Decline Is it me, or Dreamfall: The Longest Journey is really shit? (No, it is not!)

[J_C]

First, let me say that I just love The Longest Journey. It had an interesting story, great characters, nice puzzles, very good atmosphere. It is really a classic point and click adventure game.

But I have never played the sequel, Dreamfall. I heared that it has a very good atmosphere and story, but that was it. So after the release of the kickstartered Dreamfall Chapters, I thought it was time to play it through. And it started very good. I like the artstyle, the characters are interesting, the music is amazing. The story also intriquing.

But I am at chapter 5 (there are 13 of these IIRC), and I can't bring myself to continue it. I just don't have the will. There are nicely designed areas, but sometimes you just have to run back and forth on them to solve a puzzle and advance. This is maybe the number 1 thing which makes the game boring, the travelling. The puzzles are either easy, or frustrating. Also, there is that god awful hacking minigame, where you have to pair symbols and you have to do this for time. And there is that focus ability which you don't have to use most of the time, but when you have to, then it is totally unintuitive. Thanks to the consolised controls, sometimes it is a chore to control the character and select the things you want to. And don't get me started about the combat and sneaking sections. OMG I could strangle the one who came up with the sneaking.

I want to know experience the story, but I don't know if I can muster up the strenght to finish it.

Did anybody else have the same experience with this game?

 

[FeelTheRads]

Yes, it really is shit.

 

[Jaesun]

Dreamfall is the cancer that killed this entire series, and continues to spread even today.

Hopefully this whole series that is completely fucking ruined will just finally fucking die...

 

[groke]

What are you talking about, J_C? The Longest Journey doesn't have a sequel.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Dreamfall is great. Some bits are a bit hammy and contrived, but that is Ragnar Tornquist for you. He thinks he is great at writing female characters but Zoe is pretty much a walking cliche with daddy isues and obsessions about her boyfriend.

The rest of the story is pretty damn good, and the visuals and soundtrack still hold up to this day. It is a shame the combat and stealth systems are so poor because they let the game down.

 

[J_C]

Dreamfall is great. Some bits are a bit hammy and contrived, but that is Ragnar Tornquist for you. He thinks he is great at writing female characters but Zoe is pretty much a walking cliche with daddy isues and obsessions about her boyfriend.

The rest of the story is pretty damn good, and the visuals and soundtrack still hold up to this day. It is a shame the combat and stealth systems are so poor because they let the game down.

As I said, I agree, the stroy, the visuals, the soundtrack are good. I think Ragnar is good at writing female characters. But for me, the controls, the combat and stealth, and some of the puzzles are ruining the game.

 

[balmorar]

Bad controls killed this game and April Ryan became some kind of guru yoda bitch, which was annoying. Also cliffhanger at the end.

 

[Copper]

I played both games after having had them totally spoiled by John Walker's massive fan wank. The Longest Journey works when you know its big beats. Dreamfall, not so much. I think approached less critically, it might have been enjoyable enough, but I was irritated, rather than wowed by the big shifts in the setting and metaplot, introducing a new, bigger bad, having a magic hating faction seize power in the world of magic, etc. Zoe's privileged rich girl's depression quest also rubbed me up the wrong way, I think it takes a better writer than T to bridge the disconnect between a player who wants to explore, meet people and hit objectives, and a player who's supposedly depressed and unmotivated, and has long whiny conversations about it, although I suppose YMMV.

 

[abnaxus]

I must confess - I didn't play the first game, though I will fix that mistake ASAP.
but man this game was fucking good. it has a great storyline and worked just like a drug. the more you play it - the more you want it.
the actual gameplay part suck to say the least - mostly what the player should do is to run from the point A to the point B to see yet another cutscene with a really lots of dialogues - and only rarely to take part in the solving of some puzzle. but gameplay is not the part of it.
it's not even an interactive movie - it's more like some interactive book. a very awesome book - and though sometimes the game offer you some choices - they are nothing but cover of the linearity. however sacrificing the variety of real choices was for good.
the storyline started a little childish, a little like fairy tale with the main heroine being just a girl with all that girly things - and at first I thought it was so. however the game quickly changes and by the end it growth in some really adult, dark and grim story.
and that's because you, a codex-dweller, who craves for something with an awesome story, with a great world design and bullseye voice acting
MUST PLAY IT.

gosh I want to know what will happen next, because it does not have a conclusion - it's like in a pretty good review on the other site "it's not like in a hollywood movie where a car hangs over the abyss - actually it's a car, 3 buses and 2 airplanes are hanging there"
great story that leaves two trucks of questions.

 

[LordDenton]

The original Dreamfall was awesome. I remember playing it start to finish in two days because I couldn't stop. Beautiful story.

And yes, I did also enjoy The Longest Journey.

 

[J_C]

Well, I decided to man up and finish the game anyway. Good think I'm a storyfag.

 

[Copper]

May you find much closure.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

Well, I decided to man up and finish the game anyway. Good think I'm a storyfag.

Storyfags unite!

 

[Boleskine]

Congrats on finishing the game, J_C. Now you must wait 8 years before you play Dreamfall Chapters.

 

[RRRrrr]

They did fuck up the series. TLJ was a very long and satisfying game, it felt like a real part of a big and rich world, it was so detailed that it felt believable in a sense that very few games do. April felt believable too and in the end I was sad that the journey with her was over.

Dreamfall lacked all of this-the world felt hollow and contrived, it lacked life, it was like walking around filming sets. April was nothing like she was in TLJ in terms of depth and believeability. Every dialogue and every seen felt incomplete, the thing that made the first game feel like a true part of something bigger was just not there. It felt rushed, more like a DLC showing off old locations with better graphics and a little bit of dialogue rather than a game.

 

[hoverdog]

If even J_C thinks it's shit, it must REALLY be shit.


and it is

 

[J_C]

So, I've just finished the game in this moment. And I'm still under its effect. The problems about the gameplay still stand, it is shit. But this is one of the greatest stories in gaming ever told, and if the ending scenes didn't wrenched your heart, than you are a cold hearted bastard. Seriously, what's wrong with you?.

But oh boy, you can tell it that they planned the sequel, because there isn't one single plotline in the game which is concluded. EVERYTHING is set up for the sequel. The whole Arcadia plot doesn't make a sense in itself. I can imagine the butthurt people felt 8 years ago, when they wanted to see the continuation, but they didn't get anything. Thankfully I only played the game now, and I can continue the story with DF Chapters right now. Which I will do now.

 

[Darth Slaughter]

and you still gonna be without answers for a while...

 

[J_C]

and you still gonna be without answers for a while...

Well I know that, but at least I can anticipate the episodes revealing more and more about the story. (inb4 Red Thread games cancels the game because of bad sales).

Started playing Chapters yesterday night. It is very weird to play it right after Dreamfall, mostly because Zoe's voice actor changed. But she's not bad, I just have to get used to it.

 

[abnaxus]

Ragnar is/was a huge Shenmue fanboy, so he wanted to incorporate some of its gameplay elements in Dreamfall (like combat, stealth and minor city exploration). Needless to say it all failed miserably.