Dreamfall The Longest Journey

Having just finished Dreamfall for the second time, I think I have figured out what happened(sort of)

The first playthrough was just to explore, figure things out and see the different environments. the second time I payed more attention to the many conversations and began to make sense of the whole story.

The game installed perfectly and the controls worked smoothly. I played the game with the minimum specs: 512 RAM and 128 MB video card and had no crashes or lockups.

I enjoyed the freedom of movement and the action-the combination adventure/action game element seems more realistic and immersive than the regular point-and-click method. The vivid color of some scenes and muted shades of some gave variety and was pleasing to the eye. The graphics have come a long way since the first Longest Journey game.

There is not a whole lot for those who love puzzles: some symbol matching and inventory using, mostly.There are no mazes or timed puzzles. There are auto saves in strategic places, so if you meet your demise, you don't have to replay a lot. The exploration is logical and linear-you can't progress until you go certain places and do certain things.There is a lot for those who love conversations-lots of them! Toward the end, it is more like an interactive movie, with as much cut scene as game play-but by that time, you really have to pay attention as the story unfolds and reveals what was going on.

You play as three different characters: 1.The narrator-Zoe Castillo,who is trying to solve a few riddles: A mysterious child tells her to "find April Ryan", Her former boyfriend who is a reporter goes missing,and what does the worlds most powerful corporation-"Waticorp"-have to do with them?
2. April Ryan, who has become a leader of rebel forces in the other world-Arcadia.
3. Kian, a faithful soldier and apostle to "the six", who are now in control of Arcadia.

As these characters your travels will take you to a variety of interesting places in the two different worlds of The Longest Journey-the futuristic, super industrialised world of Stark and the naturalistic, spiritual world of Arcadia. And then, there is also the dreamworld-"storytime"-where you are...nowhere but everywhere and everywhen. And here's where I get really lost!
But nevermind-it's a great story and a feast for the imagination.

I found the story to be thought provoking as well as entertaining, as there are some deeper issues touched upon:Modernism and reliance on scientific advancement at all cost versus natural world and spirituality. Is fanaticism and violence in the name of religion ever justified?
How far should science go to create life forms? Where will corporate control end? Will Walmart take over the world?

One thing that I didn't feel comfortable with was the fighting, although it was very easy. In one case I really didn't want to harm the opponent,who I had sided with as another character, but had to do so in order to progress through the game. Some pure adventure gamers may find the violence objectionable, and there is a warning on the box.

For what it's worth, my thoghts, added to everyone else's, on this great game-I give it a well deserved *****rating.

Bigmamma, you clearly spent a lot of thought on this.

I enjoyed the game a lot, and more so once I figured out how to get past one of the sneak sequences.

Thanks for your review.

A very thoughtful review! Thanks bigmamma -- I still am thinking about the characters and themes in this game too.

Thanks bigmamma1, I loved the game & love your review - you summed up perfectly my feelings about different aspects of the game!

I agree with the others. A perfectly detailed review! A great game to play!

Hi Terroulini, and welcome to GameBoomers!

Thanks Becky,it`s nice to be here!

Thanks for this review! I've been undecided on whether to buy it but I think I'll put it on my "want" list now!

Thanks for the awesome review Bigmamma1. My thoughts exactly! Makes me regret ever trading it away Guess I'll have to get it again

P.S.: I'M BACK!! :)))

Hi ikonius -- welcome back.

A very good review bigmamma1

thanks Becky. Glad to be back.

ikonius

If you decide to buy it again look for the US version on CDs. The European DVD version was starforced, while the US/CD was not

thanks oldmariner. I'll do that

Great so hear from you again

good review and great game
... but ... am I the only one disappointed by this game it somehow finished ... bad? (maybe offtopic)

Hi ya User, I think there is another installment coming eventually .

I do think so (and I hope so ) but the end was "Oh... and now what?!!?"
maybe I expect too much or I'm sick of open endings (or just "culpa inata" ) too offtopic sorry

Hi user -- we can discuss the game's ending here, it's not off-topic.

The ending cleared up one story, but kept lots of other mysteries going. I just wish that the sequel had released soon after to tie up some of the loose ends.

Of course, if/when the sequel is released, (even if it's six years from the time of Dreamfall's release) I'll eagerly play it.

Great review Bigmamma...

I just wanted to say that it's a great game, and I can't wait for the sequel i.e. I hope there will be one...Because the ending in my opinion is good but it did leave so many questions. So I'd like to know what happens next

for all your comments-I was feeling a little let down at the ending-very sad.A sequel would be great, but I can't see where it could go from where it left off, although I would like to see what happens to certain characters and places.

I agree with bigmamma - very sad ending and not any clue how the story can continue. About an year ago they have said that it was designed to have a sequel and it will be in episodic format (kind of like sam&max?) but no info since then.

All we can do is hope-for a sequel, but I'm not holding my breath!

I am also hoping for a sequel. The ending sequence looked like a prelude to a next installment...Dreamfall is one of the most beautiful and complex storyline I have ever encountered: simply gorgeous for people who love a solid storyline. I also LOVED wandering around the different worlds...it was a pleasure to play it and would buy a sequel in a heartbeat

I thought I was the only one. I have been compiling my collection of reviews,(about 40). I came across my review of this game which was not offered here or anywhere. It runs about three pages and was quite negative. I gave it a D. To be fair I revised my review now six years later. It is more negative now than before. I guess I will let it sit. It gets an F. I'd suspect this review would not be too popular.

To be concise what they did to the characters in the first game is unforgivable. To compound it with a cliff hanger ending is even more unforgivable. When Tornquist wrote on his blog in 2007 he had the story written and will not make you wait, five years later we still wait. He went so far as to promise if a game did not evolve he would produce the story in written format so his fans could have resolution. So much for that promise. Even if you can forgive the useless combat and horrendous game play mechanics the betrayal of his promise grants this game a well deserved F. Possibly it is a Q-

I'd like to read your review. I couldn't even get through half the game. I hated The Longest Journey so I don't even know why I tried this thing. Q- sounds more than fair to me.

Gil.

I'm with oldmariner, here

I liked The Longest Journey but thought most of Dreamfall was just awful ....

I liked Dreamfall, though I wasn't crazy about the navigation system. I would have liked it even more if the follow-up -- I think it was going to be called "Dreamfall Chapters" would have released.

At the time that they announced Dreamfall Chapters, the fans had a negative reaction to the idea of having to download the episodes rather than having them on disk. Even though they had funding, Funcom never did bring them out.

".... the fans had a negative reaction to the idea of having to download the episodes rather than having them on disk."

That would definitely have been my reaction too, had I been a fan, of course !!

[I like my games served up "whole" and "on a disk" ]

I liked Dreamfall but I wouldn't have called it a "sequel" to Longest Journey.

What made Dreamfall an abomination was much more than its abysmal interface. The lame attempt at action hybred game play and lack of puzzles clearly signaled they had no idea what they were doing.

The longest Journey was built on story and character development. They created a long list of characters that gained the affection of Adventure game enthusiasts. Story and Characters is the reason The Longest Journey was a resounding success.

Dreamfall was sold as a sequel to the first with a promise it is the second game of a trilogy. The creators of Dreamfall threw the characters under the bus totally disrespecting all of them. What they accomplished was a disaster of a cliff hanger with no resolution. No third game evolved and there still is no announcement of any intention to go forward. This after years of a promised resolution. Clearly Dreamfall did not reap the windfall of riches expected.

With the resulting mess of Dreamfall how could you expect anything else? Did they not learn anything from Broken Sword three? Had they continued with a story centered upon further adventures of April, Crow, Charlie and Emma the result would have been more likely to succeed.

Instead they alienate those of us who highly regarded game one and gave us this debacle. I have zero expectation of a game three. To describe this game one only needs to listen to a line John Denver wrote. He must of had Dreamfall in mind when he wrote "Shipmates and Cheyenne." One line from that song describes Dreamfall perfectly.

"No sense of progression, of age or direction, no meter, no form, no rhyme."

If you are looking to create a mess and totally destroy a franchise you need to go no further than this sorry excuse of a game for instructions.

I do agree with a lot of your comments oldmariner. I did like Dreamfall but was very disappointed with the interface & the fact that the developer fobbed off the cliff-hangers by saying that there was a complete story within it. Yes! there was but it was overshadowed by so much else unanswered.

I think it came out at a time when developers were keen to get their games produced for the consol market (I think it came out on XBox as well as PC) - but as has already been said in the past you end up with a game that doesn't appeal generally to consol players & sends the AG fans who have bought a game on the back of a previous true adventure e.g. The Longest Journey up the swanee!

But, it's not the only game ever produced that didn't get a follow up & I'm now very reluctant to buy anything episodic unless the story is complete!

Apparently it was made for console because the developer wanted to work with a 3D game engine instead of a 2.5D point-and-click. They couldn't count on the sales from a standard adventure game on PC making back the cost of the 3D game engine, so they gambled on producing a hybrid for both XBox and PC.

Ragnar Tornquist has referred to "Dreamfall Chapters" and "The Longest Journey 2" as both being upcoming projects after "The Secret World" is finished. He's made it clear that he doesn't consider Dreamfall to be "The Longest Journey 2," even though many game sites referred to it that way and he didn't seem to do much to explain the difference until after hopeful fans of TLJ had already bought Dreamfall.

Not to me. Everything in a story not intended for children only doesn't have to be explained or resolved. Just want to say that it's possible to have a differing opinion about this kind of storytelling.

Nobody bought the game because they wanted to see what happened to the consciousness of a little girl they'd never heard of before -- and hers was the only story that was "completed." People bought the game to follow the stories of Crow, April, and the other characters we met in TLJ -- and to see what happened to Zoe and Kian, who were featured in previews and ads for the game along with April. For every character other than the little girl, we were left with a cliffhanger and no prospect of an upcoming game. That was a dirty trick to pull on the fans.

It's been 6 years since Dreamfall came out, and what's Funcom's next project going to be after finishing The Secret World? Not a TLJ or Dreamfall sequel, but ***An MMO game based on Lego Minifigures***.

What are the chances we'll see April and Zoe as Lego characters?

Found this posted on Ragnar Tournquist's twitter. Looks like I came in at just the right time, since he only posted it two minutes ago. "I won’t be working on the Lego game, and it won’t be our only new project. We have several studios and hundreds of employees."

So there's still a chance.

Considering there's been "a chance" for over 6 years, I'm not optimistic. I'll believe it when I see it.

I'd also rather see a complete game than individual chapters stringing us along.

Ditto on the complete game.

double Ditto!!

Intriguingly, Dreamfall just tied for first place in the 2012 Adventure Game List

Thanks Becky I liked it

Good review, thanks