Product Details
 | Dreamfall Game of the Year |
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Product Description
The Game of the Year Edition will take players on an epic journey of exploration and adventure as they venture through a thrilling and emotional storyline. Indulge in 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.In The Longest Journey the player controls the protagonist April Ryan on her journey through more than 160 locations spanning two original worlds and featuring a cast of more than 50 speaking characters. Dive into a journey of discovery where you will solve puzzles meet new people face terrifying monsters learn grow and live the adventure of a lifetime!In Dreamfall which takes place a decade after The Longest Journey players can finally revisit the epic universe. Players will be introduced to the new protagonist Zo Castillo who is about to get involved in a conspiracy that spans parallel worlds and hundreds of years. Zo embarks on a journey where she eventually discovers a magical world behind our own she will need to make decisions about what s important to her and what she s willing to risk for the people she loves.Format: WIN 2000XP Genre: ENTERTAINMENT UPC: 618870115719 Manufacturer No: 11574Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #6425 in Video Games
- Brand: Aspyr
- Released on: 2007-05-21
- ESRB Rating: Mature
- Platform: Windows
- Format: CD
- Dimensions: .44 pounds
Features
- Stunning Sounds and Soundtrack ¿ Listen to an emotional and epic soundtrack in 7.1 surround as well as voice recordings of 50+ professional actors.
- Unparalleled Gameplay Variety ¿ Use brains or brawn; be polite or rude, threaten or sweet talk; in Dreamfall you make the choice, resulting in unexpected gameplay.
- Three Playable Characters ¿ Experience the story from three separate character's perspectives, and learn how their destinies blend together in an epic finale.
- Three Worlds ¿ Dreamfall spans three beautifully realized worlds, multiple chapters and a stunning amount of detailed locations.
- Unique World Interaction ¿ Dreamfall introduces a new focus field feature. Scan your environment and use information gathered to trigger remote gameplay opportunities.
Editorial Reviews
From the
Manufacturer
Dreamfall: The Longest Journey Game of the
Year Edition combines the original, The Longest Journey, Dreamfall:
The Longest Journey, the game soundtrack, as well as a bound
collection of breathtaking images from the game. This edition compiles
all the features that have won awards such as:
| THE LONGEST JOURNEY Editor’s Choice Award - IGN.com Best Adventure Game - IGN.com Best of 2000 - Gamespy Game of the Year - Gamespot.com Best of 2000 - Gaming Age.com Editor’s Choice - Computer Gaming World | SOUNDTRACK Best Music - Gamespy.com Best Video Game Score Nomination - MTV | DREAMFALL Adventure Game of the Year - Gamespy.com Top 10 PC Game of the Year - Gamespy.com Best Story - Gamespy.com Best of 2006 - Gamespot.com Best Voice Acting of 2006 - Gamespot.com |
Customer Reviews
Overall a great deal!
Since this is actually a set
with two games instead of just one (which is what I thought when I
bought it -not that I'm complaining!) I'm going to review the games
seperately. Please note that I had never even heard of either game until
I picked this package up about 2 weeks ago.
The Longest Journey.
(original game released in Nov 2000)
-Story 5/5
This is
probably one of the best (if not THE best) storyline I've encountered.
It's one of the few games where I was captivated from start to finish
with no feeling of having to drag myself through boring parts just to
find out what happens in the end. This game is worth playing for the
story alone.
-Gamecontrol 4/5 (given for the time)
It's a 2-d
setting (no camera moving) and point and click movement. Easy for even
the most inexperienced gamer to grasp. While I thought this would annoy
me when I first started playing (I'm used to having more control) it
actually didn't.
-Gameplay 4-1/2 /5 (given for the time)
This
game has the feel of a RPG, however it's not. This isn't a bad thing,
but it changes the way the game is played. There is no actual fighting,
it's based on "puzzles". The "puzzles" are trying to figure out what to
use next to get out in a "real world" type way. It's very fun and
challenging!
-Graphics N/A
Considering the game was released 7
years ago it's not fair to rate the graphics by today's standards. My
ONLY complaint has to do with the 2007 GotY release, not the game
itself. They should have been able to make a "windowed" mode so that we
could have the option to play the game on a 800x600 window on the
computer. This would allow me (and others who didn't play it when it was
first released) to experience the game as it was meant to when it first
came out. The images are very pixelated and it did make me miss a few
smaller items because of the stretching that occurred.
-Overall
5/5
The game is almost perfect and the few things I had a problem
with were not even enough to put a dent in the game. The game was (and
still is) innovative and the story is king. Definately worth getting! :)
---------------------------------------------
Dreamfall
(originally released 2006)
-Story 3-4/5
Overall I guess I'd
have to give the storyline 3 stars, but the good parts are so great they
deserve 4 stars. The story takes longer to suck you in, but once it
finally does, it's great and I could just feel myself craving to finish
the game. However the end botches it up. Not only with the huge
cliffhanger at the end (as another reviewer pointed out) but the side
plots are never cleared up either. If you actually let the end credits
play through you get a little bonus clip at the end, but it doesn't do
much other then indicate there might be a Longest Journey 3 coming out.
-Gamecontrol
4/5
I'm assuming the people who rated the controls as bad aren't
used to the "WASD" movement that I am. I used to primarily play World of
Warcraft and Guild Wars, both of which use this same movement system so
it wasn't hard to adapt to it and I did not waste a lot of time bumping
into the walls. However if you move straight from playing The Longest
Journey to Dreamfall it does cause a bit of confusion. The only
complaint I have is that they should have included a point and click
option for looking at various objects, areas, and people. The other
games I've played with the WASD movement include this to make it easier
as opposed to tying to position your character just right so you can
look at something. That was probably the most annoying aspect of the
game.
-Gameplay 3 1/2 /5
Overall it's definately 3 stars.
However, I give them an extra 1/2 for trying newer features that have
been developed into other newer games... particularly fighting and
"sneaking". Honestly... the fighting was pretty lame and except for
getting the point across that you needed to figure out a different way
to get out of that section, it served virtually no purpose and just was
just awkward. The "sneaking" especially for this game could have been
great, if it had been done right, but somehow it just wasn't. The
defualt controls for it were hard (hold "ctrl" while walking) and
uncomfortable. I just think there could have been a better way to
"sneak". Another thing I didn't like was the character switching. I
still do not understand the point of playing the Apostle. He seemed to
have no purpose other then to show that the bad guys in Marcuria were
not ALL bad and it wasn't very relevant to the story. Playing as April
wasa bit weird. In some parts I understood it (when Zoe is trapped in
the tower), but overall they should have just stuck to one character.
-Graphics
4/5
Considering the game came out about a year ago and 6 years after
the original...the graphics are VASTLY better. However I've seen other
games that came out earlier that have better graphics. (Sims 2 is one
that comes to mind because the faces are very similar.) Some of the
picking and holding up of items is awkward and looks VERY similar to the
original. (Items going through the hand and floating through the air as
opposed to being held. I understand this during gameplay, but during
the cinematics it was annoying.) One thing I liked about Dreamfall (that
actually bothered me about the first) is the costuming. In the first
one April was ALWAYS wearing a midriff bearing shirt and capris even
when she was given clothes in Marcuria...and NOONE else wore that. In
Dreamfall Zoe is given quite a few changes of clothes and they are all
relavent to the situation. (When she borrows Damien's clothes, while it
clings to her, they actually made it look like a man's sweater, bc a
single guy is not going to have women's clothing lying around.)
-Overall
4/5
I'm tempted to give it 3/5, but I'll be honest, I haven't played
many "adventure" games and I was still engrossed in Dreamfall and
finished it in three days (Technically two, but I didn't play on the day
in the middle) this is rare that I want to find out what happens next
that I must play (as I did with The Longest Journey) The problems don't
have too much of an effect on the overall game, even if the original was
far better. The only huge disappointment was the ending and all the
cliffhangers.
------------------
The set overall 4/5
I
definately recommend getting this set. As others stated it might be in
your better interest to buy the games separately and used bc you could
probaly shave $10 off the price, but I'm used to paying $30-$60 for a
game (varies depending on the system) so a new game for $20 that turned
out to be great was an awesome deal. It also comes with the Dreamfall
soundtrack, which I haven't listened to it on it's own yet, but I did
enjoy the music I heard in the game. (Both the score and the songs with
singing) I did SOME research on it and it is supposed to include one
song that you can't get from the free download off the site. So I
suppose if you are a huge fan you might want to pick it up just for that
reason alone. :)
My only complaint is that my new shrink-wrapped
copy did not come with a game booklet, while it was not necessary to
have one, it would have been helpful for learning certain things
particularly in Dreamfall. (I was over half way through the game when I
finally figured out how to check messages on my phone...and almost done
when I learned they did include a "diary" of sorts as they did in the
first.) The key is "M" btw and it has the diary, recent dialogue, and
messages.
Also just a note on the rating...for parents (I have a
16 month old). The game is rated M and claims many things, but the main
reason (I find) for the M rating is language. (They like using the
"f-word" a lot.) The violence is not bad or realistic and there is no
gore. I found I was able to play with my child in the room if I turned
the sound down or the voices off. This goes for both games. It does have
"suggestive themes", but is only voiced and not shown.
Solid adventure game
Being forthright, I'm not
generally a fan of adventure games. They tend to be puzzle-heavy,
action-light, and not particularly fast-paced. These are all generally
traits that end up getting me frustrated and in a cheating mood, which
rather defeats the purpose of the game. I picked up Dreamfall quite a
while ago, and to be honest the only real reasons I did so were the fact
that there weren't any decent new games out (and Dreamfall had decent
reviews), and that the girl on the cover was hot (shallow I know, but
hey, I was bored). I started the game right off, found it decent, but
got sidetracked by newer releases for a long time. Thus I have only
recently finished it, and have found it to be a rather pleasant
surprise.
The main draw for this game are the graphics, plot, and
voice acting. All are very well done- each of the areas is unique, and
many are spectacular in design and ambiance. The story is (as one would
expect from an adventure game) excellent and full of interesting plot
twists that keep you going... or at least, once it picks up. The
beginning is a tad slow, but after the first few areas it gets rather
arresting. The pacing is also well done in general, with no undue
amounts of backtracking, repetitive tasks, and long periods of time
spent in the same area. The puzzles are generally not difficult to the
point of frustration, though they are challenging enough to give you a
sense of accomplishment when you pass them. Last but not least, the
soundtrack is superb- one of the best game soundtracks I've ever heard.
In
general, the game's controls are very simple. You can move around, look
at objects, and interact with them. The only 'hard' part in this
respect is that some of the 'hotspots' that you must interact with are
not easy to reach and sometimes it's not even clear they exist. This is
somewhat mitigated by focus mode, where you can sweep an area for
hotspots if they're in your field of view. You can also access your
mobile, which is essentially a journal, and a simple inventory that
rarely contains more than 5 items. Most of the game consists of speaking
to people, finding and using items (sometimes with other items) and
deciding what things to use where, or where to find an item you need.
Combat is pretty rare and not challenging in the least, and I'm pretty
sure that no matter what dialogue choices you pick, the show will go on.
Some might not like the fact that the game is very linear in this
regard, but this isn't that big a deal the first play through.
In
general, the game plays pretty much in the following way: you see a
cutscene, quite a few of which are rather amazing, then you end up in
control of one of the characters (almost always Zoe or April). You can
then move around and explore a limited area, and are clearly shown that
there is an objective to meet in this area (oftentimes nothing more than
finding a way out). There are sometimes puzzles to be solved in the
process, both of the traditional sort (pattern matching, mostly) and
environmental manipulation of some kind. Though some of the puzzles have
more than one solution, this is generally the exception to the rule. I
suppose this simplifies matters to some degree, since they usually leave
pointed hints as to what you're supposed to do. However, it absolutely
cripples replay value- once you've played the game once, you literally
know exactly what to do to beat it again. There's also not much in the
way of secrets, extras, or random encounters. If you beat the game, even
taking the path of least resistance, you will likely see and hear all
it has to offer.
Combat is a weak point of the game, so perhaps
its a good thing that it's so rare. I've seen browser based flash games
with better combat than this one: you essentially face your foe and hit
one of two attack buttons until they go down. You can block some
attacks, but this is generally a waste of time. It doesn't help that at
least a third of the combat encounters are totally unwinnable- you have
to avoid them altogether if you want to survive and continue. Bottom
line- this is no action game; if you really care about that sort of
thing, you might want to look elsewhere.
Perhaps the only really
big downer in the entire game is the fact that it leaves a lot of
questions unanswered and a lot of threads dangling. This is obviously
not the last game in the series, and it practically screams 'To be
continued' when the credits roll. Considering how long it took for
Dreamfall to finish development, it's also not likely we'll see the end
of this story any time soon. The cliffhanger plot is enough to drive one
mad.
Though it does have its flaws, Dreamfall is a great
adventure title. It doesn't require a whole lot of experience with the
genre, just an appreciation for art and plot. You don't even need to
have played the previous game in the series (I hadn't) though it might
help explain the history of the characters you encounter. The production
values, especially voice acting and music, are top-notch. If you can
live with the weak combat minigame and lack of replay value, Dreamfall
is definitely worth your time playing.
A game for story-lovers
I played Dreamfall for the
first time years ago when it was first released, finished it, and then
somehow forgot how much I enjoyed it. That actually turned out to be a
blessing, because playing it through a second time was mostly an all new
experience, and if possible, it was even better this time around.
Let
me start by telling you the faults of the game, just to get them out of
them way, and make room for what's great about it. The combat sucks.
There's just no way around it. Fortunately, there is very little of it.
Future games might want to take a hint or two from Indigo Prophecy (aka
Fahrenheit), and just have quick time based fighting or something. This
is an adventure game, afterall, and it should stay purely adventure, as
there is no room for anything else.
What's great - the story. It
is completely mind-blowing. I don't mean that as a cliche, but literally
mind-blowing, because it will really make you think - about life, about
purpose, about reality. The game touches on themes from Indigenous
Australian mythology, and does so brilliantly, adding a new dimension to
the twin-world lore of the Longest Journey franchise - dreams being the
common thread that connects the two worlds, and also their origin.
Without getting too much into the philosophy of Dreamfall, let me just
say that if for no other reason, then you must play this game for the
story. Decidedly mature, but never gratuitous, and blurring the boundary
between fantasy and science fiction, Dreamfall's narrative would be
screen worthy, but for the fact that it is too large to be contained in a
single film, and would probably be butchered on television. So the
interactive medium was the correct choice to tell this story.
The
characters are complex, three-dimensional, complete with virtue and
vice. April Ryan from TLJ returns, but she is no longer the idealistic
starving artist who went on the save the world. Now she is a jaded,
cynical, and bitter woman driven by revenge. She seems both noble and
selfless in how she fights for her cause, but in reality she is bent -
even if only subconsciously - on self-destruction. Saving the world, it
seems, creates a void in purpose after the fact.
Kian is a man of
both unshakable faith and honor. He has committed himself to the word
of his Goddess, which he believes is aligned with the will of the Six
Empresses of his kingdom, a belief that is easily protected within his
home city, insulated from the reality of the outside world. Once abroad,
however, and faced with the grim truth of what his Empire does in the
name of the Goddess, he questions not his faith, but the politics of his
leaders. It is a strange sort of thing to play as a character who is
killing the allies of another of the playable characters and watching as
he comes to grips with his purpose.
Zoe. Zoe, Zoe, Zoe. There is
so much to say about the new main character - but in a few words, she
is a dreamer who has lost the ability to dream. Like the other
characters she questions her purpose in life, and has become restless,
lazy, uninspired, and bored. So when her closest friend goes missing,
she jumps at the opportunity to search for him, not out of some
altruistic instinct, but out of a personal desire to rekindle her sense
of purpose. Along the way she discovers that she is tied into the very
nature of the twin worlds, that she has some affinity to the Dreaming.
Although
most of the game is played as Zoe, there is enough of April and Kian to
add plenty of variety and alternate perspectives, creating a truly
three-dimensional narrative.
Dreamfall is probably better
described as an interactive story than a video game, and so a warning to
action gamers and even RPG-players, this is a game purely driven by its
plot and characters, with everything else merely an excuse to keep you
involved. For me and other adventure game lovers, it is perhaps the
crowning achievement of the genre, an example of how a video game can be
art - indeed, interactive literature.
Of lesser importance to
the overall product, but worth mentioning is that the visuals are
excellent - not the high poly count of current gen games, but rendered
in a style that somehow allows it to remain timeless. Clean, simple
character models with no muddy textures, and gorgeous environments that
showcase top-notch art direction. From the bright and clean
quasi-futuristic middle-eastern look of Casablanca to the esoteric and
hauntingly beautiful City of the Dark People, there is plenty to look at
in Dreamfall. The only shortcoming here is that the environments aren't
larger, because here is truly a world that you'd like to spend a few
hours just exploring.
As for sound - the music is mostly ambient,
and falls into the background, present enough to create an atmosphere,
peaking at critical story points, but never intrusive. Of greater
importance is the quality of the voice acting, which does justice (at
least in English) to an incredible script. The believability of the
characters is enhanced not only by what they say, but HOW they say it.
There
is so much to love about this game, I could spend another ten
paragraphs singing its praises, but I'll spare you. Let me just
summarize it all by saying that this is the single greatest adventure
game that I have ever played, and a contender for my favorite game of
all time. If you do not agree after your first playthrough, I'd
recommend waiting awhile and giving it another go, perhaps after
dabbling in a little of the underlying mythology.
I give
Dreamfall my highest recommendation.
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