Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

monkeyfudge

I just want to start a thread about this lovely game that I'm playing through at the moment.

Although calling it a game is a bit of a stretch... as it's actually a pretty terrible game.. but it is just so engrossing with it's story and how the plot plays out.

I know some games in the past have had fairly good storylines but this one is lightyears beyond any video game story I've ever come across... It has a theme.. and it's also allegorical as well. It's basically got a huge amount of depth that you wouldn't normally expect from a storyline in a video game.

The voice acting is also largely superb... although they used a lot of Irish accents for the parts of the enemey soldiers... which is a bit strange, but very funny. There is one yellow magic user chick though who is absolutely terrible, it really sounds like the 'actor' is reading her lines off a sheet of paper for the first time.

The main character (although, there are really 3 main characters) Zoé is wonderful though... she looks great.. very attractive without wearing revealing clothes and she has lovely expresive eyes and a charming personality.

As for the gameplay.. well it's bit clunky.. especially the combat and stealth parts.

I've been playing through the PC version and it looks pretty nice.. see the attached screen grab for one of my favourite looking areas.

I think there is an xbox version due out later in the year.

balkieb2002

Yeah will be picking this up later as loved the first game. From reading what you said and other reviews its mainly watching whats happing on screen with little input from you, this right?? Though the story should be engrossing enough to keep me occupied for while and then see where it takes me.

::nice timing on post PHB

PHB

Yeh I started playing it after some rave reviews, but I'm having great trouble getting into it.

monkeyfudge

They probably should have paid a bit more attention to a game like Shenmue or Jade Empire when making this... those games did a far better job of incorporating the gameplay into the storylines.

But in this you can sometimes go for about half an hour without having to touch the computer...

Usually in these types of games... even the Monkey Island ones I get fed up with the stupid conversations with people... but in this I want to hear everything that every character can tell me.

Actually... if anyone has a copy of The Longest Journey that they'd be willing to sell.. let me know... I've never played the original and could do with brushing up on the back story.

steviec

Any idea how long the game is?

It's definitely piqued my interest but I just don't get the time for games like this anymore, which is a pity.

monkeyfudge

steviec wrote:

Any idea how long the game is?

It's definitely piqued my interest but I just don't get the time for games like this anymore, which is a pity.

Hmm... hard to tell.. the story isn't very predictable so it's hard to know how far I am from the end. I've been playing for over a week though... just dipping into it when I get the chance as I haven't had much time for games recently. There are little notes and logs that will help you jump back in if you've forgotten what you were supposed to be doing.

i_am_dogboy

I played through it in 2 days of pretty much non stop play, so I'd say around 20 hours, maybe a bit more accounting for interruptions like food...

I loved it, after playing the prequel I had no preconceptions about it being a challenging game, and I think it's better because of it. I know people who gave up on the likes of grim fandango and planescape:torment, and missed out on fantastic stories because the gameplay got in the way(this is especially true of grim fandango and its puzzles). I also chuckled at the use of the irish soldiers, read into the story a bit and that's a pretty serious piece of social commentary...

I've not seen a game that has such lovely scenery, and for the most part the music is just fantastic. Mr fudge was right about the voice acting, they paid a lot of attention to the dialog and voice acting for any sequence that involves a decent amount of dialog, I just wish the gorilla robot had a bigger part.

This is one of my favourtie games of the year so far, despite the fact that it's not much of a game, the only game I enjoyed more were Shadow of the Colossus and Katamari.

Fenian

monkeyfudge wrote:

Actually... if anyone has a copy of The Longest Journey that they'd be willing to sell.. let me know... I've never played the original and could do with brushing up on the back story.

You can buy The Longest Journey here ,https://funcom.asknet.com/cgi-bin/show/P13386 . I have it but wouldn't be willing to sell it, great game, some of the puzzles are abit illogical though.

Dyr

the original was an amazing game. Hopefully this will restore my faith in games as pretty much every game ive looked forward to recently has been a disappointment, call of cthulu was buggy and boring, fahreinheit was the sims masquerading as a thriller, hell even the mindless fun of DOD:S just seems to be meat grinder central online.

Son Goku

monkeyfudge wrote:

There is one yellow magic user chick though who is absolutely terrible, it really sounds like the 'actor' is reading her lines off a sheet of paper for the first time.

Since you haven't played the first game I can see why you'd think that.
She's Irhad, from the Sun Empire to the south of the city Dreamfall takes place in. (Well the Arcadian section of Dreamfall) In the first game somebody says that the Irhad are largely non-emotive and so they speak like that all the time.

It took a direction I wasn't expecting from the first game.

Particularly the absence of the Draic Kin and it doesn't seem to have much to do with the balance.

The ending and the soundtrack were fantastic. It and The Longest Journey are the only two games whose soundtracks I've bought.

Hobbes

Got this some time ago but only got to play it on Friday.

I wouldn't call it a game. I would call it a movie which has pauses inbetween for you to move around. Totally linear, or appears to be.

I beat the game fairly fast the clues aren't hard.

However as storylines go, its brilliant. If it was just a movie made I probably would of watched it through to the end.

I never really got into the first game so some of the stuff still doesn't make sense to me and I really hope they have a follow up to this game. Too many cliff hangers.

Zillah

Ah...so torn. Super story but no gameplay... Don't make me choose.

Hobbes

There is a gameplay but I found it easy. TBH I thought the game sort of sucked until I got pulled into the storyline at which point I couldn't stop playing because I wanted to continue on with the story.

Vokes

Only just got around to buying this (12pounds in Virgin).

Like everyone else I've been sucked into this wonderful story (on a par with last year's Fahrenheit imo). Love the soundtrack plus the wide variety of accents (incl. the Irish ones) is absolutely refreshing.

On to my question....a crowd called Funcom made this - they're Swedish, right, and used to have a branch in Ireland? Or am I wrong? I seem to recall playing an early PS1 game by them called Impact Racing

monkeyfudge wrote:

Actually... if anyone has a copy of The Longest Journey that they'd be willing to sell.. let me know... I've never played the original and could do with brushing up on the back story.

monkeyfudge, did you ever find the previous game anywhere? Worth getting?

Dyr

Bambi wrote:

the original was an amazing game. Hopefully this will restore my faith in games as pretty much every game ive looked forward to recently has been a disappointment, call of cthulu was buggy and boring, fahreinheit was the sims masquerading as a thriller, hell even the mindless fun of DOD:S just seems to be meat grinder central online.

meh it didnt, i couldnt stand the control system and your wans voice grated on my nerves so much i couldnt play it past the opening minutes...maybe i'll give it another go over the crimbo

steviec

SofaKing wrote:

On to my question....a crowd called Funcom made this - they're Swedish, right, and used to have a branch in Ireland? Or am I wrong? I seem to recall playing an early PS1 game by them called Impact Racing

As far as I know they're Norwegian and you're right, they did have a branch in Ireland. I think the Irish branch were responsible for speed freaks, that game ever immortalised by the ad with the girl with the huge head...

Odaise Gaelach

Yeah... I got it finished a few weeks ago. Had a really great time with it. Not the greatest game ever made, but still wonderful.

Hopefully there'll be a new TLJ game before the end of time...

Vokes

I'm currently now in the midst of The Longest Journey and am hooked! (Not sure how i missed this gem back in 2000). Excellent story + wonderful soundtrack

Has their been any news regarding a sequel to Dreamfall yet?

Son Goku

SofaKing wrote:

I'm currently now in the midst of The Longest Journey and am hooked! (Not sure how i missed this gem back in 2000). Excellent story + wonderful soundtrack

Has their been any news regarding a sequel to Dreamfall yet?

The sequel is a while away, although it almost certainly will be made (Funcom made a good deal of money on Dreamfall). The Creator is off working on some secret project at the moment and is obligated to finish that before he starts work on the sequel.

Vokes

So another 5 or 6 years again till the next one then. Ah well.

johnny_ultimate

Been looking around for this for a while now. Could only find a solitary copy in HMV (and an Xbox version in Gamestop). Is it worth paying 40 euro or so for?

The Smircher

The Limited Edition (Longest Journey + Dreamfall + Soundtrack CD + Art Book) is available in the 2 for €40 section in game. An absolute bargain. Got it today along with Fable. The artwork is beautiful, really looking for forward to playing this. Games with a good storyline are a major draw for me.

monkeyfudge

The Smircher wrote:

The Limited Edition (Longest Journey + Dreamfall + Soundtrack CD + Art Book) is available in the 2 for €40 section in game. An absolute bargain. Got it today along with Fable. The artwork is beautiful, really looking for forward to playing this. Games with a good storyline are a major draw for me.

Awesome... thanks for the heads up.

I never did get a copy of the Longest Journey and I misplaced the disc to Dreamfall before I managed to finish it.... ha...

johnny_ultimate

Ah yes picked up the limited edition in game myself, eventually. Great quality package.
A great story that overpowers subpar gameplay often.
One of the most artistic games Ive played recently. Still have to finish it though.

MOH

You can pick up both games on ebay for about 17 euro delivered - just search for 'longest journey pc'

Dyr

Is there any change to TLJ in the new package to make it compatible with XP etc? I have the original CDs but the game doesnt wanna play on an XP machine. havent tried vista yet though

monkeyfudge

I tried 3 different branches of Game yesterday and couldn't find a copy... booo...!

The Smircher

Bambi, TLJ from the package is running fine on Windows XP SP2.

monkeyfudge, I thought I saw another copy in Game Liffey Valley yesterday?

MooseJam

also available in game in dundrum

steviec

So quick question for anyone who's played both.

I'm playing through dreamfall, just met blind Bob so I think that's relatively early in the story.

But I've picked up the original, so I'm wondering should I go and play through that first, or just carry on while I'm on a roll? Are there major spoilers for the original contained in Dreamfall?

johnny_ultimate

steviec wrote:

So quick question for anyone who's played both.

I'm playing through dreamfall, just met blind Bob so I think that's relatively early in the story.

But I've picked up the original, so I'm wondering should I go and play through that first, or just carry on while I'm on a roll? Are there major spoilers for the original contained in Dreamfall?

Well I picked up the CE and decided to play Dreamfall first, because that was what I bought the pack for. I can pretty much gather what went on in the first one storywise, but I do intend to go back and play the original as a kinda 'prequel' once I finish.