Review Jeff Vogel reviews Dragon Age

[Jason]

Tags: Dragon Age; Jeff Vogel

Jeff Vogel's mission to play only the <a href="http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=187" target="blank">"best and most innovative games"</a> has led him to <b>Dragon Age</b>.
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<blockquote>But what impressed me is the number of situations where there are a lot of options, none of them are very good, and you just have to muddle through. For example, in one part of Dragon Age, a young, magically skilled boy has been taken over by a demon. He's been merrily trashing the countryside. It's a crappy situation, and you have to help them out of it. You can off the boy. Or let the mother sacrifice herself to enable you to challenge the demon. Or travel to the wizards' tower to maybe get a way to expel the demon, losing valuable time. And, should you challenge the demon, you can kill it or, in return for one of several lavish rewards, let it stay in the kid, hidden.
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When I reached this point, I didn't see a perfect option. I had my own, "OhgodohgodwhatdoIdo?" moment. And my choice was, in retrospect, not a great one. But there is little I love more in an RPG then when I'm forced to stop, gobsmacked, and go, "Wow. I'm really on my own here. I'd better think about this ..."</blockquote>
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Read his review at <a href="http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2009/12/minireview-dragon-age-origins.html" target="blank">The Bottom Feeder</a>.

 

[Melcar]

I don't know why I even bothered to read that.

 

[shihonage]

From a comment on the same page:

There actually is a perfect option. Traveling to the Wizards to get them to expel the boy is fine because time is, in fact, not valuable at all. When you're into the game, as I was the first time, you think you are. But later you realize that boy is fine until you make your decision.

As for the demon, you can defeat her and intimidate her into leaving the boy and giving you the reward. I like games that give me tough decisions but when I press and they relent, it's disappointing.

OH SNAP

 

[Multi-headed Cow]

JEFF VOGEL MORE LIKE CONSOLETARD VOGEL I LOVE MY XBOX I MEAN WHAT THE FUCK BRO HE USED TO BE COOL MAN BUT HES GOTTEN MAINSTREAM BOYCOT GREENFORGE BECAUSE HE LIKES FAGGOT AGE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jaesun]

 

[Lesifoere]

I've always gotten the impression that Jeff Vogel's an okay dev as long as he keeps his mouth shut; he has a tendency to sound less than intelligent.

Then again he's a Mactard.

 

[Emotional Vampire]

I don't know why I even bothered to read that.

I didn't

 

[Konjad]

Geralt would slain a mage, use witchery on kid (or - if that wouldnt work - had a choice to leave him alive or kill) and finally have sex with his mother, getting a nice sex card.

 

[Lesifoere]

He'd have to spend the night with the kid to exorcise the demon.

 

[WhiskeyWolf]

He'd have to spend the night with the kid to exorcise the demon

fix

 

[Malakal]

So who is this Vogel guy? And why does his opinion matter?

 

[Trash]

So who is this Vogel guy? And why does his opinion matter?

 

[Malakal]

So who is this Vogel guy? And why does his opinion matter?

What? I don't click links on codex. It even says so in FAQ.

New world of goatse here we goo....

EDIT: Still nothing, his opinion is his opinion, I don't see why this made into news here. And spder something still doesn't ring a bell. Wait those guys from those games I haven't played. How interesting.

 

[Emotional Vampire]

So who is this Vogel guy? And why does his opinion matter?

Some Mactard making dungeon crawlers.

 

[Trash]

Sukkeltje

He's one of the few people who still makes rpg's. You know, what the rpg codex is about?

Not to mention that everytime we post his opiniated pieces people here start bitching like crazy. Which means more hits, more advert money and thus more diamond studded bricks for Taluntain's house.

 

[Fat Dragon]

Spiderweb is one of the oldest warriors still supporting the RPG front, the last standing member of the old guard. Show some respect, people.

 

[Burning Bridges]

3. So, which were the last "very, very good" RPGs you've played? Any thoughts on Mask of the Betrayer, The Witcher, Fallout 3?

I liked Fallout 3 a lot. Played it like crazy. I also liked Mass Effect. And Final Fantasy 12These days, I like my RPGs with action, to keep me awake, and on the console, so I can play on my couch.

I stopped after this

 

[Malakal]

Yes, I can see rpg genre being in great decline when dungeon crawlers are last of it. True, rpg's originated from dungeoncrawling but where is 'role' in them?

 

[Emotional Vampire]

And here we go.

 

[Trash]

Yes, I can see rpg genre being in great decline when dungeon crawlers are last of it. True, rpg's originated from dungeoncrawling but where is 'role' in them?

Before you start sprouting your utterly uninformed opinion about his games go try out one of his Geneforge games.

 

[Malakal]

Allright checked it out and maybe it is not a dungeon crawler. I shall personally test this.

Await my return lads. :mounts horse:

 

[sheek]

I think Jeff Vogel is a bit out of the loop. He probably doesn't play RPGs much, as I think he's said he is sick of his own games by the time he's finished them and doesn't want to play anything similar.

The Redcliffe/demon situation bring up a great point, it was interesting, and a difficult decision to make on the face of it, if only Bioware had followed it through (actually allowed the arl to die/quest to fail because you took too long).

 

[Burning Bridges]

Fortunately I still got strategy games, so I need not play every garbage out of sheer desperation. The rpg genre is clearly at the end.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Yes, I can see rpg genre being in great decline when dungeon crawlers are last of it. True, rpg's originated from dungeoncrawling but where is 'role' in them?

 

[made]

People like to bring up the Redcliffe plot as if it were just one of many examples of the C&C found in DA overall - it's not. There are only a hand full of those in the entire game (one per major plot area) and it's the most fleshed out of the lot. Even so, once you dig deeper (ie reload) to try the different possibilities, it becomes obvious how shallow the whole thing is in fact.

Siding with the demon, the obvious evil/selfish choice, offers the best reward: the Blood Mage class. But once unlocked, you can keep the class even if you reload and make the opposite decision which eliminates the moral dilemma you would otherwise face.
As others have pointed out, traveling to the Mage Tower to request their help doesn't really have a drawback like ingame dialogue would make you believe. You can take your time, tour the world, and when you come back you find the situation the way you left it.
And lastly, no matter what you do, the Arl will live to play his predetermined role in the last chapter of the game. The boy and his mother are quickly forgotten, apart from a brief mention in one dialogue.

All in all, it's still decent C&C compared to other games that offer none at all, but no where near the groundbreaking design some people make it out to be.

 

[Junior Boy]

From a comment on the same page:

There actually is a perfect option. Traveling to the Wizards to get them to expel the boy is fine because time is, in fact, not valuable at all. When you're into the game, as I was the first time, you think you are. But later you realize that boy is fine until you make your decision.

As for the demon, you can defeat her and intimidate her into leaving the boy and giving you the reward. I like games that give me tough decisions but when I press and they relent, it's disappointing.

OH SNAP

Yeah, this. DA has way too many instances where a perfect option is available, a compromise basically. I hate it.

Redcliffe - The choice seems heavy until you realize you can just go to the tower.
Elven Forest - The choice seems heavy until you realize you can just get both sides to compromise
Tower: Again, compromise between mages and templars.
Orzammar: A clearly good/evil king (though the evil king will be better at it).

I really like the game, but I wish there were more insances of shitty, lose/lose scenarios. I hate having a monumental choice beeing nullified due to the ability to have my cake and eat it too.