Cliffhangers, over time, can lead to sore fingers. At the very least, you can forget why you're holding on. Has it really been six years since Dreamfall concluded so precariously? Well, Dreamfall Chapters is resuming development and, yes, some resolution to the story will be nice, but the series is much more than just a collection of loose ends. For one thing, April Ryan remains a widely loved and lauded protagonist, even though she was released a full thirteen years ago. So, let's recap.
In the opening to The Longest Journey, she's in her underwear, dreaming, confused and vulnerable. In the first hour of play, we get to know April as anxious art student, unappreciated waitress at the Fringe café and a generally shy, young woman. She's also frequently harassed by a menacing, male co-tenant at the Border House and construes most men she meets threatening. Much later, it becomes clear that this is largely driven by a troubled backstory.
Sooner, we learn April has a destiny and is forced into the role of reluctant hero. She's constantly in danger, frequently frightened and always unsure of herself. Although she survives and happens on great strength, I personally felt that I could identify with her fear, while being desperate to defend her, as player. Further, the entire premise of the sequel, Dreamfall, is, "Find her, save her, save April Ryan," literally being the video message delivered in the opening stages of the game.
What comparison am I drawing, reflecting on it now? Well, the awkward Tomb Raider reboot trailer, of course, and the producer's enduring commentary, "There's this sort of dynamic of 'I'm going to this adventure with her and trying to protect her." I'm wondering if some of the community's criticism missed the mark, though. Depicting the female character as "vulnerable," in one way or another, is a deservedly touchy stereotype in games, but is approaching it thoughtfully OK?
I'm not even sure what E3's Tomb Raider trailer was supposed to evoke, honestly. At one point, a disheveled man leans in to plant some menacingly sloppy kisses and an unwelcome hand on a young Lars Croft and she knees him in the groin? Am I supposed to punch the air and go, "Alright. You go, girl'?" I mean, sure, why not, that's pretty awful, but my reaction is more like, "Isn't that kind of a cliché, a bit contrived'?" That she also slapped across the face by one of every environmental chestnut? Well, it's an action game, isn't it?
Maybe, because Lara Croft is a woman, the idea that she's being explicitly bashed around is supposed to look more shocking. Outside of a gaming context, I'd probably credit that, vaguely. In games, I'm more used to seeing male characters bleeding horribly because, well, there are more male characters in games. Lara Croft's blood doesn't do much more than some guy's blood for me, so let's take gender out of this, for the moment. (I'll put it back in later.)
In The Longest Journey, characters simply were. April was self-deprecating and unsure, while other characters encompassed the entire spectrum of personality; sleazy, obsessed, gentle, broken, promiscuous, evil, scholarly, zealous, drunk or just flying-around-in-a-castle-style nutso. They were male, female, neither, characteristically so, characteristically not, a real mix of the kinds of people you'd find in the real world, as well as your wildest fantasy setting. They served the story, they upset the story, they simply were.
You know what else The Longest Journey had? A lesbian couple who never kissed "for our enjoyment." In fact, you initially only met Fiona, although she referred to Mickey constantly. Why? Fiona cared for and worried about Mickey, like an actual person cares and worries about her lover. They simply bickered occasionally and didn't need a bloke to fix the pipes in the basement. (From memory, that's what Mickey was doing for most of the game.)
It comes back to, who is the character? If Lara Croft is just a buttkicking tomb raider because "why not" then, seriously, why not? I love story in games more than any reasonable person probably should, but tweaking characters to manipulate the, inaccurately in lots of cases, imagined player makes for a shallow narrative. In a very old interview on Just Adventure, Ragnar Tornquist was asked, "Why April? Were you purposely attempting to reach a predominantly female adventure gaming audience?"
His reply is that it is an emotional tale and the female capacity for empathy enriches it; the story demands it. Tornquist didn't make a female protagonist so she'd be fragile in the eyes of players, although she was construed that way, for many. He highlighted a positive, generalised, female characteristic and applied it to the story. There's a world of difference, and that's why Dreamfall's is a world worth revisiting, to my mind, and we've been waiting a while.
