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[Lime]

After 11 years of waiting since Dreamfall’s disastrous and frankly offensive ending, I finally feel the pain is a bit over.

Spoilers abound, so beware.

After years of waiting and holding out on playing any of the episodic releases of Dreamfall Chapters, I finally got back into the Longest Journey / Dreamfall saga to finish up what Funcom and Ragnar Tornquist had started with all the loose threads they created with the failed sequel in 2006. No pun intended, but it really has been the longest journey with this whole saga, at least emotionally.

Background for the Longest Journey series
I backed this heavily back in 2013 when Ragnar and his Red Thread team (and later Blink Studios ) pitched the game on Kickstarter. I thought that this was finally the opportunity for the team to clean up the mess and pay respect to the universe they established in The Longest Journey and the protagonist April Ryan. But before going in, I have to explain some background to how I view the trilogy of games.

1. The Longest Journey is considered by many to be one of the best point ‘n click adventure games in the genre. It’s a classic that featured some great writing, an endearing set of characters, and some elaborate themes. It came out at the tail-end of the downfall of the point n click genre, at least in the mainstream, so even though it received many accolades and quality reception, any possible sequel would have to change up its associated genre.
2. Many years after The Longest Journey, Ragnar Tornquist and Funcom developed the sequel titled Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. Due to the changing landscape of which genres were popular, the gameplay changed into a third-person adventure game with simpler item puzzles and some really clunky and weird combat mechanics. The visual presentation also left a lot to be desired, at least when I replayed it. But the absolute worst thing, perhaps one of the worst things ever done in entertainment media, was the ending of that game. Imagine creating a game that not only changes the protagonist of the previous classic game that drew everybody in to the universe, but also kills her off in the final minute of the game without any explanation or denouement or anything. Funcom and Tornquist basically took April Ryan and killed her off without any commentary – it just happens. Same with a lot of other characters who just gets killed, put into a coma, and imprisoned. The game literally has no third act. In general, plenty of things were changed in that game, especially the character of April who got retconned from being lovable, joking, and sarcastic into being a sour, stubborn woman. Then, when the game ended up bombing because of lukewarm presentation, shitty combat mechanics, and a completely unfinished story, the series was done for and players would never get a chance to see what happened to the universe. Instead, Funcom attempted to capitalize on the WoW phenomenon and jumped into the MMO genre with The Secret World for years to come.
3. Then in over 7 years nothing happened and the only thing people would hear from Tornquist was that he had a script called Dreamfall Chapters, but that it might only be published in bookform because the series simply wouldn’t get published or greenlighted.
4. Then finally in 2013, during the Kickstarter euphoria thanks to Double Fine Adventure, Tornquist launched a crowdfunding campaign that promised to tie up the loose ends introduced by Dreamfall and help give proper characterization of the various characters who were simply left behind back in 2006. Thanks to money from the Norwegian government, they managed to create a prototype in Unity 4 and ended up amassing 1,5 million USD in total in Kickstarter money.
5. I am not going to go into the whole production side of things with Dreamfall Chapters, but it has been a bit messy during the development phase (you can read up on it on Wikipedia). I think the worst thing for backers is the complete silence by Red Thread, where any questions and requests for clarifications were met with silence and a lot of the promised goals during the Kickstarter campaign have been unaddressed. But compliments should be given to Red Thread for sticking with the game and pulling through with a final shipped product and some extra fixes as seen in the Final Cut. It felt kind of bad to be a backer and being an after-thought after the retail console ports, but patience is a virtue with this company, I guess.

So after having played the first game back in 2000 and being incredibly impressed by the characters and writing, and after having my heart completely broken in 2006 when I finished Dreamfall and saw the developers basically take a dump on April Ryan (due to production issues I imagine) and rip the hearts out of fans of the first game, and after I forgot all about the universe to mend the wounds, and then being pulled back in due to the Kickstarter, and after waiting 4 years for finishing all five chapters plus the Final Cut, I finally feel more relieved to assess how the team ended up fulfilling their promises and the hopes and dreams of fans and the like.

Dreamfall: Chapters random thoughts
New unnecessary gameplay: It seemed like the developers tried to push the envelope and adopt some of the same features we've see’ in the Telltale formula: choices and consequences where some characters die or survive depending on your choices, and the social feature of seeing what other players responded. These are quite cost-heavy gameplay features and they were never part of the series before, so I’m not sure why the developers thought it would be wise to include what other much bigger studios have troubles with. Imo, because they were such a small studio and had such little funds, it would’ve been better to hire better animators and create more engaging puzzle design than to introduce choices and consequences.

The narrative: The narrative aspect also seemed like the writers wanted to do something new with the universe in the first 3 chapters, and then suddenly in the 4th and 5th chapter, they needed to tie up the threads that were established in Dreamfall and to some extent TLJ, so most of the stuff in the first 3 chapters were left behind (e.g. all of Propast and tons of characters from that part of the story). And in chapter 4, suddenly Zoe’s mother finally shows up, and same with Brian Westhouse. Suddenly you see explanations of what happened to the Dragon Kin in Dreamfall. The fact that they veered so much off course is very evident in chapter 5, where most of the experience is cutscenes and few gameplay segments that simply means walking 5 steps before the next cutscene starts.

The game design: The puzzles in the five chapters also seem very low-budget and under-cooked. Whenever a puzzle segment starts out and you have to go somewhere with the characters, it’s never quite clear how and where you fulfill the goals and objectives. If it wasn’t for an online guide, I would’ve left the game frustrated to no end with the way that puzzle solutions are introduced and what they require to be solved. This is very evident in the Saga sections, where players have to walk around the house and tediously collect 9 pieces of paper drawing

The world-building: This is also incredibly minimalistic, and it’s only thanks to the two previous games and their attempt at crafting a believable fictional universe that players are able to believe and invest themselves in the universe. This also means that newcomers to the universe are completely left behind in Chapters, where they have no relation to the setting and the places that they visit. There aren’t expositions and elaborations on what these places are, what the past of characters are, how the different universes tie together, and so on. There are points of interests scattered around the place and a journal for one of the characters to provide some exposition, but it’s mostly superficial and the game lacks the substance that the previous game (at least TLJ) had that drew people in to believe in the universe and its fictional rules and laws.

Soap Opera Characterization: And then I have a huge problem with how Brian Westhouse turned into Hitler with concentration camps and mass genocide, all because he wanted to return home to Stark/Arcadia. It just seems like something out of Kojima’s head where the characters we’ve seen before suddenly are super important and are turned into different characters because everything is a soap opera. So the thousans of magicals who got murdered and killed were simply because Brian Westhouse swalled some dark magic and somehow turned into Hitler.

The Continued Mistreatment of April Ryan: Then finally, and I think this is perhaps one of the more important points for fans of The Longest Journey, Chapters was to many the chance for Tornquist and his team to redeem themselves after throwing April Ryan in the garbage bin in Dreamfall. After killing her off in the final minute of Dreamfall and everyone left to wondering what the hell just happened and waiting for over a decade without hope, you would think that there would be some form of recognition of April Ryan, aka the hero of the series along with Zoe and Kian. But all she gets is a 1 minute lipservice in the beginning and then her presence and importance are completely forgotten until around chapter 4 where Crow shows up and does some meta-commentary on the loss of April Ryan for fans.

Saga the Savior: The most important new character for the plot is Saga, who’s supposed to be the re-incarnation of April Ryan, I guess? She also turns out to be the Lady Alvane that we saw in The Longest Journey (who originally seemed to April Ryan back when the game released, but now got retconned). Saga is also the deus ex machina that somehow saves everyone at the end of chapter 5, yet we never really get to know who she is, despite her getting some brief gameplay segments at various interludes. We don’t get to know what that house of hers is, who were parents were, what her role in the universe is, yet somehow we get fed with the explanation “that’s just the way the story is written” when other characters ask her to explain what’s going on. Man Called Aerodynamics explained this really well.

The one real sticking point I had, predictably, was Saga and her role in the story. I didn't mind the character, but for someone we spend a LOT of time with over the course of the game, we end up finding out nothing about who her parents are, where her powers come from, where this very specific prophecy about Kian came from, and how she ended up tasked with fulfilling it. Pretty much all of her development that actually relates to the larger story, takes place offscreen between episodes 4 and 5.

So in total, Dreamfall Chapters seemed to suffer from

• pre-production and planning issues
• lower budget impacted the vision and the execution
• Money and time and workload were wasted on unnecessary features like C&C and social networks,
• Low budget & planning issues above meant that the game design became undercooked, lackluster animations, cut content and scenes.
• new narrative threads were introduced and left behind when RTG realized they couldn’t deliver within the money and time they had left
• Engine-switch probably affected the money they had left to finish the chapters
• Forgetting important characters like April Ryan once more, introducing new characters as Deus ex machina, and turning previous well-meaning characters into Super Hitler.
• backers as after-thoughts, lack of transparency and communication, and (so far) not being able to deliver on promised Kickstarter goals

But some positive things came out of this long journey –

• impressive visuals considering the budget,
• some of the loose threads from Dreamfall got tied up in chapter 5,
• the return of some of the characters we came to appreciate and love,
• solid voice acting considering the budget,
• decent to adequate writing,
• some nice gender, racial, and sexual diversity.
• It's clear that Red Thread have worked extensively on this project and that a lot of effort have been put into its creation. Their work and effort are hugely appreciated

It’s an incredibly flawed game and it’s been quite the emotional journey after Dreamfall’s failure in 2006, but it’s nice that it’s finally over.

 

[ZeroD]

Great write up. I don't really have much to add but agree with pretty much all of your points.

First game remains the best. Still can't believe what they did with April. It completely ruined the series for me.

Spoiler

for years I assumed it was a big fake out, that she wasn't dead but then when nothing was happening with her character and with the addition of Saga the writing was on the wall

I can barely even remember Chapters, but the first game I can remember almost 100% and even dreamfall to some extent I can remember certain story beats that I thought were cool. Can't say the same for Chapters.

What ever happened to The Longest Journey Home?

 

[Erudite]

I've tried starting Dreamfall Chapters twice now, but I can't get over the whole April Ryan thing.

Maybe one day I'll get over it.

 

[Lime]

Yes, the erasure of April once more really seems someone in the team turned sour on her. I'll take what I can get in terms of salvaging the disastrous ending of Dreamfall, but it's still incredibly disappointing that once more April Ryan, aka one of the best progatonists in the PnC genre, gets thrown away in a fan-funded & government-funded sequel to the series she premiered. I honestly have no idea why the character would be treated like this.

What ever happened to The Longest Journey Home?

It didn't meet its funding goal during the Kickstarter and last summer, Ragnar Tornquist said that it's never going to happen:

The game was teased as a $2 million stretch goal for DFC's Kickstarter drive on the 15th of February, 2013[2]. It was formally announced in a Gamespot exclusive on the 1st of March.[3] Had the stretch goal been reached (including post-Kickstarter paypal money), Red Thread Games would have begun pre-production on TLJH with full production to be ramped up after DFC shipped. However, the $2 million goal was never reached.

By 2015, the future of TLJH was already rather uncertain. RTG and Ragnar Tørnquist seemed to still want to make the game. However in March 2015, Tørnquist not only cast doubt over the use of crowd funding, he also alluded to the possibility that RTG may want to focus on their own stories while FunCom may take the further saga back in their hands. TLJH, he said, "may never happen".[4] By June 9th, 2016, doubt had turned into certainty when he tweeted: "The Longest Journey Home will probably never happen. At least not for a long, long time".[5] A forum post two days later halfway clarified: "We dearly love this saga, and our fans, and wrapping up Chapters has been an emotional experience for all of us. It's satisfying but heartbreaking, and part of me would love to jump right into TLJH to tell a personal and soulful story about a character I care deeply about...but for many, many reasons I don't think it will happen."[6

In chapter 5 you can see some of the stuff they had planned to address in The Longest Journey Home.

 

[ZeroD]

It didn't meet its funding goal during the Kickstarter and last summer, Ragnar Tornquist said that it's never going to happen.

In chapter 5 you can see some of the stuff they had planned to address in The Longest Journey Home.

I'm not sure if that's a blessing or a curse honestly.

Last I heard it was an April focused story, unless I'm mistaken?

 

[Humdinger]

Sounds like it's not worth the effort.

Thanks for sharing your impressions.

 

[Brat-Sampson]

Yeah, dumping your developed protagonist for a new one was always a weird choice, but then killing off the player's previous main connection to the world *and* ending on a huge cliffhanger (which gets resolved with fucking amnesia) was very disappointing, even if overall I found Dreamfall to be pretty affecting.

I realised part-way through Chapters, playing as they released, I think around Chapter 2 or 3 when it was clear they were still apparently establishing the plot rather than going through the typical motions of plot development, that much as I appreciate Ragnar's writing and dialogue, he's not one for story arcs... The first chapter being a reintroduction to the world is completely fine. The second kinda spinning its wheels was troublesome. The third ending at the end of the first 'arc' led me to conclusions and the last two seemed to basically be an abbreviated second act and hurtling straight for the finish in part 5, tying everything up juuuust well enough but a little too neatly and with no room to breath.

Overall, I'm glad I went on the Journey, but apparently it really was never about the destination.

 

[TheChaos]

They did April Ryan so dirty in this game. #Justice4April

Lime, what did you think about the way they handled Kian's sexuality?

 

[Zap Rowsdower]

Chapters was good and I don't regret backing it at all, but its definitely good in the sense of bringing the series a decent enough ending instead of being strong on its own merits. It started off super strong with Episode 1, but then it got progressively weaker as it went on.

I actually liked Dreamfall's ending when I played it just because of how huge an emotional gut punch it was, very few games hit me as hard. Its a shame though that with April dead Chapters felt like a lost a big chunk of the soul the series with April as the protagonist had. I like Zoe and Kian's alright (Though I feel a lot his stuff in Chapters just feels like stuff you can just have going on in the background for the most part) but April was the superior protagonist and without her it wasn't just the same at all. It's pretty telling to me that the few times I actually started tearing up in Chapters was her funeral and the ending where they show April's visit to the House of All Worlds through Alvane's perspective.

The original game is still the best, though I think Dreamfall was really good too.

Sounds like it's not worth the effort.

Thanks for sharing your impressions.

Nah, its still worth it. The ending is rushed as hell but the final scene is fantastic.

 

[Lime]

I'm not sure if that's a blessing or a curse honestly.

Last I heard it was an April focused story, unless I'm mistaken?

Yeah, it's supposed to be April and Crow focused, but not sure how their journey would be relevant for the universe established in Dreamfall and Chapters.

Sounds like it's not worth the effort.

Thanks for sharing your impressions.

It might be worth it if you still have the phantom wound from Dreamfall's shitty ending and you want to see some of the characters again.

Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who isn't familiar to the universe. I'd just recommend to play The Longest Journey instead.

Yeah, dumping your developed protagonist for a new one was always a weird choice, but then killing off the player's previous main connection to the world *and* ending on a huge cliffhanger (which gets resolved with fucking amnesia) was very disappointing, even if overall I found Dreamfall to be pretty affecting.

I realised part-way through Chapters, playing as they released, I think around Chapter 2 or 3 when it was clear they were still apparently establishing the plot rather than going through the typical motions of plot development, that much as I appreciate Ragnar's writing and dialogue, he's not one for story arcs... The first chapter being a reintroduction to the world is completely fine. The second kinda spinning its wheels was troublesome. The third ending at the end of the first 'arc' led me to conclusions and the last two seemed to basically be an abbreviated second act and hurtling straight for the finish in part 5, tying everything up juuuust well enough but a little too neatly and with no room to breath.

Overall, I'm glad I went on the Journey, but apparently it really was never about the destination.

Tornquist's writing and overview seem incredibly messy and unstructured. Perhaps this lack of structure is also why the project management, planning and scope turned out so bad as well - i.e. that Tornquist simply is not a very structured person who ends up focusing very much on one particular thing or aspect, and forgets the million other holes and flaws in his narrative *and* project. The choices and consequences and the social feature seem a confirmation of this weird effort towards unnecessary features, just like he spent the first 3 chapters on unnecessary plot developments that he ends up leaving behind anyway.

 

[RedAssedApe]

is it the end of the series?

loved the longest journey...didn't really like dreamfall

 

[Lime]

They did April Ryan so dirty in this game. #Justice4April

Lime, what did you think about the way they handled Kian's sexuality?

I'm not knowledgeable on the issue, but I didn't mind it and it didn't feel forced. Others might have better and more informed opinions about it.

I'm totally with you on that #Justice4April. Not sure why the team would erase her once again.

is it the end of the series?

loved the longest journey...didn't really like dreamfall

Unless Funcom suddenly returns to the series, yeah, it's pretty much dead.

If anything happened with the series, a HD remaster of the classic TLJ would be preferable though, because I'm not sure I can stomach more of whatever weird unfinished directions the Red Thread team would go in with a new game.

 

[TheChaos]

I'm not knowledgeable on the issue, but I didn't mind it and it didn't feel forced. Others might have better and more informed opinions about it.

A lot of people, myself included, felt that it was poorly handled. Like you had an option to have him kiss a woman, and then a couple hours later Kian comes out as gay, and then gives you the option to kiss the same woman again on the final chapter. There was also a bunch of romantic teasing with Likho that they obviously chickened out of at the last second. Like Ragnar wanted to add diversity without actually putting in the legwork.

 

[Zap Rowsdower]

A lot of people, myself included, felt that it was poorly handled. Like you had an option to have him kiss a woman, and then a couple hours later Kian comes out as gay, and then gives you the option to kiss the same woman again on the final chapter. There was also a bunch of romantic teasing with Likho that they aobviously chickened out of at the last second. Like Ragnar wanted to add divsersity without actually putting in the legwork as to not offend.

Yeah, it was really awkwardly handled to the point where I actually first thought that he was just celibate due to being an apostle. If they just removed that kiss choice it would have been a lot better because up until that point there was nothing given about Kian's sexuality. Because really if Kian is gay that shouldn't have been a choice to give the player at all and he should have shot her down right then and there.

 

[Lime]

A lot of people, myself included, felt that it was poorly handled. Like you had an option to have him kiss a woman, and then a couple hours later Kian comes out as gay, and then gives you the option to kiss the same woman again on the final chapter. There was also a bunch of romantic teasing with Likho that they obviously chickened out of at the last second. Like Ragnar wanted to add diversity without actually putting in the legwork.

Yeah, I actually said no to kissing Anna both times and thought that Kian was going to end up with Likho (or maybe I was reading too much into things), but like soooo many other unfinished things in Chapters, I assumed that all that was stuff left on the cutting room floor. I guess Kian's sexuality ended up having the same fate as Bip, Dr Zelenka, Mr London's threats, Falk Friedman, Queenie, and so many other things: a random mention and then forgotten. I totally agree that they shouldn't have been so careless with such a topic. I guess I appreciated the explicit mention of a video game character being upfront and explicit to others about their sexuality (towards Enu and then towards Crow), just sad that it didn't go anywhere at all.

EDIT: Also, how creepy is it that a girl who got saved by some guy ends up loving and stalking him the next 20 years? My partner and I were joking about how unstable someone must be to love someone for over 20 years without seeing them again.

 

[Lime]

And funny enough, Red Thread Games just send out an update on finally beginning the process of delivering Kickstarter rewards to backers.

 

[Trumpets]

Got as far as chapter 3 then stopped. The whole thing just made me want to play through Dreamfall again.

 

[Lime]

Got as far as chapter 3 then stopped. The whole thing just made me want to play through Dreamfall again.

I replayed Dreamfall earlier this year and honestly it isn't that great either. The combat mechanics were unbelievably bad and the puzzles left a lot to be desired. Somehow I also think that the visuals were worse than I remembered, at least compared to other contemporary PS2 and Xbox games at the time.

And then of course the ending was just completely awful and sometimes I'd rather have that Dreamfall never existed instead of the pain that ending caused.