Gabriel Knight: 20th Anniversary Edition - remake by Jane Jensen

[Infinitron]

I'm pretty sure you always had a video card.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...ards-in-the-90s-before-3d-acceleration.78777/

I remember something about VGA and SVGA in those days.

Anyway, 2009 was the first time I could play games that needed a 3d accelerator.

That's pretty weird, man. Were you always in Australia?

 

[Curious_Tongue]

I'm pretty sure you always had a video card.

http://www.rpgcodex.net/forums/inde...ards-in-the-90s-before-3d-acceleration.78777/

I remember something about VGA and SVGA in those days.

Anyway, 2009 was the first time I could play games that needed a 3d accelerator.

That's pretty weird, man. Were you always in Australia?

Yes, I'm a native of the first world.

Computing was (is) an expensive hobby, so I was stuck with hand me down computers.

 

[MRY]

At least they are trying to keep it looking like the original

I really like the changes to the windows in the new one, having been to New Orleans, that's is very fitting.

Man, I'm not sure if I'm just a bitter / nostalgic old man or a hater, but even though the old one wasn't perfect, I find the new one off-putting. Looks like stock models and textures, and weirdly some of the perspective seems off on the floorboards, which really shouldn't be possible with a 3D rendered background I wouldn't think. I can't remember, was there like a hidden stairway there or something?

The way everything is in focus also seems kind of weird, and the higher resolution makes the whole place seem too clean (especially, e.g., the coffee maker) compared to the old one.

Still, I'm glad they're remaking it. Anything that might lead players down a road to the old QFG games is worth it!

 

[m_s0]

No stairways, unless they've added something. I guess the perspective just looks off because the camera seems to be higher, but overall you see less than you did in the original 2D scene with the camera (seemingly) placed lower. That might just be us curmudgeons being used to the 2D trickery they had to employ to make the layout functional in GK1. If you look at Gabriel's feet in the screen from the original he looks as if he's standing on the desk which is something you avoid altogether by doing what they did for the remake. Provided they don't fuck up the collision detection and/or paths (I think that only the character models are 3D. And maybe the objects you interact with. At least that's the way it looks to me).

 

[Magic User]

Environments are too colorful I guess. And the character models really do suck. GKIII had this problem as well though. I don't know, I can ignore the worsened visuals, my real doubt here is: will the new content be worth the new edition? Will the new voice acting come close to the original classic with Hammill and Curry?

This doing well is also probably the last and only chance the series has of ever getting another sequel, btw.

 

[Infinitron]

Hello CSG!

GREAT NEWS! The CSG beta for Gabriel Knight IS HERE!

A few quick items before you get the download link:

- The beta build is for Days 1-4 only
- You'll notice some differences in terms of what you can do each day from the original. Rest assured, all the original game content is still there, but things have been moved around a bit to land on a specific day in order to facilitate a chapter by chapter plan on tablet (though the game will be released as a full game too, not episodic)
- The game is still being worked on! There may be some glitches and bugs in it, and if you find any, please let us know! We'll be keeping an eye on the Pinkerton CSG Forum.

And finally, PLEASE DO NOT SHARE THIS LINK!THIS IS NOT A PUBLIC DEMO! It's very important that this demo not be leaked; it's still a work in progress and not ready for the public.

Yeah, I don't think that's gonna work.

 

[Keshik]

The new narrator's voice

 

[hoverdog]

GK1 is perfect as it is. Though I'd pay a LOT to see a revamped GK2 with normal graphics, not that piece of shit FMV crap. FMV was decline incarnate.

 

[Jaesun]

GK1 is perfect as it is. Though I'd pay a LOT to see a revamped GK2 with normal graphics, not that piece of shit FMV crap. FMV was decline incarnate.

I would too.

 

[Redlands]

GK1 is perfect as it is. Though I'd pay a LOT to see a revamped GK2 with normal graphics, not that piece of shit FMV crap. FMV was decline incarnate.

I would too.

To be honest, I'd rather they remade GK3 than GK2.

GK2, despite being an FMV game and having the inherent weaknesses of that subgenre, did pretty well with them. There was a comparatively lot to do (helped, I think, by dividing up the game between Gabriel and Grace, as well as providing a potential "real world" explanation for what is going on), there was at least one puzzle that was interesting (the sound mixing, even though there's a small problem with that). Comparing it to Phantasmagoria, it was clear Sierra had learned a lot about what worked and what didn't, and Jane Jensen is simply a better writer than Roberta Williams. I'd be kind of curious how that path could have gone if it had been nurtured in what Sierra used to be before the buyout (especially as we're basically getting FMV games nowadays, only with even less interactivity and graphical fidelity).

And I'll admit it: I like the campy, terrible 90s nature of the game. I like laughing at it and the barely-closeted "romance".

More pertinently, though, is what would/could happen with such a remake, and what would be gained. There's a risk that due to social pressures, the whole "gay subtext" thing would either be removed or played more overtly, even though it wouldn't make sense for the time in which it was set. There aren't a great many difficult puzzles in the game, and it's not likely that many would be added. The only thing would be "normal graphics", the quality of which people in this thread have commented about, mostly in the negative.

GK3, however, probably already suffered and could probably do with the most fixing. This is, remember, the game that the idiots in the mass gaming media held up as a poster boy to kill off the adventure genre. It was one of the games that suffered a lot because of the buyout of Sierra and the subsequent problems that happened after that. The game itself is quite buggy, and has pretty terrible clunky 3D graphics. Additionally, it would give Jane Jensen a chance to show how she would have made the game without the large cuts and impending dissolution of the company weighing it down.

Of course, we'd still have to deal with her bad luck with programming partners, but oh well.

 

[hoverdog]

Actually I have never played GK3. Part of it stems from the negative opinions about the game, part of it from the fact that I wanted to complete the previous part to have the stories afluent. But then I never could finish The Beast Within.

 

[Redlands]

Actually I have never played GK3. Part of it stems from the negative opinions about the game, part of it from the fact that I wanted to complete the previous part to have the stories afluent. But then I never could finish The Beast Within.

Knowing about GK2 isn't really necessary, and if you have a healthy appreciation for the environment in which it was released GK3 is worth at least trying out to see if you can stand playing it. You might get a Dan Brown-esque feel from it, as both he and Jane used "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" as a starting point.

On the subject, GK3 got a bad reputation for two basic reasons:

• problems at Sierra (by that I mean fraud at the top level of the company that bought them out, huge layoffs at the start of the year the game was released, and the near-constant restructuring of the company basically meant it was dying) meant it had to be pushed out in an unpolished state, and
• it being released at the end of 1999, when games "journalists" were rapidly shifting towards the mouth-breathing, untrustworthy, shallow idiots we have today, thanks in part to the detestable pair of prolapsed anuses that constituted Old Man Murray.

I can totally see not wanting to play either 2 or 3, GK1 is by far the superior game. But you should at least give them a go.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be off deciding whether I should be depressed and communist over what happened to Sierra, or swearing and murderous over two brain-damaged sacks of dog waste who complained about games with arbitrary puzzle situations and then went to work on Portal without even a hint of irony.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

I've finished GK original, and I've no interest in playing an upgraded version.

My only hope is that it creates more fans, and with it the possibility of more games.

 

[Ninja Destroyer]

GK1 is perfect as it is. Though I'd pay a LOT to see a revamped GK3 with normal graphics and puzzles, not that piece of shit 3d crap.

 

[TheGreatOne]

Man, I'm not sure if I'm just a bitter / nostalgic old man or a hater, but even though the old one wasn't perfect, I find the new one off-putting. Looks like stock models and textures, and weirdly some of the perspective seems off on the floorboards, which really shouldn't be possible with a 3D rendered background I wouldn't think. I can't remember, was there like a hidden stairway there or something?

It has nothing to do with age. I played GK1 the first time in 2013 and I prefer the old look. 3D models always look worse than 2D characters, that's a fact of life. This kind of stock 3D always look hollow, lifeless and bland. Pre-rendered backgrounds is the only other option.

 

[Cromwell]

Dont know if cleaner is better or if old beats new but the first thing if noticed in the two screens is the lamp in the old one, and for it alone the first screen wins. It just looks more like he actually lives there instead of it beeing a normal bookstore and thats for me far more charming. Its only a little detail but it keeps me wondering what other little details were changed.

 

[Magic User]

Anyone played the beat and would like to share impressions? I received an e-mail with a download link but I'm not sure I want to spoil it since we are only a couple of months away from release.

If nobody comments on it I will try it out and give you guys some impressions though, just play the start of the game.

 

[m_s0]

Spoil what exactly? Haven't you played the original?

 

[Magic User]

Well, they are adding new content, changing the progression of the plot and else. But mainly I don't want to expoil the quality of the remake really.

 

[MaskedMan]

New trailer. Game just looks....unnecessary.

Did I miss something or have they still not shown any screens of how you interact with the world? Kinda doubt they'll bother redoing all the different verb lines for the voodoo lady narrator, especially if they switch to a right/left click system, but I can still hope. :s Her cash register iceburns and the like were great in the original game.

edit: Huh, there's a beta? Guess I'll see for my self.

 

[RPGMaster]

Grace wearing jeans instead of a skirt = typical PC feminist revisionism bullshit.

 

[Crane]

That must be it. It certainly couldn't be the fact that jeans are much more common than skirts today.

 

[evdk]

It's not set in the early 90s anymore?

 

[Jaesun]

Directed by Jane Jensen.... What the hell does that mean exactly?

(as in how much input does she have on this)

 

[Magic User]

It's a remake isn't it? I guess she worked the new content and supervised the development of the whole thing. This was developed concurrently with Moebius anyway, doubt she could lead both projects at the same time.

I tried the beta and I must say live it looks better than the screenshots. The talking heads are pretty bad and character models are kind of bland, but it is all passable I guess. Animations aren't so distractingly bad as they were in boebius. If the new content is good and they don't fuck up the pacing of the original this might be worth playing. Plus there is the outside chance that this paves the way for new games in the series.