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Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...

Okay friends and readers, continuing my marathon of early-to-mid 90’s horror games, we’ve moved to something that I started playing halfway through The 7th Guest, The Gabriel Knight saga!

Who is Gabriel Knight?
Gabriel Knight is a fellow from New Orleans (N’awlins) who owns the St. George’s Rare Book Store, and writes. He also has a family legacy to live up to as a defender of mankind from the monsters that live just beyond the veil. He’s assisted by Grace Nakimura, a college student who barely tolerates him (at least as far as I’ve played so far) and does research on various topics that Gabriel needs, and is semi-assisted by his childhood friend Police Detective Franklin “Mostly” Mosely, who also barely tolerates him.


I’ve heard of this game, why is it a big deal?
First and foremost, it’s probably one of the best point-and-clicks that Sierra ever put out. The writing sis tight and all the major characters are extremely well-developed. And on that note, the characters…oh man, the characters. All the major characters in the first game are played by pretty big names. Names like Tim Curry, Mark Hamill, Michael Dorn, Jim Cummings, and Leah Remini. Yeah, that’s right, we get Cajun Tim Curry, and it is loving awesome.


How Can I Follow Along?
Big surprise, GreatOldGames.com carries all three games which you can get for the bargain price of about fifteen bucks. So you got that going for you. Be warned, some of the puzzles are fiendish. And we will be doing the LP in order of release, so we’ll start with Sins of the Fathers, moving on to The Beast Within, and concluding in Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned. Needless to say, until the LP reaches each game, DO NOT DISCUSS ANY CONTENT IN LATER GAMES.

With The Beast Within and Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, I'm going into those blind, and may require the occasional hint. My Hint Policy is thus: Only if I ask...UNLESS I'm gonna get hosed beyond repair by missing something early on, which'll mean I'll have to start over and the whole LP will end up delayed while I start a new game.



CAST OF CHARACTERS – Sins of the Fathers
(Will be updated as we introduce each new character.)
Gabriel Knight – Played by Tim Curry
As stated before, Gabriel is a writer who owns a bookstore, and is currently working on a book regarding a series of murders in New Orleans that has Voodoo overtones. He’s been plagued by strange nightmares his whole life which have left his sleep so disturbed that he’s a total caffeine addict. He’s a shameless flirt which annoys his assistant to no end. By the end of the game he has inherited the legacy position of Schattenjager, defeated the Voodoo cult, and taken about a million bucks in dirty money to fix up the family estate.

Grace Nakimura – Played by Leah Remini
Grace Nakimura (a Japanese-American played by an Italian-American, yeah that’s kinda weird), has taken a break from achieving her doctorate in an Ivy League college, came to N’awlins, and has by her own description, fallen in love with the rich history of the area, and took a job at the St. George’s Rare Book Store out of a sense of adventure. She’s kind of snarky and sarcastic to Gabriel, but cares about him at the same time. By the end of the game, she's put her Ph.D on hold in order to assist Gabriel in his new role as Schattenjager.

Detective Frank Mosely - Played by Mark Hamill
Frank Mosely and Gabriel have been friends since childhood. Mosely is a good cop in a city full of dirty ones, despite being a bit lazy. Also, he tolerates a lot of poo poo from Gabriel, fully losing his temper only once with him in the whole game. By the end of the game, his credit card has been maxed out, but he did take down one of the big bads in the process.

Dr. John - Played by Michael Dorn
Owner/Operator of the Voodoo Museum in the French Quarter, Dr. John is a veritable fountain of information on Voodoo both historical and current. He is also a massive person, standing at least a foot taller than Gabriel. Originally from the West Indies, he came to New Orleans for...very vague reasons which probably have to do with his study of Voodoo. And a filthy p’takh to boot. Shot dead by Mosely during the climax of the game.

Malia Gedde - Played by Leilani Jones
One of the hoi polloi of NOLA, Malia is the beautiful and mysterious High Priestess of the Voodoo Cartel. However, she seems to be possessed by a spirit named Tetelo, an ancestor of hers, who's calling the shots now, ordering the sacrifices and orchestrating the plot. At the end of the game, she throws herself into a lake of fire beneath New Orleans to stop Tetelo forever.

Uncle Wolfgang - Played by Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
Gabriel's Great-Uncle and last of the Schattenjägers. He's been trying to warn Gabriel of the threat posed by the Voodoo cartel for about a week, but it really took Gabriel almost being killed by them to take it seriously. In the process of liberating the Schattenjäger Talisman, he tore out his own heart. :black101:

Magentia Moonbeam - Played by Nancy Lenehan
Magentia Moonbeam is a local Voodooienne...who moved to New Orleans from Kansas some time ago, then became involved with the religion. She owns a python named Grimwald who she named after one of her spirit guides...an Egyptian priestess. Everything about this woman just raises more questions. Probably has nothing to do with the Voodoo Murders.

Grandma Knight - Played by Linda Gary
Grandma Knight is a sweet old lady who knits baby sweaters for her church and thinks the world of Gabriel. She's not the most developed character, but she does provide important information regarding Gabriel's family.

Willy Walker - Played by Rocky Carroll
Owner/Operator of the Dixieland Drug Store, a "novelty shop" in the French Quarter that sells Voodoo-related items. From him, Gabriel learns the phrase cabrit sans cor', although not its meaning. A very mysterious character who seems to know more than he lets on.

Professor Hartridge - Played by Monte Markham
A religious professor at Tulane University, Hartridge specializes in African Voudoun. By his own admission, he's 35, heterosexual...wait, why does that matter? Weirdo. Killed by the Voodoo cult for researching them on behalf of Gabriel.

Gerde - Played by Mary Kay Bergman
Uncle Wolfgang's maid or something. I suspect they just gently caress like animals.

Crash - Played by Chris Lytton
Local petty criminal who is actually one of the keys to unravelling the mystery of the Voodoo Murders, he is murdered by the cult after being brought in for questioning by Mosely.

Madame Cazanoux - Played by Susan Silo
A regular customer of the Dixieland Drug Store, and member of the Creole Grand Dames. A devout Catholic who isn't afraid to dabble in a little Voodoo in the name of petty revenge.

Stonewall King - Played by Monte Markham
Bartender of Napoleon House. Not much to say really, he tends bar, and looks like Paul F. Tompkins. *shrug*

Toussaint Gervais - Played by Dorian Harewood
Groundskeeper/Watchman of St. Louis Cemetery #1. Not a lot of backstory for him, his only real purpose in the game is a little bit of exposition.

Father Maclaughlin - Played by Gabriel Knight
'tis a foine bit of the auld soil me bucko!



CAST OF CHARACTERS – The Beast Within

Gabriel Knight - Played by Not-Tim Curry
Now residing in Schloss Ritter following the events of GK1, he's working on his next novel while periodically hitting his typewriter.

Grace Nakimura
Left behind to tidy up Gabriel's NOLA (business) affairs, Grace travels to Rittersburg to kick his rear end for leaving her behind.

Gerde
Uncle Wolfgang's live-in housekeeper and probable lover, now Gabriel's housekeeper and I really don't want to think about Gabriel and Wolfgang being Eskimo Brothers.

Werner Huber
Local townsperson who asks Gabriel for help in investigating the possible werewolf attacks.

Herr Doctor Klingmann
Head of the Mammals Department at the Munich Zoo, he has an unhealthy fascination with wolves and really, really lovely pseudoscience. He's probably either the bad guy, or heavily involved.

Baron Von Glower
Owner of the Royal Bavarian Hunting Lodge and not suspicious at all, nope.

Baron Von Zell
Member of the Royal Bavarian Hunting Lodge, Banker, and probably the killer.

Kommissar Leber
DETECTIVE INSPECTOR IN CHARGE OF THE MUTILATION KILLINGS AND UNABLE TO CONTROL THE VOLUME OF HIS VOICE!!!

Harald "Harry" Übergrau
Junior partner/grandson of the senior partner of the law firm that represents the Ritter/Knight assets. Freely admits that he's a big fan of Gabriel's books, and wants to help out with his investigation of the Mutilation Killings case.

Michael Hessel
Researcher at the University of Munich's Biology Department. Kind of a perv.

So let’s sit back, enjoy some Cajun Pan-Blackened Tim Curry, and see where this series takes us!

Ensign_Ricky fucked around with this message at 10:24 on Feb 14, 2014

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Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...
Table of Contents

Sins of the Fathers
Part One: 2 Awesome Characters
Part Two: Let's Steal Evidence!
Part Three: You Magnificent Bastard, I Read Your Book!
Part Four: Voodoo History and You!
Part Five: Do the Hippy-Hippy Snake!
Part Six: Bring Fresh Cash?? Dafuq??
Part Seven: Fun With Phones!
Part Eight: Casa des Cazanoux
Part Nine: Lesson Time
Part Ten: BACK OFF, GRACE!
Part Eleven: Giggity, Giggity, Giggity!:quagmire:
Part Twelve: Bye, Crash.
Part Thirteen: Snakes. Why'd it have to be snakes?
Part Fourteen: Outwitting the Cops & Cult
Part Fifteen: St. John's Eve Party
Part Sixteen: Calling Uncle Wolfgang
Part Seventeen: So Let's Drop Mushrooms and Become Schattenjägers!
Part Eighteen: And It's All Thanks to Our Local Library!
Part Nineteen: Uncle Wolfgang
Part Twenty: THE DEAD RISE!!
Part Twenty-One: The End of the Beginning!

The Beast Within
Part One: Shall we begin again?
Part Two: I Don't Speak Good German
Part Three: WHAT.
Part Four: A Walking Tour of Munich
Part Five: Lawyer Fanboys and Vorta
Part Six: Gabriel Knight 2 - The Wrath of Grace
Part Seven: Visiting Rittersberg!
Part Eight: To the Libary!
Part Nine: The Strange Cases of Baron Von Ralick and King Ludwig II
Part Ten: Warhammer 40k Joke
Part Eleven: I Have Come Here to Drink Heineken and Kick rear end. And You’re All Out of Heineken.
Part Twelve: Von Zell Is A Dick. Also Probably A Killer, But Mostly A Dick.
Part Thirteen: My First LP Gave Me PTSD
Part Fourteen: Visit Historic Germany!
Part Fifteen: See the Loveli Lakes!
Part Sixteen: Raiders of the Lost Opera!
Part Seventeen: Eskimo Brothers!
Part Eighteen: Bad Kitty!
Part Nineteen: Metal Gear Gabriel
Part Twenty: Be Vewwy Vewwy Quiet...We're Hunting Wycanthwopes.
Part Twenty-One: Holy loving Plotdump!

Ensign_Ricky fucked around with this message at 10:09 on Jul 7, 2014

grandalt
Feb 26, 2013

I didn't fight through two wars to rule
I fought for the future of the world

And the right to have hot tea whenever I wanted
Excellent. This and the next game are the ones that I have been looking forward to. Keep up the fine work sir. :tipshat:

gatz
Oct 19, 2012

Love 'em and leave 'em
Groom 'em and feed 'em
Cid Shinjuku
Am I stupidly missing something or have you not posted an update yet?

Atomic Spud
Jun 24, 2013
Looking forward to this after you brought it up at the end of your 7th Guest stuff. Before I start playing along, are there any spots where you need an item you couldn't possibly know you needed, and now you are completely stuck? Basically, I'm asking how careful I should be.

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...
^^Not yet, as far as I am aware of.

gatz posted:

Am I stupidly missing something or have you not posted an update yet?

I'm just having some system issues. Lousy DOSBox...grr...

edit: Okay, got the audio recording working but it refuses to record the music which is a damned shame. Ah well.

Ensign_Ricky fucked around with this message at 05:01 on Oct 10, 2013

Blastoise
Nov 9, 2010

Onward, Sancho!
Quite possibly my favorite game series of all time.

I'm looking forward to this!

discworld is all I read
Apr 7, 2009

DAIJOUBU!! ... Daijoubu ?? ?

Ensign_Ricky posted:

^^Not yet, as far as I am aware of.


I'm just having some system issues. Lousy DOSBox...grr...

edit: Okay, got the audio recording working but it refuses to record the music which is a damned shame. Ah well.
Are you using Fraps or the built-in recorder for Dosbox? Cause when I was recording Phantasmagoria, I had a similar issue due to the audio being midi (or something like that), and I'm wanting to say there is a way to fix that by changing which program you use to record.

gatz
Oct 19, 2012

Love 'em and leave 'em
Groom 'em and feed 'em
Cid Shinjuku

Niggurath posted:

Are you using Fraps or the built-in recorder for Dosbox? Cause when I was recording Phantasmagoria, I had a similar issue due to the audio being midi (or something like that), and I'm wanting to say there is a way to fix that by changing which program you use to record.

If you're using MIDI emulation, dosbox's internal recorder will not capture it. You can capture a midi file with dosbox, but that's useless (for let's playing) since midi files don't contain any sound. If you use fraps, it picks up every sound that's happening, so that will work if that's the problem. It's the only method I know to capture MT32 emulation, like this. Compare that to the soundblaster version.

Be sure to set dosbox's output to ddraw in the settings for fraps to be able to pick it up. In my experience, using fraps with openGL output in dosbox causes massive slowdown.

gatz fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Oct 10, 2013

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...
Part 1: 2 Awesome Characters!
So there’s an introductory scene which is full of weird imagery like a woman turning into a jaguar, which I can only assume is Gabriel’s recurring nightmare considering he wakes up in a cold sweat at the end.


He then stumbles out into the bookstore proper to get some coffee.

“It lives, I see. Do you want to speak with ‘Lolita’?”

:stare::what: And suddenly this game takes a very weird turn. Man, that was loving quick. Gabriel shakes his head.

“I’m sorry, but Gabriel is a lout! Oh! I mean he’s out. Yeah, if he ever comes back I’ll tell him. You know, you could do better. I know I don’t know you, but…you could do better.” *click* “Good morning! The phone’s been ringing off the hook. Let me know when you want your messages.”

*grunt*

“Gee! You’re lively! Did you have another nightmare last night?”

“Sort of.”

“Mmmhmm. I told you, it’s that Voodoo book you’re researching. That stuff can seriously screw up your karma.”

“I’m sure that’s it. Maybe I should write a horror novel on passive resistance instead.”

“Don’t sleep then, it’s your body.”

If you can’t tell, Grace is loving awesome. She tells Gabriel that his new tape recorder arrived today, and comments that she “can’t wait to see what human rights you violate today”.

“I can’t wait to violate them. For example, if you would just let me…”

Gabriel is also loving awesome. Grace then tells Gabriel that she located 2 local resources on Voodoo in the French Quarter. Now, it is worth noting that as stated in the OP, Grace is played by Leah Remini, who you might know better as the hot wife on King of Queens and a crazy Scientologist. Now, normally, I would just start ripping into her for the latter fact, however she recently left the Cult of Hubbard which takes a lot of guts, so she gets a pass.


So the top tools include a few different commands: WALK, LOOK, TAKE, OPEN, MOVE, OPERATE, TALK and ASK. TALK and ASK are actually totally different commands for a specific reason: Major characters can have ASK used on them to open an “Interrogation Scene” where you can ask about various topics, while TALK can be used on nearly anyone for general chit-chat and clues.
So from here, we can either explore all the local sights we know about in the French Quarter, or explore the store a bit. On the table below Gabriel, there’s a magnifying glass and a pair of tweezers we can take, and we can check out the local news.







“Hmmph. Right.”

Oh, the game comes with a narrator for when you look at items, however seeing as that the narrator is a much more annoying version of Miss Cleo crossed with the Voodoo witch from Zombie Nightmare, we’re gonna turn that poo poo off now.

Oh, the adorable painting of a snake and skull above Grace was apparently painted by Gabriel’s father.

“What a wacky, off-beat kinda guy Daddy was.”
Well, let’s interrogate Grace for a bit, which you can watch here. The important stuff is in his messages: Gabriel’s Grandmother called asking him to come over and go through his father’s things, that a man named Wolfgang Ritter called from Germany asking for Gabriel to call him back ASAP…

“Call Germany? Like hell. If it’s really important, he’ll call back.”
And finally, Detective Mosely called to tell him that he left some photos for Gabriel at the front desk of the police station. It seems that Gabriel has promised him a starring role in his Voodoo book in exchange for the inside dirt on the Voodoo Murders investigation. Despite the fact that the main character is a female orthodontist. There’s no point in asking Grace to research anything because we have nothing for her. Oh, and there’s a coupon for the store in the cash register, so we take that too.


Oh, this is Bruno, an ancillary character. He’s very interested in the painting and apparently comes by often to try to buy it. Naturally, we tell him to kiss off.



So this is the map screen. From here, we can explore the French Quarter or greater New Orleans. Gabriel’s grandmother is in Greater New Orleans, but let’s go to the police station and grab those photos.


And here we are. Just after Gabriel arrives, a cart selling beignets arrives, and the game stops dead for a few moments while the cops place orders. Strangely, this doesn’t bug me, it makes the game feel more alive. In order to get the photos, we need to interrogate the desk sergeant. Over the course of questioning, we find out that there’s been another Voodoo Murder, but he refuses to say where the crime scene is.


The first photo Mosely left for Gabriel is of one of the previous murder victims. Apparently, the MO involves ripping out the victim’s heart Temple of Doom style. Yuck.


And the second photo is a photo of Mosely graduating from the academy. Remember, this guy is Gabriel’s friend. And in that case, I’d hate to see what Gabriel does to people who piss him off.

Well, that seems as good a place as any to wrap it up for now, next time we’ll go over meadow and through the woods, to Grandma’s house we go!

Choco1980
Feb 22, 2013

I fell in love with a Video Nasty
:neckbeard: Yay! I've been waiting for this to start since you announced it! As I've said before, I was a big big fan of the first two games. I missed out on #3 because in the 90's, PC game makers were total asses, and often system requirements were made where if your computer was like, more than 6 months old, the newest games weren't suited to run well on them. By the time I had a better computer, well good luck finding the game.

That said, this game is the very first game I found myself having to search the internet for a faq for. Remember, this is a Jane Jensen Sierra game, so to be sure, there are ways to dick yourself over. If I recall correctly, there's an event that only happens once a day that if you don't do it soon enough you'll be permanently stuck and have to restart from scratch/early enough save. (A good rule of thumb for solving puzzles in the game is to keep in mind that Gabriel is an unscrupulous rear end in a top hat.) Back then I fell into this trap, as I wasn't using multiple saves. Also, it's been a long time, but I think there's more to do back at home. At the very least you never showed off Gabriel's room. (I can't remember if there's any items in there to pick up. )

Also, speaking of Jensen, in a moment of fortuitous timing with this LP, just this Tuesday she and her independent company Pinkerton Road announced that they had leased the rights from current IP holders Activision, and are remaking Sins of the Father, in a special 20th anniversary edition, slated to come out later next year. The official webpage. The bad news is it sounds like they're going with a new cast. Boo!

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...
Oh, and I'm using the built-in recorder as I cannot get Fraps to work with DOSBox for the life of me.

gatz
Oct 19, 2012

Love 'em and leave 'em
Groom 'em and feed 'em
Cid Shinjuku

Ensign_Ricky posted:

Oh, and I'm using the built-in recorder as I cannot get Fraps to work with DOSBox for the life of me.

What are your dosbox config settings? upload the file to dropbox or something where I can see it. I can probably tell you what to do it get it working.

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...

gatz posted:

What are your dosbox config settings? upload the file to dropbox or something where I can see it. I can probably tell you what to do it get it working.

Well, I tried changing things to ddraw and opengl, but nothing seemed to work. Anyway, here it is:

quote:

fullscreen=true
fulldouble=false
fullresolution=desktop
windowresolution=1024x768
output=ddraw
autolock=true
sensitivity=100
waitonerror=true
priority=higher,normal
mapperfile=mapper.txt
usescancodes=true


language=
machine=svga_s3
captures=capture
memsize=8


frameskip=0
aspect=false
scaler=normal2x

core=auto
cputype=auto
cycles=max
cycleup=1000
cycledown=1000

nosound=false
rate=22050
blocksize=2048
prebuffer=40


mpu401=intelligent
mididevice=default
midiconfig=

sbtype=sb16
sbbase=220
irq=7
dma=1
hdma=5
sbmixer=true
oplmode=auto
oplemu=default
oplrate=22050

gus=false
gusrate=22050
gusbase=240
irq1=5
irq2=5
dma1=3
dma2=3
ultradir=C:\ULTRASND

pcspeaker=true
pcrate=22050
tandy=auto
tandyrate=22050
disney=true

gatz
Oct 19, 2012

Love 'em and leave 'em
Groom 'em and feed 'em
Cid Shinjuku
This worked for me (txt file)

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...

Unfortunately, all that did was crash the game totally. Ah well, thanks for trying.

gatz
Oct 19, 2012

Love 'em and leave 'em
Groom 'em and feed 'em
Cid Shinjuku

Ensign_Ricky posted:

Unfortunately, all that did was crash the game totally. Ah well, thanks for trying.

I've edited the txt file with only the necessary information, so try making the changes I did. I'm using the gog version and you might not be, so the autoexec lines might be what did it.

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...
Part 2: Let's Steal Evidence!
As stated before, to Grandmother’s house we go!

“How you doing Gran?”

“I’m right as rain, dear!”

Gabriel’s Grandma is probably one of 2 women Gabriel would never, ever take advantage of. She’s a sweet old thing who knits baby sweaters for the church. We’ll learn a little more about her in a bit, but first let’s go upstairs and check out Gabriel’s dad’s stuff.


We need to check out that clock, and the trunk it’s sitting on. Into the trunk first. All that lays inside are a pair of lederhosen, some books in German, and love letters between Gabriel’s dad and mom. There’s also a book on the arm of that chair by the stairs.

“I think I’ll take Daddy’s sketchbook with me.”
Time to play with the clock, one of the earliest tricky puzzles in the game.


Now this is goddamned hard, and there’s no clue I’ve seen to know the answer ahead of time. You need to pick a symbol to be at the top of the clock, select a time, and then turn the key. (For the record, that works out to over 72 possible answers to the puzzle.)Here’s the solution, which causes the clock to open...


revealing a photo and a letter, which we take.


The photo is of Gabriel’s Grandfather standing with 2 other men in front of a castle somewhere. The letter is a little more promising. It’s addressed to a man named Heinz Ritter, sent from a place called Schloss Ritter in Germany, and is from a Wilhelm Ritter. And one of the words strewn throughout is “Schattenjäger”. However, Gabriel doesn’t speak a word of German so he can’t read a word of it. At any rate, let’s interrogate Grandma.

Grandma doesn’t know much about Voodoo or the Voodoo Muders, but she’s able to reveal some info on a few more topics, namely that Gabriel’s Grandad used to mutter the word Schattenjäger in his sleep, and that his name was in fact Heinz Ritter until he emigrated to America from Germany. Also, all the men in Gabriel’s family have suffered from chronic nightmares.

“Since you’re so interested in family history these days, why don’t you go by St. Louis Cemetery #1 and visit the family tomb? It would be a sweet gesture.”

With that, the Cemetery is unlocked on the map screen. Well, I think visiting a cemetery right after we visit an ancient elderly relative is kind of bad taste, so let’s go to the park instead.


Here at the Jackson Square Park, there are 4 different areas to explore. Down here, the only thing of interest is the motorcycle cop. We need to get him away from his bike somehow so we can use the radio to find the crime scene. But how do we do it? Well, we need the natural enemy of Police everywhere…


MIMES!!!:gonk: The Mime will follow anyone who gets close, be it random NPC or Gabriel. The solution here is to get the mime to follow Gabriel all the way to the bike cop, HOWEVER, if you pass too close to anyone on the way, the Mime decides to follow them instead, and if that happens, you have to start all over again, which can be kind of a pain in the rear end. However, if you succeed, the cop chases the Mime, leaving his bike unattended for a few precious moments.


And with that, the latest Crime Scene has been added to the greater New Orleans map. Let’s check it out!


So the fellow in the yellow coat is Gabriel’s friend Detective Mosely, voiced by Mark Hamill. Keep in mind this was before his role on Batman became general knowledge to youngsters, who would poo poo their pants if they knew that the Joker was Luke loving Skywalker. So this was kind of a big deal.

“Hey, Mostly.”

“Huh? :sigh: Knight, you wiener, I told you not to call me that!”

Mosely gives us a peek at the corpse, another heart ripped out, so definitely the work of the Voodoo Killers. Gabriel comments that this is kind of a public area, and Mosely agrees, saying that the Killers are ghosts like that. And then, a car pulls up.


Inside is Malia Gedde, one of the New Orleans elite. Mosely reassures her that there’s no problem here, and she drives off.

“I’m in love.”
With that, Mosely tells Gabriel he’ll see him at the police station, and everyone leaves. Now, we can make a sketch of the marks on the ground where the body was found.


And there’s some grass matted over by that tree…


A snake scale! We’ll just pocket some crime scene evidence because why not? Also, we can pick up a lump of clay from the river bed (which will come in handy much later). And with that, we finish up this update, and next time we’ll see what Mosely has to tell us.

Ensign_Ricky fucked around with this message at 02:37 on Oct 11, 2013

Choco1980
Feb 22, 2013

I fell in love with a Video Nasty

quote:

Now this is goddamned hard, and there’s no clue I’ve seen to know the answer ahead of time.

Told you there was more to do back at the shop. I believe there are two books (or maybe one) you can read on the shelf, one being a German translation book, where it tells you such informative words as "Dragon" and "three" (Gabe makes a joke at Mosley's expense when he reads it) and one being of poetry by Gabriel's grandfather I want to say, in German, that mentions the three and the dragon as well.

This game has a massive amount of infodumping inside it, and a surprising amount is actually relevant to the game. And you can turn around and do independent research to verify stuff you'll learn from this game. There being several puzzle points involving foreign language is kinda frustrating though.

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...
:what:

Aw, son of a BITCH.

Poolparty
Aug 18, 2013

I always presumed the sketchbook was the clue for the clock puzzle based on the image of three snakes and the ring diagram.

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...
Actually in hindsight the number 3 and the Dragon both have significance to Gabriel's family...but we'll dig into that later.

Choco1980
Feb 22, 2013

I fell in love with a Video Nasty
Yeah, the three snakes sounds like kind of a clue too (the rings are something more about plot iirc) . If it's any consolation, I was stuck on this one for a long time. It doesn't help that the puzzles are little fast and loose in the game so like, there's not an explicit order to most of the puzzles. Like, this clock one could have actually waited a couple days to be solved and the plot would have still moved. Though you wouldn't have gotten the ask options for the related stuff.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.

Choco1980 posted:

Yeah, the three snakes sounds like kind of a clue too (the rings are something more about plot iirc) . If it's any consolation, I was stuck on this one for a long time. It doesn't help that the puzzles are little fast and loose in the game so like, there's not an explicit order to most of the puzzles. Like, this clock one could have actually waited a couple days to be solved and the plot would have still moved. Though you wouldn't have gotten the ask options for the related stuff.

No, I don't think day 1 will end if you haven't solved the clock puzzle. It's one of the most annoying ones, because every clue to even the mere existence of the puzzle is of the "When you know what to look for, it's obvious" variety. It's a blatant clue, innit? Blatant!

Nidoking fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Oct 11, 2013

Overrated Sage
Aug 9, 2011

Atelier Iris in a nutshell:
"yay Veola pl- oh dammit main plot again"

Nidoking posted:

No, I don't think day 1 will end if you haven't solved the clock puzzle.

According to flamedrake's LP, you can wait until Day 3 - I found the clock puzzle solved in update 16. I don't know if there's any actual reason to hold off on solving it, but apparently you can.

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...
Part 3: You Magnificent Bastard, I Read Your Book!
So let’s go visit Mosely and see what he wants to contribute.


A nice little bit of characterization you see here is whenever Gabriel goes to visit Mosely, he always looks through the window before going in. It’s the little things, you know?


And here’s the man’s office…or massive clutter heap, it amounts to the same thing.

“Knight. Had a feeling you’d show up.”
“So, how you holding up?”
“Lousy. I hate crime scenes. People are sick fucks, you know that, Knight?”
“I’m starting to get that impression.”

Again, keep in mind that this was prior to Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, so hearing Luke Skywalker drop the only F-Bomb in the game was kind of strange for 1993. Anywho, time to interrogate Mosely!
Major highlights of the conversation include the revelation that there’s at least twenty people involved in each killing, that Mosely firmly believes that all the Voodoo stuff involved is actually faked based on some research he’s done, leopard fur of all things was found at one scene, and all the victims were out of towners. There’s also this little bit of dialogue:

“Remember how we used to play Monkey-in-the-Middle? Hah! We used to piss off our Senior year teacher, what was her name, Ms. McKelly? You’d act like you were gonna toss her an eraser or somethin’, and then throw it to me over her head. And we used to do it at your Gran’s, too, like with the remote when she wanted to watch her soaps?”
“Yup. And it was a great way to pick up women in the Library.” (How???)”Ah, those were the days!”

Believe it or not, that’s a bit of foreshadowing. I’m not kidding, this is actually a major plot point. Mosely also tells Gabriel that they’ve found similar markings to the ones we sketched at each of the other 6 murder scenes, and invites Gabriel to have a look at them.


So we talk to one of the cops outside, Officer Franks, who lets us look at them, on condition that we don’t leave with them or make any photocopies. drat. Well, after glancing at them, we return the file to her desk. Buuuut, if you watched the video, you may have noticed that I didn’t select all the available options. Why? Watch and learn!
Basically, we persuade Mosely to take a photo with Gabriel “for the book”, so he calls in Franks who doubles as the department photographer. After the first shot, we need to tell Mosely that Gabriel wants to check his hair, leave his office and photocopy the file while he and Franks are in there…despite the fact that Desk Sergeant Frick is out there. He gives zero fucks while we do this.

Gabriel Knight: Magnificent Bastard. Well, that’s all we need from here for now, so where to next? Well, I suppose that Gabriel should actually do some research on Voodoo, so let’s go check out the Voodoo Museum. (Incidentally, can any N’awlins goons say if there actually is a Voodoo museum there? Because that would be awesome. )


So here we are, and it’s small, but pretty cool I’d say. That thing by the column in the middle is listed as a “Wishing Stump – Rub it and Make a Wish!”

“Funny, I say the same thing to women.”

And yes, using the Operate command will make Gabriel make a wish.

“I wish Malia Gedde was permanently grafted to my thighs.”

Just in case you forgot exactly how rapey Tim Curry can sound. Trying to talk to the woman behind the counter results in nothing, but she does tell Gabriel that the owner, Dr. John, will be back the next day. Well, one more place to visit I suppose, the “Dixieland Drug Store”.

Dixieland Drug Store

Yeah, this isn’t the place to go when you need your migraine medication refilled. The sign on the counter advertises “Special St. John’s Eve lagniappe. Free bottle of ‘Lover Come Back to Me Oil’ or ‘Master Gamblin’ Oil’ with every purchase over $50.00”
“Lagniappe. My French is lousy, but everyone in New Orleans knows what that means. ‘A little something extra.”

History time! Lagniappe (LAN-yap), while being a word that is mostly used in the New Orleans area and Louisiana, and sounding kind of French in pronunciation, is actually adapted from a South American Spanish phrase “la yapa”, which refers to a free extra item. Mark Twain himself loved the word and called it “a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get”. So don’t say you don’t ever learn anything in the Let’s Play forum!


Anyway, the owner introduces himself as Willy Walker, and he’s kind of an enigma in the game as we’ll find out. He seems to know things, but as far as I have been able to tell, he’s not actually involved in the murders themselves. Although, over the course of an interrogation sequence, when questioned about the Voodoo Murders, he lets slip an odd phrase: “cabrit sans cor’”, and then pretends he never mentioned it. Very mysterious, and yes, we will find out later what that means. Don’t look it up, otherwise it’ll ruin the mystery. At any rate, time to return to the book store.

Asking Grace about Schattenjäger, St. John’s Eve and cabrit sans cor’ gives us nothing, and that’s the only new topics we have for Grace, and she has no messages for us. However, we can request some research from her.

“Could you see what you can find out about a woman named Malia Gedde?”
“Hmmm. The name Gedde sounds familiar. What’s your interest in her?”
“Oh, just, you know, stuff about the Voodoo Murders. If you can get an address…”
“Mmmmm-Hmmmm. The murders. Right. I’ll see what I can find out.”

And with that, Gabriel’s day comes to a close, and he has the same nightmare again. What horrors will follow? Tune in tomorrow, same Gabriel-Time, Same Gabriel-Channel!

Ensign_Ricky fucked around with this message at 07:07 on Oct 13, 2013

EphemeralToast
May 30, 2013
The way Tim Curry says "leopard fur" is going to haunt my nightmares.

Cabrit sans cor... well, "sans coeur" means "without heart" in French, sooo :crossarms:

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...

EphemeralToast posted:

The way Tim Curry says "leopard fur" is going to haunt my nightmares.

Cabrit sans cor... well, "sans coeur" means "without heart" in French, sooo :crossarms:

Actually, the phrase is a real thing in Voodoo whiiich actually doesn't even have anything to do with the heart. Remember, Cajun French has very little to do with France French or even Canadian French.

Nidoking
Jan 27, 2009

I fought the lava, and the lava won.
I never noticed that foreshadowing before. I've played this game many times, usually kept bugging Mosely until he said everything he had to say, and never even gave that line a second thought. Then again, I've never poked most of the stuff in the museum. I've been marveling since the LP of King's Quest VI just how thorough a job they did with programming specific interactions with EVERYTHING with Jane Jensen in charge, and never thought to explore her breakthrough game similarly. I think I may have to make the time to play along. Again.

Choco1980
Feb 22, 2013

I fell in love with a Video Nasty
I've never been to NOLA personally, but I know people who have, and without my asking have confirmed that yes, of course there's a voodoo museum in the city where many tourists flock to exclusively BECAUSE of voodoo relations. It's a shame, I only know a little bit about Cajun Voudoun, and what I do know mostly started from this game. I could tell you lots about Haitian Voodoo, on the other hand, but that's like a whole different denomination of the religion, and I even know a handful of things about Santeria, which is also similar, but even further distanced.

As far as this game goes, I said that it was the first game I discovered FAQs for, which I had to look up because goddamn does it get obtuse at times, well it was several days on in-game that I did, with a few things like the clock puzzle left unsolved until then. In the mean time I would click on all the things, and talk to every person again and again, asking every thing and presenting every item. The Cabrit Sans Cor thing drove me up the wall. At this point the only person besides Willie that says anything besides being unfamiliar with the phrase is Grandma Knight, who basically only says it sounds familiar and she can't remember what it means. I seem to recall she remembers the first word. I, no lie, actually ended up asking my high school's French teacher, who I did not have personally, for help with that one. The fact that it ends up being a colloquial metaphor only made it more maddening.

Talking to some of the people for extended periods does result in some interesting flavor text. One of the things that really surprised me was talking to Grace and finding out her future plans. It doesn't have anything to do with the game so I guess it's not a spoiler, but at one point she just casually mentions how her old traditional Japanese parents have her set up in an arranged marriage to some dude she doesn't even know, and she's totally okay with it. That seemed shocking and backwards for the time, let alone today.

BDA
Dec 10, 2007

Extremely grim and evil.

Choco1980 posted:

It doesn't have anything to do with the game so I guess it's not a spoiler, but at one point she just casually mentions how her old traditional Japanese parents have her set up in an arranged marriage to some dude she doesn't even know, and she's totally okay with it. That seemed shocking and backwards for the time, let alone today.

I recall her feeling rather ambivalent about it, not "totally okay", but yeah it does seem pretty weird for somebody raised in America to react to that situation with anything other than "go gently caress yourself" no matter how traditional their parents are.

Tunahead
Mar 26, 2010

Ensign_Ricky please add the opening theme song of the game to some appropriate post in the thread because it is seriously great, thank you in advance.

Cyster
Jul 22, 2007

Things are going to be okay.

Yeah, I love the music in this game, and whenever I watch a dialogue video I'm always a little saddened by the absence. They did some awesome composing for this'un.

AbstractNapper
Jun 5, 2011

I can help
I also love the music in the game. My favorite piece is the one that plays in the bookstore.

Atomic Spud posted:

Before I start playing along, are there any spots where you need an item you couldn't possibly know you needed, and now you are completely stuck? Basically, I'm asking how careful I should be.

I've played through this game a long time ago and I got stuck at 2 or 3 points. I eventually had to look up a walkthrough (actually, had to wait for a PC magazine to publish a walkthrough). The game can be a bit unfair with regards to what it expects you to do and it also has the basic problem of point'n'click adventures which is pixel hunting. Anyway, that pair of tweezers was a thing I missed the first time, and later got stuck when I needed them.

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...

Tunahead posted:

Ensign_Ricky please add the opening theme song of the game to some appropriate post in the thread because it is seriously great, thank you in advance.


Cyster posted:

Yeah, I love the music in this game, and whenever I watch a dialogue video I'm always a little saddened by the absence. They did some awesome composing for this'un.


AbstractNapper posted:

I also love the music in the game. My favorite piece is the one that plays in the bookstore.

Just because Tunahead asked nicely.

And just for you, AbstractNapper.

And because I just want to plug my own poo poo, Phantasmagoria 1 is getting a VLP makeover.

Ensign_Ricky fucked around with this message at 21:13 on Oct 12, 2013

DMW45
Oct 29, 2011

Come into my parlor~
Said the spider to the fly~

Ensign_Ricky posted:

Actually, the phrase is a real thing in Voodoo whiiich actually doesn't even have anything to do with the heart. Remember, Cajun French has very little to do with France French or even Canadian French.

I've played the game before, but not in years so I had to look it up again, and yeah, it's not heart, and it is pretty spoiler-y.

Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...
Part 4: Voodoo History and You!
(Author's note: I realized how much you guys and gals are missing out on the music because of STUPID, STUPID DOSBOX! I HATE YOU!:argh:...So, I'm going to get some more music tracks up in this bitch! Enjoy and on with the show!)


So Gabriel stumbles out of bed yet again.

“Good morning. Don’t you look swell today…actually, swollen.”
“*grumble*”
“Seriously, you look like hell. Your hair is sticking straight up like a… Oh. It always does that. Never mind.”
“Ha. Ha.”
“Did you dream about the fire and the hanged guy and that lion thing last night?”
Leopard, not lion. Did you get anything on Malia Gedde?”
“Well, I did get her address, but you’re a little out of your league here, big fella. The Geddes own three local hospitals, just to name a few of their assets. They run in VERY high circles.”
“Did you get an address?”
“I got the address. I suppose this has nothing to do with the fact that Malia Gedde is incredibly gorgeous. I should have known you wouldn’t go for a rich, UGLY socialite.”
“And that address is…?”
“Hey, far be it from me to postpone your total humiliation. It’s 557 W. Ingrahm. That’s the Garden district. Estate city.”
“That’s all I wanted to know. And yes, my dear, Malia Gedde is the most dangerous-looking diversion I’ve EVER seen. Ouch!”
:sigh: Men.”
So first we’ll do what we’re supposed to do every day…check the newspaper.








“I feel a dark star rising all right! Grrrowl!”
As silly as this dialogue is, I can’t help but love it because, well, CAJUN TIM CURRY. Anyway, something I guess I should have done earlier ( :doh: ) is look at the books on the shelf against the wall. There’s a section “Secrets of Unsolved Ancient UFO Mysteries” (Wonder if there’s a section on surviving a nuclear blast in a fridge?), and a set of German books that belonged to Gabriel’s grandfather, which feature this poem:
Drei Drachen.
Drei Drachen kriechen in meinen Schlaf,
die Seele woll’n sie lebendig zum Frass.
Feurigen Atems, gespaltener Zunge
geniessen sie jedes Mahl.


Three Dragons.
Three dragons creep into my sleep,
the spirit wanting life in its repast.
Fiery breath, forked tongue
they enjoy each meal.


“That’s nice. Kind of creepy, though. Who’s the author?”
“Let’s see…Heinz Ritter. Heinz Ritter! No wonder it gives me chills.”

If you don’t remember why it would give Gabriel chills, look back in Part 2. There’s also a book on snakes which Gabriel flicks through, mostly concerning how constrictor snakes sense vibrations.

“Hmmm. Did you know that medieval legends about dragons and giant worms are actually based on snakes? You know, dragons, devils, sea monsters-they’ve always been associated with snakes.”
“Grace, get a life.”

Anyway we’re off for another day of exploring scenic New Orleans! And seeing as he wasn’t there yesterday, let’s go meet Dr. John, owner of the Voodoo Museum.

The Voodoo Museum

So there’s the man himself, and as you can see, he’s a drat big guy. Well, he should be, because he’s Michael Dorn!! So we have Cajun Tim Curry and Haitian Worf. This game is amazing.

“Welcome, my friend.”
“Hello.”
“I am the proprietor, Dr. John. If you have any questions, I will be happy to assist.”
“Great. My name is Knight, and I’ll probably take you up on that. Quite a place you have here.”
“Thank you, Mr. Knight. I have dedicated myself to the preservation of this unique culture. It is gratifying to see others reap the fruits I have sown.”

Enough small talk, let’s interrogate! And this gives us a big history lesson on Voodoo, so I really recommend you watch the video because it’s interesting as hell. Dr. John denies knowing anything about cabrit sans cor’, but over the course of the info dump, we learn that the most powerful Voodoo Queen was Marie Laveau, and she is added to our list of topics to question people about. He also refers us to a local Voodooienne (Voodoo Priestess) named…Magentia Moonbeam. Yeeaaaah. And she’s about what you expect with a name like that, but we’ll meet her later. First, let’s visit the last location we didn’t get a chance to on day 1, the cemetery.


On the way out of the museum, Gabriel gives the wishing stump a rub.

St. Louis Cemetery #1

And here we are. The tomb in front of us is actually supposed to be Marie Laveau’s tomb. We can take a closer look at the markings.


“I want a copy of these strange marks.”
So we copy them into Gabriel’s sketchbook. Now we need to go track down the groundskeeper who wanders around randomly through the cemetery.


Oh good, he didn’t go far.
“I’m sorry to bother you…”
“Yeah? What can I do for you?”
“You must enjoy the company of dead folks.”
“Unlike the living, they ain’t never given me any reason to dislike them none.”

Interrogation time! The groudsman, Toussaint Gervais, doesn’t have a lot of new info for us beyond telling us that the Laveau tomb always has weird markings and offerings left around it, as does another tomb, one of the “great family tombs” as he puts it, and lets drop that once he even found a severed penis there. Yuck. Also, Dr. John is at the cemetery almost daily. Interesting. We’ll check out the rest of the cemetery then.


Gee, I wonder WHICH tomb that might have been that Gervais was talking about?? Well, let’s call it for now, and next time we’ll go visit Magentia…and it will be the doofiest part of the game, I assure you.

(Side note: Sorry for the general lack of snark that my previous LP's have had...this game is THAT good, and you really should pick it up right now.)

Ensign_Ricky fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Oct 13, 2013

JamieTheD
Nov 4, 2011

LPer, Reviewer, Mad Welshman

(Yes, that's a self portrait)
Yeah, this game really does sell itself, but you're doin' a good job on it, so relax! I think part of what sells it is Grace's relationship with Gabriel. That, and the drat good VA from most of the parties involved...

:allears: Michael Dorn :allears:

DMW45
Oct 29, 2011

Come into my parlor~
Said the spider to the fly~

Says this video doesn't exist.

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Ensign_Ricky
Jan 4, 2008

Daddy Warlord
of the
Children of the Corn


or something...

BenRGamer posted:

Says this video doesn't exist.

That's weird, try this link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNup0AX9418

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