Dreamfall:The longest Journey

Anyone played this title?

Its been getting pretty good reviews and I'm always on the lookout for something a bit different (and it doesn't include elves or special forces - good)

(but also ordered Prey just in case)

Yeah.. I heard that it is a really top notch story, with a fine adventure engine. However, it has these action battles that require 4 arms to play, an obviously console designed engine (which is hard to move about in with keyboards) and the puzzles aren't really that hard.

Honestly.. I personally don't like crazy hard puzzles in my adventure games, they end up stalling me for a while which disrupts the pacing of the story, and really.. the story is what people play adventure games for.

This game has a fantastic story, which is playful and beautifully put together... If you don't mind long talks, easyish puzzles and a little control problems, you'll love it.

Good. I think I've covered the bases by ordering Prey as well.

Sometimes it's good to just kick back with a game that relies on story and characterisation rather than swords/guns/explosions...

I've played it all the way through. It's great. It's quite big for an adventure ( I'd say about twice as big as Fahrenheit / Indigo Prophecy which was the last great adventure I played ) although it's true that the puzzles are not overly difficult. It does have a very strong storyline, good characterisation and some of the locations are just gorgeous. I'm assuming you've seen screenshots, but Casablanca in particular is just gorgeous.

There are some simple stealthy bits and some fighting bits but they're neither difficult nor hard to control, and they do break up the gameplay nicely. Since you clearly like adventures and you appreciate story and characterisation, I don't think you'll be disappointed with this.

I played the demo of the first one and I liked it. But I won't buy it, as it contains starforce.

starforce put me off it aswell.

Well, I'm already infected due to Silent Hunter3, so another dose probably won't hurt (?)

But still, buying a game these days is like going to the vid store - mostly garbage, or at least, stuff I'm not interested in.

I've played the first title and i wasn't impressed. I got just not hooked like with other adventures.

Yes, me too. I was very disappointed with the first one. Thankfully, this sequel is nothing like the original.

Well, I liked the first one, so maybe this one is not what I want then...

What's "starforce" anyway ?

A very unpopular protection scheme that uses a 'rootkit' like approach to hide its files from the user/system.

Heh, well that's a fair point. Since I didn't really get into the first one, it's hard for me to say. All I can say is that many of the characters in the original are back, along with some new ones too, and some of the locations are back too. For me, the weakness of the first one was the storyline, I never got into it, whereas this one is much more story-driven. I don't really recall how puzzling the puzzles were in the first one, but if you're looking for something really tough, this isn't is. Puzzles are relatively straightforward and always logical.

Ok, finished Prey last night.

Enjoyed it. It installed and ran without problems (important).

It had engaging characters, an intriguing plot (which didn't pull its punches) and a satisfying denouement to the story. And hang around for a surprise at the end of the credits.

It avoided becoming tedious (because the Doom engine is basically about moving through a long series of pretty boxes and shooting stuff), by adding new elements when needed.

There were also a few moments of complete rampage when the character was screaming blue murder at the aliens. Think more FPS's should have this kind of vocalisation. Always thought Halflife was kind of anemic as the main character's basically a silent cypher.

So I have fond memories of Prey. On the other hand, it was kind of expensive for 3 nights of entertainment.

Ok, finished Dreamfall last night.

First off, couldn't get the damn thing to run. Had to roll back my (Nvidia) drivers of all things and do a little DLL swap out. Then I found the PC controls completely unworkable. Had to turn down sensitivities to minimum, invert x/y axis, change camera mode. After the trouble-free installation and play of Prey, I was fairly irked - particularly as I paid full price for this game.

Anyway, the game turned out to be terrific didn't it?. At first it was a little offputting to be playing a beautiful young woman after Prey ;-), but this didn't last long. Play and the puzzles are fairly straight forward - the decision seems to be that there shouldn't be anything too difficult to stop the player from getting on within reason. Instead the game's about strong characterisation, attention to detail, beautiful artwork and an intricate storyline. There's a lot of cutscenes, a lot of detail, but I found the thing to do is sit back, explore and enjoy as you would a good movie or tv show. Play it in this frame of mind and it's a 'great page turner'. If you're the kind of player who habitually skips cutscenes in order to get to the 'action', well, go away now because you won't like this game.

To cut a long story short, when the game ended, I felt rueful that I was leaving the characters and their world behind - can't think of many games who've done that for me before (if any). Hope the creators (Funcom) get to create the third installment in the series.

Medieval Total War 2 next I think.