The Longest Journey 9: Game Prize

And yes! I got hours to play today (although probably not again until Saturday). Got pretty far into Chapter Four: Monsters. Maybe not too far, however, as I have yet to meet any real monsters.

Where are the Monsters?

I did however, have numerous long conversations--again. We get shifted into Arcadia again, and meet the nice lady who owns the inn, and who tells us more and more about the perilous situation that might upset the precious balance. In fact, they're having a sort of balance festival. So, off we go to learn yet more, as we talk with a strange creature we met at the inn.

Interesting guy, rather unstuck in time it seems

We go to the library and there we read and read and read. I wound up muting the dialogue because it was repetitious, and the only thing that mattered was reading the "books" anyway. It went on and on. And after all of that, I still had to hit the WT to find out what to do next. I did everything I could figure out to do.

Books, books, books

The interminable librarian.

It seems that there indeed is a way to win the cups game without using magic, and get the bird, finally. So the WT told me how to do it and I now have my new, very talkative, friend. With a Brooklyn accent, of sorts.

The Game of Cups. No magic allowed!

Our new friend, Crow

Into the woods

So now I've made my way to a forest, in which I will attempt to locate an alchemist who has captured the wind. Once I get him to release the wind, which of course I will do, I'll be able to get on a ship and go to an island I need to visit.

I am really seeing in this game the best and the worst of the adventure genre. Wonderful imagination--which is the core of the good stuff, excellent artwork for the period, great voice acting for the major characters anyway. But, the constant, unending conversations that just go on and on and on, and the repetition of the actions that I had to do about ten times in the library, those put people off the genre. The puzzles are normally fine and challenging and fun when you beat them, but some of them are just so obscure that the frustration can put you off the whole game. 

But I don't think I'm even halfway through the game. Mostly it's plenty fun, and I do remember when I finished it so many years ago, I thought it was the best ever made. 

So I expect to have a similar conclusion this time! Until Saturday!

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