Comments on: The Longest Journey – A Retrospective

By: UK_John

UK_John — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:42:02 +0000

Correction: No Gordon Freeman in Half Life 2 I meant.

By: UK_John

UK_John — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:38:13 +0000

The Longest Journey is Arcadia, Dreamfall, unfortunately, is Stark. In these two games we see the history of PC gaming. One, deep and magical with great gameplay for the dollar. It was intelligent, meaningful and took risks. It is the opitimy of it’s day for gaming. The second, released after the market went ‘multi-format’ was safe, one sixth the length and contained little challenge or gameplay. It offered very little gameplay for the dollar.

The difference between these two titles is the difference in gaming between these two periods.

As much as I love The Longest Journey, FunCom must be the most idiotic company games publishing has ever seen! They, quite simply, should have had another title ready at least by 2004, and April Ryan should have been the main character again. To have left it so late, and to not have April as the main character was economic suicide by FunCom. Dreamfall sales, compared to The Longest Journey, especially given that Dreamfall was on console too, were abysmal, with sales 30% of what The Longest Journey sold on PC alone! The Longest Journey, even today, sells on a par with Dreamfall and Dreamfall only gets mentioned in relation to TLJ, not the other way around. In fact, with no TLJ Dramfall would never have ben published due to it being non-commercial.

To put FunCom’s decision perspective, I would ask you to imagine Valve not having Gordon Freeman as the main character? Or what about the second Tomb Raider not having Lara Croft in the game? Or better yet, putting them in but making them miserable, broken character’s that you could barely sympathise with?! Exactly, I rest my case.

So the mishandling by FunCom of this gem of a character and story has left us with no TLJ 3, when, if handled right, we would be on TLJ number 6 or 7, with the series embedded in the concious of gamers and truly helping create a gaming market that today would be so much the better for it, with better characters, stories and game depth in every game!

Instead, because of FunCom’s errors, we have shallow, short and dumbed down games most of the time, and nothing of the standard of The Longest Journey. A huge opportunity was missed. So part of me is so glad I found TLJ back in 2000 and have replayed many times since, and part of me is very bitter that nothing was done with either the characters or the story or the gameplay.

Today we have a tiny gem shining brightly in the corner of the gaming cosmos. FunCom could have made it a supernova, but instead it has remained this tiny sparkly gem that nobody notices…..

By: Bhazor

Bhazor — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:33:03 +0000

Damn it John. All those words and you don’t mention it’s one of the funniest games ever made.
Honestly.

By: Dreamfall: The Longest Journey « disambiguation

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey « disambiguation — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 00:45:23 +0000

[...] different so I’ve decided to play through Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. I was a big fan of the original The Longest Journey game and really look forward to seeing where the story goes in the sequel. And while I’m not [...]

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:29:24 +0000

I only got TLJ relatively recently and loved it, and it’s a definite triumph when it comes to the characters because the irritating characters are irritating in the right way. Not oh-Christ-I-wish-this-game-didn’t-have-you-in-it kind of a way but the way that you appreciate them and their part anyway.

I have Dreamfall but have yet to play it, maybe it shall be my next PC gaming endeavour. I’ve grown to accept now that sometimes in adventure games I’m just going to have to check a walthrough because I don’t have the mentality to always work out the more obscure puzzles, but when the narrative is as fine as it is in games like TLJ it hardly matters.

By: KBKarma

KBKarma — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:57:11 +0000

Not a problem, Kast. I’ve been enthusing about it to everyone I’ve met.

It’s a wonderful game. Both funny and introspective.

By: Kast

Kast — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:58:27 +0000

Thanks to KBKarma for drawing my attention to this article. It was posted before I found RPS and I don’t remember any of it from reading PCG. I’m sure I did read it in the mag, but I’ve read so many it has long been subsumed.

Yes, TLJ is a brilliant tale. The graphics’ age is a barrier to access these days but struggle past it and I can’t imagine anyone not misting up at times.

By: KBKarma

KBKarma — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 23:45:42 +0000

I recently played Longest Journey on your urgings.

I shall never doubt you ever again.

By: Rock, Paper, Shotgun - PC Gaming » Blog Archive » Making Of: The Longest Journey

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:13:38 +0000

[...] a fun one to do, it’s always a little odd taking on someone else’s Definitive Games. It’s a little like having sex with someone else’s wife, I guess. Anyway! Ragnar is, of [...]

By: Luredreier (my net-name)

Luredreier (my net-name) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 18:12:41 +0000

A realy good article.. I never saw the game that way..still it’s my apsolutly most fantastic experiance ever in my life (20 years old) an that includes sailing Trondheim-Lofoten (in norway) with a old fishing boat from the ca 1800… riged with the same kind of sails the vikings used…
It’s simply a fantastic game… I can’t even begin to describe how I felt when I played it…
It’s the only game, story or experiance of any kind that I have experianced that I would call my self a fan of…
I like the Dreamfall to.. but TLJ >

By: James H

James H — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 01:40:17 +0000

I actually played Dreamfall before I learned it was a sequel (don’t ask me how). A lot of the game makes sense in its own context, but for the full experience, you should play TLJ.
I *love* Dreamfall and TLJ, both! Some of the game-play mechanics fail it, but the story is amazing. Thank God (and Ragnar) for giving us games with convincing dialogue/voice acting, beautiful art, AND an *extraordinary* story.

I even recommend purchasing Dreamfall. It shines through its faults.

By: Erlec

Erlec — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 22:50:44 +0000

When i was 11 years old (the days of 2001) I saw The longest journey in a store for around 15 bucks. Seeing i had already played a demo of it for half year ago, i bought it with my money (which was originally going to candy). Since me and my brother got the habit playing adventure games together we played it on our old 98 computer.

I could not foresee the consequences for playing this game. The story, the characters, the worlds and even the puzzles. Even the hard waking the giant up puzzle in the island. I had a amazing time playing it, trying to decipher Abnaxus figure of speach and crows puns. To date, I’ve played through the game four times in the coarse of 6 years.

The game itself changed how i see the world, and of strange and how much magic is in this world. It has also set a lasting imprint in my mind and I believe in my future as i think I will set work in the future as a game developer. Even with no media attention this is a deafening game in the adventure genre. This game is a must play for every game interested person in this world.

Now the game is really cheap, so anyone who still is in doubt about playing it. DO IT NOW! If you are mature enough, it will change you.