The Jane Jensen Appreciation Thread

[Fierce Deity]

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.

I was actually just trying to sum it up in a few sentences, but I don't think there was an actual "vote" per se. All I know was that Cesar was taking a census based off of those who commented in the thread. The majority of the people in the thread came to the conclusion that shorter narrations weren't important enough to warrant its own option when starting a new game. There were a few people who felt like shorter narrations would help them stay in tuned with the story, but without being weighed down with the long descriptions. But it's ultimately still up to Cesar. If he still wants to implement that option, he can. The thread wasn't an end-all decision. 

Also, Lambonius was right. It wasn't the sound of the narrator's voice, it was the length of her descriptions. Sorry for being unclear about that. 

[KatieHal]

As others have said. We are looking to implement shorter versions of the narrations, and other feedback from the fans has indeed been noted and we're trying to take it into consideration where we can. Re-writing and re-recording all of the narrations just isn't possible at this point, so that one won't happen. Things like working on pathfinding, scrolling through icons with the mouse wheel, etc, are ones we can look into, however, and are.

I can't say which are things we will be able to implement at this point (not a suffer thing--I honestly don't know myself, I'm not a programmer), but we're definitely aware of the feedback out here and taking a look at what we can and can't do at this point.

[Lambonius]

Yeah, like I said--not changing writing or recordings at this stage of the game is definitely understandable.  I think it wasn't necessarily that people didn't like getting backstory from the narrations at certain points, it was just that it seemed excessive to the point of actually interfering with the way one normally plays an adventure game--which is to click on just about everything you can to get concise clues as to whether or not it's something you can pick up or use.    I think that's a pretty valid point, and one that the short option Cesar mentioned would certainly solve.  If the team had infinite time and resources (which it doesn't ), implementing a multiple click narration system so that you had the option of gathering information in successive tiers would certainly have been a more elegant way to handle it, and it's a shame it wasn't something that was thought of early on in the design process.  But hey, hindsight, you know.

[KatieHal]

It is 20/20

But anyways--back to Jane Jensen! I'm a big fan as well, and I'm looking forward to Grey Matter quite a bit!

[sahara]

Does anyone know what kind of narration Grey Matter will have, if any?  Didn't Jane Jensen drop the separate narrator for GK2 and GK3? 

[Lambonius]

I hated the narrator in GK1--she taaalllllkkkkeeeeed soooooo slooowww.  And certain words were hard to understand with her accent.  It sucked because all the rest of the voice acting was really solid in that game.

[Fierce Deity]

Funny how we successfully merged both our off-topic discussion and our Jane Jensen discussion. Good job guys.

I don't know much about Grey Matter. Just that it will also be on the 360 alongside the PC release. I hope console development doesn't cripple the exploration and environment of the game. I like Jane Jensen's work, and wouldn't want "new-gen" standards to get in the way of her creativity. 

[KatieHal]

Oh yeah, I turned the narrator voice off right quick in GK1. I appreciate what they were going for with her, but her long, slow, drawn out reading was just too much for me.

[Cez]

Incidentally, I liked it.

I was going to ask Sahara what did she think of it, because of the GH avatar on the profile.

[ipaine]

I have really enjoyed the Gabriel Knight series and of course the King's Quest series with VI being my favorite, so you could say I like her work.

Now I am looking forward to Gray Matter thanks to the link from here.

For the people wondering about GK on Win7 64bit, yes you can. Mainly just have to use DOSBox to get things done. Check out this site for installers that help you install it. (You still need to have the original disks)

http://www.sierrahelp.com/Patches-Updates/NewSierraInstallers.html#G

[tessspoon]

Just finished replaying Sins of the Father. Such an awesome game!

[sahara]

Incidentally, I liked it.

I was going to ask Sahara what did she think of it, because of the GH avatar on the profile.

Yep, I'm a he, and I do enjoy the narrator in GK1.  Jane's writing is great, which makes all the difference.  Sometimes I click through the narration, though, when it gets a bit long.  I also wish the voice actor would have spoken a bit faster at times... how many times to we hear "Gaaayyy-bree-ellll" and things like that.  The narrator is talented, but I think the game might have flowed better with Gabriel himself providing (through thoughts heard aloud?)  much of the info the narrator offers.  It's interesting that (unless I'm remembering wrong) Jane Jensen dropped the narration for the next two games.  Do you think doing so hurt the games 2&3 at all, or did it perhaps help the gameplay?  

[Fierce Deity]

Incidentally, I liked it.

I was going to ask Sahara what did she think of it, because of the GH avatar on the profile.

Yep, I'm a he, and I do enjoy the narrator in GK1.  Jane's writing is great, which makes all the difference.  Sometimes I click through the narration, though, when it gets a bit long.  I also wish the voice actor would have spoken a bit faster at times... how many times to we hear "Gaaayyy-bree-ellll" and things like that.  The narrator is talented, but I think the game might have flowed better with Gabriel himself providing (through thoughts heard aloud?)  much of the info the narrator offers.  It's interesting that (unless I'm remembering wrong) Jane Jensen dropped the narration for the next two games.  Do you think doing so hurt the games 2&3 at all, or did it perhaps help the gameplay?  

I say dropping the narration was a better decision. I always felt like narration belonged in King's Quest because it felt more like something out of a storybook or an off-shoot fairytale. But Gabriel Knight is more of a detective/investigator, so narration isn't needed. If anything, Gabriel Knight should be the one describing his adventure and identifying his surroundings, cause that's exactly what a detective would do.

[Lambonius]

I would definitely have loved to have heard Tim Curry's Gabriel sarcastically commenting on his surroundings and interactions.  The few times in the game where he does so already (not as part of the narration) are classic and fit the character very well.

[KatieHal]

Haha, that would fit the private investigator mold. And given Gabriel's appearance and long duster, would totally remind me of Harry Dresden all the more. (a character from a Jim Butcher series of novels, The Dresden Files)

[Cez]

Incidentally, I liked it.

I was going to ask Sahara what did she think of it, because of the GH avatar on the profile.

Yep, I'm a he, and I do enjoy the narrator in GK1.  Jane's writing is great, which makes all the difference.  Sometimes I click through the narration, though, when it gets a bit long.  I also wish the voice actor would have spoken a bit faster at times... how many times to we hear "Gaaayyy-bree-ellll" and things like that.  The narrator is talented, but I think the game might have flowed better with Gabriel himself providing (through thoughts heard aloud?)  much of the info the narrator offers.  It's interesting that (unless I'm remembering wrong) Jane Jensen dropped the narration for the next two games.  Do you think doing so hurt the games 2&3 at all, or did it perhaps help the gameplay?  

It's a matter of taste. I personally have GK2 as my fav game ever, but I did miss the interaction with the world. I'm just that kind of guy, I love backstory and character development, I want to know what the characters are thinking, and I think the adventure genre is the only genre in gaming where this is doable --because of the slow pace nature of the genre. In TSL, as it's shown, some people seem to love it, some people seem to hate it, so it's one of those things that will never please everyone.

I believe that part of the atmosphere of episode 1 is due to the nature of the game, and that includes the style of the narration. I can understand some people not liking it, the same way that some people felt about the narrator in 1, which I felt very adequate for the story.

[KuroShiro]

Haha, that would fit the private investigator mold. And given Gabriel's appearance and long duster, would totally remind me of Harry Dresden all the more. (a character from a Jim Butcher series of novels, The Dresden Files)

+1 awesome points for working Harry Dresden into the conversation.

[KatieHal]

Yay, another Dresden fan!!

[KuroShiro]

Yay, another Dresden fan!!

You know it.

[KatieHal]

Broken picture link