Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Sci-Fi VS Fantasy MMORPGs
Yakkubb
Member Posts: 3
When most people think of MMORPGs they almost always think of the fantasy genre rather than science fiction. So I was wondering which type of MMO do you prefer and why.
Comments
I'm leaning towards the sci fi, likely due to ToR coming out.
Reason?: Mostly because fantasy has been done to death and back. It will be a nice change of pace, even if it's only cosmetic at best.
Scifi only because as the above poster has stated fantasy has been beaten to death, resurected and beaten to death again dozens of times. Steampunk would be a nice change as well.
Bren
while(horse==dead)
{
beat();
}
Fantasy.
I'm rarely able to get through a science fiction game these days.
I couldn't tell you why as It's hard to put it into words. I enjoy science fiction movies and books and I've loved games like Alpha Centauri and Masters of Orion II and Galactic Civilizatons II but most science fiction games can't hold my attention.
Godfred's Tomb Trailer: https://youtu.be/-nsXGddj_4w
Original Skyrim: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/109547
Serph toze kindly has started a walk-through. https://youtu.be/UIelCK-lldo
Fantasy for me, though I would give a well made sci-fi game a try, plus SWG and AO were amazing.
It's simple for me, I prefer Warcraft over Starcraft, I prefer Dragon Age over Mass Effect, prefer Elder scrolls over Fallout (post apocolypse is better than sci-fi) and on and on. I've always prefered the fantasy genre, I read fantasy novels, I like fantasy RPGs, it's just always been that way. I wish more fantasy movies and TV shows would have the production value that some of the great sci-fi movies and TV shows have had, but at this point only LOTR has captured the fantasy genre with any sort of the respect it diserves.
For some reason magic and mysticism have always intrigued me more than lasers and super technology. I'd much rather battle a giant dragon or creature of myth than a giant machine or alien species. I can't give exact reasons but it's just always been that way for me.
I choose Fantasy.
Sci-Fi usually involves shooting and ray guns etc, and if I wanted to play a shooter, perhaps I'd play one of the 4,000 online shooters on my PS3.
I also much prefer the types of monsters found in fantasy over the robots and futuristic technological man-made stuff typically found in sci-fi. Nothing is cooler then a fire breathing dragon or a glowing blue ice dragon IMO and sci-fi just can't compete with the cool factor of dragons.
I dunno. While both are good movies, I just much prefer Lord of the Rings style over Star Wars style. Just a preference I guess.
- Zaxx
Although i prefer Fantasy a SSCI-Fi game could easily catch my attention.
The problem is the sci-fi genre NEEDS to be a LOT more aggressive and massive than a Fantasy genre.This type of over all game design means a lot more cost,however developers are not willing to do it.So what is left is games like Eve,they fall WELL short of delivering a complete game instead relying on a niche pvp crowd.
Other attempts jus thave you in some cheap looking ship and firing pew pew in space.We of course woudl be blind if we havn't noticed SWTOR.My opinion is that even though the yare spending a fair bit and it is a guarantee seller using such a well known IP,it will not deliver the AAA game i expect.
The reason is how i describe a AAA sci fi game.If yo uare going to pretend to enter that genre,you had better step up and deliver or stay out of that genre.
1ships/interiors
2 planets/mobs/gear/resources
3 space/resources/3d stations withj interiors
4 3Dplayers and player housing [anywhere example on planets or in space or in stations]/mounts that might be used anywhere realistic example no lion mounts in space.
5 in depth combat with nice looking effects,more than just spread sheets.
6 NOTHING and i mean NOTHING offline,if it is not worth playing,then leave it out of game or go design a game you can make fun content.
7 NON linear questing/wide open game play.
8 STORY ,yes very impoprtant,if your developer feels it can do al lthe rest and add vopice acting,then great.
9 game design,this means create a NEED to group and make the game actually play and feel like a MMO,not a single player game.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Cool , i love steampunk
Sci-Fi is a dying genre, MMO's are just reflecting that. Go down to your library, mine used to have a separate SF section, now it has been merged into fantasy. But we have an expanded Horror section, that’s the other genre that is replacing SF. Talk to people over the age of 30 who are into SF and Fantasy, ask them to think about how things have changed with regards to films, TV and books. Have a look at your TV guide, add up the number of SF progs as opposed to Fantasy, do your own research and see what conclusions you come to.
So why has this happened? It is all down to the demographic, fantasy sells more easily that SF, it appeals to a wider audience. So what genre are you going to design a game for and spend a fortune to produce, SF or Fantasy?
I've tried sci fi but mostly stay in fantasy type MMO games.
opinions change. same for likes and not alikes. after star wars (new ones) people have been abit dissapointed by the class primus (dont get me wrong. i like all 6 parts), peter jackson on the other hand gave the world the lord of the rings. in a not seen before quality and even more important, a version nearly as good as the books for the simple minded: movies! 3 of them. plus the hobbit comming.
before that there havent been many fantasy "fans" around, fantasy (as sci fi) was for nerds. roleplaying weirdoes, people in costumes and so on.
since they found out it's not halfd as nerdy as they think, and that those stories are actually really interesting, they went nutts for it.
now all we need is a REALLY good sci fi movie, and wait for sci fi to return in it's full glory, dying genre? i dont think so
thinkgs don't die that fast, especially not with sctar wars and star trek to keep em alive
personally, i like both gerne, i prefer sci fi games tho, since they usually offer a more skillbased approac (twitch based combat, first person shooter or whatever). of corz, this is not a general statement with a 100% truth guaranty, this is my opinoin
people like stuff for some time, then they like different stuff because the old stuff got boring, then they want new stuff again and so on
it's all in the presentation. do it good, they like it, screw it, they will bite your nutts off
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
For me it's SCI-FI. SWG brought me to playing MMO's and I've only played fantasy as most of the decent MMO's have all been fantasy.
SWTOR is what I am waiting for and one day I really hope someone does SWG 2. Here's hoping
There's one reason why I didn't buy SWG at release and why I'm on the fence regarding SW:TOR. Neither offers compelling space combat on release. They are basically the same as fantasy MMOs with a futuristic wrapper.
I tried Eve but it failed at keeping my attention thru the high learning curve.
I'm sure Blizzard could have made a compelling Starcraft MMO but didn't see the point in competing with themselves.
With that being said, I prefer fantasy settings. The same applied with RTS games as I loved Warcraft and Battle for Middle Earth but yawned at Starcraft, Age of Empires and C&C.
Sci fi is a dying genre? Not to be a jerk or anything but....seriously? I don't believe that one bit and I doubt you could show little real data that proves a statement like that.
Just because hollywood throws out 1k horror titles of worse than sub par quality (only because they are cheap to make) does not mean sci fi is dying. SF is more expensive to produce (even when done badly) in comparison to straight horror.
Of course, you could always have SF/horror mix such as event horizon. Not really a bad movie to be honest. I think ultimately it comes down to story more than anything. People will watch if there is a decent plot and the actors aren't too bad but that's any movie or genre.
Sci-Fi. Although I think a properly done adult horror game could do very well. Maybe Secret-world will surprise me.
Sci-fi all the way. I'm tired of fantasy. If GW2 didn't have an engineer, I would touch it at all; even so the thought of all those swords and magic make me want to puke.
because fantasy is a much broader term and also has a much broader fan base. it litteraly can mean almost anything goes, medivel flavour, ork/elf flavour, a little sci-fi flavour (the whole BC expansion in WoW), even some modern warfare stuff like tanks and rifles, technology, magic, back in time, forward in time. you can litteraly do whatever you want in a "fantasy" game.
in a true sci-fi game you are actually quite restricted and so is your fan base. basically space ships, aliens, technology. you start going too much into the "fantasy" aspect of things and your fan base will be turned off. also the "sci-fi" fan base is only a fraction fo the much larger "fantasy" fan base.
what i would personaly like to see is a combination of the two. something like SWTOR and EvE all in 1 game. heck i would even pay 30$ a month to play that game. where SWTOR would take care of the "on the planets" game play and EvE would take care of the "in space" gameplay but it's still all one game. i know the lore doesn't match and all but i still think it would be insanely awesome.
“Just because hollywood throws out 1k horror titles of worse than sub par quality (only because they are cheap to make)”
That’s one of the reasons why, if a genre is not in the public eye it gets sidelined.
The fan base is a lot to do with it, Fantasy has a bigger one. I am not saying SF will totally die out, but it has increasingly become the minor partner. It is true that one movie can change, Star Wars did, but will we ever see something again as good as that? The latest Star Trek was excellent but has changed nothing, it would take a ground breaking film or book the like of which we may never see again.
Fantasy only has a bigger fan base when it comes to books and MMOs, in most other areas sci-fi has the bigger draw. Big budget fantasy movies? Where? TV series? Where? Even games outside of the MMO genre, they very rarely get made. Fantasy novels remain an extremely tiny part of the overall book market, somewhere around 5%, that's really not something to be making a big deal about.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
Strictly speaking all the vampire/werewolf nonsense is part of the fantasy genre. That makes it quite a lot more then just 5% :P.
We are the bunny.
Resistance is futile.
''/\/\'''''/\/\''''''/\/\
( o.o) ( o.o) ( o.o)
(")("),,(")("),(")(")
The new vampire/werewolf stuff isn't in the sci-fi/fantasy section at any book store I frequent. It's all in the young age readers sections for all the teen and pre-teen readers. Also, when we are talking about fantasy in this thread I don't think anyone is talking about the vampire/werewolf stuff. That stuff is sort of it's own genre now because it's not really horror anymore thanks to twilight, trueblood, and all the other teen throb vampire crap out there.
You're lucky then....
I've got a Kindle I use to read a lot of fantasy and the crap I have to shift through in the fantasy section is just depressing.
I mean this is the current best-selling fantasy book as far as Amazon is concerned.....
We are the bunny.
Resistance is futile.
''/\/\'''''/\/\''''''/\/\
( o.o) ( o.o) ( o.o)
(")("),,(")("),(")(")
We're talking about high fantasy. Strictly speaking, everything on TV and in the movies is part of the fantasy genre since none of it really happens, but that's not useful for differentiating genres.
Played: UO, EQ, WoW, DDO, SWG, AO, CoH, EvE, TR, AoC, GW, GA, Aion, Allods, lots more
Relatively Recently (Re)Played: HL2 (all), Halo (PC, all), Batman:AA; AC, ME, BS, DA, FO3, DS, Doom (all), LFD1&2, KOTOR, Portal 1&2, Blink, Elder Scrolls (all), lots more
Now Playing: None
Hope: None
I suppose my definition of fantasy is broader than what I'm seeing here. I take it pretty literally, i.e. by the dictionary. This obviously means a lot of overlap with science-fiction, but I think that's fine. What makes science-fiction is the fictional extrapolation of scientific theory, and whilst many fantasies can conflict with that, others are compatible. Hell, Star Trek married the two all the time, and Star Wars is popularly considered science-fiction even though it explores no scientific theory and would probably be better termed something like futuristic fantasy, ala Warhammer 40,000.
Anyway! MMOs. I'm still rooting for the elf-and-dwarf style high/low/dark fantasy MMOs that so many seem burnt out on, largely because I've yet to experience one that has done it right in my opinion. The same used to be true of science-fiction, until EVE. Now I'm just waiting for the EVE of fantasy MMOs.
Vanguard was so close in Beta 2, but losing Microsoft and gaining SOE really slew that destiny.
That's called fiction, not fantasy......
We are the bunny.
Resistance is futile.
''/\/\'''''/\/\''''''/\/\
( o.o) ( o.o) ( o.o)
(")("),,(")("),(")(")