Review Jeff Vogel Reviews Dragon Age II

[Scream Phoenix]

Thanks, now I'll never be able to enjoy Avernum again.

 

[Shannow]

Then he played the It's all EA's fault!!!!111 crap.

What is EA's fault? He loves the writing, he loves the companions, the skill system is great, he likes the combat and even though he admits it's button mashing it doesn't actually bother him at all, the game does have the Dragon Age Magic (tm)... he even thinks the spawning reinforcements are a good idea, just not implemented as well as it could be (and his beef seems to be purely visual). A "flawed product"? what flaws? he didn't mention a single one. Even what at first seems like a flaw turns out to be either something that's not a problem at all, or a great gameplay idea that just has a silly animation going with it.

The mini-"review" just doesn't make any sense.

Well, why don't you try to explain that Daatoo is an awesome game while trying to speak past Bio-cock in your mouth and pressing the awesome button for more jizz. I bet you wouldn't fare any better

found a punctuation error in this newspost

Nobody puts great writing in games like Bioware.

should be

Nobody puts great writing in games, like Bioware.

 

[Lesifoere]

DA was shit buried under 10 tons of voice overs.

Ten tons of horrible voice-overs if the youtube clips are anything to go by.

found a punctuation error in this newspost

Nobody puts great writing in games like Bioware.

should be

Nobody puts great writing in games, like Bioware.

 

[Quetzacoatl]

He does?

http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=200

There were so many good RPG’s released in the last decade that it is hard to choose the “RPG of the Decade”. I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t played some of them, and I only want to nominate a game that I have played. And that list is still large: Baldur’s Gate 2, Icewind Dale 2, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age (Bioware is on a roll in my list, you can see), Fable, Deus Ex, Fallout 3, Geneforge. So I am going with a game that captured my imagination and that I played for many many hours, and that I think about when designing my own games. And that game is…

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

There are so many things about this game that I loved. It was an open sandbox world, where I was free to go where I wanted and act how I wanted, and I had to live with the consequences of my actions. I became a vampire (and got cured later), I joined every guild and reached leadership status in them (and I loved the Dark Brotherhood the most), I did every Daedric shrine quest, and I explored most of the continent. In fact, I ignored the main storyline for most of my playing of this game, and I had more fun with the guild storylines and with trying to get every house in the game. The huge combination of skills, stats, spells and items, and the detailed character customization at the beginning of the game, really made me feel that I could play roleplay anyone I wanted. The game is not without its flaws (the auto-leveling of monsters springs to mind), but overall, this game was everything I wanted in an RPG: open-ended, re-playable, good-looking and downright fun.

However, an honorable mention must go to Blorp Zingwag: Elf Detective. With a name like that, you know it has to be good.

 

[thesheeep]

What the heck?

His writing is as impenetrable as ever, but Tycho over at Penny Arcade does a great job of breaking down what Dragon Age is really about and how cool it is. These games aren't about fighting Big Fantasy Nasties. Sure, they have fights and monsters, but that is not what they are Capital-A About. They are about politics and power structures and compromises and how actions and decisions can shift history. It's a very cool and ambitious territory to explore, and Bioware has close to a monopoly on it.

How can any sane person try to tell people that a game that consists 90% of fights and monsters is not "Capital-A" about fights and monsters?
This is probably the silliest thing Vogel has written so far...

 

[Volourn]

DA series is not '90%' fights. Stop bullshitting.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Only if you count time reading meaningless Codex entries as part of gameplay.

 

[villain of the story]

DA series is not '90%' fights. Stop bullshitting.

THIS. It's fine that you don't like DA series but at least try to be fair. DA series is 95% fightan games. At least.

R00FLES!

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Why is it that crap developers like Todd Howard admire and try to duplicate games like Ultima 7 but good ones like Tim Cain love Oblivion. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Probably the least successful devs admire games that sell like hotcakes. I don't think they see games as regular players do.

 

[Elhoim]

There were so many good RPG’s released in the last decade that it is hard to choose the “RPG of the Decade”. I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t played some of them, and I only want to nominate a game that I have played. And that list is still large: Baldur’s Gate 2, Icewind Dale 2, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age (Bioware is on a roll in my list, you can see), Fable, Deus Ex, Fallout 3, Geneforge. So I am going with a game that captured my imagination and that I played for many many hours, and that I think about when designing my own games. And that game is…

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

There are so many things about this game that I loved. It was an open sandbox world, where I was free to go where I wanted and act how I wanted, and I had to live with the consequences of my actions. I became a vampire (and got cured later), I joined every guild and reached leadership status in them (and I loved the Dark Brotherhood the most), I did every Daedric shrine quest, and I explored most of the continent. In fact, I ignored the main storyline for most of my playing of this game, and I had more fun with the guild storylines and with trying to get every house in the game. The huge combination of skills, stats, spells and items, and the detailed character customization at the beginning of the game, really made me feel that I could play roleplay anyone I wanted. The game is not without its flaws (the auto-leveling of monsters springs to mind), but overall, this game was everything I wanted in an RPG: open-ended, re-playable, good-looking and downright fun.

However, an honorable mention must go to Blorp Zingwag: Elf Detective. With a name like that, you know it has to be good.

10/10

 

[turul]

But that's not what happened. Dragon Age II is ... well, it has "Dragon Age" in the name. It's the sequel to one of the best-written, epic, envelope-pushing RPGs pretty much ever. I game I truly loved. (If you haven't played it, why are you wasting your time reading this junk? Go get it! Go!) And there's no suger-coating the basic fact of the thing. If you got Dragon Age II expecting something more like Dragon Age: Origins, you are going to face a period of harsh disappointment.

Jeff Vogel
Founded Spiderweb Software in 1994. Since then, has written many games, including the Exile, Geneforge, and Avernum series and Nethergate: Resurrection.

...but still can't use a fucking spell checker, built into web browsers and every sort of text editors in the 20-21st. century?

If you got Dragon Age II expecting something more like Dragon Age: Origins, you are going to face a period of harsh disappointment.

A period of harsh disappointment?

 

[Broseidon]

derp

 

[Mortmal]

Its funny , he admires bioware yet his games are closer to the ultimas of old than anything else, while bioware admires ultimas and dragon age 2 cant be further away of those .

 

[commie]

There were so many good RPG’s released in the last decade that it is hard to choose the “RPG of the Decade”. I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t played some of them, and I only want to nominate a game that I have played. And that list is still large: Baldur’s Gate 2, Icewind Dale 2, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age (Bioware is on a roll in my list, you can see), Fable, Deus Ex, Fallout 3, Geneforge. So I am going with a game that captured my imagination and that I played for many many hours, and that I think about when designing my own games. And that game is…

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

There are so many things about this game that I loved. It was an open sandbox world, where I was free to go where I wanted and act how I wanted, and I had to live with the consequences of my actions. I became a vampire (and got cured later), I joined every guild and reached leadership status in them (and I loved the Dark Brotherhood the most), I did every Daedric shrine quest, and I explored most of the continent. In fact, I ignored the main storyline for most of my playing of this game, and I had more fun with the guild storylines and with trying to get every house in the game. The huge combination of skills, stats, spells and items, and the detailed character customization at the beginning of the game, really made me feel that I could play roleplay anyone I wanted. The game is not without its flaws (the auto-leveling of monsters springs to mind), but overall, this game was everything I wanted in an RPG: open-ended, re-playable, good-looking and downright fun.

However, an honorable mention must go to Blorp Zingwag: Elf Detective. With a name like that, you know it has to be good.

10/10

I'm still like in awe at Tim for that, that's the best fucking troll evah.....

 

[Jaesun]

There were so many good RPG’s released in the last decade that it is hard to choose the “RPG of the Decade”. I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t played some of them, and I only want to nominate a game that I have played. And that list is still large: Baldur’s Gate 2, Icewind Dale 2, Neverwinter Nights, Dragon Age (Bioware is on a roll in my list, you can see), Fable, Deus Ex, Fallout 3, Geneforge. So I am going with a game that captured my imagination and that I played for many many hours, and that I think about when designing my own games. And that game is…

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

There are so many things about this game that I loved. It was an open sandbox world, where I was free to go where I wanted and act how I wanted, and I had to live with the consequences of my actions. I became a vampire (and got cured later), I joined every guild and reached leadership status in them (and I loved the Dark Brotherhood the most), I did every Daedric shrine quest, and I explored most of the continent. In fact, I ignored the main storyline for most of my playing of this game, and I had more fun with the guild storylines and with trying to get every house in the game. The huge combination of skills, stats, spells and items, and the detailed character customization at the beginning of the game, really made me feel that I could play roleplay anyone I wanted. The game is not without its flaws (the auto-leveling of monsters springs to mind), but overall, this game was everything I wanted in an RPG: open-ended, re-playable, good-looking and downright fun.

However, an honorable mention must go to Blorp Zingwag: Elf Detective. With a name like that, you know it has to be good.

10/10

I'm still like in awe at Tim for that, that's the best fucking troll evah.....

Meh I'd give this a 5/10. Now his Youtube video discussing Fallout 3? I could not stop laughing. God it was pure trolling genius.

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

It's always been pretty moronic anyway in a lot of games that the enemies kindly wait around a dungeon that you take them on group by group, instead of either calling for help and reinforcing, or falling back and meeting your party together that way. If you want to look at it from a realism perspective.

Why didnt they just do it right and have enemies move from areas? Its like they took the criticism from the ruined temple in Origins and missed the whole point.

 

[Quetzacoatl]

Why is it that crap developers like Todd Howard admire and try to duplicate games like Ultima 7 but good ones like Tim Cain love Oblivion. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Probably the least successful devs admire games that sell like hotcakes. I don't think they see games as regular players do.

But surely they would envy those rich developers rather than praise their poorly made games?

 

[RK47]

What the heck?

His writing is as impenetrable as ever, but Tycho over at Penny Arcade does a great job of breaking down what Dragon Age is really about and how cool it is. These games aren't about fighting Big Fantasy Nasties. Sure, they have fights and monsters, but that is not what they are Capital-A About. They are about politics and power structures and compromises and how actions and decisions can shift history. It's a very cool and ambitious territory to explore, and Bioware has close to a monopoly on it.

How can any sane person try to tell people that a game that consists 90% of fights and monsters is not "Capital-A" about fights and monsters?
This is probably the silliest thing Vogel has written so far...

I...I weep at the largely inaccurate statement.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Why is it that crap developers like Todd Howard admire and try to duplicate games like Ultima 7 but good ones like Tim Cain love Oblivion. Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Probably the least successful devs admire games that sell like hotcakes. I don't think they see games as regular players do.

It sounds like they admire what they can't do.

 

[Achilles]

Or, you know, that there are actually a couple of things that Bioware did right?

 

[DarkUnderlord]

So we've taken Jeff Vogel off the Kodex Kristmas Kard list already, right?

 

[Kaanyrvhok]

DA series is not '90%' fights. Stop bullshitting.

Shit its close enough

 

[Volourn]

No.

 

[Gondolin]

It's always been pretty moronic anyway in a lot of games that the enemies kindly wait around a dungeon that you take them on group by group, instead of either calling for help and reinforcing, or falling back and meeting your party together that way. If you want to look at it from a realism perspective.

Why didnt they just do it right and have enemies move from areas? Its like they took the criticism from the ruined temple in Origins and missed the whole point.

Moreover, enemies have this big deathwish thing going. You'd think that after the party wiped out a couple of trash mobs the rest would kinda draw the obvious conclusions and keep their distance. But nooooo, they just keep coming at you to get slaughtered and all enemies fight to the end. Morale and survival instinct are clearly overrated.

IIRC, after gaining a couple of levels Sigil thugs stopped bothering you.

 

[Sceptic]

IIRC, after gaining a couple of levels Sigil thugs stopped bothering you.

Well in DA after you gain a couple of levels the thugs also gain a couple of levels

Or, you know, that there are actually a couple of things that Bioware did right?

Just because you like DA2 doesn't mean we have to