30 Days of Blog Meme: Day 12
Jan. 31st, 2010 01:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thessalianWhatever tickles your fancy
I think I'll just rant about DAO again. It seems to be the thing of the moment. Well, swords-n-sorcery fantasy games and books in general, I suppose. You know, broaden the scope.
I grew up on fantasy novels. Mainly Mercedes Lackey, I guess. Though, y'know, Pern, Dragonriders of, when I was really little. When I was a very little girl, Mum read me not only The Hobbit but Lord of the Rings as well, and of course CS Lewis. These days, I go for the more modern urban fantasy stuff, at least in part due to an undying love for Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series (I have had little urge to pick up his Alera Codex, despite him saying that it's his One True Auctorial Love) and partly because of my affinity for WoD RP. Or maybe that's the other way around... Anyway, beyond 7th Sea and George RR Martin, I haven't touched a lot of 'high fantasy' of late.
I think it's the stereotypes and wish fulfilment more than anything. I know Tolkien pioneered the genre and there's no taking that away from him, but LotR is probably one of the most overrated book series in history. It has its moments, yes, and the story as a whole is pretty good, but you have to read between the lines and lines of somewhat purple prose to find it, and conveniently forget some of the more ... irritating bits of unnecessary stop-time (Tom Bombadil, anyone?) Same with George RR Martin, to be fair. The first book or two are great, and the third ones has moments, but as the series goes on, it gets more and more ... over-written. Or possibly under-edited. And the 'fourth' book (I use the sarcastiquotes because no matter what the covers say, Storm of Swords is two books, because having Books 1 and 2 of something that is already a series is just plain stupid. Xref Tad Williams - Storm and Siege should have been two separate books, as To Green Angel Tower was waaaay too big to be one book) seems to be little more than people ambling around the place listening to rumours about all the cool stuff happening over there somewhere. It ... gets irksome. So on the whole, I look a little bit askance at 'high fantasy', because it's so easy to write it badly and so hard to write it well.
I haven't found that problem with DAO at any point. There's one occasionally jarring anachronism ("Warden Senses tingling"? Really?) but on the whole, the game had found a balance between high fantasy and modern sensibilities. There's the kind of politics you'd expect from a good D&D tabletop game as well as the requisite hack and slash, and the same kind of silliness as you'd get with a good tabletop group too.* Sometimes one stops just to listen to the banter. It's a nice change from FFXI, where it's more or less "Quest - achievement - quest - achievement - quest - achievement - ooh, look at the cool thing I can do now! ...Quest - achievement - *ding*! Level up! ...Quest - achivement..." etc etc. Sure, there's the thrill of levelling up, but there's also the "...I levelled up mid-battle and I can't actually get any of the cool bits 'til it's over - yes, Alistair, you're right, let's make this quick! I want to pick up Arcane Shield!"
Now, if I could find more 'high fantasy' written the way DAO is written, I might not look at the genre with so much wariness.
* Side note: Zevran kind of reminds me of Pietro, come to think of it. I suppose it's something to do with a long-ago exchange between Pietro and Aiden:
Aiden: I thought your inclinations ran in another direction...
Pietro: My inclinations lie in many directions.
Aiden: Just so long as your inclinations don't lie in my direction.
Pietro: You're not my type.
Though Zevran does lack the "I run down the corridor and jump out the window - oh crap, what floor am I on?" mentality.
I think I'll just rant about DAO again. It seems to be the thing of the moment. Well, swords-n-sorcery fantasy games and books in general, I suppose. You know, broaden the scope.
I grew up on fantasy novels. Mainly Mercedes Lackey, I guess. Though, y'know, Pern, Dragonriders of, when I was really little. When I was a very little girl, Mum read me not only The Hobbit but Lord of the Rings as well, and of course CS Lewis. These days, I go for the more modern urban fantasy stuff, at least in part due to an undying love for Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series (I have had little urge to pick up his Alera Codex, despite him saying that it's his One True Auctorial Love) and partly because of my affinity for WoD RP. Or maybe that's the other way around... Anyway, beyond 7th Sea and George RR Martin, I haven't touched a lot of 'high fantasy' of late.
I think it's the stereotypes and wish fulfilment more than anything. I know Tolkien pioneered the genre and there's no taking that away from him, but LotR is probably one of the most overrated book series in history. It has its moments, yes, and the story as a whole is pretty good, but you have to read between the lines and lines of somewhat purple prose to find it, and conveniently forget some of the more ... irritating bits of unnecessary stop-time (Tom Bombadil, anyone?) Same with George RR Martin, to be fair. The first book or two are great, and the third ones has moments, but as the series goes on, it gets more and more ... over-written. Or possibly under-edited. And the 'fourth' book (I use the sarcastiquotes because no matter what the covers say, Storm of Swords is two books, because having Books 1 and 2 of something that is already a series is just plain stupid. Xref Tad Williams - Storm and Siege should have been two separate books, as To Green Angel Tower was waaaay too big to be one book) seems to be little more than people ambling around the place listening to rumours about all the cool stuff happening over there somewhere. It ... gets irksome. So on the whole, I look a little bit askance at 'high fantasy', because it's so easy to write it badly and so hard to write it well.
I haven't found that problem with DAO at any point. There's one occasionally jarring anachronism ("Warden Senses tingling"? Really?) but on the whole, the game had found a balance between high fantasy and modern sensibilities. There's the kind of politics you'd expect from a good D&D tabletop game as well as the requisite hack and slash, and the same kind of silliness as you'd get with a good tabletop group too.* Sometimes one stops just to listen to the banter. It's a nice change from FFXI, where it's more or less "Quest - achievement - quest - achievement - quest - achievement - ooh, look at the cool thing I can do now! ...Quest - achievement - *ding*! Level up! ...Quest - achivement..." etc etc. Sure, there's the thrill of levelling up, but there's also the "...I levelled up mid-battle and I can't actually get any of the cool bits 'til it's over - yes, Alistair, you're right, let's make this quick! I want to pick up Arcane Shield!"
Now, if I could find more 'high fantasy' written the way DAO is written, I might not look at the genre with so much wariness.
* Side note: Zevran kind of reminds me of Pietro, come to think of it. I suppose it's something to do with a long-ago exchange between Pietro and Aiden:
Aiden: I thought your inclinations ran in another direction...
Pietro: My inclinations lie in many directions.
Aiden: Just so long as your inclinations don't lie in my direction.
Pietro: You're not my type.
Though Zevran does lack the "I run down the corridor and jump out the window - oh crap, what floor am I on?" mentality.
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Date: 2010-01-31 03:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-31 07:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-31 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-01 11:35 am (UTC)I hadn't picked up on the similarity between Zevran and Pietro, but you're absolutely right! I was even reading Pietro's part of that exchange in Zevran's voice!
I'm enjoying your posts about DAO. It's really interesting to read how much differently your game is going from mine.