Dreamfall, the sequel to The Longest Journey, has been released a few days ago. Anyone else have it?
I got it yesterday and really like it. The interface is decent, but a bit clumsy. The combat is terrible. If those are critical things for you, then you probably won’t like this game. It’s got a great story and great characters, and it is playable, and that’s what really matters to me.
From what I hear, the ending is inconclusive. Apparently the story is meant to be a trilogy.
I definitely recommend this game if you liked the first one. I’ve only seen April briefly, but there are some characters and places in this who appeared in TLJ.
One of the main characters’ name is Zoe Castillo. I think I recall a Castillo in the first game, does anyone remember who it was?
Interesting environments but a pretty crappy game overall. Maybe it looks amazing on the PC but the Xbox graphics are nothing to write home about, and something about the game really just gives the impression that it was released too soon.
I’m still waiting for Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl to come out, if the entire development team hasn’t been assassinated by the Russian mafia yet. That game has been in development for six years or so, and despite all the bitching about the delays, it’s going to be absolutely amazing when it finally is released.
No zombies or ninjas yet. The game plays like a 3d adventure game, maybe like a cross between Grim Fandango and the more traditional point and click interface. Sometimes, you’ll have to defend yourself, and the game will go into a combat mode. It’s still an adventure game- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis had combat too. You do light attacks, heavy attacks, dodges, or blocks.
It would have been better if the combat sequences were left out, but they aren’t too bad if you save it beforehand. Sometimes you can avoid combat as well.
Sadly, I haven’t seen Crow yet. Then again, I’ve only played as April for a short time. He might still show up. Most of the time I’ve been playing as Zoe. She’s a little similar to how April was in the first game. April herself has changed a lot since the first game, as has everything else. The events in the first game have had a major impact on the worlds in this one.
There’s some people it definitely won’t appeal to, and it definitely is flawed. Still, I like it a lot. It’s way better than Indigo Prophecy.
Revenant Threshold, I’m a little surprised that it’s coming out in the UK after the US, because I thought the first one was bigger in the UK. If you want a recent adventure game to play while you wait, I’ve heard Still Life if pretty good.
I’m pretty surprised too, given what you say, plus it’s popular in a lot of Europe and so on since it got translated into many languages. And even when we do get games later than you guys (which is often) it’s usually something along the lines of a week, not three/four. Very strange.
I’m a little wary of Still Life - apperently it’s pretty short, and whil i’ve also heard that accusation made at Dreamfall i’m more willing to cut it some slack since TLJ was fantastic. I did enjoy Indigo Prophecy though (up until the hugely rushed ending, anyway) and I hope they’ll get a sequel for that at some point. Very interesting gameplay.
I have a question - how strong is Zoe’s accent? Previews i’ve seen have her with roughly the same accent as me; is she english in the US version?
I’m with you there. One word; consoleization. A word to strike fear in the hearts of any adventure/RPG/RTS gamer.
Honestly I was psyched about it until I read what you had to say about it. The one thing that really pisses me off in games is inconclusive endings with the promise of a sequel. Usually because the sequel is also trying to get new players so if it’s made at all (I’m looking at you, Clive Barker’s Undying) it’s usually using a new storyline… like Dreamfall.
The Longest Journey had a bad ending and they’re not even taking up where it left off because that would alienate potential customers. So I’m not really all that interested anymore.
Gamespy actually gave Dreamfall a very good review (pc.gamespy.com/pc/dreamfall/702029p1.html), even though the ending, as mentioned before, and pointed out in treview, it leaves everything kind of hanging in free air. Anyway, I’m looking forward to this game, since I enjoyed The longest journey, and since I still enjoy this kind of adventure gaming, outdated as it might seem these days.
And Tallon, are you not mixing up Castillo woth Cortez from the first game?
Mrs Gargoyle just finished it yesterday, I’ve been peeking over her shoulder and playing a few bits of it…
Great plot, story, acting, like you’d expect.
For gameplay, the OP was mostly correct.
The control scheme is very clunky, the player auto-runs by default and gets snagged on objects and corners a lot. The combat system is awful, and seems a tacked-on platform gimmick. The game wouldn’t suffer in the slightest by removing the combat elements. Using a keymappable gamepad, instead of keyboard/mouse, helped immensely.
The cut-scene elements are substantially longer than Longest Journey, with shorter dialogue trees and options. So this game seemed more of an “interactive movie” than an “adventure game”.
It was still a great sequel, but I felt the general gameplay elements of the first game were superior. Dreamfall still had the wonderful characters and plots, but felt like the interface was designed by management committee trying to satisfy everyone’s little special interest requests.
I might have had Castillo mixed up with Cortez, I dunno. Zoe has an English accent.
Good news: Crow is in the game after all! I don’t know how far I am through it, but he doesn’t show up until pretty well into the game. There was also a minor character from TLJ that made a very unexpected appearance, that whole scene reminded me of the Monkey Island type of humor. The character is:
Roper Klacks. He is reformed now and has given up on his evil ways.
Some other characters that return:
Charlie- he’s got a slightly bigger role in this one than TLJ
Emma- for a very short bit
The inkeeper at the Journeyman Inn- She’s an important character
Brian Westhouse- He’s an important character. I don’t completely trust him- I get the feeling that he might possibly be with the enemies. But it’s likely that he isn’t.
Indigo Prophecy is actually a pretty close comparison, the more I think about it. It’s got a similar interface, and has a lot of cutscenes. There are a few moments in Dreamfall that seem to have more than one way of doing things in a similar matter.
I’m starting to enjoy even the gameplay. As I said, it’s slightly clunky, but I’m used to it. This game is really growing on me. I think I love it. I like the writing better than in the first one- I found a lot of the stuff about Marcuria boring in that, but it’s interesting here.
