For those who've played The Longest Journey...

[Orlake]

........So after finishing Portal 2 (which I must say is a goddam masterpiece), I find myself longing for a similar "epic" experience. I vaguely remember seeing "Dreamfall" in my local EB games sometime way back when, and decided to search it up; turns out it's said to be one of the best games in terms of narrative and character development. It's a damn shame that when it came out in '99 I was a wee bit young to care about video games as seriously as I do now....

I'm a sucker for character development and interactions with and between characters. Bioware's sated my appetite for the time being, having just recently finished the dragon age series, and the mass effects before that.

Anyways to my point: 2 questions for those who have played Dreamfall, and its predecessor.

1) Because I count Mass Effect & Dragon Age to be the top on my list for adventure titles (...Valve's just as good though ), from your experience, should I be prepared for something EVEN BETTER if I dive into the Longest Journey series?

2) While I understand that many often call The Longest Journey a masterpiece of its time (and I certainly wouldn't doubt them), would the gameplay mechanics be considered too archaic by today's standards that whatever immersion it created back in '99 would be lost on a more modern audience?

Anyways, all feedback is welcome. Thanks!

 

[Wuffykins]

Question: Are you talking about The Longest Journey or Dreamfall: The Longest Journey?

Dreamfall is the sequel if I'm not mistaken, but sadly I haven't had the chance to try it out myself. TLJ is one I've tried but not finished, and is firmly in the Point & Click style of adventure games (Haven't finished due to a previous hard drive snafu, not out of disinterest.) I think there should be demos of both floating about the tubes somewhere.

 

[The Madman]

The Longest Journey, first one not Dreamfall (Although I'm quite fond of that game as well!) happens to be one of my absolute favourite games. That said it's really not a thing like the Portal games in any way whatsoever, nor is it remotely similar to Biowares work. TLJ is an adventure game in the classical point & click sense. There's no platforming, no decision making. Essentially you solve a series of puzzles in order to advance the story. Nothing more, nothing less.

And despite having just said how much I love TLJ, and I truly and genuinely do, even with such a simplistic concept for a game design the gameplay still manages to be utter shit. By PC adventure game standards (Sam & Max, Broken Sword, Monkey Island, Gabriel Knight, etc) it's not very good. The puzzles are either too easy or the worst sort of convoluted nonsense that don't make a lick of logical sense, not to mention there are all too many of those irritating pixel hunting puzzles more reliant on your ability to notice things that stand apart from the low-res backgrounds than anything else. Not the prettiest game either I should mention, time has not been kind to the game.

Still, if it's a story you're after you can't do any better. I've played a lot of story-oriented games. It's one of my favourite things to do in video-games. And while I've played games with plots more complex and arguably 'better' such as Planescape: Torment, The Longest Journey remains my favourite in terms of storytelling. The characters are some of the best in gaming, their development is well realized and believable, their stories touching, dialogue brilliantly fluid and well written.... it's just a beautiful little story that I really enjoyed. One of the only ones in gaming, if not the only one which managed to leave a lasting impression as well like a good book or brilliant movie might.

So if you're looking for a great *game* you'll probably be disappointed by TLJ and, for that matter, it's sequel Dreamfall as well. Gameplay isn't archaic, it's just plain bad in some places. Never was particularly good. But if it's a story you're looking for, well, I'd highly recommend it. Go into the game with the same mindset you might have for a solid novel or a particularly long movie marathon and you'll be happy.

Beautiful soundtrack as well it's worth mentioning.


Games easily available from GOG as well, which is always nice.

 

[Trixsy]

I LOVE the first game and I only played it for the first time a year or two ago. I didn't feel as if the controls or gameplay were terribly dated at all really. It's, at heart, a point and click adventure game with puzzle elements.

I haven't tried the second game yet, but I've heard it's not as good. I don't care though, I'm still going to play it!

 

[Orlake]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, and my bad for the confusion with TLJ and Dreamfall: TLJ...........which leads me to just one more question:

1) Dreamfall definitely looks good, no questions about that, and would be something I'd like to play. However, as regards to the comments on the mechanics of the first game, would I be kicking myself in the balls (since I'm going for the "story" aspect) if I skipped the first and went straight to the second? .......or is it possible to skip the first, with the second being just as rewarding as if i played its prequel?

 

[The Madman]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, and my bad for the confusion with TLJ and Dreamfall: TLJ...........which leads me to just one more question:

1) Dreamfall definitely looks good, no questions about that, and would be something I'd like to play. However, as regards to the comments on the mechanics of the first game, would I be kicking myself in the balls (since I'm going for the "story" aspect) if I skipped the first and went straight to the second? .......or is it possible to skip the first, with the second being just as rewarding as if i played its prequel?

Yes, yes you would be kicking yourself. Dreamfall *can* be played as a standalone experience, but you'd only be depriving yourself of an even better experience by skipping the first game. Gameplay isn't exactly great in the second game either, both are particularly 'fun' to play in the sense of most games, so skipping one over the other because of gameplay complaints is a bit silly. Neither are particularly good in that regard, plus (and this is a personal preference) the story in the first is superior to that of the second.

In all honesty just keep a guide open for TLJ in the background if you're worried about the gameplay. This one is pretty good. You lose nothing by doing so, gameplay isn't the driving factor of the series. Story is. And while Dreamfall is 'good' as a standalone game, it's better as a sequel if you've played the first game.

 

[Worgen]

the longest journey has one of the best stories Ive ever seen in a game and is a fantastic experiance, the 2nd one.... well its pretty good but I didnt find it as engrossing as the first, not to mention the original copies of it had rather annoying drm on them so I didnt like having it on my system at all

 

[Orlake]

Well that settles it, gonna go through both games.

Thanks guys

 

[DarthCaine]

The Longest Journey is a point and click adventure game. Nothing like Portal, Mass Effect or Dragon Age.

I play a lot of adventure games, and still love games like Monkey Island, Broken Sword, Discworld, Sam & Max, Syberia etc. I thought The Longest Journey was boring as hell