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Ensign_Ricky posted:
It looks like there's an awful green screen behind it - Why they did that is beyond me. Either that or German wolves float. Also, if that guy were any more obviously evil he'd have horns, a cape and beard. And Gabriel would STILL play along!
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Jan 1, 2014 08:42
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Answer: It's the sort of half-baked pseudo-bullshit-science that a werewolf wannabe (at minimum) would embrace, closely akin to the fantasies of rapists and child molesters who insist that their victims seduced them.
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Jan 1, 2014 16:01
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Quicksilver6 posted:It looks like there's an awful green screen behind it - Why they did that is beyond me. Either that or German wolves float. Getting some wolves in a zoo enclosure to pose the way they wanted them too was probably impossible. They must have brought a wolf in to shoot some greenscreen footage and didn't do the best job of pasting them into the background. If I recall right, every time you get this screen:  The position and footage of the wolves is randomized a little, to make it look like they're moving around the enclosure. There was talk of hints to prevent 'dead man walking' scenarios, but I just remembered something about a possible bug in chapter 4 or 5 of the game, something about a cabin and a book of matches on a mantlepiece. I never encountered it playing the game myself, but I read about it in walkthroughs. Anyone got details on that?
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Jan 1, 2014 18:45
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Besides, they couldn't just film the enclosure with wolves in it and play that, because they needed the animated area to be as small as possible, and the action area stable. Pasting in separate video clips is a pretty standard FMV game solution to this.
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Jan 1, 2014 18:50
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davidspackage posted:There was talk of hints to prevent 'dead man walking' scenarios, but I just remembered something about a possible bug in chapter 4 or 5 of the game, something about a cabin and a book of matches on a mantlepiece. I never encountered it playing the game myself, but I read about it in walkthroughs. Anyone got details on that? There's no bug that I know of. The matches only appear once the player's done a bunch of other stuff. Some players will forget to do one of those things while replaying the game so they complain on the internet about the matches not being there.
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Jan 1, 2014 19:24
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TheDavies posted:Answer: It's the sort of half-baked pseudo-bullshit-science that a werewolf wannabe (at minimum) would embrace, closely akin to the fantasies of rapists and child molesters who insist that their victims seduced them. I know, but things that are simply that loving stupid annoy the holy loving hell out of me. Suspension of disbelief only goes so frigging far.
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Jan 1, 2014 20:53
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Ensign_Ricky posted:I know, but things that are simply that loving stupid annoy the holy loving hell out of me. Suspension of disbelief only goes so frigging far. Ah, but you are overlooking something important: the game takes place in a setting that resembles the real world, but where vodou loas, zombies, werewolves and probably assorted other mythical beings are real. For all we know, the "bullshit" might actually be true within the setting. And there is something I would like to get off my chest: the premise common to supernatural thrillers that there is a "hidden" supernatural world co-existing with the real one is nonsensical. Think about it: the supernaturals do their thing in ways that "mundanes" really should notice, but the masquerade is never broken. No archeologists have discovered that zombies are real by poking around that structure in Benin, and the ground opening up in the middle of Jackson Square doesn't lead to a proper investigation of what the cause might be. Werewolves have been around in Bavaria since at least the mid-1700s but are still considered a myth by mainstream society - certainly no scientist has ever managed to get ahold of a werewolf for examination. In the Blackwell games there are ghosts that interfere with electronic equipment and are able to set machinery in motion, and mediums that can perceive them, yet apparently noone has attempted to examine these phenomena in a scientific manner, and it is implied that you will be involuntarily commmitted to psychiatric care if you attempt to reveal your abilities as a medium. There are countless other examples like this, but the point is: when the "supernatural" clearly exists and has discernible and consistent effects within the setting, why isn't it accepted as part of the natural world? Why aren't werevolves considered a peculiar human-wolf hybrid species? Kopijeger fucked around with this message at 22:38 on Jan 1, 2014 |
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Jan 1, 2014 21:59
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The "masquerade" makes things easier for the writers (and, ostensibly, the readers). The end.
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Jan 1, 2014 22:34
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Xander77 posted:The "masquerade" makes things easier for the writers (and, ostensibly, the readers). The end. While this is of course the real answer, I've always quite liked settings where people subconsciously know drat well that there's bad poo poo out there and so are determined not to believe in it because it's just too terrifying to face. Nobody wants to admit to themselves the horrible truth of the world, so they'll tell themselves any kind of story to make it seem normal. Such as saying that Tim Curry was too busy to make the second game, rather than that he was cursed to turn into Dean Erickson every full moon.
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Jan 1, 2014 23:40
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inflatablefish posted:While this is of course the real answer, I've always quite liked settings where people subconsciously know drat well that there's bad poo poo out there and so are determined not to believe in it because it's just too terrifying to face. Except that, logic aside, this solution lacks subtlety. If you make it so that the supernaturals leave no discernible traces around, then you can never know for sure whether they are real within the setting or simply figments of their imagination. For example, instead of zombies, Gabriel faces a psychic vision of Tetelo that has no physicality and may simply be a hallucination. Or Malia calls on Tetelo in the honfour, but there is no answer we can hear. And any actual danger is mundane in nature, like getting stabbed or shot. With care, you won't have to explain why the masquerade remains in place and can leave open the possibility of everything that seems "supernatural" not actually taking place.
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Jan 2, 2014 00:23
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Actually, a common theme in Jane Jensen's games is that people DO know that there is a paranormal plane, they just don't react in a dramatical manner. Which I think is more than justified. I've read quite a lot on the topic of vampires and werewolves ranging from ancient Arcadia, the birthplace of the European werewolf tradition, to Ukraine, Belarussia, Moldavia etc. where the belief in lycanthropy and vampirism survived in the most sincere form until late 19th century. Throughout history and all across this vast geography, the unifying element of these beliefs is the banality with which they are accepted and ritualized. People did put people on trial because they honestly believed they were shapeshifters, theologians wrote elaborate treatises in which they tried to reconcile the act of changing form through magic with the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation, Roman scholars wrote about remedies to utilize the wolf essence for good, but none of them made that much of a big deal out of it except in isolated cases. When something becomes the accepted truth, the logical reaction is to integrate it into the mundane, not to remain shocked by it. Especially if the day to day life presents you with enough problems as it is. Similarly in West Africa there remains a strong and literal tradition of animism. People do really believe that the world is charged with roaming spirits of the dead, and are absolutely horrified by places where dead bodies have had a chance to discharge their vital energies(I particularly recall that around the gulf of Guinea rural locals consider morticians to be damned, tainted by their contact with the spirits. Hence it's a job most often performed by former child soldiers, serious criminals, mercenaries and other people without relatives and rejected by their society) Yet the society at large would to an observer appear completely unaffected by this superstition. In a more related anecdote, consider the Human Leopard Society, most often associated with Sierra Leone, but with offshoots reported as far South as Botswana. This loosely woven group organized ritual murders throughout its area of influence. Members proselytized the idea of human-leopard lycanthropy, and by killing apparently innocent victims, collecting their fat for occult applications and often cannibalizing them created a surprisingly wide spread market that catered to honest and popular native beliefs that would make the New Orleans voodoo circle's skin crawl. Similar resurfacing of bizarre and grotesquely violent beliefs in the supernatural was common for instance in Cambodia, and I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it's a common feature in numerous destabilized societies. You could argue that in none of these cases the supernatural actually manifested itself, but I think that's irrelevant. If a belief is held by enough people, it becomes the truth by the virtue of affecting the society and having substantial consequences - you know, Thomas' theorem and such. Also, regarding whether these phenomena are studied or not, it's not like a scientist going into a Galician village and saying "You know what, I've never seen a vampire, so would you be so kind to stop believing in them? TIA" would change anything. After all, take how many people have studied bigfoot reports, and how many hippies just KNOW that not only is there a bigfoot, but also that he's a telepathic crystal alien who heals cancer through prayer. So, in summary, I thing that if you want to create an effective world populated by supernatural beings and phenomena, you must make it so that they are perceived casually by the perpetrators / victims, and are only shocking to the uninitiated player avatar. And in GK1 you have a whole menagerie of people who do not doubt voodoo is true, and don't even disguise their conviction, ranging from the shopkeeper to the old lady. I don't want to talk about what happens in GK2 and GK3, but the situation is the same. Even the villagers basically go "Welp, another werewolf attack, somebody better call the steinrokkan fucked around with this message at 00:38 on Jan 2, 2014 |
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Jan 2, 2014 00:24
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inflatablefish posted:While this is of course the real answer, I've always quite liked settings where people subconsciously know drat well that there's bad poo poo out there and so are determined not to believe in it because it's just too terrifying to face. The Sonja Blue book series, while sort of spun off of White Wolf properties, takes this sort of explanation, where there's this weird psychic phenomenon that keeps humans from recognizing the supernatural. Sidenote: I've seen lots of wolves shaped like that long legged one.
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Jan 2, 2014 00:34
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One of my favorite parts of the first Anita Blake book was a lengthy discussion of the legal status of zombies and vampires - it was refreshing to have a series where the masquerade really didn't exist and to see how the author imagined that affecting society. Of course, all the later books kind of ditched that aspect in favor of having giant supernatural S&M orgies because the author lost her mind. Oh, well. In the case of GK, it seems like the masquerade is maintained basically by there not being that much supernatural stuff to begin with. For every real voodoo circle, there are a thousand guys in pharmacies selling bags of brick dust to sweep your stoop with to keep out evil. For every genuine werewolf, there are a hundred maniacs who pretend to be werewolves and maybe even think they are. For every... oh, we haven't got to the third game yet, have we? Well, you get the idea. So anytime a scientific examination starts up, it's going to find all the fake people and conclude that everything is fake. (Especially since the real ones will hide out and have supernatural abilities to avoid detection - they must, see, or they would have been wiped already, wouldn't they?) Is it a bit thin? Sure, but it's enough to base suspension of disbelief on, if you're so inclined.
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Jan 2, 2014 01:11
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idonotlikepeas posted:In the case of GK, it seems like the masquerade is maintained basically by there not being that much supernatural stuff to begin with. For every real voodoo circle, there are a thousand guys in pharmacies selling bags of brick dust to sweep your stoop with to keep out evil. That seems to be most of the case for GK1, as well as the fact that the Geddes were influential enough with the cops/press to keep the public misdirected. And even if the public believed that there were secret Voodoo cults, they'd still have a much harder time believing that there was a 200 year old ghost running things from behind the scenes.
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Jan 3, 2014 00:35
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Sorry for the delay, kind of in crisis mode at my job, next update should be tomorrow or sunday at the latest.
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Jan 4, 2014 06:58
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I have been reading this LP since a couple weeks ago, and I must say you're doing a great job. Always wanted to know more about the Gabriel Knight games, but when I was a kid I wouldn't had the patience to go through all the bullshit logic leaps of point and click games. Regarding the whole "wolves are the Reaper" thing, the logical explanation would be that it's an extension of canine cancer detection. Dogs and wolves have a great sense of smell, so they could sense when a prey is close to death/easier to hunt; or it is just a bit under the weather and let it go. But yeah, it does sound like Herr Doktor "Not a werewolf fan" is trying to spin some justification as to why it's okay for werewolves to kill whoever they want, since they're just killing those who would die anyway.
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Jan 4, 2014 07:53
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I'm really enjoying this LP (Tim Curry and Mark Hamil are great voice actors,) but I only just recently started working through the first adventure and... skimming through the character list-summary post before you get to all the episode lists before I knew better ended up telling me a bit more about some characters' final fates than I probably should have known coming in blind. In general, at least in the future, you might want to put the character summaries after the LP session shortcuts to avoid stumble-upon spoilers. That aside, I'm really liking the LP, and you're doing a good job of balancing between showing us the everything and focusing in on the important parts.
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Jan 5, 2014 11:03
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Part Four: A Walking Tour of Munich Right so where were we?  “…Have you ever heard of the Language of Death?”gently caress YOU. Right. Now, what to do, what to do….Well, there’s one more highlighted section on the mapscreen…Marienplatz, so let’s go there because why not?  Music here’s a bit jaunty. Gabriel looks around a bit…  Focusses on this statue for no reason I can discern, but I’m gonna go on a limb and say it’ll be significant later, and our viewpoint changes.  So we can click the building immediately behind Gabriel…   “Looks like this isn’t the first time there’s been a shadow over Munich.”…Am I really going to have to make an Olympic bombing joke here? gently caress it, moving on. There’s a shop at the end of the street…and the screen actually scrolls to follow Gabriel and extend our field of vision. Holy loving poo poo, this is goddamned amazing for a Sierra adventure game!!! I mean, yeah, it’s nothing we’ve never seen before in a proper side-scroller, but, my GOD, it’s a breath of fresh air to see it in here!  So the shop sells cuckoo clocks, but Gabriel doesn’t want to go inside. Let’s have a look at our brand new viewpoint!   Hmm, another shop… “Swiss and German watches. I’ve already got a watch, thank you.” Exit? Exit where??  Ok, we’re back at the plaza. Hmm, So I can click the statue thing, whatever it is…  “She almost seems to be watching me.”Thanks for the insight. And to the right of the statue?  “That must be the famous Munich Glockenspiel.” HISTORY TIME!!! Yes, this is a real landmark in Munich. The Rathaus-Glockenspiel is a clock that chimes every day at 11AM, drawing tourists and crowds of locals. There are 43 bells and 32 figures involved in telling two stories. The upper level tells the story of the marriage of Duke Wilhelm V, while the bottom level is about the Schäfflertanz, or Cooper’s Dance, which was a dance in the 16th Century to drive away plague that is ritually re-enacted every 7 years (Next one’s in 2019, if you’re interested.) So moving further past the gate leading to the Glockenspiel…  We have this guy tooling on his guitar playing “When The Saints Go Marching In”. I didn’t mention this during GK1, but WTSGMI is kind of an easter egg in the series. You can hear it in the park in GK1, and well, here it is here. What an American Gospel standard is doing in loving Germany though, I have no idea. Although it is based on the Book of Revelation, so take that as you will. We can check the fountain in the back…  Nothing to click though. Moving on..  And Dienerstrabe to you too, sign! Hmm, there’s a door about half-way down the road we can click…  Gabriel wants us to mail something, so we take the letter out of our inventory and click on the door with it.  Gabriel walks in, we fade to black, and he walks out again. CAN YOU WITHSTAND THE PULSE POUNDING HORRORS OF THE BEAST WITHIN?!  Further up the road (This isn’t a game, this is a walking tour of Germany, isn’t it??), we can click on that building about halfway up the street on the right. But Gabriel comments “Just more buildings down this way.” And refuses to go further.  So we go back to the subway, and having no other bright ideas, I go back to the Huber farm. Where I get stuck because I have no idea where to go next. So going through our inventory, I realize that the lawfirm of Ubergrau, Hoffen, and Schell is back in Marienplatz, so maybe we should go back there.  And clicking in the opposite direction from where we went last time lands us at the German deli. Well, can we talk to this old broad?  We can, and she offers us some Weisswurst, which Gabriel declines. I have no idea what Weisswurst tastes like. Next to the deli is a building directory…  So we came to the right place.  Doogie Hauser, Attorney at Law. Actually, this is Ubergrau, and Gabriel is actually taken aback by his age, and in his own words was “expecting Matlock”. Or Mattloch I suppose. Well, I’m falling asleep at the computer, so that should tide everyone over for now. Next time: I figure out where I’m going next, hopefully. No hints yet though, I’m keen to guess.
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Jan 6, 2014 09:40
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Oh, how you'll come to loathe that "breath of fresh air". Also, Easter Egg isn't quite the term here. "Running theme"?
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Jan 6, 2014 11:40
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The Corner with the Dragon is actually also a fairly known landmark, its called the Wurmeck (Wyrmcorner). It's a metaphorical folktale about the Plague and how the Peasants fight against it. It's the supposed origin of the tradition of the dancing barrel-makers, the Schäfflertanz, which you talked about in the Update,I noticed,who, after the Peasants killed the Dragon and hid inside, danced on the street to take away the fear and signal that everything is good now. Higher Res Wurmeck:  Schäfflertanz: 
Jack-Off Lantern fucked around with this message at 12:07 on Jan 6, 2014 |
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Jan 6, 2014 12:05
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The Marienplatz outdoors really show why 90s FMV was such a limited technology. All the details of these scenes just blend together due to low color depth and resolution. "They sell cuckoo clocks? I'll have to take your word for it, Gabriel, because my eyes just glaze over the jumbled mess of brown pixels." Basically, every screen that isn't a carefully lit and arranged interior looks terrible.
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Jan 6, 2014 12:24
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Hymirvetr posted:Higher Res Wurmeck: Oh wow, I totally assumed that the dragon had been added to that image by the game devs. It just looked so dark and out of place in the image. It's pretty cool that it's a real thing. Also that dance is the greatest. 
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Jan 6, 2014 20:44
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EphemeralToast posted:Oh wow, I totally assumed that the dragon had been added to that image by the game devs. It just looked so dark and out of place in the image. It's pretty cool that it's a real thing. Also that dance is the greatest.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:34
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Accordion Man posted:It may not be completely apparent by now but Jane Jensen really doesn't half-rear end the settings in her games that much when they're based off real cities. That's part of the reason why I really liked the Gabriel Knights and Gray Matter, you can tell she clearly cares about getting the real locations and the history right and it just makes them more interesting. The only other games that I can think off the the top of my head that are as nearly as good about research is the Assassin's Creed games. Yeah, and it will become even more evident in GK3 which is not only based on a carefully researched locality, but also does a great job of turning the whole place (literally) and its history into a singular, extremely intricate puzzle spanning many hours of playtime.
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Jan 6, 2014 23:51
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 My GF is a first generation American of Germanic background. I can tell you that Weiswurst is one of the best German sausages out there. Most American's only know Bratwurst, which is good, but the rarer in the US "White Sausage" is extra tasty. If you come across a German based restaurant, or there's some sort of German festival (such as Oktoberfest) you're likely to find some.
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Jan 7, 2014 02:07
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Hymirvetr posted:The Corner with the Dragon is actually also a fairly known landmark, its called the Wurmeck (Wyrmcorner). It's a metaphorical folktale about the Plague and how the Peasants fight against it. It's the supposed origin of the tradition of the dancing barrel-makers, the Schäfflertanz, which you talked about in the Update,I noticed,who, after the Peasants killed the Dragon and hid inside, danced on the street to take away the fear and signal that everything is good now. Ok, I'll grant that doing a silly dance would relieve people's fear, but what's the significance of the hedge arches?
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Jan 7, 2014 08:27
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I'm from one state over, so I'm not that sure, but apparently people back then believed that the boxwood tree protects against the plague. So, the Schäffler made arches out of them to protect themselves or something like that. I dunno. Bavarians are silly. Apparently they also believed that Alcohol helps against the plague, by drinking it, as noted by that song they sing: "Uns Schäffler hat die Pest verschont, durch unsre Arbeit und den Wein. Des Fasses Inhalt uns belohnt, drum schenkt die Gläser fleißig ein!" translates to: "Us Schäffler did the plague spare, through our work and wine. the barrel contents did us reward, so fill the glasses!" Jack-Off Lantern fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Jan 7, 2014 |
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Jan 7, 2014 12:08
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Choco1980 posted:
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Jan 7, 2014 22:20
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I promise the thread is not dead, just having some...stuff...going on in real life. Update before the weekend's over, I promise. And probably one more by mid-week if all goes according to plan.
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Jan 11, 2014 09:25
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Part Five: Lawyer Fanboys and Vorta So, last time we arrived at the offices of Herr Ubergrau, the Ritter/Knight family lawyer…or more specifically, we’re meeting the grandson/junior partner of Herr Ubergrau. Interrogation lets us ask him a few things which play to Gabriel’s favor. First of all, as he speaks fluent English, anything we need translated, he freely offers to take care of. Also, he’s actually a fan of Gabriel’s books, and wants to help out any investigation Gabriel begins. Ladies and gentlemen, we have our Mosely! That done, hmm, I wonder if the desk clerk at Prinzregentenplatz will be more accommodating now? “No point in going back there at the moment, I can’t even try to talk my way in.”Okaaaay, maybe I have to go back to Lochham now?  Actually, it turns out there is more to explore at the Huber farm! So we can go down the path, or check out that log. Well, better do everything here first, right?  Actually, it’s a trough. Ok, we can go behind it for something…  “These woods go back a ways. Plenty of space to hide.” So, I wonder that seeing as my next obvious thing to do is attempt to explore the woods, shouldn’t I try to put on the Schattenjager Talisman?? Actually, the game refuses to let me use it on Gabriel. Dude, seriously? The nice folks here called you up to investigate possible werewolves, the least you could do is wear your badge of office while doing it.  Well, trying to enter the woods has Gabe kneel down and find…  Oh please tell me that’s not the little girl’s hair. Well, Gabriel seems to think otherwise, that it’s fur from the wolves, and pockets it.  Please tell me that I’m not the only one reading that as FURM HAIR. Well, there’s only one person we’ve met who might be able to tell us about it, let’s go back to visit Herr Doktor Klingmann…despite the fact that he’s obviously evil and involved somehow, of course.  Actually, Gabriel shows some sense here and tells us that he thinks Klingmann is too involved. Holy poo poo, actual logic and realization that the obviously evil doctor is obviously evil. Where was this when Haitian Worf was jerking us around??? Okay, next logical step I suppose is to ask Ubergrau about it?  I didn’t notice his secretary before….drat. Just showing him the hair has Gabriel comment that Ubergrau may know someone to take it to.  Success! Ubergrau has contacts at the university via Herr Doktor Spiegel apparently.  And here’s something weird, every time Gabriel leaves the office, Ubergrau adjusts that little globe thing on his desk. Yes, yes, I know it’s just recycled animation, but it sticks out to me. I think we better be careful trusting Ubergrau too much.  WE HAVE A NEW LOCATION!!! To the University!  This guy looks weirdly familiar to me. Let’s see, he says his name is Michael….check IMDB here….  Holy poo poo. (Oh, if you don’t recognize him, he’s a character from a couple episodes of Star Trek DS9.) Anyway, he takes a look under a microscope…  He says it’s not human, but is pretty sure it’s canine…then double checks it and decides it’s wolf hair…but he’s not sure, he thinks it might be a “mix-up”. “A mix-up…? Oh, you mean a hybrid?” “Hy-brid….oh you mean when a wolf and a dog…”  So that just happened. So he says it could be a wolf/dog, 2 different wolf species, a wolf and something else…but he can’t pin it down any further. Well, that done, anything else at the Huber Farm? Well, yes, it’s time for cement apparently! And I only know this because I had to peek at a walkthrough.  That darker patch I’m pointing at right now? Yeah, I missed that earlier. Further investigation reveals….  A pawprint as big as Gabriel’s hand. drat, that’s a big dog. To the cement! So Gabriel whips up a quick batch, and we take it back to the print.  And how quick drying is it? About a minute. Wait, what? Is there actually cement out there that cures that fast, because every time I’ve ever helped my father use it, it takes about 24 hours to fully set.  Anyway, Gabriel takes the bucket back and cleans it out like a good guest, and that done, we can get our print back.  Huzzah! Well, seems like a good place for now because NEXT TIME, we have to do something that I had no clue about until I checked the aforementioned walkthrough. And really, there’s probably no way I could’ve figured this upcoming part out on my own.
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Jan 12, 2014 09:55
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I am getting a lot of "babby's first acting gig" vibes from the actors in these videos. Was the directing just that bad or were all these people really that awkward (Gabriel included, he is VERY different from the first game)?
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Jan 12, 2014 10:33
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It seems that for both directors credited by the IMDB this was their first and last major gig. One basically never worked again in any credited position, the other one made what I can only guess from user reviews is borderline softcore porn.
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Jan 12, 2014 10:42
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Aces High posted:I am getting a lot of "babby's first acting gig" vibes from the actors in these videos. Was the directing just that bad or were all these people really that awkward (Gabriel included, he is VERY different from the first game)? In the case of Michael, it really was his first gig, followed by his role on DS9 a few months later. And to be fair, he was really quite good on DS9 (even if his second appearance involved him getting accidentally shot by the Ferengi).
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Jan 12, 2014 17:46
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Part Six: Gabriel Knight 2 - The Wrath of Grace So, now that we have our fancy-schmancy homemade pawprint, I guess we should go show Michael the Lab Geek it, huh? Well, first we need to explore a new mechanic this game introduces: Tape Splicing!  So what we need to do is take a tape of someone else we’ve talked to, in this case Herr Doktor Klingmann, put it in side A, and put a blank tape in the other side of the recorder. From this point, we can pull certain words and phrases from the conversation.  What words and phrases?  That done, let’s go back to the University.  Michael looks at it, starts flipping through a book, and says it’s a wolf…a very big wolf, weighing around 68-70kgs. (About double what the average wolf weighs.) Michael grants that a hybrid might get as big, but can’t say for sure. Ok, back to the zoo.  Luckily, the good Herr Doktor is absent. Let’s do a little snooping first.  But we find nothing. So we use the spliced tape on Klingmann’s walkie-talkie to get Thomas in place.  Thomas looks confused, but doesn’t question all the loud clicking sounds that the tape recorder makes as we use it. Or, you know, the fact that his German boss at this German zoo is talking to his German employee in loving English. Goddamn it. :uggh:  On the way out, we rifle Klingmann’s coat and get a piece of paper.  Back out at the wolf pen, Thomas shows Gabriel a “special treat” of his that makes the wolves come to him.  This one is having none of his bullshit however, and takes quite a bit of coaxing to come to the pair.  Once there, we can see the tag that all the wolves wear, and Gabriel actually squats down to pet the animal, in the process helping himself to some shed fur. Thomas nearly has a coronary at this, but an even bigger one when one of the other wolves starts to growl at them.  So naturally they do what you should do with an animal that can smell fear, and run like girls. Gabriel, at least this Gabriel, I can understand acting like an idiot, but this dummkopf should know better. Anyway, with another task done, I think we need to visit Michael one last time.  Michael immediately pegs this as wolf hair, and gives us a summary of his findings. Nice guy. Ok, let’s actually take a look at that paper we stole from Klingmann.   Gabriel figures out that it’s a receipt, but can’t make out the backwards writing on the back. Luckily, there’s a mirror back at the Huber farm.  Well, Gabriel’s German sucks so maybe we better take this back to our volunteer translator. Ubergrau identifies the paper as a hunting license, and the text on the back points towards the Royal Bavarian Hunting Lodge, which also happens to be in the same area, back up the road near the post office.  So apparently this Hunting Club is harder to get in than certain golf courses. You have to be able to prove your family heritage is of good German stock before you can join.  So we go back to Ubergrau who gives us the Ritter Family Tree. So we take it back to the weaselly door man, who apologizes for being rude earlier, but Gabriel would still have to be invited to join by a member. GEE I WONDER IF THIS SUSPICIOUS LOOKING GUY COULD BE A VILLAIN??? This fellow introduces himself as Baron Von Glower and offers to sponsor Gabriel’s entry much to the weaselly guy’s frustration. Inside the club we find…  Ah, poo poo. Cover’s already blown. Herr Doktor and his companion, Baron….something, I can’t catch the name…thank you IMDB, Baron Von Zell…look on suspiciously.  These three fellows are a little more jovial towards Gabriel.  Except this guy, who calls himself Herr Preiss and acts extremely weirdly, shaking Gabriel’s hand and saying “Verry interesting.” Oookay, so this guy’s probably involved too. At any rate, Von Glower offers Gabriel a beer, which infuriates Von Zell.  He slams down his beer stein and storms off muttering in German. Klingmann follows shortly there after, while Preiss excuses himself far more politely. Gabriel then also says he has to leave. Von Glower then gives Gabriel his card and tells him to call on him anytime.  End of Chapter One! Cool! Okay, seeing as I didn’t have a chance to save at all during that segment, let’s get a sneak peek at what’s waiting for us next time!   GRACE!!  Grace’s scenes start with her serving this rather large woman who won’t shut the gently caress up about “Blake Backlash” (*groan*), and how in the novel he seduces his assistant…Fujitsu. To say that Grace is not loving impressed is a goddamned understatement. The customer asks if she might be able to meet Gabriel.  “I wouldn’t if I were you. He’s awfully shy. It’s his face. There was an accident. A terrible accident.”Going out on a limb here, after only a little bit of time with her, I feel that this version of Grace is equal to or superior to Leah Remini’s version. She gets Gabriel’s letter, and after reading how Gerde is working as Gabriel’s assistant at present, Grace wastes no time in calling Bon Voyage Travel (an admittedly clever bit of continuity to the first game), and books a flight to Germany.  Grace is pissed She bangs on the door repeatedly to get Gerde’s attention, and I cannot stress enough that the video makes this feel more and more that a full scale bitch fight is about to break out. Grace demands to see Gabriel, and is angry that he’s not there, deciding to stay at Schloss Ritter for the time being. NEXT TIME: Grace becomes a playable character!!
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Jan 15, 2014 10:31
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"Stupid bitch" is an unnecessarily gendered insult that has a lot of issues about it, but Grace is immensely bitchy in this game. And stupid. Ever so stupid. (See my point in previous posts about the actors being given absolutely terrible direction)
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Jan 15, 2014 11:05
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The hunting club is whre the real tragedy of Gabriel Knight 2's adventure lies: The members alway hang around the beer keg, they even sometimes have their steins filled, but they never drink. What cruel ailment has befallen their mind?
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Jan 15, 2014 11:19
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Ensign_Ricky posted:Thomas looks confused, but doesn’t question all the loud clicking sounds that the tape recorder makes as we use it. Or, you know, the fact that his German boss at this German zoo is talking to his German employee in loving English. Goddamn it. :uggh: This is possibly the silliest linguistic issue in the entire game, and could have been avoided entirely if they had only used the "Gabriel speaks German but we hear it as English" convention. quote:Well, Gabriel’s German sucks so maybe we better take this back to our volunteer translator. Ubergrau identifies the paper as a hunting license, and the text on the back points towards the Royal Bavarian Hunting Lodge, which also happens to be in the same area, back up the road near the post office. And Gabriel is also too incompetent to operate a dictionary. As we shall see later, Grace has slightly more facility with the language, yet still needs to rely on the contrivance of having access to ready-made translations of documents. Kopijeger fucked around with this message at 13:24 on Jan 15, 2014 |
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Jan 15, 2014 11:24
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Looks like they anglicised the spelling of the first name. In Germany "Stefan" or "Stephan" would be the usual way to spell it. And the street should be "Josefstraße" Kopijeger fucked around with this message at 11:46 on Jan 15, 2014 |
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Jan 15, 2014 11:39
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Kopijeger posted:And the street should be "Josefstraße" I don't think the fonts they used has an ess-tsett; if you look around through updates you can see an ss used in place of ß in a couple places. Of course the space in the street name shouldn't be there.
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Jan 15, 2014 11:51
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Also now that I think about it, I'm surprised you didn't mention the castle's mighty cardboard gates shaking under Grace's vicious blows.  It just looks so extraordinarily cheap.
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Jan 15, 2014 14:28
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