64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
I like darker post apocalyptic settings set in modern day, not necessarily fallout, but think things like state of emergency and mad max. Games nowadays aren't dark enough like they were in the 90s and 2000s.
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Anyone else sick of Tolkien-esque fantasy game setting?
- Thread starter Ghost of Caelid
- Start date
Reizo Ryuu
Member
A decade ago I concepted something like this, but more of a mix between sci-fi and fantasy (kinda like how star wars is more fantasy (in space) than sci-fi).
It was basically an alternate history take, where europeans never went to south/central america and the natives kept rapidly advancing, eventually being able to create synthetic bodies that were powered by their equivalent of "magic/gods"; a wakanda/vibranium situation sort of, long story short in the end the rest of the world wants their magic/tech and it leads to "2012".
Fbh
Member
I think you mean "generic medieval fantasy" more than Tolkien-esque.
But to your question, I guess yes and no? On the one hand yeah I'm kinda tired of it and wish devs would do more unique stuff. There's so much you can do with fantasy beyond just generic european medieval fantasy.
On the other hand I still like it, it might not get me excited anymore but it's not a dealbreaker either. And in the end it still appeals more to me than things like Wasteland, Fallout or Weird West, despite them being more unique.
Op, if you haven't played it and you are ok with Ps1 era JRPG's, I'd definitely recommend checking out Chrono Cross. More than 20 years later its Caribbean inspired fantasy world is still one of the nicest and more unique worlds in gaming IMO.
But to your question, I guess yes and no? On the one hand yeah I'm kinda tired of it and wish devs would do more unique stuff. There's so much you can do with fantasy beyond just generic european medieval fantasy.
On the other hand I still like it, it might not get me excited anymore but it's not a dealbreaker either. And in the end it still appeals more to me than things like Wasteland, Fallout or Weird West, despite them being more unique.
Op, if you haven't played it and you are ok with Ps1 era JRPG's, I'd definitely recommend checking out Chrono Cross. More than 20 years later its Caribbean inspired fantasy world is still one of the nicest and more unique worlds in gaming IMO.
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Hitchyhero
Banned
Nope.... I love that setting... And id argue its used far less than "post apocolypic world".
Even though its castles, stones, drawves, elves etc there's still a lot of variety you can add in terms of overall look and charm, races etc. When you look at game of thrones, there were areas Danerys was in that were completely different to the rest of westeros.
Even though its castles, stones, drawves, elves etc there's still a lot of variety you can add in terms of overall look and charm, races etc. When you look at game of thrones, there were areas Danerys was in that were completely different to the rest of westeros.
MiguelItUp
Member
I absolutely love them, but I wish we'd also get some nice variation from time to time.
StreetsofBeige
Gold Member
This is just my opinion, but for me I could never get into futuristic RPGs where characters wear ceramic battle armor and use sniper rifles or laser swords. There's something about a sci fi setting for adventure that just turns me off or is boring even though in terms of a power a character or monster might carry a weapon that can blow up a small city.A decade ago I concepted something like this, but more of a mix between sci-fi and fantasy (kinda like how star wars is more fantasy (in space) than sci-fi).
It was basically an alternate history take, where europeans never went to south/central america and the natives kept rapidly advancing, eventually being able to create synthetic bodies that were powered by their equivalent of "magic/gods"; a wakanda/vibranium situation sort of, long story short in the end the rest of the world wants their magic/tech and it leads to "2012".
Maybe it's too clean, too easy to move around with jet packs or spaceships, too bright, and most of these kinds of games the characters wears a battle mask so yo cant even see the guy.
D&D is more dark and unknown, torchlit caves, slimy monsters, weird magical shit, and more of a down and dirty feeling where you truly start as a scrub with rags and a dagger. In a Warhammer game, you start in battle armor with machine guns. Not the same kind of vibe.
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RuneFactoryFanboy
Member
I have been for 20 years, that's one of the reasons why I don't play western RPGs as it seems to be their default template.
Orcs, Elves, Mud, Brick Castles, Peasants, English accents.
Orcs, Elves, Mud, Brick Castles, Peasants, English accents.
Zeroing
Banned
Yeah could be but!!!!
And then people on the internet would scream “cultural appropriation” recent one was Sifu, a kung fu game make by French devs… Ghost of T. Etc
Or like that indie game that had an African mask and the uproar was so much that they had to apologize and change it!
People are so stupid that they don’t know what culture appropriation really is!
I got a bit of topic but you can already see the implications when you try to change the “formula”
And then people on the internet would scream “cultural appropriation” recent one was Sifu, a kung fu game make by French devs… Ghost of T. Etc
Or like that indie game that had an African mask and the uproar was so much that they had to apologize and change it!
People are so stupid that they don’t know what culture appropriation really is!
I got a bit of topic but you can already see the implications when you try to change the “formula”
Zeroing
Banned
What is weird is European culture is filled with so many legends and tales that it would be so easy to make a game around it. Basically there’s a formula and devs don’t want to experiment
KXVXII9X
Member
Divinity Original Sin 2, Baldur's Gate (both of these by Larian Studios).
Dragon Quest XI, Tales of Arise, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Triangle Strategy, Bravely Default 2, and Octopath Traveler.
Hood Outlaws
Elden Ring
Elder Scrolls Online, Final Fantasy XIV, New World, World of Warcraft and mostly every other MMO.
Zelda BotW
Shadow of War
Total War Warhammer series
Just to name a few.
amigastar
Member
Thats nothing to brag about, dude. He's the writer of Lord of the Rings. You probably know the movie adaptation.
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TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Your concept of either "Tolkien-esque" or "high fantasy" is too wide, imo.
Matt_Fox
Member
I wouldn't say all of those are High Fantasy but whether they are or not, you've just named some of the crown jewels of gaming. It proves the point that the genre isn't played out as no self respecting gamer could be sick of those!
RoboFu
One of the green rats
some of those I dont agree with like warhammer, Tales of arise. those have blantant sci fi elements.
and when were WOW, FF14 and DQ11 released? 2005, 2014 and 2017? lol shadow of war 2017 .. Divinity Original Sin 2 2017 .. zelda botw 2017
come on. you are easily proving my point.
Buggy Loop
Member
Already some good suggestions, I would like to add Torment Tides of Numenera, amazing setting and lore that is unique.
I've yet to see a good medieval-esque setting with a good political narrative like GoT. Or a game set in a medieval world with a heavy narrative priority while still having good gameplay. A huge class system with serfs, squires, knights, lords and upper nobility. Would be cool to see.
Ass of Can Whooping
Gold Member
Really scraping from the bottom of the barrel if you have to list Hood of all games
With
Banjo64
. You've just listed a lot of old ass games or garbage that don't the setting justice. Can't wait for Avowed, E6 and haters be damned I'm hyped for Dragon Age.
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Lethal01
Member
Sci Fantasy is top tier and we need more. doesn't need to be tolkien Sci Fantasy though.
KXVXII9X
Member
You said in the last 5 years. So I gave some examples. And the MMOs I mentioned are still ongoing and updated.
I can see my list being more broad and I can see how someone wouldnt include Tales of Arise (I debated putting it in since it kind of combines modern elements into the setting).
SLB1904
Banned
Wait what?
I thought was an English jargon that I miss
didn't know was a person lolI'm not bragging
Yeah I should have read the thread
Punished Miku
Member
Now that is definitely unique. I didn't finish it, but the setting is very different.
Main reason I was into Morrowind back in the day.
KXVXII9X
Member
I'm not saying these games are bad. Heck, I'm extremely excited to play Triangle Strategy later this year and love a lot of the games mentioned, especially Divinity Original Sin 2 and Zelda BotW.
Still, I used to play a lot of traditional JRPG's and and see a lot of generic bottom of the barrel mobile games using this setting. I would like to see some more variety in settings.
KXVXII9X
Member
Don't assume I'm a hater when I don't hate or the people who are excited for these games. More power to you and I hope you enjoy them. Some of you are so defensive. I'm also curious and excited to see what is in store for Avowed.Really scraping from the bottom of the barrel if you have to list Hood of all games
With
UniformDeliverance
Member
I don’t think we have had enough. There’s still so much untapped potential, larger scale, bigger battles. Imagine a large dynamic battle like Helms Deep fully realized and rendered in game?
I’d love to see more, especially in modern engines like unreal 5
I’d love to see more, especially in modern engines like unreal 5
Ass of Can Whooping
Gold Member
Lmao what I never said you were a hater. I was referring specifically to the reception that Bioware is getting in general
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Ghost of Caelid
Banned
They are different style of games but to be fair they utilize the same fantasy template for the moist part. They all do something unique and different but I think if they utilized a different cultural setting we'd get even more variation. Imagine if DOS 3 was a pacific islander setting or the next from game borrowed from east african mythology...theres aloooooot of unused inspiration out there.....
Yeah, all of those are totally the same thing.
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Would prefer more Space Sci-fi games myself.
I'm not really sure there are a whole lot of Tolkien esque games as opposed to medieval fantasy games.
Not a lot of RPGs have a lore filled universe and deep stories within said universe.
A lot of the games mentioned only really share the medieval setting and the myriad races such as Dwarves and Elves. Beyond that have little to do with Tolkien.
I'm not really sure there are a whole lot of Tolkien esque games as opposed to medieval fantasy games.
Not a lot of RPGs have a lore filled universe and deep stories within said universe.
A lot of the games mentioned only really share the medieval setting and the myriad races such as Dwarves and Elves. Beyond that have little to do with Tolkien.
Shits_McGiggles
Member
Honestly, I don’t trust almost any Western studio to do a different culture “respectfully.” I don’t even trust most of them to do Tolkien/medieval fantasy respectfully these days. The studios are filled with too many people who are completely unwilling to entertain a different perspective outside of their own that would lend to different cultures.
March Climber
Member
This is an artist issue and has affected futuristic movies too. 80s and 90s Movies like The Fifth Element, Judge Dredd, Total Recall, etc would have both the futuristic tech and the grimy dirty feeling. The same thing can be said of 80s and 90s games, like Deus Ex, System Shock, Shadowrun(Sega Genesis), and even Final Fantasy 7. They used to have those dirtier and lived in environments mixed with future tech. There also used to be way more Cyber-horror, Techno-punk, etc. I'm not sure when and why it all changed, but sometime after the Matrix and Phantasy Star Online, it felt like newer artists started thinking 'well, if it's the future, why wouldn't everything be super clean and dystopian?' It sucked the life out of everything.
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KXVXII9X
Member
Oh sorry. What kind of recent hate are they receiving? The only hate I noticed they got was due to ME: Andromeda and Anthem. The last Dragon Age game (Inquisition) won game of the year. I would have loved it a lot more without all the padding. It was my first DA game and curious about the upcoming game.
The_hunter
Member
I would like to see more games in classical antiquity. So much potential in the setting, incredible monsters, weapons, stories.
Complete disconnection of the video game industry from art and culture since around 2010.
The result is talentless art directors who don't know how to create shit, or at best twist it like From Software does (they're good at art direction, technical direction not so much).
I can't fucking stand it either.
The result is talentless art directors who don't know how to create shit, or at best twist it like From Software does (they're good at art direction, technical direction not so much).
I can't fucking stand it either.
MagiusNecros
Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Best Sci-fi setting that invokes a feeling of powerlessness in the vein you are human and nearly everything is tougher and meaner then you are is going to be Alien: Isolation.
Now I love Star Wars but when it comes to Sci-fi settings you have a lot of Star Wars inspired stuff but a lot of games/movies really don't grasp what made Star Wars as well as Star Trek work in that they were Space Operas that tackled different thought provoking questions. Such as friendship, family, morality, good/evil among others.
The issue with sci-fi boils down that devs make it about the spaceships, space battles, laser swords and guns where there is a lot going on behind those things that they aren't illustrating in a descriptive way. Or they focus on those Michael Bay portions that turn people off.
As a perfect example we can take at face value that Sauron is this ultimate evil eye tower but he actually has a huge history you don't even know about if you didn't read the books or the lore. And that Sauron isn't even the biggest evil there ever was.
This is exactly what I was thinking. I would love MORE Tolkien-inspired games!
I love Tolkien but more variety would be much welcome. Interestingly, the most creative takes on european culture in recent years are Souls game imo.
An RPG in a pre columbian (or fantasy inspired by it) setting would be awesome. A lot of untapped potential in africa and asia too. China has a quite the history/myths... Get to work chinese devs
An RPG in a pre columbian (or fantasy inspired by it) setting would be awesome. A lot of untapped potential in africa and asia too. China has a quite the history/myths... Get to work chinese devs
009EspadaSageJay
Member
generic DND style yes there only so much you can do with 15-18th century technology and monster
OmegaSupreme
advanced basic bitch
Fuck no. If anything we need more.
kingpotato
Ask me about my Stream Deck
What?
nope.
SirTerry-T
Member
Less Tolkien....more Michael Moorcock.
Proper trippy, mind bending chaotic stuff, prog rock soundtracks and the physical edition cover inlays could come coated with some of the finest lysergic modern medicine can provide.
Proper trippy, mind bending chaotic stuff, prog rock soundtracks and the physical edition cover inlays could come coated with some of the finest lysergic modern medicine can provide.
Lethal01
Member
You think fantasy worlds can't be distinct from tolkiens work?
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