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.
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