How did you people play Dreamfall?!
 

As always, my title is half facetious, but after recently re-playing TLJ (it's still not a "classic" or "work of art," but it is very compelling, and ambitious and yes, more than enough, to want to spend more time in Starky Arcadia) I loaded up Dreamfall.

These controls are dreadful! This Zoe Castillo character seems to have something wrong with her frontal lobe, because she can not pick up a ringing telephone, loves to repeatedly smash her head on the wall, and when she tries to look at something makes this weird Tron-like beam of light scan things in the room like she's a living bar code scanner.

The absolute worst control using my mouse/keyboard - is it better playing with a controller? I do want to play the game, but I can't continue like this, getting Zoe to even go down stairs is a chore, and I heard there's combat in this game. I'd fear for her in that situation.

What did you guys do to solve this situation? Ignore it? Learn it? Buy a controller? I can not think of worse controls (I've never played Grim Fandango) in any game I've played.

i dont remember the controls at all. i played the game when it first came out. but what i do remember is that i did not have a problem with it at all. do you generally not play like 3d action adventures or do you just find it worse than lets say tomb raider and such?

+1

The controls are fine. Maybe you just need a little time getting used to them.

A lot of people complain about adventure games being in 3D. I personally don't care how it's made. All I care about is a good adventure game.

I remember I had to reverse the vertical mouse axis, but other than that I played through the game without a problem.

I also remember that I had to tweak the control settings to make this game playable.

I took the time to learn the controls, and man it took almost fifteen minutes!

It's a fantastic game if you master the controls, which you should have no problem with if you're a little patient in the beginning.

My friend had another problem with Dreamfall and that was that she couldn't get into it because Zoë's voice was so boring ^^

Dreamfall has the best controls in the adventure game I've ever played.. I don't know what you are talking about..

For all of you who are saying they were no problem, I've noticed that many of you also play games other than adventures which makes a HUGE difference. If I had used the mouse & keyboard, I would have been cursing like a sailor. I don't play games that typically use keyboard controls and I suck at it. Quite frankly, I don't have the time or patience to try and master it.

While the controls may have been no problem for some of you, they were for other people.

For Dreamfall, I bought a controller, which worked tons better.

Many people complained about the camera. If you are used to consoles, it seems quite natural to fiddle with the camera while moving, and this is hard on the keyboard.

Me, I am used to keyboards since always, had no trouble with Dreamfall, and just needed to move the camera in some stealth sequences, but it is apparent others feel otherwise.

I even finished Psychonauts with a keyboard, despite some claims that this was almost impossible.

Yeah, I just fiddled with the sensitivity settings a bit, and it worked fine.

What DOES suck are some of the fights. Really bad programming on those.

I played with the keyboard and i hated the controls, they were clearly made for consoles and gamepads, terrible and frustrating. I mean why the hell cant we use the mouse to click on objects? That "beam of light" that is used to interact with the world was very retarded. I think a system like KOTOR (you can use the mouse freely to interact, and move with the keys) was a much better alternative. Anyway, after a few (long) minutes i got used to it and managed to enjoy the game. Perhaps its better with a gamepad, but i hate gamepads.

I couldn't deal with the keyboard/mouse controls -- couldn't get used to them despite that I have no trouble with keyboard controls in most other games I play. So I used a gamepad for most of the game. However there were some timed "puzzles" where the keyboard/mouse seemed necessary -- or at least it was faster to be able to click on a symbol than move the cursor to it with the gamepad joystick.

Dreamfall is the first, and so far the only PC game I used a gamepad for. Previously I only used one when playing console games.

I remember they were awkward at first, but I guess I got used to them. At least until I found myself in a combat situation. That made me wish I had spent more time practicing at that dojo place.

I don't remember how i fared with the controls to be honest. I've played both the PC and Xbox versions and i don't think i had any problems with either as far as i'm aware. On some occasions the keyboard/mouse did feel better though.

I still haven't played it. Started to, but lost interest, at least partially due to the clunky controls. (Plan to give it another try one day.) And yes, I played with my gamepad which makes games like Sands of Time and Psychonauts a joy to play.

Maybe I should try it with the keyboard.

The controls do indeed take getting used to, not only because they're clunky (more so that most action/adventure games on the PC), but also because, IMO, point and click is far more intuitive for a game like this, and most of us are more used to that method of gameplay.

I ended up using a gamepad (which I generally prefer to use for all games except adventure games, because I HATE WASD controls), and my experience was much better. It still took some getting used to, and I had to adjust the controls to my liking, but that describes almost any gamepad game for me.

Once you get used to the controls, you'll probably become frustrated that there isn't more gameplay (outside of running back and forth fetching items, and simplistic fighting and stealth elements). Just go with it. This is much more of an "interactive movie" than TLJ was, and the story is well worth plodding through the sub-par gameplay.

I never play other genres than adventure games and I prefer point and click but have learned to master the keyboard fairly well. If I can do it I'm sure can too. ;)
j/k. Why not get a controller if you think it'll improve your experience.

When I played it (XboX version) the controls seemed just fine. I haven't tried the PC version though.

Well my sister came up to me one day and urged me to play this game - promptly handing me the Limited Edition version.

Tried to install it but found it wasn't compatible with Vista and so never bothered. If even half the amount of effort was put into the game that was put into the game's security, I may take a look at it in a the year 2034 :D

Am I missing out on a gem?

Yes.



Well, of course it depends on your taste but the majority of adventure game players list it as one of the best/favorites. You should at least try to play it.

It really was a wonderful game and the controls never bothered me. I did have to download drivers for my videocard because everything was green at first. I'd love to play it again but since then I've bought a new computer that is 64-bit Vista and I understand the game won't play with that.

the game is definately worth it.

Really? I played it on Vista. (Not very far, so maybe there are problems further along the road, but I don't think I had to do anything special.)

Dreamfall is most definitely one of the best modern adventures, it's a gem visually and the story is up there with genre greats :P

I had the same problem. There was no help to be found on the creators (fun-com), publishers (easy computing) nor the license holder (micro application). To make matters worse the localized website - dreamfall.nl - was taken off-line. Although, dreamfall.com was no help either! Finally I found an update for the protection software, the culprit of the problems. You can find it on star-force.com

The controls are indeed a pain. Especially if you are accustomed to playing other 3D games. What worked for me was to set the camera behavior for both pad and mouse to fixed behind and to invert the camera horizontal axis. Next to that I adjusted the sensitivity of the mouse. And lastely not playing other games with "wasd" controls to get used to Dreamfall's awkwardness.
Nevertheless I stopped playing the previous time (on Windows XP) after getting frustrated in a timed sequence with a monster in some caves..

Yes, the controls were hard to use, but the game was so amazing, it was worth it. And I agree, that stupid troll in the caves was so hard, I used a walkthrough to make sure I didn't accidently run into him. :P

I don't remember the controls myself. I doubt I even thought about it because I am so used to playing with a keyboard and mouse I just installed it and away I went. :D

I can see how it would have been frustrating for some people though. Especially if they are not used to these style of games.

That made me laugh :)

Anyhow, playing it through the second time everything was a lot easier when it came to control. Though I don't remember having a problem, only when it came to kicking people's butts. (which I improved the second time around!)


:O I LOVED Zoës voice! The voiceactress pronounced everything with feeling and sometimes perhaps with boredom or whatever, but it fit Zoës personality I thought. Her voice and Wonkers were my absolute favorites in the game.
Oh well, each to his own :)

Heh, the troll was one of my favorite parts of the game. Granted, I'm a veteran of games like Beyond Good & Evil and Prince of Persia T2T, which use (simplistic) stealth as a large part of the gameplay, so I'm more used to it than the average adventure gamer. But I had little or no trouble with the troll, and I thought it served to add a much-needed sense of urgency and excitement to a game with very little gameplay otherwise.

Spoiler:

All you had to do was keep glancing down the main corridor, and if you got a glimpse of the "small" troll, you just had to hide behind a pillar until he went by. And if he did see you and called the "big" troll, you had plenty of time to run to a hiding place and hide until he left. There were at least five or six places where you could successfully hide from the "big" troll.

Wonkers was great because he was so creepy. :) He would say all this serious, foreboding stuff, in a serious voice, and the whole time, the Watilla had a great big smile on his face.

But I sense that I'm getting off topic. So I'll throw this in there: If you do a lot of PC gaming, whether you generally prefer keyboard/mouse or not, a $20-$30 USB game controller is a good investment. Nobody enjoys using the keyboard for every game. Mine is a $20 Logitech controller, which mimics a PS2 controller, minus the rumble feature (which you can get on the $30 version). Plus, the buttons and axes are 100% programmable, so it can even be used for games that don't natively support game controllers. I programmed my game pad to work with Beyond Good and Evil, as well as Mass Effect, and it works perfectly, despite the fact that the games don't actually support it.

Yeah, I was playing it while talking on the phone to one of my friends, and all she heard was this low-pitched, man's voice saying, "Do you want to play?". She thought it was a child molestor or something. :P

Actually, I hated how Grim Fandango used keyboard controls, but it never really bothered me in Dreamfall. Wonder why that was. I don't remember having much trouble getting used to it, though.

try checking out the options menu and changing mouse sensetivity, camera following options and inverted/not inverted camera movement. try changing it around until you think it sucks a bit less. then you just have to get used to it.
I hated it at first to. But you get used to it after a while.

It's like getting addicted to cigarettes. Except you don't get addicted. You just have to do it.

I played it on Vista after I found it for $5, and no, it's only strength lies in the graphics and setting. There's little gameplay and what it does have is stupid, and the story gets convoluted and doesn't properly resolve. If you're interested and can find it cheap, try it, but a gem it most certainly is not.

As far as controls: use W/S to move forward and back and the mouse to turn (may have to mess with settings). Nothing in the game is too difficult so you should be able to handle it from there.

This is my experience too, FWIW.

That's a line of thought. Other (mine) is: it is a gem, the story does resolve (its story, not TLJ's general one).

Anyway, you should play this somewhat controversial game, and judge for yourself.

I didn't really mind the controls, I generally prefer the whole "point and click" premise of an adventure game, but most of the time I can deal with the whole walking forward thing..
However I never finished Dreamfall because I hated the action element to it, sneaking around and all that. I got to the part where you have to

Spoiler:

sneak into this monster base but waiting til the right time and being stealthy

and that just did it for me.. So I gave up. I'm really a traditionalist.. and I also dont like games where if you put one foot wrong you die. XD

I used the wasd moving and mouse on camera. Inverting the mouse and pulling down the sensitivity made it playable for me. I do prefer point&click on adventures and I disliked some of the action sequences but I don't think I had to use a walkthru at all, the game is rather easy.

For the story.. it is good. It gets solved and it doesn't. There's really several stories and only one of them truly gets solved. Another might end but there are plotlines that are definitely left open. I would still play it and then hope for patience to wait for the Chapters.

I would give 5/5 for TLJ and 4,5/5 for Dreamfall and that half star is lost only because of the clumsy and excessive action sequences. So I am really looking forward to the sequel(s).

I was not bothered by the controls, and I think they were better than some keyboard controlled adventures I've played. But then again, I'm not usually bothered by keyboard controls.

The stealth and combat in this game is what bothered me the most, and the lack of an ending, but I still think it's a beautiful cinematic game well worth playing. Both Dreamfall and TLJ are up there with my favorite games of all time.

I have played third person adventure games, and a fair amount of RPGs, and I have to say that unequivocally using a keyboard/mouse with Dreamfall is the worst control scheme I have ever seen.

So far, Zoe has been unable to recognize that her friend is right in front of her, been unable to pick up her cellphone, and then, inexplicably, in a fight, she was not able to throw punches/kick. All she could do was block.

But...the worst, is the FIELD SCAN. Talk about an immersion-kill. Imagine spending your life, and you want to access the fridge, you must stand up straight and slowly scan left to right until FRIDGE AQUIRED.

The game is pretty - and one of the small touches I enjoy about both TLJ and Dreamfall is the effort put into making you feel like these people have real lives. I can only play about 10 minutes at a time, though - it just isn't fun because of the controls, it does play like an interactive movie, but on a DVD that keeps skipping, and you need to pull out and wipe every four minutes.

Well is it any worse than Broken Sword 3: Sleeping Dragon (sorry don't know it's name in the US)?
I am now so intrigued I am just going to grab that copy and install it - or at least try to install it past that star-force 'thingymebob' yay ^^