The Longest Journey

TLJ has been released multiple times, on different platforms. GOG ships the first release, which was issued on 4 CDs. Sometime after that the game was reissued on 2 CDs, unfortunately making the 4-CD version deprecated and abandoned, with no patches available except the police station fix (which presents on the first CD of the 4-CD set). For the 2-CD version many other patches were made, including a fix for the FMV crash, which is annoying and makes the game cumbersome to play. Later the 2-CD version was reissued on DVD, which is virtually identical, just replacing the medium. Steam ships the 2-CD/DVD version with the latest patch applied - so go for this one, if the DRM is an acceptable option for you. It's possible to apply a 2-CD version patch to the 4-CD version, but with a catch. The audio files are encoded differently, and the newer release has no support for playing the old format. So you can choose between crash-free FMV *OR* in-game sounds. Great. Fortunately there is another option, which also make the game playable on Linux, without using Wine or any VM. ResidualVM is a multi-game-engine like ScummVM, and it has near-complete support for TLJ (besides Grim Fandango, CoMI and Myst III). The game is playable with couple of barely noticeable graphical glitches. Besides these I have experienced a major issue: after saving the game, parts of the screen go flickering like crazy and the game noticeably slows down. Hopefully this bug will be fixed soon as going with ResidualVM gives nice antialiasing and good quality resampling. http://www.residualvm.org/downloads/#daily The game itself is a five-star evergreen, just this release is crap.

What to say about TLJ? It's one of the best point-and-click adventures I have ever played, in my opinion. It does have flaws (some obtuse puzzles, and the last third of the game feels rushed), but its qualities are so high in other areas, that I feel compelled to give it a high score (it would be a 9/10, which I rounded up). Let's start with the story. You'll play as April Ryan, a young art student, with a witty tongue, and a bright personality. She might be a little lost in life, but you know she'll be alright. Her journey starts with a bizarre, fantasy-themed dream. and soon you'll start to realize there might be more to it than just her imagination. In her shoes, you'll find yourself travelling between a sci-fi world (with dystopic vibes) and a high-fantasy world, full of interesting creatures and lore, in an attempt to save both. The tone is usually whimsical, but it's overall a great tale of someone rising to the challenge, even if they weren't prepared for it. The story also has enough twists to remain interesting, if not downright surprising. The characters are absolutely charming. Their dialogues just have the best kind of comedy (with some great sarcasm when required), but they are also genuine and heartfelt when it comes to the more serious exchanges. My only complaint is that we don't spend enough time with most of them, as they all feel like they could have some great arcs (especially as the last third is rushed, as I mentioned). April and Crow (a talking bird who will become your sidekick) steal the show, especially as their friendship grows. By the end, you'll be deeply moved by their bond and also by their personal struggles, I am sure. The presentation suffers from the age of the game, but honestly the backgrounds and FMV still get the job done (the 3D is wonky, though). The music enhances the mood, although it's subdued overall. Still good, though. A gem of a game I can't recommend enough, very touching (avoid the sequels, though, they stink).

I'm the first to ignore all outside critique on a movie or game and just enjoy things on their own merits. But I really truely couldn't get into this game. Overall it seemed like it was trying to give you the impression that it was large and epic, without actually being that. There were so many screens that just existed to run across, or do one thing, which seems like a waste of time on the developer's part, and the player's too. (And then you enter entire "cities" to which they've devoted ONE screen!) Same with the lengthy dialogue; it talked big without actually engaging me. I constantly felt like the person behind this really wanted to write a novel, but made a game instead. The main character, sometimes I wondered if they even cared about her. It was annoying playing her because she was whiny and immature, and not in a funny Roger Wilco way, but in a milennial "I can't adult" way. And then all of a sudden she's spouting reams of dialogue later on just because the story seems to call for it - with no character progression showing how she might've changed. She just seemed like a vehicle for the author's "epic story" and not a character in her own right. Ultimately how does the game play? Like someone who doesn't know how to design a game, feeding into my belief that this should have jus been an epic novel. The game is plagued with "this can't happen yet because we said so" leaving me (and other people - I looked) very confused as to why something won't progress. There are things that should obviously work, which don't, because you haven't looked at the "right" thing yet or been through all the dialogue options for the right character yet - this game not only suffers from "lawn mower" dialogue (where you just ask every option, like mowing the lawn) it actually requires it. I could say more, because I kept trying to enjoy this and kept getting stopped, but the review is too long. 2 stars for good artwork and a technically impressive 1999 graphics engine.

This game, its sequel and the like bear some resemblance to the Sierra On-line, or Lucas Arts adventure games often referred to in some of these reviews. The cursor mechanics take interaction away from the user, utilizing a 'smart' cursor that informs the user that there is something to do there. The user only has to drag a cursor over the screen, pixel-hunting for the hot-spot that will activate the cursor, changing its state to feedback an alert to the player by changing the cursor graphic. Player interaction is reduced to a click of the mouse and what ever needs to be done at that spot automatically is done. As for puzzles, most are simple, non-dynamic tasks that do not require much interaction on behalf of the player. And they are scarce when compared to the classic games, replaced by seemingly endless dialogues, and long walks through incredible environments where there is usually not much to do except experience some frustration at the lack of interaction needed. On top of that, you would have to think that listening to a character that sounds like an airhead is cool or entertaining in some way. If not, you will just be annoyed. The Longest Journey is a very done interactive story. But the interaction is minimal, the entire experience is far more passive, requiring little in the way of decision making by the player, as opposed to the older games that used a cursor mechanic that allowed the player to choose what act was performed and when, leaving the interactive decision making in the hands of the user, where it should be in an adventure game. By all means, play The Longest Journey, and its sequel. And play Siberia, and its sequel as well. They are similar. I have played them and they are memorable and enjoyable. But if you choose to review them at all, review them for what they are, not what they try to be or were inspired by. To do anything else is to point those who seek a certain type of content in the wrong direction. -enjoy the games-

IMPORTANT: one puzzle has game breaking bug (subway station). If you combine 3 items in slightly different order/way, April will refuse to perform specific action and complete the task. Make sure to save often and use DIFFERENT save slots for different locations, otherwise you'll end up replaying whole thing from the beginning. Took me few hours to figure out this was a bug and not something I missed while playing... Other than that and possible police station crash this game is marvelous. True classic. Don't miss it if you love adventures!