The physical setting in Everquest killed that game for me. All of the zones were basically the same devoid areas with mobs standing around waiting to be killed.

The thing that really kills me in threads like this is that everyone says that it all comes from Tolkein... Tolkein this, Tolkein that... well, Tolkein stole everything in his books. The languages? Yep, he studied ancient languages and those are actual ancient languages. Elves? Part of Celtic myth. Dwarves? Part of Celtic also. The ONLY thing that he did was ignore the definition of the word ''elf'', which means diminutive, childlike magical creatures, which his elves are most definitely not, they are tall and regal. Don''t get me wrong, his books were awesome and I told someone 5 years ago that if they became a movie they would be much better because I wouldn''t have to read the horribly boring details.

The only thing that fantasy has in common is that it all comes from myths.

Settings that put me off though? I''d have to say any setting that I can''t affect in any way. Any setting where I can kill a critter and have the exact same critter come back in less than the time that it takes me to go fix a Morgan and Coke puts me way off.

Science fantasy puts me off. Magic in a world full of science really irritates me because sociologically they''re incompatible. Technology is made so that anyone can do different things. If your magician can do it, so what? Someone who can''t will find a way with technology to do it too and then since everyone already knows how to do it, why learn the magic?

Sorry if I bugged anyone with this, I''m a bit crabby tonight.

quote: Original post by solinear
The thing that really kills me in threads like this is that everyone says that it all comes from Tolkein... Tolkein this, Tolkein that... well, Tolkein stole everything in his books. The languages? Yep, he studied ancient languages and those are actual ancient languages. Elves? Part of Celtic myth. Dwarves? Part of Celtic also. The ONLY thing that he did was ignore the definition of the word ''elf'', which means diminutive, childlike magical creatures, which his elves are most definitely not, they are tall and regal.

well, of course... but it is more likely that the D&Ders and the guys making all these games read Tolkien and liked it, than that they researched into various mythologies and came up with something really really similar... so he may not have made it up per se, but he took the old myths and wrapped them up in a way that became a classic and the basis for many many games.

quote: Don''t get me wrong, his books were awesome and I told someone 5 years ago that if they became a movie they would be much better because I wouldn''t have to read the horribly boring details.

oh, don''t say things like that. god is in the details.
i haven''t seen the movie yet (as it doesn''t open until wednesday), but i am already pissed. just from the trailers i can tell that they butchered the story to make it into a movie acceptable to the masses, rather than the people that read and loved the book and would prefer it was not bastardized for financial reasons. that''s not why i''m pissed though; i''m mad because i know i''m still going to spend the $8.50...

quote: Science fantasy puts me off. Magic in a world full of science really irritates me because sociologically they''re incompatible. Technology is made so that anyone can do different things. If your magician can do it, so what? Someone who can''t will find a way with technology to do it too and then since everyone already knows how to do it, why learn the magic?

while i agree with you here in relation to video games and books (it seems to be trendy to mix the two, as if that is somehow better than picking one or the other), i have to admit that i would give up my laptop and cellphone to be able to immolate passersby with a few chanted words...

--- krez (krezisback@aol.com)

I could care less about settings. I play warcraft II every week after like 5 years of owning it online, and I dont know anything about the story. Something about a portal? Who cares, its all about a fun game you can play over and over again and master. War2, starcraft, whatever game you like. Settings are unimportant for me.

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Ratfest.org

Gameplay over setting, I agree.

You can make a fun game in any setting, consistant or not, and the reverse also applies: a game in any setting can suck.

It''s the same error that plagues movies, music and all forms of mass entertainmet: the belief that genre determines quality.

Gameplay Uber Alles!

quote: solinear wrote:
The thing that really kills me in threads like this is that everyone says that it all comes from Tolkein... Tolkein this, Tolkein that... well, Tolkein stole everything in his books. The languages? Yep, he studied ancient languages and those are actual ancient languages. Elves? Part of Celtic myth. Dwarves? Part of Celtic also.

I consider it a fallacy to think this way. If you say "A is not original because it draws on B and C", then essentially nothing can be original, because everything is constructed out of previously available components, whether items, ideas, or whatever. Was Tetris original? Things falling from the top wasn''t exactly new, nor was finding a space to put an irregularly shaped puzzle piece (jigsaw, anyone?), but the combination was. So when evaluating how original something is, look at the arrangment as a whole, not the component parts.

Tolkien took ideas from Arthurian myth, added in Norse and Celtic mythology, applied a painstaking detail to the background and language, and wrote an epic story infused with verse and song. Tolkien was the funnel, if you like... he took a lot of things that came before him and put the best of them in a couple of handy reference books Like it or not, most people wouldn''t even know about a lot of these mythological figures if it wasn''t for Tolkien raising the profile of myth in general.