Game News Queen's Wish: The Conqueror gets trailer and Steam page, coming Fall 2019

[Mustawd]

Can we change portraits?

If anyone's curious why Jeff decided to switch perspectives for his new game, it seems he really wants to make a mobile version/port (https://twitter.com/spiderwebsoft/status/1116499455409188864). I guess he must want some of that Candy Crush money. I wouldn't be surprised if he started adding microtransactions with new portrait packs or exclusive preorder items next.

This was discussed in the main Vogel thread. He’s not a super great
programmer, so changing perspective to top down iconographic means it will be overall easier to code.

Also, it will play better on mobile. Honestly, I’d love to play this on a small tablet or large phone. One of the issues I had with the iPad version of Escape from the Pit is that you could open doors but not close them, which severely handicapped stealing. And the reason you can’t close doors? Cuz Jeff couldn’t figure out a way to program it in :/

 

[luj1]

I am judging him by his previous standards...

... Not a single one of his games in the last.... 7-8 years have improved, they have considerably worsened....

... The will to make a fun game. The will of making something others will enjoy. A spark of creativity. Effort....

... it's the only way he knows to make money, and he will take the least risks and least effort to do it....

Which can be said of practically every dev nowadays. Just admit you have a bone to pick

That said, some of his games (Geneforge, Escape from the Pit) are better than 90% of the stuff out there so you can politely fuck off

 

[Thalion]

I don't see what the selling point of this is supposed to be. Jeff's strength is imaginative settings, it's why Exile/Avernum and and Geneforge were modestly successful and Avadon really wasn't. If he's just making another BSB generic fantasy then his game doesn't really have anything to offer over others.

Avadon had multiple problems. Boring setting, less open world, only get to create your main character. Some of his other games share some of these traits but Avadon is the only one with all of them, hence why it's the least popular. Avernum 3 is basically "vanilla fantasy" too and it's apparently the fan favorite of the series.

 

[the_shadow]

I thought this was a joke post before I realised it was Jeff Vogel's RPG

Game has mobile shovelware written all over it.

Opening scene "Mom has a job for you" just lol

Is it meant to be a survival horror RPG? Moving out of mom's basement and getting a job terrifies a lot of younger gamers these days.

 

[mfkndggrfll]

To be honest about the Avernum series, A1 is the only good one of the lot. The series crashes and burn in the first sequel.

Your very first goal goes from "Explore your surroundings, find out where you are, try to survive, carve your own path" in A1 to "Go clear some goblin cave" in A2. A3-6 share that design as well.

 

[hexer]

I only played his Geneforge saga.
Are there any other that are good?
Hmmm.. I think I also have Avadon Black Fortress in my collection.

 

[mfkndggrfll]

I only played his Geneforge saga.
Are there any other that are good?
Hmmm.. I think I also have Avadon Black Fortress in my collection.

Avernum 1 / Escape from the pit are the best by far, easily in my top 5 cRPGs along with Fallout, BG, Ultima VII and Daggerfall

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

There certainly is the sense that Jeff likes to borrow business concepts from ultra commercial entertainment companies, DC comics, Epic etc. In fact I'm sure he would love to turn it into a McDonalds franchise if he could somehow.

With the whole Avernum series (and maybe beyond) there is this overwhelming sense of repetition throughout all the games. Its not only the graphics that Jeff loves to recycle but story and characters, even plots and quest format. "Puzzles" get no special treatment either, if you solved it in game#3 you will solve it again in game#5. The only "for" argument I can put forward is that this somehow lowers the carbon footprint of Jeff's games. So whilst I enjoyed "game#1", the proceeding sequels are a bit of a slap in the face.

 

[Modron]

I only played his Geneforge saga.
Are there any other that are good?
Hmmm.. I think I also have Avadon Black Fortress in my collection.

Exile 3 aka Avernum 3 is probably peak Vogel (some will argue for some of the geneforges of course), Exile 3 had the cool feature that the longer you took to do shit the more the towns fell to hoards of monsters. With increasing damage modeled by the towns over time.

 

[the_shadow]

To be honest about the Avernum series, A1 is the only good one of the lot. The series crashes and burn in the first sequel.

Your very first goal goes from "Explore your surroundings, find out where you are, try to survive, carve your own path" in A1 to "Go clear some goblin cave" in A2. A3-6 share that design as well.

Avernum 2 is my favourite of the original trilogy. Yeah, it starts with the usual 'go kill the bandits', but that's just a prelude until you have to navigate the rapids to make contact with the Vahnatai. Once you've made contact the entire game opens up, and you have three main quests to complete to save Avernum from the Empire invasion.

Avernum 5 and 6 are pretty solid too. 5 is about exploring the frontiers and hunting down someone who committed regicide, but it's a bit too linear for my taste, and has a lot of HP bloat. 6 is about saving the Underworld from famine and the slith invasion, and is the best of the second trilogy due to being the best balanced and having less linearity than A5.

 

[mfkndggrfll]

To be honest about the Avernum series, A1 is the only good one of the lot. The series crashes and burn in the first sequel.

Your very first goal goes from "Explore your surroundings, find out where you are, try to survive, carve your own path" in A1 to "Go clear some goblin cave" in A2. A3-6 share that design as well.

Avernum 2 is my favourite of the original trilogy. Yeah, it starts with the usual 'go kill the bandits', but that's just a prelude until you have to navigate the rapids to make contact with the Vahnatai. Once you've made contact the entire game opens up, and you have three main quests to complete to save Avernum from the Empire invasion.

Avernum 5 and 6 are pretty solid too. 5 is about exploring the frontiers and hunting down someone who committed regicide, but it's a bit too linear for my taste, and has a lot of HP bloat. 6 is about saving the Underworld from famine and the slith invasion, and is the best of the second trilogy due to being the best balanced and having less linearity than A5.

The "usual" "go kill bandits"? I'm sorry but this is only usual for bottom tier RPGs, none of the great RPGs start by asking you to perform such mundane errands or with such specific directives.

 

[Martyr]

To be honest about the Avernum series, A1 is the only good one of the lot. The series crashes and burn in the first sequel.

Your very first goal goes from "Explore your surroundings, find out where you are, try to survive, carve your own path" in A1 to "Go clear some goblin cave" in A2. A3-6 share that design as well.

Avernum 2 is my favourite of the original trilogy. Yeah, it starts with the usual 'go kill the bandits', but that's just a prelude until you have to navigate the rapids to make contact with the Vahnatai. Once you've made contact the entire game opens up, and you have three main quests to complete to save Avernum from the Empire invasion.

Avernum 5 and 6 are pretty solid too. 5 is about exploring the frontiers and hunting down someone who committed regicide, but it's a bit too linear for my taste, and has a lot of HP bloat. 6 is about saving the Underworld from famine and the slith invasion, and is the best of the second trilogy due to being the best balanced and having less linearity than A5.

The "usual" "go kill bandits"? I'm sorry but this is only usual for bottom tier RPGs, none of the great RPGs start by asking you to perform such mundane errands or with such specific directives.

they didn't actually start out by asking you to kill bandits, but 2 great games which had quests like that almost immediately are
- Temple of Elemental Evil (clear the Moathouse)
- Fallout (rescue Aradesh's daughter from the raiders)

 

[mfkndggrfll]

ToEE is a bottom tier RPG.

That quest from Fallout is way past the intro, it's like 1-2+ hours into the game, after recieving the main quest which is very open ended.

A2 sends you killing goblins within the first minutes. Actually I think the game even asks you to kill goblins in the opening narration paragraph which makes it even worse.

 

[Agesilaus]

I will prob pirate it again, like i did the others.

I backed it and will receive a scroll of absolution, so any pirating I may have done (I ADMIT NOTHING) is water under the bridge

I only played his Geneforge saga.
Are there any other that are good?
Hmmm.. I think I also have Avadon Black Fortress in my collection.

Nethergate is high-tier, one of the best CRPGs ever. Mfkndggrfll is correct that Avernum 1 is good. Other than that, and the Geneforge series... meh.

Avadon is lame. I did finish the first and third one, but I couldn't force myself to trudge through Avadon 2. Trash mobs galore and terrible party mechanics and plot railroading.

 

[mfkndggrfll]

Geneforge 1 is pretty decent too, I haven't tried Nethergate

 

[Tacgnol]

Avadon is lame. I did finish the first and third one, but I couldn't force myself to trudge through Avadon 2. Trash mobs galore and terrible party mechanics and plot railroading.

Avadon is basically Jeff's love letter to Bioware RPGs.

It really is inferior to his usual style. He also gets extremely defensive if you suggest Bioware games aren't amazing.

 

[The_Sloth_Sleeps]

Avadon is lame. I did finish the first and third one, but I couldn't force myself to trudge through Avadon 2. Trash mobs galore and terrible party mechanics and plot railroading.

Avadon is basically Jeff's love letter to Bioware RPGs.

It really is inferior to his usual style. He also gets extremely defensive if you suggest Bioware games aren't amazing.

Now that you brought Bioware up, I recall that I detected a few SJW undertones in Jeff's latest game.

 

[JarlFrank]

Avadon is lame. I did finish the first and third one, but I couldn't force myself to trudge through Avadon 2. Trash mobs galore and terrible party mechanics and plot railroading.

Avadon is basically Jeff's love letter to Bioware RPGs.

It really is inferior to his usual style. He also gets extremely defensive if you suggest Bioware games aren't amazing.

Jeff's encounter design was never particularly good, but in Avadon it's especially atrocious.

It almost reaches Dragon Age's levels of trash mob filler.