[DaveyB]

Originally Posted by drunk

The most obvious point for me is that this game is full of "duality" from the beginning to the end:

Some very good points here. Ragnar is always keen on having his themes in games (Dreamfall regarding "faith" comes to mind) and you've spotted a number here. On replaying, Fiona dialogue re science also jumped out at me, but I didn't spot all the others. It's the sort of thing you notice on re-play - I doubt it would jump out if you're playing it for the first time and/or haven't played Dreamfall.

Originally Posted by drunk

When April and Cortez talk about art in the gallery, they are talking about truth and illusion.
(Btw. I really enjoyed this discussion about art – great!)

In general, I like the way Cortez comes over in TLJ - a lot more interesting and varied than a lot of "wise men" used by fantasy-style books/adventure writers to introduce the hero to their quest (which fundamentally is Cortez's role - don't think I need to spoiler that, do I??)

Originally Posted by drunk

I tend to assume that nothing in this game was created just by accident, so: why on earth does April sleep in her shoes???

On this occasion, I'd assume that the "cock-up/oversight" explanation is probably the right one. Or that graphic design of feet was too difficult, so they decided to leave her in shoes all the time!

[Fien]

I wondered about the meaning of the Chapter One title: There's a lion in the street. Should that be taken more or less literally, in the light of the strange things happening at the end of the chapter? It could also refer to the lazy man in the Bible (Proverbs) who claims there's a lion in the street, so he doesn't have to do anything. It's true that April had been putting off working on her painting, but she went back to it in chapter one. And although she tries to fend off Cortez, that doesn't qualify her as lazy or unwilling to take action.

Unimportant detail, I know. I like unimportant details. It also bugs me that she says stuff like "can you say Death Star?" and I have no idea what she means. Star Trek or some other SF movie I haven't seen...?

[Kurufinwe]

Originally Posted by Fien

I wondered about the meaning of the Chapter One title: There's a lion in the street. Should that be taken more or less literally, in the light of the strange things happening at the end of the chapter? It could also refer to the lazy man in the Bible (Proverbs) who claims there's a lion in the street, so he doesn't have to do anything. It's true that April had been putting off working on her painting, but she went back to it in chapter one. And although she tries to fend off Cortez, that doesn't qualify her as lazy or unwilling to take action.

I was also wondering about that. And, actually, it's the title of the prologue (Chapter 1 is "Penumbra"), so it makes even less sense to me. I hope someone can explain the reference.

Unimportant detail, I know. I like unimportant details. It also bugs me that she says stuff like "can you say Death Star?" and I have no idea what she means. Star Trek or some other SF movie I haven't seen...?

That one's easy. (You seriously haven't seen Star Wars?! )

[DaveyB]

Originally Posted by Fien

I wondered about the meaning of the Chapter One title: There's a lion in the street.

As commented, it's actually from the prologue. Have to admit you're well over my knowledge with the biblical references, but this is what TLJWiki's got to say about it - clearly there's no known answer, so all theories welcome

Spoiler:

"It is uncertain as to what exactly the title refers to, although a good place to begin is with its source in Proverbs 26.13, which appears to refer to the slothful man who looks for fantastic excuses to avoid his duties. While there is no obvious correlation between this and the events of the Prologue, one could see it as indicating Adrian's stepping-down as Guardian before his replacement was ready (even though he was two centuries overdue). Lending credence to its origin as being Biblical is the title of Ragnar's Anarchy Online novel: Prophet Without Honor (Mark 6.4).

Alternatively, it could have something to do with the widening breach in the Divide, and Fiona's comment that she heard animal noises in the streets of Venice."

[Fien]

The Prologue, not Chapter One... right! Stupid of me. I agree that in that case it makes even less sense. I hadn't thought of Fiona's animal noises, good one, but still chapter one. Penumbra is an excellent title, both for the prologue and the first chapter, but imo Wiki is just rambling nonsense... (first-time players, don't read this!

Spoiler:

...about the guardian because we're not supposed to know about that until later, and there's nothing in the prologue about the guardian, we only see him in the first few screens of the credits before the prologue.

Kuru, no, I never watch SF movies, they put me to sleep. In general, I'm not too crazy about SF adventures either.

Davey, totally off-topic in this thread but I'm very curious: do you like Edna and Harvey? A brief yes or no will suffice. For now.

[Sughly]

Davey! Please don't put quotes and such in without spoiler tags that contain spoilers!!

[Collector]

Originally Posted by Fien

I wondered about the meaning of the Chapter One title: There's a lion in the street. Should that be taken more or less literally, in the light of the strange things happening at the end of the chapter? It could also refer to the lazy man in the Bible (Proverbs) who claims there's a lion in the street, so he doesn't have to do anything.

Another interpretation that I have heard of this is inaction due to fear of the unknown rather than laziness.

[DaveyB]

Originally Posted by Sughly

Davey! Please don't put quotes and such in without spoiler tags that contain spoilers!!

Sorry Sughly But which bits are you referring to? Ah, maybe I can guess...sorry, didn't occur to me that it was spoilerish, but guess it is a bit. Changed now.

Originally Posted by Fien

Davey, totally off-topic in this thread but I'm very curious: do you like Edna and Harvey? A brief yes or no will suffice. For now.

Just a tad off-topic & you might have noticed that I struggle to keep to one-word answers . Not very far into it yet, but I'd say "yes" - reminds me a bit in style (and also puzzles so far) of Curse of Monkey Island. Overall though, my favourites tend to be more serious in style, though still with humour - hence Gabriel Knight & Longest Journey fitting perfectly. There we are, back on-topic

[Christian IV]

Duality or the balance or non balance of opposites underlies the entire game and also is the result of any deep study of the fate of complex civilizations...they reach a point at which the technology that created complexity is too expensive to maintain, and the system pulls itself down. We are reaching that same point with the Internet and idiocies such as social networking of trivia (read blatant egotism with NO content), the loss of printed media (which is a self contained delivery system of meaningful data filtered for quality of content), and rampant delusional compensation for no quality or meaning in your own life (TV, Movies, Computer fixation)....one reaches the conclusion that Order and Chaos become more and more the struggle of any complex society and by its nature, Chaos will win, as it does not require any maintenance or budget.

re the Lion in the Streets, it refers so

Spoiler:

the Chaos coming, strange anomalies and visual/actual chaotic images and creatures appearing around Stark.....and in glitches in the international and interplanetary society that is crumbling due to the loss of integrity just described

Forbidden Planet and the Monsters from the Id says a lot about this. Ragnar is brilliant in his vision about this, and this game series tells an essential warning to us all. Will we listen? I highly doubt it and a new Dark Age is already upon us, we just don't know it yet, most of us.

[zane]

iv never been involved with a community playthrough before, so we just move onto chapter 2 now? (hopefully because thats what iv already done )

[alcoatjez]

Originally Posted by zane

iv never been involved with a community playthrough before, so we just move onto chapter 2 now? (hopefully because thats what iv already done )

Yep: http://www.adventuregamers.com/forum...8&postcount=59

[KasiaD]

Originally Posted by Christian IV

We are reaching that same point with the Internet and idiocies such as social networking of trivia (read blatant egotism with NO content), the loss of printed media (which is a self contained delivery system of meaningful data filtered for quality of content), and rampant delusional compensation for no quality or meaning in your own life (TV, Movies, Computer fixation)....

Just one detail interests me in this comment... Why do you mention social networking as the main symptom of collapse of the civilization? Frankly, it is just more complex instant messenger for me, and lately it has been tiring to hear a lot of people blaming FB and such for all the evil in the world...Social networking is for human contacts, it does not have to supply content of any kind...


BTW did you guys notice that April and Kate Walker from Syberia share the same voice actress

[Fien]

Originally Posted by KasiaD

Just one detail interests me in this comment... Why do you mention social networking as the main symptom of collapse of the civilization? Frankly, it is just more complex instant messenger for me, and lately it has been tiring to hear a lot of people blaming FB and such for all the evil in the world...Social networking is for human contacts, it does not have to supply content of any kind...

I find Christian IV's comment perplexing, but I guess the powers that be in Egypt and Tunesia agree with him.

[zane]

Originally Posted by Christian IV

We are reaching that same point with the Internet and idiocies such as social networking of trivia (read blatant egotism with NO content), the loss of printed media (which is a self contained delivery system of meaningful data filtered for quality of content), and rampant delusional compensation for no quality or meaning in your own life (TV, Movies, Computer fixation).....

the fascinating thing is, the sumerians thought the same things as you about civilization, except it was 5 thousand years ago. Its a part of human nature to anticipate "the end" and blame it on new things

Who should be the end-all to say what gets filtered and what doesnt in media? Thats the beauty of the internet, it puts the burden on you to be that filter. Which isnt really that different from pre-internet life.

[diego]

Well, i finished prologue and first chapter, and i have 2 main and very strong impressions:

1) I can't believe how many little details there are, and how i feel like i'm playing a fresh new and unknown game. I forgot really many of the things and it's a great thing, it's only possible with greatest games. Like, whenever i'm replaying Day of the Tentacle for instance, i feel like i'm playing it for the first time.

2) Graphics. I'm STUNNED how graphics are holding out after all the years. Save for the character models, i'm amazed at the quality and the fact that it does not look outdated at all. And the in-game movies are just magnificient. As said before, it's really not in plain resolution, textures, polygons... but about the art direction, imagination and many, many details.

Beside that, it still struck me how good and slowly the mystery is revolving from the start, and how futuristic ambient is still giving you no hints about the coming journey. I'm also happy about the ESC key for moving quickly around the Newport, and right-click for skipping the line of dialogue. Even somewhat tiresome amount of dialogue is ofter cited as the main flaw of the game, the conversations are really meaningful and efficient and often you can sense which topics are essential and optionally talk only about them.

[Fantasysci5]

I must be the only person in the world who likes the character models, like I'm the only one to like the character models and voices in "The Lost Crown". I dunno, graphics don't really bother me too much, and I'm more concerned about the backgrounds...and the backgrounds in "The Longest Journey" are so lovely. The only thing that slightly bothers me about the graphics is the lack of an expressive/emotional face. *shrug* I liked the face animations in "Dreamfall" better, although those were still weird (like the character was smiling all the time when opening their mouths).

But anyway. I also love all of the detailed conversations and all of the rich history.

[7h30n]

He he, I love the reference in this chapter: Welsh Ghost Story by R.T.

And I'm really dissapointed by the movie-classics knowledge from our dear protagonist, April ...

P.S. Zack is really pain in the neck

Edit: Forgot to say, we got to see some more of Newport. I was pleasently surprised by the cyberpunkish feel!

[seagul]

Finally i could install the game and start it.
I nearly forgott what a wonderfull game it is.
All the details that may or may not have a second meaning!
The story unfolds in such a "natural" way. The story is told in such a weightless way, without any effort.
I could imagine to live in Venice. It seems to be a real district in a real world. That's so different from so many storys in most adventure games. The characters seem so grounded in their world. They could be people i know.
Altogether the game makes me feel that i am in a "real" environment with real people.
I remember that feeling from the first time. It struck me that this is not a game, but real. It's what makes the game different from most of the others. This an the wonderfull story.
Happy to be part of the playthrough!

[alcoatjez]

I just finished chapter 2. I want to stick with the schedule, so I will wait untill tomorrow before continuing.
I still love the game. What I really like is the feeling that you are really living a life in the game: Getting up, working on the painting, working, etc.
Can't wait to play the next chapter!

[skeeter_93]

I've finished chapter 2. Unfortunately I needed to use UHS hints a bit, I got really stuck and was worried about falling behind. Mostly the problem was I hadn't spied one or two hotspots. Once I got going again I was okay. I am really enjoying finding out the story and am eager to continue. I am a bit worried about Zak though...