09-06-2005, 10:58 PM | #1 |
Homer of Kittens
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Gabriel Knight - What was I missing?
Okay I remember back in 94 having played Gabriel knight 1 and it was one of my favorite games of all time. Recently I just replayed it, and to my shock, it still feels like the best game of all time, even with its 10 year old design and all its quirks. So I decided to play GK2 though I had my reserves at first because it is FMV, and I'm not a big fan of them. I'm almost halfway through, and again this game is a fine example of why I love adventures and I am here writing about them. What makes the gabriel knight games so darn good? And why can't the adventures of today capture that?
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09-06-2005, 11:04 PM | #2 |
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Adventures now days have no budget.
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09-06-2005, 11:44 PM | #3 |
I'm complicated
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Hee~! All the recent topics in this forum seem to be concerned on issues of the status of AG. Why have the question of "why can't AG of today be like that of the good olde days?" arise all the sudden?
Anyway, to answer to your query of why today games can't be as good? It's all down to budgetting issue. In the good olde days, there are money for developers to design whatever games that could capture the crowd, since there were actually a big group of people (proportion-wise, of course) willing to pay for the best games AG around then. This in turn invited competitions, with most of the games in the market being either action or adventure at that time, many companies started to release clones (Myst clones or XXX Quests clones), while some more ambitious developers stood by and created original ideas which would ultimately stand the test of time, and went to become a legendary status. Many of the LucasArts games were such legends, leading the pack in how stories were told (Grim Fandango, Secret of Monkey Island, Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max: Hit the Road etc.), and created outstanding puzzles that were much more sophisticated than the key stuck in the keyhole of the other side of the door. Nowadays, with lack of a large base of potential consumers, fewer publishers are willing to stick their neck out for untested ideas. Hence most games keep to the same-olde tested formulae, making the scene look a bit stale. Still, once in a while some great games to come to pass. Just look out for Indigo Prophecy and DreamFall!
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09-07-2005, 12:08 AM | #4 | |
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So what made Gabriel Knight games so great? Jane Jensen and the team capable of bringing her vision to life.
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09-07-2005, 12:11 AM | #5 |
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To be honest I would much rather gaming companies make a Gabriel Knight 1 type game now days instead of the usual junk we get now. I'm talking same graphics etc. They would actually save money.
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09-07-2005, 12:12 AM | #6 | |
merely human
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09-07-2005, 12:14 AM | #7 |
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Personally I'm not that fond of "time block" games, where you have to do a certain thing to get into the next time block. GK3 is an exception, but that's mainly due to some really clever puzzles, the soundtrack and the story.
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09-07-2005, 12:17 AM | #8 |
merely human
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I loved GK3. One of favourite games of any genre ever, it's up there with Deus Ex, KOTOR, Half-Life, etc.
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09-07-2005, 03:10 AM | #9 | |
Living with my love
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09-07-2005, 04:25 AM | #10 | |
The Thread™ will die.
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At least, I do, though I'm not sure that it is a trend just yet. |
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09-07-2005, 08:16 AM | #11 |
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SoccerDude, in my humble opinion, when Jane Jensen can't get financing for a real adventure game there's trouble in paradise. The old days are gone. Like someone said above...adventure games rarely get a decent budget anymore. I think that, like most mediums, there is one major creator. It's the creators I get excited about more than the games themselves (basically I can predict a game's quality better if I trust the designer). Unfortunately, as I said, Jane Jensen can't get money to make her next game. Roberta Williams (King's Quest, Laura Bow) is gone. Tim Schafer (Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango) has moved into other game genres. Jordan Mechner (The Last Express, which I think is Top 5 all time) has gone back to Prince of Persia games. I think Ragnar Tornquist is overrated. And so on...
Now for the good news: Lee Sheldon (The Riddle of Master Lu, Dark Side of the Moon) is working on And Then There Were None, so I'm very excited about that one. Benoit Sokal (Amerzone, Syberia) is hard at work on Paradise, which I have high hopes for. Charles Cecil is working on a new Broken Sword game. Some ex-LucasArts guys are creating A Vampyre Story. So, there is hope...just not as much as there used to be. |
09-07-2005, 08:17 AM | #12 | |
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09-07-2005, 08:43 AM | #13 | |
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09-07-2005, 08:45 AM | #14 | |
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09-07-2005, 09:26 AM | #15 |
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Your approach is spot on, sir - playing them in chronological order greatly adds to the impact. I would enjoy hearing your thoughts upon finishing the lot.
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09-07-2005, 09:49 AM | #16 |
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All of the GK games are superb. I have all 3 in my personal Top 10 adventure games. Having said that, I must now warn that GK3 unquestionably has the weakest lead villain of the series (especially after GK2, which has the greatest in all adventure games as far as I'm concerned), and the pacing isn't quite as perfect as the first two. It's still fantastic, I'm just saying...
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09-07-2005, 12:44 PM | #17 | |
Not like them!
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Since unfortunately I have not been able to persuade anyone here that exploration games are not adventures, I'll have to waste my time, and the space in this thread, making the obvious exception here: The games such as Myst which you call adventure games can always benefit from more realistic graphics, and they don't need much -or anything, for that matter- in the way of story. Back to the thread now. |
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09-07-2005, 01:11 PM | #18 | |
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09-07-2005, 02:44 PM | #19 | |
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I've only really played the original Myst. Didn't care for it much. Beautiful visuals, nice sound and good puzzles. But the game lacked much interaction. I just didn't like the game. I felt the game had a lot of BACKSTORY, but as for a real plot, or a real character you can identify with, it just isn't that type of game. Which is why I don't like it much. I prefer games where I can identify with the main character, that have good plots and lots of interaction in the world. |
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09-07-2005, 04:37 PM | #20 | |
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