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dkirschner's The Longest Journey (PC)
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| [January 17, 2014 10:52:00 AM]
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Closing The Longest Journey prematurely because I think it is really boring. It's a shame because the story is intriguing and the more fantastical art is pretty cool. I'd like to know what happens and to see more locations, but it's not worth the time and slow pace.
I made it to Chapter 5 (of 13) and have probably sunk in 10 hours. A lot of the puzzles are just like...what? They detract from the story. Those 10-minute long dialogue scenes and the poor character animations are not letting up. I just find myself sitting here with my head resting against my palm, mouth hanging open, staring blankly at the screen, idly clicking through dialogue options, listening to characters drone on and on about stuff that seems tangentially relevant to what I need to know.
Also the game seems very linear. You have to do things in the exact order for necessary dialogue options or actions to become available. So I've been in this library area reading books. To "unlock" the books to read, you have to get a priest to mention each book that you have to read. Then you have to talk to the librarian about each topic, get him to get each book, then read each book. There was apparently one I missed, but I don't know if I didn't read it, didn't talk to the librarian about it or didn't talk to the priest about it.
But because I didn't read it, or unlock it (?), I can't have the dialogue option with this sailor to ask about some island that I need to get to (that is mentioned in the book). Because I don't have that dialogue option, I can't win the sailor's pet bird back in a game of cups because the option to select the bird as a prize isn't there, even though I've known from like Chapter 2 that I need to win the bird in a game of cups and give it to the sailor. IT WON'T LET ME DO IT AND IT'S SO FRUSTRATING! All because I didn't ask someone 2 hours ago about one stupid book. I won the game of cups. The bird is sitting right there. I've traded the game master a screwdriver (??) for an "exotic prize" which is obviously the bird. April knows the sailor lost the bird to the game master and it's obvious he wants it back. But April keeps going "Hmm, I have to think about what prize to choose." IT'S THE BIRD, APRIL. THERE'S NOTHING THERE BUT THE BIRD.
I guess I can't enjoy all the classics, can I? What do I do about the sequel then?
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| [January 13, 2014 08:43:54 AM]
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Going to write a couple quick entries for some ongoing games. First is The Longest Journey, a point-and-click adventure game from the late '90s. This is one that appeared on "Top 100 PC Games of All Time" lists and so I had grabbed it and its sequel at some point. I installed it to be my next "I don't have a mouse handy" game and it got some initial play time while I was on vacation when I was doing what I do waking up hours before everyone else in the house.
First impressions: Very awesome environmental art. The backgrounds, especially the fantasy stuff, are colorful and imaginative. I had no idea what the game was about before playing, and I'm happy to say now that I like how it alternates between two worlds, two Earths. It's a cool story that has been built up nicely so far.
~Hour 3: I began using a walkthrough. I made it through the prologue and most of Chapter 1 without help, but yeah, this is a classic point-and-click in the sense that the puzzles are just...hard. I would never think to do most of the actions that turn out to be puzzle solutions. Last time I was playing, there is a scene with a rubber duck float in a canal, a pulley, a seagull, and a wooden crate. You have to throw the bread (inventory item) onto the duck float, which makes the seagull swoop down and land on the crate, which dislodges the duck float and sends it downstream. Then you pull the pulley up and take the rope on it. Then you have to go retrieve the duck float. You have to get this key that is on a train track. To get the key, you have to blow up the duck float, put a bandaid (inventory item) on the hole in the duck float to keep the air from leaking too fast, tie the rope (inventory item) around the duck float, attach a clamp (inventory item) to the rope, and toss the duck float/clamp thing at the key. I'm still not sure how the key actually got picked up, but that's what you have to do to get it.
Thanks to puzzles like these, I am now just playing with a walkthrough next to me. It's much faster and keeping my attention much more.
~Hour 5: Wow, this really is the longest journey. I thought that with a walkthrough I would breeze on through. Not the case! I used the walkthrough straight up in Chapter 2 and it took almost 2 hours! There are like 13 chapters! Not complaining. I like a long story-rich game.
On the downside, I've noticed that there are quite a few long, drawn out dialogue scenes that literally go on for 10+ minutes. These draaaag. One in particular with some priest who explains the entire history of the world to you was way way way too much information at once. I guess in Chapter 2 there were a lot of these scenes. Hopefully that's a front-loaded exposition kind of thing and it tapers off, but we shall see. The story is really neat and the voice acting is pretty good, so I want to listen. I just don't want to sit still for so long at a time!
~Hour 6: I have noticed the protagonist April Ryan has clown feet. Shaquille O'Neal called and wants his shoes back.
I've decided since this is such a calm point-and-click to just play when I am eating a meal by myself. If I play when I'm not doing anything else simultaneously, I get sort of bored. Playing in small chunks while eating seems to be right on. This'll replace Seinfeld for my "what to do while eating" activity.
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dkirschner's The Longest Journey (PC)
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Current Status: Stopped playing - Got Bored
GameLog started on: Saturday 28 December, 2013
GameLog closed on: Friday 17 January, 2014 |
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