[RockNFknRoll]

It is required playing. And yes, in order.

Best series of all time.

[seanparkerfilms]

Probably not adding a whole lot to the discussion here, but I will most definitely agree with a lot of what's being said — the games of the Gabriel Knight trilogy are perhaps the finest I've ever had the pleasure of playing.

Sounds like you'll be doing this anyway, but please make sure you play them in order. They can be enjoyed out of order, but there's no sense in doing so if you have the opportunity to play them chronologically. And while the graphics of each game may be dated, the art direction and style itself is near-unsurpassed.

Hope you love them. A whole heck of a lot.

[orient]

I'd like to give the first game in the series a try. Up until this point, I'd always thought Gabriel Knight was some type of medieval adventure, similar to King's Quest, but I guess not. That makes me a whole lot more interested.

Has the first game ever been re-released or updated, or is it available on any of the digital download portals?

[Origami]

I want to get in to this series too.
Now, I don't mind dated graphics, to me TLJ still looks fine.
But my problem is that I am not to fond of animation with real people.
There is a lot of this in it, isn't there?

[kadji-kun]

Originally Posted by Origami

I want to get in to this series too.
Now, I don't mind dated graphics, to me TLJ still looks fine.
But my problem is that I am not to fond of animation with real people.
There is a lot of this in it, isn't there?

Only for the sprites, but even that doesn't look out of place.

[Luna Sevithiainen]

Originally Posted by Origami

I want to get in to this series too.
Now, I don't mind dated graphics, to me TLJ still looks fine.
But my problem is that I am not to fond of animation with real people.
There is a lot of this in it, isn't there?

Do you mean FMV, so everything is a video, with real actors? Only GK2 has that, and that story is awesome enough to not mind graphics you are not fond of. It did look odd to me too, the first few hours I played it, but it kinda grows on you.

[millenium]

Originally Posted by AndreaDraco83

The Gabriel Knight series represents, in my opinion, the crown jewel of adventure games: they have rich, profound stories often coping with deep, philosophical or metaphysical themes (freedom of choice vs. social constraints, Dionysian vs. Apollonian, immanentism vs. transcendence), soaked in occultism and esoteric lore, with multi-layered, complex and believable characters who often sport struggling, conflicting personalities. Their gameplay is always clever and thought-provoking, without becoming frustrating. They are difficult, though, especially the third one. And yes, you should play them in order to fully understand the meanders of the over-arching story.

Second that

If you're reall turned off by the graphical side of things of the first 2 games, start with the 3rd one, because you'll want to play the other 2 after that no matter what... That was the order I originally played them, even if it was for a different reason.

[Origami]

^
If I play them, it will be in no other than numerical.
I looked at screens of the second game and I think I can cope with the AMV.

[Origami]

I heard that GK 3 leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Is this true? Or is there some sense of closure?

[AndreaDraco83]

GK3 completely resolves the plot without leaving any unresolved storyline. Everything comes to a resolution and, after the closing credits, you will have wholly and fully understand the story, both the particular and the overarching one. But yes, the game ends with a cliffhanger.

[outcast]

I actually played through GK 1 for the first time about half a year ago. And it was really good! The graphic is of course not so good, but its charming and for a 2d game its quite good aqtually. Its cool how you can look and interact with almost everything in the world without it necessary being an importand object. Its quite hard on some part though, but very very good!

[DustyShinigami]

Originally Posted by AndreaDraco83

Everything comes to a resolution and, after the closing credits, you will have wholly and fully understand the story, both the particular and the overarching one. But yes, the game ends with a cliffhanger.

I didn't though. I had to check some threads just to clear some questions I had. But then, I can be a bit slow at times.

I still don't know who

Spoiler:

Emilio carried off in that sheet at the end. At first I thought it was the body of Jesus, but I take it, it was the body of the first Schattenjager. Or was I right the first time?

[AndreaDraco83]

Originally Posted by Gazzoid

I still don't know who

Spoiler:

Emilio carried off in that sheet at the end. At first I thought it was the body of Jesus, but I take it, it was the body of the first Schattenjager. Or was I right the first time?

You were right the first time

[DustyShinigami]

Spoiler:

Seems a bit far-fetched though. Where does Emilio take him?

[AndreaDraco83]

Actually, it makes perfect sense...

Spoiler:

...The body of Jesus was moved to the Languedoc by Marie Magdalen when she fled from Jerusalem after the Crucifixion, as it is hinted by Abbe Arnaud when Gabriel inquires him about the rooting Magdalen cult in Provence. The secret was discovered by the Knight Templars during their stay in the Holy Land - although I must admit that some believe that it was actually the Knights that moved the body to Languedoc. Emilio, the Wandering Jew, and Mesmi are members of a secret society dating back to the Egyptian times, whose purpose was to protect the sacred bloodline and, thus, Jesus. After the desecration of the Holy of Holies by Montreaux's vampires, it's safe to assume that Emilio, with the approval of the Society, decided to move the body of Christ to a safer, non-corrupted place

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by AndreaDraco83

Spoiler:

...The body of Jesus was moved to the Languedoc by Marie Magdalen when she fled from Jerusalem after the Crucifixion, as it is hinted by Abbe Arnaud when Gabriel inquires him about the rooting Magdalen cult in Provence. The secret was discovered by the Knight Templars during their stay in the Holy Land - although I must admit that some believe that it was actually the Knights that moved the body to Languedoc. Emilio, the Wandering Jew, and Mesmi are members of a secret society dating back to the Egyptian times, whose purpose was to protect the sacred bloodline and, thus, Jesus. After the desecration of the Holy of Holies by Montreaux's vampires, it's safe to assume that Emilio, with the approval of the Society, decided to move the body of Christ to a safer, non-corrupted place

I'm struggling to find a single sentence in this paragraph that doesn't scream far-fetched.

Spoiler:

(Of course, GK3 is a great game, so you sort of buy it within the game, but still I wish that Jane Jensen had looked elsewhere than at Holy Blood, Holy Grail for inspiration...)

[Henke]

Originally Posted by Kurufinwe

I'm struggling to find a single sentence in this paragraph that doesn't scream far-fetched.

Spoiler:

(Of course, GK3 is a great game, so you sort of buy it within the game, but still I wish that Jane Jensen had looked elsewhere than at Holy Blood, Holy Grail for inspiration...)

Define far-fetched? Surely vampires and "secret societies" everywhere isn't exactly extremely realistic but have computergames main goal ever been realism in any way?

[DustyShinigami]

Originally Posted by Kurufinwe

I'm struggling to find a single sentence in this paragraph that doesn't scream far-fetched.

It feels far-fetched to me in the same way that The Da Vinci Code did. But, unlike The Da Vinci Code, GK3's story is much more better written, interesting and immersive. And although I was confused with certain aspects of the story, after I'd finished GK3 a couple of times, I wasn't nearly as confused as I was after I'd seen TDVC.

Originally Posted by Henke

Define far-fetched? Surely vampires and "secret societies" everywhere isn't exactly extremely realistic but have computergames main goal ever been realism in any way?

True.

Anyway, thanks for clarifying Andrea. It's still puzzling...

Spoiler:

how, even though Magdalen or the Templars had moved Christ's body, during the cutscene with Gabriel's ancestor, it seemed that Jesus had returned to the Heavens. But then... that could just be his spirit/soul I guess.

[AndreaDraco83]

Originally Posted by Kurufinwe

I'm struggling to find a single sentence in this paragraph that doesn't scream far-fetched.

Spoiler:

(Of course, GK3 is a great game, so you sort of buy it within the game, but still I wish that Jane Jensen had looked elsewhere than at Holy Blood, Holy Grail for inspiration...)

Then perhaps it's a matter of taste, rather than genuine appreciation (or less) of the story

Spoiler:

Within the boundaries of supernatural-themed, speculative fiction, the story of GK3 seems to me everything but far-fetched, unless, of course, one doesn't wish to interpose his or her religious beliefs, the same beliefs that make Christ an untouchable figure. Otherwise, I honestly can't see what's far-fetched in the concept of a bloodline stemmed from the occult lore of an ancient group of Predynastic priests, who sought the power of blood to create a 'divine' line of Pharaohs. This concept, which I don't recall in Holy Blood, Holy Grail, is well-rooted in the actual Egyptian history and culture, where the Pharaohs were considered divine in nature and physical manifestation of Ma'at, the cosmical order. In addition to this, the 'Heka' magik as practiced by the priests of the highest rank often used blood and blood manipulation, so - in my opinion - Jane Jensen's imaginative story is very well grounded in actual history and folklore

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by Henke

Define far-fetched? Surely vampires and "secret societies" everywhere isn't exactly extremely realistic but have computergames main goal ever been realism in any way?

As I said, within the framework of the game, I (mostly) went it. It's just that, when reading it summed up in one paragraph, I was really struck by how silly the whole thing was. As far as I'm concerned, secret societies and conspiracy stories are always silly, especially when they involve historical events / characters, and the bigger the conspiracy, the sillier; and that was a huge conspiracy story!

Spoiler:

And, seriously, can you picture Marie Magdalen, with a decomposing body on her shoulders and her kids in tow, walking all the way from Jerusalem to Gaul? Poor woman. And why on earth would she even want to go there? It's not like the Louvre and the Eiffel tower had been built yet. There was nothing there, especially not in the Languedoc. Who would want to drag a body all the way there?

Once again, within the game, you don't think of the story that way, and you go along with it, because Jane Jensen is a good story-teller, and it makes for a fun game. But it only works as long as you don't think too hard about it and don't stop to realise how silly the whole premise is.

Spoiler:

Speaking of silly, I just love the dagger retcon. So the old Schattenjäger dagger, barely good enough to cut up dead mummies and pry open vents was actually a sacred relic blessed by Jesus? Talk about waste of a good blessing. Someone should have told the Ritters than needn't bother looking for their lost talisman when they had a much more important artifact gathering dust in the main hall of their castle.

(And that actually bugged me a lot even the first time I played the game.)

(Also, for some reason, I'm known to get cranky when the grail stories get bastardised. So let's not even go there.)