The Jane Jensen Appreciation Thread

[B'rrr]

Anyone else get this really uncomfortable feeling when you read 'why come?' ?

[Fierce Deity]

It's hard to not get defensive and into heated debates/arguments when it feels like a lot of people are attacking what you've spent a lot of time and effort on--he decided to step back from the forums while a lot of the narrator discussions were happening and in full swing.

That makes sense. I'm sorry he feels that way, cause as many people as there are that have something bad to say, there are fans that are excited for the next episode. That means you guys had to have done something right. 

[tessspoon]

Anyone else get this really uncomfortable feeling when you read 'why come?' ?

Yes! It bothered me no end.

[Haids1987]

It's hard to not get defensive and into heated debates/arguments when it feels like a lot of people are attacking what you've spent a lot of time and effort on--he decided to step back from the forums while a lot of the narrator discussions were happening and in full swing.

That makes sense.  Tell the boy we miss him!

Anyone else get this really uncomfortable feeling when you read 'why come?' ?

Yes! It bothered me no end.

Sorry guys, like I said, I work with kids.  I pick up their slang sometimes. 

[Odball89]

Much love for Jane Jensen. Anybody else a big fan of Gabriel Knight 3 here? It got a lot of slack for that dreadful motorcycle puzzle but La Serpent Rouge and THAT storyline makes it one of my all time favourites. Definitely my favourite of the three. Is that controversial?

[Fierce Deity]

Much love for Jane Jensen. Anybody else a big fan of Gabriel Knight 3 here? It got a lot of slack for that dreadful motorcycle puzzle but La Serpent Rouge and THAT storyline makes it one of my all time favourites. Definitely my favourite of the three. Is that controversial?

Gabriel Knight 3 was the first game I played in the series, so I hold it in high regard. Definitely my favorite of the three, as well. It was kind of funky with the sub-par 3D environment, but the story kept me glued to my PC. I want to play all of the games over again, but I don't think they'll work on a 64-bit version of Windows 7. If I can find a way to play them though, I'll definitely go back to play them.

[shadyparadox]

Why come?!

It's hard to not get defensive and into heated debates/arguments when it feels like a lot of people are attacking what you've spent a lot of time and effort on--he decided to step back from the forums while a lot of the narrator discussions were happening and in full swing.

Ah! It's good to know he's not actually open to anyone's suggestions.

[KatieHal]

That's not remotely what I said, shadyparadox. And no, I would really rather not get into a semantics debate about it either.

[Fierce Deity]

I'm sure he gets feedback. Just because he doesn't respond on the forums, doesn't mean he wouldn't monitor them and see what people are talking about. Besides, Katie is a designer as well, and she's always responding to our claims and suggestions.

[kindofdoon]

I agree with shadyparadox here...

[Rosella]

It's easy to let things get to you when you put a lot of work into something and all you see is people complaining. Then again, he also is taking the feedback and trying to utilize it in a way that allows everyone to be happy and get the game on time (Anyone see the topic he made about the long narrations?). I know for a fact that Cesar and the rest of the team are taking all serious criticisms and working with them to try to create a better game. As far as I can tell, part of the point of releasing the game in episodes was to get feedback to make it better. They're listening, but that doesn't mean being bombarded with repetitive criticism is going to help anyone.

[kindofdoon]

It's easy to let things get to you when you put a lot of work into something and all you see is people complaining.

There is a lot of complaining, but also a great deal of praise as well. If we dismiss the "too short, not enough puzzles" complaints as invalid (because Ep1 is only a prologue), then the only real complaints focus on the narrator and writing.

Aside from that, the game has received a great deal of praise.

[Lambonius]

then the only real complaints focus on the narrator and writing.

Yes.  One of which we were blatantly and quite tersely told (in so many words) was not going to get fixed, so to stop whining about it.    And then he left so no one could argue the point.  To the casual observer, it in fact looked very much like he wasn't open to criticism.  Just sayin.'  

[Rosella]

Criticism that could be fixed is one thing, but complaining about the writing style when 1) Cesar's (and Katie's) writing style won't change and 2) The lines have already been recorded, which is an awful lot of work, well, it's just not viable to rewrite and rerecord the lines without greatly delaying the game's release. It's not that the team isn't open to criticism, it's that what's being criticized isn't viable for changing. Besides, Cesar offered an alternative to the long narrations as a compromise and that wasn't received well.

[kindofdoon]

What alternative was that?

[Fierce Deity]

What alternative was that?

He was going to rerecord a shorter version of the narrator's comments, or at least cut up the original recording to make it more tolerable for those who couldn't stand the narrator's voice. But in the end, the majority of the respondents had voted for keeping the narration the way it is.

[kindofdoon]

Oh, I see. I must have missed that.

[Lambonius]

What alternative was that?

He was going to rerecord a shorter version of the narrator's comments, or at least cut up the original recording to make it more tolerable for those who couldn't stand the narrator's voice. But in the end, the majority of the respondents had voted for keeping the narration the way it is.

Actually, it was (and has been, multiple times ) made very clear that rerecording anything was just not an option--which is understandable, I admit.  

The solution was to cut up the narrator's lines and implement a "short version" option that the player could select at the start of the game.  

And to be clear, it wasn't about the sound of the narrator's voice, it was about the comments being too long to the point of disrupting the gaming experience because the player was forced to just stand there and wait if they wanted to hear the whole narration.  

It's a reasonable solution, but I understand why certain people didn't received it well, since it only addressed one aspect of the complaint.  

By the way, the only reason why people aren't complaining about it anymore is because it seems that complaining about anything here is futile, not to mention asking for trouble.  You just get jumped on by a bunch of people who tell you you're wrong and try to change your opinion.  If you read any board other than this one, you'll find that it's an issue that is constantly being talked about.

[kindofdoon]

That's probably because most people here have invested quite a bit of time and energy in the game. I don't think anyone intentionally stifles criticism here.

[B'rrr]

He was going to rerecord a shorter version of the narrator's comments, or at least cut up the original recording to make it more tolerable for those who couldn't stand the narrator's voice. But in the end, the majority of the respondents had voted for keeping the narration the way it is.

I missed the vote aswell, didn't knew there was one. I was under the impression that the shorter narrations were still going to happen.