[Collector]

All of this a little pointless. Regardless of any perceived flaws (something that is highly subjective), as stated, it is something every adventure gamer should play at least once. There is almost no excuse to not play it when you can get it for just $9.99 on Funcom or GOG. A pretty insignificant sum for a game like this.

[ozzie]

Regardless of any perceived greatness, there are at least 50 adventures I would recommend as must plays before TLJ.
Okay, I exaggerated, a bit at least.
But really, TLJ is for me just another good, not even close to perfect, adventure. What makes it special for me is its truly epic nature.

[booB]

It is definitely a "must-play" for anyone who enjoys witty dialogue, well-developed characters, and an epic story, and isn't overly picky about puzzles. It is a "should-play" for anyone who is a fan of the adventure genre.

[After a brisk nap]

Is zabrak even reading this thread any more?

I gave my opinions on TLJ long ago.

Clearly ozzie and GarageGothic didn't care for it, but I think their complaints don't really give a fair shake to the game's strengths and weaknesses. For example, to GG's point I would argue that it is actually really well written for the most part, although it does go on for a bit in many places. And to ozzie's complaint about the puzzles, I think they are plentiful (there's a balance of inventory puzzles to conversation throughout) and fairly tough, even if many of them are more "adventure game wacky" than you might expect from the relatively serious setting. The infamous "rubber duck" puzzle has been unfairly maligned. It actually does make sense, even if it is hard to make the mental leap to figure it out.

The game is flawed, and the pacing won't be to everyone's taste, but it is a high-quality traditional adventure game with an epic story and memorable and colorful characters, and is deservedly loved by many.

[ozzie]

Dude, I did care for the game! Otherwise, how could I write something like this:

Originally Posted by By Me

Sure, you will be annoyed, frustrated and bored sometimes, but when finally the end credits roll, you'll probably be moved, contemplative, and go away with a mostly positive impression of the game.

Well, my impressions of the game are fairly recent, since I replayed it in English half a year ago. I remember clicking my way through a lot of dialogue that dragged on and on. April pretty much says how she feels all the time, to the player, to other people. You don't get her emotional state just from her intonations, or through mimic and gesticulation, no, she always needs to tell you, and others. Everything is told through words only. Less would've been much more.

To be honest, I can't give good examples what exactly annoyed me, but I remember a long dialogue between Cortez and April. I think it happened when she came back from Arcadia and realized what her role was supposed to be. She argued with Cortez how she couldn't do it, but then Cortez says she has to, yadda yadda...the problem I had with this dialogue was that it didn't seem believable. April was written as a common girl from the real world, so I guess the writer thought he had to mention as often as possible her problems to adapt to the new situation. But I guess it's a bit like the transformation of Anakin to Darth Vader: it has to happen, so it's written that way, but how it happens doesn't seem believable. And it's totally overdone in TLJ. I guess Ragnar Tornquist thought it would seem more believable the more often her self doubts are mentioned...
It's especially weird since her constant monologues about how she doesn't fit into the role as the guardian seem to suddenly stop at a certain point into the game, yet it didn't seem clear why.

Anyway, I could mention many positive aspects of TLJ, but why should I? Everyone else already did so! Instead I want to create some balance in the perception of TLJ.

Oh, one more thing: this review argues its points a lot better than I could do. I don't totally agree with it, but I do mostly about the dialogues, the writing and the puzzles.

[Bon]

I think the problem is such radical changes don't occur so fast in real life... It's a process which lasts for a couple of weeks/months at least. But the game only lasts for twenty hours or so, so ingame it's not really believable. Films and video games are just not that good for delivering character transformation.