games-pc the longest journey User Manual
6
April Ryan and Her World
April Ryan is the protagonist and "star" of The Longest Journey, and she will be
your alter ego through the course of the game. She is eighteen years old, and she just
moved from the countryside to a big city called Newport to attend college at the
prestigious Venice Academy of the Visual Arts. April is a budding artist, and she hopes
to some day be a successful painter and illustrator.
your alter ego through the course of the game. She is eighteen years old, and she just
moved from the countryside to a big city called Newport to attend college at the
prestigious Venice Academy of the Visual Arts. April is a budding artist, and she hopes
to some day be a successful painter and illustrator.
The Longest Journey
takes place a few hundred years into the future (in the 23rd
Century, to be specific), but April's world is not so different from ours. Granted, there
are hovercrafts and faster-than-light spaceships, artificially manufactured black holes that
transmit data across vast distances in an instant, cops with exoskeletal uniforms and
corporate sponsorships, private colonies on distant worlds, designer drugs that make
dreams real, and movies that envelop you with sounds, smells, holographic visuals and
artificially transmitted emotions. Yet April's neighbourhood looks a lot like any
contemporary urban neighbourhood, and her friends talk about the things that young
people talk about anywhere, at any time.
are hovercrafts and faster-than-light spaceships, artificially manufactured black holes that
transmit data across vast distances in an instant, cops with exoskeletal uniforms and
corporate sponsorships, private colonies on distant worlds, designer drugs that make
dreams real, and movies that envelop you with sounds, smells, holographic visuals and
artificially transmitted emotions. Yet April's neighbourhood looks a lot like any
contemporary urban neighbourhood, and her friends talk about the things that young
people talk about anywhere, at any time.
Newport is a city somewhere in North America, and Venice is the name of April's
neighbourhood - a young, hip and liberal "village" located right in the middle of the
greater metropolis. You'll learn a lot about the neighbourhood and the city itself by
talking to people, asking them questions, and looking at everything there is to look at.
neighbourhood - a young, hip and liberal "village" located right in the middle of the
greater metropolis. You'll learn a lot about the neighbourhood and the city itself by
talking to people, asking them questions, and looking at everything there is to look at.
April's relationship with her parents is strained, and she writes about this in her diary.
It's a good idea to read through everything April has already written (once you find out
how, of course - see the chapter called "April's Diary"), because the past does come back
to haunt her in a number of ways.
It's a good idea to read through everything April has already written (once you find out
how, of course - see the chapter called "April's Diary"), because the past does come back
to haunt her in a number of ways.
We've tried to make April's futuristic world as interesting and realistic a place as possible,
and we hope that, by playing the game, you'll start to care about April, her friends and
the city she lives in. Which means that, by the time you're cast into a completely
different world - one that's alien to both you, the player, and to April herself - it will be
that much more difficult to adjust.
and we hope that, by playing the game, you'll start to care about April, her friends and
the city she lives in. Which means that, by the time you're cast into a completely
different world - one that's alien to both you, the player, and to April herself - it will be
that much more difficult to adjust.
But hey, it wouldn't make for a very interesting adventure otherwise!