Finished Dreamfall. I loved seeing the Journeyman Inn in 3D. Loved how much April was in the game (was expecting less than that). Loved a lot of the music. Loved Kian's last name and its subtle implication.
Didn't really mind the lack of an ending, actually. While so many questions are left unanswered, the game still felt strangely complete. It's a lot like the Witcher 2, where the more personal story is finished while the overarching story involving the world and everyone else is left up in the air. Even if the episodic continuation of the story never happens, there are enough little hints about where the story is going to make your own theories. Another thing I didn't really mind: The controls. They were awkward at first, but once I hooked up a gamepad, the whole game felt much more natural. The combat and stealth sections were fine, too. Annoying at times, but not really bad enough to be a negative.
I hated the little minigame where you have to find a certain symbol that's swimming with a bunch of other symbols. The other minigame with the spinning things is fine, but forcing you to find a little symbol among a bunch of very similar symbols within a time limit is just pointlessly frustrating in a game like this.
There's nothing I hated as much as this, though:
Didn't really mind the lack of an ending, actually. While so many questions are left unanswered, the game still felt strangely complete. It's a lot like the Witcher 2, where the more personal story is finished while the overarching story involving the world and everyone else is left up in the air. Even if the episodic continuation of the story never happens, there are enough little hints about where the story is going to make your own theories. Another thing I didn't really mind: The controls. They were awkward at first, but once I hooked up a gamepad, the whole game felt much more natural. The combat and stealth sections were fine, too. Annoying at times, but not really bad enough to be a negative.
I hated the little minigame where you have to find a certain symbol that's swimming with a bunch of other symbols. The other minigame with the spinning things is fine, but forcing you to find a little symbol among a bunch of very similar symbols within a time limit is just pointlessly frustrating in a game like this.
There's nothing I hated as much as this, though:
The romantic thing between Zoe and Damien. Spending the entire game whining about how she's interested in nothing is fine if she changes and grows in a realistic way. Aside from that scene, I'd say her development was natural enough to work. Having the first fucking thing she's interested in be some random guy she just met, a guy who's basically a coward who subtly hits on her right after they meet (right after finding out that his friend/maybe more than a friend is dead, and her ex-boyfriend/best friend's fate up in the air) and basically pushes himself on her at every opportunity, is just messed up. It's not good character development, and it didn't make her seem like she was growing as a person and getting over her apathy. It struck me more like this:
Zoe: Hey, I'm sad a lot.
Damien: I hear my penis is great for that.
Zoe: I THINK YOU'RE AWESOME
There were bigger things going on, and it was completely forced. Damien has no personality, no development. He's just a random character who exists for a good old-fashioned information dump. Not only did it negatively impact my enjoyment of the game to have him suddenly cast in a role that wasn't built up to in any way whatsoever, but it gave me the impression that Zoe had actually gone backward and become a damsel in distress in need of saving, ready to fall all over herself over the first person who helped her out. It probably could have been touching if Damien was actually given a personality or backstory or virtually anything to make me care about him as a character. As it is, the scene is sickeningly out of place, a needlessly saccharine bit added just for the sake of having a romantic scene in the game.
Zoe: Hey, I'm sad a lot.
Damien: I hear my penis is great for that.
Zoe: I THINK YOU'RE AWESOME
There were bigger things going on, and it was completely forced. Damien has no personality, no development. He's just a random character who exists for a good old-fashioned information dump. Not only did it negatively impact my enjoyment of the game to have him suddenly cast in a role that wasn't built up to in any way whatsoever, but it gave me the impression that Zoe had actually gone backward and become a damsel in distress in need of saving, ready to fall all over herself over the first person who helped her out. It probably could have been touching if Damien was actually given a personality or backstory or virtually anything to make me care about him as a character. As it is, the scene is sickeningly out of place, a needlessly saccharine bit added just for the sake of having a romantic scene in the game.
