Kilsin said:In One Word - Tell us what you think about Elves? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
Overused.
I'd really like to see a game development company grow some balls and create a fantasy world without the usual high fantasy races of Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves, Halflings and, especially, Humans. FFS, think for yourselves and come up with a spectrum of races that are unique. Yes, we have Archi, Skar and Dark Myr..GG on those, but the rest are just the same boring races.
...but the rest are just the same boring races.
haha, tell us how you really feel!! :) I personally have never thought any of those races were boring. They all have so much history in so many different story lines, they are quite rich. I actually prefer to play games with these races to games that make up their own new races that I have no old connections with. But, that's just my opinion.
Vandraad said:Kilsin said:In One Word - Tell us what you think about Elves? #MMORPG #CommunityMatters
Overused.
I'd really like to see a game development company grow some balls and create a fantasy world without the usual high fantasy races of Elves, Gnomes, Dwarves, Halflings and, especially, Humans. FFS, think for yourselves and come up with a spectrum of races that are unique. Yes, we have Archi, Skar and Dark Myr..GG on those, but the rest are just the same boring races.
Whilst I understand the feeling, I think there is a line (or perhaps a grey area) one side of which is the familiar fantasy genre people love and the other side of which is weird fantasy fiction that might be good but which is no longer the fantasy genre people are looking for.
If no elves, dwarves, gnomes, etc, then why not also no humans? Dragons? Undead? No feudal-style kings, queens and surfs? No castles? No forests? No moon and sun? Why bipedal, carbon-based life-forms on an earth-like planet at all?
Some fantasy writers have changed *some* of those things, it's true, but I believe the reason it's rare isn't just genre laziness, it's because races that are different, yet similar, to human are more appealing as the heroes and heriones of our stories. Wildly non-human and non-earth-like stuff is great for monsters and adventures our heroes endure, but for the heroes and their homes to be too alien doesn't feel so good, I think.
The originality has to start and end somewhere or you end up with something utterly bizarre and alien that *might* be unique and appealing to some, but more likely is so unfamiliar to most it is uncomfortable and unappealing.
To be fair to VR, the Panthone gnomes are very freaky and new, the dwarves are made of ice-steel (kinda), the elves are not just fey creatures, the halflings are wild and free, etc. Only the humans are pretty familiar.
I think they've done a very good job of taking standard high fantasy, which a lot of people love and are looking for, and made it interesting and their own.
When I first saw the changes they'd made to halflings and gnomes I was disappointed in some ways. I'm getting good with it, but I will miss those LotR/EQ-style little folks.
