I was only 7 years old when I found my favorite game EVER. Well, technically, I didn't find it myself, my mother found it.
From what I remember, it was the box that first caught my attention. Now, I'd like you to keep in mind that I am not much of a gamer and never have been. I'd played a few games on my older brother's Nintendo 64, but I stuck to computer games back then, things like Freddy Fish and Putt-Putt. You know, kid games. And those games usually had brightly colored boxes with fun lettering on them.
The box that The Longest Journey came in was way different from what I was used to, but it drew me in. I know it wasn't the fact that it was an adult game that caught my attention; my mom had tons of adult computer games that I found incredibly boring. When I think back on it, I just remember thinking how cool that woman on the box looked. Boy, if only I had known...
I'm not going to spill anything about the plot in this post. This is pretty much for those who are already fans of the game and the series it has spawned. And, honestly, I don't think anything I can say to try to explain what this game is about would do it justice. If you haven't played this game, you must. It is...just amazing. I fell in love with it instantly.
I loved the main character, April Ryan. She was so real. She sounded like someone I could meet on the street. There are two worlds and both were fantastic. Like, seriously, fantasies. Yes, both had their down parts, like everything does, but the joys of the worlds outweighed the bad. And the plot was superb. An all-around great game.
The only problem I had with it was the ending...and that was because I didn't want it to end!
So imagine my surprise, 6 years later, when I found Dreamfall: The Longest Journey at Walmart. I hadn't even known that a sequel was coming out, wasn't even looking for it. And I came across it out of the blue. It had to be fate. I didn't even have to beg my mom for it; her jaw dropped just as far as mine had to the ground when she saw it.
As I started the game, I was bouncing with excitement. I was a little confused at first, because the game was so different from the first, but I had high hopes for it. And those hopes crushed to the ground about halfway through the game.
April Ryan, my favorite character and part of the game, had a minor part. Some might say she had a major role, considering you get to play a few chapters as her, but that definitely wasn't enough for me. Especially because the main character of the second one - Zoe Castillo - was awful. And boring. Incredibly, absolutely boring. She had no motivation and not one ounce of awe in her body, the complete opposite of April Ryan. The two have their similarities as well, don't get me wrong. They both had to do things that they didn't want to, but there were giant differences in the way they went about things. April didn't want to go on this journey, she questioned it every step of the way, but she put on her big girl panties and did everything she had to do with conviction. Zoe, on the other hand, simply shrugged and did what she was told. She didn't care.
So I didn't care about her or her story.
I did a little digging after finishing Dreamfall and found that the maker of the game - his name is so hard for me to type on my really old keyboard at the moment, so I will just refer to him as maker - don't worry, it is really easy to look him up on Google - did intend to finish April's story...after he finished Zoe's. *Sigh*
So now we have Dreamfall Chapters. This is the game that I want to talk about the most in this post.
TLJ fans have been anticipating this game for a long time now. Almost ten years. This is the first issue I want to address. We were told that it would be released in 2013 and that it would be released in chapters, hence the name. I - and a lot of other fans of the game - had a huge problem with this: TLJ series isn't a game that you play in chapters. We didn't play the first two games that way and we don't want to play this one in chapters. It actually takes away from the story. And considering the fact that we've been waiting almost a decade for this, we don't want to have to wait even longer in between chapters to continue playing.
We cried. A lot. And I think it did some good. I don't know the exact reason why they decided to change it, but they did. The makers decided to release the game as a whole, just as they did with the first two games. Fans rejoiced, including me. Finally, no more waiting. Once we reach the release date, we can have at it. (And, on a personal note, I can get through Zoe's boring story and finally continue April's.)
I left Dreamfall Chapters on the backburner for a while, since the release date was still a ways off. And, then, one day after the release date, I remembered. I immediately grabbed my computer, went to Steam, and looked for it. But it wasn't there. Had they decided not to put it on Steam? I thought they'd said they were...
I did more digging and found that they'd pushed the release date...an entire year. Seriously? I could only imagine how the fans who had donated through Kickstarter felt if I was furious. So Chapters went on the backburner once again.
Luckily, one of my favorite video game YouTubers - Cryaotic; look him up, it's worth it, I promise - decided to play Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, so I had something to keep me preoccupied for a bit. Watching someone else play a game you enjoy - even if it is simply because it is a part of a series you enjoy - for the first time is quite fun.
I say this because, after a while, I got burned out on waiting. I was tired. And I knew that I'd have even more waiting to do after Chapters in order to get to what I really wanted: April's story. So I gave up.
Then 3 days ago, I logged into YouTube and checked out Cry's feed...to find "Cry Plays Dreamfall Chapters: Book One [P1]".
OMG!!!
I watched and...enjoyed. They'd made so many improvements! Everything was crystal clear and no longer looked like a cartoon. Zoe looked real and so did everything else. They used a different voice actor - or the original voice actor's voice changed over time - for Zoe, which pleased me immensely because I didn't like how Zoe sounded in the first Dreamfall. Things were so much better...but still no April Ryan. I suppose I will just give up on her.
I watched all of the parts Cry had uploaded...which were only 6. That was odd, considering each video is about 40 minutes long and the game should be much longer. Then I get to the end of the video and find credits. Cry was obviously frustrated, stating that he'd forgotten the game was in chapters.
Oh. No.
Yup, you guessed it. I found out that they turned Dreamfall Chapters back into a chapter-by-chapter game because, ahem, the game still wasn't finished by the release date and they wanted to give fans something. Again: SERIOUSLY?!
Okay, listen. I completely understand that things come up and happen. I completely understand that they are only human and go only do so much. But people have donated a lot of money to see this happen and they were still complaining about money. I understand they have to buy programs and equipment in order to even make the game, but didn't they do that in the beginning? Shouldn't that be the very first thing you do? And they've had YEARS to work on this game. More than a year ago, I was watching the maker play a little of the game in a video online. And let me tell you, he was playing a part way beyond the first book, from what it looked like.
So here is my message to the maker and developers: First of all, I am not the only person who feels this way. I have seen so many different comments from different people talking about all of the things I've mentioned, from how the original Dreamfall was a bust, to how disappointing Dreamfall Chapters has already turned out simply because of the wait. It doesn't have to be perfect. Release the damn game already. And then snap to getting the next - hopefully about April Ryan - game going. I, and other fans of TLJ, are tired of waiting for April's story to continue. We don't care about Zoe. She's boring. This may seem a little harsh, but hell, I have been waiting since I was 7 to continue April's story and I am now 21. I wouldn't be so mad if you had simply continued with April's story and then tell Zoe's story.
Rant over.
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