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lilsi 1/14/07 6:54:19 PM
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Novice Member
Joined: 8/28/06 |
Shadowbane!!!
Its the closest you are ever going to get... Unless SpiderRiders Online comes. |
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maestermark 1/14/07 7:17:52 PM
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Apprentice Member
Joined: 8/12/04
"We gladly feast on those who would subdue us...Not just pretty words!" Morticia Addams |
Interesting thread! And an old argument even outside of the gaming world. One basic problem is that any race, no matter how alien on the outside, would suffer from incipient anthropomorphizing from the get-go, since in the end it would have to conform to the all too human world of the player and the game universe itself. Look at the Star Wars Universe as a example...all of the alien races in fact are really more like the humans (does anyone remember the days when Corescant was Corell or Corellia...i.e circa 1977) than unlike them...they share all the mercenary desires and wisecrack with the best of thems. (Remember the radical thing about Lucas' creation back in the day was that the 'droids did not conform to those tired Asimovian three laws of Robotics, and could feel and kill etc. with impunity, restrained only by the limits of their programming and crude mechano/electronic devices). Almost all the aliens in Sci-fi today are still roughly anthropmorphic...especially those who inhabit the pages of more militaristic writers. CJ Cherryh tried to create some alien sensibilities in her Compact Space novels of the 1980s (anyone remember that you cannot really understand a methane breather without a translator, but boy could they fly their ships...;-)), but even these had a human referent. Any "real" archetypal departure must include a change in the way these beings are conceptualized, and has to work beyond mere game mechanics, but permeate the game. One little known example of how this has worked in the table top world is the World of Tekumel, aka Empire of the Petal throne, which sort of blends strange high fantasy with alien colonization elements (you have 2 six legged races to fight against there, at least...) and also in its human analogues is a strong departure from the Eurocentrism of most fantasy settings, the Tekumelese humans being sort of a cross between ancient Indian and Mesoamerica cultures, with a bit of other Asian or African cultures thrown in.) Part of its success is that MAR Barker, the creator, was another Tolkien (a linguist and anthropolgist) Has there ever been any attempt to create an MMO around Tekumel, or is the licensing still pretty locked up? It would be amazing if it could be pulled off, but my brief exposure to it makes me wonder that it is too alien, too complex for the average l33t d00d out there. Maybe I should just stick to an elf...a naughty magic-addicted elf (now that's somewhat of a departure) Just my $0.02 |
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heroxxx 1/14/07 9:29:45 PM
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Novice Member
Joined: 8/20/06 |
Originally posted by Lunar_Knight
but it looks like its not gonna be completed for some time and a question is their any other games like ToA? |
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| don't be stupid its too populer. |
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barasawa 1/14/07 11:16:17 PM
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Apprentice Member
Joined: 1/13/05
I have a wandering mind, but that''s ok, it brings back presents. |
Too much Tolkein. I try to avoid it when I can, as much as is reasonable.
Races being hominid, approximately. Well, that helps with reducing dev resources, increasing character empathy, and allows for cross race gear trading. Sure it could be avoided, but I've found out in other games that if humans aren't played, the other races devolve into stat-packages. Ok, ignore the added resources to develope non-hominoidal species. And the limited gear usage thing. (Hey, a human tshort is pretty worthless to an arachnotaur, except as a white flag...) So there is this whole game balance thingie. The afore mentioned 6 weapon wielding freak would be a nightmare in combat, unless it's accuracy was a joke. Of course, then people would whine big time over not being able to hit anything. Without limiting, then combat with one becomes a freaking raid. We need a whole party to just one of them... Well, that doesn't work for game balance. In fact, it doesn't work for a game, unless that's the only race available. The munchins and combat monkeys, among many others will always go for the extreme power. Soon, if you want to play, you'd pretty much be forced to be one just to avoid being a laughing stock. The only people not playing them would be total noobs who don't know, and the wierdos who like trying something different or more challenging. This kind of situation isn't good for a game because it really limits your market. Ok, so what do you do. The easy way is the tolkien/star trek way. Other than storylines and minor visual differences, they are pretty much the same. The hard way is to try and develop completely unique races that are not too powerful in any ability. With limited development resources and marketing swearing it'll be out fourth quarter, that's just not too likely to happen. But wouldn't it be nice. (I'm currently trying to do this in a pen&paper rpg, but there are gameplay issues that keep cropping up. So I can say that I've been thinking about this subject in general a whole lot recently.) TTYL 
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| Lost my mind, now trying to lose yours... |
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japo 1/15/07 1:13:15 AM
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Apprentice Member
Joined: 11/18/05
Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. |
Well, Horizons has flying dragons and some little sprite things that fly...and EQ2 just introduced the Fay, who also fly.
That's a start, I guess. |
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Thony 1/15/07 5:32:01 AM
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Novice Member
Joined: 1/02/07
"Its not "HOW" something is written but its "WHAT" someone has written" |
Originally posted by japo
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japo 1/15/07 9:46:18 AM
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Apprentice Member
Joined: 11/18/05
Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. |
They are playable races...and the dragons on Horizons are really cool.
Not enough to save that game though. |
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Tamalan 1/15/07 9:47:19 AM
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Novice Member
Joined: 11/13/04
Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for? |
Originally posted by Thony Dammit, I want a mythical Fae race to do my hoovering, I hate tidying up. |
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evilastro 1/15/07 10:33:41 AM
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Apprentice Member
Joined: 1/16/06 |
I personally am getting rather tired of the need for 'balance'. Why should every equally equiped race be as strong as one another? I would like to see distinct advantages, that force races to build up alliances to help defend themselves. For instance the much quoted 'Spider' race should be able to rip through humans like whirling dervishes, however when that clan of flame salamanders comes past the colony looking for sweet sweet ant honey... they are in for a severe burnination. I also like the idea of locking various professions to certain races - or at least make them different between races. The point of different races is just lost when they just become cosmetic counterparts with one or two minor buffs to set them apart. I think it is a big step moving beyond humanoids though, since most game phjysics are designed around moving on the ground for balance purposes. Personally I want a race of telekinetic pandas who attack using floating bamboo sticks and razor leaf attacks. Then proceed to maul the fallen opponents so | |
