A little over a year ago I was in a gaming-slump… I had nothing interesting to play and was bored and wanted a good story to get lost in. After some seriously searching and sorting of “best games ever” lists, I finally came to the conclusion that FunCom’s The Longest Journey, even being almost 10 years old, was something I would give a try.
Fast-forward a week or so and I had found one of my new favorite games of all time. You can tell it obviously wasn’t because of the graphics (screenshot above) which made the job of the storyline all that much harder to carry the game — but it did… it absolutely did.
If you are a fan of sci-fi/adventure as well as the “fun” feeling of the classic LucasArts games like Monkey’s Quest, King’s Quest, Hero’s Quest and so on — do yourself a favor and just go buy The Longest Journey from Steam for $9 and play it.
After I had finished The Longest Journey I was a bit obsessed with learning more about where the story game from, who wrote it, what kind of fan-fiction existed around it and other bits of information to fill that gap that forms when a story you love ends — sort of like Star Wars or every single weekly show of Lost.
I soon found out the game was written and directed by what I can only guess is one of the original founders of FunCom, Ragnar Tornquist. At the time I dug in to do this research FunCom and Tornquist had already produced the sequel to TLJ — Dreamfall: The Longest Journey.
As excited as I was to see the story continue, I also saw rumblings of FunCom’s plan to release an upcoming followup to the series call The Secret World. More or less crapping my pants at the idea of a 10-year trilogy with an epic conclusion, I kept digging and was dismayed to find that FunCom’s plan wasn’t to release a 3rd title in the series but rather a completely separate MMORPG that is set in the universe defined by The Longest Journey titles.
As much as I like the TLJ universe, I’ve never seen a MMO sell a story to individual players very effectively — the environments are always static, quests repetative and RPG points a grind to get.
The debut cinematic trailer for The Secret World was launched yesterday and the characters certainly look inspired by TLJ universe — I don’t recall any Clive Barker-esque creatures in either of the previous games, but if this is a new franchise I can understand the changes.
Overall I’m cautiously optimistic right now. FunCom has some hickups with Age of Conan MMO when that was released, hoping to attract a more adult gaming crowd by introducing nudity into the MMO market only to find out that nothing can stop the juggernaut that is World of Warcraft and tight gameplay mechanics.
Let’s hope that The Secret World is either a different kind of MMO with an ever-growing-story in a world where other players provide inconsequential experiences in the world allowing the main game to drive the majority of the experience as opposed to the individual players most constructing the experience all together as is the case with most modern MMOs.
Dear Riyad,
I am also a HUGE fan of the first installment of The Longest Journey, actually it is my all-time favorite game! As you I searched for more details, after getting as far as you did….I hit a wall, TLJ 2 left a bad taste in my mouth and it seems FunCom has moved away from what I prefer!? Anyways, the question I have been seeking the answer to is whether any games exist that I would enjoy as much as TLJ? Do you happen to have a suggestions?
Thanks for your good review!
Jeannie
Jeannie,
Great to meet another TLJ fan! We seem very vocal, but few and far between. I think a lot of folks get turned off by the old graphics, I’m really glad I stuck with it… the story was so damn colorful and enjoyable.
Shoot, that question is a really hard one to answer… what *elements* of TLJ did you like? Was it just the story and had it been a FPS you would have liked it just as much, or was it the style of gameplay (isometric click-adventure)?
Jeannie,
I got a recommendation for another adventure series you might love, Syberia. You can grab Syberia 1 and 2 Collector’s Edition from Amazon for $15 – I own that, but haven’t played it yet, but on my hunt to find other great adventure games wiht epic stories, I kept coming across that title over and over and over until I finally read a “best adventure games from our past” article and both TLJ and Syberia were listed together so I figured I’d share that.
Riyad,
Thanks so much for taking the time to write me back. Funny. from this one blog you wrote it has sprouted into reading the crap out of your site and I enjoy it immensely.
As far as aspects of TLJ I liked the most, I would have to say first of all, I STRONGLY prefer a 3rd person, point and click, full length adventure in general. Story was insanely thought provoking, smart use of puzzles within game-play including the inventory based puzzles whereas whatever certain object that needed to be used made sense where it went instead of trying the everything-on-everything method or searching the internet for a walk-through because you couldn’t figure out that a rubber band combined with a paper plate combined with a pair of scissors, applied to yourself while walking in a star pattern was the answer to getting past security at the train station. I enjoyed how the locations visited were broken into different transit stops, the locations were just big enough that you enjoyed all the scenery, people to meet and stuff to do but you didn’t get frustrated with navigation or taking forever to get from location to location. Graphics were only iffy to me when you got a real close-up of April Ryan’s face, but other then that I was happy with the world created. Music, sound effects and voice-overs were top notch as far as I am concerned. I can usually get through a game or three in a day, which bothers me because I more then half the time just spent $20 per game but TLJ took me 4 days and I went to bed, excited to start the next day. I held on to the excitement of TLJ 2 for so long that when I bought it (including a new graphics card), I was let down in an epic way.
I keep lists of games I have played and the ratings I have given them, mostly so I don’t find myself re-playing, which I don’t like doing, and because I am one of those list writing people. Syberia by Benoit Sokal (who is brilliant) is actually my second favorite game…Syberia 2 is down at number 6 on my list but fills in a lot of story and number 3 is supposedly in the works. You should LOVE Syberia as much as I did! Another wonderful story and heartfelt characters. Secret Files: Tunguska, Secret Files 2: Purita Cordis, Lost Horizon and Chronicles of Mystery: Tree of Life are my 3rd through 5th picks….I know I have a game addiction! After you play Syberia you should totally write about it….I am excited to know what you think! Thanks for listening to a gamer nerd ramble on. Thanks for the information!
Your new fan and follow TLJ groupie,
Jeannie K.
Thank you for the kind words Jeannie!
a rubber band combined with a paper plate combined with a pair of scissors, applied to yourself while walking in a star pattern
hahaha, I agree. The puzzles were there for fun/enjoyment and not making you hate your life.
I held on to the excitement of TLJ 2 for so long that when I bought it (including a new graphics card), I was let down in an epic way.
Oh that is a bummer, you didn’t enjoy it at all? I didn’t like it as much as the first one, but I thought a lot of the adventure and feel of the world were back in action in #2.
You should LOVE Syberia as much as I did! Another wonderful story and heartfelt characters. Secret Files: Tunguska, Secret Files 2: Purita Cordis, Lost Horizon and Chronicles of Mystery: Tree of Life are my 3rd through 5th pick
You ROCK; I have been on the fence about the Tunguska series for a while — I heard they were good but I just wasn’t sure, I’m adding them to my Amazon shopping cart. Also excited to get into Syberia next time I have some free time.
It sounds like you played all the awesome adventure games… I do see a lot of people bring up the original Fallout 1 and 2 in adventure game discussions like this, but I think you have to like the theme of zombies/waste lands/etc… and that’s not really my thing.
Also have you played the classic Lucas Arts adventure games? Secret of Monkey Island (which was remade) and Grim Fandago? Those are some brilliantly creative games right up there.
If you have played all that… short of going back to something like Ultima 7 (which was fantastic) I think I’m tapped out… there are a lot of great modern games (Mass Effect series comes to mind, Red Dead Redemption) but that is much different than the casual pacing of an adventure game.
I like all sorts of games, but when I’m in the mood for a casual “experience” that adventure games give me (no worries of health or bullets or anything — just story) there just isn’t anything else out there like it.
I don’t want the indie game scene that closely, but if I remember correctly, there have been a handful of casual, adventure games that have come out in the last few years. Check out AdventureGamers.com to try and find some of the newer stuff out there that still very much embodies what makes adventure games wonderful.
And don’t forget to come back and tell me if you find a gem!
Riyad,
Adventure Gamers website and Newgrounds are two of many sites I check for any good indie game, almost daily. I ended up finding out about a game created by three designers from old Sierra games, you would also love it! The company they put together in their spare time in 10th play and the game is called Dark Visions (not the zombie stuff you don’t like, promise), you can find the free flash game at http://www.tenthplay.com/dark-visions/flash/ , its lovely!
As far as Fallout 1 and 2, Grim Fandango, Monkey Island or any new games like Mass Effect, I have never tried those and completely forgot about some of those so I am off to hunt them down! Thank you so much for the suggestions! I will check back with you after I have had some more adventures and see how yours went!
Happy gaming and writing!
Jeannie K.
Jeannie,
Just wanted to keep this thread going. I grabbed the demo of Lost Horizon off of Steam and just got done playing it and thought it was wonderful.
Bright, vibrant characters, friendly art style, good voice work, cute dialog, interesting story and a great plot setup of how all the characters weave together.
I just bought it ($20) to support the company, but wanted to let you know incase you wanted to check out the demo.
Grim Fandango is classic Sierra, it’s great. Fun/quirky/cute.
Fallout 1 and 2 are a bit grim, I never got into them and Mass Effect has an *awesome* sci-fi story, but does require some familiarity with action gameplay and shooting mechanics.
Although on the easiest level it’s fairly forgiving.
Assassin’s Creed has one of my favorite stories, but that is a pretty intense action game so I’m hesitant to recommend it if you are looking for more adventure/point and click that are fun/easy to play.
Alright, talk to you soon!
Hello Riyad,
I adore Lost Horizon, the story reminds me a lot of our dear old Indiana Jones but comes into it’s own and holds well with me! You are so right about it’s “bright vibrant characters, friendly art style, good voice work, cute dialog”, all the things that make me pull my credit card out of my purse! I always get a kick out of an amazing adventure that can require only 128MB of video memory when so many others require something like 512 and some how don’t leave me half as pleased. The budding romance makes me smile too!
I have not tried Grim Fandango but I will! Usually adventure games with action in them turn me off but honestly I am running out of choices so I think I am going to have to dip my toes into it. I will try Fallout 1&2 and Assassin’s Creed, see how those make me feel.
The only new game I have played worth mentioning since we last spoke was Gemini Rue and now that I think of it, it had a few shooting scenes. Wonderful game with a total 16 bit feel but done perfectly with great voice-overs and addictive story!
It’s so great you had time to give an update even though I am sure you are super busy!
Jeannie K.
Jeannie,
Did you struggle with any of the puzzles in Lost Horizon? I don’t know if I’m just being impatient to “get to more story”, but I’m finding myself checking up on walkthroughts a lot more often than I normally like and being frustrated at the obscurity of some of these.
I just picked up Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templates (Dir Cut) and Runaway: A Road Adventure on Steam and have the Syberia I/II box set sitting on my shelf.
I’m all loaded up for the immediate future I think
Hi Riyad,
Now that I think back on Lost Horizon I do remember hitting the ‘examine scene’ (magnifying glass in bottom right hand corner) button a zillion times and referencing a handy walkthrough more then I would normally. I still loved the game but I had forgotten how hard some of it was….oh yeah, make sure your settings have the puzzles on easy and not challenging! I know it has been a few days since I was able to respond, where are you at with the game, are you still feeling frustrated?
Broken Sword was so good until the third installment and then I lost interest due to gameplay changes that ended up making me feel dizzy. Someone later came out with Broken Sword 2.5 and it was very true to the first two installments!
I can’t wait for you to dive into Syberia, I hear a third one is in the works! You have to give me your opinion!
Your TLJ fan friend,
Jeannie K.
Jeannie,
I had to put down Lost Horizon (and then we jetted off to Greece) because I was basically reading through a walkthrough and not “enjoying” the adventure… it was that snow-top temple where you have to find the room… some of the puzzles were just WAY too obscure (egg shell, collect oil, oil beams, dance with one leg, pull on your ear, stare at the moon for 12 minutes, then you can open the door).
I’m going to dig back in soon.
Syberia I am looking forward to as well, haven’t cracked that open yet.
Hey did we talk about the Secret Files: Tungunska (or however that is spelled)?
Jeannie,
Another heads up, “The Next Big Thing” is another great-looking adventure game that is up for pre-order on Steam right now.
Watched the trailer and looked like a robust romp, fun characters… all the things you want from an adventure game.
I haven’t played it yet, just thought you either knew more about it than me or could give a heads up.
I was wondering about that game myself, it looks perfect and sassy! I have been in a void, just playing old Nancy Drew games with nothing better to do! I am so ready for a new game! I even played some hidden object games that say they have a more adventure style to them! The market is really lacking for me! What happened to loving adventure games?
Always yours,
Jeannie K.
Greece! For work or play?
I don’t blame you, if you aren’t enjoying a game, nothing can force you to. I notice sometimes like in Lost Horizon, the actions may have made sense to the creators but for the gamer, not so much! Shelf it for awhile and go back to it in times of need. I promise Syberia will not be the same way and the story is very different and rewarding to unfold!
The Secret Files series is awesome as well, though the story is not powerful but still good!
I am going to try and dig into Black Mirror 3 and see if that is any good!
Enjoy Greece!
Jeannie K.
Hello Riyad.
I just wanted to correct you on one small but important thing.
Secret world will have nothing do with The longest journey universe.
It’s a completely different game.
As far as we know, there is no progress on the second sequel to TLJ as of yet.
Maybe once they ship Secret World and hopefully Funcom doesn’t go bankrupt in the process, Ragnar will start the work on it.
VoodooFX I appreciate the correction.
I hope Funcom doesn’t go under, but it seems to me like they keep trying to tackle these *massively* ambitious projects (Conan/Anarchy Online) instead of sticking to smaller projects (TLJ?) that might be a bit safer financially.
From what I’ve seen on Secret World, it looks interesting, but it will be going up against KOTOR and I’m sure 20 other MMORPGs that I’m forgetting.
Fingers crossed though.
Yes, Funcom dodged the bullet at least couple of times now.
I know that Dreamfall was partially funded by Norwegian government, because they couldn’t finance two games at once – Age of Conan was in heavy development around that same time.
I too have no idea why they are trying so hard to compete in online gaming waters, they’re way too small of a fish to seriously compete against heavy players such as SWTOR or Guild Wars 2 or even aging WoW.
The other problem lies in the fact that EA is publishing both Secret World and SWTOR – and you don’t need to be a betting man, to know which of the two will eat most of the PR resources.
Even if Secret World proves to be a better product of the two, it will still be the one to the short edge of a sword, simply because it doesn’t have a strong franchise behind it.
I of course hope in the end it won’t come to that and everything will work out well for Funcom, finally rising from edge of bankruptcy, thus finally being able to give us another chapter in The Longest Journey saga.
Voodoo, oh man, I didn’t realize EA was publishing Secret World, I agree with your assessment… that isn’t going to be a stroll in the park for Funcom trying to get EA”s marketing dollars redirected at Secret over SWTOR… I imagine the marketing budget behind SWTOR is just shy of the GDP of France give that it’s potential to lock in a dedicated gamer base and print money like WoW did is the highest… well, since WoW.
In the back of my mind I wonder if Funcom falling flat after another failed MMO might *force* them to downside and go back to their roots (TLJ) instead of continuing to overextend themselves.
Ragnar sort of reminds of me Lord Garriot in a way (From the Ultima Series) — genius that created one type of game so well, gamers for almost 2 decades all talked about his games, but as he started to push outside his comfort zone erratically (Ultimate 9 GFX engine, infinite delays, etc.) everything starts to fall apart and his legacy gets muddied and diluted.
I hope that doesn’t happen; Ragnar deserves more than that, TLJ was such a brilliantly creative story and told so well. Not that Ultima wasn’t, Ultima 7 is still burned in my brain, but I think Garriot had a great run as a result.