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[Illuminati]

Good deal because it is $40 in stores. Decent game if you liked the original and are looking for a good adventure game and definitely worth $30 if you are into adventure gaming: http://www.steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=game&AppId=6300&

About:

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, winner of multiple E3 awards as the best game in its genre, is the continuation of a saga that began in the award-winning The Longest Journey, considered to be one of the finest adventure games ever made. In Dreamfall, players are taken on an epic journey of exploration and adventure as they venture through a thrilling and emotional storyline. Dreamfall features a fully interactive world where beautiful music, stunning graphics, fascinating characters and unparalleled gameplay variety promises to bring the adventure genre into a new era. Prepare for a spiritual, fantastic and powerful gaming experience.

* Unparalleled Gameplay Variety Never before has an adventure game brought this much gameplay variety! Use your brains or your brawn; sneak, fight or talk your way through the many challenges the game offers. Be polite or rude, threaten or sweet talk; in Dreamfall you make the choice, resulting in a game where you never quite know what to expect next.
* Three Playable Characters Experience the story from three separate perspectives, and learn how their destinies blend together in an epic finale. Each character has unique abilities and world views, giving you constant gameplay variations.
* Three Worlds Dreamfall spans three beautifully realized worlds, multiple chapters and a stunning amount of detailed locations. Travel across a futuristic version of our earth, journey into a magical fantasy realm and unravel the mysteries of the Winter.
* Unique World Interaction Bridging the gap between the classic point and click adventure game, where you could click on any given point at the screen, and the action adventure, where you need to move up to an object to interact with it, Dreamfall introduces the brand new focus field feature. In this easy-to-use context-sensitive interface you can scan your entire visible environment as seen by the characters, and use it to get information on far away objects as well as triggering remote gameplay opportunities.
* Mature"Thriller"-type Storyline Dreamfall delivers a mature and compelling storyline that mixes the futuristic, fantastic and spiritual with a tale of murder, deceit and a conspiracy threatening our very existence. Bringing the classic adventure game into the world of the modern action game, Dreamfall delivers a rare and special story experience.
* Stunning Sounds and Soundtrack Listen to an emotional and epic soundtrack in 7.1 surround. Hear gripping voices as recorded by more than 50 professional actors, and enjoy soundscapes bringing players to the edge of their seats.
* A game for everyone 50% of the players of the original The Longest Journey were women. With its cinematic approach, believable characters, mature storyline and easy-to- grasp interface, Dreamfall is a game that any teenager or adult can pick up and enjoy, regardless of their gaming background.

Requirements:

Minimum: Windows XP (with service pack 2), Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz or AMD Sempron 2800+ or higher, 512 MB RAM, 7 GB free disk space, DirectX 9.0c compatible sound, 3D Hardware Accelerator Card Required: 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 128 MB with latest drivers.

Recommended: Intel Pentium 4 2.5 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 3500+

Random Screenshots Of The Different Worlds:

 

[C4Lukins]

That reminds me, I'm going to go try this game out right now on the 360. It has been in shrink wrap for a couple of months. Completely forgot about it.

 

[Anamoly]

Grabbed the xbox ver. off of gameflys' year end sale for 17 bucks. Having never played the Longest Jouney i didn't know what to expect. Turns out it was wonderful game, maybe even one of the best in terms of story alone last year. Quite original. If i hadn't got buried by other, 'bigger' releases earlier in '06 I would've paid full price for it.

 

[Bog]

My girlfriend got this for $7 at Target last week...

 

[kingocfs]

Fantastic game, definitely worth $40.

 

[Illuminati]

My girlfriend got this for $7 at Target last week...

Damn stores and their random ridiculously low priced sales. I swear I always miss them and end up always paying full price a day later after the sale ends.

 

[FlyinJ]

Wow, the PC version looks WAY better than the Xbox version. Ugh... I'm halfway through the Xbox one. I'm almost tempted to start over with the PC SKU.

 

[crunker99]

dreamfall is one of the best stories ever told in gaming... it is epic,, and we have one more chapter to go!

the undreaming is unchained.....

 

[jooey]

dreamfall is one of the best stories ever told in gaming... it is epic,, and we have one more chapter to go!

the undreaming is unchained.....

that's deep.

 

[painey]

great game but $30 is expensive compared to what a proper copy can cost in shops. I loved it, especially the voice acting but i wasnt a fan of the combat

 

[Durante]

Fantastic game, definitely worth $40.

What he said. Easily the best story told in a game in 2006. I hope they sold enough to finish the triology.

[edit]
Here are a few screenshots I made myself, just to show that those above ain't bullshots (This is the superior version, obviously):

 

[DeadTrees]

My girlfriend got this for $7 at Target last week...

Damn stores and their random ridiculously low priced sales. I swear I always miss them and end up always paying full price a day later after the sale ends.

It's been red-tagged for clearance at most Targets, along with the PC versions of Quake 4 and Tomb Raider Legend. Check the magical mystery endcaps at the back of the PC and/or console game aisles--prices start at $20.xx and drop every few weeks.

 

[MegaTen]

What he said. Easily the best story told in a game in 2006. I hope they sold enough to finish the triology.

[edit]
Here are a few screenshots I made myself, just to show that those above ain't bullshots (This is the superior version, obviously):

The first time I played through this section, I was in awe. Dreamfall is definitely one of the more beautiful games to come out recently.

 

[Dice]

THEY MADE A SEQUEL?!

 

[black_13]

I don't have it yet as I decided to get Longest Journey and finish it first before I get into this. Sadly I gave up about half-way in. But tomorrow I'll try to finally finish it and get into this game.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

Wow it sure does look amazing. How does it run?

 

[Durante]

Wow it sure does look amazing. How does it run?

It doesn't need a very high end PC at all. Don't forget, it was also on Xbox. It looks great mostly because of the amazing art, not because of technical features. (Of course, my shots are also "relatively" clean because they are resized from 1920*1200 with 2*AA)

Now that this is available on Steam, no one who professes even a remote interest in storytelling in games has an excuse not to play it.

 

[Starfire]

Yeah, I remember playing this on my brand new XPS (last year) @1920x1200 16xAF 4xAA 60fps and just being amazed the entire time. Everyone who watched me play the game over my shoulder went nuts over the art. Not the highest poly-count ever, but the textures and the artstyle are amazing. Great story too, my only complaint is that it was over too soon (and the whopper of a cliffhanger ending). But the fact that there's another on the way softens the blow a bit.

 

[Durante]

Damn you GAF for reminding me of this game. Now playing anything else feels decidedly meaningless and unfulfilling. So instead I'll post some more screenshots.

Slight spoiler but beautiful

 

[MegaTen]

I love the interaction and dialog between the characters. It makes them seem real. But then again, I guess well-acted out characters is a staple for adventure games.

 

[ninge]

is the first game available to purchase on steam too?

 

[stressboy]

is the first game available to purchase on steam too?

Doesn't appear to be.

 

[Borys]

Man, those screens look amazing.

Too bad the game runs like UTTER ASS on my PC, I mean it doesn't even achieve 20 fps in the goddamn menu with the white flags

**** that noise, at least Paradise runs fast.

 

[Vaporak]

This thread makes me feel guilty for buying the game and never playing more than the first 30 minutes. Maybe I should give this one another go.

 

[RamzaIsCool]

You don't need an highend pc for this, that said this game isn't worth $30. If I would rate this game it would be somewhere 3-ish, it fails completely as a game.

 

[Oni Jazar]

Yay I've been meaning to get this (loved the original). Instant gratification FTW!

 

[Lazy Z]

This thread makes me feel guilty for buying the game and never playing more than the first 30 minutes. Maybe I should give this one another go.

You should give it another go, yes *nod nod*. Just don't pay any attention to the (pretty abysmal) fight scenes, the rest of the game is quite a ride. It's a bit on the short-ish side too, so it won't take you that long to finish it.

 

[MegaTen]

You don't need an highend pc for this, that said this game isn't worth $30. If I would rate this game it would be somewhere 3-ish, it fails completely as a game.

I take it you don't play adventure games much..

 

[Zweisy1]

Even more overrated than the fist Longest Journey.

Seriously, the story's quite interesting but there's absolutely no meat to the gameplay.. from time to time it just felt like walking from cutscene to the next cutscene.

At least the first one had some decent puzzles.

 

[EternalDarko]

This is funny because I actually ordered both the 1st game and Dreamfall off Amazon last night after seeing eurogamers 50 best fan choices and reading up more on the game.
Does the 1st game still stand up today or has it lost it's charm and how does it's gfx stand?

 

[teiresias]

I agree, it's not a very great "game" in the things that make a game good - but that said it has about as much actual gameplay as Phoenix Wright 1, so if you like one you shouldn't be complaining too much about the other in the gameplay department.

My main, and admittedly big, complaint about the game is that at least the first game was somewhat self-contained and provided a nicely satisfying, and finished, story arc by the end of the game. Dreamfall provides neither and comes across feeling unfinished. Ragnar Tornquist would have you play the game again in order to realize

Spoiler

the main story of the game is really the Faith plotline, which is resolved, but not satisfactorily IMO, it's still too ambiguous by the end to make it satisfying

. Regardless of what he says, the more interesting bits of the story, the tower, Wati Corp.'s involvement overall,

Spoiler

the murderer of the last Kin, who I still believe is Westhouse

, are not resolved to satisfaction, resulting in an uber-cliffhanger ending, with, as far as I know, no definitive plans to make another game.

Tornquist has said something like "you'll get the rest of the story one way or the other" whether that be another game, a book, a comic, etc., but I'd rather play it in a game, and he should have realized that the way the game stands now it's not satisfying from either a gameplay perspective nor a storytelling perspective.

Ah well, I still love the world Tornquist created in "The Longest Journey" universe, the mood of both games is absolutely dead-on perfect.

 

[MegaTen]

This is funny because I actually ordered both the 1st game and Dreamfall off Amazon last night after seeing eurogamers 50 best fan choices and reading up more on the game.
Does the 1st game still stand up today or has it lost it's charm and how does it's gfx stand?

First game is still great to this day. However, in terms of graphics, the backgrounds(pre-rendered) were designed with smaller resolutions in mind, so it'll look a bit pixelated at fullscreen with a large res.

 

[Durante]

You don't need an highend pc for this, that said this game isn't worth $30. If I would rate this game it would be somewhere 3-ish, it fails completely as a game.

That's just not true. It fails completely as an action game, but there are what, 3 fight sequences in the entire game? As an adventure game it doesn't fail at all, and as an overall experience it soars high above 95% of the meaningless crud that's thrown at us gamers every year.

In other news, this game sold less than expected on Xbox and more than expected on PC. Why am I not surprised?

I also found Ragnar Tornquist's (the main guy behind the series) blog, seems like Okami is his GoTY :lol

 

[EternalDarko]

First game is still great to this day. However, in terms of graphics, the backgrounds(pre-rendered) were designed with smaller resolutions in mind, so it'll look a bit pixelated at fullscreen with a large res.

That's fine with me I guess, from the screenshots I saw of it it did look pretty good but yeah I did notice some pixelation. Thanks.

 

[FoneBone]

Not worth more than 20, and I say this as a huge fan of the original. I can't believe people are actually defending the "gameplay."

 

[Lord Error]

One of the most enjoyable games from last year, that's for damn sure.

If you can identify yourself even remotely with any of the characters (and they are fleshed out so well that it's really not that hard at all) it will pull you in like few games can.

Unresolved ending is a bit disappointing though.

Also, most stores seem to have this for cheap, I don't think $30 for a download is that good of a deal right now.

It fails completely as an action game, but there are what, 3 fight sequences in the entire game? As an adventure game it doesn't fail at all, and as an overall experience it soars high above 95% of the meaningless crud that's thrown at us gamers every year.

Truth.

 

[Ceb]

I still haven't bought a gamepad to play it with, which is essential considering how wonky the controls are.

 

[Lazy Z]

My main, and admittedly big, complaint about the game is that at least the first game was somewhat self-contained and provided a nicely satisfying, and finished, story arc by the end of the game. Dreamfall provides neither and comes across feeling unfinished. Ragnar Tornquist would have you play the game again in order to realize

Spoiler

the main story of the game is really the Faith plotline, which is resolved, but not satisfactorily IMO, it's still too ambiguous by the end to make it satisfying

. Regardless of what he says, the more interesting bits of the story, the tower, Wati Corp.'s involvement overall,

Spoiler

the murderer of the last Kin, who I still believe is Westhouse

, are not resolved to satisfaction, resulting in an uber-cliffhanger ending, with, as far as I know, no definitive plans to make another game.

Completely agree with you there, that was my only real gripe with the game. I didn't mind the fights that much because I knew they'd be sloppy, plus in all honesty I thought they were just about as bad as most similar action/fighting scenes in PC games. Plus, as it was said already, they were like 3 of them so it was what, 10-15 minutes all in all?

Anyway, thanks to a spoilerish review I had read

Spoiler

I knew that the Faith plot was the main one while playing

but still the resolution wasn't really fulfilling. Way too many loose ends flying around, and it was all a bit too vague for my taste. I don't mind not having all the answers, on the contrary in fact. However, a lot of the ending sequence didn't even try to give us possible hints for all the questions it left unanswered. If it did, I must have missed it. I wasn't really crazy about how virtually the last few chapters had about a few seconds worth of playable scenes in them either...

Ceb, the controls aren't that bad, at least you can get used to them after a while... I had to play the game on a laptop, hardly ideal for such a game, but you do get used to it eventually.