Comments on: Making Of: The Longest Journey http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/ Mon, 13 Feb 2012 14:45:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: The RPS Bargain Bucket: Underflowing | Rock, Paper, Shotgun http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-575611 The RPS Bargain Bucket: Underflowing | Rock, Paper, Shotgun Sat, 04 Dec 2010 14:48:01 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-575611 [...] Read his full Retrospective here, why it made him here, and Kieron did a Making of here. [...] [...] Read his full Retrospective here, why it made him here, and Kieron did a Making of here. [...]

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]]> By: The RPS Bargain Bucket: Demand Perfection | Rock, Paper, Shotgun http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-419159 The RPS Bargain Bucket: Demand Perfection | Rock, Paper, Shotgun Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:33:51 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-419159 [...] Deal of the week The Longest Journey – £3.32/$4.99/€3.69 The big surprise here is that I actually beat John to posting about it. Last year he told us about how this game went a long way to making him: “It wasn’t perfect. But it was human. So incredibly human in a way I’m not sure any other game has come close to. You may have been playing a stroppy late-teenage girl who was friends with a talking crow… in the future. But you were playing a real person, interacting with other real people, in real ways, despite the hover-cars, alternative realities, and rubber-duck-themed puzzles. April’s stroppiness was a facet of her complex character – a person also capable of enthusiasm, love, fury, fear, joy, optimism and a wry, sneaky humour. She was someone with whom I engaged very strongly.” Sorry, no sale. I DEMAND PERFECTION. You should also check out his retrospective here, and see Kieron’s making of here. [...] [...] Deal of the week The Longest Journey – £3.32/$4.99/€3.69 The big surprise here is that I actually beat John to posting about it. Last year he told us about how this game went a long way to making him: “It wasn’t perfect. But it was human. So incredibly human in a way I’m not sure any other game has come close to. You may have been playing a stroppy late-teenage girl who was friends with a talking crow… in the future. But you were playing a real person, interacting with other real people, in real ways, despite the hover-cars, alternative realities, and rubber-duck-themed puzzles. April’s stroppiness was a facet of her complex character – a person also capable of enthusiasm, love, fury, fear, joy, optimism and a wry, sneaky humour. She was someone with whom I engaged very strongly.” Sorry, no sale. I DEMAND PERFECTION. You should also check out his retrospective here, and see Kieron’s making of here. [...]

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]]> By: ShimmerArc http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-272322 ShimmerArc Mon, 07 Sep 2009 10:24:20 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-272322 I cried at the end of both TLJ and Dreamfall. Both really did have quite an emotional impact on me. It changed my life and how I view things. Thank you Ragnar. :') I cried at the end of both TLJ and Dreamfall. Both really did have quite an emotional impact on me. It changed my life and how I view things. Thank you Ragnar. :’)

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]]> By: deebee http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-254989 deebee Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:38:19 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-254989 The game was definitely rushed. you could feel it in some parts. 1 good example is when you meet Minstrum Magda. She goes on about where to find April, in the ghettos, and then immediately after talking to her you are lead to an ally and taken prisoner and taken to April. It just felt as though they took out a few challenges which lead you to meet April. Whatever...I love the game. Played it a few times. TLJ too. I just can't help but feel it was rushed in some ways. The ending is interesting but it's just not satisfying. Lead me to think 'is that it? but, but, but....what about....huh?' The game was definitely rushed. you could feel it in some parts. 1 good example is when you meet Minstrum Magda. She goes on about where to find April, in the ghettos, and then immediately after talking to her you are lead to an ally and taken prisoner and taken to April. It just felt as though they took out a few challenges which lead you to meet April.
Whatever…I love the game. Played it a few times. TLJ too. I just can’t help but feel it was rushed in some ways.
The ending is interesting but it’s just not satisfying. Lead me to think ‘is that it? but, but, but….what about….huh?’

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]]> By: Banjooie http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-9794 Banjooie Sat, 24 Nov 2007 09:16:53 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-9794 Actually, the combat sequences were about perfect difficulty for my mother. Who, imagine that, is terrible at combat sequences. And stealth sequences. That's right. It was really, really useful for the 40-year old not-usually-the-gamer-types. Actually, the combat sequences were about perfect difficulty for my mother.

Who, imagine that, is terrible at combat sequences. And stealth sequences. That’s right. It was really, really useful for the 40-year old not-usually-the-gamer-types.

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]]> By: GyRo567 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-6950 GyRo567 Thu, 01 Nov 2007 22:52:45 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-6950 I still don't see why people think the ending was bad. I loved it. Have you no mind for theorizing? It's one of the most fun parts of the overall gaming experience! An ongoing series without theorizing is like sex without foreplay. I still don’t see why people think the ending was bad. I loved it. Have you no mind for theorizing? It’s one of the most fun parts of the overall gaming experience!

An ongoing series without theorizing is like sex without foreplay.

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]]> By: complexmath http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-4909 complexmath Tue, 23 Oct 2007 22:04:36 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-4909 Dreamfall had puzzles? Really? I remember some badly implemented and painfully easy combat sequences but no puzzles. To be honest, the implementation of Dreamfall took me completely by surprise, as I expected a game functionally and structurally similar to TLJ. Dreamfall also lacked the depth of exposition in TLJ, and while a few sequences in TLJ were admittedly a bit long (the storyteller sequence), they also added to the depth of the game world. In summary, I think the design of Dreamfall was conflicted in that the story was written for a mature audience but the gameplay was designed for children. Oh, and did I mention that it was incredibly short? Dreamfall had puzzles? Really? I remember some badly implemented and painfully easy combat sequences but no puzzles.

To be honest, the implementation of Dreamfall took me completely by surprise, as I expected a game functionally and structurally similar to TLJ. Dreamfall also lacked the depth of exposition in TLJ, and while a few sequences in TLJ were admittedly a bit long (the storyteller sequence), they also added to the depth of the game world. In summary, I think the design of Dreamfall was conflicted in that the story was written for a mature audience but the gameplay was designed for children. Oh, and did I mention that it was incredibly short?

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]]> By: Aquarion http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-4716 Aquarion Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:11:05 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-4716 King Awesome: I agree, in part. Actually, I agree with most of what you said, the end of the game is a very moving bit of gameplay, it is very well structured, the sound track works, the pacing is wonderful. Any game would be proud of it to close off a chapter. It's not an end. It doesn't close the game, it ends it. "And that's how she got into a coma", while being quite literally the question the story answers, does not actually resolve the story, especially because after everything you did your character has still failed. It's an opposite to the Longest Journey ending, where you solved the world's problems without ever actually solving your own story. In this you close your own story, but the world's problems continue apace. After tLJ, I wanted another game to continue with what April did next. And now, with the possibility of half a decade more unsatisfying cliffhangers, it looks annoying. This doesn't mean I won't buy the games like the whining little fanboy I undoubtedly am, but still. Er. Something. King Awesome: I agree, in part. Actually, I agree with most of what you said, the end of the game is a very moving bit of gameplay, it is very well structured, the sound track works, the pacing is wonderful. Any game would be proud of it to close off a chapter.

It’s not an end. It doesn’t close the game, it ends it. “And that’s how she got into a coma”, while being quite literally the question the story answers, does not actually resolve the story, especially because after everything you did your character has still failed.

It’s an opposite to the Longest Journey ending, where you solved the world’s problems without ever actually solving your own story. In this you close your own story, but the world’s problems continue apace. After tLJ, I wanted another game to continue with what April did next. And now, with the possibility of half a decade more unsatisfying cliffhangers, it looks annoying.

This doesn’t mean I won’t buy the games like the whining little fanboy I undoubtedly am, but still.

Er. Something.

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]]> By: Derick http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-4513 Derick Mon, 22 Oct 2007 05:19:45 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-4513 I highly enjoyed the story to Dreamfall although I felt it was a little thin at times. The ending definitely pissed me off, but it looked like Zoe's story was over for the most part. There were numerous threads that never got answered though. It definitely felt like they were going for a "oh we got you now! Now you HAVE to buy our next game to find out what happened....muah ha ha ha haaaa" type deal. So, okay Ragnar....the undreaming has been released, when do we get to do something about it!? I highly enjoyed the story to Dreamfall although I felt it was a little thin at times. The ending definitely pissed me off, but it looked like Zoe’s story was over for the most part. There were numerous threads that never got answered though. It definitely felt like they were going for a “oh we got you now! Now you HAVE to buy our next game to find out what happened….muah ha ha ha haaaa” type deal.

So, okay Ragnar….the undreaming has been released, when do we get to do something about it!?

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]]> By: Richard http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-4368 Richard Sat, 20 Oct 2007 18:13:14 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-4368 "Also, I didn’t mind the ending to Dreamfall. I felt that it did tell one story from beginning to end. It just also told some other stories that it did not wrap up." I disagree. I felt it told several stories that it didn't finish, and hurriedly pulled another one out at the last minute, pretending that's what it had been about all along. “Also, I didn’t mind the ending to Dreamfall. I felt that it did tell one story from beginning to end. It just also told some other stories that it did not wrap up.”

I disagree. I felt it told several stories that it didn’t finish, and hurriedly pulled another one out at the last minute, pretending that’s what it had been about all along.

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]]> By: Ertai http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-4342 Ertai Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:06:47 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-4342 Trivia: In the spanish version of the game, April had the same voice actress as Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, what a coincidence! Trivia: In the spanish version of the game, April had the same voice actress as Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, what a coincidence!

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]]> By: someone http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2007/10/19/making-of-the-longest-journey/#comment-4339 someone Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:26:09 +0000 http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=457#comment-4339 Yeah, when I finished Bard's Tale I, I wasn't sure if the game was over or not. I just kept on wandering around looking for the next objective / win screen. The hint book for BT1 was also very good. The thief stole away with the shape keys so the protagonists couldn't win. Also, I didn't mind the ending to Dreamfall. I felt that it did tell one story from beginning to end. It just also told some other stories that it did not wrap up. But I thought it was a beautiful game. Yeah, when I finished Bard’s Tale I, I wasn’t sure if the game was over or not. I just kept on wandering around looking for the next objective / win screen.
The hint book for BT1 was also very good. The thief stole away with the shape keys so the protagonists couldn’t win.
Also, I didn’t mind the ending to Dreamfall. I felt that it did tell one story from beginning to end. It just also told some other stories that it did not wrap up. But I thought it was a beautiful game.

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