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Post by Discoalucard on Mar 29, 2009 1:15:06 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/gabrielknight/gabrielknight.htmJane Jensen's extremely detailed trilogy of mystery/horror adventure games, each featuring on voodoo, werewolves and vampires. I loved the first one when I was younger, although this playthrough, I ran into troubles with DosBox and gave up around Day 7, although I remember how awesome the ending(s) are. I thought the second game was kinda boring when I was younger, although I like the story now, even though the over use of FMV is obnoxious. At least it's good FMV. The third game I hadn't played until now, and I didn't like it at all up until the end, when the plot came together. I think this'll be my last Sierra game for awhile, at any rate. Maybe onto some other graphic adventure series?
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HMD
Junior Member
jesus touchdown
Posts: 87
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Post by HMD on Mar 29, 2009 1:44:51 GMT -5
I skipped right to GK3 to see if you mentioned Old Man Murray. You did, but you forgot the link. Going back and rereading what I skipped, this is a good article. I don't care much for adventure games, but this made (at least the first game) the series I may actually want to try out. Maybe.
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Post by zzz on Mar 29, 2009 5:35:28 GMT -5
"New Orleans voodoo is a mixture of Africian traditions and Catholicism, which sprung up due to the slave trade in the South in the 1800s."
Uh... what? Voodoo is from Haiti. Where exactly is Jane Jensen from?
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Post by derboo on Mar 29, 2009 5:44:49 GMT -5
I've been meaning to play through GK for a long time, but yeah, the first game is a bitch to get to run properly nowadays, hopefully, it will get supported by ScummVM some time in the future.
I like how they managed to cast actors for the main characters in GK2, that are acually believable as the real-life versions of the GK1 sprites.
GK3 looks like total shit, I can't believe that this was prefered over 2D at any time.
How about the Broken Sword series for the next article? The first two games are gold.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2009 5:47:04 GMT -5
Great to see an article about the Gabriel knight series here. I really like the first game and I've always been interested in playing the second one (it was released on DVD in some part Europe, wasn't it?). The third one I've already finished before and I'll always remember that ridiculous passport puzzle, which I eventually solved on my own. No idea how.
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Post by zzz on Mar 29, 2009 6:42:17 GMT -5
"In conducting research for this game, Jensen integrated elements from Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln's controversial book Holy Blood, Holy Grail, which examined the possibility of Jesus having children with Mary Magdalene. It also suggests that the Holy Grail may simply be a metaphor for the bloodline of Jesus Christ, and that his descendents mingled with the nobles of Southern France to spawn the Merovingian dynasty. The story also involves the legendary Knights Templar and the Priory of Sion, both involved with the mystery behind Christ's lineage."
Uh, yeah... Jensen was a hack alright. A poorly researched one at that. This myth has been debunked to death.
Not that this (or the voodoo thing) are a big deal or anything, but both are pretty indicitive of the kind of "quality" of fiction that you see in "serious" video games. What really irks me is that standards are so low for video games that not only do developers not get called out on this kind of 3rd rate hackery, but they actually recieve praise for it, with people lauding their "depth" and "maturity".
I'm not at all surprised that Jane Jensen couldn't cut it as a "real" author. I just wish that failed authors and directors/screen writers would stop using the video game industry to fall back on when they find out that they don't have what it takes to make it in a more prestigous field.
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Post by Garamoth on Mar 29, 2009 10:03:22 GMT -5
So she stole from Holy Blood, Holy Grail... Dan Brown did it too and it became one of the biggest best sellers of all time... the Da Vinci Code. I don't know how that makes her a poor author, I mean, if you're going to get your inspiration from a "historical theory", might as well steal from a cool one. What's the point of writing fiction about the theory that Jesus was just some dude and that he never actually did anything special at all? Although, hmm... Anyway, the second Gabriel Knight was very cool. I think the videos were a bit cheesy, but it's a lot easier to get into the story if it's real people and real places being shown. I remember visiting Neuschwanstein a long time ago and looking at the walls to find out if Wagner's lost opera was really hidden there. I know... shameful, but I was younger back then, I swear!
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Post by aganar on Mar 29, 2009 10:26:58 GMT -5
I'd love to see a Darkseed article.
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Post by Garamoth on Mar 29, 2009 10:37:16 GMT -5
How about Shadow of Destiny? There aren't many japanese straight-adventure games... well, maybe there are, but they don't usually leave Japan or something.
Plus, that game forces you to go back in time to prevent your own death... how cool is that?
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Post by Discoalucard on Mar 29, 2009 10:42:29 GMT -5
"New Orleans voodoo is a mixture of Africian traditions and Catholicism, which sprung up due to the slave trade in the South in the 1800s."Uh... what? Voodoo is from Haiti. Where exactly is Jane Jensen from? Not all of it. Some aspects of it are, but this is a particular brand of it is specific to Louisiana. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_VoodooAlso, the thing about the series is that it mixes mythological fiction with historical fact. She's aware that the Holy Blood, Holy Grail stuff is largely made up, but it still makes for an interesting story. It takes the sorta stuff that makes Indiana Jones interesting and puts it in a different setting. I'd love to go to Neuschwanstein. If I ever get to Germany, that's definitely on me to "to see" list. I'm halfway working on the Tex Murphy games for my next one. Broken Sword is definitely on the list, as is Discworld and Simon the Sorcerer.
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Post by Weasel on Mar 29, 2009 11:36:09 GMT -5
Perhaps an article (or several) on the Legend Entertainment adventures is in order? Especially the likes of Superhero League of Hoboken, Frederick Pohl's Gateway (and its sequel, Gateway 2: Homeworld), the Spellcasting 101 trilogy, Companions of Xanth, Death Gate, and Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.
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Post by Garamoth on Mar 29, 2009 12:06:58 GMT -5
I'd love to go to Neuschwanstein. If I ever get to Germany, that's definitely on me to "to see" list. The funny thing about Neuschwanstein is that the 6-7 rooms you see in the game is pretty much the ENTIRE castle that is open to the public. Even to this day, millions of euros have been spent to repair/restore the castle, but it was never finished... it was probably too expensive. It just goes to show how much monarchy spent on building homes that would show their power, while letting the people suffer. So umm... democracy rules? Of course, the strangest thing about Neuschwanstein is that it's an anachronism. By the 19th century, building castles was starting to get out of fashion. So Ludwig II really was nuts to try to build a medieval castle in the 19th century... or maybe he was just a romantic who didn't quite know how deep his wallet was. It's your pick. The location and what there is of the castle is pretty breathtaking, however. Aaaah... there should be more facts like this in video games
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Post by Shellshock on Mar 29, 2009 19:43:06 GMT -5
I'd love to see a Darkseed article. Ha ha! What a stupidly designed game that is.
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Post by Sketcz-1000 on Mar 30, 2009 2:48:43 GMT -5
Ooh, I'd seen these on Home of the Underdogs, and was always curious about them - especially the FMV based ones.
Btw, just a tiny correction: it's "eponymous star of the series", not titular. Eponymous means to give your name to something, while titular, I believe, relates to official titles like "sir". Not sure without checking the OED, but the mix up with titular and eponymous I find is the number one mistake made in writing about games (mainly since so many game titles are based on character names). And I say this because I used to use "titular" A LOT in my writing, until someone pointed it out to me.
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Post by derboo on Mar 30, 2009 4:42:54 GMT -5
Sound like a mistake I would make...
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