History VideoGame / KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow

* CypherLanguage: The Ancient Ones' alphabet, a set of pictographic-looking symbols which is really just a cipher of English. HandWaved as it being possibly a code the Ancient Ones used, or the ancestor of the current alphabet.

-->[[spoiler:'''Saladin:''' [[PreMortemOneLiner Since you cannot prove your point,]] [[AWorldwidePunomenon I shall prove mine!]]]]

* AWorldwidePunomenon: Starting from the title, to all of the death messages.

* MythologyGag: The back wall of the pawn shop holds many items that would have been very helpful to players of previous ''KingsQuest'' games.

''KQ VI'' is largely considered the best of the ''King's Quest'' series, due to its intriguing story, intelligent puzzles, lavish setting, and high production values (which include a CG introductory "movie" and professional voice actors-- novel concepts for a game rereleased for the PC CD-ROM back in 1993). This may be be because most of the design was done by Jane Jensen, she of GabrielKnight fame, rather than series starter Roberta Williams. A companion guide, called "The Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles," was packaged alongside the game; it acted as a security feature by providing clues to otherwise impossible puzzles and fleshed out story background, adding to the story's sense of depth. Now if only the guidebook didn't get lost so easily...

* AlcoholHic: For genies (or to be more precise, for Shamir; the Backstory reveals that different genies have different {{weak|sauceWeakness}}nesses), peppermint acts like alcohol does for humans. Give Shamir Shamazel a peppermint and he suffers from hiccups, slurred speech, and disorientation.
** You can [[FlawExploitation take advantage of this]] ''every time'' someone with EyesOfGold tries to kill you; either with the mints from the store or the leaves from the top of the Cliffs of Logic.
* AndIMustScream: The origin of the Lord of the Dead. A mortal human, he was chained to the throne in the Land of the Dead and forced to bear witness to all the horrors and tragedies of the deceased.

* BadassDamsel[=/=][[BadassPrincess Princess]]: Cassima, after she gets a small weapon.

** It also has a more "traditional" example elsewhere in the game: On the first screen of the Cliffs of Logic, if you misclick on the steps Alexander will simply land on the ground on his backside instead of dying from the fall. Do it enough times and he'll look right at the player and gripe that you should "Quit making me fall!"

* DisguisedInDrag[=/=]DudeLooksLikeALady: Alexander if you chose the short path.

* FissionMailed: In the Minotaur's lair, there are many rooms with deadly trap doors, and one with a not-so-deadly trap door. If you, like many, restored every time you ''started'' to fall, it took a long time to realize you '''had''' to fall into one of them. There was also the bottle that shows up on the Isle of Wonder. Take a swig, and it appears as though Alex drops dead. Seeing as your typical KQ game had {{everything trying to kill you}}, this seems to be another trap... until Alex wakes up. Also, some of the places where you observe cutscenes of your demise (or failure) are visitable while you're alive later in the game, such as the underworld.

'''Boy!Shamir:''' I think not! ''[{{evil laugh}}]''

* LastNoteNightmare[=/=]HeartbeatSoundtrack: The last few seconds of "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1l26RYMtD6U Alexander's Suicide]]", incurred by [[spoiler:Alex]]'s heartbeat slowing down to a stop [[spoiler:via "Drink Me" potion]].

* LetsPlay: On YouTube, by [[http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=74899A14D5D91FB9 hercrabbiness and LateBlt]].

* LohengrinAndMendelssohn: [[spoiler:A minor-key variation of Lohengrin plays for Abdul's wedding to the fake Cassima ("Oh no, it's wedding music!"). When Alexander weds the real Cassima, Lohengrin and Mendelssohn are played as usual.]]

* NearVillainVictory: Walking into the wedding hall to see "Cassima" enthusiastically declaring her intent to marry the [[EvilChancellor Grand Wazir]].

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Captain Saladin.

* ShoutOut: The villain is named, of all things, [[HPLovecraft Abdul Alhazred]].

* SwordFight[=/=]GoodOldFisticuffs: [[spoiler:Alex and Alhazred alternate between these while the former carries a fake, heavy sword during the ultimate battle.]]

* WoundedGazelleGambit[=/=]CrocodileTears: [[spoiler:Alexander acts all {{Emo}} in the Pawn Shop and pretends [[DespairSpeech that all hope is lost without Cassima]] while pretending to cry, and fakes suicide by drinking the "Drink Me" potion. This gambit is an effort to trick Shamir and the guard dogs into lowering their guard for entry into the castle. It doesn't actually change anything in or around the castle, though, and you still need a different method of getting in.]]

* ActorAllusion: One of the puzzles is based on BeautyAndTheBeast. The game stars Robby Benson and Tony Jay, who had recently appeared in the {{Disney}} [[Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast version of that story]].

* FairyTale: Although more inspired by other works, it wouldn't be a ''King's Quest'' game without a few fairy tale references -- most obviously, ''Beauty and the Beast''.

* FantasyKitchenSink: Probably more than anywhere else in the series (well, maybe ''[=KQII=]''). But honestly, a game that combines references to GreekMythology, {{Arabian Nights|Days}}, ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', ''BeautyAndTheBeast'', [[spoiler:Druids]], and the standard medieval fantasy of Daventry can't be anything but this trope.

* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: The creators actually went to quite a bit of trouble to predict the many different possible ways to solve (or not solve) various puzzles and what order you can solve them in, and put in [[http://adventuregamers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=179410&postcount=1 different conversations, cutscenes, and descriptions to cover them]].

The game follows Alexander, son of Graham and prince of Daventry. Desperately in love with Princess Cassima of the Land of the Green Isles, Alexander journeys to her kingdom, but is shipwrecked en route. He wakes up in the Land of the Green Isles, a strange and magical archipelago with islands based off the ''Arabian Nights'', ''Alice in Wonderland'', Ancient Greece, and other settings. Alexander quickly learns the place is not as friendly as he thought, and evil forces conspire against him as he tries to contact Cassima. His quest to find her takes him all over the land-- meeting strange characters, facing terrible perils, and making puns. [[HurricaneOfPuns Lots of puns.]] [[HaveANiceDeath And dying, that happens a lot, too.]]

''KQ VI'' is largely considered the best of the ''King's Quest'' series, due to its intriguing story, intelligent puzzles, lavish setting, and high production values (which include a CG introductory "movie" and professional voice actors-- novel concepts for a game back in 1992). This may be be because most of the design was done by Jane Jensen, she of GabrielKnight fame, rather than series starter Roberta Williams. A companion guide, called "The Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles," was packaged alongside the game; it acted as a security feature by providing clues to otherwise impossible puzzles and fleshed out story background, adding to the story's sense of depth. Now if only the guidebook didn't get lost so easily...

* WoundedGazelleGambit[=/=]CrocodileTears: [[spoiler:Alexander acts all {{Emo}} in the Pawn Shop and pretends [[DespairSpeech that all hope is lost without Cassima]] while pretending to cry, and fakes suicide by drinking the "Drink Me" potion. This gambit is an effort to trick Shamir and the guard dogs into lowering their guard for entry into the castle.]]

* SequelHook: References to the "Black Cloak Society" could be taken as this, but they weren't actually used in the sequels.

*** It's also implied they were able to speak at least a little bit during ''King's Quest V''.

** Fortunately, the game ''is'' somewhat forgiving in this regard: items will only show up in rooms that you have to pass through to complete some kind of delivery or item exchange in order to progress. And all important items either glow or otherwise draw attention to themselves by standing out.

* ContinuityNod: Alexander remembers the magic training that he received [[spoiler:in the third game]], and can cast spells if he has the right ingredients.

** You can take advantage this ''every time'' someone with EyesOfGold tries to kill you; either with the mints from the store or the leaves from the top of the Cliffs of Logic.

** [[{{YMMV}} Your Mileage May Vary on this]], but Alex's [[{{Emo}} sad eyebrows and frowning mouth]] in the Windows-enhanced version makes the drama acting more depressing, as if he were about to cry.

* SpannerInTheWorks: Used literally in the dungeon. Metaphorically, Alexander is one for Alhazred's XanatosGambit.

* XanatosGambit: Alhazred was running a great one.

* TheDeadCanDance: Alexander sees some bones set up to look like a xylophone. He starts playing Dem Bones. Things...[[BigLippedAlligatorMoment take off]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny from there.]]

* TheDeadCanDance: Alexander sees some bones set up to look like a xylophone. He starts playing "The Hip Bone's Connected to the..." Things take off from there.

** As does the Bookworm's area and the Dangling Participle (when you meet him on the Isle of the Beast).

* JawDrop: The Pawn Shop Owner's reaction [[spoiler:to Alexander's collapse under the side effects of the "Drink Me" potion in the presence of the TheMenInBlack-disguised Shamir]].

* JawDrop: The Pawn Shop Owner's reaction [[spoiler:to Alexander's collapse under the side effects of the "Drink Me" potion in the presence of the {{MIB}}-disguised Shamir]].

* ICantBelieveItsNotHeroin: Alhazred's genie is hopelessly addicted to mint; just a small amount puts him in a drunken stupor.

* [[spoiler:BackFromTheDead]]: [[spoiler:Justified in that, after Alexander defeats the Lord of the Dead, the latter resurrects Caliphim and Allaria from their ghostly selves and gives them a few more years of their mortality.]]

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: [[spoiler:The encounters with the Gate and the Lord of the Dead.]]

''King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow'' is the sixth installment of the popular ''KingsQuest'' series.

* [[spoiler:BackFromTheDead]]: [[spoiler:Justified in that, after Alexander defeats Samhain, Lord of the Dead, the latter resurrects Caliphim and Allaria from their ghostly selves and gives them a few more years of their mortality.]]

* CopyProtection: The Cliffs of Logic simply ''cannot'' be scaled without the "Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles" manual or the companion booklet. The re-release does provide a copy of the former, but it doesn't have the genie story or the Land of the Dead section, probably because while they gave minor hints, they were more entertaining than useful. Also, the re-release combines the manuals for all 7 games into a single PDF file. The games are on one disc, and the manuals on the other, arguably as a subtle form of copy-protection, as first-timers are less likely to realize how ABSOLUTELY VITAL the manual is throughout the series.

* FantasyKitchenSink: Probably more than anywhere else in the series (well, maybe ''[=KQII=]''). But honestly, a game that combines references to GreekMythology, {{Arabian Nights|Days}}, ''AliceInWonderland'', ''BeautyAndTheBeast'', [[spoiler:Druids]], and the standard medieval fantasy of Daventry can't be anything but this trope.

** {{Fanon}}, however, especially the FanRemake of ''KingsQuestIIRomancingTheThrone'' and the FanSequel ''VideoGame/TheSilverLining'' have proceeded to pick it up and run.
* ShallowLoveInterest: Cassima. Note how she and Alexander first meet in the final scene of ''KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'', just before the helpful wizard teleports everyone home. Then again, this fits the FairyTale genre.

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: [[spoiler:The encounters with the Gate and Samhain, Lord of the Dead.]]