Kingdoms of Amalur wasn't generic fantasy.
Has anyone who's saying that even played through the game (without skipping/not paying attention to any of the dialogue/books?)
Yeah, it does have swords and a race that basically look like blue elves.
Listen to the lore behind those blue elves though and it goes quite deep and doesn't regurgitate anything I've ever seen in a game before.
For goodness sake, they hired a well known, regular new your times best seller, writer who's written a ton of well respected fantasy novels to create an entirely original universe and backstory for the game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._A._Salvatore
You apparently don't even know the name of the game but yet you've apparently played it thoroughly enough to have a valid opinion on it? Come on.
Edit: I wouldn't disagree so strongly if somebody wanted to call it a generic action RPG, since it doesn't really break the mold too much in terms of gameplay.
Kingdoms of Amalur wasn't generic fantasy.
For goodness sake, they hired a well known, regular new your times best seller, writer who's written a ton of well respected fantasy novels to create an entirely original universe and backstory for the game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._A._Salvatore
Orcs, Dragons, Elves and Castles. That's usually pretty generic. Two Worlds 2 pretty much fits the bill.
And Gears of War 3 was written by Karen Traviss, another best seller. Didn't stop the story from being ass.
Anyway, I'm still bitter over KoA. EA ruined it for me.
Thank you. I'll even take the "generic action RPG", since aside from a fun battle system, there's very little innovative that I couldn't find in another game.
And Gears of War 3 was written by Karen Traviss, another best seller. Didn't stop the story from being ass.
Anyway, I'm still bitter over KoA. EA ruined it for me.
Now games like Dragon Age and Kingdoms of Amalur are generic fantasy mostly because the art design is garbage.
Didn't Todd McFarlane did the art for Kingdoms of Amatelur?
For goodness sake, they hired a well known, regular new your times best seller, writer who's written a ton of well respected fantasy novels to create an entirely original universe and backstory for the game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._A._Salvatore
Sorry but being written by times best seller doesn't ensure anything. He can write something original, but that doesn't stop them from being generic. Sorry if I sound like an ass by doing a kneejerk judgement since I've yet to finish the game because my computer broke and I am too lazy to reinstalled it, but how KoA present its lore, especially visual part feels generic to me. The wiritng of the dialog itself doesn't help very much to get my attention, even though they are certainly better from TES dialogue. Presentation, especially visual and sound is very important in video games. It is akin to prose and writing for written fiction that make them differ from each other.
The content itself might different substansially, but if it presented in generic way, it will ended up as generic.
Eh. Salvatore didn't really have much to do with how the lore was presented--that was all BHG. The initial Amalur website had tons of lore available surrounding not just Reckoning, but the MMO and lots of points before it. It was pretty in-depth and interesting in terms of the different stories they wanted to tell. Honestly its a shame so many people write the series off because what I read had so much potential.
Just a little, though. A lot of Souls' more interesting monsters look like something out of a supplemental D&D Monster Manual rather than the main one.
Especially stuff like the Chaos Eaters. I always felt they were a very intentional shout-out to the blobby, vaguely formed monsters you'd find in musty old RPG source books.
It probably was inspired by the similar looking monsters in Berserk, given that the Souls series has borrowed liberally from Berserk.
lol? It transcends generic and goes into full-on cliché mode at this point.Would a setting that had elves dying as a species be considered generic?
Yikes. Can't disagree more. Amalur is full of fruity pastel colours and pixie dust. Some areas look okay, others are downright nauseatingly saccharine.Booooo. Dragon's Dogma looked fucking terrible. Kingdoms of Amalur looked amazing. Now you can claim it's superior technically all you want, but DD looked dry and boring as fuck. Its the primary reason I didn't try to buy it.
I'm saying that, and I have 80+ hours into the game. I activated every Lorestone I found, but unless they are voiced by Simon Templeman I barely pay attention because it's so goddamn dull. I like the game and all but the story and lore is mind-blowingly uninteresting. Sorry.Kingdoms of Amalur wasn't generic fantasy.
Has anyone who's saying that even played through the game (without skipping/not paying attention to any of the dialogue/books?)
Meh. It does have a few quirky ideas, such as the Fae repeating their ancient songs and stories or the Traveller's mythos, but it doesn't really do much with those ideas from what I've seen, and I completed both of these faction storyline quests. Their absolutely hideous and saccharinely colourful artistic design doesn't help.Listen to the lore behind those blue elves though and it goes quite deep and doesn't regurgitate anything I've ever seen in a game before.
ROFL, are you for real? You think RA Salvatore isn't a goddamn perfect example of a writer of generic fantasy? Jesus, the dude wrote stories upon stories about a party of an elf (renegade dark elf, whatever), grouchy-with-a-heart-of-gold dwarf, cute-comic-relief-halfling-thief-who-always-gets-in-trouble, and strong-and-awkward-barbarian. If anyone asked me, "name a writer of generic fantasy", he'd probably be the very first I'd name (but to be fair I've never read stuff by Paolini, Terry Brooks or David Eddings and I hear they're quite the champions of generic fantasy).For goodness sake, they hired a well known, regular new your times best seller, writer who's written a ton of well respected fantasy novels to create an entirely original universe and backstory for the game:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._A._Salvatore
At this point, anything with elves, dwarves, gnomes, and maybe even goblins and orcs are generic. Imagine if all space opera sci-fi had the same alien races over and over? I don't mind having different races if you're gonna do some neat twist about them (and have them be different enough from humans to justify their inclusion as something special) but elves? Come the fuck on, enough with the elves and dwarves already.
Yikes. Can't disagree more. Amalur is full of fruity pastel colours and pixie dust. Some areas look okay, others are downright nauseatingly saccharine.
Hated what little I saw of the Anime myself, never read the manga, but Demon's Souls is absolutely awesome, and I dare say its link to Berserk is inspirational on some minor aspects of it at the most. But eh, your loss.No wonder I've never cared for Souls. I can't stand Berserk.
Hated what little I saw of the Anime myself, never read the manga, but Demon's Souls is absolutely awesome, and I dare say its link to Berserk is inspirational on some minor aspects of it at the most. But eh, your loss.
I think the easiest way to put it is this:
-There are a several fantasy tropes out there.
- If it is considered fantasy because it uses these tropes as if it was checking boxes on a list, then it is generic.
- If you put too many of them in your game so that the ratio between tropes and new material is disproportionate towards tropes, then it may also be a little generic.
- This does not mean that it's bad, but that it is part of the genre of fantasy only because it is using tropes of fantasy.
No wonder I've never cared for Souls. I can't stand Berserk.
Bollocks.It's really not high fantasy without some elves, though.
You can be colourful and beautiful without being saccharine and pastel. And you can be grim and dark and foreboding without being brown and boring. Dark Souls has absolutely gorgeous art, varying from ghoulish decaying cities and claustrophobic catacombs to majestic spires, lush forests and hauntingly beautiful vistas.Damn straight. Do you know how many shitty brown games I've had to sit through? Amalur was a perfect counter to the visual garbage my eyes have been forced to deal with for the seventh gen.
Sorry but being written by times best seller doesn't ensure anything. He can write something original, but that doesn't stop them from being generic. Sorry if I sound like an ass by doing a kneejerk judgement since I've yet to finish the game because my computer broke and I am too lazy to reinstalled it, but how KoA present its lore, especially visual part feels generic to me. The wiritng of the dialog itself doesn't help very much to get my attention, even though they are certainly better from TES dialogue. Presentation, especially visual and sound is very important in video games. It is akin to prose and writing for written fiction that make them differ from each other.
The content itself might different substansially, but if it presented in generic way, it will ended up as generic.
I'm saying that, and I have 80+ hours into the game. I activated every Lorestone I found, but unless they are voiced by Simon Templeman I barely pay attention because it's so goddamn dull. I like the game and all but the story and lore is mind-blowingly uninteresting. Sorry.
Meh. It does have a few quirky ideas, such as the Fae repeating their ancient songs and stories or the Traveller's mythos, but it doesn't really do much with those ideas from what I've seen, and I completed both of these faction storyline quests. Their absolutely hideous and saccharinely colourful artistic design doesn't help.
ROFL, are you for real? You think RA Salvatore isn't a goddamn perfect example of a writer of generic fantasy? Jesus, the dude wrote stories upon stories about a party of an elf (renegade dark elf, whatever), grouchy-with-a-heart-of-gold dwarf, cute-comic-relief-halfling-thief-who-always-gets-in-trouble, and strong-and-awkward-barbarian. If anyone asked me, "name a writer of generic fantasy", he'd probably be the very first I'd name (but to be fair I've never read stuff by Paolini, Terry Brooks or David Eddings and I hear they're quite the champions of generic fantasy).
He kept writing long after I'd outgrown his books, but I read quite a bit of his stuff in my youth and trust me, while his plot and storytelling had some ideas that were more or less fresh at the time, for the most part it was very much "generic". Not necessarily bad for what it was, mind you, if you take it as YA fiction it's decent for the most part, but yeah, he's pretty goddamn generic.
And I disagree that "any high fantasy is generic". Salvatore though, well, yeah. With him and McFarlane as artist, 'tis no surprise Amalur is what it is.
By your definition The Witcher is generic, and that's one of the best fantasy worlds you can find in games these days.At this point, anything with elves, dwarves, gnomes, and maybe even goblins and orcs are generic. Imagine if all space opera sci-fi had the same alien races over and over? I don't mind having different races if you're gonna do some neat twist about them (and have them be different enough from humans to justify their inclusion as something special) but elves? Come the fuck on, enough with the elves and dwarves already.
I would argue that FF has never been "typical" fantasy.
It wasn't directly inspired by Tolkien or D&D... It passed through a Studio Ghibli "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" influence on its way.
European/Western Tolkien/Gygax derivative high fantasy.
It's not inherently bad or anything, but a lot of games/movies/books/you name it basically treat fantasy as a plug-in template.
I think there needs to be a distinction made between "generic" and "bad." I don't think a game's setting being "generic fantasy" necessarily means the game is bad, it just depends on how it's executed. For example, my issue with Dragon's Dogma isn't that it's generic or old school or "classical" or whatever you want to call it, but that it's largely a lifeless world. Orcs, elvs, wizards, dragons, etc. can all still be made interesting through good writing and gameplay.
Hell, I'd LOOOOOVE a "generic" cyberpunk open world game done at a high level. That doesn't mean I wouldn't prefer a unique cyberpunk game even more, but it's the execution that counts.
Sure it is, and yet, it would be better still with something other than lame elves and dwarves. Generic doesn't mean it's going to be inherently bad, it can be used well or in clever ways, but I still prefer when fantasy settings at least try to come up with fresh ideas for races, lore, magic systems, etc.By your definition The Witcher is generic, and that's one of the best fantasy worlds you can find in games these days.
I would argue that FF has never been "typical" fantasy.
It wasn't directly inspired by Tolkien or D&D... It passed through a Studio Ghibli "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" influence on its way.
I'm one of those people with a dislike of high fantasy. There's just something so lazy and lame about the constant re-using of the same few fantasy species and races. It comes across as Tolkien fanfiction.
I do admit my dislike of it is pretty shallow, as I have less issues if you superficially replace elves, orcs and dwarves with something almost identical, but with a new design and name. It's not a whole lot of extra effort to do this little step, and it makes your game's world more your own.
I think similarly of Japan's cat-girl races. Zombies fall into this same boring and generic tub as well. These things make me think "If they weren't willing to put in the effort in that aspect, why should I assume they were willing to be more creative in other aspects?" Perhaps a little bit unfair of me, and there are games out there that have proven me wrong by showing me their worth, but these games usually have a harder time to convince me.
The Elder Scrolls Series. Basically all of them. Skyrim a bit less because it's all norse, but it DOES feature the same basic races and disputes between them as every other fantasy game.
I find it's mostly just something people bring up when they're trying to disparage WRPGs, same way as JRPGs are "generic anime," shooters are "generic bald space marines," etc.
People rarely have any real problem with the type setting, they just want to level a low-effort accusation that most/all of a genre is uninspired and therefore bad.
Bollocks.
You can be colourful and beautiful without being saccharine and pastel. And you can be grim and dark and foreboding without being brown and boring. Dark Souls has absolutely gorgeous art, varying from ghoulish decaying cities and claustrophobic catacombs to majestic spires, lush forests and hauntingly beautiful vistas.
Anything that involves super High Fantasy full of made up B movie like Elven names or 80's Power Metal covers
Humans, elves, dwarves, Qunari , fireballs, pseudo-medieval level of technology. That's your generic fantasy setting. Bonus points for ancient evil awakening.
Arcanum has everything from that list, bar a single point. Which just goes to prove that, sometimes, a single change can turn it all around.Humans, elves, dwarves, orcs, fireballs, pseudo-medieval level of technology. That's your generic fantasy setting. Bonus points for ancient evil awakening.