Poll: The best at medieval fantasy lore

[Jaeke]

Bethesda is so unimaginably sparse and diverse in their univeres its mind-blowing.

 

[The Funslinger]

Elder Scrolls by far.

They dont do much with it in the games, but just head over to UESP (google it) and read some of the lore. Shits amazing. Some of it will blow your mind.

They're all the same as far as I'm concerned.

...

Urg, so very sick of fifth generation Tolkien rip-offs.

*****, you better read the teachings of Vivec and wrap your head around CHIM before you talk shit about TES lore. Orcs exist and dwarfs existed, but thats where the similarities end.

Lore that isn't actually in the game doesn't count, you know that right?

OT: I'd have to say Bethesda. Because at least they're trying to break away from the "THERE ARE THREE CLASSES AND ALWAYS WILL BE" method of thinking. Hell, dwarves aren't even a thing.

Oh, or Black Isle.

I should point out, all the Elder Scrolls lore IS in game. It's just out of the way. Reward explorers, y'know?

 

[Woodsey]

I consider the matter of "Best" as a matter of opinion.

Well... yeah.

They're all the same as far as I'm concerned.

...

Urg, so very sick of fifth generation Tolkien rip-offs.

*****, you better read the teachings of Vivec and wrap your head around CHIM before you talk shit about TES lore. Orcs exist and dwarfs existed, but thats where the similarities end.

Eh, everything I've seen about the TES setting and lore was generic piffle.

Pseudo-medieval Europe land, high tech underground dwarves, long-eared elves who live in forests and like bows, rich stately arrogant elves who like magic, fire-breathing dragons, magic that consists of light coming out of people hands, 'The Empire', fierce warlike orcs with a honour schtick, anthropomorphic people... blah-de-fucking-blah.

In short, this is a dance that I have done many times before. Y'know, like in damn near every fantasy game ever.

"Pseudo-medieval Europe land"

Uhh... Morrowind?

"high tech underground dwarves"

The dwarves in LotR are good builders, not really the same thing.

"fire-breathing dragons"

Some, but there's more to it than just "there are dragons".

"'The Empire'"

Oh no! A form of government!

OT: Out of those three? Its really just a toss up between Dragon AgeOrigins) and TES. A real competition for me would scrap Blizzard and include The Witcher instead.

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

Gameplay bethesda
Story/ lore bioware
RP elements blizzaed

 

[Seventh Actuality]

Going to say Dragon Age first for a distinctive, understated and internally consistent setting, followed by Blizzard second for mixing interesting ideas with a lack of coherency and poor storytelling and Elder Scrolls a dismal last, because my only problem with Skyrim was that the world and the people who populated it were so fucking boring.

 

[MrLumber]

None of the above? I'd vote From Software, but hey I'll admit that Demon's Souls is not entirely medieval.

I guess in context though, Blizzard and Bethesda shouldn't really be up there :| (Although as you probably guessed I'm not a huge fan of Bioware)

 

[Kenjitsuka]

Bestheda. But Blizzard goes WAY beyond them, making their OWN universe.

So Blizz is #1 imho, despite Bethesda being better at realizing the standard stuff!

 

[The Madman]

I like Obsidian myself, whenever they're given a fantasy setting to work with whether that be Forgotten Realms or Star Wars, they tend to always give what might otherwise be a bland and predictable setting a fun twist of their own.

Mask of the Betrayer is an ideal example of their work. They took a popular but nevertheless rather stagnant setting (Forgotten Realms) and made it their own by ignoring all the hallmark locations (Waterdeep, Neverwinter, Baldur's Gate, Underdark, Icewind Dale, etc.) or setting cliche to instead take a unique glimpse at one of the least visited locations and expose one of the most easily overlooked but incredibly interesting facets of the setting to light. There were no redemption-seeking Drow or drunken Dwarves and I can't think of a single Elf in the entire game, nor did you need to save the world from yet another emerging evil. It was just a memorable little glimpse at a part of the setting I don't think anyone else has really taken the time to explore.

Other than them... hmm...

CD Projekt RED

It might be considered 'unfair' since the setting is based on a series of existing novels but the setting for the Witcher games is pretty much the only fantasy setting lately which has left me going "I want to learn more about this place and its people!". The only game with a fantasy setting that truly set itself apart in my mind from the dozens of others out there which, while the games themselves might be entertaining, didn't really invoke my imagination.

I did like games like Dragon Age and Morrowind, but while interesting neither of those games really sparked my imagination or curiosity in terms of setting the same way as either of the above examples. As for Warcraft... that's a complex love/hate relationship right there best left for other topics.

 

[Gatx]

I vote Bethesda. I was reading a history book on the Vikings, and the way Bethesda create their lore - well, you could have replaced everything in the Vikings book with Elder Scrolls-created characters and events, and it would still have been as thick, as interesting AND as believable.
Tolkien's elves are superior to humans in practically every way. Bethesda's elves are vile, abhorrent little shits with a superiority complex. Elves are universally admired in Middle-Earth. Elves are abhorrent little shits with a superiority complex on Nirn. Tolkien's elves are mysterious, wise and powerful beings living in grand buildings in picturesque locations. Bethesda's elves are abhorrent little shits with a superiority complex living in abhorrent little cesspools that they assure me are beautiful.

Windhelm is the only place to treat those elves properly. Not those other places that let them run free and frolic. Fucking things. I swear, if there were no elves in the Elder Scrolls, everybody would live happily ever after. Humans may be greedy, clumsy apes who accidentally open dimensional rifts and destroy their world, but elves? Elves do that shit on purpose.

Actually Tolkien also draws a lot of inspiration from Anglo-Saxon lore, things like naming conventions, the importance of stories and songs, and mythical creatures. The Rohirrim are pretty much vikings with horses instead of boats.

Bestheda. But Blizzard goes WAY beyond them, making their OWN universe.

So Blizz is #1 imho, despite Bethesda being better at realizing the standard stuff!

How did Bethesda not make it's own universe? Tamriel is just as realized and original a setting as Azeroth is.

 

[Popeman]

Out of those 3 The elder Scrolls. I will admit the story's in Dragon age are much better if a bit generic. Blizzards "Lore" is well just stupid from what I have seen.

 

[Randvek]

Blizzards "Lore" is well just stupid from what I have seen.

Blizzard's lore tends to be good ideas with terrible writers.

 

[Popeman]

Blizzards "Lore" is well just stupid from what I have seen.

Blizzard's lore tends to be good ideas with terrible writers.

I guess that is true to an extent but Bethesda writers aren't to stellar either. But they seem to do better maybe it just has to do with the types of games they both make.

 

[Smiley Face]

I have to go for Dragon Age because of the ones there that I know of (I only have a slight, slight familiarity with Warcraft and almost none with Diablo), its lore is the most colourful, visible, and entrenched. Yes, Elder Scrolls has a rich backstory of lore, yadda yadda - but they don't DO ANYTHING WITH IT. Skyrim could be almost entirely unchanged by just slicing awaythe lore you find in the many, many books. With Dragon Age, there's creative, interesting stuff going on with the lore, and it is front and center all the time. The religion, the mages, the persecution of the elves, the constantly embattled dwarves, etc. If Bioware handled a Skyrim-esque story, we'd know more about the dragons than 'they were evil, then they were gone, and now they're back', we'd see different and varied opinions on Daedra worship in the holds and ee how that's dealt with, rather than just be told it exists, do a quest involving it, and then have the option to read about it in a book. We'd see rationales, balanced sides, and it would be presented in a way that creates a feeling of depth in the game - The Elder Scrolls doesn't do that, not nearly as much as it should - that's its style though, and it can work, but it means that lore-wise, it doesn't compete.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

none of those

Gamesworkshop- Warhammer

with Bethesda's Elder scrolls III Morrowind being an exception (i just love that province the most)

Games Workshop's Warhammer is an anachronism where Renaissance Era Germans fight against Mutant Vikings and 10th Century Chivalric Knights.

 

[godofallu]

Urg, so very sick of fifth generation Tolkien rip-offs.

I think that's why I liked Final Fantasy XI so much. It was a fantasy MMO that did NOT take place "Totally-not-Middle-Earth-we-promise" land. It had orcs and goblins, and trolls a few expansion packs in, but they were downplayed and not stereotypical, and were only a few of the dozens of kinds of beasts that inhabited the land. And the graphical quality and overall aesthetics were much more appealing to me than the god-awful messes of neon polygons that inhabit World of Warcraft.

I've never played Final Fantasy but I was reading intently until you started talking about how it had orcs and goblins and trolls. That is exactly the problem with medieval fantasy today.

 

[Lilani]

I've never played Final Fantasy but I was reading intently until you started talking about how it had orcs and goblins and trolls. That is exactly the problem with medieval fantasy today.

Oh lordy. As I said, they aren't a major thing. They are a few of of DOZENS of types of beastmen, scattered evenly across a lush and beautiful world. A few of the other beastmen are:

Lamia [http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Lamia]

Qiqirn [http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Category:Qiqirn]

Yagudo [http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Yagudo]

Hell, here's the whole page [http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Beastmen] on beastmen so you can get a good look at them, and read about their place in the game. Oh, and I think I should say it's not medieval fantasy. It's not even trying to be that, really. There's one country that's a "kingdom," San d'Oria, but that's really the only one. Windurst is a Federation, Bastok is a Republic, Jeuno is run by Archdukes, Aht Urghan is run by an Emperor. It is not on Earth, not entirely populated by humans, and not based on any sort of earth lore like Arthurian legends. One of the races is humans, called humes, but apart from them and the names of those few beastmen those are really the only grounding in typical medieval fantasy that it has. Well and I guess Elves too, but they aren't the typical immortal/dignicied/all wise elves you get everywhere else. They're arrogant and xenophobic, and get into a lot more petty squabbles than they like to admit. Remember, this is a Final Fantasy here. They aren't going to just stick you in Tolkein's backyard and then call it quits.

The thing that impressed me the most about FFXI, though, was the characters and the stories. They were so in-depth and beautiful, not just from the great storylines but also the great characters that come out and character development that occurs.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I chose flare! Sorry, I just wanted to chuck that in there. My serious answer is Warhammer. To this day, I still have no idea if it's a satire like Warhammer 40K.

Warhammer is closer to Monty Python and the Holy Grail than Tolkien. It is pure fantasy parody.

40K started off as a parody, before turning grimdark, then going so far into the grimdark that it recursively became parody again.

 

[ACman]

Which of the "big B" developers would you say conveys the best world of giant monsters, castles, creepy caves, spawns and final bosses the best? And why?

The Witcher.

Or the Forgotten Realms as in Baldur's Gate.

This probably isn't fair because they were developed independently from video games and video games suck at universe creation.

TES has great lore but no people that I want to talk to.

Dragon Age has shit lore (I will rant about this if provoked.)

Warcraft is probably best but I know so little about it that I can't really comment.