The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery (Book)

Still can't get over the werewolf look

So I bought the book, got delivered and read it during the sunday after Halloween to get in some spooky mood for the holiday. And I couldn't stop reading until it was over, even though I know how it ended, or maybe it helped me just pass through it without problem. Pretty much the same as the game, but with some differences. For example the first chapter as Gabriel begins to get info from Herr Doctor Klingmann, instead of sneaking back to the office to get the hunting license and use the walkie-talkie to fool Thomas you first pick up another workers walkie-talkie when they are distracted by something and then he followed Klingmann through Munich to the club and asked around for information before entering. Not much changed, although the license is brought up in chapter 3. 

Chapter two works mostly like the game. No repairmen though, although it explains that Gabe called and left a message instead of sending a letter. Explaining the time frame. Not much here Chapter 3 is more interesting. They got rid of the cuckoo clock side quest, explained the dream sequence better, that there actually been two days since chapter one giving Grace some more time to get to Germany and do chapter two. And the ending where the werewolf stalks Gabriel near the Huber farm is described better, that it is a dead cat on the lawn instead of some other animal and how the wolf reacted to the medallion and so.

Chapter 4 is the same and covers the Ludwig II and even introduces a character not in the game, an old man who's father worked for Ludwig II that gave the family a golden ring containing a lock of hair. Also it flows a bit better instead of the rushed game. Also the book skips the subplot of Grace making up with Gerda by putting roses on Wolfgangs grave. Pretty much Werner Huber tell her instead of she finding it. Also, she actually have a german-english dictionary which makes it a bit easier to stomach as she translates some stuff and move along the plot instead of grinding it to a halt to find a translator. 

Chapter 5 follows the game almost to a tee. And it is the highlight of the book as Gabriel uncovers what happened to the missing wolves, connecting the dots of other mysterious disappearances and following the hunting lodge to their cabin and cornering von Zell. Small differences is that at the meeting at Dorns exotic animals he didn't need to feed a tiger with whitewurst or bring 14 000 mark on him. And at the night raid together with Friedrich the reason they get separated is that they ride on horses and Gabe is thrown of after his horse panic at the wolf howls and already were separated from Friedrich since he had plugged his ears. Much better than walking away and not seeing to it that Friedrich noticed him going another way.

Then chapter 6 of the book is a mixtures of some parts from chapter 4 and 6 where Grace connecting the dots of Ludwig II turning into a werewolf, his attempt to stop the Black Wolf with a secret hidden Wagner opera and then trying to know who the Black Wolf is. The part that stuck out was that the english copy of Ludwigs diary that belonged to a english nobleman. In the game I think he just changed his heart and send it over, but here it is explained that something mysterious happened. The box containing the papers fell from it's place in the attic like if it was pushed by a mysterious force, a force both the game and book hints, although with this the book is better at establishing this. It ends pretty much when Grace picks up Gabriel at the Huber's farm after the bit have began changing him, and here the book tells us the part from Gabriel's view. First by allowing him to walk freely at the day, but showing us his changed behaviour. They also hold a seance I think was hinted at in the game, but here is played out as intended, where we follow Ludwig's last hours at Neuschwanstein as he hides the opera and plans and then how he killed himself. Then it pretty much skips the gathering part and instead focus on how it's supposed to work. The plan doesn't have to directly kill von Glower, it just be part of his death as the spirit realm supposedly believe in intent (aka the one hired an assassin is as guilty of murder as the assassin) and therefore could be freed from the curse if someone else due to the actions would kill him.

This leads into the final chapter at the opera. Where they explain the plan in full. The sound and crystals are supposed to turn von Glower into a werewolf so that guards could kill him. But it failed and instead it's the howls of Gabriel in wolf form that causes the change. Then it plays out the same mostly, maybe not mentioning the apparition in the fires, but they instead mentioned the burning foot that weakly tried to break out through the grate. And the epilogue is not as philosophical as in the game where it is hinted that Gabriel felt some temptation to turn into a werewolf, to go with his instincts. Instead it's mentioned that he is set on bringing von Glower down and we get a happy ending as Grace get's full time partner status.

Overall I liked it, doesn't work that well as a walkthrough, but the story is still interesting and I really enjoy the inner monologue to flesh out the story and scenes. Other parts was left like the mention of Sons of the Sun, other groups of shadow hunters and that the Ritters aren't the only ones. So the final question is, where is the Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned novelisation?

Not a graphic novel, a real book?

Altered Beast (Arcade)

Couldn't find a box art for the arcade game

Altered Beast, a Mega Drive game I played at a classmates house some times. Got it for the Wii Virtual Console, the 3DS and and Sega Mega Collection for the PS3. And I played the arcade version of that game after unlocking it by playing the first stage with my youngest sister. Pretty much only was able to get to the boss of the second stage and after that the lives and continues was out, but in Arcade mode, guess what? Unlimited continues. And by brute forcing our way through we finished the game in what, 20 minutes? I guess difficulty was the length of this game.

The story is that Neff, some demon god kidnapped Athena so Zeus raises one or two centurions from their graves (with some so bad it is god synthesised speech). So they fight their way through 5 levels, collecting some power-up spheres to alter their form into different beasts, a werewolf, were-dragon, were-bear, were-tiger and a better werewolf. Worst is the were-bear since it doesn't have a long-ranged attack but must get close. Were-tiger is probably the best since you can even attack upwards . After defeating Neff (why couldn't it have been Hades or something like that? And why is roman centurions doing in an ancient greek setting?) it turns out it is some kind of movie production shown by "behind the scenes" footage like the main guy taking of his animal mask or some one with a clapper.

This game is sort of a nostalgic cult classic and I would lie if I didn't want to play it as a kid, but playing it as older, it's pretty much cheap with sluggish gameplay. At least the arcade version moves a bit fluently, but still it's rather hard. 

Metal Slug X

The Improved sequel

So it finally came for the Switch, and yeah, it's pretty much the second game again, but with certain changes like one stage changed from day to night, improved frame rate and the aliens are introduced in an earlier stage than right at the end. And I've already mentioned I preferred the original sequel, but this time it felt the improved game was better. The ending stage felt better and didn't crawl to a halt at the bridge scene, although it still slugs at certain times (ha, slug). 

There's really nothing else to say compared to the original game. Wonder if 4 and onward will appear on the Switch.

Super Mario Odyssey

Game of the year!

Pre-ordered and ready to go when it was released. Three days on a total of 27 hours the end credits roll. Most fun I've had since Breath of the Wild. And still only has just above 500 power moons as of me writing this. The story is that Mario must save Princess Peach from Bowser that travels around the world to get different things for the wedding, like a wedding dress, cake, flowers and so on. On the adventure you got Cappy, a morphing hat that wants to save his sister that Bowser is using as a bridal diadem. With Cappy you can possess things and monsters and even use him as a jumping point and even attack blocks. And pretty much everything else work like the old games, jump, triple jump, backflip and so on. 

Really, the best is how fun it is both for some weird nostalgic reason (as well knowledge of the series overall) together with just a good game. I was able to find a portrait that lead to the mushroom kingdom before you can access the whole world and I can see the castle and it just look like I imagined my 10 year old mind would have thought Super Mario 64 looked like. And I read a sign telling me about Yoshi. And don't get me started on New Donk City where one part of the world emulates the original Donkey Kong game where the people are shouting "jump, man" as a nod to Mario's original name. And that is not even mentioning Pauline. And the fun game, which other game can you enter a door, find a scooter in an alley and as you start driving a T-rex falls behind you and starts hunting you?

One thing I could say as a bit negative is that it feels rather easy. The only time I had some problem was the end fight with Bowser. Mostly because I was forced to memorise patterns and do it perfectly... or rather until I bite the sour apple and went back to an earlier kingdom to get the extra 3 HP mushroom. With the extra health I was a bit better. And most bosses are rather simple and normal for Mario games, but then they throw a mother f***ing dragon at you. Or a boxing match with Bowser, thankfully I played ARMS and was well prepared for swinging the JoyCons. And the music, especially the forest kingdom is amazing.

And after you finish Bowser you can visit the Mushroom kingdom and revisit all the other kingdoms again for new and harder challenges to get even more power moons. And you can have 2 players, but I haven't tried it. Still, best Mario for the moment.

Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned

A vampire angel?

So after the two first games I got the third game as a christmas present and I gotta admit, I was a bit confused playing it. It looked awful. I mean, really awful.

No one can say that this looks good?

So after getting used to the graphics I at least could enjoy the return of Tim Curry as Gabriel Knight, although he clearly changed the voice a bit. The game also came with a prequel comic detailing the events before the game starts which was a bit strange as well. The first game also had a comic, but that was a visualisation of the event when the Ritters lost the medallion to the voodoo cult. Apparently Grace and Gabriel been contacted by prince James of Albany, a descendant of the Stewarts of Scotland and been offered the job to look into something that appears to be vampire attacks. Mostly the prince is afraid for his newborn son and want the shadow hunter to guard him. Sitting in the darkness some kind of magic is at work as both Grace and the guard dog falls asleep as a vampiric shape appears and kidnaps the son. Gabriel follows suit and ends up on a train to Rhen-Le-Chateau. He gets knocked out and the game starts as he wakes up at the trainstation and meets the conductor that tells him where he is and then help him get to a hotel... and then the game starts at the hotel.

The suspects

So the story goes on for three days divided in time intervals which progress if you do certain activities or in some cases take to long. First day is Gabriel contacting prince James that send in Grace and two guards to help him. Meanwhile Gabriel gets to know the guests at the hotel that all could be the kidnappers, except his friend Mosley that are there on vacation for this treasure hunting trip. The area is supposedly filled with some templar treasure and everyone have that as an excuse. So treasure hunting, finding the baby and get to know the locals, which include a priest, a writer named Sinclair researching the templar and apparently a vineyard owner. As night fall Grace appears with two Scottish people that Gabe decided to spy on, revealing they are freemason and the local priest is Priory of Sion, the Sinclair guy is another templar and after that Gabe gives up. The next day Grace follows on the tour after researching the area and enters the vineyard for what she believes is a baby cry, but it turns out is a winepress, but the guy is still suspicious with all alchemy iconography and such so he gets on the list. And then they find the bodies of the scotsmen on the devils throne, a landmark made out of stone looking like a throne.

Gabriel meanwhile began sneaking in the other guests room and the local priest as he went with them. And as they meet up Grace begins looking into the treasure hunt while Gabe investigate the suspects. Grace finds that the place have a reconstructed Temple of Solomon under the ground built by the templars while Gabe uncovers that the baby they protected is a descendent of Jesus Christ and that the priory of sions and freemasons are fighting for power to put a monarch at the head of the European Union. An agent of the catholic church is present to stop them, the tour guide is a french secret service agent and Mosley is actually working for the CIA. Oh, and one of the guest is the walking jew that was cursed by Jesus to walk the earth until he returned. The third day is Gabe looking for a manuscript that follows the genealogy of Jesus that Sinclair been writing while Grace pinpoints the temple and another guest ends up the target of the vampires. And then uncovers that the old vineyard owner is a vampire that tried to drink the blood of Jesus as to awake Asmodeus, the demon king. And Gabe, Mosley and prince James bodyguard (who I get is some kind of holy protectors) enters the temple and fight it through until Gabe defeats the demon with a stab through the heart. And then it is revealed that the Ritter-family originated from the soldier Longinius that stabed Jesus to see if he lived and as to atone was granted the power to fight darkness. And then it ends as Gabe finds a letter from Grace who left after their relationship got a bit weird after a one night stand. And no more games after that.

This game come just at the right time for me cause I was so into the templar mythos and alchemy and so on. It took some time getting used to the free-floating 3D-camera and as stated, the graphics leaves a lot to be desired. Also, this game have the "cat hair moustache" puzzle that some says killed the adventure genre so certain puzzles was rather illogical. One of the harder one for me was entering everyones room as Gabe when they are out, mostly because it was so many steps that needed to be perfect in order to get right. The music is great and I really liked the story. Not the best ending since it pretty much ended on a cliff hanger and it doesn't even have a book or a follow up book. Which is a shame. Otherwise worth playing.

Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles

Resident Evil 3.5

So me and my sister sat down and played her Resident Evil game and used her double wii zappers for best effect. It's just a rail-shooter game so all you have to do is line up and fire. Rather simple. The only bad thing about it is that you are encouraged to shoot at anything to find hidden emblems and gold by destroying the environment meaning that you constantly hear the gun sound. In instances where you can feel the horror atmosphere it's rather jarring to hear gunshots all the time. Not speaking of the inconsistency from the original games where you had limited ammo. And when the story bits along you can't hear them and instead make the best out of it by reading the text instead. So it's not recommended for its suspenseful story since the gameplay pushes you out of it. Doesn't help that there is no way to separate voices from the SFX in the sound option which could have alleviated some of the problem.

The story then is that you play as Leon two years before Resident Evil 4 as you and Jack Krausser is in an unknown South American jungle looking for a drug kingpin that have some connections to Umbrella. They find a girl that seems to control the B.O.W. and follow her into the jungle while Leon tells the story of his first day in Raccoon city where he met Claire Redfield (Resident Evil 2) and her continues adventure looking for her brother Chris (Resident Evil Code: Veronica). In the end Leon reach the drug lord and fights of the enemies and learn that the girl is the kingpins daughter that have been infected with the Veronica virus to stave of some other disease and it ends with Krausser hurting his arm and pushing him through his shift to the bad guys in Resident Evil 4.

Overall it's a good distraction when playing with two players as you can help each other and at the same time look for hidden treasures. A single player would have a tougher time I believe. Mindless fun for the most part. Makes me hope Capcom releases all the HD releases on the Switch. Can't wait for Revelations 1 and 2.

Metroid II: Samus Returns

She's back!

The remake of the second Metroid game. Original game was for the gameboy so the update was rather welcome. I played that one not that long ago, but I apparently didn't write about it here. So what do we have here? A great improvement in my mind. Music is fleshed out compared to the original one and the graphical update was really needed and they even added short cutscenes here and there, especially when meeting the evolved Metroids. Also some extra bosses are added and most of them I believe are completely new. One is even reoccurring one. You first meet this one as it blocks the road and Samus shot it out of it’s way. Then it head on destroying two chozo-statues and then using some kind of rolling drill to chase you through the tunnels and after some more delving into the planets inner core fighting it again and destroying it with a shot behind you. Samus is back!

Still wish the 3DS would support a colour palette

Story is the same as before. After the first game the galactic federation deems the Metroids to dangerous to keep alive with the space pirates running rampant through the galaxy. So they send their elite troops to their planet of origin, SR388. And as standard the federation loose contact with the team and there is only one person to send in, Samus Aran. Playing the game is improved since they gave Samus some new abilities like able to fire in 360 degrees, special moves like a scan pulse to show the map and make it easier to explore since it reveals every hidden item and secret area. Great for people like me, And then there is a slow down power instead of a run faster ability Also suits me better since reaction isn’t getting better with time. There is also some rapid-fire power and then a final forth one which I can’t remember at the moment. The rest are pretty much standard metroid weapons like the spider ball, bombs, super missiles and different suits.

Take that Metroid

So is there any new story? Well, they tie this one together with Metroid Fusion since they show the X returning after eradicating the metroids and it attacking the same monster that is the one that infected Samus at the start of Fusion. And as a bonus for finding 100 % of the items in each area you unlock Chozo-memories which tells the history of the planet when the Chozo arrived, discovered the X and created the Metroids to combat them. After that threat the metroids evolved to its other forms and attacked the Chozo and they were forced to push them back into the planet and lock them in there. And as another Chozo ship arrives the final memory shows how the Chozo are slain by their own kin in the memory called 2d/10. I can swear I’ve heard that before (I think it’s uttered at the attack of the death star in the original Star Wars), but I believe it hints on a future instalment of a new 2d metroid game since that would maybe be the 10th game in the series, the first 4 2d ones (Metroid, Return of Samus, Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion), the 3 prime games, Other M and either Metroid Prime 4 or Metroid Prime: Hunters (but since Hunters is a bit of a spin-of I think they don’t count it or maybe the 2d game will be released before Prime 4… or it might even be Prime 4, what do I know).