They say that
every story has a beginning and an end. That may be true in most
cases, but
sometimes, however, the two are one and the
same. – Zoë Castillo

The Longest Journey (TLJ) was the first, and still the only, game I ever personally awarded
with a grade of A+. It was a remarkable
achievement bolstered by memorable characters, an epic storyline
and – most amazing of all considering the puritanical nature of the
adventure genre – lesbians and the liberal use of the ‘F’ word.
In fact, Flipper Burns – a character whose every other utterance
seemed to be the ‘F’ word – is now so closely associated
with the four-letter word, that his name is substituted for such
word when typed by members of the JA Forum. Worldwide sales for TLJ – while
not spectacular in North America – still reached levels usually
not associated with adventure games.

So why muck with success? Right? Right?!

Ragnar
Tornquist – developer and creator of TLJ –
during a presentation of its sequel, Dreamfall:
The Longest Journey at the
2005 E3, described Dreamfall as a ‘spiritual
successor’ to
The Longest Journey and there is nothing
wrong with wanting to take a sequel in a new direction. After all,
haven’t we all been
subjected to enough insipid game and movie sequels that do nothing
but mirror the original?

As the most anticipated
adventure title since Syberia
2, Dreamfall was one of the most
heralded games at this year’s E3 and deservedly
so. Scheduled to be released at year’s end on both PC and Xbox,
Dreamfall will feature some characters from TLJ, but will concentrate
mostly on a new cast

Core to the story are
three playable characters: Zoë Castillo a twenty-year old young woman who lives with her grandfather; Kian an assassin who will begin to question his beliefs and returning
from TLJ, April
Ryan who will discover that no matter how hard you
try, you cannot escape the past.

In what can best be described
as a modernized version of point-and-click, characters will have
an innovative ‘focus field’ that
allows you to interact with and scan the environment. Instead of
point-and-click, you sweep the area with the focus field to find
interactive objects or inventory items. One of the puzzles we were
shown utilized the ‘focus field’ as your character had
to light a torch and it does facilitate a smooth transition between
puzzle and game without interrupting the flow of the game.

The game will be completely
rendered in real-time 3D and adventure gamers will need to prepare
themselves for eye candy usually reserved
for other genres. The game will also feature combat – though
there will almost always be an option to solve a problem without
combat either through stealth or wits – but there have been
concessions made for pc gamers – and adventure gamers – who
usually do not welcome combat in their games. Combat with the mouse
will involve simple button clicking and be much less reflex intensive
and easier in comparison to combat with the Microsoft joypad that
will allow for manual blocking, two different kinds of attacks and
other console standards.

So there you have it, what little information that is currently
available or that we are permitted to reveal (and make sure to check
out the nifty trailer).

But something nags at
the back of my mind. No, I’m not bothered
by the addition of action elements, nor am I flustered by the idea
of three playable characters. But why does it seem that so much about
this game is continually shrouded in secrecy? Why has a title of
this magnitude yet to be signed by a North American publisher? And
most importantly, why do I feel that Ragnar is no longer following
his own, original vision of The Longest Journey mythos but is instead
attempting to appeal to a more mainstream audience – has he
become overly concerned about what others think of his game and its
financial potential? Of course, this is all speculation on my part.

During an interview I
conducted in early 2004 with Ragnar, in response to a question
about the ‘controversy’ surrounding some
of TLJ’s colorful language, he replied “As far as I’m
concerned, there’s been no big “controversy” regarding
language – only a few people, relatively speaking, have reacted
negatively.” Yet, when towards the end of the E3 preview, after
one of the character’s had sworn, Ragnar became immediately
defensive – even though I did not hear anyone in the room comment
on the language – and said, “We are going for a more
mature game. We’re not afraid to use language that’s
right for the situation or the character. We’re trying to create
a grown-up game in a grown-up world so if characters are sleazy or
dangerous they may use language that reflects that.”

That’s all fine and dandy as long as you don’t
confuse swearing with maturity much like the misguided developers
of Bloodrayne.

Maybe I’m being
over-critical, but unlike other publications that are now jumping
on the TLJ/Dreamfall bandwagon after largely
ignoring the adventure genre for so long, I realize what Dreamfall represents not just as a game, but for the future existence of the
adventure game as a viable, big-budget genre and I think Ragnar is
the visionary who elevate the genre to new, higher standards.