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The lack of Urban Fantasy video games.
Does this strike anyone else as weird? I mean, sure there are things with alien invasions and zombie apocalypses, but we've don't really have a game set in the more-or-less real world where the fantastic is an existing part of it. The last one I can think of worth a damn is Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. It's the damnedest thing too, with the popularity of things like Buffy, The Dresden Files, and hell even fucking Twilight.
But no no. Fantasy games are always far-away lands with elves and dwarves. Can no one see the beauty of a game inspired by Dresden Files with a GTA-style hub?
(goes back to writing his fantasy story with an elf as one of the main characters)
Comments
Well, fantasy games, for some reason, are seemingly required to be massive piles of cliches. Not a trend I'm fond of.
Fantasy worlds have a tapestry you can add anything you want to.
Urban Fantasy, you stick with real-life events for the most part, real-world locations, shit like that
Mirror's Edge
ba-dum-tish
I'm not sure how much of that is 'fantasy' as I understand the term to be used.
^^^ True enough, but I guess I never really found much appeal in the thousands of pages of codexes games like DA love to give.
And while fantasy worlds do have that option, I'd love that them to take advantage of it instead of fucking rogues, fighters, and wizards all the fucking time.
Another question, why do all epic fantasy games have to RPGs? Why not have a game where you're specifically a thief so you can have optimized thieving design?
Assassin's Creed in Kirkwall or something would be awesome.
I like reading the codex, so...
I don't see how Mirror's Edge qualifies as fantasy. The setting is realistic, if aesthetically unfeasible; no city is that clean and white.
Well, there's always The World Ends with You.
The Thief series, man.
Milos beat me to it. I haven't played much of the Thief series, but the snippets I've played have been impressive. Similarly, The Witcher games, in comparison, are geared towards the "fighter" aspect (even though I think completely sectioning off character aspects is bullshit in general). There's currently a lack of any really good "magical" games -- ones where magic has its own mechanics rather than just targeting and selecting.
It is kind of strange that most fantasy games are RPGs, but it's not something I really disagree with on a conceptual level. A lot of fantasy games make poor use of RPG mechanics, though. I would certainly be pleased to play a fantasy game that was more unified in its approach rather than trying to appeal to every character mechanic archetype, or even having a new one. Playing as a medieval monk gone revenant hunter would be balls-out-awesome.
I'm not against fantasy RPGs by any stretch, but I am against them being the vast domination of the genre, especially when they almost always go through the same motions.
And again, I don't see why we Urban Fantasy isn't taking off in gaming. Most original folklore and myths came from the idea of frightening and magical stuff existing around us now, and if that doesn't make for a great setting, learning about the things that go bump in the night today, I don't know what is.
Urban Fantasy requires originality and a completely new approach to the established conventions in fantasy games. Not many would take such risks, especially today, when the gaming industry has become corporate business.
And again, Thief's setting is Medieval Urban Steampunk Fantasy. Yep, I'm using this thread as an excuse to ramble about it. But seriously, try it out, you'd like it. I wrote some stuff about it on BTL, so check it out if you're interested.
I imagine I would, but Steam only has The Dark Project and I head it's not very good.
And I think even if the new approach is needed, you could use established material (like The Dresden Files) to draw people in.
I mean, it's a shame that tie-in has such a (deservedly) bad reputation when it could ideally work to enrich a world and the characters in it.
Or at least in the case of Arkham Asylum, be damn awesome.
I would certainly play a good urban fantasy game, although I think the issue comes from audience and developer perspective and expectations. A fantasy game can be rife with unlimited violence and seem "natural", despite the fact that the real medieval era could be very pedestrian and domestic at times. A more modern setting implies more rules, so to make the audience comfortable, the gameplay has to take on a less action-oriented slant. It would have to be a game about investigation, puzzle-solving and keeping your cover strong while having combat as a backup. That probably doesn't sound appealing to most fantasy fans.
That said, I would play the shit out of a game framed around concepts drawn from Hellblazer, Hellboy, H.P. Lovecraft and the like. Bonus points if there's some historical European martial arts (what better tool to fight monsters with face-to-face than the methods employed by the masters of history?).
In fact, you might say that my initial interest in the historical European martial arts was a part of my preparation for the inevitable moment when my life becomes Hellblazer.
Maybe.
Bad source, bad. >
^^We can team up after I learn I'm both the son of Satan and the descendant of King Arthur.
>Implying I wouldn't be the John Constantine of the group.
It's in the initials, baby.
One idea I had for a Legend of Zelda game I'd like to see was an urban fantasy for a majority of the game
GOG.com has Thief Gold and Thief 2. And you were wrong about Steam. It has Deadly Shadows, which is still awesome.
The comic I've been trying to get off the ground is an Urban Fantasy.
IS THAT A VIDEOGAME, CONDUCTOR? IS IT?!?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU
IT HAS POTENTIAL FOR A VIDEO GAME SPIN OFF!