Hi guys,
I've just purchased Syberia bundle from GoG. On installing Syberia 1 I launched the game with excitement. Imagine my disappointment on discovering the game is totally broken. In the first scene I click an empty area of the hotel lobby, only to find my character running off in to the background with scant regard to clipping or anything like that. She just legs it off through the back of the hotel, completely ignoring my directions.
Any ideas what on Earth could be the problem?
I'll be honest with you - I downloaded a pirate version of this game only yesterday. I had this problem, but assumed it was a Windows issue, and that the GoG version would be fixed. How wrong was I? I should have saved my cash. Does anyone know what might be up with this? I'll be asking for a refund if not.
Cheers.

I have that issue and i suspect in my case it's caused by Nvidia's drivers.
I played Syberia when it was released on gog and didn't had that problem. A while after that, after updating the drivers, i replayed Syberia and that issue creeped up, one that i still have (with Nvidia's 197.45 on a GTX 295)
Anyway, the easy workaround is to click on the bell on the counter as the problem only seems to happen when Kate's standing by the door.
It's an annoying issue, yes, but workabale. This is far from what 'blatantly broken' means when it comes to games ;)
And other than that one instance, i didn't experienced any other 'problems' during the game.

One thing I can suggest, is try running the game at its native resolution. If you have nVidia card, go to the nVidia control panel, and turn off scaling. See if that helps.

Thanks for the advice guys, I'll give those tips a try. Fingers crossed, because I'm really looking forward to playing the game!

Does anyone know which version of the game is in the GOG package? FYI there are 3 patches and they are independent meaning they fix different issues.

The regular versions probably. If the patches are unofficial, they probably are not in the package. After all, the developers/publishers need to approve stuff for the GOG guys to implement it.

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Playing cinematic 'C1_Intro.syb'
done 1
Assert: CPathFindingMap::GetNearestToMousePosition : There was no node to walk to, there is a problem
Assert: CPathFindingMap::GetValidNodeFromPosition: There is no valid node at or close to the given position. A node in wall will be returned, buggy pathfinding behavior is to be expected.
Assert: CPathFindingMap::AStarSearch : Pathfinding crossed impossible nodes, verify grid for either isolated parts of the floor, or too narrow sections
Assert: CPathFindingMap::GetNearestToMousePosition : There was no node to walk to, there is a problem
Assert: CPathFindingMap::GetValidNodeFromPosition: There is no valid node at or close to the given position. A node in wall will be returned, buggy pathfinding behavior is to be expected.
Assert: CPathFindingMap::GetValidNodeFromPosition: There is no valid node at or close to the given position. A node in wall will be returned, buggy pathfinding behavior is to be expected.
Assert: CPathFindingMap::AStarSearch : Pathfinding crossed impossible nodes, verify grid for either isolated parts of the floor, or too narrow sections
Assert: CPathFindingMap::GetValidNodeFromPosition: There is no valid node at or close to the given position. A node in wall will be returned, buggy pathfinding behavior is to be expected.
Assert: CPathFindingMap::AStarSearch : Pathfinding crossed impossible nodes, verify grid for either isolated parts of the floor, or too narrow sections
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I'm guessing that's the problem right there.
To expand on the workaround, this only seems to happen whit a click right in front of the stairs, and once Kate moves once from the starting position and past the stairs the issue seems to go away.

Here is a patch I used. I believe it is official. I've never heard of fan content for this game.
[url]http://www.gamershell.com/pc/syberia/downloads.html[/url]
But the issue is fixed right?

Pretty much every gog game is patched to the latest official version, i'm assuming Syberia is no different.
As for that patch you linked, i have no idea, but if that's an official patch, well, read above.
The issue isn't so much fixed as the workaround to avoid the issue entirely it's pretty easy.

The best thing to do is contact GOG support, and let them know about the issue and about any possible patches that are available.

Haha! That happened to me on my very first click! Needless to say, I nearly broke into a cold sweat (it was my first GOG purchase, even), but after I managed to guide her back into the room, no such problems ever came up again.
I've now played through the entire game, and only two times, I think, the game kind of froze. It would still be running, but not respond; once I had magically popped through the gate at the far end of Valadilene, and the other time was at the Voralberg crypt after opening the door.
However, that was only twice out of many hours of play, and I'm also on Windows 7. Some incompatibility issues with a 2002 game are to be expected.