Re: Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers - A SHP Playthrough

[Datadog]

I thought a week was what we had originally settled on. Glad to see it back in action!

Here's my notes. There's spoilers, so play the corresponding day first before reading.

DAY 3 NOTES:
-Ah, Day 3 and Gabriel's back to his lewd comments. I was scared there for a second.
-They're interrogating someone this morning. Too bad Gabe slept in til 3.
-I like how people give me things when "we're done talking." And they only know I'm done talking if I tell them we are. Otherwise we can just sit and stare at each other in silence.
-"If you know CASTRO." The lady over the phone doesn't seem to notice the dance lessons part of Gabe's lie.
-I like how Mosely reacts to Gabe stealing his badge - as if it happens every other week.
-Come on, lady - just tell him what "cabrit sans cor" means. It's not some secret term he can't just look up in a French-English dictionary (which might also be found in a book store, I might add.)
-Mamaloa. Rolls off the tongue it does. Mmmmmamaloa.
-No, Gabe! Stay awake through the lecture! He's giving you answers to puzzles!
-Pulitzer Prize winner Laura Bow Dorian, eh? I guess we know what happened after LB2.
-555-6789 doesn't work. No cat food sales.
-Hartridge is weird. He's all hostile about me walking into his office, but then he just ignores me.
-I'd laugh if Professor Hartridge just walked off with my veve and never came back.
-"Lasting impression." Fabulous, Gabe. Fabulous.
-Hmmm... I'm actually stuck now. Gotta go through this chapter with a comb.
-Ah-ha! Malia in the graveyard! Always something new if I re-explore...
-"I know you got more money than God! You think I care?" Dude, Gabe - yes. You CARE.
-I like how Gabe ends all his Malia conversations with a swear.
-Aw, geez! No wonder I'm stuck. I had to stand around and wait for Bruno.
-How did I miss the poetry book before? Man, I'm just missing puzzle solutions everywhere.
-As far as getting his family away from voodoo curses go, maybe Heinz should've picked a better place than New Orleans.
-I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside from helping Sam.
-And there it ends.
-"Gracie... say good niiiiiiiight."

DAY 4:
-And we open on the silent treatment.
-AH! CREEPY GUY IN THE WINDOW!
-Seriously - he just stands there! Doesn't even flinch! I should draw a mustache on the window and he wouldn't move.
-Yeah, OPERATE and OPEN should just be the same cursor. I just opened four doors with operate in a row.
-Aw, Sam and Markus are going around the world together. So romantic.
-Walk faster, Crash! Gah! I want to crank up the speed...
-Ah, there we go. Lap dance AND Gabriel's back to his old ways.
-Wait - the band played the lap dance music? How did their instruments change?
-Ack! The fortuneteller's possessed!
-Hmmm... somehow I remember that fortune-telling scene being scarier...
-"Eating the big enchilada!"
-Well, Crash is dead. I guess I should poke around at his body for a bit.
-Wait - did I just leave him there in church? Crap - gotta go talk to Mosely.
-Why do I have to talk to the officer every time? He knows I'm here to see Mosely. JUST LET ME GO IN FOR A CHANGE.
-Mosely is surprisingly casual about me reporting a dead body. We'll pick him up "Sometime later this day." Dude - this isn't like grocery shopping - there is a dead body in a public church - get it picked up NOW.
-I didn't get points? You mean I can just leave his body there?
-Hmmm... got the snake charm, the lap dance, Crash is dead... stuck again.
-I'm just going to sit here showing Dr. John all the voodoo paraphenilia I've been collecting.
-Hurray! He likes my crocodile mask!
-I think I'm done with Grandma. Can't she just shout "come on in" whenever I visit?
-Magentia's useless now. Moving on...
-Crash's body is gone...
-AAAHHH!!! CRAZY POSSESSED LADY IS BACK!
-Okay, THAT was the scary part I remember.
-Ah, weird. Missed some points from earlier talking to the yardkeeper.
-Lost...
-AHA! Magentia isn't useless after all! Code cracked! Day ends!

The big problem I noticed with replaying the game is that I know which events happen on which days, so once I find all those events, I tend to get stuck until I locate all the side-puzzles. And the game doesn't give me any clue that Gabe is supposed to complete certain things on certain days.

[BBP]

If you're looking for Hartridge and hostility, you may want to try to rummage through his garbage before day 5 starts.
Yeah the dictionary is a bit of a plot hole. The game doesn't specify whether the book is German-English or English-German, but you'd think he could look up Schattenjager. (Any other Dutchies heard that and thought he was a treasure hunter?)
My French dictionaries (I collect dictionaries and language courses, I'm drowning in them) don't contain the word cabrit. Guessing it's Creole slang. At school I stamped the word chèvre.

[BBP]

Finished day 3 & 4. Had some weirdness when Bruno came in: Gabriel slid across the bookstore floor as if someone had spilt hot wax there. Will try it out to see if it happens again.

[dotkel50]

Almost forgot to post....
Day 3 and Gabe's back to being a dog (his interaction with Mme Lorelei), and when he hit on the Gedde woman I thought the dialog was soooo corny. Why isn't Gabe in jail for impersonating a police officer. Friends or not, seems like he's done it before. Everytime Gabe and Mosely swear it cracks me up. I used to say that phrase "scared sh*tless" all the time back in the day. When Gabe was talking to the Professor, i wondered why the Prof made a point of saying he was hetero - did he think Gabe was hitting on him? Did i miss something there?...and he did the quickest copy job ever! Did anyone else think Gabe's "blessing" sounded like a nursery rhyme?
Day 4.....too quick.

[Maiandra]

It's been so long since I played, I only remember some details, certainly not which days everything happens. So, I'm worried that I missed something in Day 4. It ended as soon as I left the Cathedral after talking to Crash! I didn't even have a chance to talk to Mosely. It seemed kind of short compared to Day 3.

I still can't figure Magentia Moonbeam out. It's like, she knows some stuff that no one else does (or will admit), like the secret Voodoo alphabet (or whatever it is), but is totally clueless about other stuff. She had no idea what a fwet kash was or the veve!

Everyone in the game is a totally crappy liar, except Malia. Dr. John slipped up again when he claimed not to recognize the message from the tomb, but then warns you about going in the cemetaries, when you specifically DIDN'T tell him you were in the cemetery. I guess the game does stuff like that to try to make you feel like you're clever and actually uncovering the conspiracy, instead of bumbling around cluelessly (even though I still feel like that's what Gabe is doing).

I thought that Mme. Cazanoux's description of the REAL voodoo queen of New Orleans was strikingly similar to Gabe's own description of Malia. That could be because I already know it's her, but I thought it was interesting. I didn't notice that before.

I also thought it was pretty damn scary that Tetelo was able to possess the fortune teller/belly dancer during the middle of the day, without any ritual, in the middle of Jackson Square. That's a powerful loa.

[BBP]

Yes, day 4 is scarily short, but it should end as soon as you get on the map when you have the tattoo. Alternatively you could wait a little while with copying the tat, and then you get different Crash Is Dead dialogue.
Checked up on my script, it needs serious revision.

[Datadog]

Are we posting about Day 4 already? Yeah, I guess it's been a week. I actually just finished the rest of the game earlier today.

I found out first-hand that Crash's tattoo wasn't the only thing you needed to end Day 4. It also won't end until you get Magentia to decipher the code. I have more on that in my notes, but I'll post them tomorrow after I get some sleep.

Also - that was Tetelo possessing the fortune-teller? Man, that's so awesome! I just thought she was being scary on principle.

[AndreaDraco]

Yesterday, being my birthday, I didn't have the time to post Day 5. I will do, shortly, after posting some finishing thoughts on these two days!

[AndreaDraco]

Interesting Facts about Day 3

While at Dixieland Drug Store:

- Look at the garlic and try to get it
- Examine the jars on display, particularly the blue and red ones
- Examine the little brown bags that hang from the ceiling
- Examine the posters, the sign on the counter and purple candle

While at the Napoleon House:

- Talk with the bartender about patrons long enough to hear him talking about Gabe
- Try to pick up the girl in the corner
- Talk with the lonely drinker
- Examine the chess table, the bust, the painting and the window

While at the Tulane University:

- Look at the board to discover what happened to another beloved Sierra character

Interesting Facts about Day 4:

While at the Overlook:

- Examine the plaza to discover his gruesome history and the origin of its strange name (Update: my mistake. The info is actually in the novel, not the game. Check out this post if you're interested)
- Examine the statue in the center of Jackson's Square
- Examine the church, obviously, and the building around it

While in the Cathedral:

- Enter and use the confessional multiple times to elicit different responses
- Try to steal the money from the statues
- Look inside the mirror in the back room
- You can talk to Crash about every topic two times, just save the "Hounfour" topic for last

Day Four Finale in the Novel:

"Gabriel sank back on his heels into the aisle and leaned against the side of the pew. His gaze found the stained-glass windows. The Good Shepard gazed back at him, crook in hand, sheep grazing peacefully in the paradise of green hills beyond. Gabriel closed his eyes. Take care of him, he prayed awkwardly. To whom the plea was offered, he didn't know. To whatever it was that was out there - hopefully something with an aspect of tenderness like one in the window beyond."

Jane Jensen, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Roc 1997, p. 171

[AndreaDraco]

Here's the new segment to play! Next Sunday we will move on to Day 7!

[Datadog]

Ack, I'm all confused. I thought we were starting Day 4 and then I realized I already posted my Day 4 notes!

So here's Day 5! I'm only putting spoiler tags in for the parts about later days.

DAY 5
-Day 5 starts. More silence.
-Rada drum book already? That was quick.
-Why is Grace giving the me the newspaper clipping again?
-And why is she giving me the rada drum book again? I think I found a glitch.
-"I'm not touching that body. I'll touch Crash's body, but not this one."
-Oh, good. Gabriel finally told somebody about a dead body on his own.
-Okay - gonna save and have some fun at the museum...
-"I really don't wanna be dead. Can we try that again?" Nope, because "TRY AGAIN" isn't an option.
-"I'm sorry my snake just tried to kill you. Have a good day, Mr. Knight." "I'll SEE YOU IN COURT!!!"
-"I love it when you pick stuff off my face, Grace."
-Hey! I didn't need to ask permission to get into Mosely's office today!
-Ha! I save the game, stop playing for a couple days, come back, click on the door, and the day ends.
-Gabriel's really slow at dialing. It's like he's reeling his hand back for every button.
-DAMN! Another Malia-related swear. Three so far, I believe.

DAY 6
-There is a dead bleeding chicken in the middle of your shop and you're JOKING?!
-Okay, Grace - to sum up, you aren't getting paid, you're getting sexually harassed, your employer is dealing in the dark arts, and people are leaving animal sacrifices in your workplace. FIND A NEW JOB.
-And now she's freaking out about getting mail. Grace, go home and get some rest.
-I think I'm cheating at this rada drum puzzle since I already know where I'll be by day's end.
-Silly Gabriel. Cops eats donuts, not beignets.
-Wow. The cops are really slack about letting Gabriel just walk out of Mosely's locked office.
-GAH! Okay, found a bug. I read and translated the new grave scratches by hand and found that the new message is exactly the same as the last message.
-"Can we at least go in the back?" "No, PAINT ME IN THE FRONT."
-This whole "painting Gabe" scene looks so wrong.
-And HIS COMMENTS AREN'T HELPING.
-Man, this bayou maze keeps reminding me of the time-travel swamp maze in "Escape from Monkey Island."
-Actually, I really like the music in this swamp for some reason. Very Super Nintendo-ish.
-BOOBIES!
-DJ! What about the message: "do not harm?!"
-I like how Gabe just leaves all his clothes at the front.
-Man, the detail in this conclave is crazy sick. I want to make jokes, but it's just too mesmerizing.
-Especially this part.
-Ah, saved by the Grace.

[AndreaDraco]

-This whole "painting Gabe" scene looks so wrong.
-And HIS COMMENTS AREN'T HELPING.

This is one of my favorite scenes of the entire trilogy!

[BBP]

+1 about the tattoo scene! It's only seconded by that glorious 3rd day impotence discussion when you get your lagniappe. (the sign actually only offers Gambling Oil and Lover Come Back To Me Oil, but we'll forgive them.)

- Examine the plaza to discover his gruesome history and the origin of its strange name

Wait wait wait wait.
Unless you're talking about what Gabe reads in the newspaper about Jackson Square; in my script I cannot find anything on the plaza.
{checks SCI viewer}
There's really nothing on the plaza on my Sierra Originals disk. Can you verify whether it's really there, at Jackson Square Overlook?

[AndreaDraco]

BBP, you're absolutely right. The info I was referring to is actually found in the novel. Here:

It had once been an army parade ground, way back in the days of the French (it was called La Plaza d'Armas then). Public executions had taken place here - hangings, beheadings. Gabriel wondered if mothers ever thought about that as their kiddies played on the grass. Even the name, Jackson Square, was a bit of a contradiction. The park was actually laid out in a circle.

Jane Jensen, Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Roc 1997, p. 13

I don't know how but I got confused. I was sure the info was in the game Thanks for spotting it, BBP!

[Simo Sakari Aaltonen]

But I believe the novel mixes the French and Spanish names: Place d'Armes and Plaza de Armas.