Fantasy games need to stop stealing from LOTR

[michael87cn]

I think the reason is no one has put as much work into a project as Mr. Tolkien. Nothing has as much depth or resources to pull from. It's the perfect template to build a story on for the studio with a modest budget.

Until someone comes along and works on another masterpiece for half of their life, I think we'll just have to settle with the simpler stories that we get from game writers.

Heck I mean, look at Mass Effect. Great potential for something fresh there but it becomes the same old "humanity saves the universe" gig.

 

[michael87cn]

However you know what? I don't think it's at all fair to compare what one man had his entire life to think up and create, to stuff that game writers have to pull out of their butt within weeks-months for a game.

Game writers are different from novelists.

I think people expect too much and want to put in too little. Get out there and be creative if you really want to help the gaming industry.. think of something better instead of complaining it hasn't happened yet!

 

[mobsterlobster]

I love "Tolkien-eque" fantasy, but I see your point. I do get tired of seeing the same thing over and over again. As much as I love Dragon Age, I prefer Morrowind just because it's in an original(ish) setting. I also prefer Morrowind to Oblivion for this very reason, voice acting aside.

 

[Tax_Document]

That's like saying, "The Action Genre should not always follow fighting and fast-paced chases! Try something new!"

Which doesn't work.

 

[wdwyer]

The industry's job is to sell these games to the general public...the casual gamer. THEY make or break the popularity of a product. The industry does not serve fanboys, they will always be there, whether a product is great or poor. All this hate, all this complaining. You wanna know why it gets ripped off? Because it sells.

You want something different? Try making your own game up and DO something about it! Complaining in here isn't going to change anything.

 

[Jimmy T. Malice]

But... but... where else will they get their innovation from?

 

[subject_87]

For one thing, it'd be nice if we could have Elves that aren't pantheistic, plant-communing hippies who are one with nature; the Amulet comics had a step in the right direction, with Elves being ruthless, militaristic industrialists, but (relatively) fresh depictions like that are still the exception and not the rule.

 

[Pearwood]

While also thinking: "Why do all the elves have to look so fucking stupid?".

It's a racial trait.

Yeah I'd love to see some more originality, LotR was great but I've read it, I don't need to see a retelling of it.

 

[dkyros]

dude not gonna happen. You don't stop stealing from good source material. Can't stop it with the bible (Most recent comes to mind is Legion from ME2) and wont stop it with LOTR

 

[A Weakgeek]

Maybe this is why FPSs are so popular (or at least so populous) these days. It's sort of easy to innovate new ways of making shooting people fun. But the poor gaming Titan that was fantasy RPGs is drowning in a stagnant pool of Tolkien.

Umm... "It's sort of easy to innovate new ways of making shooting people fun" Point me at a game will you? Doesen't seem to ring a bell.

 

[LightspeedJack]

Every genre has to come from somewhere. You might as well say "Can space games stop ripping off star wars?" is just how things are. I do see where your coming from though, fantasy games' dependance on the Tolkein-esque is part of the reason I avoid them like the plague. The only fantasy games I do play are Final Fantasy as most of them are as far from Tolkein as you can get and part of what attracts me to them is their originality.

So yeah I managed to shoe horn Final Fantasy into another discussion, yes!!

Captcha: nitown Equations - I hear Nitown has the best Equation scene!

 

[Verlander]

Problem is LOTR reference a lot of folklore.

I'd love to see some ancient fantasy from the mediterranean. You know, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Persian etc

 

[theriddlen]

The Witcher 2.

Completely different approach.

 

[DustyDrB]

I'd like to see them make new races. Even if they have heavy thematic similarities, give me a sense of visual fascination that comes with seeing an unfamiliar race. I see an elf in a game and I'm less inclined to want to learn about them because I've heard their story before.

Let creative people create.

 

[Xenmut]

Really good fantasy, and really good RP gaming is really hard to achieve.

I agree with the ppl who say that LOTR didnt copy anything, but i undestand what everyone else feels. The thing is that requires a lot but a lot of work doing it and sometimes companies are Hardwired to proceed just in one way like JRPG games or like LOTR games. But there are few ones that are osom even if they comply with these like Xenogears and Dragon Age.

Even so, the competition in the market is too hard, there WILL be more genres to explore and worlds created.

 

[Xenmut]

Problem is LOTR reference a lot of folklore.

I'd love to see some ancient fantasy from the mediterranean. You know, Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Persian etc

DUUUUUUUUUDE! that would be awesome, to really make good games about these other folklores!

The hard thing that i think is with fantasy is that when u make it from scratch it feels kinda empty and pointless because there will be always holes in the story, sometimes it wont make something sense and so on. It takes too much time.

 

[Jfswift]

In summary: If you have bread and beans theres only so many different meals you can make from it.

That's what I was thinking too (more or less). There really isn't anything that is really 'original' anymore, just about everything borrows from everything else to some extent.

 

[Xenmut]

Maybe this is why FPSs are so popular (or at least so populous) these days. It's sort of easy to innovate new ways of making shooting people fun. But the poor gaming Titan that was fantasy RPGs is drowning in a stagnant pool of Tolkien.

Umm... "It's sort of easy to innovate new ways of making shooting people fun" Point me at a game will you? Doesen't seem to ring a bell.

Did you watch the trailer of Gears of Wars 3? or this one?! http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/the-escapist-presents/2975-Exclusive-Preview-of-Gears-3-Beta

 

[Jaded Scribe]

As said before, Tolkien dragged up a lot of western mythos that starkly define the races.

Some games are making progress. In Dragon Age, the city elves don't have much resemblance to their Tolkien counterparts (though the Dals clearly are drawn from the classic western mythos). Dwarves were still pretty much dead on.

It's a dual-edged sword. On the one hand, you have the need to innovate and push beyond these boundaries, on the other you have the fact that these races are by and large heavily defined, and resound with western audiences as being apart of their mythos. So unless you're going to create a world populated with unique races (which risks losing the connection to the audience) or trying to change accepted norms is going that can lose an audience.