Fable: The Lost Chapters Pic of the moment More pics from the gallery

Site Navigation Main    News    Forums Games    Games Database    Top 100    Release List    Support Files Features    Reviews    Previews    Interviews    Editorials    Diaries    Misc Download    Gallery    Music    Screenshots    Videos Miscellaneous    Staff Members    Privacy Statement   Side Quest: What's in a Setting? Posted by Dhruin @ Saturday - October 15, 2005 - 10:02 - Top | Game Info | Screenshots Nice and short this time with less ranting and more reminiscing. Last week we finished a poll on preferred settings for cRPGs – and probably not surprisingly, fantasy settings romped home with a huge lead over cyberpunk and post-apoc. A poll is hardly scientific and it certainly doesn’t rule out fans enjoying other settings but it does underscore the popularity of fantasy in this genre. What did surprise me was the clear lead of “traditional high fantasy” over “original fantasy” – it’s possible respondents didn’t have a clear picture of what “original fantasy” meant but I suspect it simply represents the strength of Tolkiensque fantasy. I have a love/hate relationship with fantasy in cRPGs. Part of me loves fantasy and can’t help but harken back to my halcyon days of youth playing AD&D (Oh, the irony that an activity I embraced as a chess-playing computer-club geek was seen as dark and rebellious by my old-fashioned parents) while another part recognises that this dominance by fantasy dooms many an interesting concept long before the design doc ever reaches a publisher. Beyond the popularity of fantasy itself, it’s easy to see some resonance between cRPGs and fantasy – things like suspension of belief and the classic “Hero’s Journey” narrative seem well-suited to a lone sword-wielding outcast, battling to save the world against a magic evil. And yet, my favourite cRPG isn’t fantasy. Would Fallout still be the same brilliant experience if it was set in a fantasy world? Can the game, the world and Boyarsky’s genius in adding a 50’s twist be separated? Probably not. Can a future Fallout 3 as imagined by Bethesda capture the same magic? Who knows? So…what is your favourite game setting – and why? Or the setting you’d most like to see – and why?

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