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Professor Duck posted:It most certainly isn't in this (the GOG) version If it really annoys you the Steam version is only $6. Who knows, maybe it'll fix the crashing problems also.
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Jun 4, 2021 23:14
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The double-arrow was definitely in the original version, because that's the only one I've ever played. (I still have the original CDs, and last I checked, they worked acceptably on DOSBox.) I'd be very surprised to learn that they're not in the GOG version, since that should be essentially identical to the original. Maybe you haven't hovered the cursor in the right spot?
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Jun 4, 2021 23:47
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whitehelm posted:If it really annoys you the Steam version is only $6. Who knows, maybe it'll fix the crashing problems also. We managed to fix that actually! Or at least we think so. Turns out it wasn’t bundled with the latest ScummVM, which was a fairly easy fix.
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Jun 4, 2021 23:48
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Nidoking posted:The double-arrow was definitely in the original version, because that's the only one I've ever played. (I still have the original CDs, and last I checked, they worked acceptably on DOSBox.) I'd be very surprised to learn that they're not in the GOG version, since that should be essentially identical to the original. Maybe you haven't hovered the cursor in the right spot? If it's there, I haven't seen it yet. I'll mess around and see if I can trigger it. whitehelm posted:If it really annoys you the Steam version is only $6. Who knows, maybe it'll fix the crashing problems also. It's not really annoying in the grand scope of things (the acting gets me WAY more). I can deal without buying this twice  Also, as Dewgy mentioned, we actually seem to have fixed the crashing issues!
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Jun 5, 2021 00:15
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Professor Duck posted:If it's there, I haven't seen it yet. I'll mess around and see if I can trigger it. It only works at the very edge of the screen. I think if you're on the left, the trigger is in the top-left corner, and on the right, it's in the top-right. Not the most intuitive place to look for it.
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Jun 5, 2021 01:00
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Nidoking posted:It only works at the very edge of the screen. I think if you're on the left, the trigger is in the top-left corner, and on the right, it's in the top-right. Not the most intuitive place to look for it. I haven't had a chance to use it in an episode, but I did see it! Thanks for the pointer! Anyway, next installment ho! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wfx9uW1mOF4
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Jun 9, 2021 02:42
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I think maybe John Tesh has been stalking Grace. It's been going on so long she's forgotten that not everyone hears that music. Honestly I do kind of find it sad that both Gabriel and Grace seem to have downgraded their characterization, and it's not just bad acting. It's almost like the sort of exaggeration you end up with on sitcoms, except we're only on the second episode.
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Jun 9, 2021 06:34
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Kangra posted:I think maybe John Tesh has been stalking Grace. It's been going on so long she's forgotten that not everyone hears that music. Welcome to the "interactive movie"! Especially going from something like the first game to this, there's a lot that's lost. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the designers of the first game had to rely more on dialog and setting rather than "acting", like what's on display here. While the tech was "more advanced", what was done here wasn't really effective, relying on green screen settings and enough mugging to fill a major city's prison (not to mention that direction seems to be non-existent) I imagine that plenty of dialog and development had to be pared out because of the media--this game originally came on 6 CDs, and I can't imagine that they could've taken any more space without the thing getting even more expensive.
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Jun 9, 2021 17:27
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Professor Duck posted:Welcome to the "interactive movie"! Things we don’t have room for: More dialogue, consistent direction Things we have infinite room for: Ten seconds of blank staring after every single scene
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Jun 9, 2021 17:38
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Professor Duck posted:I can't imagine that they could've taken any more space without the thing getting even more expensive. Note that, for example, Herr Ubergrau tells Gabriel to address him more casually during their first scene in this chapter. Now they've got an excuse to use a different scene for entering and leaving the office (something that you have to do way too many times, even if you know what to do to avoid unnecessary visits), but it's carefully timed so they don't need to include both scenes on any of the discs. This is something Phantasmagoria really could have benefited from - a seven-disc game with so many common scenes that a few of the discs only had about a dozen unique scenes on them. I've been mulling over checking out some of the recent FMV-style games, but haven't taken the plunge yet. It would be interesting to see what happens to the genre when file size and storage media are no longer an issue.
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Jun 9, 2021 21:35
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Nidoking posted:
I didn't realize that that was a thing again. I mean, if we're just talking about Point-n-Click adventures, there are plenty of great recent ones! ...but, while you consider you options, you can watch us enter THE PLOT CLOSET: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVQNGeSjN-I
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Jun 12, 2021 14:53
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I was thinking of games like Her Story and Erica. I don't get the impression that they're trying to give the same freedom of movement as this game, but the technology has definitely developed to the point where I'm sure they could do interesting things with the style. As for making the notes you take individual inventory items, the first game did that too. It would be weird not to, honestly. If you collected a bunch of phone numbers in the same item, you wouldn't have an easy way to specify which one you want to call. They'd probably have to do something like show you a sheet with all the numbers, and add numbers as you collect them. That shouldn't be too difficult, but it might look strange, particularly if you get the numbers out of order and wonder why there are big gaps between the numbers Gabriel's written so far.
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Jun 12, 2021 17:44
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Contradiction is a modern (2015) FMV game more in the adventure game mold (possibly influenced by this game even), where you have a choice of where to go and who to talk to, although the setting is small-ish which is about the only way to really make it work well. I think it's also something you'd have a blast LPing since it has some very silly moments. I don't know that there's much beyond the cinematic FMV games which are more visual novels, really. Although the Dark Pictures (technically not FMV, just faithful mo-cap with rendered sets) add a bit more to spruce up the interactivity and branching paths. edit: https://www.videodoubler.com/combo/saved/2362 Kangra fucked around with this message at 07:25 on Jun 15, 2021 |
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Jun 15, 2021 06:58
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Kangra posted:Contradiction is a modern (2015) FMV game more in the adventure game mold (possibly influenced by this game even), where you have a choice of where to go and who to talk to, although the setting is small-ish which is about the only way to really make it work well. I think it's also something you'd have a blast LPing since it has some very silly moments.  might be something worth talking with Dewgy about once we've finished this series. We've still got a while until we've covered the series fully, so no discussion on what's next Also, slight delay in updates as I am indisposed for personal reasons, but we should be back at it soon!
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Jun 16, 2021 21:01
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I also realized that while it isn't Kurrent, you still had some German cursive thrown in. Here's what the notebook said, which isn't much:quote:Ich muß mit den Leuten reden There appears to be a stray mark on the u in the second 'muss'; it sort of looks like an umlaut but that wouldn't make a word. Translation in spoilers just to be fair, but as said this is almost intentionally vague. (Also whatever year this is, it is prior to 1996 so muß is acceptable for muss and not necessarily a sign this was written by a 400-year-old werewolf.) I have to talk to the people so I can finally get my thingy. I have to ?? the number of the **** American (woman) Kangra fucked around with this message at 22:45 on Jun 16, 2021 |
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Jun 16, 2021 22:40
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Sorry for the long delay, but we're back with part 6! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07LBFPEpx-I
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Jun 21, 2021 02:27
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I'll never not be grateful to all the actors in this game for giving us an endless series of great screenshots for preview images. Usually I have to upload one myself or get lucky when YouTube auto-generates one from a good frame, but for GK2 they've all been pure gold so far. It's so hard to choose. 
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Jun 21, 2021 02:31
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Dewgy posted:I'll never not be grateful to all the actors in this game for giving us an endless series of great screenshots for preview images. Usually I have to upload one myself or get lucky when YouTube auto-generates one from a good frame, but for GK2 they've all been pure gold so far. It's so hard to choose. A bunch of Muggins McMugginsons, they are
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Jun 23, 2021 14:43
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Part 7! Where we really show off the power of the FMV adventure game by....going to museums and looking at exhibits! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9iEL6QGArU0
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Jun 26, 2021 14:22
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Part 8! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zw5_6VViPpY
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Jul 4, 2021 02:45
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For real though, was there something that would have led us to toss the flower in the lake? Like, in Day of the Tentacle you can get a tiny hint about car washing causing rainstorms when you play as Bernard, but I don’t recall anyone or anything saying a drat thing about lake flowers in this game. I mean, I haven’t been taking notes or anything, but I don’t feel like that would have helped either.
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Jul 4, 2021 20:56
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Dewgy posted:For real though, was there something that would have led us to toss the flower in the lake? Like, in Day of the Tentacle you can get a tiny hint about car washing causing rainstorms when you play as Bernard, but I don’t recall anyone or anything saying a drat thing about lake flowers in this game. The only link I can find in reviewing things is that Ludwig mentions in one of his journal entries about "The power of the lily". That's the only connection I can see, and there's really nothing else to tell you that you need to put the lily in the water. For that matter, you might have missed the lilies entirely if you didn't observe them during Gabriel's portion (although I think that's required to advance in that chapter)
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Jul 5, 2021 14:24
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That conversation in German from the priest was pretty hard to understand what with his terrible acting and the music swelling around it anyway. Would have been nice if it had a hidden hint about what to do with the flower. The gist of it seemed to be "Pretty lilies? -yeah -even though it's so cold! Take one as a gift from the Madonna -ach nein -Please take it; it's so cold at night and this might make you a little happier." This game seems to be really taking its sweet time getting to the obvious mystery. In the first one at least there was a greater sense of urgency, as at every stage some of the characters seemed dangerous and the murders felt more serious. This time around we're apparently delving into historical fiction with the present-day threats a lot less apparent.
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Jul 9, 2021 08:26
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Kangra posted:That conversation in German from the priest was pretty hard to understand what with his terrible acting and the music swelling around it anyway. Would have been nice if it had a hidden hint about what to do with the flower. I think a lot of that pacing has to do with the chosen medium--with all of what had to be done with creating the scenes and putting everything together, the pace really becomes plodding. Anyway, gonna hit y'all with two episodes, since we're really at the end and we have both of them ready! Part 9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd2jj-hTb54 Part 10: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhb8L13DYqA Part 11 will be the end, then.....the horror truly begins...
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Jul 9, 2021 12:29
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Professor Duck posted:Part 11 will be the end, then.....the horror truly begins... Pictured: Me, eagerly anticipating getting started on Gabriel Knight 3. 
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Jul 10, 2021 19:33
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Dewgy posted:Pictured: Me, eagerly anticipating getting started on Gabriel Knight 3. If you're talking about the one puzzle, it's not representative of the game and I'm pretty sure I remember reading in an interview it was forced in by Sierra. I'm not saying there aren't other issues though.
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Jul 11, 2021 00:59
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whitehelm posted:If you're talking about the one puzzle, it's not representative of the game and I'm pretty sure I remember reading in an interview it was forced in by Sierra. I'm not saying there aren't other issues though. The infamous puzzle is something I’ve heard of before, but I also saw a few screenshots on GoG, and well, my expectations are hells of tempered right now.
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Jul 11, 2021 01:06
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whitehelm posted:If you're talking about the one puzzle, it's not representative of the game and I'm pretty sure I remember reading in an interview it was forced in by Sierra. I'm not saying there aren't other issues though. Oh, I know that puzzle isn't the whole thing...but...well, we'll discuss a bit once we start. I've never played it before, so I had to do some poking around before starting the series, but there's so much that's just..off with this one.
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Jul 11, 2021 15:28
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Alright, people--time to put a bow on GK2 with a longer than usual episode, but there was no way I was doing one more just for the final puzzle segment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7XgnUifm_E ...and with that, we'll be on to the final game in the series. Whether that is cause for celebration or not, I'll leave to you
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Jul 12, 2021 14:39
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It didn’t really hit me this way at the time, but I feel like they missed a big opportunity with that last puzzle. It’s a neat idea and concept, but it just sort of comes out of nowhere as a last minute gameplay swerve. I’d imagine it wouldn’t exactly have been cheap to do, but having an easier version of the puzzle with lower stakes earlier in the game would have been a really good idea. Or maybe just move this one earlier in the game and make the ending one harder, something like that.
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Jul 12, 2021 18:29
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Here we go....it's time for number 3. Please make sure you read the graphic novel that is linked in the description, as there is NO intro beyond what you see in the video...and that really isn't terribly descriptive in terms of what is happening in this game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW4nHPoejA4 Professor Duck fucked around with this message at 18:36 on Jul 18, 2021 |
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Jul 18, 2021 18:32
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Professor Duck posted:Here we go....it's time for number 3. Please make sure you read the graphic novel that is linked in the description, as there is NO intro beyond what you see in the video...and that really isn't terribly descriptive in terms of what is happening in this game. http://sierrahelp.com/Documents/Misc/Gabriel_Knight_3_-_Graphic_Novel.pdf Here is said link, and it really is as late-90s as it gets. Much as I'm mocking it, I do love the evolutionary offshoot part of this game as it is. It's some sort of bizarre hybrid between Alone In The Dark/Resident Evil/Grim Fandango kind of early 3D, but trying to do its own thing that never really took off. With what we've done so far, I'd say this is the type of game that would warrant more of a re-take than a re-make. Like, just start over from scratch, toss what actually came out, go for what was originally designed because they clearly overstepped their boundaries here. What ended up getting shipped is interesting, but it's extremely obvious why this was the end of the road for Gabriel Knight. Still, it's gonna be a fun ride. 
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Jul 19, 2021 01:56
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It seems like all of the Sierra series that were still active around this time tried to become 3D action games - Mask of Eternity, Quest for Glory V... from what I understand, it was marketing pressure from a new publisher, and some of it was probably trying to build interest in Half-Life, which I think Sierra were publishing at about the same time. The problem is that neither 3D nor action meshed well with what those games were about. This game at least kept the general adventure game idea, but the puzzles in Gabriel Knight have always been designed with selling hint books in mind, and what little I remember of this one didn't fix that.
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Jul 19, 2021 02:29
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That's almost incomprehensible.  It's hard to tell what's happening in the illustrations, it's impossible to tell what order you're supposed to read the panels and dialogue balloons (until after you've read them), and the plot jumps around without exposition. It's like if you described a comic to someone who'd never heard of the concept before and they tried to make their own. Good attempt, but maybe you should have looked at some examples first?
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Jul 19, 2021 17:39
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Tiggum posted:That's almost incomprehensible. Probably not a huge help, but I have found a video of someone reading through the thing in order. Key here is "reading"--don't expect too much in the realm of "dramatic action": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9ZlEFkx46M
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Jul 20, 2021 22:35
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Professor Duck posted:Probably not a huge help, but I have found a video of someone reading through the thing in order. Key here is "reading"--don't expect too much in the realm of "dramatic action": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9ZlEFkx46M That actually is a little easier to follow.
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Jul 21, 2021 16:34
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Tiggum posted:That actually is a little easier to follow. 
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Jul 22, 2021 23:16
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I was about 16 when I stumbled upon Sins of the fathers book by Anne Rice book in an airport and bought imeediately. I was both pleased and dissapointed. Pleased because it was decent solid paperback novel, dissapointed because there was nothing outside of what you saw or read when you played the game. I mights still have the Beast Within cds at my mothers apartment, can't wait for you to start the vampire thing which was apparently so dire that even I didnt play it.
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Jul 24, 2021 22:51
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I wonder if Gabriel being a werewolf will help him or hurt him in the hunt to take down the vampires. I was mildly surprised there wasn't some comical exchange in the last game about 'who' was the werewolf, maybe involving Grace and Leber. (The joke is that the German word for werewolf is Werwolf; the word wer means 'who' in German and the second part is 'wolf', and so as in English, it's a word that is a question. And they even had the silliness of a real werewolf on stage with the fake one, which could have been a great source of additional confusion.) Also it wasn't until this game I noticed that they say 'Nakamura' (common Japanese name) but write it 'Nakimura' (a name used by no Japanese families).
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Jul 27, 2021 06:58
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Sekenr posted:I was about 16 when I stumbled upon Sins of the fathers book by Anne Rice book in an airport and bought imeediately. I was both pleased and dissapointed. Pleased because it was decent solid paperback novel, dissapointed because there was nothing outside of what you saw or read when you played the game. I mights still have the Beast Within cds at my mothers apartment, can't wait for you to start the vampire thing which was apparently so dire that even I didnt play it. Well, we're into the "vampire thing"....it's a thing, all right! Kangra posted:I wonder if Gabriel being a werewolf will help him or hurt him in the hunt to take down the vampires. See....that would require having intentionally humorous exchanges in the writing Anyway, moving on from there, we're off to....THE PUZZLE. Yes, THAT puzzle, and I will only be referring to this as "THE PUZZLE" in any way. I know there's stupider ones in different games, but this is probably the more famous of those (Longest Journey comes to mind immediately. I know there's a super convoluted one in Runescape, too) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t5EzIguyb0
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Jul 27, 2021 14:36
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