Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

[MetalCraze]

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.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

The story's gonna be left hanging. Funcom decided to make only MMOs as that is more profitable.

But damn, now I want to play TLJ 1 again. Never finished because of how long it was, but wow, that was a great game.

 

[MetalCraze]

however

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamfall_Chapters

it will be a sequel
it won't be MMO
but - they've decided to go the Valve way. I just hope that unlike what Valve did to HL - the sequel will actually be a one hell of a game.

Tørnquist since commented that the story of Dreamfall Chapters will pick up exactly where Dreamfall ended or even before that, to present its ending from an alternative point of view.[2] On his blog, he also dropped several hints at the future development of the story,[3][4] although how serious they are remains open.

they simply must continue the story. unlike HL2 boring emoshit - Dreamfall's storyline is actually worthy of every hour spent on it. it was like a watching of a very rare good movie.

 

[Annonchinil]

I thought that they are releasing episodes? But anyways a great story should have a great climax, Dreamfall just kind of stops.

 

[Longshanks]

Never played this, mostly because I found the original disappointing and general consensus seems to be the sequel is not as good. So I guess if you liked the sequel, you should definitely pick up the original.

 

[SuicideBunny]

because I found the original disappointing

that game had one of the best stories of any p&c adventure i ever played... what exactly disappointed you?

 

[Andyman Messiah]

Dear lord in hell, Dreamfall is one of the worst games ever made. The voice acting alone makes me want to drop a nuke on it.

 

[doctor_kaz]

Dreamfall was even more dumbed down for the X-Box than Invisible War was. The story was, indeed, excellent though. It's one of the most original stories that I have ever seen. Most striking example of gameplay sacrificed for story that I have ever seen.

 

[SuicideBunny]

Most striking example of gameplay sacrificed for story that I have ever seen.

play rule of rose and say that again....

 

[ghostdog]

I'll have to play it sometime. TLJ1 was the last of the classics.

 

[MetalCraze]

Dear lord in hell, Dreamfall is one of the worst games ever made. The voice acting alone makes me want to drop a nuke on it.

I take it you didn't play too far from the beginning.
yes I also disliked many thing in game at first - at some point I simply turned on SWAT4 and started another cleansing of bad guys. however I decided to go deeper into Dreamfall - and the storyline quickly shadowed all bad things in the game.

I'll have to play it sometime. TLJ1 was the last of the classics.

people say that it's worse than TLJ1 in a gameplay part - and it is a really dumbed down thing - however - it is heavily praised for the storyline being much better than in TLJ1.
people at Funcom's forum while bashing the game for being too consolish - saying that the storyline is much better - that TLJ1 is more like a well-written fairy-tale, while TLJ2 is a much more atmospheric and grown up adult story. it's like kotor1<>kotor2 situation here. though the difference is that kotor1 was shitty.

a minor spoiler (with some major spoiler parts) that also makes TLJ2 story different from your usual plotlines. view at your own risk.

Spoiler

you don't save the world - and there's no happy ending

 

[Elwro]

There are also a few hints as to what will happen in the third part(s) - just think about the name of the lady from the first game and you'll have one example :D

 

[MetalCraze]

I just wish they avoided episodic content and went for the game they originally planned - Dreamfall: The Secret World. It would be a final part in the trilogy with all questions answered. and it wouldn't be lame, especially looking at how they answered some questions in Dreamfall - awesome answers.

Spoiler

also notice how the blonde owner of WATIcorp looks very similar to the emissary of Arcadia

but when I think of the episodic content - gay half-life 2 and short boring predictable sam & max come to mind.
considering that 1 4-5 hour episode takes 1 (and in some cases 2) years to produce - ...
I just hope Ragnar knows what he is doing.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

The Secret World is gonna be an MMO though, that's pretty disappointing.

 

[MetalCraze]

when asked - Ragnar said that TSW MMO will have a totally different storyline in no way connected with TLJ and he promised that he will bring TLJ saga to it's logic end only through single player games.
I really don't care how shitty and dumbed down the actual gameplay will be. I just want to see the good logical ending of this story.
Ragnar also wrote in his blog that Funcom received a grant from norwegian film academy (or something) for Dreamfall's storyline and he said that it's enough money to develop the storyline further and to start working on the next episode.
and while I consider MMOs shit - I just hope their Conan MMORPG will be successful - because hopefully it will bring them enough money for TLJ development.

 

[Otingocni]

a minor spoiler (with some major spoiler parts) that also makes TLJ2 story different from your usual plotlines. view at your own risk.

Spoiler

you dont save the world - and there\\\'s no happy ending

Because it stops in the fucking middle of the story, there isnt even an ending. Hell, only a tiny majority of things are ever come to some conclusion, nearly everything is left unresolved. It evens ends on a really pathetic cliff-hanger.

It was an enormous disappointment after TLJ, nonsensical (thank you for introducing faction after faction, explaining nothing about them along the way, that really helps) plot that has you running all over the world, only to see various bland locations and put up with horrible stealth/combat segments. Really, the only thing I can do is pretend it never happened and go back to play TLJ. I dont know what happened, but it is depressing to see Ragnar, who I like quite a bit, ardently defend this piece of shit.

 

[Azrael the cat]

i loved it

I loved both games, though as a pure adventure/puzzle game the first was better. I actually didn't mind the ending in the 2nd one. It is made clear from the start that the second game is about Zoe's story, and even though the overall plot isn't completed, HER role in it is. Even though she gets totally screwed I don't know, maybe I just like evil endings.

My only concern is that maybe that kind of 2nd-part-of-a-trilogy Empire-Strikes-Back ending isn't as suitable to computer games as it is movies. Mainly because with a movie you KNOW that by the time the studio has produced 2 of the trilogy, they are going to have the funding and will to finish it. With a game the developer might just not get a publishing deal, or might be financially pressured into other projects, or just get bored with it, and you'll never get that final chapter. Also, games take a LONG time to produce- ok, so do films (2 years of post-filming production isn't unheard of), but studios have gotten around that in recent years by combining a lot of the post-production work so that sequels still come out in consecutive years. Whereas with Dreamfall we're still waiting, with no declaration in sight as to when these episodic chapters are going to materialise...Which in turn makes gamers less willing to accept multipart LOTR-style (2 towers didn't have a conclusion either - even less so in the book than the film) or Empire Strikes Back-style trilogy pieces.

 

[Annonchinil]

April and the Aiden (Kaiden?) were so useless in Dreamfall. Zoe was allright. I enjoyed the story but not because of the characters.

 

[Longshanks]

because I found the original disappointing

that game had one of the best stories of any p&c adventure i ever played... what exactly disappointed you?

I'm aware I'm in the minority on this one, but I found the PC annoying, the puzzles rather weak, much of the dialogue chringe-worthy (especially in theme) and felt the story to be above average, but no more than that.

The game is still quite good, I just don't rate its writing and story as higly as most others seem to.

Haven't gone into too much detail here, partially because I know almost everyone disagrees, and because I've not played it in a while, so while impressions remain in place, specific details are sketchy.

For those who did enjoy it, I can recommend Culpa Innata (a game I disliked for some similar reasons), though I'd rate it lower than TLJ.

 

[MetalCraze]

April and the Aiden (Kaiden?) were so useless in Dreamfall. Zoe was allright. I enjoyed the story but not because of the characters.

Kian. of course they were useless as this was a story not about them, they were rather assisting characters.

if Funcom will continue the story on the par with Dreamfall it will be good. I actually would prefer the main story going without the main characters (like it went in Dreamfall, it was mainly about Zoe - and she played her role) - rather using a different character in each installment as a main one to solve just a small part of the big mystery. of course the required move is to connect the characters' storylines between each other as this will feel much more alive.

I think it's actually a big plus that one character didn't solve everything but just a part left for her to solve (actually a good part), while other events go without her intervention.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Dreamfall is one of those games I never got even though I liked the original because of all the hate that was surrounding the sequel. I might eventually get it but whenever I ask someone they are like "ZOMG IT SUCKS." Same thing happened with Dues Ex.

 

[SuicideBunny]

"ZOMG IT SUCKS."

it doesn't suck, it's just.. different.
tlj really was a fairytale, with things that are hard to connect logically, which normally would be a weak point, but in my impression worked really really well there, whereas dreamfall is a more conventional adventure that builds up on tlj story, but because it is not a fairytale anymore fucks up lots of it in the process.

although it kinda sucked to have to play zoe that much.. i hated her because she was essentially the same as april in the first game, only less interesting (hey, i'm the chosen one, born to a loving and rich father without any real problems other than saving the world, wheeee). april could have been a bit darker and more of an asshole, kian was pretty nice as he was although his character is the typical crusader of a corrupt faith who gets into the conflict between reality and his indoctrination.

 

[Azrael the cat]

Kian in part 3?

April and the Aiden (Kaiden?) were so useless in Dreamfall. Zoe was allright. I enjoyed the story but not because of the characters.

Kian. of course they were useless as this was a story not about them, they were rather assisting characters.

if Funcom will continue the story on the par with Dreamfall it will be good. I actually would prefer the main story going without the main characters (like it went in Dreamfall, it was mainly about Zoe - and she played her role) - rather using a different character in each installment as a main one to solve just a small part of the big mystery. of course the required move is to connect the characters' storylines between each other as this will feel much more alive.

I think it's actually a big plus that one character didn't solve everything but just a part left for her to solve (actually a good part), while other events go without her intervention.

Yeah, my impression would be that Kian will be the main focus for part 3, making the overall progression April's story, Zoe's story then Kian's. There is also that little part (MASSIVE SPOILERS<>
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Where the old lady storyteller is called Lady Alvane (Kian's surname) - again indicating that he has a major role to play in the next part.

 

[SuicideBunny]

Re: Kian in part 3?

Where the old lady storyteller is called Lady Alvane (Kian's surname) - again indicating that he has a major role to play in the next part.

kian+april=buttseks.

i should stop posting here right after playing forumwarz, dammit...

 

[MetalCraze]

Re: Kian in part 3?

Where the old lady storyteller is called Lady Alvane (Kian's surname) - again indicating that he has a major role to play in the next part.

kian+april=buttseks.

i should stop posting here right after playing forumwarz, dammit...

it became inevitable when they first met