[Dylan_Dog]

The Longest Journey and Dreamfall are the greatest adventure games ever created.

I've been playing adventure games for the past 15 years of my life, and although that alone doesn't qualify me as an expert (although I have played through 85 titles), I will stick by the above statement, and defend it with all my might!

The games are a result of incredible imagination; imagination that doesn't blow out of proportion; imagination that is well contained yet it basks in creativeness and artistic freedom.

Both games are polished with superb characterization that is further backed by incredibly smooth voice acting. The graphics are unique and enlightening, the music score is interweaved with the game just like time is with space, and the technical capabilities that bring the game to life are as good as any other big commercial game out there.

If I have any criticism, it is the interface in Dreamfall; however the greatness of the games lie in the fact that any shortcomings are covered by immersion.

In short, the games bring about a unique story, story that has never been touched in past adventure games; both games immerse real-world themes into their endless universe; and both game take a grip until the very end, when they finally let you go and smile gently.

I look forward to the continuation of the series, and will gladly spend my money.

[The Seed]

They're quite good, I suppose.

[BenjaminBunny]

The Longest Journey is definitley a classic, but I'm not too sure about Dreamfall.

The character development, writing quality, immersion factor, quality (and quantity) of puzzles (in Dreamfall) really made me question it's success as a game.

I really don't believe in blind or zealous idolatry of a game or series. If a game is really worth the experience, it should be able to stand up on it's own, not be propped up by people desparate to ward off criticism at all costs.

[Ascovel]

TLJ was filled with fantasy genre cliches, had zero original ideas, and was poorly written. And what's with those character relationships pulled straight out of a soap opera? The visuals were also anything but polished - a certain character's model with unitentionally short arms comes into mind. The game was avarage at best.

[smulan]

I somewhat agree with you Dylan Dog, although there are som contenders - but don't expect too much sympathy from this forum, TLJ and D seems to upset a lot of the AG users for some curious reason.

[Dylan_Dog]

I've played quite a few adventure series, most well known probably being Broken Sword, Monkey Island, Gabriel Knight and Discworld.

But perhaps I've simply been touched by this game, in a manner different to what other gamers have experienced. With the previously mentioned games they've all been based on tried concepts - ancient cults and historic conspiracies, pirates and lost treasure, wizards and magic.

Although TLJ incorporates a dash of everything in its story, the concept of two parallel worlds, a balance, and a shifter, coupled with all sorts of real-life themes such as power struggle, religion, Dreaming, sovereignty, emancipation - these things have not been properly explored in other games, and the concept behind the story was new. What's more, Dreamfall leaves it beautifully poised for a potential myriad of games that can continue and explore the story.

Yes there were technical glitches, but no game is 100% technically polished. I have played many big expensive commercial titles where characters' heads have gone through a wall or vanished altogether, or where characters got stuck in crazy walk cycles. And yes, TLJ has lot of cliches, but these are used more like memory aids, in that they help players associate with something that they already know.

But if you dislike the game, then fine, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

[Ascovel]

Thanks for your response.

I compare storyline ideas used in games not only to other games, but to books and movies as well. I found nothing in TLJ that I didn't come upon before, and done better as well. I agree that the use of cliches is not always a problem, but I felt even the presentations of central themes which you mentioned were just copies of copies of popular fictional concepts.

Obviously we had very different experiences with the game. I didn't find it horrible, but it was quite dull and I didn't like any of the characters.

I don't think the "glitch" I mentioned was technical. It was an obvious visual design error that required correction, but didn't get any.

[TiAgUh]

Originally Posted by Ascovel

TLJ was filled with fantasy genre cliches, had zero original ideas, and was poorly written. And what's with those character relationships pulled straight out of a soap opera? The visuals were also anything but polished - a certain character's model with unitentionally short arms comes into mind. The game was avarage at best.

I agree with Ascovel (especially the bold stuff), TLJ was full of predictable/dull moments.
But the game had its moments I guess .

Originally Posted by smulan

(...)don't expect too much sympathy from this forum, TLJ and D seems to upset a lot of the AG users for some curious reason.

Upset?

[courderoy guy]

I know I'm in the minority here, but for me Dreamfall was the greatest adventure game experience I've had in years. In my personal top five adventure game list!

[tsa]

Same here. I'm now playing The Longest Journey again, and I plan to play Dreamfall right after that. By the way, there is a nice thread about the ending of Dreamfall here. Warning: Spoilers galore!!!

[Rhodan]

TLJ and Dreamfall are probably something I would describe as crappy substance with good practical execution. It really gives you feel of exciting story you´re becoming part of but if you start thinking about originality or deep thought it starts to shake a lot and Tornquist seems to be kinda blinded by success of TLJ that he stopped care about any possible devolepment.

[QDream]

I haven't played TLJ but Dreamfall was absolutely astonishing..

[Sik]

There is so much about TLJ/Dreamfall that is hit or miss for a lot of players, I feel.

They are story-driven games to a much greater extent than most other titles. If you don't like the story, you won't enjoy the game.

The pacing is slow. It was just right for me, but I can see why others would get bored.

Puzzles are simple. If you are looking for a challenge, look elsewhere. Especially true for Dreamfall. I like difficult games, but I also liked the puzzle design in TLJ/Dreamfall. The only reason for the puzzles is to make you feel you are taking part in the story rather then just watching it unfold.

The games are both very linear and confined. I feel strict linearity is a good tradeoff when telling a story. It eliminates continuity problems that often happen when players take unexpected paths through the game. These restrictions made me feel like I was exploring a huge world without ever feeling overwhelmed. Others will just feel restricted and frustrated by everything they can see, but not get to because of artificial restrictions.

In my opinion, the presentation of both games was close to perfect. Graphics, music, voice acting... I can't imagine anyone having issues with these unless they don't like the setting.

So, anyway, I see a lot of reasons why some people might dislike the games. If just one of story, pacing or puzzle design fails to fit a player's preferences, the rest of what it has to offer won't matter much. That's true for most games, of course... just more so for TLJ and Dreamfall. Fortunately for me everything in the games "clicked" for me, and I can't recall any other games that have left me feeling more satisfied with the experience at the end.

I can certainly see why someone would claim that "The Longest Journey" series is the greatest of all time... except that it might be a bit of a stretch to call two games a series. It fits with my personal experience, and has nothing to do with being blind to the golden years of the genre. However, I have no problem seeing why more people would dislike TLJ than, say, Day of the Tentacle, so if trying to make an objective "This is the greatest adventure game of all time" statement, TLJ and Dreamfall would both fall short of the top spots.

[Kazmajik]

Two games is almost a series. When we see Dreamfall: Chapters, then we'll have a proper series, maybe. I really wish that Dreamfall had been more like TLJ. The console-inspired action really turned me off, and left me ambivalent about any future games.

[Collector]

Originally Posted by Kazmajik

I really wish that Dreamfall had been more like TLJ. The console-inspired action really turned me off, and left me ambivalent about any future games.

Amen. While I don't think that TLJ was the greatest, I did thoroughly enjoy it. As such I had greatly looked forward to Dreamfall, but the over reliance of action/sneak sequences left me cold. They were so much of a distraction that I was unable bring myself to finish the game.

[youfightlikeadairyfarmer]

Monkey Island is the best adventure game series ever. I definitely concur that The Longest Journey was really amazing, though. I haven't tried Dreamfall and I might not ever, too many descriptions of the game play have turned me off to it.

[kitkatrpn]

I haven't played TLJ but I did like Dreamfall right up until the

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. Unfortunately I lost interest after that cause I'm too lame to get passed them

[mgeorge]

Originally Posted by kitkatrpn

I haven't played TLJ but I did like Dreamfall right up until the

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. Unfortunately I lost interest after that cause I'm too lame to get passed them

I wouldn't blame yourself too much on that part. The stealth in the game was absolutely horrible as well as the combat. That wasn't the fault of the gamer but the developers. For a game that had so much polish, I'm surprised these aspects of the game were so poorly done.

From what I'd heard about the game, I played it mainly for the story, and while I enjoyed it, it wasn't as good as I had hoped.

[broken sword lover]

Started playing. unbearable graphics for the longest journey

and dreamfall i just think is rubbish

[Periglo]

Originally Posted by kitkatrpn

Unfortunately I lost interest after that cause I'm too lame to get passed them

That part was the worst, but it was not unbearable. I just saved often, and reloaded as soon as I was spotted. Ah, I think I used a walkthrough too, with no regrets.

About this "series": I think TLJ had some great elements in it, despite its many flaws. These flaws are, btw, shared by many AGs, that's why I think TLJ is more popular among hard-core AGamers.

Dreamfall has a much better story, and is a better game overall, great imho. But it departed from standard AGs, in some ways that were sometimes not well implemented (e.g. fights). That made it more unpopular among AGamers, but probably a newcomer would like it better than TLJ.

In short: I think TLJ is good, Dreamfall is great --- beacuse of the story. BTW, I have a rule of thumb to decide whether a game has good writing or not. Take a part of it that reduces to "pure" story. The stories April reads or is told in Arcadia: rubbish! Dreamfall's Faith log entries: ok! (A good example: Torment's side stories: amazing!)