In Detail: Police Station
Even if this may not seem the case on a first look, there are actually plenty of funny things to do while at the police station.
Let's start with Desk Sergeant Frick: have you showed him the crime scene photo? And Mosely's photo? And what about Franks? Have you tried to use all your icons on her? You can elicit different responses if you use the icons on her from inside Mosely's office, through the mirror.
Then, there are many different paths you can try on Day 2. For example:
Spoiler:Have you tried to set the temperature gauge below 60? And why don't you try to don't get the badge and continue asking Mosely for coffee?
In Detail - Part Two: Gedde's Mansion
Spoiler:If you save Lake Pontchartrain as the last topic, you can flirt with Malia repeatedly
Have a good look around. What a nice room, eh? Have you tried to look at fire? At the paintings? At the gorgeous carpet? At the statue? At the bookshelves? At the little table by the fire and the book on it? Have you tried to use all your icons on Malia, especially the talk one - exclamation point - until she has nothing more to say? You can even show Malia the badge, the voodoo victim photo and, generally speaking, every item in your inventory.
Real-Life Locations: The French Quarter
The
French Quarter is New Orleans' oldest neighborhood, dating back to the foundation of the city in 1718. Unlike the name may suggest, the present-day architecture stems from the Spanish rulers of the region, since the Great Fire of 1788 destroyed what the French had originally built. Notable landmarks include Jackson Square (more on this on later Days), St. Louis Cathedral and Bourbon Street, which, as I said in the beginning, is the street where Gabriel has his bookshop. Even the
Napoleon House is a real building in the quarter, but it is more famours for its classic music and exquisite cuisine than for the jazz ambiance that's depicted in the game.
Of course, voodoo is really important in the everyday life of the French Quarter, both as a genuine practice and as a tourist attraction. In the hearth of the Quarter, there is indeed a
museum dedicated to voodoo history and lore, and they even organize, like Dr. John says,
walking tours to St. Louis' Cemetery #1. The streets are also full of little shops that sell gris-gris and other voodoo trappings: this
photo gallery shows two of these shops, and I really think that the gallery generally captures the feeling of
Sins of the Fathers pretty well. This
other photo is another favorite of mine, and the sign 'Come On In And Shop For A Spell' is the work of a marketing genius
And if you look at a
shop's interior, doesn't it look almost completely like Dixieland Drug Store?
Day 2 in the novel
On the left side of the room was a long table draped in black cloth. Both its surface and the wall above it were inundated with small, garish objects and their accompanying handwritten placards. The whole mess looked like a garage sale from hell. There were a number of small idols, wooden and hand-painted. One of the figures on the table was horned, but it looked more like an African deity than a Christian devil. There was a worn, stained kerchief that proclaimed itself as having belonged to Marie Laveau, a braided leather whip coiled and greased, and a Voodoo doll made from black material and wearing scraps of what had once been bright calicos.
Jane Jensen,
Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Roc 1997, p. 42
As a side note, I think I'll post Day 3 on late Monday, so everyone who's still behind can catch up with us during the week-end.
