As I told you before, Chapter Four is probably my favorite of the game and now, finally, I'm going to explain you why I think this chapter is the best, not only of
The Beast Within but perhaps of every adventure I've ever played!
The Worthlessness of Puzzles
Before anyone jumps at my throat or starts to light torches and ready pitchforks, let me clearify that I'm obviously being a little sarcastic here. Not so much, though, since I really think that the lack of puzzles - in the common sense of brain-teasing conundrums - is what makes this chapter incredibly outstanding.
Of course, this isn't exactly true and there are in fact two puzzles in Chapter Four: picking up the roses for Gerde after seeing her in the crypt and getting a newly budded lily to communicate with Ludwig's spirit at the Starnberger See. One could perhaps argue that even calling prof. Barclay and Thomas Chapill are to be considered puzzles, but I disagree, since the two actions are actually quite straight-forward and they both make instant logical sense when approaching an historical investigation (call an history professor and a biographer), but, for the sake of simplicity, let's say that even these two actions are puzzles. We have a grand total of
four puzzles in what is arguably the longest chapter of the entire game.
Oh gosh! And what the hell are we supposed to do in this chapter if we're not solving puzzles and the act is so darn long? We actually spend time doing what every researcher (and/or investigator, in this case) does every single day of his or her life: reading books, going to museums, talking to experts of various fields whose competence is usually the turning point for the research itself.
I know that many people often complain about the insane (or inane, depending on your views on the subjects) pixel-hunting of this chapter, but once again I have to disagree. Maybe I'm accustomed to this kind of researching process in real-life (as an Art and Literature major, I feel right at home in any library or musuem, and I actually spent a lot of times perusing old catalogues and archives), but I never missed a single hot-spot in this chapter, not even during my first playthrough. It could also be because I'm an exploration fanatic, and I always carefully plan my movements through any locale with thorough care, but at the end of the day I sincerely think that it only takes a little patience for overcome Chapter Four successfully.
But I digress. The important thing is what I called the
worthlessness of puzzles. In this slightly sarcastic sentence, I'm thinking of a particular kind of puzzles, of which many of you already know that I'm anything but a fan. I'm talking about the mechanical brain-teasers which usually involves triggers, levers, tiles, wheels and the like and that, in my opinion, serve no other purpose than lengthen the soup. A good example is the first (terrible)
Art of Murder, where you actually visit a museum, filled to the brim with puzzles (the switches in the basement, the alarm of the statuettes' case, the dreadful "let's fake a fire" thing and so on) whose MacGuyvery feeling has been surpassed only by the ridiculous sequel. In
The Beast Within, on the other hand, we do what every normal person out there do while in a museum: we read. And thank Jane Jensen for that!
Solving, or coming close to solve, Ludwig's historical mystery in an ordinary way - albeit under extraordinary circumstances (the Schattenjager's occult library, werewolves and supernatural) -, and that's saying by using real-life instruments, is a tremendous achievement and I always feel a stunning sense of accomplishment whenever I finish Chapter Four, because, by the means of Grace, I am able to achieve something, pardon me for the repetition, extraordinary in the most realistic and plausible way. Each and everyone of us can do what Grace did in this chapter - go to museums, read books, listen to tour guides, bothering professors and historians to have answers to our questions - and being able to do so without switching switches, operating strange machinery, recomposing asunder tiles and so on is what makes this chapter so great.
If it were me, I would have eliminated altogether the two puzzles I mentioned at the beginning and worked to achieve the same goal through conversations, both with Gerde and with Thomas Chapill. This is not saying that I didn't like those two puzzles, but in the context of this wondrous chapter they are somehow like the proverbial fish out of the water. I'm more than willing to overlook them, though, since the rest of the act is consistent, coherent, realistic, thought-provoking and the list could go on forever.
Ultimately, at least for me - a strong supporter of third-person, story- and character-driven adventures, who utterly dislikes arbitrary puzzles and solitary exploration/
Myst-like operation of impossible devices -
The Beast Within's Chapter Four is the proof that all it takes to have a superb adventure is a superb story filled with believable, well-rounded and fascinating characters. I could go as far as saying that puzzles are what make the genre so stale, but hey, I can still see those pitchforks
History: The Fairy Tale King
Believable, well-rounded and fascinating characters. What a mind-blowing achievement to have such a character, even if he's already dead and out-of-the-picture for the vast majority of the adventure. In building Ludwig's character, Jane Jensen proves herself - in case someone was still doubtful - an amazing storyteller and writer. We can't see Ludwig, we can't interact with him or talk with him and still everything in Chapter Four speaks of him - the Fairy Tale King, the boy king who dreamt himself as a Wagnerian hero, the lonely man who preferred the solitude of his secluded castles to the company of his peers. From Werner Huber to Herr Joseph Dallmaier, from Thomas Chapill to Georg Immerding, every character we speak with presents us with a different picture of Ludwig and it's up to the player to put these diverse portraits together and form a mental image of the King. And what an image that is! From his use of the archaic signature
de par le roi to the lovely letters between him and Elisabeth, Empress of Austria, from the fervent tone in his writings (from a public statement dated 11 June 1886: "
The Prince Luitpold intends, against my will, to ascend to the Regency of my land, and my erstwhile ministry has, through false allegations regarding the state of my health, deceived my beloved people, and is preparing to commit acts of high treason. I call upon every loyal Bavarian to rally around my loyal supporters to thwart the planned treason against the King and the fatherland.") to his love for medieval architecture and the old Germanic sagas, from his adoration for Wagner and the lavish gifts for his supporters to the mysterious death (from
Ludwig's wiki page:
On 13 June around 6:00 pm, Ludwig asked Gudden to accompany him on a walk along the shore of Lake Starnberg. Gudden agreed, and told the guards not to follow them. The two men never returned. At 11:30 that night, searchers found both the king and Gudden dead, floating in the shallow water near the shore.), from his alleged quirks (from the same source:
Holnstein used his high rank to extract a long list of complaints, accounts, and gossip about Ludwig from among the king’s servants. The litany of bizarre behavior included his pathological shyness; his avoidance of state business; his complex and expensive flights of fancy, including moonlit picnics at which his young groomsmen were said to strip naked and dance; conversations with imaginary persons; sloppy and childish table manners; dispatching servants on lengthy and expensive voyages to research architectural details in foreign lands; and abusive, sometimes violent treatment of his servants.) to his refusal to take a bride and his supposed homosexuality -- everything in his character, historical or fictional may the take be, drips fascination and atmosphere. This quality speaks volume of the amount of detailed historical research Jane put in the game and of her stunning storytelling mastery.
An Italian director,
Luchino Visconti, dedicated a movie to Ludwig, the huge and somewhat intimidating
Ludwig, whose complete version runs for more than 280 minutes. The movie is breath-taking and a real masterpiece, and I strongly recommend you to see it. To whet your appetite,
this is a tribute video to the movie I found on YouTube and
this a tribute to Ludwig using scenes from Visconti's
opera maestra (and with Mansell's stunning soundtrack from Aronfsky's
Requiem for a Dream, another movie I strongly recommend).
Allow me a personal note. I don't if Ludwig was really gay, and it doesn't matter at all. However,
The Beast Within was released in 1996 and the fact that it depicts Ludwig as a gay man who was content with his sexuality and it explains so thanks to Joseph Dallmaier, another gay character, is, in my opinion, and considering how gay characters are still treated in the vast majority of video games, another tremendous achievement for Jane Jensen and a testament of Sierra's far-seeing and open-minded attitude. And I, as a gay man, are incredibly thankful to them.
