Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned (PC) (GOG.com)

 

Where's the novelization?

Well, 8 years later and I finally replayed the third Gabriel Knight game. This time from GOG.com. Didn't work out of the box so to speak, but adding the vgvoodoo thing made it work. There is some graphical glitches like Mosley in one scene just getting stuck and then switching between bowing and standing. Grace flipping through some cards from Estelle didn't work either. Also, it really doesn't like accidentally going to desktop and back. Just save, quit and restore since it gets very sluggish and gets rid of the widescreen.

Fun thing is I learned this time that there was a subtitle configuration. Made some words easier to look for. Also interesting to see where it didn't follow the script that I noticed at least twice. Also a sound bite from Gabriel in the museum went off when looking at the devil with Grace. Kinda fun. Experimented overall much more with listening at doors and such so I actually experienced more of the game this time around.

Still like the mystery and now it's been so long ago I couldn't remember the solution for le serpent rouge puzzles so it was a bit like doing it for the first time. Although, I probably would not have solved it back in the day (since I had a guide with step-by-step instructions for it). Only got 928 points in the end so there was something I clearly missed, but I can't recall what it would be. Maybe not finding anything of worth in Wilkes room on day 3 or something like that. Cause I got all inventory items as far as I can see on some online walkthroughs.

Overall I find the game lighter than the two first games and it feels a bit more Agatha Christie. I mean you got two British ladies that stay together which feels a lot like plot points from the 90's adaptions of her work. You even get a scene where you confront a thief in the dining hall. The voice acting is heard better, but Tim Curry sounds... not as enthusiastic this time around? Can't complain though, it's still fun to listen too. 14 hours give or take. 

Some things I gotten more disappointed with over the years is... you hardly use Sidney for the clues (except Le Serpent Rouge). I gather all these fingerprints and I basically uses it for two questions, who stole the manuscript (which you see anyway if you happen to be there at the right time) and who gave you Le Serpent Rouge (which turns out to be a red herring). I thought I needed the mopeds tire track to keep track of where Prince James's men have been, but no. And there is only two places to use the tire tracks on, one with Chester which you saw anyway and the other at Chatau de Serra. Which leads into the last irk I have now, Montraux as a villain. It just comes out of nowhere or rather, he is the only one left and all you have on him is that he has some alchemical symbols. I couldn't get a scene where Gabriel wonders about their visit to Chatau de Serra or asking Chester why they would go there? Cause it seems we never go in that direction so their deaths gets just brushed aside. And the biggest tragedy is that there ain't a novelization of the book to explain all these things.

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers 20th Anniversary Edition (PC) (GOG.com)

 

What do you know about voodoo?

Got this together with Legacy of Time and I had to take the bullet some time so why not now right when I was all in on Sierra Adventure games anyway? So I began playing. First of, the game felt a bit off. The character models in 3D is a bit wonky and Gabriel had this black shadow over his arm and Mosley looks a bit odd and so on. Nothing much really. I maybe prefer the pixel art over 3D so that can be part of it. And then the voices. Better be careful here. They are clearer this time around with better technology and such, but I prefer the original voice cast. You can't really beat Mark Hamill, Tim Curry, Michael Dorn and so on. The new cast isn't bad, but I just prefer the original. Some side characters like madam Lorelai and Markus sounds better in this version though.  Music is also in the same category. It sounds better for the most part, but I noticed in the dream sequence for every day doesn't reaches the same frantic chaos than the original. Don't know why, but it also diminishes my experience.

Now, to the game itself and the differences. Basically the same game for the most part. Investigate the voodoo murders for inspiration to your book and suddenly you uncover a shadowy voodoo cult that is after you and your family heritage as a shadow hunter. They made the game linear so that certain areas is locked out until certain days. Meaning I can't clear most of the points on day one, but have to wait. This also causes some troubles when they keep to the script. For example, Magentia Moonbeam you are recommended by Dr John in the original game and she mentions that the doctor called on your behalf, but in this game I picked her adress up by a flyer, but she still heard from Dr. John I was coming over. Now, maybe Dr. John figured out I was on my way, but still. 

They also added puzzles like a machine at Moonbeam that you have to solve in order to get the code and they changed the police station encounter so instead of getting the officers go out for a snack you sneak in by the windows, triggering a scene that was described in the novelization. A great scene, it was creepier in the book since here it seemed the zombified police found out about you while in the book they where just stationary until someone entered the station. Still, a great addition. Mostly the new puzzles stumped me the most, especially when they added them to already established puzzle, like needing to find another 20 dollars to get the animal mask or finding the key to the crypt drawer (mind you, after finding the puzzle it was rather easy). Not bad really, more to do, but it breaks the game logic when Mosley somehow figured out the skull puzzle and hid himself in the drawer. 

Now, I couldn't actually finish the game due to graphical glitches. First of, the Rada Drums was weird, but since I already knew what it says from earlier play I could brute force it, but there is a new puzzle in Rittersburg when you have to fix a shield and the graphics are so distorted that the panels changes every time I move them, and there doesn't seem to be anyway to get past it. I tried different graphical settings and compatibility versions, but no, same result what ever I do. Of course it's the damn library that screwed me over on the original game as well before ScummVM. So I can't continue. I even went so far that I charted out one version I could see on the web and tried my hand on that, didn't work since it seems that the shield is randomized... damn you game! I assume it might be the graphics card I have since it was mentioned that you should due some trickery with the ones you have... but it looks like I don't have one of the usual graphics cards so I'm stuck at the moment. So I replayed the original game instead, I also missed meeting the fortune teller the second day when she was possessed by the spirit so I was already on my way to a non-100% run. This is why I prefer consoles, do you have the hardware and software it's supposed to work. Hate computers. And of course I still wasn't able to 100% when I ended 3 points away from a full score and I have no idea what I missed (maybe showing Hartridge the voodoo murder photo is some of the points).

Doesn't look like this for me! And it's not really a hard puzzle if you can see! I even looked for a step-by-step guide to see if I could bypass it that way but the guide just mocked me for not being able to finish the puzzle! Could have told me it's randomized instead for wasting my time.

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?

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.

Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within

Psh, saw that in the 7th Guest

The second game in the series and this one is a FMV-game... and one of those good ones. Although it still shows the limitation of these kind of games. Looking at the same film clip over and over gets irritating as well as prolonging the game. My story is the same as the first game, they came in the same pack. And it took me ages to get past the first CD since I didn't have the necessary instructions to solve one of the puzzles. And after getting past that and playing the whole second CD the game crashes. If the reason was a bad CD or a bad computer I can't say. Later on I got it again as a birthday present for the Mac and could actually play through out the game. Difference was that the colours was a bit off and I believe one soundbite was missing on the second CD (which could also means other bites was missing as well, but I couldn't tell due to not being able to play that far). Later on with a stable internet compatibility I was able to get a free program to make a "DVD"-version where it pretty much assembled every CD and put it on my old PC drive with something like 2 GB. It was a rather good site. Also, the box came with the soundtrack for the second game. Great tracks, especially the opera scene.

The Scary parts of the games

The game starts with Gabriel in Germany as he tries to take up the mantle as shadow hunter after his great-uncle Wolfgang, but some villagers of Rittersburg arrive at night with a request to stop a werewolf. The supposed werewolf had as it latest victim killed a nine-year old girl and her father was able to get a look from the wolf and see its, as he called it, human eyes. So Gabriel heads to Munich in search of the werewolf. He starts by looking after the supposedly escaped wolves from the ZOO that are accused as the murder wolfs. As he finds out it's no ordinary wolf. It's paws are way to big and the hair sample he can get doesn't match that of a wolf. The curator of the ZOO is connected to some strange hunting lodge and with his blue blood Gabriel sneaks in and joins with the help of the owner Fredrich von Glover.

Meanwhile back in America

Grace is left in New Orleans and decide she has had enough when Gabriel sends a letter describing his current situation. Here is the problem with the timeline. She gets the letter that was sent at the day and the very same night she appears in Germany. And is not a telegram since it's an actual letter. And she herself sends a letter the very next day, that somehow appears the same day to Gabriel. And it gotta be the same day since the last thing in the first chapter is that he would return to the club the next day. Which he does. Still, now as Gabriel hunts the deadly wolf Grace does the research on werewolves which makes her look up the Black Wolf, a noble man the Ritters arrested and executed due to his werewolf curse. A curse he got for assaulting a gypsie woman and the matriarch of the clan cursed him. And they appeared again during the times of Ludwig II of Bavaria, the fairy tale king who built Neuschwanstein and Richard Wagner who did all those operas. It's a tale of political assassinations, cursed monarchs and a lost opera. Somehow I find the Grace episodes easier, might be to me liking history and such. And basically the Gabriel parts where the scarier ones.

Why is Gabriel undercover at some café in Seattle?

So Gabriel pretty much bumbled unto the murderer, but who could it be in the hunting club? Is it the doktor? The Lawyer? Politician? Butcher? Or the aggressive bank person that snaps at any thing? Well, obviously it's Von Glover that turned von Zell, the banker into a werewolf. Now, some LP I watched argued that von Glover didn't do anything worth killing, but that was missing the bigger picture. First, over 100 disappearances have been reported over 30 years alluded to be the work of the black wolf. He turned not only von Zell, but also Ludwig II of Bavaria as well as an officer in South America, which was subtle since it was mentioned in one of the books Grace read and sent to Gabriel about the officer, but in the same chapter von Glover shows of a mask he got from South America... hinting pretty much that he was responsible for that as well. And he probably have been doing it since his father's day, the original black wolf that was killed in 15th or 16 century. Well, Gabriel gets invited to join a hunt, and due to Fredricks fascination of the Ritters since they killed his father, as well as some means to get rid of von Zell who couldn't control his werewolf form. And that was the reason he gathered these very people in order to form a wolf pack by the best in every speciality and use their talents like law, politics, money and so on. During the trip Gabriel get proof of von Zell as a werewolf and prepares to kill him with von Glover during the night, but in the end Gabriel gets bitten and afterwards firing the killing shot when von Glover can't (hinting again he is the real bad guy since he is the alpha male and can't kill any of his beta). As Gabriel starts to turn and Grace picks him up and looks for the opera Wagner constructed for Ludwig II which sound and stage would somehow destroy von Glover. After an amazing cheesy opera scene a Gabriel in wolf-form hunts von Glover in the basement and puts him in the boiler rooms he pushes him into the fires, killing von Glover and with that releasing Gabriel from the werewolf curse.

The werewolves looks bad though, in more than one way

I love this game. It's scary, the music is fantastic, and even though the graphics at times shows it's age I can't help but feel immersed. It walks a fine line between education when it comes to things like Ludwig and Wagner and fantastical. Sadly, as most FMV-games by Sierra it seems like the end game was rushed due to going over budget and the game getting to big. Apparently the final CD would be divided in two with the search for the opera following Ludwig hiding it instead of watching it as a cut-scene. The box also came with a demo for the third game in the series that was about to be released. Looking awful due to the decision going all 3D. Progress isn't always a good thing.

Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers

Oh, this is gonna be good!

For some reason my dad wanted to pick up this game series, but I payed for it. We got it in a double combo of the first two games as a promotion for the third game. And due to the computer we didn't get it working... and the second game actually had a scratched CD (nr 3 of 6). So a bit of a downer, but the games are fantastic. It also came with a novel of the game... aka a walkthrough. I actually read it and it was rather interesting to see how the story worked in a coherent way compared to my try anything and see if it works. Of course I was able to cheat on some puzzles, like the cemetery code, the drum code and the clock code. In short a lot of codes. Funny enough it has a picture of the actor from the second game on the front.

My walkthrough

It is actually worth reading even if you played the game since it is more creepy at times than the game. For example near the end sneaking in to the police station nothing out of the ordinary happens, but the book hints that all the police in the office is actually controlled by the voodoo cult and if no one is there, they are lifeless zombies. It's a really creepy moment. But before I get a head of myself, let's start from the beginning. You play as Gabriel Knight (amazingly voiced by Tim Curry) who has constant nightmares since he began researching the so called Voodoo Murders that are plaguing New Orleans. He is helped by his part-time co-worker Grace and police officer Mosley (voiced by Mark Hamill) who gives him inside information on the cases. As he gets deeper he finds out about this ancient voodoo cult that lurks in the shadows and how it ties together with Knights own family, the Ritters of Rittersburg. The family is an ancient family of shadow hunter... or shattenjaegers which translates to Shadow hunter. For two millennia the Ritters have hunted the paranormal until one ancestor used the powers in their talisman to save a voodoo witch by empowering her leading to the death of a settlement in the new world and stealing the talisman. The loss of the talisman have lead the Ritters to ruin as Gabriel is the only one left since most Ritters die untimely death, including Gabriels father and grandfather. 

I'm already remembering being to scarred to play as a kid

If you don't get it is the same voodoo cult so he has get the talisman back and stop them. And if you wonder they are basically drug smugglers so they are obviously evil. The music is by Robert Holmes and is fantastic, creepy and atmospheric. The voice acting is amazing... except maybe for the narrator and some minor roles that just sound off. There is a remake, but I haven't played it and since it lacks the original voices I don't feel inclined to. The graphics of the old game is still good, but it might be my taste. It's also rather informative on both the mythical voodoo, but also it's real life origins. New Orleans history with Marie Levou is gone into detail and I get that the recreation of New Orleans was kinda good (well, at least before... Katrina was it?). I highly recommend it.