Am I the only one who didn't like Zoe?

[FohxMe]

Well, to be fair, as you pointed out in TLJ April was a struggling artist, so could not afford transportation around Stark (which was the basis for one of the puzzles, in fact). Meanwhile in DF Zoe was fairly affluent and could afford high-speed transit on a whim. And in Arcadia, in TLJ everything was fairly open and transportation was not complicated (although again, puzzles), but in DF there's a war going on and everything is more tightly locked down. So these reversals make sense without introducing any kinda of "Stark and Arcadia are swapping over" type thing. (I would hope that Gordon would not allow that sort of thing anyway -- unless of course he's still under Vanguard control, or maybe is trying to ease the transition towards mergence of the worlds when the Divide ends.)

I don't think it would be that difficult to believe the worlds are swapping roles. Science in Stark is becoming unreliable and dangerous. Chaotic, if you will. First in TLJ with the high incidence of aircrafts falling out of the sky, then the regime like control by technology/intelligence based companies like WATI, followed by the static disrupting communications, and lastly, the release of the Dreamer potentially causing mass-crowd brainwashing. Science(introduction via steam machines) in Arcadia is the opposite. It's a very much needed entity at this point. From providing heat to generating light/electricity, it's not as convoluted/manipulative as science is in Stark because it's just about providing the basic tools needed to sustain life.

I can't really verify magic in Stark other than what occurred in Venice prior to the collapse in TLJ, with images of Arcadia manifesting in reality (as witnessed by Fiona, Emma, Charlie and April herself). Also, Jacob and Cortez transforming into their original forms could have had a rippling magic affect in Stark. There should be no exceptions to the 'no magic' rule in Stark, hence why they were in human form up until the very moment they fought. It's also not a coincidence where in TLJ the white and blue Draic Kin were shown in their dragon forms, now in DF, the new white kin was in human form. I don't think the blue kin has not 'gone silent' like the white kin said, but is probably in human form, too. My bet is on the Blue Kin being Brian, meaning he's the Undreaming that possessed Brian. It would be prophetic that the 'Old God' is the one to destroy both worlds, wouldn't it?

Something strikes me as off about the blue kin. I think the duality also comes into play here. Cortez was 'good' and Jacob was 'evil', giving into the theme of balance. It would throw off the balance if the white and blue kin were both good, wouldn't it? Three good, one evil? Can't be. I put good and evil in quotes because I believe it's all relative. Cortez and the White represent the divide, and Jacob and the Blue can both be seen wanting to reunite the worlds. My only evidence to say that about the Blue is this: he seemed content with April for reuniting the Maerum and Alatien. Two separate species that didn't know of their common ancestry, like the humans of Stark and Arcadia.

I'm going back to what I said about Zoe and April being of Father and Mother. April's journey begins with the white kin, associating her with her role of Mother. Zoe's the only character other than the vagabond we've seen granted passage to Winter, then to the Storytime: the home of the Undreaming. Meaning she could be an affiliate of the Undreaming. If the Undreaming really is the Old God, then calling him 'Father' wouldn't be such a long shot. :P

[Deckarde]

I never quite saw Dreamfall as the story of Arcadia; everything that happens there is sort of not really important to Dreamfall (while it is highly important to The Longest Journey series). The climax is in the lab in St. Petersburg, where Faiths story is resolved.

Dreamfall, to me, is all about Stark, where The Longest Journey is about Arcadia. In it, everything that happens in Stark is kind of secondary in the same way that Arcadia is in Dreamfall. The main problem is that Dreamfall doesn't really resolve anything, except the barest essentials of its main plot.

To not go too much off topic (too late), I like Zoë precisely because she is a spoiled brat. I remember, replaying it, entering Venice where she sees the fire barells and she comments that she didn't think people still lived like that. That was a great character moment to me.