Adventure Gamers - Forums

I hated the narrator in gk1. I’m not glad the actress is dead, but I’m definitely glad she won’t be making a return in MGX (if that’s what MGX is). Anyway, a narrator feels like an extremely antiquated thing, a clunky remnant from the days of text adventures and back when it was easier to describe what was going on than to actually show and animate it. (Except of course for something like LSL, where the narrator is pretty much a character in the game, constantly interacting with Larry.) I think a GK1 remake should just have Gabriel comment on things, just like in GK2/3.

I think a spoken narrator can work, if done right.  It does enhance the story-book feel of the game, but like you said, I think it really depends on the graphical fidelity of the game.  I think “retro-style” games can still get away with it, whenever there is room for interpretation with what the viewer is seeing in the scene.  I think more modern games work better with first-person narration, if any.  By first person, I mean more the idea of being in the main character’s head—hearing their thoughts and commentary on what they’re experiencing.  That sort of thing.  I think that kind of thing can add a lot to the experience.

Regardless, I’d like the option to turn off spoken narrations if they’re in the game.  It really depends on the game, and the writing quality though.  I absolutely DON’T think that narrators that have gimmicky voices are a good thing, since they’re bound to be divisive just by the very nature of how specific they are.  GK1 is a good example of the perils of that type of narrator.

um, IF it is a gk1 remake, i think its safe to say the majority of voices will be re-used from the original audio files. That “voice recording” thing they did was in 1-ish days… they didnt re-do all the parts that fast, so theyr probably referring to bringing the files up to a new format, and maybe they had to re-cast a part or two for licensing issues. If they re-did all of gabriels lines: then its not going to be tim curry.

Thing is, they don’t have the audio of GK1 in any higher fidelity than it is in-game. When the new management of Sierra took over back in the mid-late 90s they threw away all the stuff they had from the older games. That’s why the few remaining pieces of GK1 concept art that were offered as reward for high-tier backers of the Pinkerton Road Kickstarter were saved from a dumpster. That’s why the re-issued classic games collections (King’s Quest, Larry, Space Quest, etc.) were just configured with DosBox instead of having the SCI interpreter updated to the newest versions of Windows.
Source code, concept art, everything was thrown into the trash. What a waste…

If MGX is just a GK1 remake that’s gonna be the biggest disappointment ever.

Phod - 08 May 2013 07:32 PM

If MGX is just a GK1 remake that’s gonna be the biggest disappointment ever.

Boy, Jane is in a tough place. There are those who feel like anything but a new or reloaded GK would be a let down. Some people are bound to be disappointed.

If this is a GK 1 reboot (or prequel or GK 1.5), and if there is enough new material, and if the game looks beautiful and modernized, then my guess is most people will be very pleased.

If they modernized GK2, I’d be a lot happier.  Due to its hand-painted nature, GK1 still holds up quite well graphically, and plays nicely.  It’s ironic that its two sequels both feel MORE dated and less playable today than the original, despite being technologically “superior” at the time.  I’d definitely enjoy an HD version of GK1 though, as long as they don’t mess with the interface.  It would be a real tragedy for them to ditch the deeper multi-icon interface for something like Cognition’s interface.

Playing a game I’ve already played just doesn’t excite me.

I agree she’s in a tough spot since the delay to announce just naturally builds unfulfillable anticipation. Just hope it’s new material. A new GK story even one that equals like 1/4 of a real game to me is way more interesting than just a remake ala Monkey Island or LSL.

Henke - 09 May 2013 05:10 AM

I still claim that the third game is the one that is in most need of a remake. The first two works fine the way they are but you can’t really say the same about the third one. Although it will probably still need to be full 3D so remaking it is probably a lot of work.

I’d personally pick the second as the one most needing a remake. The FMV is just beyond awful - redo the entire thing as a normal game and cut all that horrendous amateur hour acting

Kasper F. Nielsen - 09 May 2013 06:41 AM

Henke - 09 May 2013 05:10 AM

I still claim that the third game is the one that is in most need of a remake. The first two works fine the way they are but you can’t really say the same about the third one. Although it will probably still need to be full 3D so remaking it is probably a lot of work.

I’d personally pick the second as the one most needing a remake. The FMV is just beyond awful - redo the entire thing as a normal game and cut all that horrendous amateur hour acting

My vote is for GK2 remake2, GK3 aged well, the environments specially, i still profoundly
remember how Fingers were individually animated for each character, back in those days it was a unique thing , also played major part in plot.