Dreamfall Chapters: The Final Cut

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>SPOILERS>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> I have played to the end of chapter 2 and although it is a little uneven it is a excellent experience. I have found the Propast sections to be much more compelling and there is a genuine feeling of everything coming apart at the seams which is very rare for a game to capture. The Propast subplot is actually very terrifying if you role play it, far more so than Zombies and aliens. A genuine sense of realistic dread. The puzzles actually flow much better in Propast and the only one that didn't was getting that adbot screen you actions while you break into a vent .... far too position sensitive. Marcuiria has its moment too but the puzzles and stealth mechanic is downright silly. The characters are great though and the story is interesting and you can roleplay the pathos of the Kain very well. But it lacks the dread. One of the biggest problems with this game is that every choice only has two possibilities and each of these possibilities assumes only one motivation. The game sometimes assumes the wrong motivation. The clearest example is the scene where Kian has a choice to execute a Azadi Lieutenant who is probably engaged in predatory sexual relations with a minor. If you choose execution, the game chooses for you that you execute because of the crimes of the Lieutenant, but I chose execution because he was a both a risk and a very stupid man who would be of no use as a spy and a huge risk to the rebels..... the narrative actually points out how stupid he is. But the game chose otherwise and Kian choices has consequences I didn't choose.

The Longest Journey is one of my favourite series out there. This addition to the series is a good start to what will probably be another lovely and brilliant story. Here's a summary of my experience: Pros: Brilliantly written characters & story Excellent voice-acting Great music Lovely aesthetic Complex choices Good replayability Cons: Several minor glitches & bugs upon release (Nothing game-breaking, just annoying) Bad animation quality Questionable pacing Poorly contextualized (I.E. you really should play the previous games to understand the story) Graphics look a bit dated In short, this chapter could've used a few more weeks/months of polishing before release, but they stayed true to their promise of release. I'd recommend people to hold off for a few patches and then DEFINITELY GET IT!

Will you like and be captured by this game? That depends on which is more important to you, the story or the gaming. Those that really love this game are those that are into The Longest Journey saga and focus more on the story than the gaming. I am one of those. For me the story is engrossing and the graphics are beautiful and convincing. In my opinion, the game's weakness is the same weakness as Dreamfall. The Longest Journey could be played on a Windows 95 computer or a Windows 7 computer. For the full graphics virtues of Dreamfall and Chapters, the latest graphics hardware at the time of their respective releases, is required. Universal playability has been sacrificed for graphic realism. This is may be because game sales depends on ratings, and, high ratings usually requires the latest graphics. Many fans simply do not have and can not afford a new gaming computer. I happen to have a computer with all the latest hardware at the time of Chapter's release; however, my GPU is for video and graphics, and not gaming. I can not play the game with the default graphic settings. I am thankful that Chapters does not have the fight scenes of Dreamfall, where a good gaming GPU can be critical.

One of my favorites point-and-click games.

I'm a latecomer to the Longest Journey series, which has the advantage that I didn't have to wait to eight years for the cliffhangers from Dreamfall to be resolved. Also, I've been playing all three games back to back, and therefore can state with confidence that (judging by the first book, as that's all that has been released at the moment I'm writing this) Dreamfall Chapters is a worthy addition to the series, that makes for seamless continuation of the series in story, character and atmosphere. The graphics have improved noticeably over the years, and while one can see in some places that the design teams has been cutting corners (like some distinctly weird character animations in Kian's prison escape sequence), overall it turned out quite beautiful, due mostly to the gorgeous and imaginative design of the worlds - you can almost feel the love the creators have poured into this game, you can see it in everywhere the attention to detail, there is something to see in almost every corner - I even found a search poster for the owner of a deflated rubber ducky on one of the walls in Propast! The only issue I was having was that they really overdid it a bit with the lens flare - at times I felt like I had strayed into a J.J. Abrams movie, the way the kept popping up everywhere. But that's admittedly a matter of taste. With the patch, I also had no issues with framerate drops, the game played smoothly all the way through. But graphics, no matter how pretty they are, really are not what the Longest series has ever been about - that has always been the story and the characters. At this stage, there is not really much one can say about the stories except that it's off to a promising start. Characters are another matter - even in the short space we have spent with him, Kian comes across as a much deep character than he did in Dreamfall, and Zoe (as she keeps reminding us) really has matured since the earlier game, had moved away from her self-centredness and become a much more outward-oriented person who is trying to make a difference in the world. And it again shows the greatness of the game that it doesn not present this transformation as an easy one, but one that Zoe has to struggle for. And the player is really getting a chance to take part in that process and shape her character - the system of explaining the dialogue choices has been greatly extended compared to Dreamfall, with the result that you can make informed and nuanced decisions. And then there are the Choices (with a capital C) that let you determine the course of the story - they do look like a fascinating feature, but again only the course of the game will show how they bear out. And I for one can hardly wait for Book Two.