Actually, Gabriel Knight 1 IS awesome O.O

[Arkillian]

OK, hearing about how great it was by everyone on this site I decided to investigate. the demo was a b@#$h to figure out so I decided I didn't have enough time to play it anyways and watched a Lets Play done by RaccoonskiCap.

Holey crap- it blew me away!

I don't know if Americans found the accent annoying as I did though- perhaps you guys don't notice it as much (I did :/ ) but once I got over that, there was so many awesome things! I LOVE Gabriel's disregard for law and ethics and how he's such a loser at always hitting on chicks (seriously- his pick ups are TERRIBLE. Even if he IS hot! I guess his desperation is endearing in a way ^^ ). Although his love for Marie was as shallow as a paddling pool, it was such a BEAUTIFUL and twisted game. Man, it had a really dark twist to the whole Voodoo thing! I thought I loved playing Broken Sword. This is actually better!

Are the future games any good?

[KatieHal]

Why yes it really is an awesome game--welcome to the fan club!

I didn't mind Gabriel's accent, or the other New Orleans residents', but when I played I had to turn off the narrator. Her voice was really cool, and I appreciated the accent work that went into it, but she was soooooo sloooowwww. I didn't have the patience for it.

[Lambonius]

Gabriel's accent grated on me at first, but I grew to like it.  Agreed about the narrator.  Yuck.  Sometimes I try to play with her turned on and without subtitles, for the full cinematic effect, but I can never get through more than a few scenes.  Hahaha...Old creole voodoo lady narrator = great concept, poor execution.

PS:  You're missing out by just watching an LP, should have gone through the game and solved some of the great puzzles on your own! 

[Deloria]

I hated the narrator for the same reason. She made everything seem so slowly paced. The second game is so much better than the first.

[Lambonius]

The second game is so much better than the first.

Really?  I found the second game to be dreadfully boring.  In my opinion, it is FAR more slow paced, especially because every little action causes a terribly-acted, terribly-paced FMV video to play.  Ugh.  Awful.

[Bludshot]

Tim Curry does tend to chew the scenery a bit. I kind of enjoy it though.

As far as sequels go the second one is fantastic, it's just a shame the FMV nonsense holds parts of it back.

Personally I didn't really care for the 3rd, but I'd still check it out if you like the series.

[darthkiwi]

I loved the second one. It's true that the FMV is a pain sometimes but I think that's due to less-than-perfect execution rather than a flaw in the format. There are just a number of scenes where they could have cut off the last three seconds, but instead the player has to watch three... seconds... of staring...

But from a plot point of view I think it's actually much better than the first: I really love the German vibe and the way that ties into the choice of monster and the historical backstory to the game. It feels like a game that's *about* something, or is at least very immersed in a fascinating culture.

And although I do think the FMV could have been tidied up a little, I actually enjoyed it most of the time. I felt much more attached to the characters because they were fully realised with actual actors. One particular character mesmerised me to such an extent that he is as fully realised in my mind as any of the creations of literature or film.

As for the third... eeehhhhh... Deloria and I played it for about an hour. It gets off to a slow start, I can tell you that. We eventually gave up in disgust when we had to steal a passport, leave a trail of mints, get some cat hair with glue, stick the cat hair on our lip with syrup to make a moustache and doctor the passport to pass as the figure in it in order to do something that should have been immediately possible anyway. *Sigh*

[Blackthorne]

If you ask Cesar about the games, he'll tell you he doesn't like them very much.  BUT HE'S LYING.


Bt

[Lambonius]

If you ask Cesar about the games, he'll tell you he doesn't like them very much.  BUT HE'S LYING.


Bt

Hahahaha...that jerk!

[inm8#2]

GK1 is legendary, a landmark in cinematic gameplay and storytelling. It's a brilliant, moody, gothic, riveting piece of work. That game changed how I think about the world around me.

[KatieHal]

Ah yes. The infamous "cat hair mustache" puzzle. I haven't played GK3 myself (wouldn't run on the computer I had when I bought it), but I've seen playthroughs, and...yeah, that puzzle's the low point. (I understand Jane Jensen had nothing to do with that particular puzzle, as a plus!)

[Lambonius]

(I understand Jane Jensen had nothing to do with that particular puzzle, as a plus!)

Incidentally, I hear Jane Jensen farts perfume and craps gold coins!  

[Bludshot]

Ah yes. The infamous "cat hair mustache" puzzle. I haven't played GK3 myself (wouldn't run on the computer I had when I bought it), but I've seen playthroughs, and...yeah, that puzzle's the low point. (I understand Jane Jensen had nothing to do with that particular puzzle, as a plus!)

It's more than just that puzzle.  Granted the fact that is was so early in the game probably means that is what most people disliked about the game.  But everything else just doesn't really hold up that well.

The game is UGLY, and for 2000 I really find that unacceptable.  A game doesn't need state of the art graphics but when it reaches a point that none of the beauty and flavor of the setting is present, in a GK game, that's a big problem.

The story is OK, had some neat parts but I personally thought it was boring.  You could tell who the villain was the second you met him, in a game that tries to encourage a whodunit mystery atmosphere.  And unlike Tetelo or Von Glower, there is nothing interesting about this guy, he's just evil which really isn't what I had come to expect after Von Glower's tragic life took center stage in the last game.

[darthkiwi]

Ah, I can believe Jane Jensen wasn't involved with that puzzle. It was placed at *just* the wrong point: the scenes before this had given me a little story but mostly just little hints of a mystery; I felt like the game *needed* more story at *exactly that point* to draw me in. And then we get that cat hair moustache puzzle, which took us an hour or more to figure out with grumbling glances at a walkthrough.

As for the 3D interface and locations, I kind of like the *idea* of what they're trying to do but it just doesn't really work. For a start, you're controlling first the camera and second, Gabriel himself. It felt very unusual learning two control schemes for two different avatars for a single game. And while the 3D environments do give a better sense of space (in the most literal sense) than a flat background could, I don't think the game benefits from that. The scenes, as Bludshot points out, aren't particularly full of character anyway, and you can get just as much immersion from a 2D scene, even if you can't physically move the camera around in it.

Compare that to GK1 and 2, which were full of atmosphere and immersion and which had intriguing locations which were steeped in the cultures the game studied.

Also, GK1 is New Orleans. Great! GK2 is Germany and has Wagner and Ludwig II and smothers you in this incredible Germanic culture. Even better! And GK3 is... France. Okay, France is where my family went on holiday when I was a kid. If you say "France" I think "camping site". Not the most thrilling place to have an adventure. And thus far, GK3 hasn't really changed my internal idea of France. The locations could be anywhere, really. Which doesn't speak well for it.

I should reiterate, part of the reason I'm so annoyed by GK3 is because GK1 and 2 are some of the best games I have ever played. It's just a bit of a disappointment.

[KatieHal]

Well, to be fair darthkiwi, most people don't associate France with camping, I imagine. And the game goes to great lengths to educate the player on the history and mythology of that particular area.

I do agree that 1 and 2 were more solid games and stories. As Cesar will often say, those ones stand out because you really get to know the bad guys throughout the game--they aren't distant villains plotting and cackling, they're people you meet, get to know, befriend, and even fall for in GK1 (jokes about that being the case in GK2 here ). In GK3, not so much.

[Bludshot]

Well, to be fair darthkiwi, most people don't associate France with camping, I imagine. And the game goes to great lengths to educate the player on the history and mythology of that particular area.

I do agree that 1 and 2 were more solid games and stories. As Cesar will often say, those ones stand out because you really get to know the bad guys throughout the game--they aren't distant villains plotting and cackling, they're people you meet, get to know, befriend, and even fall for in GK1 (jokes about that being the case in GK2 here ). In GK3, not so much.

Ugh, the guy even has an Evil Spock Goatee.

[Numbers]

Isn't it true that most adventure game series ended poorly?  They tended to have very old, very ugly 3D engines (GK3 and MoE); or else they evolved into a completely different genre (MoE again, as well as Police Quest); or, if nothing else, they simply weren't quite as entertaining as some of the previous games (Space Quest 6).

And then you have Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust, in a category all its own...

[KatieHal]

I don't know that I'd say it ended poorly--just that the game wasn't as good as the other two. I didn't say bad.

But yeah...early 3D is just not pretty. It's unfortunate, but to get good 3D, we had to suffer through that stuff.


Speaking of GK games, if anyone is interested in trying any of them, they're on sale for 2.99 at GOG right now, so, now is the time! http://www.gog.com/en/promo/halloween_2011/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=game_subject&utm_campaign=halloween_2011

[Cez]

If you ask Cesar about the games, he'll tell you he doesn't like them very much.  BUT HE'S LYING.


Bt

Hahahaha...that jerk!

LOL.

you blew my cover! I don't like them!



Second game is imo better than the first but that depends on your taste, and what particular elements of a game you enjoy the most. There was something about classical Bavaria and Mad Kings that just seduced me to no end. Initially, I was not drawn to the "Werewolf" subject, but man, what a masterfully crafted story!

[Fierce Deity]

Speaking of GK games, if anyone is interested in trying any of them, they're on sale for 2.99 at GOG right now, so, now is the time! http://www.gog.com/en/promo/halloween_2011/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=game_subject&utm_campaign=halloween_2011

I don't mean to go off topic, but how are the other games in that bundle. I see Phantasmagoria and Sanitarium around a lot. Are they any good?