• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Dreamfall Chapters: The Longest Journey |OT| Book One: Reborn

D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
derFeef said:
Because performance problems was one if not the major complaint. I think it's fair to say that they listened to the community and fixed the most common problem.
Click to expand...

edit: fair enough.
 
K

~Kinggi~

Banned
Rez said:
why would a software development company switch engine versions mid-development of an already partially released game? that's insane. there's next no no perceivable benefit for the end-user.

^ someone tell me why this is a stupid thing to say, because it might be.
Click to expand...

They wanted to port to PlayStation 4 and the old engine wouldnt let them. Also, the old engine was limiting them and providing poor performance. They decided it was for the best to upgrade everything. Im glad they did it but yeah that is a crazy move on their end.
 
S

Sober

Member
Damn, performance in Marcuria is terrible for me. Like I can handle the old engine with low frame rates but it just hitches like crazy for me now. Anyone else have this problem?
 
B

Basileus777

Member
Book 4 is by far the best paced episode to date. It's the first one that I didn't feel was actively padding out its length with dull busywork. The technical improvements were noticeable as well, the game run much better for me.

I can finally see how they are going to end this in one more episode. I still suspect it will feel a bit rushed though. And
I suppose Brian Westhouse really is the big bad.
 
J

jb1234

Member
Basileus777 said:
Maybe around 3 hours? I didn't time it. But you're not walking around a town doing fetch quests and boring puzzles so much in this one, most of it has you doing more interesting things and even seeing new locations.
Click to expand...

Nice! I still haven't played past Episode 1 but I know the game is already plenty long.
 
C

Chance Hale

Member
I love the performances in this game, Enu is annoying as hell but the change in tone with her awkward pauses and offhand comments is something you don't see often in game acting.

Does anyone know if the game has done well enough to support the studio or are they going to be shuttering up after finishing? I have a lot of complaints about the repetitious tasks up to this point but the world and writing are grand for the most part and I'd love to see more from the series or something new. Doubt Ragnar will be returning to Funcom for the Secret World 2, lol.

Edit: The option to attempt to pet Enu is hilarious.
 
A

addik

Member
ricochetguro said:
Strong spoilers for the end of the 10th chapter:
Bit weird for Lithko to die off camera :/
Click to expand...

Really? Did you take him with you to Ge'en? He survived in my playthrough mainly because of that. I assumed that you had him stay with the rebels and that you had turned in Na'ane in Book 2?

Anyway, Book 4 was great. I love that we go through so much locations in Arcadia
the pathway to Nox's hut was haunting and beautiful
, and I liked how this book dabbled into TLJ's mythology (which reminds me, I have to play TLJ).

And damn, those choices really do make a huge difference at this point. For the first time, I could see myself replaying the whole game and purposely choosing different paths just to see how different it could all go. It seems that my playthrough has become vastly different from others because of the choices.

My playtime was about 4 hours too so it feels just right.

As for RTG's future, they are actually making Draugen after receiving a grant from the Norwegian government. I do hope they stick around. Dreamfall: Chapters has been quite a technical flop, but the writing and world-building is immense. They clearly have potential, and I feel bad that their problems with the engine put them in a negative light.

That said, I do feel that Dreamfall: Chapters as a whole is vastly underrated.
 
L

Ludens

Banned
I didn't like Book 4 AT ALL, excluding a couple of scenes like
baba yaga one and Wilma Flintstone's fight
.

The game keeps dragging on and on with boring session, ginving really useful info only in and there. The whole
rebel's plot
is just totally uninteresting to me, the whole
politician situation in Stark
...the same.

Plus I hate those
find all hidden items section with Saga
, plus my game bugged out while solving
the third ward and I got stucked one hour before resetting my game, trying again to solve it on my first try.

Really, I would prefer nothing at all instead of this game.
 
T

Taruranto

Member
Finished Ep 4 yay

Brian Westhouse appeared again. Can't believe only 70% were wary of him.

Likho/Kian romance is all but confirmed at this. Though I got a really weird scene with Likho told me about "people like us", which was weird because I don't remember Kian ever telling him he was gay lol...

My biggest issue is just how many loose ends this game has.
April reborn barely played a role so far. Charlie and Emma still MIA. The game still has to elaborate about Zoe's origin. And I don't think the Guardian ever made an appearance in Dreamfall yet? Like, this game supposed to explain how the two worlds got merged into one again and I don't think we are getting more after this given the abyssal sales.

How the hell are they going to tie everything in one episode?
 
K

~Kinggi~

Banned
Kezen said:
Finished book four and enjoyed it greatly in spite of the story being somewhat confusing.

Edit : here's a video comparing performance between Unity 4 and 5.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGV1bNOdSno
Click to expand...

Wow the LOD pop-in on Unity 5 is a lot more aggressive. I bet that had something to do with performance. Unity 4 the draw distance was a lot farther. Outside of performance there isnt a clear winner for me which looks better. They both have qualities.
 
K

Kezen

Banned
~Kinggi~ said:
Wow the LOD pop-in on Unity 5 is a lot more aggressive. I bet that had something to do with performance. Unity 4 the draw distance was a lot farther. Outside of performance there isnt a clear winner for me which looks better. They both have qualities.
Click to expand...

In Marcuria the LOD pop-in has been decreased with the Unity 5 update, in some other places it is still very flagrant.

That's fine, I was not expecting much in that department. I'm here for the lore and the universe.
Not disappointed at all.
 
Green Yoshi

Green Yoshi

Member
Book Four is really great. Best episodic content I played this year. I wonder why there are not any reviews out. Hopefully more people will give it a try when it releases for Playstation 4 and Xbox One.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I played the first two chapters of book one, and while it seems cool, it also feels like I'm missing out on so much by not having played Dreamfall. Is there much hope for me if I stick with this? I just got up to the psychologist scene, and I'll probably give it another hour or two regardless. Does it ever extend the hand to new players, or does it continue at its current pace throughout?
 
Z

zer0blivion

Member
Rez said:
I played the first two chapters of book one, and while it seems cool, it also feels like I'm missing out on so much by not having played Dreamfall. Is there much hope for me if I stick with this? I just got up to the psychologist scene, and I'll probably give it another hour or two regardless. Does it ever extend the hand to new players, or does it continue at its current pace throughout?
Click to expand...
Do yourself a favour and pick up and play The Longest Journey and Dreamfall:TLJ, then play Chapters. Use a guide for TLJ, some of the puzzles can be pretty obtuse. The games are fantastic.
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/320
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
zer0blivion said:
Do yourself a favour and pick up and play The Longest Journey and Dreamfall:TLJ, then play Chapters. Use a guide for TLJ, some of the puzzles can be pretty obtuse. The games are fantastic.
http://store.steampowered.com/sub/320
Click to expand...

I've played a lot of The Longest Journey back in the day, and I was very . . . it frustrated me a lot. I think revisiting it now would be great, but sadly I don't have a Windows PC at the moment. :(
 
Z

zer0blivion

Member
Rez said:
I've played a lot of The Longest Journey back in the day, and I was very . . . it frustrated me a lot. I think revisiting it now would be great, but sadly I don't have a Windows PC at the moment. :(
Click to expand...

You could always watch a let's play of the previous games to catch up on the story. I highly recommend playing them though, if at all possible. If you're on Mac or Linux, you should be able to play Dreamfall:TLJ with WINE, but it looks like TLJ has some issues.
 
A

Aeana

Member
Rez said:
I've played a lot of The Longest Journey back in the day, and I was very . . . it frustrated me a lot. I think revisiting it now would be great, but sadly I don't have a Windows PC at the moment. :(
Click to expand...
It's also available for iOS if you have one of those devices. However it's also an old game that most likely works with WINE so you should be able to play it somehow.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
zer0blivion said:
You could always watch a let's play of the previous games to catch up on the story. I highly recommend playing them though, if at all possible. If you're on Mac or Linux, you should be able to play Dreamfall:TLJ with WINE, but it looks like TLJ has some issues.
Click to expand...

Aeana said:
It's also available for iOS if you have one of those devices. However it's also an old game that most likely works with WINE so you should be able to play it somehow.
Click to expand...

Thank you both! This is just the sort of thing I'm looking for over the next week. I'll play The Longest Journey on iOS and buy Dreamfall on GOG if I enjoy TLJ.
 
B

Basileus777

Member
If you don't care much for TLJ, you should at least play Dreamfall as Chapters really isn't something I'd recommend as a starting point.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Basileus777 said:
If you don't care much for TLJ, you should at least play Dreamfall as Chapters really isn't something I'd recommend as a starting point.
Click to expand...

I remember it having a bit of 90s 'tude that I found really off-putting, but I'll give it another shot all the same. I think I'll be able to look past it.
 
D

Dreamwriter

Member
Rez said:
Thank you both! This is just the sort of thing I'm looking for over the next week. I'll play The Longest Journey on iOS and buy Dreamfall on GOG if I enjoy TLJ.
Click to expand...
One thing to keep in mind: TLJ has some extremely freakin' hard puzzles, especially at the beginning. Dreamfall has almost no challenging puzzles. So if you try The Longest Journey on iOS and don't like it because of the puzzles, don't let that keep you away from Dreamfall. Story-wise, Dreamfall takes place something like 10 years after TLJ, while Dreamfall Chapters is a direct continuation of Dreamfall's story, so the more important one for the story is Dreamfall.
 
A

Aeana

Member
I wouldn't recommend skipping TLJ. Not only is it the best adventure game ever made, Dreamfall isn't going to make a lot of sense without it. It might star Zoe, but the world is built in April's game.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I'm sure the good parts and the bad parts of TLJ and Dreamfall have been discussed to death already, but man, TLJ really goes places. I'm a huge adventure game fan, it's crazy that I didn't see it through last time I played (I got up to the cinema puzzle and was fed up with some of the chapter two puzzles that I couldn't solve because of clickable region intricacies). Dreamfall is stuck in an awkward early-2000s console game place, but I still ended up enjoying a lot of it. It made revisiting Mercuria in Dreamfall Chapters feel really impressive. It's a shame my framerate completely fucking tanked in Mercuria, despite being fine everywhere else. It's a shame, because I really liked the way most of it looked.

Anyway, I loved Dreamfall Chapters (especially book four, and despite some annoying "find the random interactable thing in this giant environment puzzles spread across all the books) and can't wait for the next one.

I mean, again, it's probably been discussed to death, but both Dreamfall and Dreamfall Chapters feel very different from TLJ, probably intentionally (the Azardi's influence on Arcadia is a complete game changer and I'm still not sure how I feel about it, twenty hours on). Book Four seemed to intentionally move back to the fantastical stuff with Zoe spread across a few different places and cultures, and I really dug that.

Also, their work with Newport [Europolis city] is really good. I like basically everything about the characters and scenarios there.

Also, the Kian and Likho stuff is...like, surprisingly good. I wonder whether or not kissing [GIRL WHOSE NAME I'VE FORGOTTEN] affects that?

Has DC been successful enough to fund future games? I hope so, it's kind of a marvel that this exists at all, but it's cool that we live in a world where the mere existence of games like this feels less and less surprising.
 
J

Jay Shadow

Member
Rez said:
Has DC been successful enough to fund future games? I hope so, it's kind of a marvel that this exists at all, but it's cool that we live in a world where the mere existence of games like this feels less and less surprising.
Click to expand...
Nah, sales are pretty terrible. I think everyone that wanted the game already kick started it. The engine switch hurt financially too. PS4 release might help though. But the next Longest Journey game will also probably need crowd funding.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
Jay Shadow said:
Nah, sales are pretty terrible. I think everyone that wanted the game already kick started it. The engine switch hurt financially too. PS4 release might help though. But the next Longest Journey game will also probably need crowd funding.
Click to expand...

I mean, that's a shame, but I can see why. It's a hard sell to people who've not played the previous game. I tried to play it before playing Dreamfall / TLJ and. . .yeah.
 
Everdred

Everdred

Member
Jay Shadow said:
Nah, sales are pretty terrible. I think everyone that wanted the game already kick started it. The engine switch hurt financially too. PS4 release might help though. But the next Longest Journey game will also probably need crowd funding.
Click to expand...
Hopefully there are many more like myself that don't use kickstarter, just follow it. I have 3 friends that have purchased it and didn't back.
 
B

Basileus777

Member
Rez said:
I mean, that's a shame, but I can see why. It's a hard sell to people who've not played the previous game. I tried to play it before playing Dreamfall / TLJ and. . .yeah.
Click to expand...

The whole game is fan service for those who loved the previous two. As a product on its own it's fairly disappointing.
 
S

Slaythe

Member
Well this isn't the only issue.

I was interested when this came out.

The horrendous performances pushed me away, on top of being lost in the story.

It's like, I don't mind getting invested in something I don't fully understand, but it just felt like a PAIN.

Tried the new version just now, it's awesome. Fluid, pretty, full speed, It's enjoyable to play !
 
DOWN

DOWN

Banned
Here's a hot question: is a PS4 release still coming like Wikipedia says with a "Release Date TBA"?
 
F

Famassu

Member
DOWN said:
Here's a hot question: is a PS4 release still coming like Wikipedia says with a "Release Date TBA"?
Click to expand...
Probably waiting until they've finished it on PC. The whole episodic thing didn't seem to work for this game, maybe hoping that releasing this as a complete package on PS4 would lead to better success.
 
L

Lime

Member
Sorry for the bump, but according to the recent grant approval by the Norwegian government, Red Thread Games got allocated 975.000 NOK (~113k USD) for a project called "Codename: Svalbard". Not sure if it'll be a Norwegian or international project. Regardless, this will probably be what comes after Dreamfall Chapters once it has been completed and finished.
 
D

derFeef

Member
Lime said:
Sorry for the bump, but according to the recent grant approval by the Norwegian government, Red Thread Games got allocated 975.000 NOK (~113k USD) for a project called "Codename: Svalbard". Not sure if it'll be a Norwegian or international project. Regardless, this will probably be what comes after Dreamfall Chapters once it has been completed and finished.
Click to expand...

Huh, something different than Draugen?
 
J

Jay Shadow

Member
derFeef said:
Huh, something different than Draugen?
Click to expand...
It's a "Polar Punk RPG" that was announced today as their next game after Draugen.

To make up for people getting antsy for Dreamfall news, they posted a pic of Saga from Book Five.
Cct-Mb8VAAAYbHD.jpg
 
Z

zer0blivion

Member
D

Deleted member 102362

Unconfirmed Member
Looks pretty good. Hope the wait isn't too long.

and then maybe follow that up with a Kickstarter for The Longest Journey Home.
 
S

Sober

Member
I'm actually a little nervous to see how exactly it all is supposed to shake out. Maybe it's just been the wait between episodes but it doesn't feel like a lot has happened storywise, or to the characters. Maybe that has to do with a lot of reusing pretty much the same hubs for 3 or so episodes for the most part. I mean it was fine but it didn't seem to really pick up until last episode.
 
M

Miker

Member
I'm about to start this after buying it in one of the Humble Bundles. I loved TLJ and enjoyed my time with Dreamfall, but I feel like I should be going into Chapters with low expectations. I hear that there's a lot of wandering around a confusing hub, which sounds awful :(
 
A

addik

Member
Man, if you've read the latest update, you can see the episodic thing did not work well for RTG. They could have planned this better, but holy shit Dreamfall: Chapters was a logistical nightmare for them. From having a key member being forced to take time off (paternal leave, as mandated by the gov't) to having to change engines midway, to losing contact with their important voice talents due to a death. It was some shoddy planning with even shoddier luck.

I really wished they would have just released this as one game, trim out the fat, add features in for a PS4 Port (update PC/Mac users via free update), etc.

RTG is mighty talented though. Can't wait to see their future projects.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Story Adventure ‘Dustborn’ Announces August 2024 Release, Special Physical Edition Detailed
News Trailer
15
864
Davevil replied
Akatori: Chapter One Releases Later This Month; Early Demo Available Now
News
1
295
amigastar replied
  • Poll
Hellblade 2 | Review Thread
Analysis Review 43 44 45 46 47
2K
92K
Tomeru replied
Terminator: Survivors is PvE only and will be fully playable in a single-player offline mode, through an original story.
7
860
jason10mm replied
WitchSpring R coming to PS5 and Xbox One, ‘Hard Mode’ and ‘New Game Plus’ update for PC launches in February
News
4
1K
Guilty_AI replied
Top Bottom