Dreamfall

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Dreamfall
Developer(s)	Funcom
Publisher(s)	Aspyr Media Micro Application Empire Interactive
Designer(s)	Ragnar Tørnquist
Engine	Shark 3D
Release date(s)	PC April 17, 2006 May 26, 2006 Steam January 12, 2007 Xbox April 18, 2006 August 11, 2006
Genre(s)	Action / Adventure
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature (17+) PEGI: 16+
Platform(s)	Windows, Xbox
Media	CD (6), DVD (1)
Input	Keyboard, Gamepad

Dreamfall is an action-adventure video game released for the Windows and Xbox platforms on April 17, 2006. It is the sequel to Funcom's The Longest Journey and takes place ten years after the events of the first game. On 1 March 2007, an episodic sequel entitled Dreamfall Chapters has been announced,^[1] and Funcom reportedly has further plans to create a MMO type game set in The Longest Journey universe.

Contents 1 Story 1.1 Synopsis 1.2 Characters 1.3 Unresolved issues 2 Cultural references 3 Releases 3.1 Soundtrack 3.2 Requirements 4 Critical reception 5 Sequel 6 References 7 External links 7.1 Encyclopedic 7.2 Fan-sites

[edit] Story

[edit] Synopsis

In The Longest Journey, players learned that the Earth exists as two halves... both never seeing one another but existing together as parallel worlds. The world of Stark is where science and technology are the primary driving forces behind it and those that live there. As a result, the people of Stark live upon a futuristic version of our Earth. The other world, Arcadia, is one where magic continues to hold sway over a land filled with the trappings of faerie-tale inspired fantasy. April Ryan, the unwilling protagonist of The Longest Journey, was an art student living in Stark before she was swept up in the events that would make her the reluctant savior of both.

To her friends in Stark, April's apparent disappearance at the time she had gone over to Arcadia has continued to be a mystery that has troubled them. At around the same time, the world has found itself the victim of a calamity called the Collapse, when technology suddenly failed and all contact with Earth's colonies were severed. In the ten years since then, humanity managed to pick itself up from these events but the world had significantly changed. A wireless network called the Wire was created, linking anything with an electric heartbeat into one, unified whole, communicating across the world. It is illegal to destroy Wire receivers and transmitters, but the Wire is not without its critics and a black market thrives in items that can 'break' the link that devices have with it.

Enforcing the protection of the Wire and of the laws that govern the world is an omniscient organization known only as the Syndicate, formed from the chaos of the Collapse. Through the EYE, its multinational enforcement arm, the Syndicate ensures that corporations continue to work within the law. More often than not, they are a police force that operates across all nations and ruthlessly enforces the law with little compassion, partly as an attempt to ensure the prevention of another Collapse.

It is now 2219. Living in this "new" world is Zoë Castillo, a student who has left college to try and find herself. However, it hasn't been easy for her as she finds that she is wasting a lot of time doing... absolutely nothing. Although the so called Static seems to be growing worse across the Wire, disrupting communications and causing the occasional blackout of information, there is little else in her life that has brought her out from her personal malaise. That is, until things start to happen around her that she cannot easily explain.

When a close friend disappears and when she begins the search for the answers that he held, she will become involved in more than a simple investigation. As Zoë encounters new friends and foes in her struggle to understand the worlds that she will journey to, the story will also be seen from their perspectives as they try to uncover the truth behind the dark force threatening to destroy all that they know.

[edit] Characters

In brackets are the taglines found on promotional posters for each of the three main characters.

• Zoë Castillo (Seeker, Nomad, Dreamer) is one of the main characters in the game. She lives with her father in the city of Casablanca (her mother has supposedly died before the Collapse), and has recently dropped out of university. The beginning of the game finds her in a state of malaise, lacking motivation and questioning her purpose in life. The story opens with her ex-boyfriend, Reza, asking her for help.

• April Ryan (Rebel, Emissary, Chosen) is a Shifter, originally from Stark, who was pivotal in restoring the Balance ten years ago. After that success, though, she was left without a purpose, and chose to join the effort to liberate the Northlands from the occupation by the Azadi (Persian: freedom‎) Empire. She has turned her back on her former world of Stark and considers herself a citizen of Arcadia now.

• Kian Alvane (Soldier, Apostle, Assassin) is an Azadi soldier and skilled swordsman who resides in the holy city of Sadir. He has pledged his life to the Six and the Goddess. He is an Apostle, a special agent of the Six, much to the scorn of others in the hierarchy who look down on his common ancestry.
  

  

  Kian Alvane on his way to speak with his master in Sadir, the Azadi capital

• Olivia DeMarco is Zoë's best friend. She owns a small electronics and repair shop in Casablanca, and is an expert on the technology of the time period.

• Reza Temiz is a journalist who goes under the alias "Jericho". He was once Zoë's boyfriend, but now the two are just good friends.

• Damien Cavanaugh works for WATIcorp, a Japanese corporation. When he first appears in the game, he is involved in the development of WATIcorp's top-secret "Project Alchera".

• Benrime Salmin is the owner and proprietor of "The Journeyman Inn", an inn located in the Arcadian city of Marcuria. She made her first appearance in The Longest Journey, where she became a friend and confidante to April Ryan. In Dreamfall, she is a rebel sympathizer and often aids April and the rest of resistance movement against the Azadi occupying force.

• Brian Westhouse is a traveler and scholar who resides in Arcadia. First appearing in The Longest Journey as a stubborn and frequently inebriated man who helped April Ryan along on her adventure, he revealed that he had also breached the divide from his native Stark to Arcadia in a crossing that took nearly three hundred years. He returns in Dreamfall as a more sober and eloquent man who accompanies Zoë Castillo to one of the few places in Arcadia he has never visited, and scenes in the game suggest that his transition between worlds may be of significant importance to the central plot.

• Roper F. Klacks is a magic shop keeper. He first appeared in The Longest Journey as an evil alchemist who lived inside an enchanted flying tower. He reappears in Dreamfall claiming to have been reformed of his evil tendencies, and crediting this to the actions of April Ryan in the first game.

• Crow is an Arcadian talking bird who is not actually a crow but resembles one visually. He has been April's sidekick in The Longest Journey and resumes this role in Dreamfall though later, he decides to follow Zoë instead.
  

[edit] Unresolved issues

The numerous cliffhangers and apparent plot holes in Dreamfall, which have caused a great commotion among the players, have been addressed by Ragnar Tørnquist, who stated that the game is, in fact, the first part of a duology and that all questions will be answered in the second installment.^[2] Also, several elements of the story have been at some point identified as plot holes but a feasible explanation has been later found within the game itself.

• Brian Westhouse appears in the beginning of the story, in a flashback of the events long before the Dreamfall storyline (approx. 1934), and travels to the Storytime where he is engulfed by the Undreaming. It is unknown what exactly happened to him afterwards. This moment is addressed on many occasions in both games, such as when Westhouse tells how he came to Arcadia but is reluctant to go into detail about where he got "stuck" for almost three centuries. If one watches past the credits after completing the game, a short cutscene is shown in which Westhouse climbs up a mountain path and is assisted by Cortez (a.k.a. Manny Chavez), the Red of the Draic Kin, who tells him that he "has a purpose".

• At the beginning of the game, Westhouse can overhear a conversation between two monks, revealing that they are aware of the Undreaming and that their purpose is to send Westhouse to the Storytime in order to awake him/it. Since Westhouse was aided by the Red Kin to get to this point, it may have been, in fact, the latter's intention to awaken the Undreaming.

• Cleared. Sightings of a cat appearing twice near the beginning of the game, outside of Reza's apartment are given importance yet little reference is further made to the cat and the relevance of these sightings is apparently left hanging. In fact, the "cat" is one of Alvin Peats' "pets" who observed Zoë, as he states himself during their dialogue in the WATI Arboretum.

• The physical properties of Zoë's "dream presence" in Arcadia remain unclear: when she returns from Arcadia to Stark for the first time with Na'ane's assistance, her clothes stay material even though her body disappears without a trace. However, towards the end of the game, when she is sent back by Chawan, her clothes dematerialize together with her. Notably, she always arrives in the same set of clothing to Arcadia, no matter what happened to it during her last visit.

• The purpose of the Azadi steam technology units is never explained. Although they are supposed to be simply for generating power for tools, they are ubiquitous and appear even in deserted areas of Marcuria. April Ryan questions their true function, but never makes any discoveries.

• When April goes underground to follow the hooded Prophet of the Azadi, he seems to be able to command the Grubbers that live underneath Marcuria. However, April never finds out who he is because she loses trace of him and ends up in the "Chamber of Dreams" directly beneath the Azadi Tower.

• Cleared^{[citation needed]}: Further when April is underground in the river some players could see a silhouette of Zoë standing in the river. There was much speculation about the "purpose" of this apparition, but it was quickly discovered that this was just a program glitch, which only appeared sometimes in the North American version of the game and was removed in later released versions of Dreamfall (e.g. the European ones).

• While Na'ane says that she plans to go to the ancient ruins underneath Marcuria to investigate the song magic of the strange creatures that live there, no further information is provided about her voyage there, and the next time she appears is when she is interrogated by Kian and consequentially leads him to April.

• Right before April arrives to the Dark People's Library, a Shadow Guide (Dark People's ship captain) will not let her on his boat because he doesn't recognize her as a Wave. Another Dark Person later explains that all Dark People share the same mind, so it is theoretically impossible for one of them not to see April's Wave after another one has recognized it ten years ago. The same person later suggests that the Shadow Guide may have been "blinded", though by whom and on which purpose remains open.

• Kian's last name is the same as that of Lady Alvane, the narrator in The Longest Journey who, as some fans speculate, may be April Ryan herself recalling her journey from some point in the future. Their familial ties, however, are not clear.

• When April visits the Guardian's Realm, she finds it changed drastically since her last visit. Except the lush vegetation around the Well of Making, a disturbing new detail is the absence of the Guardian's Tower, now lying shattered all over the landscape. Unlike his predecessor, Adrian, Gordon Halloway (the Thirteenth Guardian, whom April installed in the end of TLJ) performs his duties while floating just above the Well, which is now sealed. Although the significance of the Tower itself is never quite explained, the disk on its top seemed crucial in the Changing of the Guard ritual. Thus, its absence may be a hint at the long-foreshadowed fact that Gordon is the last Guardian.

• When Damien Cavanaugh drugs Zoë before she uses the Dreamer console in his apartment, the last thing he says is "I'll be here when you get back". Zoë recognizes as unusual because this phrase is a recurring theme between Zoë and Reza, perhaps implying some deeper connection between Reza and Damien than stated. In fact, neither Reza, nor Damien are there when Zoë awakens and the reasons for their respective absence are never fully explained.

• Although April is apparently killed in the final chapters of the game, Faith later tells Zoë that she did save April just as she was meant to, though Faith also says she was told this by the "White Lady". The latter's identity is unclear and various opinions have been expressed on the topic. It is possible that Faith refers to the White of the Draic Kin, which would imply that their exchange occurred before the suspected "attack" on the latter in the Dark People's Library.

• Kian is arrested and sent away for trial immediately after April apparently dies. However, neither the trial nor its outcome are shown in the game.

• Soon after April's apparent death, the White of the Draic Kin is assaulted by an unidentified attacker at the Dark People's Library. The latter's identity has been speculated upon, with suggestions ranging from the Shadow Guide, who wasn't a part of the Dark People's hive mind, through Crow, because wing flapping can be heard in that scene, to Brian Westhouse, who has once been "engulfed" by the (apparently) hostile Undreaming. The third claim is further supported by the unexplainable fear of Westhouse that the White Kin expresses at their initial meeting.

• When Gabriel Castillo calls Zoë upon her final return to Casablanca, he mentions that he called and talked to Wonkers, who informed Gabriel that she had been gone for a week. However, in the early chapters of the game, Wonkers' Watilla brain is removed and replacing it is not mandatory in order to complete the game. Thus, Gabriel telling Zoë that he has spoken to Wonkers, disregarding whether its brain has been reinstalled or not, may be either a script-writing error or a hint towards Gabriel's further involvement with Zoë's journey.

• The relation between Faith, Helena Chang, and Zoë Castillo is unclear. Helena Chang knew Zoë's father once (at the beginning of the game, she refers to him as "a Castillo", but near the end, she states that Zoë reminds her of him), and seems to have known her for a long time, as well. Thus, fans commonly theorize that she's, in fact, her biological mother and it is also speculated that Helena Chang might be the "White Lady" that Faith refers to at the end of the game (since she is often seen wearing a white coat). Furthermore, Faith believes that she is Zoë's sister and that might not be so far-fetched, seeing as the players do not know anything definite about Zoë's mother, who supposedly died before the Collapse.

• At the end of the story, when Zoë's father is looking at the comatose Zoë, Reza walks into the room. Zoë says that it is not actually Reza, though it is unclear as to who it actually is, or what he/it is doing there.

• At the end of the game, Zoë appears in the Storytime. Her self-proclaimed sister Faith is not there as Zoë previously helped her pass on. Some fans have claimed to see the silhouette of a small figure in the background landscape of the Storytime.

• The death of the WATIcorp CEO Alvin Peats at the hands of Samantha Gilmore (the head of Project "Alchera") and the Twins has apparently not delayed the launch of DreamNet, which went public under the trademark "Dreamtime" three months later. The question remains, whether Dreamtime retains the full mind controlling functionality of the original Alchera concept, as described by Damien Cavanaugh, or not.

• The significance of the tower that the Azadi were building in Marcuria is never explained. However, in the very last shot of the game before the credits, the players can see it being surrounded by something that looks reminiscent of a Chaos Storm, as seen in the first game, and an audible female laughter can be heard.

• In the earliest concept art, April is shown wearing an amulet with the insignia of the Balance,^[3] however, it is not the Talisman of the Balance which had a golden color scheme rather than red, blue, and black one. Instead, the Talisman is worn by Abnaxus of the Venar on another concept art,^[4] although neither he nor it appear in the game itself in spite of Tørnquist's original plans for him.^[5]

[edit] Cultural references

While the first game of the series mainly established its own mythos, Dreamfall borrows numerous names and concepts from the Australian Aboriginal mythology, such as the Eingana and Alchera/Dreamtime.

Within the game, there are also references to other games published by Funcom, for example, to Anarchy Online: a copy of the Anarchy Online novel can be found in Zoë's apartment; there is an engineer wardroid at the street dealer in Newport and a small yellow cleanerbot (seen in many large cities of AO) in Olivia's store; and the music that plays on the first floor of Reza's apartment is also a track from the Anarchy Online. Perhaps, one of the most unusual features of Dreamfall is the in-game presence of its own disc covers, as well as those of TLJ, on multiple locations, e.g. on Reza's bathroom shelf, on the floor near Zoë's TV, behind the Chinese merchant in New Venice, etc.

Several popular movies are referenced, as well, for example, when Crow is telling Zoë about being a sidekick, he makes a reference to The Lord of the Rings films directed by Peter Jackson. He implies that right after he was elected the Sidekick of the Month by the League of Sidekicks, Samwise Gamgee (portrayed by Sean Astin) got the title. Wonkers the Watilla, a stuffed purple gorilla visually resembling the notorious spyware mascot BonziBUDDY and acting as Zoë's personal assistant and playfellow, is voiced by Jack Angel who previously voiced another talking stuffed animal, Teddy in Steven Spielberg's A.I.. And perhaps, the most notable homage pointed out by critics is the disturbing similarity that the character Faith bears to Samara Morgan from The Ring,^[6][7][8] who is, in turn, based on Onryō from Japanese ghost stories.

Intentional or otherwise, the two closed taverns near the South Gates of Marcuria are named "The Cock and the Puss" and "The Salty Seaman", which may have connotate sexual implications ("seaman" is a homophone of "semen"). Such word plays go back to The Longest Journey, where a character makes a reference to "pubs with oddly suggestive names, like 'The Lazy Cock'."

[edit] Releases

Dreamfall: The Longest Journey was released for Microsoft Windows on April 17, 2006 in the United States and April 18 in Europe, available either on 6 CDs or a single DVD. The copy protection of the US PC version is known to have caused trouble to players, such as when it wouldn't allow the game to run if a virtual drive (e.g. created by Alcohol 120%) was detected, whereas the European and Australian DVD version is protected by the controversial StarForce. The 6 CD version is the same as the DVD one and the latter can be compiled manually by burning the entire contents of the former on a single 4.7 GB disc. Curiously, four out of the seven *.CAB archives on the installation media are 666,000 Kb large, and the total size of all files on the first CD is also very close to that number.

The Xbox version of the game has been released on April 18 and August 11, 2006 in the US and Europe, respectively, and is backwards compatible with Xbox 360 since June 2006.

A Limited Edition of Dreamfall is available, as well, containing the DVD version of the game, a soundtrack EP with four songs by Magnet, and a 92 page hardcover artbook entitled The Art of Dreamfall. According to Ragnar Tørnquist, this edition is "an actual limited Limited Edition",^[9] since it has only been produced in small numbers.

Rumors of an online demo version of Dreamfall have been circulating over the Internet since August 2006,^[10] until plans for its development (as well as that of other "online extensions of the universe") have been confirmed by Funcom in November that year.^[11] On December 23, 2006, a 3 GB demo was released.^[12]

On January 12, 2007, Dreamfall was made available on Steam.

Tørnquist commented that the developers also considered the idea of making a film based on The Longest Journey and/or Dreamfall but found it too difficult to realize at the current stage.^[13]

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: Dreamfall Soundtrack

An original soundtrack album has been released in August 2006. It contains the orchestral music composed by Leon Willett for the game, as well as several tracks by other musicians, like Slipperhero, Octavcat, and Ingvild Hasund. The game's lead sound designer Simon Poole and the audio director Morten Sørlie are also credited for creating three out of the album's 22 compositions. This soundtrack album was nominated "Best Video Game Score" at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.

The four songs by the Norwegian mucisian Magnet were not included in this album but have been instead added to the limited edition of the game as an extended play CD.

[edit] Requirements

System requirements

	Minimum	Recommended
OS:	Windows XP (SP2)	Windows XP (SP2)
CPU:	Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz or AMD Sempron 2800+ or higher	Intel Pentium 4 2.5 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 3500+
RAM:	512 MB	1 GB
HDD:	7 GB free disk space	7 GB free disk space
Video:	Required: 3D hardware accelerator card,  100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 128 MB with latest drivers	256 MB 3D hardware accelerator card
Sound:	DirectX 9.0c compatible	Creative Audigy series sound card
Optical:	8x speed CD-ROM drive or 2X DVD-ROM drive	8x speed CD-ROM drive or 2X DVD-ROM drive
Supported video cards
ATI:	A9250,9550, 9600, 9700, X300, X500, X600, X700, X800, X1300, X1600, X1800
Nvidia:	FX 5700, FX 5900, FX 5950, 6200, 6600, 6800, 7800
Note: Intel Extreme Graphics and SIS chipsets not supported. nVidia 6200 and 6600 are known to have caused scramble graphics right in the beginning of the game (after Main Menu), which can be solved by installing an older driver version (81.98 recommended by Aspyr).

[edit] Critical reception

Most critics have been positive about Dreamfall, agreeing about the quality of the storyline, the graphical presentation and the voice acting. Some critics lament the shortness of the gameplay, and criticize the game's new combat and stealth elements as simplistic and unsatisfying.^[14]

GameSpy rated it as "outstanding":

"The game covers a lot of metaphorical, political, and religious ground. It's a multi-threaded, complex affair that poses profound and troubling questions about the uses and misuses of faith, the limits of corporate, governmental, and religious power, and the significant difference between belief and fanaticism and knowledge and wisdom. More than that, though, it's also a rip-roaring adventure story filled with wonderful dialogue brought to life by a stellar cast of voice actors, clearly defined and supremely likeable characters, and graphic splendor that manages to make both worlds of super-science and bizarre magic incredibly believable." –GameSpy ^[15]

"It's been a long-time since The Longest Journey was released, with fans of the game wondering whether a sequel could possibly match the original. They need wonder no longer. Dreamfall is an amazing journey that propels players into a world where science, magic, art, and music combine to make a whole much greater than the sum of its parts." –GameSpy ^[16]

GameSpot also ranked it as "great," stating "Dreamfall does not disappoint, for the most part. It exhibits the unique attention to detail and terrific presentation that made The Longest Journey so remarkable for its time."^[17]

Adventure Classic Gaming said "It is contemporary interactive fiction at its best. Its unique blend of storytelling and gameplay should appeal to a broad range of gamers beyond those who are loyal to the adventure genre."^[18]

Other critics, while not disputing the quality of the story, were disappointed that the game is primarily story-driven, and would like to have seen more gameplay. For example, IGN said:

"While playing through, it's difficult to shake the impression that intelligent design was given a back seat to painfully simplistic fighting and sneaking sequences. The combat is, for all intents and purposes, a total joke. [...] While the gameplay has been drastically simplified, the story remains as engaging as ever. Characters engage in deep conversation, revealing all sorts of nuance and helping to strengthen this game's unique mood. Be warned, if you don't like watching lengthy conversations or if you generally disregard a game's plot, you'll be absolutely dissatisfied with Dreamfall. However, if you're in the mood for one of gaming's best and most recent narratives, by all means pick this one up. Just be aware that Dreamfall's appeal lies largely in its narrative and characters, and not in the gameplay." –IGN ^[19]

The website Rotten Tomatoes gave Dreamfall a "fresh" rating, with 71% of collected reviews giving it at least 8/10 (the passable score for video games), with an average score of 8.1/10.^[20]

Awards and distinctions

Publisher	Won ¹	Runner-Up ¹	Nominated ¹
GameSpot	Best of E3: Best Adventure Game (2004) Best Voice Acting Best Xbox Game Best Game No One Played Reader's Choice Best Xbox Game Reader's Choice Best Game No One Played		Best of E3: Best Adventure Game (2005) Best Original Music Best Story Best New Character: Zoë Castillo
GameSpy	Best of E3: Best Adventure Game (2004) April Game of the Month Editor's Choice PC Adventure Game of the Year Xbox Adventure Game of the Year PC Best Music PC Best Story PC Adventure Gamers' Choice	3rd in Xbox Top 5 Games of the Year 5th in Xbox Gamers' Choice 8th in PC Top 10 Games of the Year 10th in PC Overall Gamers' Choice
AdventurePlanet.it	Best 3D Graphics Best Plot Best Audio Best Character: Zoë Castillo Best Third Person Adventure Best Adventure	2nd in Best Dialogues 3rd in Best Atmosphere
IGN	Best of E3: Best PC Adventure Game (2004)	Best of E3: Best PC Adventure Game (2005) PC Best Original Score PC Best Story Xbox Best Story
GameZone	Best PC Adventure Game of the Year Best Xbox Adventure Game of the Year
RPGFan	Point and Click Adventure of the Year
Gamers Europe	Xbox Game of the Year
Dagbladet Information	Best Adventure Game
GameTrailers	Best Story		Best Xbox Game
Interactive Achievement Awards			Outstanding Achievement in Story and Character Development (2007)
2006 MTV Video Music Awards			Best Video Game Score (Leon Willett)
Cheat Code Central			Xbox Game of the Year Adventure Game of the Year
¹ All awards from year 2006, unless stated otherwise.

[edit] Sequel

Main article: Dreamfall Chapters

On 1 March 2007, Funcom has announced that the continuation of the story will be published in episodic format under the title Dreamfall Chapters.^[1] Later that day, Ragnar Tørnquist confirmed the announcement and stated that it goes perfectly with his plans for the continuation.^[21] Detailed information on the project is yet to be released.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (English) Official website
• (English) Official forums

[edit] Encyclopedic

• (English) TLJwiki, a wiki project dedicated to The Longest Journey and Dreamfall
• (English) Jelena Rosenberg's fan-site, personally distinguished by Tørnquist
• (English) Dreamfall: The Longest Journey at MobyGames
• (English) Dreamfall: The Longest Journey at the Internet Movie Database
• (English) Dreamfall: The Longest Journey at the StrategyWiki

[edit] Fan-sites

• (English) Black House
• (Norwegian) Drømmefall.net

v • d • e The Longest Journey series
Games:	The Longest Journey | Dreamfall | Dreamfall Chapters
Media:	The Longest Journey OST | Dreamfall OST | Other media
Characters:	Abnaxus | Kian Alvane | Zoë Castillo | Draic Kin | April Ryan
Universe:	Alltongue | Arcadia | Balance | Stark
Related:	Funcom | Sarah Hamilton | Even Johansen | Ragnar Tørnquist