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Excellent sequel to The Longest Journey!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: April 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Having read some reviews I was somewhat disappointed, usually I don't write reviews, but in this case I wanted to share you my opinion of the game as a fully fan of The Longest Journey.

I've played both The Longest Journey and DreamFall to the very end. Usually I can tell from playing an adventure game for like half an hour if it's good or not, as being fan of adventures like for example Police Quest series, Little Big Adventure, Syberia 1/2, return to mystery island etc. I was sold from the very start of this great sequel of The Longest Journey.

Ok, so far my intro. Now let's go ahead to the game itself.

I did found Dreamfall a bit shorter than it's previous version, as the graphics were of course a bit less in the first version of The Longest Journey there was more story to my idea.

Dreamfall's graphics are really stunning and I was surprised to see the character Zo? in her underwear on bed when you start to play, as for fans of the previous version know April Ryan started of the same way, when she suddenly was in the dream world.. Yes in her underwear.
Guess the creators didn't want to skip this opening detail and make Dreamfall for some of us males interesting from the start as well:)

The storyline is great, I must say it would be nice if you'd played the original version as on some point it's difficult to understand what they are talking about even for me it was sometimes difficult, as I played the original version years ago..

Nevertheless they did a good job in having the characters tell about themselves, so even if you have not played the original version before you get some information about their past.
And for myself it was good to catch-up again where the game left of years ago.. After these years I've forgotten a lot about most details.

Also the person you are now playing (Zo?) is a nice sweet character with an English accent, April was a lot tougher.. but don't worry you get her to play too again ;)
That's the whole beauty of Dreamfall, it's really nice to play each character and see how their paths cross each other literally!
Even there are scenes where you have to work with each other, both Zo? and April, you get to talk to your own playable character sometimes which is very fun and interesting at the same time.

During the game you also get to make decisions, while talking to people. To say yes, or no or act defensive, offensive etc.
The character you speak to will respond depending on your answers.
I don't really believe any answer would screw things up, or make you go on a different way.

So far for me there was only 1 occasion where my answers would lead to an extra ticket for a little girl when being in Japan, if you did it wrong you only got yourself 1 ticket and left a girl behind.
Also here I don't believe it would have resulted in a different story line, sometimes you get to see some more or less scenes that's all I think.

It would have been nice if you really would get alternate endings, but to my knowledge there is only 1 way to go.. believe me , I did try a couple of scenes over and over again to see if it would do me any good or not ;)

The game play is great, I've played the whole game with the keyboard not any problem. You just have to get used to it, which takes a little moment.
Point is, you do not want to use the mouse when walking... Only use it for looking around if you want to see something in particular. For the rest, if you stop moving your character the camera will center behind your character, making it possible for you to see things ahead.
It worked out great for me, so I'm sure if will for you too.

Fighting isn't that hard too, go down the gym and practice till you get it right.
I used ASDW for walking and LK for fighting, space blocking. It works out the best, again camera goes by itself. Try and see, so all negative comments in the reviews about that are to my opinion not relevant.

The ending... well, indeed it also leaves me with unanswered questions, so hopefully a quicker sequel than this one against the 1st version years back.

Also what I found to be nice about the game in general was the way to solve puzzles, I know they could have made them a bit harder, but at least you didn't have to run around all way back too often to get items.
Most of the times you can find the solution in the running scene.
If you are stuck, usually your mobile phone comes in with a solution. Every puzzle was quite well to solve with some common sense.

I absolutely recommend this game and if you have not played the 1st version, buy that one too. It's really great and will help you understand the story more.

I'm even thinking about playing it again, just to refresh my memory again and perhaps already answers some of the unanswered questions I have still.

Hoped you like my preview and it's of some help to you, if so I might do this more often for games.

Sequel

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 14
Date: April 30, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I wanted a sequel to The Longest Journey. I got a sequel to Lara Croft.

I wanted to feel a sense of achievement solving puzzles and making progress. Instead I feel success when I manage to walk through a door without hitting the sides and finishing up with a view of a plain boring wall.

How wise of Funcom to NOT issue a demo!

Dreamfall: is it a game or is it a movie?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: June 05, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Statistics
AMD 2600, 1 GB 233, GeForce FE 5200 256 MB, Mouse & Keyboard
Played: Late May 2006
Review: 4 June 2006
Likes: role-play games (Kotor, Vampire the Masquerade), team based shooters (Republic Commando, Rainbow Six, Swat), war games (Hearts or Iron, Combat Mission)
Dislikes: most shooters (Noted exceptions: Max Pane and Farcry), real time strategy games (genre became infertile since dune 2).

Summary
The strength of Dreamfall is the dreamy and compelling storyline, the characters, the conversations and the overall mood. It especially offers impressive landscapes. On the down side: the story leaves questions unanswered and creates a lot of new questions still to be answered, the characters are badly rendered and as a game it is weak, with annoying controls, simple puzzles and rudimentary and slow combat. Dreamfall hovers in the twilight zone: is it a game with expansive cutscenes or is it an animated movie with gaming elements?

Questioning statement:
Is a game a game if the passive time spent on it equals or surpasses the active time spent on it?

This I wondered when after I finished Dreamfall. A large part of the game I spent in watching. Notably the second half of the game consists of chapter after chapter passing by with little interference from the player. Is it a game? But let's not get ahead of things and talk about the good and the bad in their own turns.

The right stuff
For me greatest strength of the game was the story. The story is about Zoý, a young naive girl who has lost her purpose in live and inadvertently gets involved in murky plot surrounding her best friend(and former lover) Reza, a young reporter. When Reza disappears she tries to find him, partly because she got nothing better to do and partly because she still loves her former boyfriend.
Dreamfall starts of with two scenes out of sequence with the storyline. In first scene we follow a man travelling to another world. In the next scene we see Zoý in coma a hospital bed in Casablanca with her weeping father beside her. Her ghost then starts to tell what has happened the last two weeks. The story when then follow is therefore a flashback.
Next we find Zoý at her home in Casablanca somewhere in the year 2200. An ingenious beginning because the game starts with a person who doesn't fit the mould of a hero and we find her in the safest of places: her parental home in a modern world. Then, of course, things start to 'happen' and all the assurances are taken away one by one. The story then becomes a long journey taken her to places all over the world and taking her too, to other worlds. The game ends where it started making the story come full circle.
While Zoý is the main character in the story, you also get to play two other persons, April Ryan, the disillusioned hero from the previous Longest Journey game and Kian, a sort of special agent from an empire in one of the world.
The different storylines are nicely woven and keeps things interesting.
An additional good thing about this game is the stunning views. There are a lot of different environments to see and some are truly beautiful. Indeed I got the feeling that some parts where purely added to the game to show the sights off.
Conversations are an important aspect of the game. You have often different ways to react in a conversation thus being able to develop your own conversation line. As a last thing I want to mention that the developers certainly kept an eye out that mood was fitting. Casablanca, Zoý's home town, is a warm pleasant sunny place with warm open people (note some people who recognize Zoý), enhancing the feeling of being a safe place. This contrasts with unpleasant locations that are harsh and cold in their outlook and devoid of nice beings.
The right stuff is that the developer spent much effort to create a captivating storyline and made every effort to enhance it. A lot of you time is spent in passive mode: watching the story unfolding itself.

The afterthought
The storyline keeps Dreamfall going, but some aspects of the game detract from the experience. Before proceeding one must take note that Dreamfall is not a role-play game, so you can't earn experience, raise statistics, improve skills. Also there are no weapons and armour to equip. You can't buy stuff so items you either find or acquire because the plot needs you too.
The first that catches the eye is how plain the characters look. This is noticeable because of the contrast with the well-done environments and because conversations are a large part of the game, which means that you spent a lot of time looking at people. Zoý, the main character, looks a lot nicer on the cover of the game box and manual than she does in the game. Her eye-liner is a smudge, her eyes just don't look that brown and her black hair is plain. This ugliness strange as a game like Bloodlines offers beautiful lifelike characters to look at and is in this respect superior to Dreamfall while it's two years older.
Another thing is the camera handling. Dreamfall is a third-person game in which the camera hovers a few meters behind the character. I was not able to change the focus, the height and the angle, which is especially frustrating, when your character is located in area's with low ceilings and needs to avoid a nasty being. The camera also has the annoying effect to react on obstacles like walls, meaning that if your character runs into an enclosed space the camera suddenly closes up on the character.
Game controls are basic and sluggish. You can move in four directions, forward, backward, to the right or the left and change pace between sneaking, running and walking. When movement becomes important, in combat or when you need to escape pursuit, it becomes annoying. Sneaking is only usable at moments when SNEAKING HERE is written out loud, probably not more than five times in the game.
The game has all kinds of challenges, mostly logical puzzles, which are in simple. In general they consist of acquiring access to a location by using an object in your possession or in the same room. This object is either the only one in your inventory that fits the purpose or it is the only one that can be found in the same area. Examples are finding a rope in the same room where there is a window with a hook or finding an access card in a drawer which must first be opened by using the key hidden in the cupboard, all neatly located in the same chamber. Just thoroughly searching the area and trying something obvious is usually enough to solve the issue. In general you don't need to think hard about the solution also because you will provided with many hints in the game on how to solve something.
Combat occurs about eight times in the game and this might be the reason why it is so rudimentary implemented. It is slow and consists of only two attack forms, with no combinations possible. Fights consist of two types: easy ones and impossible ones, the first are meant to be fought the second are the one's you weren't suppose to fight in the first place and you need either to run or load the savegame. In general, when no damage marker can be seen for your opponent you know that this fight should have been avoided. As said earlier you can't buy and equip anything, so the way the characters fight is a given you can't change nor will they improve as there is no skill system. Each character has its own weapon Zoý uses her hands, April a staff (curious enough as you see her wearing a sword and dagger combination but no staff, it only appears during fighting) and Kian a sword.
All-in-all the game elements, the part that requires your active intervention, seem to be implemented by afterthought. Everything is really basic as if Dreamfall wasn't meant to be a game at all.

The sequel(s)?
An aspect of the Dreamfall storyline is the loose ends. Indeed there are so many that you might mistake it for a soap. Who is he/she? What happened to him/her? Wasn't he/she supposed to be dead? These are just some of the questions which arise and for each one that the game answers two new questions arise. Either the developers aimed on purpose at a sequel or they overreached themselves by creating a story which they could not finish in one game. All-in-all this story is certainly not finished and the game ends with a big cliff-hanger.

Evaluation
My verdict on this on hangs in the balance. The story surpasses many other stories in the games I played. But as a game it is at times a frustrating experience. The fact that the Dreamfall at the end leaves many questions unanswered and raises a lot more is something to take into account. Is Dreamfall good enough to create an interest in a sequel?
I leave it all to you to decide: it is probably not your flick if you like to go in and start kicking butt or if you like Myst or role play games like Kotor. However if can live with games like Syberia or Alone In The Dark this might appeal to you.

Maybe the deciding factor might be the question: would you want to play it again?

Dreamfall: The longest disappointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: August 31, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I was really looking forward to the sequal to the Longest Journey. Although in Longest Journey, there were many long long conversations, the storyline was enjoyable and movement uncomplicated. Unfortunately, Dreamfall is disappointing. First of all the movement through the game is difficult using the computer controls. It is easy to be trapped in a situation because of this movement. Also, there is combat. I was looking for another game which utilized strategy and puzzle solving. Unfortunately, there are silly combat scenes which distract from the game playing and are frustrating to a player like myself who is not interested in an arcade type game.

The positive aspect of the game is the graphics which are superb.

Apparently, from the other reviews I have read, they have left the story hanging at the end in order for a sequel to be made. I'm not sure I would be interested due to the negatives I refer to earlier.

TLJ was a tough act to follow...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: September 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

On a scale of 1 to 10, the first TLJ rated an easy 12 in my book, so accept that as an inherent bias of this review. When I finished TLJ, I even wrote to Funcom to see if they were planning a sequel (in which case I would have camped out in Ragnar Tornquist's back yard and begged him to let me be involved, even if that only meant emptying trash cans for him). They said, nope, no sequel, their interest now was mainly in MMPOG. So I was thrilled when I first heard about Dreamfall and was among the first to purchase it (although I had to wait till I could afford to upgrade my computer to actually play it). CAVEAT 1: CHECK THE SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS!!!
THE POSITIVES: Despite the myriad plot holes and loose ends, it's still an intensely absorbing story. If you've seen the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the ending is similar: not to have a sequel would be a crime against nature. CAVEAT 2: KEEP WATCHING THROUGH THE CREDITS FOR THE FINAL CUTSCENE. Thanks to MaGtRo's walthrough for this tip. I'd have missed it and missed seeing someone very familiar from the first game.
MORE POSITIVES: In Arcadia, there's still a bit of the enjoyable wackiness from the first game in the persons of "theoretically Blind Bob" and a reformed Roper Klacks from the first game. Stunning cinematics, including a look at the realm of the Dark People, the one enticingly underdeveloped culture from the first game. Fun to see places like Marcuria in 3-D and to see more of characters like Benrime and Brian Westhouse. Beautiful music. Considerably less profanity. In an industry dominated by shooters, great to have a game that tells an actual story and functions a bit like an inventory-based adventure.
NEGATIVES: The documentation for the first game said very clearly, "April can't die. We don't think it's fair for you to spend four hours on a puzzle only to have a piano drop on your head." Big change. No serious puzzles as in TLJ, so no frustration if you die, right? Well... You can die. Lots. The most combat-oriented games I do are KOTOR and NWN, but I have to ask what was the point of putting in combat at all if it's this limited and cumbersome? Where I got stuck on "puzzles" tended to be a problem of not being able to locate the important hot buttons, which do overlap a lot (the long range function helps a bit here, but it can still be a challenge to stand where you need to to access the buttons and do something with them).
BIG NEGATIVES: Unlike TLJ, you get led around by the nose a lot. Much of the game is a lot more like being in an interactive novel or movie than being in an adventure game of the calibre of the first game. Lots of long cutscenes that could have been turned into interesting dialogue exchanges, especially in the second half of the game. Lots of pointless combat and sneaking around. If you've played the Broken Sword series, the original TLJ was a lot like BS1 while Dreamfall was a lot like BS3. (In comparison, the Tex Murphy, Gabriel Knight, and Monkey Island series kept their focus on adventure gamers and puzzle-oriented play, including absorbing dialogue even when they jazzed up their graphics). You have to ask the question, are there two sorts of gamer audiences -- adventure vs shooter/console -- and should you take a game that appealed to the former and make a sequel that incorporates elements that appeal to the latter but may be abhorred by the former? I don't know the answer; I just know that sacrificing good puzzles for action sequences did not add to the quality of the game for me. Did this style of play introduce console/combat gamers to the interactive story genre? So much of the story relies on knowing the backstory supplied by the first game that I tend to doubt hardcore combat gamers bothered with it, or stuck with it once they got it up and running.
MISSING IN ACTION: Ability to review the transitional movies. Most of the quirky humor and eccentric characters that truly helped distinguish the first game. Puzzles that actually encouraged creative thought. "The book of secrets." The sense of profound awe and wonder. A story that read like a novel rather than, in places, like an outline that needs to be fleshed out. Abnaxis. Crow (he's there, but not enough). Most of all, CLOSURE!!!!!
What was so bad about point-and-click? As I said, generally an absorbing story, but I'd rather have the emphasis on good game play, good puzzles, characters you could care about, and a fully fleshed out story than on the best 3-D graphics.

This is NOT an Adventure game.

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 19
Date: June 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I LOVED The Longest Journey. I was so excited about Dreamfall that I was checking web-sites constantly for the past year to find out the release date. I was so disappointed that I wanted to cry when I started playing this game. I don't have stealth skills or fight skills. Big monsters and folks with weapons should be in other games, NOT adventure games. The interface is impossible to control. I run, I crash into the wall, I die. This is not my idea of fun. Where is the humor of the first game? Where are the quirky characters? I have not finished this game and I'm pretty sure I never will. I don't have the skills. I would love to see how it turns out, but I'm sick of being killed every 2 or 3 minutes.

Dreamfall: The Shorter Journey

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 15
Date: April 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Here's my review of Dreamfall:

Story - Excellent. Not as good as The Longest Journey, but it was still amazingly well done(until the end; leaves you hanging badly). The characters are the draw of the game, and I fell in love with each of them. If you played the original, seeing people from TLJ again felt so good. It was neat to see what the worlds are like 10 years after the last game. There was an element of depth that seemed missing in Dreamfall in comparison to TLJ; like how you could find out tons of info about Arcadia by asking people a million questions as well as reading books in the Sentinel library. It also seemed like you did not -do- all that much in this game. In TLJ, April literally went_everywhere_and saved/united_everything_.

Graphics - Sometimes the textures can be bland, but there were many times I was in awe of the visuals. The animations were pretty good for the most part, and the "cinematography" was well done the whole way through. Both worlds were very stinkin' cool, and Arcadia was flat-out beautiful at times(the Dark People's city). The best part is that it's a beautiful game that will run on older systems fairly well.

Sound - The dialogue was voiced perfectly. April is still voiced by the woman who did TLJ, and from what I can tell, all other older characters came back to voice in Dreamfall. Zoe and Kian sound great as well. The music was also seriously done perfectly; it always sounded good and enhanced the mood.

Gameplay - I thought the puzzles were pretty normal. It did feel easy and much like I was guided throughout the entire story. The sneaking wasn't that bad, and I think I enjoyed it(outside of the cave troll part). The fighting is truely abominable as it was sluggish, boring, and hard to control. Fortunately, it's not that big of a deal. The controls everywhere else worked great for me -- I used a logitech dual analog controller. I did mess around with the controls for PC and you can make them reasonably user friendly, but the default setting is pretty bad.

Lasting appeal - It's a lot shorter than TLJ, and the ending feels incomplete. If it had a little more closure, it would have been one of my top 5 favorite games. However, I noticed a few small details that can be changed and it warrants at least 2 plays through. It took me 15-17 hours to beat, but I explored and savored every bit of dialogue and every bit of the environments.

Conclusion: I'm going to play it again in a couple months (after I play through TLJ for the..4th time) to see if it's any better. I am glad it was only $40 and not $50, because it makes it easier to give this game an "A" grade. It gets a 90% from me, just because it succeeded in what it tried to accomplish. Go buy it if you like great stories(and cliff-hanger endings). If a sequel never comes out, though, I will grow to hate this game. :P

A semi-interactive movie

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 15
Date: October 10, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game based on some of the good reviews it received. I want my money back! I don't write many reviews, but if I can save someone the kind of aggravation that this stupid "game" caused me, I consider it my duty to do so.

I finally finished Dreamfall last night and while the story kept me coming back, the atrocious game play kept driving me away... Actually, it wasn't like the story was just so good that I just HAD to find out what happens. It's more like "I shelled out $30 for this stupid game and now that I've opened it I can't get a refund, I guess I'll find out what happens." In the end, it wasn't worth the money, and it wasn't worth the aggravation.

This "game" isn't fun at all. The story is interesting and somewhat addictive, but ultimately very unsatisfying.

To call this a "game" is to be way too generous; it's more like a semi-interactive movie. I say semi-interactive because the story pauses for user input from time to time, but the actual choices a user makes have zero impact on how the story unfolds. Once it became clear that my input was meaningless I really came to resent the "interactive" periods. This is especially true because of the absolutely horrible game play.

Honestly, why did the developers think that stopping the movie just to have the "player" walk down a path just to have the movie start again was a good idea? This happens in a number of places throughout the game.

As has been noted by many, the few instances where combat is unavoidable, rather than being an enjoyable challenge, are just frustrating until you figure out the "trick." Once you kind of figure out the "trick" to it, it's boring, but still frustrating because of the horrible user interface... (Have I mentioned the horrible user interface? It's bad!) Circle your opponent until they strike (and miss) then hit them with a heavy attack. Since you never face more than one opponent at a time you can take all the time in the world.

The puzzles are so laughably easy they just became unwanted distractions. The one "challenging" puzzle is nearly impossible. I mean, you do something, you hear what sounds like creaking machinery and you are supposed to remember the "tune", not only that but it's impossible to go back and replay the "tune" once you have some inkling that it was a clue. That's not a challenge, that's frustration. The only challenges were all related to the horrible game play interface (I think I mentioned that before...)

The worlds are all pretty, but small. I don't mean small in size--as you spend far too much time walking from one place to another--but more in terms of interest and exploration; there's nothing interesting to explore, no side plots, nothing. I eventually felt like the worlds were nothing more than tunnels designed to make sure your character hits her spots.

Speaking of getting from one spot to another, why in the world is there no mini-map, or at least a compass? Navigating from one movie segment to another is tedious, but without either a map or compass, it too often becomes just plain aggravating. I mean, how in the world am I supposed to find the "South Gate" if I don't know where "South" is? Sure you find it, because you are a rat in a tunnel and really have so few choices that you can't help but find things eventually, but it just makes you wonder if anybody but the developers ever test played this mess.

Replay value is ZERO. I'd really have to hate myself to play this thing again. It has been uninstalled from my computer and will never be installed again.

As for the story, sure it's sort of interesting, but in the end this episode is obviously nothing more than a prequel. A game like The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is easily as immersive when it comes to the main story, but so vastly superior in terms of game play, open exploration, optional side quests, player involvement, and replayability that calling Dreamfall a "Game" is a sick joke.

Do yourself a favor, don't buy this game! Find one of the many spoilers out there and read the story. It will take much less time, cause much less frustration, and save you $30.

terrible disappointment

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: July 24, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I don't know how to say how disappointed I was in this game. As one who thoroughly enjoyed Longest Journey 1, I eagerly anticipated the sequel. Apparently the developers made a conscious decision to target those whose main source of adrenalin is computer games. Everytime I turned around I was being shot, stabbed, zapped, eaten, or knocked cold. The second chances to have it all happen to me again were not comforting.

What a shame that an intriguing story and a beautifully rendered game would be infected with mayhem in order to pander to the "action" crowd.

Total letdown

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: May 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

TLJ was as many have said before, one of the best adventure games ever. I can't believe how far this sequel has fallen. This game had very good voice acting, adequate graphics, and terrible gameplay. Aside from the constant retracing of your steps (meanwhile putting up with multiple load screens), the terrible camera control, and the absolutely despicable fighting / sneaking aspect of the game, Dreamfall was for me - simply boring. And that is the worst sin a game can commit. The opening in Casablanca seemed to hold promise - it had that open, cosmopolitan feel that I loved about TLJ. But then the rest of the game was spent wandering through stereotypical Roleplaying/Sci-Fi locales completing predictable, dull little chores. I personally don't mind extended dialogue (in fact I found that the most interesting aspect of the game) and yes, the story was intriguing. But after such a long wait, Dreamfall fails so miserably as a GAME that it can only be considered a major disappointment.

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