RagnarTornquist.com

Don’t let Uwe Boll anywhere near TLJ/DF/TSW, Ragnar.

Hello, Ragnar. To begin with, sorry for my English, if I will make mistakes, it’s not my native language (but I’ll improve my grammar, of course).

The idea about film adaptation is qu-i-i-i-ite interesting,but another, e-e-m, “adaptation”, can be much more interesting (because it seems to be more possible to realize – but who knows?). I
speak about soundtrack, performed by Symphony orchestra, like here =>

http://ru.youtube.com/watch?v=hgJOER-qVDU

It would be more than nice.

Unfortunately, not so many Russians can afford to leave the country for this sort of Festivals (not to mention the fact that not many of us can buy from foreign e-shops like Amazon, etc, because a
system of credit cards isn’t widespread in our country).

It’s cool that our publisher “Novy Disk” (Новый Диск) releases both original english and russian versions of the games, but as for Limited editions, soundtracks and so on, we can only… hmm..
how to say correctly: “lick our lips”, huh )))

That´s because we´re quite worried about “Dreamfall Chapters”, which, by all accounts, will be
“delivered as online-only content”, so…

But, yes, I know, let’s “live to see” and than then we’ll think.

Thanks for your attention!

it is possible to run TLJ in a window.
To do this, do the following:
-open ‘preferences.ini’ (found in the TLJ root directory) in a text editor and browse to the ‘directX’ section.
-There, change the value of ‘bool_StartFullscreen’ to 0 (it should have had the value ‘1′).
-Save and you’re done

note that TLJ is incompatible with Windows Vista’s Aero theme, probably due to the video player used (bink?), so vista will switch to the basic theme while the TLJ window is open.

“I was wondering if you had a good, hi-res symbol of the Balance from The Longest Journey, as I was thinking of getting it as a tattoo on my upper-arm.”

I do. Add my username at gmail.com and I can send it to you. It’s not the original symbol, but it’s one a friend (Alram, if she’s around) drew up for me which I used as a template to get a necklace pendant made, and it’s very accurate, high-res and clean.

Does it possible to make widescreen mode for the TLJ? Or make it run in window?

As Ragnar said, widescreen isn’t an option. As for running it in a window, I’ve tried before and I don’t think it’s possible. I could be wrong though.

Incidentally, the Futurama movie is great. It’s not out here for ages though, unfortunately. Is it just me, or does it make no business sense to release something in Australia four months after it’s US (and very shortly afterwards) internet release? It’s just poorly thought out, it will be pirated on a massive scale. I’m buying it when it does come out here – they’ve been cancelled already, and I love the show – but still, that’s a really dumb idea.

It’s possible to run TLJ in windowed mode.

You need to find the settings. They will either be in the gamedirectory or possibly somewhere around %appdata%. They are where your savefiles go, i think.

Then open preferences.ini, and under [DirectX] change “bool_StartFullscreen=1″ to “bool_StartFullscreen=0″.

That’s one way of doing it, atleast.

And Pirate, i’ll drop you an E-mail. I also want that hi-ress Ballance symbol.

Hey, Pirateguybrush, could I get that image too? I’ll shoot you an e-mail.

Thanks.

Btw, it is possible indeed to run TLJ in a window. My friend’s mac computer has windows installed and he’s playing tlj on it. For some reason, on his windows installation, TLJ only runs windowed. I’m sure there’s a fix for that, but indeed it can be done.

WT….
How come Reoda and rho’s responses suddenly flared into existance from nothing above my post …? Wasn’t there there the other times i refreshed… what’s happening to this site?

Pirateguybrush: any chance you can just put it on the web somewhere?

If not I can try to get it from you and post it myself… I’d be interested in seeing it…

I’ll take my stab at guessing the 2.5 inaccuracies here. I am, of course, entirely biased by opinion on theories.

Zoë’s in it. And Crow. Gabriel gets his groove on. There will be puzzles. And an exciting story. You’ll find out more about the Azadi. A Dragon strips down to the ‘bare essentials’ (if you know what I mean). And you’ll learn the true identity of the Prophet.

There will be no puzzles. It’s a radical design change that continues Dreamfall’s movement towards less gameplay. (we don’t play Adventures for the gameplay anyway – well, not unless they’re Action Adventures, and a story focus is getting rare there)

Gabriel does not get his groove on. Coincidentally, I cannot recall which character Gabriel is… It’s been since the launch (well… since the LE’s finally shipped out, which was much later) that I last played Dreamfall. I like to save the best game experiences for a fresh re-unveiling.

And the half truth either means you won’t truly (or perhaps fully) be revealing the Prophet’s identity, OR it could mean that you’re not going to have one of the Draic Kin in dragon form…? Kind of. Or something involving the various forms they’re capable of. Or maybe it’s April/Kin-but-not-Draic (hence only half true?) related.

On the other hand, I could combine the two and say the Blue of the Kin is revealed, but not revealed in his true identity: The Prophet. That’s my new conspiracy theory for the half truth part.

I know I’m crazy.

You’re absolutely right, and it’s a great idea. I don’t know if there are any plugins I can use to pull it off, but I’ll try and come up with something soon. Thanks!

You might start a wiki.RagnarTornquist.com subdomain with a page that links to all the historical landmark topics with brief descriptions.

(From the interview with Leon Willet)
Then I bought a WWII game called Medal of Honor, with music by Michael Giacchino. I was like “Hang on a minute! That’s an orchestra!”.

Medal of Honor’s soundtrack got me pretty deep into game music as well. It remains my favorite war themed score to any piece of media. The Band of Brothers theme comes close, but it’s just a single song and lacks the wider range.

Keep up the high quality music in your games, Ragnar! Proper music and ambient sounds are almost as important as the voice acting. We all appreciate the effort that goes into this stuff!

“Coincidentally, I cannot recall which character Gabriel is… It’s been since the launch (well… since the LE’s finally shipped out, which was much later) that I last played Dreamfall.”

- never say that on a site full of fanatic Dreamfall fans.

Gabriel is Zoe’s father, Gabriel Castillo. People speculate that he may be gay.

Posts being rearranged and disappearing may be due to weird mojo leaking from Darklore and the Daily Grail into Ragnar Tornquist dot com. Or it may just be ‘technical difficulties’. But I like the paranormal explanation (and much thanks for the plug!).

Incidentally, since the last Vista patch, Dreamfall no longer runs on my PC and the StarForce Vista patch no longer runs properly. I tried a reinstall and zip, nada, nothing.

Login problems at RTdotcom, unable to play Dreamfall… I think this is the intarweb telling me to go away and read a book in the sunshine outside.

I said it here so I would get an answer. It makes a lot more sense now. Never call a soundtrack purchaser a non-fanatic!

While patiently awaiting the release of Dreamfall Chapters, does anyone have any suggestions for similar adventure PC games that I can add to my Christmas wish list? I’ve searched around on several PC Game sites that have “Top 10″ lists, but the pickings seem slim for this year. Any recommendations? I’ll finally have a nice long break from school and work in December so it would be a shame NOT to have a cool, worthwhile game to get lost in over the holiday break.

My recommended adventure games would be The Broken Sword series, especially The Sleeping Dragon and the latest, Angel of Death. Both will put you in the mood for TSW.

Gah, need edit function, I posted accidentally before finishing. The Broken Sword games aren’t nearly as good as TLJ and DF, but they’re decent enough. Keepsake looks like a good story with interesting characters, but I can’t find it in stores anymore. Oh, Syberia is excellent, but I haven’t played the sequel. Don’t know about Tunguska or Nibiru (two more games that will prepare you for TSW), they might be ok. Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines is excellent as well, right up there with DF. Me, I’m planning on getting Jade Empire; it’s action, but Bioware have a proven background in good story and characters.

Yes, I mention TSW a lot.

I don’t have a recommendation on PC that came out this year (I know there were a few good ones, but they all fell under the radar before I tracked them down, and now I can’t find them either!) but on the DS, Phoenix Wright 3 just came out. If you missed Hotel Dusk earlier this year, you should definitely give that one a try too.

Thanks! I’ll have to look up those titles. I friend of mine played Tunguska, which she said was really good and similar to TLJ in its gameplay. I’ve heard about Syberia and it’s sequel, but haven’t played them yet. Has anyone played Paradise, also by Benoit Sokal? I picked it up last summer because the story setting sounded intriguing – it’s set in the African congo. The graphics were amazing with a heavy influence on Moroccan design elements, but that’s all I would gush about. The characters had no personality, the dialogue was very flat and moving from one task to another seemed endless. The puzzles were near to impossible to figure out – not so much because of their difficulty, but because the clues that even indicated that there WAS a puzzle that needed to be solved, all seemed extremely elusive. Maybe it’s just me, but I found the whole game very frustrating for those reasons. Did anyone else have the same experience? Is Syberia similar? I hope it out performs Paradise, but that the graphics are just as stunning!

Yeah, very disappointed in Sokal’s Paradise. It’s based on his novel, which I haven’t read. Don’t think I’ll read it after playing the game! Which is a shame, because the game breaks down so many stereotypes and offers something unique to gamers; alas, the gameplay is terrible. Beautiful to look at, but horrible to play. Syberia however is much better, I recommend it. The lead character is annoying at first, but that’s part of her development in the story, stick with it. In Ragnar’s rating system, I’d give Syberia two stars, and Paradise half a star. TLJ and Dreamfall are three stars obviously.

And have you played the Monkey Island games? I’d give the last one a miss, it’s an early 3D attempt that lacks the magic of the animated Curse of Monkey Island (the best one).

Actually, I only started getting into these kinds of games last year. I played TLJ, got hooked and then played Dreamfall right after it. Other than those two I’m a relative newbie to any other adventure games that have come out in the past few years. So with that in mind, feel free to recommend everything and anything that would be reminiscent of either of those.

In that case, play all the Monkey Island games! Especially Curse, it’s hilarious. And Grim Fandango is brilliant, a 3-star adventure game, it’s a must-play. There’s another game I’ve been meaning to look at called Fahrenheit, it’s a crime mystery with a very intriguing concept. Anyone played that one?

Fahrenheit – worth playing, but not fantastic. Still decent though.

Grim Fandango – If you haven’t played it, your life is incomplete.

Monkey Island – Great games, especially the third. Fourth isn’t horrible, but it’s not as good as the rest.

*always thinks of things to add after he posts*

Here’s some info on Fahrenheit. It’s also called Indigo Prophecy in the USA, and is by David Cage (he designed the very original Nomad Soul, which featured David Bowie). He has a new game out next year called Heavy Rain. Competition for Ragnar.

Hey! I just watched a Curse of Monkey Island video preview on Youtube and noticed the name “Guybrush”. The same as “Constable Guybrush” the wind-up monkey toy in TLJ? Is there a story connection there I’m not aware of or is it just a coincidence? Are both games designed by the same team or were the makers of TLJ giving a subtle tribute to the Monkey Island games?

Here’s that other guy’s symbol of the Balance tattoo.

As for the 2.5 inaccuracies, I almost hope they’re…
1. Gabriel getting his groove on.
2. Puzzles.
3. Exciting plot.

…just because I want everything else. But I want them too!

Half truth: “Zoë’s in it.” She is, but only as narrator…? Gabriel and groove can’t coexist in the same sentence, truly. And Kin April’s not going to ’strip down’ too much – at least not on camera.

I see I’m truly out of my speculation rush from pre-DF.

I hope the half-truth is “Zoe’s in it”. I’m presuming the lies are Gabriel getting his groove on, and the Kin getting her kit off. However, I really do hope Gabriel makes somewhat of an appearance. That voice actor was one of my favourite in the game.

It intrigues me that you talk of TV and film possibilities but not books, Ragnar. Aren’t novels a cheaper and safer way to extend a game world, especially in the short term?

TSW novels? My agent will be in touch with your agent.

Hang on… “twin worlds”? *gasp*

Oh, you mean books for TLJ and Dreamfall. Thought for a second you referred to TSW as the twin worlds.

@Lore: Here are some games you should consider:

Keepsake: Okay game and story. A good game if you’re into somewhat hard-to-solve puzzles. Can become a little trite, though.

Secret Files Tunguska: Good game, worth checking out. A sequel is planned for 2008, and I’m definetly looking forward to it.

Grim Fandango: This is a ‘must play’ game. Really good. What(Except for TLJ) can be better than a travel agent(AKA ‘Death’) on the run, in the middle of a big conspirancy, in the land of the dead?

Fahrenheit: Definetly cool game. The gameplay is somewhat unique. I like it a lot, although I’m not too happy about how the story changes towards the end. Oh well, still a really good game.

Monkey Island 4: Admittedly, this is the only Monkey Island I’ve really played. (Tried 3 a little, don’t remember why I quit early. Doubt it was the game itself that was the reason. ) Monkey Island 4 is a really good and fun game.

Siberia: Oh yes, this is DEFINETLY a good game. Or should I say, good /games/. Although TLJ is better overall, Siberia 2’s ending actually made me cry a couple of tears. Really good.

Really looking forward to Dreamfall Chapters. I just wish we had more information about /when/(cirka) it’ll be released. And, although getting a little(cryptic) info about it from time to time is cool, I’d rather not speculate on it, but instead see what’ll happen ingame.

Syberia 2’s ending made me scream KILLER PENGUINS! KILLER PENGUINS!!! at the top of my voice, and I was close to ending up in a straight-jacket.

OK, close to the end at least.

@Ragnar: I’ve yet to do any fanart of TLJ, but I have wanted to for a long time, though. A short TLJ comic would be fun to do. (Got to finish another comic project first, though.)

You wouldn’t mind would you? ^^

Yeah, I’m pretty fucking excited about it.

Ragnar saying fuck all the time means one of a few possible things:
-He’s getting too lazy to think of more creative words.

-He’s increasing gratuity in an effort to make the word impossibly trite (let’s face it – it’s already there in this industry too) to the point that no game developer ever bothers to use that waste of an empty word ever again. (WHAT DOES IT EVEN MEAN ANYMORE!?!)

-He’s really, really, pretty excited. Only it takes one less empty word to say that by dropping the big bomb, and as we all know: Sending fewer virtual words uses less electricity. It’s a green thing. Save the environment!

-Ragnar’s been watching too many war films and is in the swearing zone right now. I request a change in mindset please. I’m forming the “We want writers to do all the creative thinking & hard work for us Union” and going on strike until Ragnar finds a more interesting word than fuck or really.

Uh oh, the edit function still isn’t working again…

*Disclaimer: GyRo has been watching an excessive amount of Brotherhood 2.0 and is in the “find pointless things to poke fun at in your fellow communicator’s communication & challenge them to do something creative about it in a funny way” zone. He means no offense.

I’m realy looking forward to finding out what those falsehoods and half falsehoods are.. ^^

Btw Ragnar, (and anyone else here,) know where to get the norwegian tlj?
I tried to call the funcom office in Oslo, they didn’t have it there, and I can’t find the phone number (or anything else realy) to IQ media (that is I find a number but it’s not working)
And when googleing tlj or dlr (the short form of the norwegian name) or any other combinations of letters I can think of as relevant all I find is df and tlj in english…
cd 1 in both my first and second copy of tlj is nolonger working and therfor I’m unable to play the game :/
I’d like to play the game in norwegian with other people that ain’t as “good” in english as I am. therfor the english tlj won’t do for me :/

Thanks in advance to anyone with any clue to where to get the game in norwegian