Dreamfall: The Longest Journey

I thought the first one had moments but didn't rise to the level of Anachronox, Planescape, or Grim Fandango. Still I went ahead and preordered, the UPS truck should be by any moment now.
 
Its for the most part quite beautiful. The skyboxes are limited, but the texturing and modeling is first rate. Too many loading zones in the opening level. That bit is annoying.

clipboard011gf.jpg
 
SugarCoat said:
Getting some pretty high praises by reviewers. Looks like a sleeper hit.
Heh. I first read this, and then this one. Quite the contrast... They seem to pretty much agree about things, yet the first loathed it while the latter loved it.

Luckily, I don't suffer from ADD and like a complex story, so I'll be getting it. The only question is whether to import it or to wait a couple of months for the localized version. Normally I hate all kinds of dubbing, but being a Norwegian developer, Norwegian language might be appropriate.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've got my copy.

  • It's more of a modern take on an adventure game. Think Broken Sword 3 rather than Still Life. You control your character directly.
  • The game looks quite good. Good framerates on my X1800GTO with max detail 4x AA, 16x qual af, qual adaptive AA, 1280x1024 rez.
  • The game has surprisingly hefty minimum and recommended system requirements but I'd attribute that to most other games' reqs being a bit understated.
  • This is an ATi supported title. The box suggests an ATi video card for recommended specs as well as having an ATi intro movie.
  • Presentation is stellar so far, but I'm not very far.
  • The game was bloody hard to get on street date (today) I wouldn't be surprised if there are only about 10 copies total in my city and 300k people live here. One EBGames had 1 copy, another had 0, the gamestop I bought it from got 2. And they wonder why these games don't sell...
  • And lastly... 6 bloody CDs. Need I say more.
 
Gnerma said:
[*]And lastly... 6 bloody CDs. Need I say more.[/list]
I never got why they do that. It can't be cost-effective. Lower DVD adpotion ratio? That their spanky new and utterly innefective copy-protection won't work on a DVD? What?

Luckily it's supposed to be available on DVD in Europe.
 
Its just an issue of a stubborn market. Here in the US the retailers actually pressure publishers to stick with CDs even to this day.

Anyway, it seems all the screenshots from the game were from the Xbox because it really is quite nice looking. The shaders are mostly pretty simple which is understandable given the games sister platform.

http://www.fringemedia.net/images/DF1.png (2mb)

I don't know what is up with Zoe's finger up the wazoo expression there.. I'm a bit dissappointed with Zoe's accent too, I was expecting a sexy Spanish twang :|
 
Didn't even know the game was out yet. I bought a used copy of TLJ a year and a half ago and had a blast with it. Looking forward to picking this one up...
 
my copy was shipped (on truck) today. i'll let you know how it goes from a shooter/rpg perspective! (who hated point and click...and those games who's 3rd/1st person control and camera isn't really as good as it could be and is in some of my favorite games)
 
i have mine, maybe i'll take a little oblivion break tonight or tomorrow.

i hear it's 'pretty'...i like games that have at least SOME cheery environs...don't know what's with all that dimly lit urban blight stuff i see all the time in games.
 
I'm really impressed with this game artistically so far. Everything seems like its been tweaked to perfection. Here are a few more screens, 2x AA, 16x AF now. FPS is pegged at 60 in some of these due to vsync. PNGs again (I have more bandwidth than brains). Note the proper stair stance in #2. I love little touches like that.

http://www.fringemedia.net/images/DF2.png
http://www.fringemedia.net/images/DF3.png
http://www.fringemedia.net/images/DF4.png
http://www.fringemedia.net/images/DF5.png
http://www.fringemedia.net/images/DF6.png
 
Gnerma said:
I'm really impressed with this game artistically so far.

Animation, Lip Syncing, things like the movement of the eyes. Those are weaker that not but the art... this is the most beautiful game I've played since Far Cry. The sets are incredible.
 
I won't disagree with you on that point. I think the models and animation are probably the biggest strike against the game's presentation. Some faces are just way too smooth and the characters could do with about double the poly count. The lip syncing is serviceable but overall the faces just aren't very dynamic or expressive. It's quite unfortunate since they're so front and center. Its a far cry from Source models thats for sure. Otherwise the game has me floored with how well it presents itself.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
linthat22 said:
Sweet, my wife and I loved the first one, can't wait to get our hands on this one. Thanks for the heads up!!!

You'll love it :) the controls aren't perfect and there are the nits about animation and whatnot... but its still fantastic and getting better the further I play.
 
Back
Top