The Longest Journey
Apr. 28th, 2003 10:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lathanyWell, I've just completed The Longest Journey.
The Longest Journey is an unusual game within the "adventure" genre. It's a game which concentrates strongly on story rather than puzzles or in-jokes.
The story itself is great - one of the best I think I've seen for a computer adventure game. Certainly the most imaginative that I have come across. I would have rated it even higher if a few more of the loose ends had been tied up and if a few more character fates had been made clear to us. However, it might have been left that way for the good old "sequel" path, and The Longest Journey 2 has been promised, from what I can tell.
What else ? Well, the puzzles are rather mixed. Some of them are a good choice, others are rather simple (eg. talk until you run out of options) and a significant minority are obscure. But I could say the same about many of the other adventure games.
As for the dialogue... it's very entertaining in places, and no-one comes across as a complete idiot (OK, maybe Zak does). However, some parts could be used to re-define the word "long-winded" - the Tale of Sea in particular seemed never-ending.
Having said all that, it was my kind of game. Plenty to watch, a good story and lots of fun characters. Plus it's long enough that it feels like a proper length game.
So what next ? I might have another go at loading Broken Sword. Otherwise it's a choice between Discworld Noir and Gabriel Knight 3. But not tonight.
The Longest Journey is an unusual game within the "adventure" genre. It's a game which concentrates strongly on story rather than puzzles or in-jokes.
The story itself is great - one of the best I think I've seen for a computer adventure game. Certainly the most imaginative that I have come across. I would have rated it even higher if a few more of the loose ends had been tied up and if a few more character fates had been made clear to us. However, it might have been left that way for the good old "sequel" path, and The Longest Journey 2 has been promised, from what I can tell.
What else ? Well, the puzzles are rather mixed. Some of them are a good choice, others are rather simple (eg. talk until you run out of options) and a significant minority are obscure. But I could say the same about many of the other adventure games.
As for the dialogue... it's very entertaining in places, and no-one comes across as a complete idiot (OK, maybe Zak does). However, some parts could be used to re-define the word "long-winded" - the Tale of Sea in particular seemed never-ending.
Having said all that, it was my kind of game. Plenty to watch, a good story and lots of fun characters. Plus it's long enough that it feels like a proper length game.
So what next ? I might have another go at loading Broken Sword. Otherwise it's a choice between Discworld Noir and Gabriel Knight 3. But not tonight.
