. An aging King Graham reflects on a life of adventure with his granddaughter, Gwendolyn, taking players back to his teen years and his quest to become a knight of Daventry in King Edward’s royal guard. Discover a wondrous world full of whimsical characters, charming puzzles and perilous dangers in this fun and enchanting coming of age story.

A Knight to Remember is a 5-10 hour game (on a single playthrough, but with three main paths to choose on replays) with a prologue, and a largely stand-alone core game. But choices made will influence the rest of the "King's Quest: Game Series"/"King's Quest: The Complete Collection".

The story introduces Gwendolyn by Graham telling a story about the time he found the magic mirror in the Ancient Well. Gwendolyn is challenged to a fencing match by her cousin Gart. Gart attempts to convince her she is a loser, and that he is worthy to succeed as the next King of Daventry. Graham then tells the story of when he was a squire and the knight's tournament he attended in order to join the ranks of the Knights of Daventry.

The game can be bought in the complete collection, or separately. Amazon sells the individual game and the game's soundtrack.[1][2]

Story[]

The prologue begins with Graham entering a thicket and heading to a scary Forest Well. It is a linear sequence which has a twenty-something King Graham returning to the Forest Well (from a previous adventure) on a quest from King Edward to find his stolen Magic Mirror, while trying to avoid the Legendary Beast, a dragon living there. He discovers the cave filled with beds and other strange traps. He finds a bookcase with spellbooks and selfhelp guides on how to capture and control dragons. Finally using a feeding mechanism, he is able to distract the dragon, and take the mirror. After a perilous escape, he return to castle to present the Mirror to the king.

The main story returns to a time earlier, when Graham was a teenager, traveling to Daventry for the first time to take part in a Knight Tournament there, and recounts his first journey into the Forest Well, and encounter with the beast within, and the loss of a friend.

Graham begins on an overlook above Daventry, riding in on his steed Triumph, when he falls down the hill until he reaches the Back Road below. He follows a sign leading him a missing bridge, and the Parade of Hopeful Knights marching past beyond. He makes a detour down more of the backroads, until he find the Merchant of Miracles, who sends him to repair his wagon wheel. Graham cuts down a tree, finds his way into town, where he has the choice between three different items from each of the three closed shops, and a choice to tip one of the three shops a swell.

After helping the merchant, and after being cheated (either choosing to buy a fake initiation ticket, or having his coins stolen), he is brought to the Tournament Theatre, but finds that the bridge is out again. He tricks the royal guard to save him from drowning, and then distracts them with bees so he can join up with the other knight initiates. He tries to figure out a way to cross the river, but each knight ends up stealing his solutions, until only he and Manny are left on the side of the river. After figuring out a final solution, he makes it across the river, while Manny just walks across the river. On the other side Manny congratulates Graham, and convinces him to have a secret alliance. Graham finally makes it to the tournament, after explaining why he was late, he has to makeup the Chivalry Test in which he has to learn a bit about each initiate.

All knight hopefuls are then given an initiation quest to find the eye of a hideous beast. There are multiple solutions to this quest, but it cannot be from cute furry creatures. Graham meets Amaya Blackstone on his way back into the heart of Daventry, who gives him some of the history of the Kingdom, and invites him to meet her at her shop in the town. Graham meets all the town members including a compassionate baker, and wise Hobblepots who run a curiosity/magic/alchemy shop. He learns that someone is stealing the beds in the kingdom.

Depending on his actions at this point he might discover the Forest Well for the first time, a local landmark that everyone knows about, and is used as a kind of testing ground for knights hoping to rise up in the ranks of the Royal Guard to prove themselves to King Edward. He either loses a friend there, Achaka, and receives an eye from the Legendary Beast there, or escapes without one (but given extra eye by Manny). Or he might befriend the Bridge Troll Olfie, who helps him out, or use trickery to make a substitute eye to submit to the judging knights.

Following the initiation, the knights then must finish three trials; Duel of Strength, Duel of Speed, and the Championship Duel of Wits. Depending on where he went previous quest, he might be sent to find lost knight who has disappeared from the competition (if he hadn't discovered him in the previous quest). Regardless of when this takes place it leads him to the Forest Well (and results in the same situation, he learns how to shoot a bow, his friend dies, and Graham escapes with or without the beast's eye). In both cases Graham encounters Manny who convinces him to stay in the competition, and that he must do it for the memory of Achaka.

Graham defeats the various competing knights at each duel, in order to join the Knights of Daventry, and gain the chance to become King of Daventry as well. However getting to each deed requires him to help other citizens of Daventry, befriend the trolls, help the Merchant of Miracles again or let him get captured by goblins, discover other secrets of the land, find new mysteries. While doing this he learns that goblins are behind stealing the beds, but doesn't know why. He defeats Acorn in the Duel of Strength, with the help of the trolls and Manny, defeats the fast knight Whisper in the duel of speed, and finally has a battle of wits with Manny. Manny has been secretly manipulating the entire tournament behind the scenes, and has ulterior motives to become king. During the game he uses hypnosis potion on Graham, which forces Graham to make the moves Manny wants him to. The dark knight explains his reasons, and plans for ruling the kingdom. His story about Achaka changes from what he had said before (suggesting much of it might have been a lie), he seems to know a bit too much about the goblins as well. The rest of the Royal Guard do not trust him, and prevent him from winning the duel so that he cannot become king, and to give Graham extra chances. Finally Graham defeats the knight by either winning fairly or by cheating. But Manny attempts to kill Graham in revenge, forcing Graham to defend himself (with items offered by the town's citizens). He defends himself, and then force the evil knight to leave (but Manny threatens to take revenge).

In the present, Gwendolyn is listening these stories as she prepares for her own fencing tournament with her cousin Gart. The choices Graham made in his stories influences how she reacts and treats her cousin. She is either kind to him, sneaky, or quick to attack.

Impacting Choices[]

The game offers several choices throughout the game.

The first is how to defeat the dragon (bravely shooting it in the eye, intelligently distracting it with a bell, or free it out of compassion), the second is Graham deciding what he believes is the best way to defeat an opponent. Another choice is to decide who to take a substitute wheel from, and who to tip (or not tip anyone). This may lead to a store being locked up, and when Graham returns later, either being honest to the merchant inside, or the store remains locked for the rest of the game. He can choose to buy a ticket to the knight tournament (leading to another scene in the tournament later), or choose not to (the merchant then pickpockets him for a coin).

Graham can decide where and how he gets an eye based on three choices of bravery, wisdom and compassion. These will also influence how each of the town members see him. If he chooses the compassion or wisdom route, then he will be given an extra mission at the start of the main tournament to go find missing Achaka, and is given a picture for him to sign.

During a fight with Goblins, Graham can choose to kill them, disarm them, and either let them kidnap the Merchant of Miracles, or save the merchant. Graham has multiple ways of befriending Olfie the first bridge troll he encounters either lying to him, being truthful, or threatening him. Each results in the troll giving him a different nickname. Graham can choose between several paths to find a 'hideous eye' for the initiation quest. Graham can either mess up a picnic or save by how he handles a wasp nest. This leads to a character being stung, or having a pleasant experience. Graham can choose to give a sleeping leaf to the Hobblepots (to receive a hypnosis powder) or using it to put Pillare to sleep. He can forget to close the gate to the woods behind the town and let wolves into the village, or keep them closed every time he passes by them, and receive a special honor patch for keeping the town safe. He can dye the ingredients to a pie, to get a different reaction from the baker. During the duel of wits, Graham can choose to cheat or win fairly. Finally Graham has to choose between a knife, a custard pie (a nod to an event in King's Quest V), or bird bombs to defeat the villain of the story.

At various points in the game Gwendolyn will act out what she was told in the story, either bravely jumping into confrontations, showing kindness, or tricking others. The first involves her going into her bedroom and hearing a strange noise from the door to the balcony. Gart her cousin, busts the door open, and gives a big roar. Either Gwendolyn throw a pillow in his face knocking him to the ground, or she runs up and gives him a big hug, or she sneaks up behind him with a bell, and scares him from behind (causing him to fall to the ground from being startled). At another point Gwendolyn is practicing her fencing moves in her room with her stuffed bunny Mr. Springbottom, she either chooses not to attack the bunny, and gives it a cupcake, before dancing with it, or she swings her umbrella wildly, or she tries a 'distraction' at the bunny, in all cases she ends up swinging around and breaking a vase, just as her Grandmother Valanice shows up, and given a brief scolding. Finally, the choices impact how she acts at the fencing tournament itself, suchas throwing food at her cousin during the fight.

The choices also affect what Gwendolyn says to her grandfather or others, and the titles she gives herself; Gwendolyn the Smartypants, Gwendolyn the Popular, Gwendly the Brave, etc.

Easter Eggs, Trophies and Achievements[]

There are a number of easter eggs in the chapter. Many of which unlock various trophies and achievements (only 3-4 achievements are tied to a few of the major events in the game, such as the tournament trials).

One is finding a secret area towards the beginning of the main story, that foreshadows something from a future chapter. Another involves ignoring Graham's narration and going down a cave passage that he says he didn't go to at the time, until he Gwendolyn gets him to dance at the end of the tunnel. Another is dying a badger purple, and then having it chase after squirrels. Another involves blowing troll horns over and over in many places in Daventry. Another involves walking across the secret water path used by Manny. Another involves trying to repeatedly catch a frog. Others are tied to discovering certain death sequences (killed by thornweeds, walking into dragon's mouth, killed by a majestic unicorn/goat, killed by a wolf after trying to feed it). Another involves sleeping over and over again in the beds during the prologue. Another involves trying to open a door while Achaka is guarding it three times. Another involves obtaining Wedzel Patch, saving the picnic, and completing a color change potion (needed to make the wits championship easier).

Deaths[]

  • Push the wrong switch causing a bed to smash into him.
  • Forgetting to hide from the dragon in a bed.
  • Walking into the dragon's mouth.
  • Discovered while being lowered into the room on the feeding machine.
  • Waiting too long to make a decision on how to defeat the dragon.
  • Killed by goats after trying to use a hatchet on them to many times.
  • Killed by wolves in their dark cave, or the dark Spooky Woods without a light source to scare them away.
  • Killed while trying to feed wolves with raw meat.
  • Be captured by goblins.
  • Fall into a pit while stuck in a cage.
  • Fall off a collapsing platform.
  • Fall off a collapsing bridge.
  • Having a spear or rock thrown at him.
  • Stepping on the wrong tile on a trap.
  • Falling off of hand holds on the side of a cliff.
  • Being hit by dragon fire.
  • Killed by prickly thornweed plants, while attempting to walk through them.
  • Killed by revengeful squirrels.
  • Getting eaten by a troll.

Notes[]

  • ”A Knight to Remember is a sort-of prequel to the original King's Quest title, which was released way back in 1984. The story follows one of Graham's earliest adventures, happening before he was even a knight. The game is framed as a bedtime story being told by a very old King Graham to his granddaughter, Gwendolyn.”[3]
  • The game's story is original but largely inspired by a small sequence from The Princess Bride. Mostly Dread Pirate Roberts/Wesley 'duels' with Inigo, Fezzic, and finally Vizzini. But this is reimagined as a knight tournament. The game like most in the 'fractured fairy tale' format changes most of these encounters from how they occurred in the original story in some way. For example in the Duel of Wits, "Manny/Vizzini" introduces the extra 'challenge" of 'poisoning' wine goblets with mind control elixir rather than Graham/Wesley coming up with the idea. Of course neither character has built up an 'immunity' to the elixir, and Graham can take advantage of this by 'cheating' if he so chooses to.
    • Secondary inspiration comes from the Dragon/Treasure Horde/Wizard story the original KQ1 was inspired by, though reimagines that story differently than other sources had in the past.
    • Billy Goats Gruff is a reference but its also been turned upside down as a Fractured Fairy Tale. The crossing the 'Troll Bridge' concept is reused (it also appeared in KQ1 and KQ7) however it has been turned upside down. As this time the Bridge Trolls are mostly nice and kind, and even helpful once you get to know them. They still have a thing for 'goats' (they love to eat them) so they have all been disguised as 'majestic unicorns' (throwing in fairy tale references to unicorns).
    • The Knights initiates each with their own unique trademark 'skill' appears to be a nod to Baron Munchausen stories who appeared in the book Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia. And in French animated film Les fabuleuses aventures du légendaire Baron de Munchausen (1979), and a 1988 film with Robin Williams; The Adventure of Baron Munchausen. In the story Baron Munchausen convinces several champions some of which are rivals of sorts to join his cause and his crew after he challenges each of them to show off their skills before he finds a way to best them and get them to join his cause. One character is quick of feet able to run miles in only moments (much like Whisper), another is a strong man and giant able to lift objects much larger than himself (much like Acorn), another is a great archer with vision to see miles ahead (parallel to Achaka). The story included other characters such as one with large ears who could hear even the quietest of sounds, another who's sneezes and breathing could blow away anyone who came to close to him. Some of this may have even influenced the 'sense gnomes' in KQ6. Munchausen himself was sort of the 'mastermind' of the group, and the most manipulative his stories are usually tall tales and lies about himself (while a good guy in his own stories could easily been an influence for Manny's character, and Manny never thinks of himself as 'evil' in his own mind). Of course a little bit Munchausen's penchant for making up stories about himself can also be seen in Whisper's characterization as well.
    • Third level inspirations come minor references to other fairy tale tropes (witch who kidnaps children/witch's hut "Hansel and Gretal"/"Baba Yaga", etc), Disney's Beauty and the Beast, and other pop cultural references Back to the Future, etc (playing of actor's previous acting careers). Not unlike original King's Quest sometimes making references to Colonel Saunders, Mr. Ed, Batman, Thriller, Smurfs, etc (in both narration or musical cues for humor's sake)
  • The Script for the first chapter alone is 640 pages long.[4] This allows for multiple branching paths, the easter eggs, narration, and dialogue trees. In comparison Wizard and the Princess has about 13 pages of script, KQ1AGI has about 58 pages of script, KQ1SCI has about 95 pages of script, KQ2 had about 49 pages of script, KQ3 has about 85 pages of script, KQ4AGI has about 106 pages of script, KQ4SCI has about 108 pages of script, KQ5 has about 80 pages of script, KQ6 has about 285 pages of script, KQ7 has about 105 pages of script, and KQ8 has about 75 pages of script. Grim Fandango has about 41 pages of script.
  • This game brings back the narration from the early KQ games, this time Graham plays the part of the narrator himself.
  • Easter Eggs abound in Graham's and Gwendolyn's bedrooms. In Gwnedonlyn's room one can see tapestry based on the boxart from KQ6 showing Alexander entering the Minotaur's lair, another one shows one clearly inspired by the boxart of KQ4 with Rosella on the unicorn. Another tapestry shows a bearded Graham facing a dragon with a sword (from a previously unseen event). The the magic shield, chest of gold, and mirror are kept in Graham's bedroom near the crown he received for recovering them. Graham mentions to Valanice that he feels just as spry as he ever did, but he could sure use a slice of magic fruit!
  • Many of Graham's animations are based on animations from KQ1, KQ2, and KQ5, and other KQ Sierra games (and possibly other Sierra games).
  • KQ1 references, trolls (but reimagined), the quest for the Magic Mirror (reimagining the quest for the Three Treasures), the Well Dragon (reimaging the classic dragon treasure guardian), the Forest Well (reimagining the Ancient Well), moat monster at Castle Daventry.
  • A number of KQ3 references Llwedor (Llwedor), many of the KQ3 spells, caves in the Great Mountains (note this may be more of a King's Quest Companion reference more than a reference to the Great Mountains as they appear in KQ5 or Wizard and the Princess).
  • KQ4 reference/s, a reference to flying monkeys during strength tourney, tapestry with KQ4 box photo, unicorn and goon/flying monkey.
  • A number of KQ5 references, wolves, Great Mountains, Serenia, Yetis.
  • KQ6 references, minotaur, tapestry with KQ6 box artwork.
  • A number of KQ7 references, were-bears, Eldritch, crystal dragons.
  • A number of KQ8 references, ice orcs, spriggans, goblins (possibly different species), barnacle bat (bat mantas?)
  • Similar to KQ7, this game has a do-over option whenever the player dies. In most King's Quest games, a game over screen would appear and the player would have to restore from a previous save.
  • In keeping with King's Quest tradition, the title is a pun. This time, it is a pun on "a night to remember".

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