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I did some photoshop to make a larger version of this mysterious cover...

We only ever saw it in InterAction Magazine - and I was curious about it today - (moment of boredom) - and started digging - and found this:

Ken Williams wrote: Roberta is standing next to me…
She says she doesn’t remember this particular cover. The cover that she remembers is taken from a painting that we have (the original to) at home. It’s of Rosella on a horse, being attacked by flying demons. She doesn’t know where this cover came from. Strange. Maybe it was deemed too controversial and not used. I don’t remember any controversy around it though.
-Ken W

I remember seeing that cover. For some reason I remember this more clearly than the one that was used. I only ever played KQ4 from a compilation CD, so never had a boxed game. The thread said it was never used. Has that been confirmed? Could this be from the elusive AGI version of the game?

notbobsmith wrote: ↑Thu Feb 25, 2021 9:27 pm I remember seeing that cover. For some reason I remember this more clearly than the one that was used. I only ever played KQ4 from a compilation CD, so never had a boxed game. The thread said it was never used. Has that been confirmed? Could this be from the elusive AGI version of the game?

Correct. It was never used - which is why there's no large scans of it. Because you just see it in InterAction Magazine (before the game was released) saying it was coming out along with other Sierra games, along side it.

I can't remember where I asked Ken - but I asked if he and Roberta had a larger version or knew who did - and he didn't.

EDIT: Found it.

I never did follow up with Sam.

This cover was never released. So not even for the AGI version, no. AGI has the same cover as (both) SCI releases. I'd love to see this painting full size though in all its glory. It's like a classic fantasy painting.

Did another photoshop of the mysterious cover. Wanted it for the KQ4 music video.

Maybe put it through that same filter that MI was messing around with a while back for high res SQ images?

I did some preliminary tests with it but the results weren't too great. But it's been a while since I've looked at the latest models out there you can use.

Weird! I'd never seen that cover before. *shrug* Maybe it was a mock-up, created by Sierra's marketing department just for Interaction Magazine? And maybe marketing didn't tell Ken or Roberta? (A conspiracy! Moo-ha-ha-ha-ha!)

Or maybe, more prosaically, it may be that marketing thought "That's nice, guys, but can we have a shot of the heroine instead?" which is why we now have a shot of Rosella on the unicorn.

Rath Darkblade wrote: ↑Sat Jul 24, 2021 8:44 pm Or maybe, more prosaically, it may be that marketing thought "That's nice, guys, but can we have a shot of the heroine instead?" which is why we now have a shot of Rosella on the unicorn.

This is actually very logical. Just odd that neither Ken or Roberta remember it. But it may have been a "We need a cover for KQ4 for Interaction! Someone do something!" "Here boss!" "Looks good! You, over there, get to making a real cover for it while we finish the game." And thus, was nothing more than a quick fill in to be a part of the publishing ad, and then quickly forgotten.

Never realizing how (some... maybe just me?) fans would wonder what ever came of that cover.

I think the release cover is a good one, and appropriate as it does feature Rosella, but that original painting is beautiful in its own right. Pity it couldn’t have been used for an alternate release - an easier way to differentiate some of the various versions.

All those old Sierra game box art paintings were incredible. Right back to the first KQ games. Just has that fantasy novel cover look.

Tawm, what's the best version of that image we have? I'd like to have another go at upscaling it.

Photoshop wise this where I am at. I am just smudging colors, doing layers. Was going to eventually try to get to the fairy's face and draw her actual face in... but that's gonna be a pain.

This post in the thread has the scaled up image (pre my attempts to smudge) - with the "cover" scaled to fit an actual KQ4 scan.

http://sierrahelp.com/forums/viewtopic. ... 327#p83327

Actually found a couple good crops that I had buried in my folders. This is the best I could get with it.