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Mystery Game X - Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, 20th Anniversary Edition
I’m not in position to choose the development team. I just state the facts. This one is not good enough. And I’m telling it after playing their previous and current achievements. It’s simple as that.
If you’re that unimpressed why are you bothering to play anything current after their previous achievements?
Wow, Pulstar. Feel that hate flow through you. Now strike it down with all your hate, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
Bt
Don’t worry, The Force is with me.
BTW: You’re not very reliable in this discussion you know, looking at who is your publisher, eh?
I’m not in position to choose the development team. I just state the facts. This one is not good enough. And I’m telling it after playing their previous and current achievements. It’s simple as that.
If you’re that unimpressed why are you bothering to play anything current after their previous achievements?
Because I got Moebius and GK20 for backing Pinkerton? Because I hoped for improvement? Because you have to know something before you judge it?
Wow, Pulstar. Feel that hate flow through you. Now strike it down with all your hate, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
BtDon’t worry, The Force is with me.
BTW: You’re not very reliable in this discussion you know, looking at who is your publisher, eh?
What discussion?
Well, by personal attacks, I was referring to some hateful comments aimed directly at individual team members. That’s the part I don’t understand.
If you refer to Cesar. I mentioned him only, because he personally appeared in this thread with lame excuses. Actually that was his post that irritated me and motivated to enter this discussion.
I know sincerity of Cesar is like shooting your own foot, but i appreciate the honesty.
It shows that he cares and actual have more audacity than PoS apologists themselves.
I think we can contribute by suggesting what can fix future releases than whats already
done, no matter how damaged the current output may be for some.
Wow, Pulstar. Feel that hate flow through you. Now strike it down with all your hate, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
BtDon’t worry, The Force is with me.
BTW: You’re not very reliable in this discussion you know, looking at who is your publisher, eh?What discussion?
I think he meant Bts conflict of interest.
I think we can contribute by suggesting what can fix future releases than whats already
done, no matter how damaged the current output may be for some.
Well, my suggestion is to significantly improve animations. As for other things: backgrounds and 3D models just look bland, compared to original. I know it’s matter of personal taste and cannot be objectively described. For me it just looks cheap.
I understand, that it can be explained by low budget, but I’m afraid that’s not the only reason (well, you know what I’m thinking, I stated it pretty straightforward in previous posts).
...facts.
Well, by personal attacks, I was referring to some hateful comments aimed directly at individual team members. That’s the part I don’t understand.
If you refer to Cesar. I mentioned him only, because he personally appeared in this thread with lame excuses. Actually that was his post that irritated me and motivated to enter this discussion.
Just to be clear on this, I wasn’t referring to you specifically but rather to hateful comments made by quite a few people throughout this thread. I was targeting that movement in general. And I’m absolutely fine with disliking any game, for any reason, but resorting to name calling is not something I can understand, period.
I’m just amazed by the level of your vitriol, Pulstar, that’s all. Anyone can dislike a game, that’s their right - but the level of anger that compelled you to join the forums and post is just mind-boggling to me. I mean, honestly man, you decided to post on a forum because you were angry about something, not because you actually liked or enjoyed something. You just came on to pick a bone. That isn’t very positive at all.
Bt
I’m amused by the amount of angry comments on the AG review. So many people wanted this game to crash and burn on this site; they can’t grasp the fact that a non-nostalgia-colored review would rate the game as highly as it did.
I am absolutely willing to concede that some commenters on the forums have sometimes overstepped bounds of politeness and have been disrespectful in the way in which they expressed their criticisms.
But it’s really not helping matters to be disrespectful in turn, mock people who feel disappointed (“I’m amused”), speculate about their motives (“wanted this game to crash and burn”), or speculate about their cognitive abilities (“can’t grasp the fact that a non-nostalgia-colored review would rate the game as highly as it did.”)
At the time of your writing, there were 12 comments on the AG review of GK:20th, left by 11 unique commenters. Of the twelve, only one comment actually criticized the score that AG gave the game. Four other commenters expressed disappointment in the game, sometimes intense disappointment, but they did not characterize this as anything other than their honest feeling, nor did they criticize the reviewer or the review for having a different take. A fifth commenter said he thought this was a 4 star adventure for newcomers but for old players it lacks the aura that established the original game at a higher level.
So, yes, people feel strong emotions about this remake, which shouldn’t surprise anyone considering that the original game is beloved. But just because some people are angry doesn’t mean your characterization of those people and their comments was accurate, and I’m sorry to say I don’t think it was very compassionate, either.
I feel pretty strongly that we shouldn’t be painting disagreements with an “us” vs. “them” brush, or write dismissively about how other people honestly feel. That will only lead to more conflict, as evidenced by the fact that now we’re arguing again in this thread, which had been peaceful for awhile. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this post of yours seemed to mark the recent turning point. If you’re tired of people expressing their anger online, that’s understandable, but please consider how the way you are responding will only fan the flames of that anger.
If people are angry, the best and most respectful way to engage with them is to listen to why, not to make fun of them.
Sorry to sound like your mother, but I know from experience that you are capable of better than this.
The second part is execution by Phoenix - underpaid and underskilled, but overambitious. There’s no need to go over again through the flaws of current iteration of GK, as they were extensively discussed.
As I understood Cesar’s intention it was “shut up and pay or there won’t be no GK4”. Well, if it’ll be made by Cesar and his enthusiastic kids - no thank you, I’ll pass.
I can understand some of your feelings of disappointment with the GK1 remake, and you’re entitled to buy or not buy GK4 as you please, so in that regard, I wish you well and I am truly sorry that you are being picked on in this thread.
Looking at your posts, I am not surprised that they would upset people. Some of it’s not your fault, as your comments are being lumped in with the comments of many people who have come before you and said similar things. Which is unfair because it means individuals are no longer being treated as themselves but as part of either “the haters” on one side or “the POS apologists” on the other. That failure to respect the nuance of individuals is a big part of the problem and we’re all sometimes to blame for it.
But I do think there is a way that you could express your criticisms better. Indeed, it’s a pretty good rule of thumb that I think might lead to a lot less arguing if everyone here would try to follow it:
As much as possible, when giving criticism, I think we all should try to criticize the work and not the developer.
Why?
1) It’s kinder. There’s no need to call the devs unskilled, when you can point out specific issues you had with the game itself instead (even if you feel those issues came from a lack of skill). Yes, there are times when it’s impossible to write something without referencing the devs, e.g. “I am not going to buy a game from Dev X again because their past work disappointed me.” And maybe to some extent this was one of those times. There’s no perfect solution that works all the time. But I recommend everyone just be mindful and try to frame criticism in terms of the work itself instead.
2) It will demonstrate more clearly to other people that you have specific, reasonable criticisms about the game. When people see someone whose comments are mainly focused on the devs rather than the work, they are more likely to wonder if that commenter just has an ax to grind and has lost perspective.
3) It’s safer, factually. For example, a lot of the art and mocap animation in the GK1 remake was not done by Phoenix Online. It was done by the original developer, Signus Labs. Phoenix Online inherited Signus’s art, added more art, and did finishing work. So whenever I see people laying all the praise or all the blame at the feet of Phoenix Online, whether it’s a message that says “GK:20th shows how much Phoenix sucks!” or “GK:20th shows that Phoenix has improved hugely since Moebius,” I can only conclude that those people may be uninformed about the behind-the-scenes story of this game. If they were more fully informed, they might not be so certain of their conclusions. That’s true for a lot of games, in fact. As players, we pretty much never know the full story of what all went on behind the scenes, so it’s better to talk about what we can see—the end product—rather than getting embroiled in speculation about who should be blamed for what.
Peace and love to all.
Thanks Caliburn. Thanks for a very well-written, thoughtful, and intelligent post that addresses all the pressing issues in threads like this one. To say that I am in agreement with you on that front is an understatement.
Caliburn, sometimes I wonder if you aren’t the most masterful troll on these forums. 
Caliburn, sometimes I wonder if you aren’t the most masterful troll on these forums.
I love you, too, buddy. 
(In all seriousness, I don’t understand what you’re talking about, but feel free to send me a PM and explain the joke.)
I didn’t quite finish with the GK1 remake over the weekend (I’m on Day 9 out of 10), so this is a bit premature. But I had mentioned previously that I wanted to write a post about some of the things I really liked in the remake, so maybe this is a good time to add a little positivity.
The journal
The original GK1 had a tape recorder you could use to play back every line of conversation in a game that was, let’s be honest, already pretty verbose. The tape recorder was meant to be a tool so players could revisit dialogue in case they missed a hint somewhere in the reams of dialogue.
Honestly, I hardly ever (if ever) used the tape recorder to re-listen to conversations. Maybe some people did, but I found it kind of overwhelming.
The remake replaces the tape recorder with a journal that Gabriel writes in. The journal serves as a quick summary of recent events and as an objective tracker. It also serves as an insight into Gabriel’s mind.
Especially in the early days of GK1, you often have several possible tasks to complete in a flexible order, so having an objective tracker is really handy.
A cool, added detail in a Day 3 cutscene
During Hartridge’s lecture, Gabriel has a nightmare where he imagines himself being pulled inside a small coffin. The remake takes advantage of its higher resolution and makes this nightmare even creepier than in the original game by adding small bugs that crawl on the coffin’s surface.
The police station sequence on Day 6
There is an awesome new sequence on Day 6 involving the police station. I won’t say much about it, but anyone who has read the GK1 novelization may recall it.
The Gabriel and Grace cutscene on Day 6
The sequence where Grace paints the snake tattoo onto Gabriel’s chest was in the original game, but there it was done only as a scripted sequence (animated character sprites moving within the standard game scene). In the remake, it has been turned into a full cutscene.
Concept art and behind-the-scenes info for the original game
While I agree with Mr. Cobbett’s review that I would have loved to see the concept art at a bigger size and accompanied by even longer comments, it was still great to see all the “making of” tidbits from the original game. There are some nice, longer interviews, too, with Jane Jensen (writer/designer), Robert Holmes (producer/composer), John Shroades (lead illustrator), and Michael Hutchison (lead animator) from the original team at Sierra. Maybe others I missed—as I said, I haven’t finished playing the remake yet.
Caliburn, you are wise man.
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