The Longest Journey: How Long?
 

So, I've got a day off work this Monday, and since I've got a horrible cold I thought this would be a good weekend to dig into an adventure game I've never finished. I started The Longest Journey during the community play-through but got distracted part way through. Really enjoyed the part I did, play, though, so I'm looking forward to starting over.

What I'm wondering is just how long the game is. I'm not expecting to finish it in three days of play, but how much of a commitment am I looking at? I know that play times often vary widely, but I was hoping to get some feedback on whether its closer to Samorost or Grim Fandango.

(Unsurprisingly, googling 'longest journey' and 'game length' didn't prove very enlightening ...)

The long and short of it is that it's a looooong journey.

The title is indeed very apt. The Longest Journey may be the longest adventure game there is. A lot of it is padded out by seemingly endless dialogues, though. Those tales of the Atlatiens and the many books you must read!
Still, prologue, 13 chapters (of very variable length) and an epilogue do take their time to be told. And I feel it's a game worth playing, even if I have a lot to complain about it!
Grim Fandango and Gabriel Knight 3 may be similar in terms of length.

Hmmm, if you play most of the day everyday for 3 days, and USE a walkthrough you'll probably finish it. If you play it properly, then no. TLJ is one game I recommend you play without a walkthrough (except on the rubber ducky part and then I forgive you).

I think I completed the game in 20-25 hours.

You can save time by reading subtitles and clicking through dialogue.

Or play Syberia instead - you should manage to complete that in three days, AND it's a better game (in my opinion). :D

It's worth buying for the artwork alone - it's beautiful.

Syberia is available on gog.com :

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/syberia

Too long.

Rofl! Exactly what I was thinking as I opened this thread.

One of the dullest games i've ever played and one of the most pretentious. It's hilarious when a game designer thinks they're a writer. No, change the word hilarious to annoying.

Thanks for the info, all. I'm just about done replaying the first two chapters.

Funny you should say that - on my first try that was the only part I used a guide for. Stupidly frustrating!

*Checks Steam* Took me 24 hours, and I used a guide 3 times. Dreamfall took 18 hours.

Considering what a fantastic game it is.

It's not long enough. I wanted more.

In reality it's probably 20-25 hours depending on how good you are at the puzzles.

I've played through it three times. The last time it took 15 hours, so I'm guessing that's fairly close to the minimum if you don't skip dialogue, but never get stuck. It's not a difficult game, but there are a few puzzles that you can get stuck on for an hour or two before either solving them or resorting to a walkthrough, so I think the 20-25 hour estimate for a first playthrough is quite accurate.

umm, he was a screen-writer before he ever designed a game.

and OP dont pay too much attention to these opinions, after all its their experience, its slow, but the story and the characters get built up to a great degree, and the game becomes extremely engrossing.

the story is really great and i cant wait to continue playing.

give it time, get to chapter 3-4 before deciding on whether you like it or not, by then you will either be addicted like me, or bored like other people here.

I actually liked The Longest Journey more then it's sequel Dreamfall or more then Syberia, but I never could actually say how many hours I spend on a game, because, I usually sit and stare for a good while admire the graphics, background, details of every scene I like and go through, and usually I use all dialog options, and try items on everything (too bad that worked only with 2d, when you get a funny line) and skip only if I am replaying the game.

Anyway, TLJ is definitely a game worth playing and very enjoyable!
And I'm still waiting for the third someday....

I agree. She should only listen to yours, the 'correct' one. ;)

TLJ is awesome - it's a real top quality game (few titles would get similar praise from me).

Yes, it is quite long and there are some long conversations within the game, however I found these to be interesting and I didn't think they dragged on. They weren't virtually back to back as well! I haven't got a clue as to why you'd be saying this.

After my allotted three days, I've now finished Chapter Four. Less than a third of the way in, but I think I've got enough of the game under my belt that I'll finish it this time. The story has definitely sucked me in, and I'm probably taking longer than the average because I keep getting sidetracked staring at the gorgeous environments and trying to notice every detail. (They distract me from the character models, which have ... not aged well.) I spent a good few minutes standing in the cinema listening to dialogue from Victory Hotel at one stage.

I wasn't intending to provoke a debate about the quality of The Longest Journey, but for the record I'm enjoying it so far while understanding that it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. The dialogues are long, but the only part I've found really tedious so far is getting the books in Chapter Four. (Not reading them, you understand, but waiting for the librarian to take them out and put them away. Maddening when you've got a dozen to get through and want to get on to the puzzles.)

If you enable time skip in the option menu, then you can tap escape a few times to skip these old mans animations, indeed you can press escape to time skip anywhere (so you can quickly move through areas within a second instead of watching April run.

I only use it when i have explored all the areas and been through every dialogue sequence within a certain chapter or section of a game. Basically whenever im stuck and need to round all the areas again and check what I missed. Pressing esc to time skip means I can get through everything in a quarter of the normal time.

Then I said "these", that, (if i know my basic english,) implied to include my own opinion in the ones she might as well ignore.

I only followed up with my positive opinion to provide a bit more balance to the topic, and get the OP to at least give the game a try without so much of a tainted view going into it.

I dont know whether she will love it like me or hate it like you. (if you quoted the rest of the post you would have seen that bit.)

but yeah you can read it however you want to :shifty: i mean since when did actual english count more than the warped meanings of the deluded. :crazy: