Review Dungeon Lords is meh per GamerDad

Saint_Proverbius · Jun 16, 2005

Tags: Dungeon Lords

<a href="http://www.gamerdad.com/">GamerDad</a> has <A href="http://www.gamerdad.com/detail.cfm?itemID=2366">reviewed</a> that wacky <a href="http://www.dungeonlordsgame.com">Dungeon Lords</a>. Like most all the other reviews, this one says while there may be some fun found, it's basically an unpolished world void of much coolness. Here's a bit on the rating, since that's the niche of this site:
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<blockquote>There are many "rating gap" games, especially in the E to T range. This game is rated T, but there is an M-rated level of blood. There is, however, no bad language, no nudity or implied sexual situations, and the women are not displayed in an objectified manner. The pacing of the story and dialogue is from a different gaming era, and younger gamers may find it boring or annoying. But if they enjoy the action of games like Jedi Knight II, and are looking for a fun fantasy role-playing game, this might be worth a try. </blockquote>
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I'm kind of confused on how objectifying women would affect a rating.
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.bluesnews.com">Blue's News</A>

Trash · Jun 16, 2005

I take it that you're not a feminist then?

Andyman Messiah · Jun 17, 2005

Oh come on! There's lots of objectifying men in games and that doesn't seem to be having any effect on the ratings. :wink:

txa1265 · Jun 17, 2005

That is my review at GamerDad, so let me clarify.

We do a 'Kid Factor', where we specify what issues might impact playing in front of kids, with kids, or kids playing the game themselves. In too many games, the women are displayed as 'eye candy', which might be fine in a game like Vampire: Bloodlines, but is unnecessary in Dungeon Lords - I actually considered it a positive that they exercised some restraint.

Mike

redbomb · Jun 17, 2005

Nice review, txa1265. I haven't touched DL myself, but your review seems right in line with the buzz. It's hard to believe this game came from a team that has apparently won all kinds of awards....

Sol Invictus · Jun 17, 2005

I'd show games with big chested girls to my kids. If I had any. Better they learn about boobs from a young age and learn to deal with their feelings than get caught molesting some teenage girl in their later years.

Fez · Jun 17, 2005

Following the Michael Jackson school of childcare?

Deathy · Jun 17, 2005

Y'know, most of those parenting "If I had kids..." type comments stem from mistakes that their own parents made with them.

That being said, if I had kids, I'd damn well make sure they'd not end up fucked up.

obediah · Jun 17, 2005

I don't think we could screw up the next generation of young men any worse than the current crop of teens. Too much internet porn or something, but I've never seen a bunch of virgins with such ridiculous expectations.

Maybe I'll make a patch for Dungeon Lords where the women all have more realistic boobs and guts, pubic hair growing out over the top of their chainmail bikini, and when you try to come on their face, you lose 2 pts of strength for a week because no one is cooking dinner for you.

Or better yet, one where you encounter some orcs and some hot chick in the chainmail bikini joins up with you and one of the orcs promptly sticks a spear in her bare midriff and she dies.

Actually, I'm not a kid and don't have any, so bring on the mostly or all naked Amazon warriors.

dipdipdip · Jun 17, 2005

If I had kids, I'd be sure to anonymously drop them all off at 644 Lakeshore Dr Unit 36, North Bay, Ontario, Canada. Alas, a fake role-player like myself coudn't hope to make a good parent.

Sol Invictus · Jun 17, 2005

It's fantasy for a reason, obediah. Nobody needs to read/hear/witness a hot amazon babe getting gutted with a spear in their fantasy, mmm-kay? Not unless they're fans of Terry Goodkind, whose abominations land their way onto the bookshelves of many a book store.

obediah · Jun 17, 2005

Sol Invictus said:
It's fantasy for a reason, obediah. Nobody needs to read/hear/witness a hot amazon babe getting gutted with a spear in their fantasy, mmm-kay? Not unless they're fans of Terry Goodkind, whose abominations land their way onto the bookshelves of many a book store.

The first Goodkind book was a damn good read, it should just have a big warning at the end "DON"T READ ANYMORE OF THESE BOOKS - THEY GET REAL CRAPPY, REAL FAST"

As for the fantasy babe stuff, my love of mostly naked women and my hatred of the absurd will probably fight that one out for eternity.

Saint_Proverbius · Jun 17, 2005

txa1265 said:
That is my review at GamerDad, so let me clarify.

Hey, Mike! Love the site.

We do a 'Kid Factor', where we specify what issues might impact playing in front of kids, with kids, or kids playing the game themselves. In too many games, the women are displayed as 'eye candy', which might be fine in a game like Vampire: Bloodlines, but is unnecessary in Dungeon Lords - I actually considered it a positive that they exercised some restraint.

I'm just not sure I see the problem with it. I can see why grusome violence, swearing, sexual themes, and nudity might be a red flag, but seeing a woman in a game wearing a loin cloth and furry bra just doesn't seem like something to shelter kids from. Most females in super hero comics don't tend to wear too much, but we all grew up with that. I don't think it really affected us much. It's not like women wear much at the beach or on a lake or river or pool, either, but I'm sure it wouldn't scar a kid to go swimming.

theverybigslayer · Jun 17, 2005

"Not a classic, nor one of the greats, but a fun game and worthwhile addition to the genre. It has a good story, very good character development system, fun and exciting combat and excellent dungeon designs."

Very good review, I agree. I enjoy this game very much.

LlamaGod · Jun 17, 2005

theverybigslayer said:
"Not a classic, nor one of the greats, but a fun game and worthwhile addition to the genre. It has a good story, very good character development system, fun and exciting combat and excellent dungeon designs."

Very good review, I agree. I enjoy this game very much.

Which person is more retarded?

Let us have a vote.

theverybigslayer · Jun 17, 2005

You are only the retarded.

txa1265 · Jun 17, 2005

Saint_Proverbius said:
I'm just not sure I see the problem with it..

There is no 'problem', just a distinction. If you have ever taken kids to a Disney/Pixar film compared to a Dreamworks film, you will get that distinction - from one you get the story, the other you get fart jokes and kids singing 'I like big butts' ... nothing wrong with either, but I just appreciate that in a day and age when games have 'breast physics' as a design goal (sometimes higher than story, I think) that Dungeon Lords put in women who were attractive yet realistically proportioned. There is already too much in 'hardcore' RPG that pushes women players away without that on top of it ...

LlamaGod said:
Which person is more retarded?.

Did you read the review? I think I pretty squarely address the long list of Dungeon Lords' shortcomings, yet say that some parts of it are decent, and if everything else were fixed it could be a decent game.

Mike

Hazelnut · Jun 17, 2005

Sol Invictus said:
I'd show games with big chested girls to my kids. If I had any. Better they learn about boobs from a young age and learn to deal with their feelings than get caught molesting some teenage girl in their later years.

Hmm, not put a great deal of thought into this have you? ;-)

I could go on and on about this, but I'll try and keep it brief. Firstly kids are never going to 'learn about boobs' from a computer game FFS. They may, however, get the impression that the only interesting aspect of a female is their boobs, which is not a good thing for a child IMO. I get really narked off when games/cheats/ringtones are marketed (in my bloody PCGamer mag - grrr) with CGI females with big boobs.. it must work I suppose, but I really don't want my kids getting that kind of signal. (girls=boobs=ornamentation) It's pretty bad if my son starts to think like that, but what about my daughters? I want them to do whatever they want with their lives, not think that they're only good as ornaments for mens pleasure. You may think this is getting extreme, and obviously wouldn't happen from one objectified woman in a game - but it is a cumulative effect at an impressionable age so it deserves consideration by any parent I think.

So, I try to discourage the kids from watching music videos on certain channels where they show rap/hiphop etc - because 90% of the time the guys are fully dressed with the girls flouncing about in bikinis - now if there was some equality then I'd have much less problem with it - i.e. the guys in bikini's too :lol:

GamerDad is an awesome site.. keep it up. :D

kris · Jun 17, 2005

theverybigslayer said:
You are only the retarded.

You are the only one that enjoy the game very much. Is your family name Bradley by they way? just asking.

Sol Invictus · Jun 17, 2005

Did you read the review? I think I pretty squarely address the long list of Dungeon Lords' shortcomings, yet say that some parts of it are decent, and if everything else were fixed it could be a decent game.

Keep on dreaming, homeboy. Until then it's still a piece of shit. As CJ (the character in a much, much better game) would say, "I ain't rollin' wit dat shit, dawg."