Thanks for letting us know about how much you liked Dreamfall Chapters. And that's interesting how you had no trouble with the fight scenes in Dreamfall the second time around - that gives me hope, as I know a lot of people had trouble with them.

@Mad -

JoAJ, I also had no problem with the combat the second time around or in any subsequent playthroughs. (Strangely, though, I was fine with Vinnie, the man in the Victory Hotel, the first time around, but during my second playthrough, I just couldn't win against him. Luckily, I know how to avoid him now. ) That said, I still don't like combat and prefer games without it. I'm fine with TellTale's for the most part, as it mostly just feels like typing on command with the occasional mouse click. Even so, I would prefer it if they didn't rely on it so much.

Even though I'm better at Dreamfall's combat now, I'm so glad they did away with it in Chapters. I prefer relaxing while playing games, and having to do action sequences just makes me tense.

Well, I just finished Chapters - hated to finish it but thought the ending certainly cleared everything up. Now there's a sort of "empty" feeling - what on earth does one play that is so involving I hadn't felt like this about a game in years for instance when first playing games like GK2, Tex Murphy games and of course TLJ. Of course there are lots of good games but mostly just games - if you know what I mean - rather than something that you think about at odd sorts of times and rather feel part of. What a shame that Book 5 is really and truly the end of a wonderful series!!

Must say that of all the Books in Chapters, personally I enjoyed Books 4 and 5 best of all, I felt the whole series just got better and better as it went along.

I know what you mean, it's hard to find games that are on that level! You may want to check out Life is Strange if you haven't done so already. While not on the level of Chapters, I thought it was a really fantastic, special game. Great story, characters I felt involved with, particularly Max and Chloe. It was one of the better games I've played in a while.

Also, the Blackwell series when taken as a whole is fantastic. The first few games are really short, so it almost feels episodic, but they get longer as the series goes on. The fourth game is really terrific, and the fifth is the peak of the series. You may have already played them, but in case you haven't, you may want to check them out.

Also, Oxenfree is a great, recent game. I got really involved in its story and setting. It's really short, though, only about four hours and is more about choosing dialogue choices and its radio mechanic. Pretty great for its length, however. I'm hoping to see more from these developers.

I agree, I think Chapters got better with each subsequent book, even though I missed the exploration introduced in book 1. Books 4 and 5 really blew me away. One of my favorite scenes is the one where my avatar takes place. I know Ragnar said they probably won't ever be able make TLJ Home, but I'm still hoping they are able to arrange it somewhere down the line anyway. While there are some really strong games out there, I felt TLJ and Chapters were the best gaming experiences I've had. Dreamfall was also fantastic, though not quite as detailed as the other two. Who knows, maybe we'll see at least see another adventure game by Red Thread Games at some point. That would be something to look forward to.

Thanks for the suggestions Venus. I did play Blackwell Chronicles quite some years ago but wasn't all that keen on it from what I can recall, but I'll certainly check the others out. My favourite game of all times was GK2 even though I loved all the GK games. I think sometimes one's favourite games may be because of which games you play first. For instance I didn't play GK1 until a few years after playing GK2 and GK3 so that's probably why I've always preferred GK2 - well maybe anyway.

I haven't played either Life is Strange or Oxenfree, so will also check those out, thanks for the suggestion.

Well, I played the GK series in order, and I also favor GK2. I thought it had the best story in the series, plus Von Glower was a very compelling character. The third is my second favorite because of the complexity of the story, the character development for Gabriel and Grace, and the Le Serpent Rouge puzzle. All three are outstanding games, however, and the series is an extremely close second favorite after TLJ for me.

Great, hope you enjoy those games! Life is Strange in particular reminded me of Chapters as far as its playstlye is concerned. Plus, there is are a lot of TLJ parallels. The protagonist is an eighteen year photography student (April was an art student) with short brown hair (well, April's always looked auburn to me, but the characters look very similar ) who is just going about her ordinary life when she discovers she has an amazing power. The stories are vastly different, of course, but I'm pretty sure the developers must have played TLJ and used it as one of their inspirations.

And now I think I'm going to replay Dreamfall Chapters from the beginning. I'm looking forward to playing it as one full game. It may take several days to get through, even so.

Venus, thanks for some of the game suggestions. I had never even heard of Life is Strange or Oxenfree....I'm going to check those out for sure!
And.......while we are talking about some of the best games with a compelling storyline and lovable characters, let's not forget SYBERIA! I think it is a close second to Dreamfall. Such an amazing saga and must be played from beginning to end. I'm so excited for the next one to be released later this year. If anyone hasn't played it yet and enjoyed Dreamfall, I highly recommend it. There is Syberia, Syberia 2 and now awaiting Syberia 3. Wonder what Kate Walker will be up to now that she finally got Hans to Syberia.......and I hope Oscar will still be around. He was such a lovable character, along with the Youkals. Tooktoot

PS. Just watched the video clip of Life is Strange. Is there fighting and is it mouse controlled or keyboard? I'm so not good at stealth or timed sequences.

You're welcome, UruKat. Syberia is a fantastic series also. I think it's really interesting that Syberia 3 is coming out so close to the end of Chapters, as the original TLJ and original Syberia also had a similar release schedule. I really like what I've seen of Syberia 3 in the videos so far. I would also like to see Oscar return. Maybe he can be resurrected somehow.

Also, The Lost Crown is an amazing, very detailed game I would recommend, though I assume most have played it already. I'm really looking forward to Blackenrock and hope we get some news on that one soon!

There is no fighting in Life is Strange; it's a pure adventure game. Its controls are exactly like the controls in Dreamfall Chapters. Use the keyboard to move the character and the mouse to control the camera. There are some minor timed stealth sequences in earlier episodes and one longer one in the last episode, but since your character has the power to rewind time, they're not that bad at all. The only one I got really annoyed with was the long one in episode 5, and that was just because there were more obstacles to avoid than I would have preferred. It's doable with the rewind mechanic, though, just really annoying. I'm not good at stealth either, and I managed to make it through (with more than a little complaining.) The episode 5 sequence was the only part of the game I didn't care for, but most of it is very slow paced, relaxing and enjoyable. I highly recommend it if you enjoyed Chapters.

Well, between other games, I am replaying Dreamfall Chapters from the beginning and trying to choose the opposite choices of what I did the first time through. It's not always easy to remember what choices I did make but I'm doing my best. (I sometimes have difficulty remembering what I had for breakfast today)

Also, not to beat a dead horse, I'm still a little confused about the ending


But, to reiterate, I completely agree that this was one of the best, if not the best, games to come out in the adventure genre.

Oldman,

Have fun with the different choices this time! Do you remember which career path you got for Zoë in your first playthrough? I have a definite favorite, and it's the one that involves "welding." If you got that one, I'm sure you'll know what I'm referring to.

I agree, this is one of the best gaming experiences I've had, and I'm glad to see there are others who feel the same.

There is a good discussion on the different choices and consequences made while playing Dreamfall. This does have MAJOR spoilers, so if you haven't finished the game, you may not want to read it yet. I was thinking of doing the same thing as Oldman and seeing if different choices made a different ending. but after reading this, I don't feel like I will need to do that.
http://steamcommunity.com/app/237850/discussions/0/351659808483001843/

There is no different ending, no, but there can be variations on the ending you do get. Personally, I wouldn't want vastly different endings anyway, as I don't feel that would fit this particular game. With certain games like The Walking Dead Season 2, this works (although even then, I have a preferred ending ), but I feel like too many different endings for Chapters would water down the experience. I was quite satisfied with the variations on the ending I got, but I do intend to go back and create an "ideal" playthrough, now that I know the outcome of certain choices I've made. After that, I will probably always make these choices in subsequent playthroughs with only slight variations. I usually have a personal "canon" playthrough with choice based games, and this one will be no exception.

Urukat, also, in case you didn't know, there can be some pretty vastly different experiences in certain books depending on choices you've made. For example, Zoë can have one of two different career paths in Book 1. I prefer the one that involves "welding" myself, but there is another interesting experience you can have if you choose the other path. So even though your ending may not change all that much, your journey there can have some pretty different outcomes.

Venus the first time through I did the one with welding and this second time I'm doing the one that involves algae.

I've also started playing Chapters through a second time, but it's hard to remember the original choices, although I know that so far I've certainly made one different choice - not that I've played much of it at all.

Thanks for the suggestion of Life is Strange, not one I'd heard of either. I see it's available at Steam but personally I'd rather buy games from GOG, I guess it may be there but haven't looked properly as yet. I'll buy games from Steam if I can't get them elsewhere though.

Oldman, sounds great. Have fun.

JoAJ, I don't blame you. I prefer GOG as well, but unfortunately, Life is Strange is only available through Steam right now. I hope that changes one day, and I'm crazy enough that I'll buy it again if that happens. Like you, I'll get games from Steam if there is no other option but always go to GOG first so I have have a DRM free version to save to a USB stick. I'm also hoping that the new King's Quest will be available through GOG at some point, as so far, it's only on Steam. Oxenfree is available on GOG, which is really nice, as it wasn't at first. I picked it up there a second time when it was on sale.

For those that have started Chapters a second time, what do you think of the "new" Book 1? Do you like the cuts, or did you prefer the original? Personally, I liked the original a lot more, which is another reason I love having the GOG copy. I saved my older versions and will play them for Book 1, then switch to the Steam version after, so I can play Book 5. (The only reason I have both versions is that, as a backer, I was able to request a GOG version, and Red Thread also let us keep our Steam versions, which was really nice. ) I suppose for new players, it wouldn't make a difference, as you will have only seen the newer version and therefore wouldn't miss the older one.

Venus, I too thought the first version of Book 1 Chapters was better than the new one, don't really understand why they felt the needed to alter it. Other than that everything else so far seems fine.

By the way, how odd that you mentioned Life is Strange the other day and now the first episode is being released free! I'll certainly be checking that out although I can't see a link for the free version yet. Mind you, I live in Australia and I don't now what the time difference is wherever that was produced/

I agree, I don't see why they felt the need to alter it, as I thought it was perfectly fine the way it was. Why remove sections that people enjoyed? I'm hoping they get enough feedback and bring back the cut scenes/puzzles/dialogue. Amazing game anyway, of course.

It is interesting that the first episode of Life is Strange is being offered free now. Great timing. I checked too, and I didn't see the offer on Steam. However, the trailer said the 21st, so maybe it isn't available quite yet. It should hopefully be offered soon; we'll just have to keep checking periodically.

EDIT: Life is Strange episode 1 is available free now through Steam.

Thanks Venus, downloading it now.

You're welcome, JoAJ. Have fun!