Act I Aria to the Moon "You cannot match the glow of the sun, but where you rule the day does not dawn"
The newest installment in the Gabriel Knight series was to be made in an FMV format, as per Sierra's wishes to utilize the hottest trend for adventure games at the time. Game designer and writer Jane Jensen was all for it because she loved having the story come alive with live actors. Even when FMV games would fall out of fashion not long after the release of The Beast Within, she remained confident that live actors and other movie making techniques would play a role in future story driven video games - if you look at cinematic adventures and motion capture performances today, she was right. There is a certain charme to FMV games, even though many of them haven't aged as well as The Beast Within. For Sierra's previous FMV title, Phantasmagoria, everyone involved had to learn what a production for this kind of game really entailed and there were many technical difficulties the crew struggled with. Their experiences led to The Beast Within having an overall smooth production with a great outcome.
The idea for this game involving werewolves, a mysterious hunt club and King Ludwig II of Bavaria came from Jensen living in Germany for a few months before she worked in the games industry. Several tours of historic locations painted the popular romanticized picture of Ludwig, which Jensen used as the basis for her story. The backgrounds were mostly shot in Germany, and the actors worked with props - and sometimes real wolves - in front of a bluescreen in Sierra's studio in Oakhurst, CA.
Act II Happy Minstrels "Where is the music? Where is the entertainment?"
The composer, Robert Holmes, stated that he only had two weeks to compose the soundtrack for this game due to scheduling conflicts, and in only three days he and Jay Usher wrote and produced the opera, which is an important subject for the finale of the game. The music is Wagner-inspired, featuring dark brass and trombones. It has a melancholic feel to it and has great theme-variations. The opera is certainly a highlight and I'm baffled at how this was all conceived in such a short amount of time.
Being an FMV game, the puzzles are bit more limited than in the other GK games, but I think they walk a fine line of neither being too easy nor too hard, although some absurdity still exists (which is to be expected from a point-and-click adventure :-) ). The interface is easier to use, having just one cursor and two actions - look at and interact - by right- or left-clicking. Looking at the map you can highlight locations where there are still things to solve to end the chapter.
You play as both Gabriel and his assistant Grace. Grace's role got expanded into being a playable character because of the scope of the story which would've been too huge for Gabriel alone. While he investigates the hunt club, Grace is in charge of learning the history of Ludwig - as is the player: In several locations around Munich you unravel the story's mysteries using the info the character gets while exploring, reading and even visiting museums. Thanks to the FMV nature of the game it feels like taking a real life vacation.
Act III Transformation Aria "The hunter, the hunter, he sneaks up on his victim"
Similar to GK1, the story of The Beast Within is the result of real world history being creatively combined with supernatural legends, resulting in a compelling tale. Gabriel, currently residing in his family's castle in Bavaria, has to take on the role of shadow hunter as the townsfolk insist that the latest killings of people were not done by escaped zoo wolves, but a werewolf. He infiltrates a local hunt club with a secret philosophy and soon has a pool of suspects to draw from. The story once again manages to be personal for Gabriel and he has to deal with a darker, more aggressive side of himself. Fun Fact: Gabriel-actor Dean Erickson was approved by Jensen after he "scared the crap out of her" during an emotional scene, so there's that. The acting in this game is good, and the excellent script certainly played a role in that. The German of the American actors can be pretty funny for a native speaker, but I honestly think they tried their best and did a good job. (If you want to suffer, play the German dub of the game: Gabriel speaks High German, everyone else Bavarian - to mimic the language barrier).
Finale As you would expect for a GK game, this one shines with its story, characters, and locations. It has an interactive film-like quality with elaborate cutscenes and is mechanically less obscure than its predecessor. While I love both, I prefer this one due to its poetic nature and the nostalgic atmosphere it evokes through its setting and being FMV.
To summarize in the words of the singers: "It is a joy!"
The newest installment in the Gabriel Knight series was to be made in an FMV format, as per Sierra's wishes to utilize the hottest trend for adventure games at the time. Game designer and writer Jane Jensen was all for it because she loved having the story come alive with live actors. Even when FMV games would fall out of fashion not long after the release of The Beast Within, she remained confident that live actors and other movie making techniques would play a role in future story driven video games - if you look at cinematic adventures and motion capture performances today, she was right. There is a certain charme to FMV games, even though many of them haven't aged as well as The Beast Within. For Sierra's previous FMV title, Phantasmagoria, everyone involved had to learn what a production for this kind of game really entailed and there were many technical difficulties the crew struggled with. Their experiences led to The Beast Within having an overall smooth production with a great outcome.
The idea for this game involving werewolves, a mysterious hunt club and King Ludwig II of Bavaria came from Jensen living in Germany for a few months before she worked in the games industry. Several tours of historic locations painted the popular romanticized picture of Ludwig, which Jensen used as the basis for her story. The backgrounds were mostly shot in Germany, and the actors worked with props - and sometimes real wolves - in front of a bluescreen in Sierra's studio in Oakhurst, CA.
Act II Happy Minstrels "Where is the music? Where is the entertainment?"
The composer, Robert Holmes, stated that he only had two weeks to compose the soundtrack for this game due to scheduling conflicts, and in only three days he and Jay Usher wrote and produced the opera, which is an important subject for the finale of the game. The music is Wagner-inspired, featuring dark brass and trombones. It has a melancholic feel to it and has great theme-variations. The opera is certainly a highlight and I'm baffled at how this was all conceived in such a short amount of time.
Being an FMV game, the puzzles are bit more limited than in the other GK games, but I think they walk a fine line of neither being too easy nor too hard, although some absurdity still exists (which is to be expected from a point-and-click adventure :-) ). The interface is easier to use, having just one cursor and two actions - look at and interact - by right- or left-clicking. Looking at the map you can highlight locations where there are still things to solve to end the chapter.
You play as both Gabriel and his assistant Grace. Grace's role got expanded into being a playable character because of the scope of the story which would've been too huge for Gabriel alone. While he investigates the hunt club, Grace is in charge of learning the history of Ludwig - as is the player: In several locations around Munich you unravel the story's mysteries using the info the character gets while exploring, reading and even visiting museums. Thanks to the FMV nature of the game it feels like taking a real life vacation.
Act III Transformation Aria "The hunter, the hunter, he sneaks up on his victim"
Similar to GK1, the story of The Beast Within is the result of real world history being creatively combined with supernatural legends, resulting in a compelling tale. Gabriel, currently residing in his family's castle in Bavaria, has to take on the role of shadow hunter as the townsfolk insist that the latest killings of people were not done by escaped zoo wolves, but a werewolf. He infiltrates a local hunt club with a secret philosophy and soon has a pool of suspects to draw from. The story once again manages to be personal for Gabriel and he has to deal with a darker, more aggressive side of himself. Fun Fact: Gabriel-actor Dean Erickson was approved by Jensen after he "scared the crap out of her" during an emotional scene, so there's that. The acting in this game is good, and the excellent script certainly played a role in that. The German of the American actors can be pretty funny for a native speaker, but I honestly think they tried their best and did a good job. (If you want to suffer, play the German dub of the game: Gabriel speaks High German, everyone else Bavarian - to mimic the language barrier).
Finale As you would expect for a GK game, this one shines with its story, characters, and locations. It has an interactive film-like quality with elaborate cutscenes and is mechanically less obscure than its predecessor. While I love both, I prefer this one due to its poetic nature and the nostalgic atmosphere it evokes through its setting and being FMV.
To summarize in the words of the singers: "It is a joy!"
Penumbra
11 months ago
If you are interested in the making of FMV games, there's this interesting interview with The Beast Within's director of photography, who also worked on Phantasmagoria.