History VideoGame / TheLongestJourney

* BirdPeople: The Alatien are roughly humanoid birds with wings for arms.

** There is also a "mystifying" machine by the hotel that acts as a [[Myst]]-esque puzzle.

April Ryan is an [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent ordinary art student]] living in the CyberPunk metropolis Newport and applying for the local Academy of Arts. She has her share of problems with her parents, insecurity about her future, and increasingly strange dreams, but she also has some great friends, a job, and a friendly landlady. Then a weird CoolOldGuy named Cortez appears and tells her that she is TheChosenOne who has to SaveBothWorlds -- and then he sends her to that [[AnotherDimension other world]], {{Arcadia}}, she is supposed to save. As her familiar world [[WhenDimensionsCollide crumbles around her]], April has to dive deeper into the secrets of the universe, fulfill cryptic prophecies, bring down an AncientConspiracy or two, save the [[PhysicalGod Guardian of the Balance]], and ultimately restore the harmony between the Twin Worlds of Stark and Arcadia. And that all in less than two weeks.

''The Longest Journey'' is the first game of the ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourneySaga''. It is a 1999 AdventureGame written by Ragnar Tørnquist and developed by the Norwegian company Funcom for UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows. Famous for its expansive storyline, a lovable, GenreSavvy heroine, and flawless gameplay (as far as [[PointAndClickGame point-and-click]] gameplay goes), the game is commonly credited with resurrecting the AdventureGame genre after its crisis in the late 90's. In November 2014, '' The Longest Journey'' also received an iOS port.

Please add character-related tropes to the '''[[Characters/TheLongestJourney characters tab]]''', and tropes common to the series to '''[[VideoGame/TheLongestJourney the series page]]'''.

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Inverted. In this game thirteen is a lucky number.

* CerebusSyndrome: Initially the story does not take itself too seriously, being at some points an AffectionateParody of fantasy stories and even campy and comedic at times, with lots of LampshadeHanging. But the story starts to take a very dark turn when [[spoiler:the Tyren army invades Marcuria]] and [[spoiler:Emma is shot by the Vanguard]].

* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The Mystery Door by the Fringe.]]

* ConspicuousTrenchcoat: Minelli uses this to secretly keep an eye on the movie entrance. [[LampshadeHanging April points out that obviously he must be a cop.]]

* CovertGroupWithMundaneFront: In Stark the Vanguard are working under the cover of the Church of Voltec.

* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler:The ending reveals that April is actually supposed to get the Guardian to his destination, not become the Guardian herself.]]

-->''These are worms, all right -- vicious, snarling wheat worms driven mad by their hunger for a change of diet!''

* GameBreakingBug: Some actions have to be done in the exactly right order, even if the game ''seems'' to accept any order. Usually it's no big deal, except for one puzzle that doesn't allow disassembling a partly-assembled contraption. It requires to [[spoiler:pull a rubber duck (that has to stay inflated) over a steel clamp and then tie a rope to the clamp]]. Since there's a time limit [[spoiler:until the duck deflates]], many players reverse the order: [[spoiler:attach the rope to the clamp, then blow up the duck and attach it]]. But this way the game behaves as if there is no rope, and April can neither use the device, nor untie the rope. The device is required to finish Chapter 2, but the mistake can be made early in Chapter 1. In other words, a player has to restart.[[note]]There seem to exist several different versions where the bug may or may not manifest. The build 142 sold at gog.com does have the bug.[[/note]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Gordon Halloway]] has one after his [[spoiler: soul is reunited with his body.]]

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: When travelling on Nebevay's ship, April first manages to divert the ship into dangerous waters with her magic talisman. Then, when she tries to recover the talisman after Nebeway takes it away from her, she hits the floorboard with the axe instead of the chest in which the talisman is locked away, which results in the ship sinking.

* SurprisinglyEasyMiniquest: Getting the Stone Disc pieces kept by [[spoiler:the Dark People]] and by [[spoiler:Abnaxus]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Near the end, after April escapes Venice, Emma and Charlie is never heard from again, [[spoiler:except that Emma is alive]]. We don't get to know whether April finally got reunited with them or not. These questions are resolved in ''Dreamfall'', though.

* {{ADogNamedDog}}: April's sidekick is a crow named Crow. He was also originally a bird named Bird.

* InformingTheFourthWall
* InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn: TropeNamer.

-->I was out picking bones- uh, berries, for my stew, and flowers, ''yeeess'', pretty flowers...\\
Oh, I'm no one, no one at all, just a frail, old woman out picking ''booones''- uh, '''berries''', picking berries, for her stew so she can feed her ''prisoners''- uh, '''guests''', so she can ''fatten them up for''... um, [[BlatantLies the long winter]]...\\

Oh, what have we here, this... "stew", isn't good enough to ''stuff yo''- um, to ''serve'', a guest as ''plump''- as ''well built and deliciou''- as ''honoured'' as you, ''my dear''...
** ...And April ''[[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption still]]'' [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption follows]] [[TooDumbToLive her home]]. Not until she's trapped inside her house does she go "Hey, you know what..."

* ModernStasis: The game is set 200 years in the future, yet, apart from the cyber-punkish aesthetics, there is little plot-relevant futuristic technology.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: When travelling on Nebeway's ship, April first manages to divert the ship into dangerous waters with her magic talisman. Then, when she tries to recover the talisman after Nebeway takes it away from her, she hits the floorboard with the axe instead of the chest in which the talisman is locked away, which results in the ship sinking.

* PaperThinDisguise: Simply by ''holding a pizza box'', April can get by a guard she had continually pestered to let her in to no avail.

* DrugsAreBad: The fictitious drug "Rapture" comes up repeatedly, though it's not important to the story. Too many will really mess you up. Also referenced is the fictitious drug "Amathine".

* DrugsAreBad: The fictitious drug "Rapture" comes up repeatedly, though it's not important to the story. Too many will really mess you up.

* {{ADogNamedDog}}: April's sidekick is a crow named Crow.

'''Warning: This page is currently under rearrangement. Before editing, please check on [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1545991062094088900 the Trope Repair Shop topic]].'''

* MoonLogicPuzzle: The infamous key on the subway tracks, which requires you to go to two out-of-the-way places to solve puzzles and gather together a bunch of equipment to [[MacGyvering MacGyver]] together a bizarre contraption to retrieve it. And it won't even be obvious ''why'' you're going out of your way to get this random key unless you get far enough in the game.

* ProductPlacement: One of the bits of graffiti on the subway is the logo for late-90's/early 2000's-era soda Surge.

The game is available on both UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and Website/GOGDotCom, but notoriously difficult to get to run on some modern systems. It is, however, currently [[http://wiki.residualvm.org/index.php/The_Longest_Journey fully playable]] in the [[http://www.residualvm.org/ ResidualVM emulation engine]] (an offshoot of [=ScummVM=]), albeit with some glitches and missing features.

''The Longest Journey'' is the first game of the ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' series. It is a 1999 AdventureGame written by Ragnar Tørnquist and developed by the Norwegian company Funcom for UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows. Famous for its expansive storyline, a lovable, GenreSavvy heroine, and flawless gameplay (as far as [[PointAndClickGame point-and-click]] gameplay goes), the game is commonly credited with resurrecting the AdventureGame genre after its crisis in the late 90's. In November 2014, '' The Longest Journey'' also received an iOS port.

A series of video games created by Ragnar Tørnquist. These are, in the order of release:

* ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney1999'' (1999)
* ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'' (2006)
* ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'' (2014-2016, [[EpisodicGame released in 5 episodes]])

Another geme, titled ''The Longest Journey Home'', which would explain the events in the TimeSkip between the first two games, was planned, but is currently not under production.

!!Tropes common to the series:

* TheAlcatraz: Friar's Keep, the tower the Azadi use as a prison, which April needs to rescue Zoë from, then later Kian has to escape from.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: In ''Dreamfall'' and ''Chapters'', playing as Zoë, April (only in ''Dreamfall''), and Kian.
* {{Arcadia}}: Arcadia is AnotherDimension where magic is possible. While it looks like a pastoral utopia to people coming there from our world, it has its own share of problems, too.
* AstralProjection: Zoë's trips to Arcadia [[spoiler:and Europolis]], in a nutshell. She's not a Shifter, like April, but merely winds up there while dreaming. Unlike normal astral projections, her presence in Arcadia is very much physical.
* CerebusSyndrome: The second two games play a lot more seriously than the first one.
* CommonTongue: Na'ven or Alltongue, a magical language spoken in all of Arcadia (a parallel universe). Its omnipresence is justified with the fact that you can become a fluid speaker after listening to it for just a few minutes, as April does upon her first visit to Arcadia. This language can only be spoken in Arcadia, as shown in ''Chapters'', where an engineer is shifted to Stark (our world) and suddenly Zoë and he don't understand each other.
* CorruptChurch: The Azadi's religion, [[spoiler: Kian calls them out on it before he's arrested.]]
* CyberPunk: Stark, especially in ''Dreamfall'' and ''Chapters''.
* DimensionalTraveler: Shifters are the only creatures known to physically travel between the twin worlds of Stark and Arcadia, as well as to and from much smaller splinter worlds, like the Guardian's Realm (although speculation abounds that the Draic Kin are capable of it, as well).
* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
** The racist "Front" talks about how bad the magicals are...
** Note the somewhat middle eastern motif of the Azadi.
* DualWorldGameplay: Unlike other examples of this trope, you don't get to ''choose'' when to go to the other world.
* TheEmpire: The Azadi have conquered much of Arcadia.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Azadi play an antagonistic role in both ''Dreamfall'' and ''Chapters'' -- and even many of ''them'' find the idea of [[spoiler: exterminating all magicals]] to be either going too far or simply not right. The events at Ge'en cause a lot of them to be absolutely disgusted.
* EverythingIsOnline: The Wire is an omnipresent wireless network that links everything on Earth with a computer chip - which means almost everything, from mobile phones to smart fridges to traffic lights. It is essentially an environment of constant communication, integration and exchange of information. The Wire is monitored by the EYE, and a lot of money can be made on the black market by severing or shielding objects from the Wire, especially mobile phones. The Wire also functions like the Internet it evolved from, playing host to news feeds like The Hand That Bites. The mysterious network failures known as "The Static" have even resulted in fatal car accidents, and, indeed, one of the things you get to hack during the game is a car.
* EvilTowerOfOminousness: The tower the Azadi are building in Marcuria. The ending makes it even more ominous.
* FantasticGhetto: The Marcuria ghetto for the "magicals", set up by the Azadi occupants.
* FantasticRacism: Which is handled with a surprising amount of depth and nuance. The Azadi's determination to exterminate magicals is only the most obvious manifestation.
** Between humans and magical races and magical races themselves, most notably the Azadi and their treatment of magical races.
** The Azadi also have a complex hierarchy of human worth that is informed by intersections of class, race, and religion; for example, a cutscene reveals that an infidel's testimony cannot be used against a Trueborn.
** Additionally, Vamon resents Kian, who is of low birth, for essentially rising above his station.
* TheFederation: Northlands, particularly, Ayrede.
* HereThereWereDragons: Among other fantasy stuff.
* InTheDoldrums:
** The Guardian's realm looks like this. It turns out to be a FisherKingdom--in ''Dreamfall'', the replacement for´ the first game's ailing Guardian adds plant life and a proper sky.
** In ''Dreamfall'' and ''Chapters'', Storytime.
* ItIsPronouncedTroPay: The deity of the Azadi Empire is the God''ess'', emphasis on the second syllable.
* LampshadeHanging: Done a lot.
* LaResistance: The small group lead by April, and later Shepherd [[spoiler:after April's death]], to fight the Azadi in Marcuria.
* LotusEaterMachine: [[spoiler:The dreamer machines]] can have this effect. They even have a flower component that covers a person's face.
* KnightTemplar: The Azadi, who seek to [[spoiler: destroy all magic in the world in order to "cleanse it". Justified, as magic causes chaotic effects, which interfere with the Machine]].
* MagicVersusScience: The scientific Stark and the magical Arcadia. A balance is kept so that no technology goes to Arcadia an no magic goes to Stark.
* TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar: The Collapse in Stark is due to magic going away. It's heavily implied that most of the advanced technology (e.g. FTL, antigravity) is impossible with pure science and was the result of magic bleeding in from Arcadia through cracks in the Barrier. Once the Barrier is restored by the new Guardian, it's back to using old tech for the people of Stark. By the same token, pure complex technology is impossible in Arcadia due to laws of nature being in flux. Thus, even Azadi technology is reinforced by magic, although you may be arrested for suggesting that.
* {{Matriarchy}}: The Azadi Empire is ruled by six Empresses, political power is expressly the woman's domain (though military power is the man's), they worship a Goddess, and the term for an orphan without fortune or connections is a "motherless" child. Sub-trope Enlightened Matriarchy (great cultural and scientific achievements, started off saving the entire civilization), or Original Matriarchy (overstayed their welcome big time to become an occupation, [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Extremism]] on full display including the FantasticGhetto, repressive government, assassinations, and mass murder).
* MedievalStasis: Way back in history, the inhabitants of the world in question had to make a choice between "magic" and "science", and two parallel worlds were created, between which the Player Character can skip. Our PC is from the Science world, apparently Twenty Minutes into the Future, whereas the Magic world is still on swords and bows, because anyone born with ingenuity and inventiveness ends up in the Science world. Stark the science world is set in the 23rd century with interstellar travel and antigravity flying cars while Arcadia the magic world which has been separated from the other for several thousands of years is perpetually in the medieval ages level of technology. The Azadi have introduced steam technology and airships but itself must rely on magic (though saying so in public can get you arrested). Stark on the other hand is only able to produce faster than light travel and antigravity technology because of magic seeping into this dimension as it defies the laws of physics (unbeknowest to its denizens). The high number of antigravity accidents are due to the chaotic nature of magic and after the collapse the complete removal of magic causes society to revert to old technology as both antigravity and etrasolar travel is no longer feasible.
* MegaCorp: Lots of them in Stark, e.g. [=WATIcorp=]. Even the police is owned by a megacorp. What does this mean? When you're arrested, you're read both your rights ''and'' a catchy soda ad.
* NarratorAllAlong: Played with. At the end of the first game, it is implied that Lady Alvane is April Ryan herself in later years. In ''Chapters'', however, it is revealed that she is Saga, a time traveller and a reincarnation of April.
* NonLinearCharacter: The Venar, who perceive all of their life simultaneously. Asking one to focus on the "now" to talk to you gives it a massive headache.
* OddlyNamedSequel2ElectricBoogaloo: The title of the games (see description above).
* OhMyGods: Phrases such as "By the Balance" are common in Arcadia. Sailors tend to swear to Mo-Jaal. For the Azadi, it's the Goddess.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: The way Brian Westhouse behaves in this game is ''vastly'' different from the way he behaved in ''The Longest Journey''. It's not quite clear what happened to him between the games [[spoiler: and after his encounter with The Undreaming]], but it sure is very important.
** A more straigtforward example would be Sister Sahya, who is a part of an extremely matriarchal culture, taking orders from the Prophet, who is rather obviously male. April even lampshades on it.
* OrderVersusChaos: Stark is the world of order, Arcadia is one of chaos--but when they begin to seep into each other, chaos wins out. Also, on a different level, in the first game the Vanguard and their desire to merge the worlds and rule them versus the Sentinels who want to keep the worlds separated.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Draic Kin.
* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: The resistance in Marcuria.
* RefusalOfTheSecondCall: After saving two worlds from annihilation, April becomes a bitter cynic and refuses to help Zoe when when the world is in peril again ten years later.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: The [[MoleMen Banda]], furry little creatures with curious speech patterns and rather elaborate naming traditions.
* SaveBothWorlds: There are two worlds in place of one Earth: technological/ordered Stark and magical/chaotic Arcadia. If they collide, there may be a hell to pay. Or not. Let's just leave the cosmology of the Twin Worlds at that.
* ScienceIsBad: Arcadia is the world of magic, and apparently the only way to introduce advanced science/technology is to eradicate all magicals.
* SimultaneousArcs: Occurs throughout ''Dreamfall'' and ''Chapters'' after you're introduced to the other two characters. Produces a very striking moment, when Kian meets April and player is being switched from one to other in their dialogue.
* {{Steampunk}}: The Azadi machinery in general looks more modern than the rest of Arcadia. ''Chapters'' reveals the true reason behind it.
* StoryToGameplayRatio: As an adventure game, the games are obviously story-heavy. While ''The Longest Journey'' has lots of, sometimes complex, puzzles, that are popular in older adventure games, the later games are more straightforward in gameplay. ''Dreamfall'' has some hacking and lock-opening mini-games, ''Chapters'' has none of these. The latter two games also have quite long cutscenes, especially near the end of the games.
* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: [[spoiler:The Draic Kin.]]
* TechnicolorFire: Blue flames are a fairly common sight in Marcuria. As April points out, it's magical in nature. When the Azadi outlaw magic, it is restricted to the Magic Ghetto.
* TechnicolorPeople: The magical people has various skin colors, like yellow or purple.
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: The plot structure of the latter two games.
* TimeDissonance: The Venar.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Na'ven or Alltongue in Arcadia is a magical language that can be learned in a few minutes just by listening to it..
* UsedFuture: Stark tends to be like this.
** Newport has a gritty, cyber-punkish feeling to it. While not particularly [[{{Dystopia}} Dystopic in the first game, by ''Dreamfall'' it becomes a run-down WretchedHive.
** Europolis in ''Chapters''.
** Averted with Casablanca, which is one of the nicest places in Stark that the games show us.
* WhereItAllBegan: Happens to the whole saga at the end of Dreamfall Chapters. [[spoiler:''The Longest Journey'', the first game of the Saga, begins at the House of All Worlds with Lady Alvane telling April Ryan's story. Dreamfall Chapters ends at this same place with Lady Alvane, who is revealed to be old Saga, meeting April Ryan from the past. Bonus points that back in ''The Longest Journey'' Lady Alvane did mention that the story ends where it begins.]]
* WildMagic: All of magic in Arcadia (and sometimes Stark) is rooted in the energies of Chaos.
* ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld: The Azadi introduce airships in Arcadia. Zoë rides these in both ''Dreamfall'' and ''Chapters''.

* FantasticRacism: Between humans and magical races and magical races themselves, most notably the Azadi and their treatment of magical races.

!!Tropes common to the series:

* ''TheLongestJourney1999'' (1999)
* ''DreamfallTheLongestJourney'' (2006)
* ''DreamfallChapters'' (2014-2016, [[EpisodicGame released in 5 episodes]])

'''Warning: This page is currently under rearrangement. Before editing, please check on [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1545991062094088900 the Trope Repair Shop topic]].'''

[[quoteright:325:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_longest_journey_cover_6124.jpg]]

->''"Mystery is important. To know everything, to know the whole truth, is dull. There is no magic in that. Magic is not knowing, magic is wondering about what and how and where."''
-->-- '''Cortez'''

April Ryan is an [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent ordinary art student]] living in the CyberPunk metropolis Newport and applying for the local Academy of Arts. She has her share of problems with her parents, insecurity about her future, and increasingly strange dreams, but she also has some great friends, a job, and a friendly landlady. Then a weird CoolOldGuy named Cortez appears and tells her that she is TheChosenOne who has to SaveBothWorlds -- and then he sends her to that [[AnotherDimension other world]], {{Arcadia}}, she is supposed to save. As her familiar world [[WhenDimensionsCollide crumbles around her]], April has to dive deeper into the secrets of the universe, fulfill cryptic prophecies, bring down an AncientConspiracy or two, save the [[PhysicalGod Guardian of the Balance]], and ultimately restore the harmony between the Twin Worlds of Stark and Arcadia. And that all in less than two weeks.

''The Longest Journey'' is a 1999 AdventureGame written by Ragnar Tørnquist and developed by the Norwegian company Funcom for UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows. Famous for its expansive storyline, a lovable, GenreSavvy heroine, and flawless gameplay (as far as [[PointAndClickGame point-and-click]] gameplay goes), the game is commonly credited with resurrecting the AdventureGame genre after its crisis in the late 90's. An OddlyNamedSequel, ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'', was released in 2006, and another, ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'', between October 2014 and June 2016 (in [[EpisodicGame five episodes]]). In November 2014, '' The Longest Journey'' also received an iOS port.

Please add character-related tropes to the '''[[Characters/TheLongestJourney characters tab]]'''.

The game is available on both UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and Website/GOGDotCom, but notoriously difficult to get to run on some modern systems. It is, however, currently [[http://wiki.residualvm.org/index.php/The_Longest_Journey fully playable]] in the [[http://www.residualvm.org/ ResidualVM emulation engine]] (an offshoot of [=ScummVM=]), albeit with some glitches and missing features.

----
!!Tropes found in the game:

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Inverted. In this game thirteen is a lucky number.
* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler: April's adoptive father]], though it's strongly hinted he feels deep remorse over it.
* AliceAllusion: When Cortez helps April travel to Arcadia for the first time, he deliberately invokes this imagery to her: "Why, Alice, I am sending you through the looking glass!"
* AlienGeometries: The maze in Roper Klacks' castle has some fake perspectives. There is also a staircase at the background, which is revealed to be just a painting.
* AlmostDeadGuy: Flipper utters some final words to April when she meets him half-dead.
* AlphabetSoupCans: Roper Klack is beaten by using a calculator, to prove that you can do math and he can't. Or at least, you can do it faster. Afterward, the mage gets sucked into the calculator, for reasons unexplained.
* AmuletOfConcentratedAwesome: The Talisman of the Balance helps April out in various situations.
* AncientAstronauts: The Alatien and the Maerum has a common lineage. Their ancestors apparently came from space.
* AncientConspiracy: The Vanguard.
* AncientTradition: The Sentinel Fathers.
* {{Arcadia}}: Arcadia is AnotherDimension where magic is possible. While it looks like a pastoral utopia to people coming there from our world, it has its own share of problems, too.
* BirdPeople: The Alatien are roughly humanoid birds with wings for arms.
* BittersweetEnding:
** After all her numerous trials and sacrifices throughout ''TLJ'', April is basically given heartfelt thanks...[[spoiler: and then left to her own devices]]. She even admits as not knowing how to feel as she starts her trek "home".
** By the end Arcadia is under attack and Tobias is dead.
* BorrowedBiometricBypass: Glass eye on retinal scanner.
* CerebusSyndrome: Initially the story does not take itself too seriously, being at some points an AffectionateParody of fantasy stories and even campy and comedic at times, with lots of LampshadeHanging. But the story starts to take a very dark turn when [[spoiler:the Tyren army invades Marcuria]] and [[spoiler:Emma is shot by the Vanguard]].
* ChekhovsBoomerang: Mr. Guybrush is utilized twice in the game.
* ChekhovsGun: [[spoiler:The Mystery Door by the Fringe.]]
* ChekhovsVolcano: The volcano on Alais.
* TheChosenOne: Played with heavily. When April asks Cortez if she is the chosen one, he denies the idea. Later, he gets to admit it to be true. April [[RefusalOfTheCall doesn't want to be in that role]] either, but grows into it.
* CleverCrows: Crow helps April solving puzzles.
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: You never know what George the maintenance man will say next.
* ConspicuousTrenchcoat: Minelli uses this to secretly keep an eye on the movie entrance. [[LampshadeHanging April points out that obviously he must be a cop.]]
* CommonTongue: Na'ven or Alltongue, a magical language spoken in all of Arcadia (a parallel universe). Its omnipresence is justified with the fact that you can become a fluid speaker after listening to it for just a few minutes, as April does upon her first visit to Arcadia.
* CosmicDeadline: Sort of a Disc one variant, with April obtaining two pieces of the stone disc within roughly ten minutes of each other. In true Longest Journey Fashion, she [[LampshadeHanging points out how easy obtaining these pieces was]].
* CovertGroupWithMundaneFront: In Stark the Vanguard are working under the cover of the Church of Voltec.
* CreatorCameo: Ragnar Tørnquist voices Marcus, a minor character near the start of the game.
* CreepyLongFingers: Abnaxus.
%% * CruelTwistEnding: It definitely is for April.
* CrueltyIsTheOnlyOption: There are other things too, but special mention goes to Detective Minelli. First you poison him (or at least give him a ''severely'' upset stomach) to get him to move out of an area, then you steal his glass eye (he obviously becomes very panicked when you do this) and replace it with a plastic eye from a toy monkey (which he then puts in his eye socket). Other solutions involve conning your way around problems.
* CyberPunk: Newport.
* CyberPunkIsTechno: A lot of technoheads in the cyberpunk metropolis of Newport.
* CymbalBangingMonkey: The Guybrush monkey toy.
* ADateWithRosiePalms: Wino, the man innocuously squatting with his back turned next to the steps to Warren Hughes' apartment, [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar appears to be in the middle of doing this]]. Much to April's disgust.
* DeliveryGuyInfiltration: April breaks into the Vanguard headquarters by pretending to deliver pizza.
* {{Diary}}: April keeps a diary throughout the game, which is an important source of her characterization. How she manages to update it even after being pulled into a parallel universe in just her underwear is never explained.
* DidntSeeThatComing: [[spoiler:The ending reveals that April is actually supposed to get the Guardian to his destination, not become the Guardian herself.]]
* DimensionalTraveler: Shifters are the only creatures known to physically travel between the twin worlds of Stark and Arcadia, as well as to and from much smaller splinter worlds, like the Guardian's Realm (although speculation abounds that the Draic Kin are capable of it, as well).
* DismantledMacGuffin: The Stone Disc, the key to the Guardian's realm in the first game. Justified in the BackStory: the disc was originally kept at the Sentinel Enclave, ready for pickup by TheChosenOne, but then the Vanguard tried to steal it. Afterwards, the Sentinels decided to break it up and hand the pieces over to the four magical peoples most motivated to keep it hidden (since most magical creatures would likely perish if the Twin Worlds were forcibly reunited).
%%* DisneyDeath: April's friend who gets shot.
* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler: Cortez and Jacob [=McAllen=]]], WordOfGod stating that the former [[HesJustHiding is just hiding]], [[FridgeHorror though what that would imply about the latter]]...
* DoomDoors: The sound of any automatic door. These become more apparent in the later parts of the game, on the upper level and the space station.
* DownTheRabbitHole: Pretty much the point of the first part of the game and it [[AliceAllusion explicitly references Alice]] at many occasions.
* DramaticGunCock: The cop at the shuttle crash does this after April speaks with him and he sends her away.
* DreamIntro: Subverted. While it looks like a dream, when April visits the same location in the waking world, she can see the traces of her actions from when she was "dreaming" about it at the start of the game. In other words, it was real from the start, she just didn't realize it then.
* DrugsAreBad: The fictitious drug "Rapture" comes up repeatedly, though it's not important to the story. Too many will really mess you up.
* DualWorldGameplay: Unlike other examples of this trope, you don't get to ''choose'' when to go to the other world.
* EntertaininglyWrong: Captain Nebevay is tricked by April into leaving to checking on apple supplies below decks, despite noticing what pest is infecting them.
-->''These are worms, all right -- vicious, snarling wheat worms driven mad by their hunger for a change of diet!''
* FantasticDrug: "Rapture" and "Amathin". The effects are never explained in detail.
* TheFederation: Northlands, particularly, Ayrede.
* FramingDevice: The game starts with an old woman named Lady Alvane being asked to tell a story to two children. Instead of the one they asked her, she tells them the story of April Ryan. At the end of the game, Lady Alvane finishes her story, and the children leave.
* FunnyBackgroundEvent: April crashes a news report and does this.
* GameBreakingBug: Some actions have to be done in the exactly right order, even if the game ''seems'' to accept any order. Usually it's no big deal, except for one puzzle that doesn't allow disassembling a partly-assembled contraption. It requires to [[spoiler:pull a rubber duck (that has to stay inflated) over a steel clamp and then tie a rope to the clamp]]. Since there's a time limit [[spoiler:until the duck deflates]], many players reverse the order: [[spoiler:attach the rope to the clamp, then blow up the duck and attach it]]. But this way the game behaves as if there is no rope, and April can neither use the device, nor untie the rope. The device is required to finish Chapter 2, but the mistake can be made early in Chapter 1. In other words, a player has to restart.[[note]]There seem to exist several different versions where the bug may or may not manifest. The build 142 sold at gog.com does have the bug.[[/note]]
* GentleGiant: Sleeping Q'aman. Not surprisingly, his official circus nickname is "The Gentle Giant."
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: It's heavily implied, visually and through April's dialogue, that the man standing with his back turned next to Building 87 on Hope Street is [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbating]].
* GlassEye: The police officer's eye falling out and rolling around. Also an example of ElectronicEye. It becomes a BorrowedBiometricBypass.
* GuardianOfTheMultiverse: Guardians of the Balance.
* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: In the space station, if a guard catches April, she runs away and the guard just returns to his post. The worst thing happens when the guard at the HQ catches you: he escorts you out, no matter how many times he caught you before. This same guard, when you disconnect the security camera, simply leaves his post to reconnect it instead of raising the alarm.
* GuideDangIt: One of the reasons this game was so well received was the lack of this trope. However, even then, a few puzzles may come off as unintuitive, namely the rubber ducky puzzle very early in the game.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Gordon Halloway]] has one after his [[spoiler: soul is reunited with his body.]]
* HereThereWereDragons: Among other fantasy stuff.
* HilariousOuttakes: Accessible via the Book of Secrets.
* HitlerCam: Used when recording the speech of Jason [=McAllen=].
* ImprovisedScrewdriver: April has to unscrew a grating and uses the single Arcadian coin she has left to do it.
* InformingTheFourthWall
* InTheDoldrums: The Guardian's realm looks like this. It turns out to be a FisherKingdom--in [[VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney the sequel]], the replacement for´ the first game's ailing Guardian adds plant life and a proper sky.
* InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn: TropeNamer.
* ItMayHelpYouOnYourQuest: Tobias gives you the Talisman of the Balance, and is quick to admit that aside from being magical, he has no idea what it does and doesn't really know how it will help, only that it's supposed to be given to April.
* KeepItForeign: In the Spanish version Cortez is not Hispanic, but rather a Frenchman named "Corthes".
* LampshadeHanging: Done a lot.
* LastSecondWordSwap: The Gribbler takes this to ludicrous levels, one of many, many signs that she is [[ObviouslyEvil totally evil]] and [[ImAHumanitarian will]] '''[[ImAHumanitarian eat you]]''':
-->I was out picking bones- uh, berries, for my stew, and flowers, ''yeeess'', pretty flowers...\\
Oh, I'm no one, no one at all, just a frail, old woman out picking ''booones''- uh, '''berries''', picking berries, for her stew so she can feed her ''prisoners''- uh, '''guests''', so she can ''fatten them up for''... um, [[BlatantLies the long winter]]...\\
I still need your help, plump pudd- um, nice pretty girl, [...] Help me home and ''I'll cook you''... um, a nice stew! Yum, I'm ''getting hungry already'' *'''growl'''*...\\
Oh, what have we here, this... "stew", isn't good enough to ''stuff yo''- um, to ''serve'', a guest as ''plump''- as ''well built and deliciou''- as ''honoured'' as you, ''my dear''...
** ...And April ''[[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption still]]'' [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption follows]] [[TooDumbToLive her home]]. Not until she's trapped inside her house does she go "Hey, you know what..."
* LimitedWardrobe: Partially averted, with different, context-sensitive outfits for April. Justified, too, when she enters Arcadia in her nightclothes.
* LukeIAmYourFather: The White Dragon, who turns out to be [[spoiler: April's real mother.]]
* MacGuffinDeliveryService: April has to collect the pieces of the Disk of the Guardian and the Dragon Eye Jewels.
* MagicVersusScience
* TheMagicVersusTechnologyWar: The scientific Stark and the magical Arcadia. A balance is kept so that no technology goes to Arcadia an no magic goes to Stark.
* {{Magitek}}: The "statue-cum-phonebooths", as April calls them, are used as communication devices between different parts of the island. They can be rotated to configure which other statue they are listening/talking to.
* MedievalStasis: Way back in history, the inhabitants of the world in question had to make a choice between "magic" and "science", and two parallel worlds were created, between which the Player Character can skip. Our PC is from the Science world, apparently Twenty Minutes into the Future, whereas the Magic world is still on swords and bows, because anyone born with ingenuity and inventiveness ends up in the Science world. Stark the science world is set in the 23rd century with interstellar travel and antigravity flying cars while Arcadia the magic world which has been separated from the other for several thousands of years is perpetually in the medieval ages level of technology. The Azadi in the sequel have introduced steam technology and airships but itself must rely on magic (though saying so in public can get you arrested). Stark on the other hand is only able to produce faster than light travel and antigravity technology because of magic seeping into this dimension as it defies the laws of physics (unbeknowest to its denizens). The high number of antigravity accidents are due to the chaotic nature of magic and after the collapse the complete removal of magic causes society to revert to old technology as both antigravity and etrasolar travel is no longer feasible.
* MergedReality: That's what the Vanguard are attempting to do; apparently, chances of failure don't bother them much.
* ModernStasis: The game is set 200 years in the future, yet, apart from the cyber-punkish aesthetics, there is little plot-relevant futuristic technology.
* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: The Gribbler, [[http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/tlj/images/4/48/523354-gribbler_large.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120828150551&path-prefix=pl ye gods]].
* MoveAlongNothingToSeeHere: Said by the police guard bot at the site of the crashed transportation unit in front of PD.
* MrExposition: Cortez and Tobias have lengthy exposition speeches.
* NarratorAllAlong: At the end Lady Alvane turns out to be April Ryan herself in later years.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: When traveling on Nebeway's ship, April first manages to divert the ship into dangerous waters with her magic talisman. Then, when she tries to recover the talisman after Nebeway takes it away from her, she hits the floorboard with the axe instead of the chest in which the talisman is locked away, which results in the ship sinking.
* NonLinearCharacter: The Venar, who perceive all of their life simultaneously. Asking one to focus on the "now" to talk to you gives it a massive headache.
* NPCAmnesia: April can chance her answers without fearing any backlash.
* OhMyGods: Phrases such as "By the Balance" are common in Arcadia.
* OminousFloatingCastle: Roper Klack's castle.
* OrderVersusChaos: Stark is the world of order, Arcadia is one of chaos--but when they begin to seep into each other, chaos wins out. Also, on a different level, the Vanguard and their desire to merge the worlds and rule them versus the Sentinels who want to keep the worlds separated.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: The Draic Kin.
* PaperThinDisguise: Simply by ''holding a pizza box'', April can get by a guard she had continually pestered to let her in to no avail.
* ThePasswordisAlwaysSwordfish: At PD, April correctly guesses the password for the database to be "laura0731" which is the name and birthday of the officer's wife.
* PercussiveMaintenance: The housekeeper at the Mercury theatre kicks the flickering neon sign with his broom in hope to get it to work again.
* PhysicalGod: The Guardian, after the Changing of the Guard; outside their Tower, however, they are as helpless as normal humans.
* ProphecyPileup: By the end, April fulfills the prophecies of at least three magical peoples who all proclaim her their respective ChosenOne.
* PsychicDreamsForEveryone: The introductory cutscene.
* ReconcileTheBitterFoes: April has to play the peacemaker between the Alatien and the Maerum to get to the Old God, a.k.a. the Blue Kin.
* RefusalOfTheSecondCall: After saving two worlds from annihilation, April becomes a bitter cynic and refuses to help Zoe when when the world is in peril again ten years later.
* RidiculousFutureSequelisation: If you look at a red cherub in the cathedral, April mentions that it must be from the sequel of the Bible.
* RidiculouslyCuteCritter: The [[MoleMen Banda]], furry little creatures with curious speech patterns and rather elaborate naming traditions.
* SaveBothWorlds: There are two worlds in place of one Earth: technological/ordered Stark and magical/chaotic Arcadia. If they collide, there may be a hell to pay. Or not. Let's just leave the cosmology of the Twin Worlds at that.
* ScaryShadowFakeout: Invoked - you must assemble a pile of things to make a shadow that resembles one of a man pointing a gun, so that a guy sees it and gets scared.
* SetPiecePuzzle
* ShoutOut: The game features a lot of homages to famous TV shows and movies of our time, including ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'', ''Franchise/EvilDead'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'', and ''Franchise/StarTrek''. And there is Constable [[VideoGame/MonkeyIsland Guybrush]].
* SlidingScaleOfShinyVersusGritty: Most of Newport is quite gritty, which is in contrast with the shiny upper levels. The space station is also gritty.
* SorryImGay: When April tries to get past a security guard by acting cute, all he says is, "Sorry, ma'am, I'm gay".
* StandardPowerupPose: The [[PhysicalGod Guardian of the Balance]] assumes this pose (but with his legs together) upon ascending to the top of the Tower of the Balance.
* StealthPun: When April returns Crow to his original horrid owner, she's literally [[FlippingTheBird giving him the bird.]]
* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: The scene with the Gribbler, although the jury is still out on whether it was played straight or as a mockery of the trope.
** Disrupt the magic compass and prevent the ship's escape from a storm that even got the hardened crew shaking in their boots? WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong
* SufficientlyAdvancedAlien: [[spoiler:The Draic Kin.]]
* SuperstitiousSailors: PlayedForLaughs with Captain Nebeway, who invents the craziest maritime superstitions on the spot that allegedly prevent him from signing a map delivery receipt -- all to conceal the fact that he cannot actually read or write.
* SupervillainLair: Roper Klacks' castle and [=McAllen's=] skyscraper and office.
* SurprisinglyEasyMiniquest: Getting the Stone Disc pieces kept by [[spoiler:the Dark People]] and by [[spoiler:Abnaxus]].
* TakenForGranite: [[EvilSorcerer Roper Klacks]] favorite pastime is turning people into [[AndIMustScream sentient statues]].
* TalkLikeAPirate: Defied. Captain Nebeway talks normally, even if April tries pirate-speech on him. Nebeway is not impressed.
* TechnicolorFire: Blue flames are a fairly common sight in Marcuria.
* TimeDissonance: Again, the Venar.
* TitleDrop: ''"You're about to take the first step on the longest journey of your life."''
* TranslatorMicrobes: Na'ven or Alltongue in Arcadia is a magical language that can be learned in a few minutes just by listening to it..
* UnfortunateNames: Abnaxus, who frankly is quite the opposite of obnoxious.
* UsedFuture: While not particularly [[{{Dystopia}} Dystopic, Newport has a gritty, cyber-punkish feeling to it.
* VisibleInvisibility: We can still make out April when she becomes invisible.
* WeCanRuleTogether: [=McAllen=] tries to convince Cortes of this.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Near the end, after April escapes Venice, Emma and Charlie is never heard from again, [[spoiler:except that Emma is alive]]. We don't get to know whether April finally got reunited with them or not. These questions are resolved in ''Dreamfall'', though.
* WildMagic: All of magic in Arcadia (and sometimes Stark) is rooted in the energies of Chaos.
* WorthlessYellowRocks: If you try to gamble your gold ring in the cups game, the dealer will refuse and say that he only accepts iron coins.
* WretchedHive: Newport to varying degrees. Venice is quite nice, except for the sewage flowing in the canals. The Metro Square area looks like a typical CyberPunk city. Then there is TheCityNarrows, Hope Street. You don't want to go there unless really needed.
* YouCantMissIt: The mapmaker's directions in the delivery mission.
----

* GoodJobBreakingItHero: When traveling on Nebeway's ship, April first manages to divert the ship into dangerous waters with her magic talisman. Then, when she tries to recover the talisman after Nebeway takes it away from her, she hits the floorboard with the axe instead of the chest in which the talisman is locked away, which results in the ship sinking.

-->I was out picking bones- uh, berries, for my stew, and flowers, ''yeeess'', pretty flowers...
-->Oh, I'm no one, no one at all, just a frail, old woman out picking ''booones''- uh, '''berries''', picking berries, for her stew so she can feed her ''prisoners''- uh, '''guests''', so she can ''fatten them up for''... um, [[BlatantLies the long winter]]...
-->I still need your help, plump pudd- um, nice pretty girl, [...] Help me home and ''I'll cook you''... um, a nice stew! Yum, I'm ''getting hungry already'' *'''growl'''*...
-->Oh, what have we here, this... "stew", isn't good enough to ''stuff yo''- um, to ''serve'', a guest as ''plump''- as ''well built and deliciou''- as ''honoured'' as you, ''my dear''...

* Magitek: The "statue-cum-phonebooths", as April calls them, are used as communication devices between different parts of the island. They can be rotated to configure which other statue they are listening/talking to.