Part 3: Gabriel Knight vs. Knight Family History

Chapter 3: Gabriel Knight vs. Knight Family History



Now that we've left the store, let's head on our way!

This screen is what you'll use to get from place to place. What we see here is New Orleans's famous French Quarter. Each icon represents one of the major locations you'll have to explore during the course of the game. I'll go over what all of these icons are for in the next chapter, but for now...



...the location we're looking for is in the greater New Orleans map (accessible by clicking "To New Orleans Map" on the previous screen). The antique portrait there represents Gabriel's grandmother's house, our primary destination for now.

"The critics slammed my last books, so I should plan my research a little better. I think this time I'm gonna base the main character's family more closely after my own."

I don't think you have to go here until day 2 or 3, but why be rude to your grandmother when you live so close?



When you switch locations for the first time in a day, you get a rodent's-eye-view video of Gabriel hopping on his motorcycle and riding off. I guess this is to establish his main mode of transportation.



When you show up at Gran's house, you'll see her sitting on the couch, knitting (or something). The instant the doorbell rings, she puts it down and hustles to open the door.

"Gran" is officially Rebecca Knight (voiced by Linda Gary). She doesn't factor heavily into the plot, but she's the gateway to some pretty interesting things.





The animation for their hug is pretty impressively seamless. I'm sure they get merged into one single sprite at some point, but I can't say exactly when.



Most of your time in the living room is spent on this chair. You can look around at all of the various objects littering the view, but you can't really do anything here but talk to Gran.




Gabriel is nothing but polite towards his grandmother.



So let's find out what's going on upstairs before we start asking about Gabriel's past. It's not like she's going anywhere.



"...will do."



The attic is a damned wonderland of useless crap. Almost everything you see can be clicked on individually, and most of it fails to matter beyond "lol lookit that junk".



This clock here is one of the exceptions. It's highlighted for your convenience, since it totally does not in any way look like a clock on this screen.





"Well, let's see what we can do about that."



The clock has a lot of moving parts, but just about no explanation.



You can turn the key, which accomplishes nothing.



You can move the hands, which accomplishes nothing.

(Hey, remember when I said last time that the "Move" command is useful on one object? Yeah, this clock is it.)



You can move the pictures around the numbers, which accomplishes nothing.

"Screw this."



Gabriel sets the stupid clock aside.



"Wonder if this was worth it..."




Nothing...



Well, that could be--



Well, Gabriel, I'd kind of like to see those letters. Could you--?



No, then. Okay.

With everything put back in its place, Gabriel spots something else:



The sketchbook is very easy to miss. Unlike most of the other stuff you can pick up, it blends extremely well with the environment.



Let's take a look inside...



HOLY HELL.



That is just weird.




A little freaked out at reliving his own nightmares through his dad's sketchbook, Gabriel heads downstairs and starts asking Gran some questions.



This is the array of things we can ask her about. Insert your own "Complement Her" joke here.



Might as well not dick around, I guess.




And just like that, the dialogue tree expands! You'll be unlocking a whole mess o' topics this way. By the end of the game, you'll have something like fifteen topics in the top part alone.

Just in case anyone is unclear, Harrison Knight is his grandfather, Philip Knight is his father, and Margaret Templeton Knight is his mother. You probably got that last part regardless.



Might as well go in order!




Gran doesn't have a lot of frames of animation, and most of those are borderline terrifying, so I apologize for the lack of variety with these screens.




Poor sap.









Man, that was depressing. Can we lighten things up a bit, Gran?




This conversation is pretty dull on the surface, but there's some interesting stuff going on if you know to look for it. Talking about it without spoilers has proven difficult, but I'm coming back to this in a later update.



Aw, sounds like things are gonna be cheering up a little!



DAMMIT GRAN.

Gran sounds like this is just the most adorable thing ever. Gabriel's childhood must have been interesting.




Maybe Grace was right about Gran's reactions to Gabriel's sexual prowess.




So, Philip and Harrison were both terribly unsuccessful creative types, married beautiful rich women and died young in horrible accidents when their sons were eight. Good thing Gabriel doesn't know any rich women.






I'm sure horrific skeleton-demon paintings have their place in the world, but poor Philip never found it. Let's move on.





Margaret's backstory is a bit Harlequin for my tastes, but what can ya do.




That sounds like a lot of money to be calling "modest." At least the bookstore finally makes sense.



Gabriel's family knows no happy endings, it seems.




The cemetery is now open to customers!

(This actually happens as soon as you pick each of the family members once, but it flows better putting it at the end).

One last thing before we go...



"Gran's been around awhile. It's not impossible she's heard something."




Of course he does.



Dang. Well, it was worth a shot. Thanks, Gran! Let's toss some praise her way.



Awww.





So with that wall of text finally out of the way, it's time for us to go.



With another big hug, Gabriel heads out to begin his grand sleuthing adventure! Finally!

"Gran mentioned the cemetery. Creepy Voodoo types just might hang out there..."



So we head to the St. Louis Cemetery #1. The very first thing Gabriel notices is this man raking leaves.





"From what I just heard about my family, probably. Could I ask you about--?"



"..."

This guy walks off about five seconds after you show up. I can only assume it's so you know there's more cemetery to explore thataway.

Well, this tomb looks more interesting anyway.



SCORE.





Someone's trying to tell someone something, that's for damn sure.



Gabriel decides to write them down in the sketchbook.

"Prob'ly just some kids with their own code. Still, that'd be a great hook for the storyline."



Further into the cemetery, Gabriel sees the old man again, raking some more. He's always raking. There aren't any trees nearby; how many leaves could be on the ground?



This appears to be what Gran was talking about. Turns out the tomb's full; all six slots are filled. In addition to the three family members already discussed in this chapter, we find:

- Meryl Planter Wright (Gabriel's great-grandmother)
- Franklin Wright (Gabriel's great-grandfather)
- Harley Wright (Gabriel's great-aunt)



After the groundskeeper walks away, Gabriel has a little chat with his family.



They don't say much.



Something suddenly catches Gabriel's eye in the next part of the cemetery.



"Daaaamn! That's huge!"



The enormous tomb is in immaculate condition and has easily the most awesome angel statue in the whole place. Whoever the Geddes are, they've got some serious money.




Unfortunately, the case isn't going to investigate itself. Gabriel stops on his way out to see if the watchman has anything useful to say.



When you ask him about himself, he mentions that one of his main duties is making sure the bereaved don't hurt themselves. I thought that was interesting, but this update was already pushing 100 images and the whole thing is too short to make a video out of, so there you go.





Hah, hah! That would be hilarious, good sir. Truly.

Okay, I'd probably laugh. But only a little.




Toussaint doesn't really have anything important to tell us at this point. We did get to see his kickin' beard, though, and that might be enough.



"Look around? Already did that! Guess I'm done here."


Next time:

Gabriel wanders out of his element in Chapter 4: Gabriel Knight vs. The French Quarter!



Video!
05. Tell me about yourself, Gran. (Dailymotion) (Youtube)