Dreamfall - the Longest Journey
(C) 2006 by jools
I was going to write a review, but I got so involved about this game I have to say more, I want to thoroughly explain my views on Dreamfall. So, I'll have to dissect it over and over. I know this all is going to sound very criticizing, but it seems to me that Ragnar Tornquist is one of the few who actually 'cares' about fan opinions, so here's mine. Before you read on, I just want to make it clear: I like Dreamfall, and I've enjoyed playing through it as it didn't happen to me since Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (first installment, of course). Before that, classic adventure games died when 320x240 did.
Dreamfall: storyline per se, honestly, is state of the art. Perfectly paced, starts off slowly, then lures the player deeper and deeper in, until the player itself can't get enough, and plays on straight to the end (it happened to me). It's also very quite fitting for a 2nd installment (yes, I really like the word) of a 3-chapter saga (just like the Empire Strikes Back or the Two Towers).
And fortunately, Dreamfall is about its story. Dreamfall IS its story. Fortunately because, to be honest, gameplay is far from perfection. REALLY far. First, being a classic adventure (Lucasarts', Sierra', and so on) freak, I didn't really like any of those 'arcade' minigames or the likes of. And I mean sneaking around and sword-fighting. IMO, they're completely useless to the storyline itself, and utterly anticlimactic. Decrypting or lock picking puzzles are ok, but combat isn't. Secondly, both stealth and fighting are pretty cheap (the latter especially), not to mention, again, a bit 'gratuitous' (as in 'not really needed, but implemented for showoff') to the game.
'Plain' puzzles (eg find the proper action to perform, or the proper items to combine) are way too easy (a comatose baboon could 'solve' them), and the game therefore develops in a way a bit too straightforward (meaning that the player never gets stuck thinking what to do next, but is always hinted and 'driven' to the next step). This game is much closer to Fahrenheit (aka Indigo Prophecy) than it is to Monkey Island: I don't know if this is how it really is meant to be, but TLJ was closer to the latter than to the first (where Fahrenheit = interactive movie).
This 'no choice' feeling is also very clear from the way dialogues are handled. I REALLY appreciated the fact that every dialogue option has a tooltip explaining the character's thought (a very classy touch), but yet, dialogue choices seem not to actually have any effect/consequence on the storyline, or on the way the story is 'told', anyways. I know that the game has to follow a pre-existing, non-open 'script', but yet dialogues could have affected, say, some cutscene or puzzle (more than the actual couple of fights which can be avoided choosing the proper dialogue line).
Inventory. This is related to what I've said above about puzzles. I don't remember ever having more than 5/6 items in my inventory. Some 'flavour' items should be there to be picked up, just to make the virtual world more 'life-like'.
About multiple playable characters. Fahrenheit had the player carry on three characters' lives, all intertwined by and to the same common main plot: Dreamfall seems to pursue the same goal, but lacks some 'edge', or 'balance'. Personally, I've found the Kian/April playing parts of the game very -again- anticlimactic and mood-breaking, and a bit 'futile' also: such 'cameos' don't make any sense to me, and I have the feeling they just are some sort of '(mildly-)interactive cutscenes' (the brighter example of this is when we have Kian just has to slay a couple of thugs and walk through some doorway, for a 30-35 seconds grand total), which I would have gladly been spared of.
Lore. At many points it is clear that the game world has a strong background, history, and so on (a somehow rpg-ish feel), but in most cases little or nothing more is explained to the player, just what is required by the current sequence or dialogue line. Well, I for one -and this is the PoV of one who approaches the world of TLJ for his first time- would have appreciated some dwelling about the game world, maybe in form of a 'browseable' library, or some old wiseman telling stories, or whatever...
On to more techie stuff. Game controls are just AWFUL. AWFUL I tell'ya! Even after completing the game, I have not had the hang of them yet. Just fore reference, a couple of games with similar but much better implemented player/camera controls: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, Grand Theft Auto: Sand Andreas, Gothic II, World of Warcraft. Please game designers, do consider giving these games' controls a try before coming up with something new. Don't be ashamed to blatantly rip the control system off some other game: players will REALLY appreciate that much more than an original-but-awful system. Oh, and the camera seems to have very bad clipping routines, especially in tight ambients.
Characters models and animations: I don't know if this is an on-purpose feature or an overlooked issue, but aren't heads over-sized in Dreamfall (Zoe' especially)? Anyways, apart from heads and hands, modelling is just fine, even thoambient design really outstand in Dreamfall. Animations are a bit stiff (the running one especially), and could use some smoothing. Texture quality is great.
System requirements: my most sincere thanks for making the game run and look great even on junkpile comp like mine.
Audio: another point of excellence for dreamfall. Music is always fitting and never intrusive (nor redundant), voice acting is impressively good (at par with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, I'd say), ambient sounds and sound effects are great. Academy Award goes to Zoe (and, the hell, I really appreciate the British accent), runner up being Crow and Roper F. Clacks.
silvya1980 Blog
Some Common Species Inhabitating the 'pc forum' Biosphere.
by silvya1980 on Comments
Some Common Species Inhabitating the 'pc forum' Biosphere.
(C) 2005 by Jools
1 - 'wots ur fave RPG?', Favoritus Rolesludorum (aka 'wots da best rpg?'; 'wot rpg should i get?'; 'need rpg advice') - For some unknown astral conjunction, this topic species really seems the most widely spread and prolific one. At least two new are born each day (but there is no known limit to this ratio), and it really stands out for always featuring the same, identical answers from the same identical users, who have the patience to answer every single of these topics (evergreen answers: Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, Gothic, Fallout, Baldur's Gate 2, Guild Wars, Diablo, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy).
2 - 'best game evah?', Melior Melior Ludicensis - This one really features the most sub-species, coming in tons of flavours and specifications ('best FPS released in Greenland only?'; 'best RTS taking place in 1932 precisely?'; 'best steampunk-settings, anime-style adventure game of the 90's?'; 'best PS1 arcade snowboarding game with real-world snowboarders license but without dual-shock gamepad support?', and so on).
3 - 'is my comp nerd-ish enough?', Pecuniae Bragaroundi - this topic specie is hideous, and loves camouflage and disguise, to lure poor forum users into replying and thus getting humiliated (some well known disguises: 'look how much money my daddy gave me so I can buy the bloody ultimate $5000 comp to play "the Sims: Get a Life" while you struggle to save money enough for a new keyboard to play Counterstrike matches on clanbase'; 'will this game run on my $5000 computer which is three times better than the recommended sys specs?'; 'which old games can run on my low-end $5000 computer?'; 'will this $3000 graphics board bottleneck my $5000 comp's performance?'). Note that numeric values are usually voluntarily omitted but clearly hinted.
4 - 'look i already got -from a friend who knows a bloke who is neighbor to a guy who lives behind a warehouse- this game which should be released next week so nobody else has it, it rocks (and you all shall reply with envy in your eyes and pay me some attention because nobody usually gives a phuq about me)', Consideratio Meretrix - This is one of the most common baits used by attention-whores. The part within brackets () doesn't commonly appear but in the original poster's subconscious, and that's the ultimate reason behind such topics. These topics usually stand out for their search for theoretically-credible motivations to make the whole post real-like, but which the expert eye will quickly spot as hoaxes and set-ups.
5 - 'when is game XYZ released?', Utens Deoculatus - This is just the most famous one out of a series including tons of threads, asking for answers which are already there (checking gamespot's gamespaces, previews, hands-on's, sneak-peeks' would be quicker and much more reliable, but too clever to perform).
6 - 'x VS y', Forum Trollantis - Now, there is no forum without a good amount of these. These help many people keeping their post-per-day ratio high, or they just make some people feel strong when taking the easier of the two sides, without having a clue or a real motivation, except for mental slothfulness (a few, well-known subspecies widely spread on gamespot's boards: 'ati VS nvidia'; 'windows VS linux'; 'doom3 VS hl2'; 'good RPG's VS morrowind'; 'pc VS consoles').
7 - 'what game should I play?', Topicus Mutans - This actually is a shapeshifting species, and a tricky one. It can easily evolve into species #1, #2 or #6, or them all. No cases are known of it to revert to its original form.
8 - 'general offtopic', Topicus Migrantis - Here comes another tricky species. Most of its lifeforms just belong to some other habitat (forum), while some are born with the uncanny ability to be unrecognizable and not to belong to any known habitat. Besides, most of them just come from the 'pc hardware' and 'system wars' forums. A research task force is currently studying possible causes for this massive migration.
9 - 'help with game XYZ', Mentalis Parassitae - Topics belonging to this species love to disguise themselves as helpless, clueless, harmless subjects, while most of their true self is just stupid, idiotic and sorry (some, in-famous, subjects are: 'why doesn't this game run when the comp it is installed on is unplugged?'; 'how do i open the game box without removing/cutting the plastic packaging wrapped around the game box itself?'; 'how do I move my mouse cursor? directional arrows do not seem to work, and neither does WASD...'; 'doom3 scares me, what should i do besides getting a life?').
10 - 'steam sux0r', Valvae Furentes - Last but not least, a newborn amongst our beloved biosphere. Since evil Valve released its new game-installing software (steam, that is!), more and more people everyday join the army of steam-h8rs, which do not miss any chance to proclaim their statute in every possible forum, often becoming active members of specie #6, #8 or, sometimes, #9.
(C) 2005 by Jools
1 - 'wots ur fave RPG?', Favoritus Rolesludorum (aka 'wots da best rpg?'; 'wot rpg should i get?'; 'need rpg advice') - For some unknown astral conjunction, this topic species really seems the most widely spread and prolific one. At least two new are born each day (but there is no known limit to this ratio), and it really stands out for always featuring the same, identical answers from the same identical users, who have the patience to answer every single of these topics (evergreen answers: Morrowind, Neverwinter Nights, Gothic, Fallout, Baldur's Gate 2, Guild Wars, Diablo, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy).
2 - 'best game evah?', Melior Melior Ludicensis - This one really features the most sub-species, coming in tons of flavours and specifications ('best FPS released in Greenland only?'; 'best RTS taking place in 1932 precisely?'; 'best steampunk-settings, anime-style adventure game of the 90's?'; 'best PS1 arcade snowboarding game with real-world snowboarders license but without dual-shock gamepad support?', and so on).
3 - 'is my comp nerd-ish enough?', Pecuniae Bragaroundi - this topic specie is hideous, and loves camouflage and disguise, to lure poor forum users into replying and thus getting humiliated (some well known disguises: 'look how much money my daddy gave me so I can buy the bloody ultimate $5000 comp to play "the Sims: Get a Life" while you struggle to save money enough for a new keyboard to play Counterstrike matches on clanbase'; 'will this game run on my $5000 computer which is three times better than the recommended sys specs?'; 'which old games can run on my low-end $5000 computer?'; 'will this $3000 graphics board bottleneck my $5000 comp's performance?'). Note that numeric values are usually voluntarily omitted but clearly hinted.
4 - 'look i already got -from a friend who knows a bloke who is neighbor to a guy who lives behind a warehouse- this game which should be released next week so nobody else has it, it rocks (and you all shall reply with envy in your eyes and pay me some attention because nobody usually gives a phuq about me)', Consideratio Meretrix - This is one of the most common baits used by attention-whores. The part within brackets () doesn't commonly appear but in the original poster's subconscious, and that's the ultimate reason behind such topics. These topics usually stand out for their search for theoretically-credible motivations to make the whole post real-like, but which the expert eye will quickly spot as hoaxes and set-ups.
5 - 'when is game XYZ released?', Utens Deoculatus - This is just the most famous one out of a series including tons of threads, asking for answers which are already there (checking gamespot's gamespaces, previews, hands-on's, sneak-peeks' would be quicker and much more reliable, but too clever to perform).
6 - 'x VS y', Forum Trollantis - Now, there is no forum without a good amount of these. These help many people keeping their post-per-day ratio high, or they just make some people feel strong when taking the easier of the two sides, without having a clue or a real motivation, except for mental slothfulness (a few, well-known subspecies widely spread on gamespot's boards: 'ati VS nvidia'; 'windows VS linux'; 'doom3 VS hl2'; 'good RPG's VS morrowind'; 'pc VS consoles').
7 - 'what game should I play?', Topicus Mutans - This actually is a shapeshifting species, and a tricky one. It can easily evolve into species #1, #2 or #6, or them all. No cases are known of it to revert to its original form.
8 - 'general offtopic', Topicus Migrantis - Here comes another tricky species. Most of its lifeforms just belong to some other habitat (forum), while some are born with the uncanny ability to be unrecognizable and not to belong to any known habitat. Besides, most of them just come from the 'pc hardware' and 'system wars' forums. A research task force is currently studying possible causes for this massive migration.
9 - 'help with game XYZ', Mentalis Parassitae - Topics belonging to this species love to disguise themselves as helpless, clueless, harmless subjects, while most of their true self is just stupid, idiotic and sorry (some, in-famous, subjects are: 'why doesn't this game run when the comp it is installed on is unplugged?'; 'how do i open the game box without removing/cutting the plastic packaging wrapped around the game box itself?'; 'how do I move my mouse cursor? directional arrows do not seem to work, and neither does WASD...'; 'doom3 scares me, what should i do besides getting a life?').
10 - 'steam sux0r', Valvae Furentes - Last but not least, a newborn amongst our beloved biosphere. Since evil Valve released its new game-installing software (steam, that is!), more and more people everyday join the army of steam-h8rs, which do not miss any chance to proclaim their statute in every possible forum, often becoming active members of specie #6, #8 or, sometimes, #9.
= D o o M = (An Historical Overview)
by silvya1980 on Comments
A Brief DooM and Quake Series Historyical Overview
(C) 2005 by Jools
DooM - December 10, 1993
Back to where it all begun... DooM came along with graphics and gameplay unseen before (with the small exception of Wolfenstein 3D and its sequel, Spear of Destiny, though I deem those as some 'trifle' iD guys love to make). What was so good about it? As a DooM fetish, my most obvious answer would be 'everything', but I'm trying to be honest here, so the real answer is 'every bloody thing'. Fast paced gameplay, tons of enemies, gore, blood, dark rooms, scary and creepy sound effects, great soundtrack, uber-cool weapons, divinely designed maps (and loads of them), cool demons to blast away (politically correct and evergreen), a simple plot, multiplayer gaming, good old level bosses, a chainsaw. Could a gamer ask for more? Honest, no. By the way: DooM was initially released on a FTP belonging to the university of Wisconsin, which crashed twice during the first few hours of release. The original shareware version featured the whole first episode of the game, for a total of 9 levels, equal to the exact 33% of the whole game. Now, see why THAT one is the golden age, and THIS is not? DooM' toponymy alone is enough to scare the player even before the game begins: Phobos Anomaly, Halls of the Damned, Unholy Cathedral, Gate to Limbo and so on. As a teenager, I didn't dare to play doom at night, I kept thinking about the game at school, planning how to kill some boss (like Barons of Hell, to name one) or the way to go through some map. The total experience.
DooM II - 1994
To this all, one exact year later, DooM II added a double-barrel shotgun, more levels, even nastier demons, loads of unique bosses, and the usual load of fear to scare the hell outta you.
Quake - 1996
The second milestone in FPS games, Quake delivered the first real 3D game engine ever, started a new game series, a couple of nice weapons (4 barrel nail gun), nightmare areas and demons, and lot of fear. The 3D engine helped to make the gaming experience even more real, and the overall mood of the game is really dark: castles, crypts, pits, fiends, pentacles, blood, torches, lairs. Possibly, the most demonic setting in the whole series, just everything in Quake just smells 'evil'. There was disappointment in the air, because all the DooM fans were expecting the next chapter in the DooM series... could have they guessed how much time would pass before they could fetch that? Anyways, they well liked Quake and begun playing serious online fragging. FPS slang is born: frag, TK, camper, w00t... an era begins. Did I mention that the game's soundtrack is composed by Nine Inch Nails? Well, it IS. Now, stop drooling.
Quake II - 1997
Now what? A brand-new, visually-astonishing graphic engine. New setting, although it is supposed to be the sequel to Quake. New weapons, new enemies (the infamous Stroggos), even more online gaming support, usual, great level-design, some kind of plot, breakable glass, support for the newly wide-spread 3D accelerated video boards (3DFX, Voodoo), new texturing system (to make a long speech short: you shoot enemy, blood stains and wound appear on enemy), some physics, dynamic lightning, ultra cool animations (especially when enemies die), bio-tech-alien stuff, a railgun. Possibly, there is a change in the wind: the game is less dark and more tech, less evil and more alien, not so fast paced as DooM was... Sometimes ambushing enemies or hiding behind pillars is better that running through the room shooting like crazy. An AI seems to make some shy, quiet appearance here. The era of engine licensing is taking now off, and from Quake II' engine some great games are born: Half-Life (and CounterStrike), SiN, Soldier of Fortune, and many others.
Quake III Arena - 1999
Is this Quake at all? Quake III is FPS, pure as it can be. Some maps (called 'arenas'), a load of nasty bots with AI ranging from 'sitting duck' to 'i am the aimbotting wallhacking happy bot', new futuristic weapons, gore, blood and all the usual we could expect to find in a Quake game. All but... no plot. Not a real one anyways: Quake III is born and meant to be multiplayer, single player mode only allows to play against (dumb) bots, which quickly becomes boring. Maps are a mix from the previous games: futuristic ones, alien ones, gothic ones, hell ones... Again, new graphic engine, and the ultimate one: shaders, curve surfaces (well, kinda), reflections and tons of other eye-candy, to make the gaming experience extreme. Faithful to its design, Quake III gives its best on multiplayer: ladders, tournaments, lan parties, office contests... Quake III is just everywhere. Gameplay is fast as hell, side-circular strafing becomes a must, along with rocket jumping and railgun headshooting. The special edition metal box is divine (no, actually, DIVINE!).
DooM III - August 03, 2004
When I first had the game box in my hands, I thought I was going to start crying like a boy with his brand-new, long-longed for, parents-gifted PS2. It took me infinite time to open the box, read the manual, install the game: I sipped every single step, touched, relishing everything my eye caught. My hand trembled when I doubleclicked my DooM III desktop icon, my eyes staring the monitor. iD logo intro... gooseflesh, and a shiver down my spine. Mind flies back to the old days. I play around with some options, then start a new game. Seeing the UAC logo again was a pleasure I wasn't anymore hoping for. Game starts. I'm not going into a DooM 3 review here and now, so I'll just outline the game. Well, my first thought has been 'DooM is back, and we couldn't hope for any better way'. Almost everything from the original game is still there, and there have been a few changes. Gameplay isn't as fast, fear is brought to extreme levels (thanks to the ultimate-graphic-engine), demons are less in number but much more evil and deadly, taking damage is much less advisable, rushing is certain death. Usable computers are something uber-cool, the flashlight is our best friend, sporadic friendly encounters (or incoming radio comms) help overcome the fear, and everything smells, looks and sounds utter evil.
IMO, and to make a long story short, this game is now THE game, as DooM has been 10 years ago.
(C) 2005 by Jools
DooM - December 10, 1993
Back to where it all begun... DooM came along with graphics and gameplay unseen before (with the small exception of Wolfenstein 3D and its sequel, Spear of Destiny, though I deem those as some 'trifle' iD guys love to make). What was so good about it? As a DooM fetish, my most obvious answer would be 'everything', but I'm trying to be honest here, so the real answer is 'every bloody thing'. Fast paced gameplay, tons of enemies, gore, blood, dark rooms, scary and creepy sound effects, great soundtrack, uber-cool weapons, divinely designed maps (and loads of them), cool demons to blast away (politically correct and evergreen), a simple plot, multiplayer gaming, good old level bosses, a chainsaw. Could a gamer ask for more? Honest, no. By the way: DooM was initially released on a FTP belonging to the university of Wisconsin, which crashed twice during the first few hours of release. The original shareware version featured the whole first episode of the game, for a total of 9 levels, equal to the exact 33% of the whole game. Now, see why THAT one is the golden age, and THIS is not? DooM' toponymy alone is enough to scare the player even before the game begins: Phobos Anomaly, Halls of the Damned, Unholy Cathedral, Gate to Limbo and so on. As a teenager, I didn't dare to play doom at night, I kept thinking about the game at school, planning how to kill some boss (like Barons of Hell, to name one) or the way to go through some map. The total experience.
DooM II - 1994
To this all, one exact year later, DooM II added a double-barrel shotgun, more levels, even nastier demons, loads of unique bosses, and the usual load of fear to scare the hell outta you.
Quake - 1996
The second milestone in FPS games, Quake delivered the first real 3D game engine ever, started a new game series, a couple of nice weapons (4 barrel nail gun), nightmare areas and demons, and lot of fear. The 3D engine helped to make the gaming experience even more real, and the overall mood of the game is really dark: castles, crypts, pits, fiends, pentacles, blood, torches, lairs. Possibly, the most demonic setting in the whole series, just everything in Quake just smells 'evil'. There was disappointment in the air, because all the DooM fans were expecting the next chapter in the DooM series... could have they guessed how much time would pass before they could fetch that? Anyways, they well liked Quake and begun playing serious online fragging. FPS slang is born: frag, TK, camper, w00t... an era begins. Did I mention that the game's soundtrack is composed by Nine Inch Nails? Well, it IS. Now, stop drooling.
Quake II - 1997
Now what? A brand-new, visually-astonishing graphic engine. New setting, although it is supposed to be the sequel to Quake. New weapons, new enemies (the infamous Stroggos), even more online gaming support, usual, great level-design, some kind of plot, breakable glass, support for the newly wide-spread 3D accelerated video boards (3DFX, Voodoo), new texturing system (to make a long speech short: you shoot enemy, blood stains and wound appear on enemy), some physics, dynamic lightning, ultra cool animations (especially when enemies die), bio-tech-alien stuff, a railgun. Possibly, there is a change in the wind: the game is less dark and more tech, less evil and more alien, not so fast paced as DooM was... Sometimes ambushing enemies or hiding behind pillars is better that running through the room shooting like crazy. An AI seems to make some shy, quiet appearance here. The era of engine licensing is taking now off, and from Quake II' engine some great games are born: Half-Life (and CounterStrike), SiN, Soldier of Fortune, and many others.
Quake III Arena - 1999
Is this Quake at all? Quake III is FPS, pure as it can be. Some maps (called 'arenas'), a load of nasty bots with AI ranging from 'sitting duck' to 'i am the aimbotting wallhacking happy bot', new futuristic weapons, gore, blood and all the usual we could expect to find in a Quake game. All but... no plot. Not a real one anyways: Quake III is born and meant to be multiplayer, single player mode only allows to play against (dumb) bots, which quickly becomes boring. Maps are a mix from the previous games: futuristic ones, alien ones, gothic ones, hell ones... Again, new graphic engine, and the ultimate one: shaders, curve surfaces (well, kinda), reflections and tons of other eye-candy, to make the gaming experience extreme. Faithful to its design, Quake III gives its best on multiplayer: ladders, tournaments, lan parties, office contests... Quake III is just everywhere. Gameplay is fast as hell, side-circular strafing becomes a must, along with rocket jumping and railgun headshooting. The special edition metal box is divine (no, actually, DIVINE!).
DooM III - August 03, 2004
When I first had the game box in my hands, I thought I was going to start crying like a boy with his brand-new, long-longed for, parents-gifted PS2. It took me infinite time to open the box, read the manual, install the game: I sipped every single step, touched, relishing everything my eye caught. My hand trembled when I doubleclicked my DooM III desktop icon, my eyes staring the monitor. iD logo intro... gooseflesh, and a shiver down my spine. Mind flies back to the old days. I play around with some options, then start a new game. Seeing the UAC logo again was a pleasure I wasn't anymore hoping for. Game starts. I'm not going into a DooM 3 review here and now, so I'll just outline the game. Well, my first thought has been 'DooM is back, and we couldn't hope for any better way'. Almost everything from the original game is still there, and there have been a few changes. Gameplay isn't as fast, fear is brought to extreme levels (thanks to the ultimate-graphic-engine), demons are less in number but much more evil and deadly, taking damage is much less advisable, rushing is certain death. Usable computers are something uber-cool, the flashlight is our best friend, sporadic friendly encounters (or incoming radio comms) help overcome the fear, and everything smells, looks and sounds utter evil.
IMO, and to make a long story short, this game is now THE game, as DooM has been 10 years ago.
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