I think I was around 15 when I bought my first Jane Jensen game, Gabriel Knight 3. I had been a fan of LucasArts adventures for a while, but I had never played a Sierra game in my life. I knew nothing about the GK series, but when I saw the cover of some BestBuy re-release or so, I recalled reading a review of the game in one of my country's gaming magazines. And since it was really cheap, I decided to buy it.
I wasn't initially taken in by the game. I didn't like the graphics very much and Tim Curry's voice grated on my nerves. But I kept playing, and it didn't take long before the story had completely won me over. I had never experienced anything like that in a game; the story was so rich and full of details, and I greatly enjoyed the "who-dunnit" atmosphere with the hotel guests.
When I was done with the game, I immediately wanted to buy the first two, but it took me a couple of years before I was able to. At the time, I was still underage, living in the middle of nowhere in Finland and had no means to buy anything at foreign online stores. It took me about two years' worth of dedicated waiting until I was able to acquire a copy of the collector's edition box (minus the soundtrack) on a Finnish auction site. I had to buy it in secret from my parents because they didn't want me spending that much money on games.
After that I had to fight a long battle to get the games, especially the first one, to work. This was my first exposure to DOSBox, though later dad brought me one of our old PCs that was better at running the games.
I love every game in the Gabriel Knight series so much that it's very difficult for me to pick a favourite. Each of them has something unique. I love the narrator of the first game and wish they would have kept that element in the later games. I love the setting and history in the second game. I love how complex and full of details the third one is. Jensen is utterly fantastic at combining real history with great, compelling stories.
Sadly, I haven't yet played Gray Matter because these days I'm so distracted that I barely have the time to play computer games anymore, but the news of the Kickstarter project has got me so hyped up that I'm sure I'll get the game soon. And naturally, I've pledged to the project. I really hope something great will come out of it.
In the meantime, I guess I'll replay all the GK games. I bought them at GOG a year or two ago, but I never got to even starting any of them.
