Transcript
Speaker: It's Quest Quest. The adventure game, broadcast.
Speaker: is ah Is there anywhere you're going with that are you just using a fun little sound? this is ah This is a fun little sound I'm doing. Les ailes bon temps brûlée. ah
Speaker: sure ben yes you gotta get that nolan spirit uh yeah i uh you know i i have to conjure the big easy the big easy or the big sleazy as i like to call it this is normally i'm ah When I visit New Orleans or when I have visited New Orleans, this is the time of year that I've gone, which is the week of Labor Day.
Speaker: can only assume the temperature there corresponds to what it's like here right now, you would physically die upon stepping out of the plane. Oh, it's fucking terrible. That's why I'm not there. Yes. Yeah. It is like 98 degrees here today. And I'm not talking about the boy band. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Um, yeah. Uh, uh, the last time I was in, uh, New Orleans, uh, two or three years ago, it was, uh, this week. And I know that because I've been getting all of the like memories on my phone, like photo app.
Speaker: Um, and it was terrible. Like, I mean, it was a wonderful trip. I had a great time. but it was like a million degrees, like it was a million degrees in humid, which is also what it is here in Chicago. And apparently they're in West Virginia. Yes. Just miserable, miserable. I, I, like I tried to teach today and I'm not kidding, Ben, like air air conditioning and air building that was built in the sixties is not up to snuff. And
Speaker: I was like, it's so hot in here. I'm already sweating. I haven't even started teaching yet. So I was like, I'll open a window to get a breeze. And a blast of hot air came through the window when I opened it that nearly knocked me over. It was unbelievable. Even my hot room. This was a good 10 to 15 degrees hotter. This is no way to live.
Speaker: It was... Here in Chicago, it was not as horribly bad today as it was the last couple days. It was in the mid-80s when it had been in the 90s. Fahrenheit for European. ah Celsius, that would be nearly 400. Yeah, it would be like a million Celsius.
Speaker: But... but um Like it it was the type of weather when I would like step outside, I would just like involuntarily go. o Yeah.
Speaker: Now, Ben, correct me if I'm wrong, but when you were in New Orleans, you did wear a leather trench coat the entire time. though Do you think that was part of the problem? Well, all right, we'll we'll we'll get to this because I think i think the the the leather ah coat in in New Orleans in the game that we're discussing today, which I'll all'll keep secret. Could be anything. anything.
Speaker: What I will say is that, so the week of Labor Day, so next next week, or next week when we're recording, ah Labor Day being yesterday when you're listening.
Speaker: Today is Labor Day. You remember that great Homestar video? It rings a bell. That's all I got. Today Labor Day. but anyway, um ah But I would go, there was, or there still is, this ah ah big gay festival there called the Southern Decadence. And there were people there in, like, leather outfits. Well, yes. Like, fetish wear and stuff like that. which
Speaker: the subject of today's podcast uh like i mean that has more kind of like that's just what you're wearing right like there isn't anything underneath that and in many cases those are breathable except when they're extremely not breathable yeah even then i was looking i was just like Boy, oh boy. Like, it's like, ho good day come on, guys. Like, you need a seersucker suit. It is so fucking hot and humid here. yeah and Like, not only does that look uncomfortable, but it also looks like it would ruin the leather.
Speaker: Yeah, you got switch that out for like seersucker fetish wear. For like balmy, you know, southern heat.
Speaker: Yeah. Like, I mean, because there's, there's commanders. What is it? Commander's palace, the the famous restaurant in New Orleans where you, you have to wear a suit, which is always like, I've always just been like, I understand. i appreciate the class.
Speaker: of um like you know i understand like how classy that is don't want to wear pants i have you know i mean have to admit i don't think i have ever particularly enjoyed a meal that i ate while wearing a tie I don't, I, I'm not going to, day that's, ah you're just saying that because you, yeah most meals that you have wearing a tie are at weddings.
Speaker: Or bad catered, like university events. or It's true. I do only wear a tie to bed. I will say I went to a restaurant once where they literally gave me the loner tie, which was I didn't even realize that was a thing. I thought that just happened in sitcoms. But it turns out that if you are uncouth enough, they will hand you a tie.
Speaker: um It was really embarrassing. I was young. it was right after my wife and I got married. They seated my wife and they're like, oh, sir, you might want to step out to the lavatory and put on this tie before you enter the restaurant. they seated her and I got in the restroom. was like, I don't know how to tie fucking tie.
Speaker: And this is pre like smartphone. yeah You can't look on your phone. So I'm just standing in a like restroom crying with a tie in my hand. And you know what, Ben? In 15 minutes, I devised something that looked like a necktie knot. um I don't know if it's one that's ever existed before or since, but I tied something that mimicked the appearance of a human necktie.
Speaker: was so embarrassing It was so got back to my table and my wife, it's like 20 minutes later, she's like, where have you been? I've got like tear stains running down my cheeks. It's like, they made me feel poor and stupid. ah They my fair ladied you.
Speaker: They my fair ladied me. You were my fair ladied. Yeah. Yeah. Some may say that was, that you were Pygnalian, but no, you were my fair lady. No, no, no, no, no. the rain in Spain was definitely falling all over my plains. And i I was in rough shape. I mean, this was in West Virginia. How can there be anywhere in this state that requires a tie?
Speaker: Yeah, I'm trying to think, like, Because, yeah, what meals have i had with a tie? Because I bet if I wore a tie, like, I bet Commanders is pretty good. Yeah. um And, like, because, yeah, like, it's it's just like when the meals I've had when wearing a tie have all been weddings. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Like, because even... I think even the nicest restaurants I've been to, like even Alinea here in Chicago, which is like one of the great restaurants.
Speaker: I don't think did I wear a tie when I went to Alinea. i know I don't mean, it's less common than it used to be. ah will say to bring this all full circle at this wedding, I just attended last week. heard I got to eat Cajun food because it was catered by Cajun restaurants. So I enjoyed some etouffee, some red beans and rice, cool had a little bit of a little bit gumbo.
Speaker: All of this shellfish free, so none of it killed me. Well, you know, that's the best part. I don't know tail going out like with a big old bowl of shrimp gumbo.
Speaker: i feel like a lot of people would be like, yeah, that checks out based on what I know of Jess. Like that's how you probably would have wanted to go. isn't that ah Isn't that a, like one of the the wildest things about New Orleans cuisine is how heavy it is.
Speaker: And like, because i I associate like kind of more heavy food with colder places, like the one that I live in. where you want to stick to your ribs yeah you you want you want to wear something that like really you know makes like you're wearing a winter coat and inside you're also wearing a winter coat a shepherd's pie or whatever yes like um why in the world does new orleans have hot heavy food fucking food on the planet like it's just like
Speaker: It's just like a, like a roux and then like just even more just shit on it. Well, mean, even um like a mufaleta sandwich served cold feels like it's designed to make you sweat the worst of all. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah Yeah. No, I mean, it is a, i mean i don't know if we can get to the bottom of it. You know who we should bring in to talk about this. Who should, Oh, uh our our friend the culinary uh critic yes dominic armado dominic armado culinary critic he would probably be able to tell us a little bit about actually probably have a lot of like interesting and smart context and rather than that just says he would wi his finger yeah i don't want heavy food when when it's hot No way, man.
Speaker: i all I mean, I like, it's also, it's like, I, you know, I mentioned reuse it's like, well, you know, that's one of the wonderful things about new Orleans is that it is a city that is like, you know, has a lot of different influences. ah Like, you know, it was, it was French for a while. it was Spanish for a while. like it has this like, you know, Cajun culture in it. If you will.
Speaker: Yeah, there there is a bit of a spice melange. Everyone there does have blue eyes. um But, ah yeah, I mean... i You're here's Here's the thing.
Speaker: Wedding food is getting better too. Right? Right. I think that we've, we're not doing like the, you know, like chicken breast and side steamed vegetables as frequently people have realized that, you know, their guests might want to eat actual food that people enjoy.
Speaker: um like, I'm still not going to say I've ever had like a great meal at a wedding, but I've had fun meals at a wedding, which I think pretty good because yeah, like,
Speaker: yeah I think this transition using the extremely like non anecdotal data of the weddings I've been to across my life. Like I remember like the weddings that were like just what you would call like the standard catering package.
Speaker: Yeah. Yeah. Chicken steak or salad. Yes. Maybe fish if they're none of which are great. Yeah. then All of which are just like, Lower tier catered stuff. No, I mean, my cousin Alfie had an amazing wedding at a venue called the Bluegrass Barn back home, which was followed by not only bluegrass music, but they had a barbecue smoker outside and there was a full barbecue feast after the wedding, which that's pretty good. That's what you're looking for.
Speaker: But that was also ah very casual wedding. So I was not wearing a tie. I can't imagine trying to wear a tie and eat barbecue. i would use it comically like a napkin quite a bit yeah yeah you know what no i you know and i do take it back because i have had one pretty good uh uh my uh my friend aaron's wedding that i went to 10 years ago anniversary aaron happy anniversary aaron uh uh He, ah they made all the food.
Speaker: no His family made all the food. Like table side live? Like, you know, your teppanyaki? Yeah, like when they make a Caesar salad. But it was also, it's like they they have like a massive garden and stuff like that. It was all like vegetables and stuff. That sounds amazing. That was quite good. What a great thing to share with your guests, your loved ones. Yeah, was it was. That was a very nice. I mean, yeah, I mean think overall. Wedding havers.
Speaker: Yeah. Next time I get married, it is to be so much better than the first time. what was What was the food at your at your wedding? First of all, I didn't eat any of it. Like I was too busy having to be social and like talk everybody. So I literally didn't have a bite of food, but ours was closer to the like traditional catered experience. We had a historic in, uh, in Southwestern Virginia.
Speaker: is Historic in what? Historic Inn, the Martha Washington Inn. Oh, that's supposed to be a great place. Yeah, it is. Right across the street from the historic Barter Theater.
Speaker: isn' it like Isn't that like a Michelin starred place? I don't know about that. Surely not. But I mean, it yeah i mean it was it was whatever. you know the ah I think it was just chicken, you know steamed vegetables, that sort of thing.
Speaker: i gotta ah i gotta I gotta look this up. When I was a kid... I'm thinking of the Inn at Little Washington. That makes more sense. I was going to say, this is not a fancy venue. I'm thinking of the Inn at Little Washington. I'm mixing up...
Speaker: I had two of the three words. I had two of the three in, in Washington. Yes. And it is in, in that area. <unk> It's, I believe outside DC and historic Abingdon, Virginia. Yeah.
Speaker: yeah It's in, it's in ah like ah Virginia. Yeah. Yes. Worlds apart from Southwestern Virginia, which is also not West Virginia.
Speaker: Now, um anyway, i I'm trying to think. What... man etouffee at a wedding oh it was very good it was very good there was also drunken chicken dish as part of this and some kind of lovely mushroom and spinach dish that was kind of like an indian sog but with more of a uh a cajun flavor profile nice vegetarian dish really delicious oh man it was it was good stuff uh it was it was actually good wedding food and you know
Speaker: I love me some Cajun food and love new Orleans, which we may end up talking about more of this episode. Yeah, no, I, I adore new Orleans. i was hoping to have a lot of affinity for new Orleans. we I have a great affinity. I don't know about you, but I think a lot of that affinity was born out of the game. We're talking about today, which we're not going reveal.
Speaker: Yeah, not yet. but a lot of it's actually born out of that. My dad's a trumpet player and his dad's probably mostly Gabriel night. of
Speaker: Probably mostly Gabriel. It might be born out of that. That my dad would make beignets and red beans and rice. Like, I mean, he's, he's jazz fest dad. He has a Jazz Fest ad.
Speaker: And I mean, this. mean We all talked about this on the Norco episode. We don't like it. It's probably going to cover like ah I don't want to entirely recover all that ground because we did talk about my Jazz Fest ad in that episode. i believe You know, we haven't talked about Norco in several episodes. So we got to go back. Yeah, we got to go back. It's been too long. We're talking about Norco every episode.
Speaker: We haven't talked about immortality in a little bit either. Oh man, what a great game. Yeah, people should play Norco and immortality. Yeah. Anyway, immortality still freaks me out a little.
Speaker: What? Immortality still freaks me out a little. upsetting. It's an upsetting game. Yeah. Speaking of upsetting games, what have you been playing? Well, Ben, I've been tinkering around and I'm not far in this game yet, but have been playing a point click adventure game called Aurora Hills. Have you ever heard of Aurora Hills?
Speaker: I have not heard of Aurora Hills. the reallic So Aurora Hills is a 2024 point and click adventure game set here in a fictional town in West Virginia.
Speaker: ah It is. and I know that you're you're quite fine playing playing games that portray it. I am. And there aren't many of them. And this one's quite lovely to look at. has like a real autumnal West Virginia kind of vibe.
Speaker: You play as a park ranger, which i also enjoy. You know, it's it's no fire watch. But you're a park ranger who is investigating a series of mysterious disappearances around town in the year 1981.
Speaker: um So this is a creepy town in the middle of nowhere, West Virginia, and you are unraveling a mystery.
Speaker: ah kind of it's a fairly simple game like the movement in it is kind of in the style of the original mist where you're presented with the pre-rendered screen and like this looks like a mistema yeah you click and it moves you forward a step and things like that and it has some like hidden object elements to it as well like there's a lot of you get a close-up of a scene like at the beginning of the game you need to get out of your house you have to grab breakfast and find your car keys and get dressed and stuff. So like you go into your living room and you click on the couch and then you click on the cushion and it moves the cushion away and it reveals your keys there. It's kind of a very simple, like just straight down the middle sort of adventure game.
Speaker: that that's pretty, you know, pretty rudimentary, I think, in both the story and the ah the mechanics. It's usually has some mini games mixed in everything, but it's kind fun. Every now and then I like a little bit of a little bit of a creepy story. And yeah, I just like a game set in West Virginia. So I can't can't complain too much. it Is this chapter one that you're playing? because I'm in chapter one. Chapter two came out earlier this year.
Speaker: Yes, Chapter 1 is free to play on Steam if you want to check it out. And I think it's like maybe somewhere around the neighborhood of an hour and a half, two hours long. And yeah, Chapter 2 is now available for purchase on Steam. So yeah, Aurora Hills, it's a perfectly fine little adventure game. I'm having fun with it. I'm i'm looking at the the screenshots of of Chapter 2, and I looked at the screenshots of Chapter 1.
Speaker: Chapter one, i mean, there's some real puzzly looking puzzles in this. Oh man. The screenshots. I see a scene with like 40 different gears in it. Oh yeah. I'm seeing all these gears and shit.
Speaker: Gears on gears. It looks like the they also made this like a series Meridian 157. You ever play that?
Speaker: I have not. It's Nova Soft Interactive. Yeah, I'm looking at Meridian 157 now. looks very similar. It looks like a similar type Here's my question for you. as as ah Again, as I know you have this affinity for, you know, games set in...
Speaker: West Virginia would you is there um is there a sense that i like of of authenticity or do you think that this is a place that they just kind of picked because it was just like well because Meridian 157 takes place in Alaska yeah I think the visuals definitely evoke elements of West Virginia I think that the It gets sort of the remote small town, weird vibe that parts of the state can get. But I think you could kind of drop this exact same game into any remote part of the country based on what I've seen of it after like 45 minutes or so of play. You can probably drop it just about anywhere and, and do that. i mean, it does highlight the fact to me, a lot of this is, uh, the,
Speaker: the investigations involve like tourists who've gone missing. Like you have lots of hikers and other people who are doing outdoor stuff. But again, probably drop that into the Pacific Northwest just as easily. You could drop it in the Ozarks. You could kind of put it in any number of places and it would probably fit just as well. So I appreciate, i mean, I used to joke, there was this amazing page on Wikipedia that was,
Speaker: the list game video games set in West Virginia. And when you load it up, literally the only entry was Fallout 76. It was one of those Wikipedia like index pages, but it only had a single item.
Speaker: So there's so few games set in West Virginia. It's always fun to see somebody try to play with the setting. I mean, isn't there like is Silent Hill supposed to be in West Virginia? i have no idea.
Speaker: I don't that is sal Hey, Google, is Silent Hill in West Virginia? It is in West Virginia. oh ni Oh, wow.
Speaker: I mean, that checks out. I don't that this is this. So, NovaSoft is out of Canada. Interesting. Which is interesting. Carpetbaggers, you're telling me. Yeah, you know they probably like they probably did some research. I'm are curious, as you as you continue playing it how what you think of, like, kind of the flavor but lo Because you you said when you talked about like ah a Fallout, like I remember you wrote that really nice essay about it. um And it was it really kind of touched you in in a certain kind of way. Yeah, it was deeply like thoughtful in terms of how it engaged with Appalachia in general and West Virginia in particular. I know that they spent a lot of time touring around the state, but...
Speaker: I don't know. yeah I feel like a lot of that writing got overlooked because, of course, most of the people playing it don't have that local context. But it really blew me away how accurately was able to capture some of like the contemporary real-world challenges West Virginia faces and extrapolate them into a post-apocalyptic world.
Speaker: sort sci-fi tinged world um and yeah i don't think you got a lot of attention for that because again you know probably the audience in in appalachia was much smaller than all the people who kind of hated fallout 76 at launch yeah yeah yeah Yeah, that's it. Ben, what have you been playing?
Speaker: i You know, I've been playing this small indie game that didn't get very much noticed called a No Man's Sky.
Speaker: No Man's Sky! was just talking about this in class today. i Well, i'm I'm interested to hear about that discussion. ah I'm... I... i'm i i I pulled it out because I was, like, every once in a while, I'm just like, you know what? I kind of want to like i'm i'm kind of want to play No Man's Sky.
Speaker: And the the problem with No Man's Sky is that I get that itch, like, think, like, maybe every two to three years, and I play it, like, for a couple hours. Not even, like, a lot. Just a little bit.
Speaker: And I'm like, okay, all done. and then i And then I put No Man's Sky aside. And then i get that itch again couple years later. And um and i do just the same basic beginning of the game stuff.
Speaker: There is so much shit in the game No Man's Sky at this point. ah And I have played probably yeah of course, famously, you know, No Man's Sky has an enormous universe that you will only ever see a little bit of.
Speaker: But it's like, but there's gameplay. Yes. That ostensibly you'll experience a fair amount of. And pretty much what I do is like, I land on a planet, I run around, i get some stuff and then maybe i fly to another planet.
Speaker: And then I do that one more time and then I'm done. Like I don't do anything else. I might build like a rudimentary fort, but like it is i it's interesting because it's a game, the very basic,
Speaker: kind of like running around and resource gathering and Metroid prime scanning things is a very satisfying thing.
Speaker: Yeah. It's a very satisfying thing and the game still looks great. Um, and they've, you know, they've been improving it over the years. Um, and every now and again, not this time, but every now and again, I've played it in VR and it's beautiful in VR.
Speaker: It's a great VR game. um i but like, you know, like this, this time, ah like i i came upon an abandoned ship on this planet like and i came up to it and i was like oh this ship and it says it's like you know it like kind of side-by-sided my ship like in the way that like if you see find a better sword in a game or yeah it's like oh my ship is like this ship's way better than
Speaker: the starter ship that I have so was like would you like to add this to your your thing I was like sure but the problem is is I found this ship so it's got like a million like it's not it needs a lot of work yeah and so i was like oh yeah I guess I'll add this to my fleet or whatever and then I'll go back to my ship and buy you know go back to a base and buy whatever I need and then um And maybe maybe I can do this, but the interface is so fucking confusing for that game.
Speaker: um Sorry. It's a very dense and unpleasant interface. and I recently played a couple of hours of Starfield. That game sucks. Honestly, oh gosh.
Speaker: Have you spent time with Starfield? I did what most people did with Starfield, which was I played... uh like a couple hours and said nope and then ah put it down and don't send us a fucking email that says well if you play for 30 fucking hours it really opens up i'm not gonna do that don't have time for that don't need a game to entertain me it's gotta be good like 10 minutes pretty quickly yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah no i mean oh starfield oh
Speaker: i I thought I was really when I watched they had like a ah like a ah trailer for like we're not it wasn't a trailer. It was like I think it was Todd Howard or one of Bethesda guys like kind of showing off Starfield.
Speaker: um like before it came out and I but like a lot of other people most people walked away with this conclusion watching that like presentation or demonstration or whatever of it's like oh this is kind of like no man's sky but like the planets are like bespoke so there's like you know stuff it's not just this like algorithmically derived planet that like is just like ah it's kind of cool but it's everything you know it's just a bunch of just a bunch of garbage and all of them are kind of the same it's just that they have a different palette and blah blah blah ay like uh and then like i and it was like you know i would i would like you know like like a no man's sky but you know like there's there's a little more of a plot and you can wander around on these planets and maybe i can kiss someone on my ship and
Speaker: I was less interested in that. And, uh, I really wanted to kiss somebody on my ship. Oh, that might, might've been the problem. And it's like, I have this like kind of fallout type gunplay. We'll have like you, you, you kept in a ship and you fly it around and you go to different planets and on each planet, there's a bunch of quests and stuff like that. People you might kiss.
Speaker: it's not what i was looking for and um and uh uh like i i played it for like a little bit i was just like oh starfish no i mean what slog i got through like the tutorial of flying the ship and i felt physically exhausted i was just like i'm gonna have to do this like every hour or so in this game over the next 100 hours 30 hours then it really like opens up you'll have a great time i don't care if after 30 that's when it gets good yeah i don't care if after 30 hours there's a button that's like here click this for a refund i'm not going to play the 30 hours if i'm not having fun you have to you have to complete the entire game and then it's fun
Speaker: Yeah. The memories that you make playing it. Everything up to that point is just an unpleasant chore. New Game Plus is where it gets fun.
Speaker: New Game Plus is where like there's more kissing. not Not what I was looking for. That's not... You know, all right, here's here's a question, because is it's like, is there a good ah as kind of open space RPG? Because I didn't really like Outer Worlds either.
Speaker: outer outer worlds was warmer i don't love outer worlds either it was it was like okay getting warmer i felt like outer worlds was pandering to me a little bit it felt like it was trying to be my favorite game too hard it was yeah i don't know it just it just wasn't it just it just didn't have it it didn't quite get i played a little bit outer worlds too sort of the same story yeah it didn't quite claim for me you know not quite open world much older like a game that i loved dearly back in the day was wing commander privateer okay i don't know if you ever messed up privateer at all i never played privateer but i've played games that were inspired by privateer yeah they got like i played like freelancer and i played um rebel blah blah blah about lobster whatever um and they were both fine i maybe i just don't like
Speaker: space games well you know um but i think they're hard to make i think i enjoyed hard to explain and tough at her have you gone back and played them recently yes i've tried they they're pretty atrocious um yeah i mean yeah i mean it's supposed to be better i think it's x-wing but yeah but mean even then i'm just first of all i'm not cut out for flat simulators like when i was 13 years thirteen years old memorizing like all 56 keys that it takes to operate my my b-wing fighter was a lot more fun than it is today it's just like i just want a button that makes me fly in a straight direction so i can press another button that shoots down bad guys that's all i want yeah you know i guess you could say does star control 2 count is that i've never played star control 2 but i like where you're going with this i've always been curious about star control
Speaker: Star Control 2, you can download, you can go get Urquan Masters. It's free, and it's just Star Control 2. Urkel Masters. Urkel Masters. Did I do that? do You remember with that great bit when Urkel used to say that? That was pretty good. he was Yeah, I always enjoyed He was a funny guy. He was a funny guy. Jaleel White, man.
Speaker: You know... More sitcoms need need a Urkel type character. You know, they do that could bring back network comedies. You know what would be good if Strange New Worlds as an Urkel character? or Or what if they just had a one off episode that was just essentially family matters? Yeah, it's just like this episode, last episode we were puppets. Next episode we're going to be in a film noir thing, and then we're going to a Chinatown episode. And then the next one we're in Chicago. That's right. 1992. We're in the musical Chicago, and Renee Zellweger's there. but What a treat.
Speaker: i know but before we get to all the mr cellophane yeah it's gonna be great um family matters is in chicago though right that's why is it yeah i think family matters is in chicago that's why well there you go i mean yeah but yeah look this up yeah and i mean yeah just do family matters and like now a sudden captain pike is uh is the dad yeah it's chicago yeah days go by great song um why not just urkel it up just urkel urkel it up get a little white in there gotta get julia white we we gotta bring him back gotta bring him back he made us all laugh this this is the the the guy whoever's been doing the voice of sonic the last 20 years has not had the magic no no no gotta get i got trash
Speaker: Gotta get Jaleel back. Gotta get Jaleel White. and He's gonna make everybody yuck. Yeah. and not not And not saying yuck like you'd yuck a yum, but like yuck it up.
Speaker: Yuck it up like the yuckle hut. Oh, you gotta get Jaleel White back. Do you remember how much he, like, Urkel loved cheese? I'm going to be honest here. I remember so little about Urkel other than his catchphrase and Stefan Urkel. Yeah, I guess you were mostly remember him for his uncertainty about whether he was responsible for the events that transpired.
Speaker: Yeah, he's always he's always wondering. He's always so he's confused. But you know, some of you would say that is like the wellspring of wisdom. Knowing what you don't know.
Speaker: Oh, Jess, did do you know this? That there was a direct-to-streaming Urkel movie that was released in 2023? Why haven't we done a watch-along of this yet?
Speaker: but Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What's it? First of all, what's it called? It's called Urkel saves Santa. cola Okay, move beautiful.
Speaker: But call in the movie. It's an animated feature. It's an animated feature. Yeah, because Julia White, ah ah you know, he's he isn't he's in a young man and he would be so much better if he reprised the role in live action.
Speaker: But you know what? I guess they listen to what we were asking for. They did bring back Urkel and gave him a movie. I'm, uh, wow. This one really came and fucking went, didn't it?
Speaker: Yeah. You don't hear anybody talking about it. Never. out This just seems like something that everyone would have made fun of. Listen to this synopsis. Yeah. It does feel like people should have been dunking on this. Um, the holiday season is here and brilliant, but accident prone. Steve Urkel has already ruined his local celebration by publicly humiliating the department store Santa.
Speaker: Why would he do that?
Speaker: 2023. Now, Ben, Jaleel White is doing triple duty here. He's playing three characters. he's He's clumping it up. He's playing Steve Urkel.
Speaker: He's playing the Urkel bot. Which is the robot Steve. These are all derivatives of Urkel. no, these are separate characters. They all have different IMDB entries.
Speaker: And he's also playing Stefan or Kel, his smooth operator. No, no, no, no. None of this makes sense. A triple role. You don't know about Stefan or Kel. I just mentioned Stefan or Kel.
Speaker: Did you? I did. Wow. I did. I wasn't talking, so I wasn't paying attention. but Well, speaking of Stefan or Cal, let's talk about the adventure game that we decided to discuss today.
Speaker: Briefly. ah It's time for us to talk about. Yeah. There it is.
Speaker: Gabriel Knight. Sins of the father's sins of the father's. Yeah. Sins of the father's. I always get this wrong. I always want to call it sins of the father, which would make a lot more sense.
Speaker: It's specifically his father, like his father's sin. Yeah. Maybe it's sins of the father's with an apostrophe. Yes. Let me pull out my goofy, goofy shaped box.
Speaker: Oh, I wish I had one those goofy shaped boxes. Oh, I bet those are very expensive. But, you know, oh, yeah. Oh, gosh, Ben. Yeah, you, yeah. No, I had one of those, and i was like, this is trash. I'll throw it away. What a mistake. What a mistake.
Speaker: But we're talking about Gabriel Knight. Sins of the Fathers today on the one hand, because of course we had to eventually. This is one of the most beloved adventure games of all time. Part of one of the most beloved adventure game series of all time.
Speaker: ah But also, ah you know, at the recent passing of Tim Curry, who played Gabriel Knight here in the first game and would return to the role in Gabriel Knight 3. it seemed like as good of a time as any to really, really dive into this game. ah A game that Ben, that I mean, Ben, am correct in saying you're a, you're a fan of this one too, right? I'm a fan of this one too. I'm not, it's a, it's a game I really like, but is, it's, it's not one of my guys.
Speaker: Okay. Who are your guys? Okay. oh Jim Gaffigan? That's so the the adventure of this podcast is revealing my guys. and And Gabriel Knight is not one of my guys. like in in and i And I really like this game.
Speaker: And I'm excited. i haven't played the other two. I'm excited to play them. um But ah Gabriel Knight was never one of my guys.
Speaker: um And... ah but But you played this at the time, right? I did. You know, I didn't play it all the way through at the time. I bought this at release in the funky box in the cool, like, two intersecting triangles fitted together box, which I love.
Speaker: i think yeah Was that design also used for ah one of the Prince of Persia releases? Maybe. i had it for Incredible Machines. Oh, I definitely know it was for that one. Yeah, that's that's definitely one. But I bought at the time and the version I have would hang up on one of i think it was maybe day two when the when the paper boy would come by and day two would like pop up on the screen and blood.
Speaker: My game would freeze up and eventually I sent away for a patch from Sierra, but I kind of never returned to it until many years later. I'd played a little bit and enjoyed it. You think that's what?
Speaker: Is it not blood? I never thought that was blood. What do you think? It's dripping, isn't it? Well, yeah, but but all sorts of things that you paint with can drip. What do you think it is? Marinara?
Speaker: Yeah, I think it's marinara. I think it's pizza sauce.
Speaker: i think it's a pizza sauce it's probably it's probably just gumbo uh probably just like i think it's rue a red rue rue i'm doing the thing with my finger the red i'm doing the thing with my finger everyone can't see this but i see it um yeah been wallload a photo in the show notes uh with him doing the thing with his fingers the thing with my finger you know the red roof the classic script yeah if you are a fan of references that have been changed enough they're barely recognizable accompanied by physical motions they're not visible on podcasts ben's got you covered um but yeah no i thought that was blood i thought that was like the blood of the damned the blood of the sacred blood i never thought it was blood
Speaker: Maybe i want to be clear here. You're probably right. But like, I think it might be meant to evoke blood, but I never thought of it as blood. Hmm.
Speaker: Right in and tell us, is this blood? be mean Is there any raspberry jelly? Yeah, it's probably raspberry jelly. Um, with two Z's. And like day two, like I'm trying, like, let me pull up one those.
Speaker: See, that looks that I just pulled up a screenshot and the blood strokes ah or the blood, the blood strokes, the blood strokes. That's my favorite 1990 superhero. The brush strokes to me indicate paint.
Speaker: Okay. i mean, it definitely does look like a stroke. But then it's also like a splatter. there There is a bit, and now I'm i'm i'm going to cross-reference this with the 20th anniversary remake.
Speaker: Oh, mm-hmm. And there is spatter too, but the thing is is, to me, that just looks like somebody painting it in haste.
Speaker: Just a sloppy boy. to I don't even know if it's sloppy. I would just say in haste. Now on day one, the quote that accompanies it is I dreamt of blood upon the shore of eyes that spoke of sand.
Speaker: The lake was smooth and deep and black as was her scented skin. ah ah But I dreamt of blood upon the shore. says blood right there, Ben. Yeah, but you could say blood and something not be blood. You ever think of that?
Speaker: you Give me an example.
Speaker: Listen, we could talk about this all day. I don't think it's blood. going to stick to you this. Yeah. I mean, one of the things I respect most about Ben is his willingness to be wrong. So I'm going to support him in believing that's not blood.
Speaker: You know, we should have had this argument before. So like, you know, a year and a half ago, before we talked to Robert Holmes on a, on a stream, ah like we could asked him.
Speaker: And he could have asked Jane Jensen. desire jane jensen she She wasn't there. Well, like she wasn't there for the interview. but yeah,
Speaker: But yeah, I mean, this is, this is, I like, this is one of those things where like, I feel like I'm just going have like a fucking avalanche dropped on me of like, Ben, of course it's blood. I mean, like, I'm, I'm really left. this and I'm not getting blood. I'm really left out and here one because like, I have like eight pages of notes all based on the assumption that this is blood. Like that was really going be my entry point into talking about this game. And now you're just telling me all that's trash.
Speaker: i I don't think it's blood. Why would there be paint, though? would there be paint? it Because it's red.
Speaker: this is blood. ain't It's voodoo game. It's blood.
Speaker: i don't know. That's a little too scary for me.
Speaker: God, this is exactly the kind of discussion of Gabriel Knight that everyone waited 40 minutes for. This is them just like, oh, finally, they're really breaking down a game I love dearly. And we're just like, I don't know. on those interstitial scenes, is that blood or not? I don't know. Let's talk about it. I'm looking at the day seven.
Speaker: he And the seven has a bit more of a drip. Okay. and And I'm not saying that it looks quite stylish, which it does. um but yeah But I guess I just don't and just I I always thought it was like just kind of a like a like you know day one. You know, just Steve Hall. How does it appear on the screen? like is it but Don't you see it drawn in? That's the question. I i need to look back now and see. Because you don't see it bleeding.
Speaker: Well, I mean, you saw bleed like like it was like a screen in doom. Yeah. don Yeah, no. Let's see here.
Speaker: i I'm going to get to the bottom of this. I'm looking at right now.
Speaker: He's all right. Like, you know, Here's the thing. I'm looking at the the the cover image for the 20th anniversary version, and it does have like that red, like that red swipe as part of the cover image.
Speaker: And that is blood. Or or it's supposed to like evoke blood, right? I mean, this definitely does look like it's being painted onto the screen. But it could be somebody painting in the medium of blood.
Speaker: I don't think it's blood. You gotta get Robert Holmes back. Gotta get Robert Holmes in here. Gotta get Gabriel Knight composer, Robert Holmes. producer.
Speaker: And producer. He knows. He'd know if it was blood. It may have been his blood. They may have digitized it. That may be his blood. He bled onto a canvas. They digitized the canvas. They overlaid it onto this scene of St. George's Bookshop.
Speaker: Um...
Speaker: I even know what to talk about. I think this is, I think this is paint. I think it's blood. No, I guess the blood, the sacred blood, the damned. That's a, uh, sir. That's a different game.
Speaker: I think, well, I mean, you're saying there wasn't sacred or damned blood prior to that. yeah Yeah. If we can't agree on this, what can we agree
Speaker: Can we agree that casting renowned British actor, Tim Curry to play a new Orleans lout, um, a new Orleans handsome boy. are you saying that he's out?
Speaker: No, he's a lout. Oh yeah. No, I'm sorry. Um, can we agree that that ends up being weirdly an inspired choice?
Speaker: it It is such a bizarre choice, right? Right. Yeah, I mean, it shouldn't make sense. But that's Tim Curry. And of course, he's going to give 110%. That's the only setting he has. It strikes me, the casting of Tim Curry in this, rest in peace, who I think he does such a...
Speaker: he He understands the the and like what he's there to do. Because he is... ah like he he provides like a kind of a, like a goofy level to his, his acting kind of always like, because he's in so many like silly things. Right.
Speaker: And, and so he's always able to, to have that and play it serious and do it like, as like, give it the gravity of an actor. And it's kind of ridiculous.
Speaker: it It was a skill that he always had. uh, hey Like I was, I was talking when, um, uh, uh, when Tim Curry passed recently, um I was talking with, uh,
Speaker: some friends about him and he really struck me as an actor who, um, he was very similar to like David Warner and Christopher Lee. This specific type of like British actor that always is working, always saying yes, is in like a lot of stuff that isn't particularly good, he,
Speaker: uh is always doing a great job he's always the best thing about every movie he's in like and like except for clue where everyone is simultaneously the best thing yeah everyone is very very good um uh but um except madeline khan not funny at all yeah one i mean you can't they can't all be winners There's someone that won't get that. i gonna say this you Flames off the side of my face. Isn't funny. You know that she came up with that. Yes, I know. yeah She's amazing. She's amazing in everything. She's amazing in clue, obviously.
Speaker: But, ah but, but Tim Curry, like, he, I remember as a kid, he was one, like, I remember as a teenager kind of locking in on him.
Speaker: Yeah. He was in like, I like, because I, I think I first, I don't know if the first thing I saw him in or the first thing i would recognize him in was Muppet treasure Island. You just keep in mind I'm younger. Like, you know, the, the age gap you probably, um, but, uh,
Speaker: The like, but when I saw him in that, then I saw him in everything. Yeah. Like, because he would be in like garbage TV movies. That's right. Yeah. I mean, I think the first thing I saw him in was the worst witch, which has that amazing musical performance. Like the, anything can happen on the worst, which, which what worst, which I mean, no, I've already had a sandwich.
Speaker: No, it's like a sausage sandwich with worst. It's a versed witch. That sounds pretty good. Why is it the worst? No, it's the best worst. We like to have fun here Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast. This is just me and Ben being and silly. I know that everybody's like, I've been waiting for this game for 90 some episodes. and And already I've had to listen to him argue about whether it was blood on the title screen. I was right.
Speaker: Well, it's hard to say the jury's out on that. Our our listeners will let us know. Please, please send us an email at quest quest podcast at gmail.com. If you're an idiot, obviously, yes it was what yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No. What else would it be? But Ben is convinced that there's a whole bunch of red paint floating around New Orleans in this murder mystery. Yeah. All those. Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, would there ever be red paint anywhere? No, everything's purple and gold and green paint in in in New Orleans. Those are the only three colors. He was the grand wizard in The Worst Witch. Have you ever seen that, Ben? No.
Speaker: Oh, my God. There's an amazing musical number. You have to listen to it after the show with some really great chroma key technology. Hey, that's how you got me back. He's like, he's crooning this like, anything can happen on Halloween and and just hamming it up.
Speaker: like crazy while silly chroma key things happen behind him it is truly marvelous you have to see him but i think that's what i saw him in first i mean later probably after that clue and um rocky horror uh ended up being like a hugely influential film uh to me as a kid like that was one that i probably saw as a teenager that just like immediately changed, ah changed part of my worldview, I think in some fun ways. So I'm definitely a Rocky horror guy.
Speaker: And yeah even so much voice work on college. I didn't know this. Like I knew that he was like Captain Hook. Have you ever heard any of his performance as the Joker on Batman, the animated series before they replaced him with Mark Hamill?
Speaker: No. Those are floating around out there. It's kind of fun. It's a different Joker, ah but, you know, it's still got that Tim Curry flair. I mean, him playing a clown seems like a stretch, but he made it work. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, but it's amazing. It's amazing casting because you need that mix of his ability to take things deadly seriously and then add back in levity along the way. I mean, it's listening to like, you he has a famous quote on like the making of Gabriel Knight video feature that was on the CD-ROM where his quote was Gabriel Knight is very, very cool and impossibly handsome.
Speaker: So of course they picked me. I have seen this. Which is great. That's great. yes That's wonderful. And, know, reading Jane Jensen talking about his performance, she said in a 1998 interview that he whipped through, as she says, 1,400 lines of dialogue in five to six hours and got nearly everything on the first take.
Speaker: So apparently he did. he he was a fucking pro. And ah like, he was also, again, he was doing a lot of voice work. yeah Like, um, that was towards the beginning of his voice work career, but he had already done like a ton of like voice work and stuff like that. He was, I mean, and let's play it. What can you tell me about voodoo?
Speaker: Um, he He just had it dialed in. He was just yeah just a ah fucking murderer. um And he's part of an all-star cast here, too. I mean, you've got... You already mentioned Mark Hamill.
Speaker: Mark Hamill is in this as Mosley. You've got... Also doing a silly southern accent. Also doing a silly southern accent. You got Worf. Yeah. We're just warfing it up. Michael, Michael Dorn.
Speaker: Warfing it up. Sounding like a guy with a deep voice. I mean, what a, what a voice. You've got a young Leah Remini. She's really, really good in this. She's fantastic in this. Like that line that you quoted earlier about, you know, Gabriel's allowed, um, as someone who, again, his game froze on day two, I heard that line a lot, uh, allowed, allowed.
Speaker: Um, and I love like her performance is outstanding and, uh, in this game. And then, you know, all the, all the others are, are, are quite strong too. um And, you know of course, don't know that we'll talk a lot about the 20th anniversary edition of this game. Or was it 25th?
Speaker: 20th. 20th. 20th anniversary. you've it. I've played it. I've never played And actually, in a world where there was no way to use those original voices, they couldn't get them back. They didn't have the masters, et cetera, et cetera. And they had to recast. They did a pretty good job with that. By the end of it, I enjoyed their new cast quite a bit. But...
Speaker: There's something really charming about this cast, Leah Remney and and Tim Curry in particular for me. I think they are just absolutely nailing this as Grace and Gabriel. They they are selling ah relationship between the two of them that I don't know that the game, don't know the writing is serving it nearly as well as their performance. Like you're really getting a sense of how these, I mean, the writing wonderful. Jane Jensen's a fabulous, uh, you know, game, uh, game writer, but, uh, yeah, I feel like they add so much depth to that beyond just what's on the page.
Speaker: You know, I, I think, and I want to, I want to go back to that, but I think also it's like, just, the you know, the the sense that I have of Jane Jane Jensen ah is that it's like you know there's this question it's like why would you cast him curry to play this you know slow talking like New Orleans yeah ah like Lothario um and like
Speaker: you know, i don't think I would lose a lot of money if I put a bet down that like that she was going to midnight shows of Rocky horror. i mean, that feels like, i don't I don't know her personally. no but,
Speaker: that just feels like something like somebody making in 1993 and Anne Rice inspired. I was going to say, like, this is almost like saying it's like, Hmm, I think James Jensen might've been Anne Rice fan. Yeah. Like, it's like like somebody making this, this, this, this game kind of, it's just like, uh, who, who would you cast? Tim Curry. I want to have, I want to, I want it to be Tim Curry. It's like, are you sure that's the right? Yes, absolutely. I want it to be you Tim Curry.
Speaker: And also imagine there's a little bit too, you know, I think probably at some level thinking about where Sierra's at and it's multimedia journey. And in this period in the nineties, I suspect that Ken Williams was very hyped to get the biggest celebrity that their budget would allow.
Speaker: And I suspect Tim Curry fit very neatly into that box as well. I bet that he was the right price with enough money. recognition that it made kind perfect fit but absolutely i i would something that tells me that jane jensen was well familiar with his work by the time he stepped into into the booth the the idea that she might have been a rocky horror fan uh feels very feels very just feels that the person that made this game was a rocky horror fan returning back to my my earlier like what i was going to get to though like talking about
Speaker: kind of like that, that exchange, uh, between, uh, Gabriel and grace at the start of the game. That is, i think to me, this, uh, like the, the, the opening of the game where, uh, it's like, I mean, and not counting like the, the, the intro cut scene, but like graphic novel style. Yeah. Cinematic. But,
Speaker: Gabriel, like waking up, stepping out, Grace taking a message. They have like a little bit of like a spiky repartee. Yeah.
Speaker: A little screwball comedy sort of vibe to it. um That, like, what i really, i think, what I love about this game, what,
Speaker: like even though it's not one of my guys, what I love about this game is that it has a like I talked about this oddly enough on ah the space quest five podcast, which is that it has like kind of a hangout quality.
Speaker: Yeah. And ah like that opening, like You know, that opening exchange um between them, I think there might be, like, something that kind of gestures a little bit towards plot. Like, there might have been a message, like she mentions, a message that might be important. Yeah, I think so. It's mostly about the relationship between, like, and the the pretty well-worn, at this point, yeah relationship between these two characters.
Speaker: And... um I think this is the most um adult yeah Sierra meme because it in the way that it depicts relationships and um how how like characters are a little bit more interesting at least like the ones that we care about which are yeah essentially just Gabriel Grace and and Mosley um are like the three characters that get the most work and then like Mali like she gets him
Speaker: some and like some of the other characters get a little bit as well but like i would say those three are like the the three main characters right yeah and i'm really glad you you like called it adult because i do feel like you know this for me when you look at sierra's catalog up to this point Just this opening scene on day one is the closest thing, i think, to a set of real human beings that maybe we've ever seen a Sierra game up to this point. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, they so they actually seem like real adult human beings, even when Sierra had been trying to do something maybe a little more grounded in the past, like a Laura Bowe.
Speaker: there's still a wink and a nod and a cartoonish element of it. This is trying to do something a little more naturalistic, a little bit more down to earth. There's, I think that's fun. There's only one other, uh, Sierra game that I think is close to this, which is a conquest of longbow, which is written professional writer.
Speaker: Yes. Like a writer of television. Um, and, uh, because that has like kind of a, a deft touch to yeah the writing.
Speaker: Um, and a thing that I really appreciated when I was revisiting Gabriel Knight for the podcast and really trying to think about like, what are the things, what are the qualities that I really like about this?
Speaker: um they're they're they're a couple like that hangout quality and like that like adult you know it kind of fits in a little bit with like what we were talking about like grown-up games right yeah um but also i think jane jensen is like probably the best writer that they had certainly of like serious stuff like no absolutely like you know like like of comedy sure that would be josh right but yeah josh mandel's uh if you want gag written he's obviously the best in sierra's arsenal i mean nobody doesn't like him But but um and that's not just because he was on the podcast and we know, no, no, no.
Speaker: um I mean, maybe I'll give us a call. Yeah, if Al or Scott Murphy or any of the other jokesters at Sierra want to give us a call. We're happy to see the same thing about you. Yeah. um But but but i what I appreciated, like, again, revisiting this game for the podcast and, and trying to like, you know, think about it really critically is that each ah again of the main characters, like once, you know, like the bartender, you know, has a ah slightly more, uh, superficial, uh, worldview. Sure.
Speaker: Um, but she gives in the writing each of the characters has a distinct voice and and i and and i'm not like to be clear i'm not referring to it's like they all have different voice actors tim curry does them all it's amazing but the range on that man but the the the way that each character is written is in like straightforwardly a distinctive and interesting way that feels informed by that character having some sort of inner life of their own. Yes.
Speaker: And that's not something you get yeah very often. Yeah. And they all seem like they're inhabiting the same world too. Like it doesn't feel like you're drawing in you know, like a Dracula to hang out with your genie and your Pegasus, uh, King's quest to style. Like, yeah, exactly. Like you, the, the world of Gabriel night one is fun to inhabit.
Speaker: It's fun to be there. it It is a place that is nice to, to like meet these like characters and spend time with them.
Speaker: And it's like, you know, I would love to go to like this new Orleans, even though, it does have a little bit of the flavor of a new Orleans by someone who hasn't gone to new Orleans a little bit, but, but yeah, I mean, you know, like a Gabriel wearing a, the, the leather jacket.
Speaker: It's like, I don't care how fucking cool you think it looks. You're not wearing that. I kind of love this too, because it's obvious. I feel like from this game, that Jane Jensen loves the character of Gabriel Nutt. Like, it has almost like a little bit of that charming fan fiction vibe to it of I've created like my dreamy protagonist, now I'm going put him into an interesting situation that, and I mean, the tussled hair, the the coat, the motorcycle, all of that. I think there's a certain... night
Speaker: A certain fan is charmed about that kind of love. I would, I would push back on that. I would say, i mean, maybe there, there is a degree of that. I think it's a Jane Jensen knows her audience.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I think that might be it too. Because I think this is this is a ah game the like nose like yeah that, that is, ah like, because I believe, like, I believe, like, you know, when I was looking, and and I've anecdotally noticed this myself, but this is, like, mentioned in, like, the Digital Antiquarian on this, is, is like, this was very popular with women.
Speaker: Yes. um And I don't think that's an accident. No, absolutely not. um and And so, like, i i think that it's like, yeah, maybe, you know, she looks at Gabriel and goes like, yeah, like, you know, like, you know, what a sexy guy, right? and Yeah. um But like...
Speaker: i mean I think that's because she's just like, yeah. And the women who are going to play this are going to be like, I agree. You're right. He is sexy. I love spending, you know, however long it takes because this is a long fucking game. Yeah. For a Sierra adventure game at this time, it's not messing around. I mean, by the end of this game, they're going to paint a number of days onto the screen with some sort of red liquid.
Speaker: before it's over you know you think all of that paint came from the same paint source
Speaker: hard to say hard to say but by day 10 they're still uh uh pulling that paint from the same can um mean are you implying that there's not enough blood in the voodoo murders to go around yeah just what is the plot of this game oh what is the plot this game uh there are voodoo murders happening in new orleans and gabriel knight is a local bookstore owner slash novelist who uh who is on the case he's going to get to the bottom of these voodoo murders along the way he discovers there is a uh a dark conspiracy in uh uh in new orleans that will take him not just to all quarters of the city but around the world and in his journeys he discovers that he is actually spoiler alert the latest in a long line of shadow hunters or shot and yeagers that are dedicated to fighting various supernatural threats and he has inherited his family's talisman yeah
Speaker: That's it. Yeah. And there's, I mean, there's a lot more to it, but yeah, that is. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what, yeah, there's, there's a love story. There's all kinds of stuff going on here. Uh, uh, I mean, those elements,
Speaker: really worked for me when I first started like the idea of salvia murder alone I mean you think it like you compare this to a game like police quest where ostensibly you're investigating criminal activity and and similar things and it's purporting to be more adult and this game manages to do that while including some levity while including some fun there's some great puzzles like gabriel's interactions with mosley always a highlight uh the mime puzzle in uh uh in the park you know really fun there too but uh yeah no this uh this is definitely the kind of game that for me the plot is kind of secondary to just enjoying the ride i i would agree with that i
Speaker: the the plot of this game is like again like i was reap when I was ah again like going back to it for this podcast I was like oh yeah I guess this happened oh yeah I guess like none of that shit is what i remember about this game and I mean I think part of that might be my like you know why this isn't necessarily my guy by Like, yeah, for for me, this is way, way, way, way more about, like, how much I enjoy, ah like, the the moments of conversation.
Speaker: You know, a thing I really enjoyed when I was ah from this this play was ah Gabriel's interactions with his grandmother. Yes. And in particular, I thought that Curry's performance was,
Speaker: um was was really good because it's like he he has like in most interactions like kind of like again as i said like this lothario kind of like hitting like kind of inappropriate like he's he's you know he doesn't hit on his grandmother a single time in this conversation he doesn't hit on his grandmother ah But like when he talking when he's talking to her, the like, Kari pitches his voice yes up and does it in a much softer way. He sounds like he's being gentle with her because she's his grandmother. And it makes it sound like there's genuine affection and love there. it is There's a lot of warmth in there. yeah in in And again, this is another thing where it's just like, oh, these are like character like these are real characters. They're not plot delivery devices.
Speaker: And so nice too. It's a game that's really rich in lore. If that's something that you latch onto, like, I think you can choose to ignore it. I mean, this is a game with a of dialogue trees. so much Yeah. Like family history stuff, history of these supernatural threats, history of voodoo, history of new Orleans. Like there, if you're someone who likes to dig into those sorts of games, this is a rich text to, uh, to explore. This is, I mean, you know, it's funny. We were talking about,
Speaker: um
Speaker: Like, ah you know, last week we did Return of the Phantom, and I don't know how much we talked about this on the the the pod. We talked about a little bit. But like, you know, as I've been playing it on the the stream, you know, there's a real sense playing Return of the Phantom. It's like somebody here read a book.
Speaker: Yes, somebody read a book. like somebody maybe They might have even read two books. And then they probably read also The Fan of the Opera. So they read at least three. yes um But ah like obviously this is a game that has like a lot of like research um like on like voodoo and and and stuff like stuff like that in the in the game um and i really appreciate i mean it's what i enjoy about christy marx's games as well that's like the main thing that i appreciate about this it's it's funny because it's like when i'm playing return of the phantom i'm just kind of like somebody read a book and then when i read this in arts and and when i read this ah it feels like it's folded in there is definitely a sense of it's just like you know gabriel is talking about gree-gree
Speaker: and gregy and and stuff like that. And like the different... but when um Like around the midpoint of the game when he goes to Tulane and ah like there's a lot of like talk about like all this like voodoo and different forms of voodoo so on and so forth. um Like that kind of...
Speaker: I that kind of loses me a little bit. Um, but it does. I'm locked in on those scenes because they feature a professor and there aren't enough professors in video games, but, but they, that's representation matters.
Speaker: Did, did you feel seen? i did finally when, uh, well, professor Leighton wasn't getting the job done for me because watch out that, uh, that, that, uh, professor meets a grizzly faith. Uh, well, I hope to, to someday. Um, but, uh,
Speaker: the the research is impaled on a porcupine though. Like for the record, that's still how I want to go. But, but yeah, like it's a lot more fun in, in this and maybe because like in return of the Phantom, it feels a little more so like superficial. It's just like this. I'm going to deliver a monologue.
Speaker: I mean, this game has some expository issues with some of it. is But in Return of the Phantom, it's like, this is what this part of the stage means.
Speaker: yeah And maybe it's just because I've done a lot of acting. I'm like, yeah I don't care. it It reminds me of my second favorite Austin Powers character, Basil Exposition.
Speaker: But of course, our favorite Austin Powers character.
Speaker: remains ah the general. Not too much. Not too much. Not too much. But... um Yeah, I mean, i don't know. There's a whole lot of fucking plot in this game. And that is the the part that I find the least interesting. And I'm sure that there's people that love it. like I love that there. Yeah, i mean, there's amazing work being done on wikis summarizing all of this, even even as we speak.
Speaker: Ben, let me ask you another question. Looping back to some of the voice acting stuff. What is your take on Virginia capers as the narrator? Cause I think this is, this is a controversial topic. This is a divisive question. I'm going to go like out on a limb here and just start out by saying, I enjoy that performance and feel like it adds a lot to the vibe of the proceedings. Like I will agree. Sometimes the slowness of the delivery is a little much like just to say that Gabriel can't do that right now or something.
Speaker: But I think the vibes are immaculate. I'm a big fan this narrator. How about you? So initially, no, I did not like her. I think it took me a while to come around to it too. Yeah. This was, this was actually a change that came with this revisiting for the, ah um, um,
Speaker: Was I was like, well, I have to think about this narration I don't like. And then like I, and then I like, you know, going through it and I'm just kind of like, I landed in the same place. It was, it was just like, this does such a ah good job of really transporting you.
Speaker: um And yeah, it is. Like some of those deliveries are fucking slow and I do not regret having it turned off when I streamed because it's already a pretty fucking long game. Yeah. And then like just kind of waiting, but you know what?
Speaker: Like, you know, there are many great things in this life which are appreciated at a, at a slow pace and Virginia capers narration is one of those things. absolutely yeah no i mean it uh it took me a while to come around to it too like i remember talking about this on like forums back in the 90s just like you know it's like yeah let's hear it let's let's go back just like yeah why does it take her 15 seconds to say gabriel can't do that um and you everybody laughing and just like this is this is not a great pick and it sounds nothing like any other narrator performance
Speaker: ever in the history of video games, I feel like. But I have grown to love it. Like, it's set as much as tim Curry's performance is part of what the soundscape of this game is in my head, i now, like, just really appreciate Virginia Capers as part of the texture of this setting, of this story. um Yeah, it took me a while to come around to it, but I've i've grown to love her performance. Yeah. no is it Because...
Speaker: You know, and this was one of the notes I wrote down was that, like, I think what, what I, when, when this game's really working, when it's, it's the, the, the part of the, like, it's, because we're, we're talking so much about like the, the vibes of the game instead of the plot, right? Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Is that when this game is, is really working, right? it It feels like everything in the game is marching in the same direction.
Speaker: Yes. And like, and that is like, you know, the great music. And it's the the really, like, the the the great dialogue and the great performance of that dialogue.
Speaker: And then, like, it's like, and then this very moody performance of, like, Virginia Capers reading, like, Gabriel's horoscope in the newspaper.
Speaker: And it is, like, when it feels like all of these ideas...
Speaker: and all of these creative decisions are all in sync and all kind of marching in the same direction of agreement to, to create the central idea.
Speaker: um and, and I think that is one of the reasons that people still talk about this game. Yeah. Yeah. is because it it has these,
Speaker: like these these moments, which are like that really transport you. It's like when you're with, ah like when you're just having a long chat with Mosley, you have this option to insult him.
Speaker: And there's like four or five different insults. Like, you know, it just feels like, or,
Speaker: Like in in the in the the the art is is really great too. I don't know if we've talked too much about it. One of the best looking Sierra games, I think from this era, right? I mean, it'd be hard to think of like an SCI one game that looks a whole lot better than this.
Speaker: um And there's some gorgeous games in that generation. What What it's missing are more icons. Oh my God, I was about to make that joke. It's like, yeah, what it what it's missing is...
Speaker: You know, that's like, that's a a real swing and a miss for me on on that too, is that the, it's just like, I'm going to add a couple extra, extra verbs to, to the, you know, the, the standard Sierra dropdown.
Speaker: And there's just no benefit. Yeah. Like I, for, for what reason? I'm not sure. um and it's, it's just kind of like, You know, I think those standard like kind of verbs that that you had. And then if you want to be a little cheeky and add like taste and smell, but like obviously just for as a joke vehicle. Sure, I guess. Yeah, but three or four um different use buttons doesn't doesn't add much to the proceedings. Like I remember the scene where you find the the guy dead in the cathedral.
Speaker: And you have to like pull open his shirt ah to to continue the investigation and look for clues. It's like, I'm pretty sure what you use is operate shirt to open it up.
Speaker: I don't think open shirt gets it, doesn't rip his shirt up. I think you have to operate the shirt, which is silly. It's like, it should be a hand icon. Hand is what you're looking for. Hand is sufficient here. Yeah, that part's a little bit silly. I don't know that it adds much, but I think again, maybe they're going for like,
Speaker: Maybe that's, again, trying to sell this as a slightly more, you know, like sophisticated adventure. You know, we have we have a few more verbs to play with because this is a serious affair.
Speaker: You know, here's another thing that I was kind of thinking about revisiting it is that Another thing that makes this work and why it's so exciting is that you just don't get, there aren't that many games that are like this that have this much budget behind it.
Speaker: Yes. That is, I think the craziest thing about it. Like I've been talking about like earlier that this is like a game for adults, but it's not like, you know, a game for adults in the same way that I like any of the iterations of police quest were where it's just like, you know, one through three are like game games for adults in that they, they have like real police procedure. And then four is like gritty violence. Yeah. racist Yeah.
Speaker: uh and then we like racism more racism there's a little racism before but we really turned up the dial and then and then like after that it it's like oh it's a tactical swat and etc and then it's like you know leisure suit larry is is like you know this kind of juvenile like it's adolescent yeah i mean it's not adult you played it as a kid oh yeah that's right but like you know they it ostensibly Sierra was always interested in making products for a variety of discerning adults.
Speaker: Um, and like, you know, you just really don't see too many adventure games that are, you know, sophisticated the way that we've been talking about that just have like,
Speaker: the the money, not only the money to have Tim Curry and Mark Hamill and Leah Romini, Michael Dorn. Is there anyone else? Or those are bold face names. Uh,
Speaker: Oh, who is it? Zimbolish Jr.? Who am I forgetting? Who I forgetting? there Oh, there is someone. there's a i think there's one or two more that I'm forgetting. um But here, hold on. Now I'll pull up the the cast.
Speaker: um
Speaker: It's the 20th. why did why what it Why is it showing me the 20th anniversary cast? I don't know any of these Nobody wants to know that. All right. we Yeah. ah Wolfgang is Ephraim Zimbalist. Yeah.
Speaker: less of a big, like less of a big actor, but I definitely recognized his voice as Jim Cummings, who's in like, you know, a shitload of stuff.
Speaker: Yeah, like this has so much money behind it. and you just don't see something this sophisticated get this much money. And you know it's a credit to Ken Williams on that case, because as I understand it, you know, Jane had just come off of successfully working on King's Quest six alongside Roberta Williams.
Speaker: And As I understand it, I mean, this was sort of that mentor based junior designer system they were really working with at the time you kind of apprentice under one of the big names of Sierra design, like, you know, Josh did with with Al Lowe and then eventually you're given your own game to develop. And this was her like you, you served with Roberta on King's Quest six, it's your turn. From understand, Ken was a little skeptical of this until it started coming together. He wasn't sure that something dark and gothic, or however you want to characterize this, was going to reach the kind of large audiences that he was hoping to reach it this time, as CR was trying to position itself as like almost yeah but a Hollywood-style operation.
Speaker: And... As I understand it, as it started to come together, he started to see the game and started to see the finished product. He got a lot more excited about it. And you see that in his writing about it in the interaction magazine, his editorials that talk about Gabriel not eventually become very pumped about it, but.
Speaker: Well, I understand he kind just said like, I don't get what you're doing, Jane, but I'm going to let you keep doing it. And give me a designer that sort of freedom to make a game that's really unlike anything that Sierra had done up to this point in a lot of ways is is a pretty, pretty bold choice.
Speaker: Yeah. Well, I think that was kind of his, but that was kind of the the thing from the start. Like it was just like, he liked throwing people into the deep end again with like police quest and stuff. Yeah. It's like, you're my hairdresser's husband who used to be a cop. How would you like to be a game designer now?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And you know what? He turned out to be the best of them all. Yeah. the One of the the greatest designers of all time. yeah. You know, another thing I'd like to to talk about is, and another thing I love about this game is that it's set in a city, which is something I always appreciate when I play these games. It also, like, there there's ah one other game that I think of that... that ah like one other adventure game that has like kind of a similar sense of place in a city, uh, which is, uh, the, uh, longest journey. Ah,
Speaker: um, Like, did you, have you played the longest journey? I played it when it came out. Like I read all the amazing reviews of it and went and picked it up at Walmart back when that was something you could do We're going to have to do a podcast on it. We're going to have to a podcast on it. I know. I know this is true.
Speaker: And I played like an hour or so with it It's a pretty long game. You didn't scratch the surface. Yeah, no, I wasn't even out the tutorial basically. But I kind of lost interest and never went back to it and haven't really touched it since I've never played any of the follow ups. So I mean, I'm kind of only have ah the barest sense of what the setting is like there. I would I would say and also but I would say that
Speaker: One of the the things I really enjoy about... I actually really enjoy the start of Longest Journey. In fact, that might be and kind of my favorite part of that game is like first first two or three hours of it. Like...
Speaker: like Because again, like it's the, and perhaps it's because I, especially i could relate to it. Um, though I liked it even when I played it, uh, before I could relate to it. So that's interesting.
Speaker: Um, which was, it's like, there's, uh, of, of being very young and living in student housing and, ah in the city and things being very weird And slipping between two worlds. And slipping between two worlds and all that too.
Speaker: Yes, that did happen to me. um i mean, a lot of people don't know this, but Ben is actually the basis for the hit television show Sliders. That's true. i the i the The character of Wade Wells is a gender bent version of My Adventures. Yeah.
Speaker: yes um and uh yeah like uh they like i did not give them permission to to use me so they're like all right well we'll create the character of wade wells and she's this staff version of bramley she's extremely dissimilar to me i don't look a single fucking thing like sabrina lloyd and so well i mean don't sell yourself short um but but they were like well we'll we'll create and and she's like you know she's very different than me in some ways but in other ways very similar if the for example like it's like i did have a simmering ah kind of will they won't they with Jerry O'Connell for a little while ah and and in both cases we never did but it's always you know there there was a little bit of this
Speaker: and that they they took that and uh you know and that's why uh i i'm a millionaire because i took a universal uh television to court and of course i am the basis for the cromags oh all right well
Speaker: right well Anyway, do you have anything else you'd like to talk about? I mean, we didn't, we barely talked about Gabriel Knight, but i mean, we, we barely talked about it but we, we talked about like the parts that I wanted to talk about because the parts that we love. Yeah. I mean, I feel like this is the, and who knows, maybe someday we'll just do another Gabriel Knight episode.
Speaker: Why not? We'll bring somebody on that also lets us get, because this is a game that so many people, you know, connection to. I mean, there's two other ones. We'll probably do the other two. I don't know. I'm not going to the other two. You just want to just keep doing them on this one game? I want to keep doing this one. Yes. Because here's the thing. Like, all the other stuff is good, but none of that is what I want to talk about when I talk about Gabriel. that's right. I mean, want talk about the things that I love about this game. And, you know, also...
Speaker: I wanted to talk about Tim Curry because his performance is so much of what made me love this game. I mean, I started out on the disc version and boy, at a time when a lot of Sierra's CD-ROM additions seemed like ah only a minor upgrade over a non-voiced version. You this is one that you you you really see...
Speaker: how good a multimedia product could be in the early 1990s. And that I love about it. I mean, is it and his performance is such a big part of it. Is, is, is, is that also because of, uh, uh, Gabriel, uh, getting up like in 3d early in the morning from his nightmare at the start of the game. Yes. al asked I mean, what do you want to talk about the drums, the drums puzzle?
Speaker: not really i want to you want to talk about like that there's like a bad like a sad ending because that's kind of funny yeah that is kind of funny it's like yeah oh oops i forgot to save grace oh no well i mean yeah that's it right is that that's the the bad ending i forget it's like you don't give her the talisman yeah i forget i forget i didn't do Gabriel frequently forgets about grace
Speaker: like He has that great monologue in Gabriel Knight 3 where he compares her to a comfortable chair. i mean, literally objectifying her. like turning her into an object in his description do you think people are going to be disappointed with this episode because we didn't talk about like you know like big major key parts like the mind puzzle is such a a beloved part of this we didn't talk about the han for leaving say han for a single time until just now
Speaker: Well, I said Grigri earlier, and that was intentional. I stuck that in so people knew that I remember. How about the high-tech underground voodoo lair? That was cool.
Speaker: And it's underneath the the cathedral? Yeah. Like, you you have to go through, like, a secret. That's pretty cool. That's pretty great. i mean, what else do people love about Gabriel Knight?
Speaker: I remember the first time I played it, I missed... like uh i missed something at the like at the first ver ah voodoo murder scene that you oh is it the tiny scale the the snake scale yeah i fucking hate that that's like one pixel it's interesting because it's like i think this game has some uh interesting puzzles and it's also it's a game that has like puzzly puzzles right yeah in all of the gabriel knight all three of the yeah gabriel knight uh games have and the 20th anniversary will add like literally puzzly puzzles like sliding tiles and stuff like that yeah um
Speaker: but The only kind of sliding tile I want is one that when I push the right tiles in the right order turns into the mask of the Phantom of the Opera. But a legally distinct one. A legally distinct Phantom of the Mask.
Speaker: Phantom of the Mask Opera Mask Opera. Yes. I don't care about the puzzles in this game. yeah you don't You don't care about ah the the drums? You don't care about like ah the voodoo drawings on the side of the crypts? mean, it's fine. The drums are fine.
Speaker: Why you think about the drums? Ben, you keep mentioning the drums. That's just the main thing I like. the the That's like the main kind of... Like, it's, to me, the most memorable puzzle in the game. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: And they're drums, so they're cool. You know, drums drums are cool. Drums are pretty cool. I mean, yeah, I mean, the mime puzzle, I think, is the one sticks out for me. I didn i didn't like the mime puzzle. That one got me because it gets me in a way that this always gets me in adventure games.
Speaker: Whenever there's a puzzle that largely involves... walking in a certain way i never see that coming and it never i always think it's like my solutions are touching something or using something for my inventory it's never just the way i walk um and that always throws me for a minute like i was thinking about that when i was like i was like it got me in broken sword too I was thinking about that because I was like, I've always hated this puzzle.
Speaker: It's mine puzzle. And then I'm like, the game does kind of clue you towards Yes. Like it does a pretty good job. The, the, the game does indicate to you. It's like, it gives you the pieces and then it's like, all right, put, put this together.
Speaker: Like it, it um it gives you the the clue of it's like okay well the the cop does not like the mime the mime will follow you around you could hear the radio like so you hear the thing that you want yes um uh be and like so like you you have these three pieces i think also part of it is is that Like I just didn't put together. Like I was just like, you enter a new screen. It's all, it's all new. Even though the mime, I believe follows you. He does. Yeah, no, but that's our Sierra training. You just assume that nothing persists across one screen to the next. This is something that's probably damaged by the fact that like the, the engine did not support scrolling backgrounds.
Speaker: ah you That's a good point. Like if, if it was a scrolling background with the mime puzzle, be better. Hmm. Hmm.
Speaker: Let us know an email to quest quest podcast at Jamel.com.
Speaker: And let us know, is it blood or is it pain? You know, the answer is pain or a third thing. Red comb.
Speaker: Is it Gabriel's? What can you tell me about voodoo? What can you tell me about voodoo? What can you tell me about voodoo?
Speaker: Well, folks, now that ah we've done a little extra lap covering all the stuff we didn't talk about, Gabriel Knight won. You covered it all. Thank you ah for joining us for Quest Quest, the adventure game podcast. As aforementioned, you can send us an email at questquestpodcast at gmail.com. Rate or review ah five stars. Thank that's the only option um and uh you know just you have anything to plug yeah i mean i guess i would plug uh america's 250th anniversary everyone get out there and celebrate there's still some time left um i think i'd also plug uh you know ah good night's sleep everyone could use one
Speaker: All right. Well, those are Jess's plugs and we'll see you next week when we discuss Space Quest 4.
Speaker: All right. So, Jess, in Space Quest 4, since you don't need to see the rings to rotate them properly at the supercomputer, is visiting ULens Flats required at all?
Speaker: I think it is required because otherwise, how would you explain all of those screenshots on the back of the box?
