Dreamfall, the sequel The Longest Journey, has gone gold

[theblackw0lf]

http://www.adventuregamers.com/newsitem.php?id=1175


The long anticipated arrival of Dreamfall is at last close at hand, as publisher Aspyr Media announced today that the game has gone gold in North America. Developed for both Xbox and PC, Dreamfall is scheduled to release on April 17th.

Dreamfall is the sequel to The Longest Journey, one of the most popular and successful point & click adventures in recent years. The new game boldly leaves behind the interface of its more traditional predecessor, presenting a fully interactive world (or three worlds, to be precise) in full 3D. Dreamfall promises plenty of variety, with three playable characters, optional control schemes, and the ability to choose paths and strategies that will affect the gameplay experience.

The controllable characters include TLJ's April Ryan, along with a new female protagonist, Zoë Castillo, and a mysterious character named Kian. Each character has their own unique abilities, and players will guide all three to discover how their destinies are bound together.

For more information about Dreamfall, take your pick from our extensive coverage of the game during its development.

err, that should be sequel "to" The Longest Journey. Oh well.

[Jason McMaster]

Oblivion?

[OrfBC]

Sweeeeeeeet

[Moggraider]

FINALLY. I've been waiting for this game since the day it was announced. I hope it doesn't suffer from consoleitis and that it didn't lose any of the original's attitude.

[Lunch of Kong]

I liked the writing in the Longest Journey, especially the characterizations, but I hated the puzzles. Some of them seemed arbitrary.

[Simpilot]

The original was probably my second favorite adventure game of all time after Monkey Island. I also probably have quite unrealistic expectations of greatness here, but I can't wait to give it a try.

[Jazar]

Holy Crap already? Cool!

I loved the first one. A little long winded at times but really amazing world that they threw you in.

[Gladguy]

I liked the writing in the Longest Journey, especially the characterizations, but I hated the puzzles. Some of them seemed arbitrary.
Some of them seemed arbitrary? Have you ever played an adventure game, Rog'?

You never had to figure out how to:
- get the Babelfish into your ear
- make a moustache with cat hair
- play a tune on a broken piano
- insert obtuse adventure game puzzle here

[fuzzyslug]

Holy Crap already? Cool!

I loved the first one. A little long winded at times but really amazing world that they threw you in.

I agree with the praise and criticism. My wife, who always plays adventure games with me, gave up on the Longest Journey because she thought it became the Longest Cut Scene. I stuck it out, though. I thought it was very good.

[Jazar]

I thought the puzzles were pretty easy because the inventory item would glow when you hovered it over an object. When you got stuck it took only seconds to see if something would work or not.

[Alan Au]

I'm still waiting to see what people have to say about the "combat" system.

- Alan

[Jab]

Any word if it will have starforce on it? I heard that the adventure company used it on some of their games.

[stusser]

Holy crap, two games that I actually want coming out within a month's time... three if U5:Lazarus 1.2 comes out this week. Sweet!

The longest journey was absolutely fantastic, but I'm prety leery of the action elements in the sequel. Several previews compared the fighting to jade empire, which is really not a good sign. I'll probably wait for reviews to come in on this one.

[Alex Handy]

I agree with the praise and criticism. My wife, who always plays adventure games with me, gave up on the Longest Journey because she thought it became the Longest Cut Scene. I stuck it out, though. I thought it was very good.

That is exactly what happened to my wife. She loved the game, but couldn't stand the endless dialog and the inability to skip it. Sucked the fun right out of it when she found she could go make dinner, and return to the same conversation still going on.

[Ben Sones]

Of course they HAD to release it right after I start playing Oblivion. Bastards.

[Equisilus]

Yep, noticed it's pending release as well. I've been trackin' it for a looooong time and TLJ is my favorite adventure genre game ever (Syberias are a close second). Like stusser, I'm concerned over the action elements, but I've heard that they are practically optional in many cases and are otherwise fairly easy to handle. I hope so; there's nothing I like less than action in adventure games. The main reason I play adventure games is to avoid action, afterall.

Ah well, just hope I can get through Oblivion at least once by then.

[Lunch of Kong]

The Longest Journey actually freaked me out a bit. See, my girlfriend waitresses at a bar owned by a sour, cynical, Belgian who speaks English in a halted voice and who prefaces everything he says to her with "Sweetheart..."

Thus, it was slightly unsettling to me that in the game, the bar owner is a sour, cynical, Belgian with a halting voice who calls our protagonist "sweetheart".

[krayzkrok]

The original was great *once* you got past the opening chapter which, frankly, was far too "sweetie" and "darling" for me. It was like watching Absolutely Fabulous with all the comedy removed (which in my case I don't consider much of a change).

[Thomas Wilde]

...yyyyyeah. I did a preview on this one for HGM.

It's a lot less old-school adventure game and a lot more Indigo Prophecy/Syberia.

[Bill Dungsroman]

Two things:

"You...stop right there...freeze...and do The Monkey...DANCE!"

April has a nice ass.

Er, one more:

Laz 1.2 do we have an actual day yet?

[russellmz00]

April has a nice ass.

huh, clicking on the worm the first fifty times didn't work. maybe if i try it another ten or twenty times...


is it the same actress playing april?

[Alan Au]

Last I heard, the main character was Zoe, not April. Also, I don't think comparing it to Syberia is necessarily a good thing considering how empty (= boring) that game world was.

- Alan

[Kevin Grey]

...yyyyyeah. I did a preview on this one for HGM.

It's a lot less old-school adventure game and a lot more Indigo Prophecy/Syberia.


I don't follow- Syberia seemed just as old-school adventure as TLJ.

Any idea which would be the preferred platform, PC or Xbox? Has the interface been designed around a gamepad?

[Thomas Wilde]

Syberia focused a lot more on dialogue than TLJ did. You were doing a lot more negotiating and interviewing, which you do a fair amount of in Dreamfall.

It's also worth noting that you can get killed in Dreamfall, which as far as I can tell from winning the game, was impossible in TLJ.

I played the Xbox version, but I'm a console monkey, so I may be biased in this regard. It seemed fairly intuitive.

[Nick Walter]

"You...stop right there...freeze...and do The Monkey...DANCE!"


While that was an irritatingly nonobvious puzzle in the game, what a great payoff for finally figuring it out.

[Jasper Phillips]

Gamasutra Interview with Ragnar Tornquist (http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060403/woodard_01.shtml)

I'm definitely looking forward to this! I don't mind the inclusion of action elements at all, even if I am a bit worried whether they do a good job with it.

[Draikin]

I'm still waiting to see what people have to say about the "combat" system.

- Alan
From what i played, it's Jade Empire without magic and a little slower.


It's also worth noting that you can get killed in Dreamfall, which as far as I can tell from winning the game, was impossible in TLJ.

There's also auto-save before any event that may kill you.


is it the same actress playing april?
yes for the english version.


but couldn't stand the endless dialog and the inability to skip it.
hmm didn't you try the escape key ?