The title of this game is certainly apposite.
Does the interminable conversation get any less irritating as progress is made in the game?
I thought The Moment of Silence was a bit of a pain in the gluteus maximus from this viewpoint (hearpoint?), but TLJ seems, so far, to trump it.
I've reached the part where I am about to go to the Northlands Forest, but I am rapidly losing patience, and the will to live.
So, does it get any better or should I truncate the journey in the interests of my sanity?

petert

The story gets more engrossing, but the endless talking does not diminish.

Ana

I LOVED the way TLJ involved so much talking! It's still my favorite game of all time. I'm playing Dreamfall now -- I like it, but not quite as much as TLJ.

I thought it was a wonderful game, petert, but not the best choice for anyone that doesn't like a lot of dialogue! Whether you continue or not I think depends on how much the story is grabbing you or not!

petert hang in there. The dialog is a bit excessive but the plot of the game is so good I would hate for you to give up. I also think this is one of the best adventure games ever.

It was one of the best games also for me. It is the only game I played twice, first time when it was released and the second after playing Dreamfall. For some people the story of a game is most important for others the puzzles, this game is for "story oriented people".

I decided to keep going, following the advice above, but so far I haven't seen much diminution in the chat. I want to finish it so that I can start Dreamfall from an informed position, but I have been reading on GB that Dreamfall is dissimilar to TLJ - has action interspersed in the adventure.
However, Per Ardua ad Adventure.

petert

I could be wrong but I'm not sure that there is any benefit to finishing the TLJ before playing Dreamfall. I see it as a stand alone game with quite a few action sequences (some can be avoided) & a complete story that, from what I can remember, has some connections but little relevance to TLJ. April Ryan appears as a playable character (I think?) but is not the main protagonist & there seems to be a gap in April's story between the end of TLJ & her role in this game. Any info you glean in TLJ features small in Dreamfall! I may be wrong but I'm sure other gamers will help!

TLJ enriches Dreamfall because so many of the characters return in Dreamfall. As for the storyline itself in Dreamfall, that has more tenuous linkages to TLJ, but partly because the Dreamfall story needs a sequel or sequels to finish the story.

I am just starting my 3rd play of TLJ - which will be followed by a 2nd play of Dreamfall. There are very few games I play more than once. These are definitely exceptions.

TLJ and Dreamfall equally excel in their concentration on storytelling less on actual game playing. Yes, there are some "action" elements in Dreamfall (VERY easy, at least for an occasional action gamer like myself and they often felt added as if they were trying to reach and "action gamer" audience).

They are telling an epic tale and this comes through much dialogue in order to include the backgrounds of many characters, conflicts, and worlds. Yes, some of the dialogue in TLJ bored me too, but overall it worked in this context for me. I think that if the story and way it is told is not working for you, you should move on (the ending is interesting though...).

I loved the story and Dreamfall is one of my very favorite games, but if you only like a certain type of game it may not be for you.

Dont know if this will help you, when I started to play this, and it bothered me, I decided to mentally slow down and enjoy it more like a book, to embrace it so to speak this way,
I really did enjoy it more after doing this,
I am a very hyper person, so doing this really takes effort on my part, but it was worth it
Hope that helps
Marcia

Hi Petert ,

I could not play TLJ it drove me crazy with all the talking and all the bad language . A lot of the talking didn't have nothing to do with the game. But there seems to be a lot of people that did like it, but I am not one of them. There is not too many games that I find I don't like. I like most of the games I play. I was sadden by this game . I bought it because of all the people who said they liked it, then I found out I didn't like it. But most games that others like here on Gameboomers I like too. So I usually read the comments posted here and sometimes I wait for a review to come out on the game that I'm not sure of. But most of the time I like what others like here on GameBoomers . Maybe trying what HeavenlyJoy did when she played the game, that might help if you really want to continue trying to play the game.

Longest Journey didn't really start getting interesting for me until April finally got into the theatre, shortly before going to Arcadia. That was around the 5th chapter or so. The game ended up being one of my favorites, but it didn't immediately grab me.

Wow, I feel differently than most posters here. The Longest Journey had me hooked immediately and kept me hooked throughout the entire game. True it may start slowly, but I really liked that aspect. I love it when a story will establish characters, introduce you to their world and then proceed into the heart of the story. This way, I am now attached to the character(s) and more invested as well.

Also, I'd always wanted to play a game in which I could play a portion of the main character's everyday life. I don't know why this appeals to me so much - probably, as I said, it's part of the attachment. I think this was done quite well, all the while letting the audience know that there is something intriguing and mysterious going on. The only part that seemed awkward to me is when April asked her landlady, Fiona, to tell her about her closest friend. Shouldn't April already know Emma quite well?

Anyway, moving on , I loved the dichotomy of Stark and Arcadia and how Ragnar Tornquist managed to blend science fiction and fantasy together and do it convincingly. I had never seen that done in a game before. And unlike others, I really enjoyed the long dialogues as I felt it made the story richer.