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Does It Hold Up: A Nostalgia-Free Review of Gabriel Knight 2
The problem with the cuckoo clock and the flowers is that the game doesn’t let you take them right away. So you’d expect some sort of “word from above” to tell you they’re okay now - it’s part of the genre conventions. But no, instead at some point they become available, but there’s no way to know except to try.
The problem with the cuckoo clock and the flowers is that the game doesn’t let you take them right away. So you’d expect some sort of “word from above” to tell you they’re okay now - it’s part of the genre conventions. But no, instead at some point they become available, but there’s no way to know except to try.
Yes, and I hate that in other games too, like Runaway. Often the same games that won’t let you move on to the next chapter because you forgot to click on the family portrait in the hall, and more or less forces you to retrace your steps and start pixelhunting. Walkthrough, here I come!
But in this particular example it’s more than that. Gabriel doesn’t just pick up a cuckoo clock lying around in the broom closet, he goes into a shop, starts talking to the shopkeeper, blabla, money exchanges hands, cut scene of beaming shopkeeper, cut scene of very important purchase. Something was going on in Gabriel’s mind and I felt left out. Was it a present for poor Gracie back in the US, for someone else?
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
I still stand by the cuckoo clock puzzle being the worst puzzle in the series, bar none. Ten times worse than the cat mustache. I’d be surprised if anyone has ever solved it without help, or simply clicking everything on everything.
No hints given to when you can buy it. No hints given about why you’re buying it. And then the game expects you to magically come to the conclusion that since the clock kind of makes a knocking like sound, you should stick it behind a random plant to distract someone.
That puzzle desperately needed a few voice overs added in. Particularly at one point when Gabe just glances at the backdoor and we’re apparently suppose to read his mind that he’s thinking about making it sound like someone is knocking on it.
I “solved” it but it wasn’t exactly in an organic way. The game let me buy the clock, so I knew I probably needed it that day, and I finished with everything else it seemed, and one thing led to another. It was when the game came out so I don’t remember if I just tried everything or actually guessed that’s what would happen if I used the clock there.
Cat moustache still wins, sorry. It’s no wonder it was featured on Cracked: http://www.cracked.com/article_19974_the-6-most-absurdly-difficult-video-game-puzzles.html
The cat mustache puzzle was so easy by comparison though, because getting the hair from the cat was such an adventure like thing to do. It’s been a long time since I played GK3, but as I remember it, they were constantly showing you the cat going through that hole, and I had the cat hair in my inventory before I had any idea what I needed it for.
And whenever you’re stuck in adventure games you know you need to try combining your items. So yeah, I didn’t get stuck on that at all. Even if it is ridiculous to make a fake mustache to disguise yourself as someone that doesn’t have a mustache.
And then the game expects you to magically come to the conclusion that since the clock kind of makes a knocking like sound, you should stick it behind a random plant to distract someone.
That puzzle desperately needed a few voice overs added in. Particularly at one point when Gabe just glances at the backdoor and we’re apparently suppose to read his mind that he’s thinking about making it sound like someone is knocking on it.
Here’s your one and only hint. 
Gabriel does open the door once, to see what’s on the other side I suppose.
Butter my buns and call me a biscuit! - Agent A
I meant “Cat moustache” as in “renting the motorbike”. The entire sequence is ridiculous, not the specific part about the cat hair (which I agree, is very AG-like).
I’d say the two puzzles are equally unrealistic and stupid (the mime puzzle from GK1 can be added to the list as well), but the cat puzzle is worse because it just goes on for so damn long.
I never had problems solving the mustache puzzle, as it was just something I had accustomed to expect from ag. But what makes it stand out is, that it is the only traditionally ackward old school adventure puzzle in the game. In the midst of pretty logical puzzles that one sticks out. There’s definetly worse puzzles in the series than it, but those others are more hidden in the midst of old school adventuring.
I don’t see how the mime puzzle comes anywhere close to these other two. In terms of basic mechanics, it almost solves itself (which I guess could be an argument for it being bad, but for a different reason.) Just wandering around the square, you are bound to end up with the mime following you and then ultimately becoming distracted by annoying another person. From there, it’s pretty simple to figure out that he follows you from screen to screen, and that the person with the most interesting reaction to being annoyed by the mime would be the grumpy policeman who won’t let you near his bike. Sure, it’s kind of a silly sequence, but I thought that was the point—classic Sierra humor. Compared to some of the pixel hunts in that game, the mime puzzle was a breeze. I never had any trouble with it, and it always stood out to me as one of the moments from the game that genuinely made me smile.
I meant “Cat moustache” as in “renting the motorbike”. The entire sequence is ridiculous, not the specific part about the cat hair (which I agree, is very AG-like).
Me too, but I think I already had the cat mustache in my inventory when Gabe was saying he needed something else to complete the disguise. So I don’t think I got stuck there at all.
But then again I first played this in 1999, so maybe I did and just forgot.
At the very least I think the game hinted to the solution to that puzzle MUCH better than it did to the cuckoo clock one. And that was more the problem with the latter.
Yup, the mime puzzles never was a problem for me. The puzzle that had me stumped for the first time was the snake tattoo, as you could advance the day without copying it and the next they the corpse was already gone, so you were in a dead end if you had not saved.
sorry for bumping this but after finishing the game I read all eight pages and agree totally with the topic starter for the most part, the only part I disagree with him on is on von glower. glower is an interesting character and has many shades of grey but I never thought he was a good guy, its just von zell was so over the top evil he seemed like a good guy by comparison. my thoughts are when the game did something well it executed it flawlessy but when it failed it failed hard. I also thought the puzzles got worse as the game went on. watching gabe duct tape that guy in that costume was so ridiculous in so many ways,the only reason that was a solution to a puzzle is bc duct tape is inexpensive as a prop, one of the reasons fmv games hardly ever had great puzzles in them. just too expensive to shoot elaborate puzzles. I also found the final wolf puzzle to come out of left field but found it pretty easy to beat.
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