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[Synless]

You think fantasy worlds can't be distinct from tolkiens work?

Not at all, I just don’t know what that would look like.

 

[Amiga]

Older fantasy stories wanted to be different and build different worlds to set them apart. This world building is what they were judged on. Howard's Conan is different to Tolkien's Middle Earth. the norms of the cultures were different and not just the art and appearance. Unfortunately creators just blend in Conan element's into a Tolkien base.
IMOO Canan would be a better base than Tolkien. Because Howard has built a more sophisticated world with different human nations and cultures. While in Tolkien Humans are just basically the British vs monsters.

 

[Halo is Back]

No, I want more actually

 

[LordOfChaos]

There's so much to draw on from Indian and Chinese storytelling. Black Myth Wukong looks cool, but the CPC is restrictive on gaming. There's a few Indian game devs popping up. Imagine an AAA game set in something like the Mahabharat period or something. Could be amazing.

 

[20cent]

As long as they use the fantasy background to be creative and introduce crazy or new stuff, I'm good.

If it's the usual trolls, orcs and dragons...zzzzz... that's like space opera settings with blue humanoids and white corridors, find something new.

 

[bitbydeath]

Isn’t Elden Ring the first high-quality game in this genre since Skyrim, 11 years ago.

 

[Esca]

I wish we got a game in the same grain as the black company books, they are fantastic

 

[YukiOnna]

Much like dragons, no I'm not sick of it at all. We barely actually get Tolkien/Traditional fantasy games since everyone is trying to make a spin on it.

I'm thankful we got a handful of far east fantasy settings in the past few years since that ones even rarer.

 

[mortal]

Yes, to some extent.

I certainly don't want developers to stop making Tolkienesque or European fantasy inspired settings.
Although, I would love to see developers (especially in the AAA space) draw from unconventional sources more often.
Human history is filled with all sorts of fascinating cultures, civilizations, and periods. Would be a shame to keep revisiting the same wells and tropes.

 

[lughnasadh123]

As other's have said, elves and dragons high fantasy is my comfort food. I'm open to new stuff, but it'll never be as satisfying as the OG.

I'd love to see a game take on something like Elric of Melniboné. Blood and souls for my Lord Arioch!

 

[EDMIX]

We have a million and a half different cultural inspiration for video games but it's as if the only one people tend to be inspired by is the typical elves, dwarves, tolkienesque works. Games like GoT Legends and Nioh dive into more western fantasy, but why don't developers take a risk with something that isn't your typical "fantasy" setting? We can do RPG's set in a Mesopotamian fantasy world, or running around slaying mesoamerican Brujos. It would be cool to see developers , specifically rpg developers try something new with their settings.

Nope.


I'm not sick of it for a few reasons, we already have a shit ton of different concepts in RPGs, its not like alllllllllll we have is some Tolkien thing lol

So this whole "it would be cool" no sir....it IS cool that they DO try new settings, I grow tired of fucking people asking for such things, they say shit like "would be" while ignoring what already is.

The rest of the thread btw has done a great job of listing those um "would be"s on games that have come out =)

I've heard nothing but good things about Disco Elysium

Did you? Well "it would be cool" if that existed sir, but OP has spoken, that doesn't exist and only Tolkien shit be existing lol

 

[Brofist]

Nah there's always room for a decent Tolkien inspired game

 

[jigglet]

I've never understood why in this type of universe, like Game of Thrones, why they all have British accents. If it's high fantasy, why not give them broken Chinese-English accents or something of that nature?

 

[March Climber]

Not at all, I just don’t know what that would look like.

Here's an example of one:

 

[lefty1117]

I'd like to see a remake of the EA movie tie-ins from the early 2000s, and also battle for middle-earth 3 please. THanks

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I love the traditional stuff, but when ES6 comes out I'm not even sure how much I'll like it and play it if it's just Skyrim on steroid visuals.

One thing just sticking to the classic D&D/European castle vibe that is a drawback IMO is that just about every game projects the story and setting similar to everyone else.

If youre going to have goblins and orcs in it, why are they always weaklings? Why are dragons and demons always ultra powerful? Why does a troll have a good chance at abilities like regen? Same kind of shit.

You'd think the writers would take the overall setting and spin it.

Maybe dragons are going extinct and dying off as weak factions. Why cant kobolds rule a region with armies, as a creature who has evolved into a powerful force? Why are liches always evil protecting a crypt? How about some desperate good guy liches looking for redemption and may join the party.

I'm just tossing random ideas out there. But you get the idea. You got 1000s of media out there using D&D/Tolkien kinds of content and probably 95% of it is the same vibe.

 

[SirTerry-T]

I've never understood why in this type of universe, like Game of Thrones, why they all have British accents. If it's high fantasy, why not give them broken Chinese-English accents or something of that nature?

The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings took its inspiration from the impact of the industrial revolution on the rural Midlands.
Bilbo and his gang should really sound like the cast of Peaky Blinders

 

[PSlayer]

I never liked Tolkien-esque/D&D settings very much, so franchises like TES,WoW and Dragon age never really clicked with me(Doesn't mean the games are bad though).

Soulsgames are an exception because of the cynical,dry and nihilistic take on the formula. Bloodborne definitely feels more satisfying to me because of the lovecraft-esque settings.

 

[Ladioss]

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.

I wouldn't say no to a zelda clone set in Gloriana's Albion/Gormenghast directed by Fumito Ueda with a psychedelic OST.
Or a Jack Vancian sandbox RPG of picaresque hoboing set on an alien planet.
Or a Borgesian murder-mystery set in the orient express line connnecting the Invisible Cities.
Or a procedural narrative roguelike set in a demon-worshipping version of Venice illustrated by Gerad Trignac.
Or resolve a centuries-spanning mystery in several era at the same time, using the Dictionary of the Khazars as both a tool and clue.

 

[Sophist]

I've never understood why in this type of universe, like Game of Thrones, why they all have British accents. If it's high fantasy, why not give them broken Chinese-English accents or something of that nature?

There was no knight in America nor in China.

 

[jigglet]

There was no knight in America nor in China.

So it’s fiction or not?

 

[MrJTeera]

So it’s fiction or not?

Man, now I want a Dark Souls game set in modern day America. You get to fight the legendary Florida Man, or even Mobility Mary.

It’s gotta be the Dark Souls control scheme, though. Mobility Mary fight requires a lot of dodging, and you need perfect parry to deal with Florida Man’s alligator suplex.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

I prefer it when games make a bespoke world and lore.

Either way, no, games I don't play normally don't jump in my face unless they have a full blown overly effective social media campaign-like Microsoft's products (not sure if they're actually gaming related, the influencers they but are so aggressive and fake, it's off-putting).

 

[Majukun]

i'm bored with them tbh, but i was already bored with them when dragon age origin more or less copied the whole package...less bored whe it's offered it's own spin like in the witcher series

 

[killatopak]

It's only boring if it's done well.

 

[Isa]

I kind of am but for two reasons. Firstly and most importantly its the visual inspiration. Like with superhero movies and cg, so much western fantasy is aping The Lord of The Rings/Hobbit films aesthetic. It pigeonholes everything with preset expectations sadly. See that bulky wannabe Scottish accented grumpy guy? Gotta be a dwarf. It becomes harder to distinguish the media apart when they are so similarly inspired. For the record I especially loathe the overdone art in modern D&D, and that ugly ass cartoon style most western cartoons use that have also become commonplace in the Indie rpg scene.

Second for me would be the world building and general copycat nature of the races and such. Always some world I wouldn't want to live in where nobody can make an impact without a magical Mcguffin. Of course the world is about to end. Whoopie. So disconnected from reality. Annoying archetypes like bland prissy ass elves, ugly orcs, weakling gobbies etc. Funny too because there is quite a lot that writers could do to vary it up. Also, stop with the damn drab and dreary grimdark colors and misery for Christ's sake. Its actually one of the things that has drawn me back to Eastern created fantasy these past oooohhh I'd say 5-8 years. I'm older now and don't want stupid melodrama, my girl and other friends miss the old fantasy styles where brighter colors and unique art styles were regularly employed.

What pains me to think about as well is the great amount of other quality fantasy that has yet to be taken as inspiration or get their own game. The Elric vs Witcher case turned me off of the later pretty hard, I'd love to see Jack Vance's stuff get the spotlight, Lankhmar would be a fun setting to run around in, that sub-series from DCC as well as DCC itself would be amazing to see realized into a proper video game. Also some Red Planet, Dejah Thoris and John Carter adventuring, there are some stellar table top games out there.

I'll still play some of the games that come out featuring heavy themes from Tolkien, but I'm very drawn to other styles of fantasy. What I really miss too are certain concepts and adult themes and art styles in western rpgs. The Dark Eye games had their cults/temples and always a sexy lady. The Might & Magic games I also miss and adore. Old d&d works(b/x-AD&D) were amazing, with tons of unique critters and races. The art was glorious and some stuff blended a bit of sci-fi into the settings. I'll take Mystara over Faerun or whatever its called any day of the week.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I kind of am but for two reasons. Firstly and most importantly its the visual inspiration. Like with superhero movies and cg, so much western fantasy is aping The Lord of The Rings/Hobbit films aesthetic. It pigeonholes everything with preset expectations sadly. See that bulky wannabe Scottish accented grumpy guy? Gotta be a dwarf. It becomes harder to distinguish the media apart when they are so similarly inspired. For the record I especially loathe the overdone art in modern D&D, and that ugly ass cartoon style most western cartoons use that have also become commonplace in the Indie rpg scene.

Second for me would be the world building and general copycat nature of the races and such. Always some world I wouldn't want to live in where nobody can make an impact without a magical Mcguffin. Of course the world is about to end. Whoopie. So disconnected from reality. Annoying archetypes like bland prissy ass elves, ugly orcs, weakling gobbies etc. Funny too because there is quite a lot that writers could do to vary it up. Also, stop with the damn drab and dreary grimdark colors and misery for Christ's sake. Its actually one of the things that has drawn me back to Eastern created fantasy these past oooohhh I'd say 5-8 years. I'm older now and don't want stupid melodrama, my girl and other friends miss the old fantasy styles where brighter colors and unique art styles were regularly employed.

What pains me to think about as well is the great amount of other quality fantasy that has yet to be taken as inspiration or get their own game. The Elric vs Witcher case turned me off of the later pretty hard, I'd love to see Jack Vance's stuff get the spotlight, Lankhmar would be a fun setting to run around in, that sub-series from DCC as well as DCC itself would be amazing to see realized into a proper video game. Also some Red Planet, Dejah Thoris and John Carter adventuring, there are some stellar table top games out there.

I'll still play some of the games that come out featuring heavy themes from Tolkien, but I'm very drawn to other styles of fantasy. What I really miss too are certain concepts and adult themes and art styles in western rpgs. The Dark Eye games had their cults/temples and always a sexy lady. The Might & Magic games I also miss and adore. Old d&d works(b/x-AD&D) were amazing, with tons of unique critters and races. The art was glorious and some stuff blended a bit of sci-fi into the settings. I'll take Mystara over Faerun or whatever its called any day of the week.

Ya.

The writers dont even have to make dramatic changes. Here's 99% of games. Humans = castles and soldiers in shiny armour. Elves = forests and wear green clothy fabric and brown boots.

Well hell, switch it up. Come up with some story where the humans live in forests and elves are the ones living in giant castles edging up to the clouds.

Why are dwarves always short, strong have beards and some reason live in mines? Who knows. Make a story, they are sick of mining and living there and they want to expand to live in towns and castles in the overworld.... which perhaps pisses off humans and elves, so the plot is there's internal conflict among the races, along with the usual threats of monsters roaming aroudn.

 

[ByWatterson]

Absolutely not. Love high fantasy.

 

[brian0057]

Yes, I also love Tolkien inspired fantasy.
How could you tell?

 

[BennyBlanco]

 

[Wildebeest]

I've never understood why in this type of universe, like Game of Thrones, why they all have British accents. If it's high fantasy, why not give them broken Chinese-English accents or something of that nature?

British voice actors are cheaper. Also, better than everyone in every game to have the same fake universal Californian accent. Never even any variation in US regional accents.

 

[Codes 208]

Isn’t Elden Ring the first high-quality game in this genre since Skyrim, 11 years ago.

When did witcher 3 come out?

 

[bitbydeath]

When did witcher 3 come out?

True, forgot about that game.

 

[Rhazer Fusion]

Yeah, honestly I’m tired of them as well. I’ll still play games with that particular style normally, but imo it’s looks homogenized, generic and boring. That’s primarily why I always felt most Western RPG’s look the same and uninspired.

 

[Woggleman]

The fantasy genre in general is just played out at this point.