I'm just tired of people freaking out about Skyrim when they ask me about my birthday.

The only setting I have an aversion to is realistic settings. I love fantasy, sci-fi, steampuck, cyberpunk, etc. I see video games as a good escapism to the boring real world so many of today's realistic ripped from the headlines shooters just hold no interest to me for the most part. People make the joke that Modern Warfare should go into Space next and personally I'd hope that'd be the case, maybe I'd get more interested in it then.

This is probably why Bayonetta still happens to be my favorite story this generation.

Sometimes, you just have to explore new things, Patrick. For the most part, I'd rather listen to a wounded cat than rap or R&B. If I had just thought that rap sucked and was done with it, I would have missed out on 2Pac, the WuTang clan, and Cypress Hill. A prejudice against a certain genre of games, film, or music is a healthy thing. It keeps the amount of time you waste on crap in check. Completely shutting down the possibility of enjoyment due to predispositions is a little harsh, and will make your life bland. Remember Patrick, there is always the option to hate things one at a time. :)

You say "fantasy" like it means something. Like saying something is sci-fi means something. What does Blade Runner, Fallout, Alien and Primer really have in common really?

you bet that Patrick is hungry for the "Rim"

Skyrim...

Maybe you guys are being to hard on him, i mean, i know he didn't spell check his blog, but if i could write anything and have everyone read it. I would.

My interest in Skyrim lies in its engine and how Fallout 4, or the next Fallout, will improve upon that engine should they, Bethesda, choose to revisit that franchise again in the near future.

Hehe, "the man who doesn't like fantasy games" is willing to play Skyrim, interesting. :p

I normally prefer Sci-fi over Fantasy type games but there have been a few exceptions. I bought DA:O because i've played other Bioware games in the past and i was curious how it measured up(which i ended up enjoying quite a lot).

One of the major tropes of Fantasy RPGs is the main story in them usually revolves around some "great and mysterious evil force that will cover the land in darkness" which your hero must somehow defeat. Atleast in Sci-fi there's a more detailed explanation for why this "evil force" exists.

@aceofspudz said:

@somethingdumb said:

@aceofspudz said:

At least within a science fiction context you're albe to imagine humanity evolving into that direction one day.

Navel gazing and spelling mistakes. The twin scourges of Klepak.

Incomplete sentences and spelling mistakes: the twin scourges of aceofspudz

What are you, his fiance? this is a comments section with different standards just watch as i flagrantly violate the rules of standard written english and nobody cares because im a nobody who is not being paid to be a writer

That up top is an article, and Klepek is a pretty good writer but I expect the things he posts to be more than barely-thought out rough drafts. I knew from the moment I read the head and subhead that it would be a Klepek blog post about gaming induced emotional states.

Imo if he wants to raise the intellectual level of the site, that's fine with me, but he needs to put more thought into these posts. That's why I charge him with navel gazing; it's like we're his college professors and we're letting a bright kid with a good writing style pass despite his lazy content.

Hooch is crazy!

um excuse me, but FF9 was the best of the ps1 Fantasies, thank you

...thank you

Anyone who calls out FFVIII as the best and managed to max out the clock in that is cool in my book.

Keep on keeping on.

you know patrick you and i have similar stories. fantasy bored me but fallout 3 won me over and i am way too excited for skyrim.

Hey Patrick, if you are looking for some out of the ordinary fantasy, try reading some mythology, it's old school hard fantasy. I recommend Norse since it is obscure enough that you probably wouldn't know basic plot of the stories from somewhere else already and I think it sounds fancy edumacated to say you are reading Norse Mythology.

Or you could pretend that Gandalf has midi-clorians in his blood and the orcs are created from people just like the Combine, it wouldn't be too far of a stretch :)

Final Fantasy VIII was by far my favorite and the underdog of the series. It by far out-surpassed 7 especially by graphics even though it was only on PS1. Sure 7 had the cooler villain but even Sephiroth couldn't touch the crazy, classy Kefka. You knew some serious shit was about to go down when you heard echoes of laughter coming from somewhere and besides he didn't need to have a sword the size of a limo because he had intelligence, was always one step ahead of the game and did I mention he was bat shit crazy?

Gunblade? Two awesome things in one? I know it's childish of sorts but blowing someone's knee cap off only to swing around and follow up with lopping off their head is flippin' awesome but while it's stupid to everyone else, it's o.k. to like chainsaws on assault rifles right?

I get why your put off by the nerdy side of fantasy but in the end what draws everyone to these types of games are the open world aspect to it all. Granted it can be either good or bad just like any other genre but when they do get it right no matter what it's based on, having a virtual world to run amok in is always enjoyable. (When it's done right.)

Take Red Dead Redemption for instance. Sure it was based on the wild west but they put so much attention to detail a long with such a great story that even the Mexico portion of the game, which could have used a better reason to be down their other than "follow the bread crumbs", didn't drag it down too much. (Even though I personally never had a problem with it to a certain degree because it was just more open world awesomeness.)

I think what's so appealing about open world games are the reasons to just escape from it all and forget all the B.S. of the world then just let loose. Everyone needs that now and then.

@Feikken said:

um excuse me, but FF9 was the best of the ps1 Fantasies, thank you

...thank you

+1

@Sunjammer said:

You say "fantasy" like it means something. Like saying something is sci-fi means something. What does Blade Runner, Fallout, Alien and Primer really have in common really?

Also: science fiction is a sub-genre of fantasy.

@Feikken said:

um excuse me, but FF9 was the best of the ps1 Fantasies, thank you

...thank you

i really dont agree. your not wrong but i still think 7 is the best, i allso clocked more the 99.99.99 in it and it was oddly satisfying to see the time turn red instead and continue, after 7 comes 8 that one was allso awsome 9 was way to boring and 10 even worse...

well thats just my opinon. and oddly enough your age more often then not determins what ff game you like the most.

people younger then me tend to like 9, people at somewhat the same age as me like 7 and older likes 5

The only reason why fantasy might be cool is magic, everything else is meh.

@Grillbar said:

@Feikken said:

um excuse me, but FF9 was the best of the ps1 Fantasies, thank you

...thank you

i really dont agree. your not wrong but i still think 7 is the best, i allso clocked more the 99.99.99 in it and it was oddly satisfying to see the time turn red instead and continue, after 7 comes 8 that one was allso awsome 9 was way to boring and 10 even worse...

well thats just my opinon. and oddly enough your age more often then not determins what ff game you like the most.

people younger then me tend to like 9, people at somewhat the same age as me like 7 and older likes 5

Yeah, 9 was pretty good. 7 was the best, but I have a soft spot in my heart for 8. I remember before 9 came out, I was looking up videos of the game and stuff. I was such a huge FF fan at that point that any little news on 9's release had me clamoring. Played 9, and at that point I kinda started to feel that Square could do wrong. They weren't the inerrant entity I'd come to almost believe.

When 10 came along, I still had the opinion that Square was my favorite. 10 didn't really grasp me the way many of the previous games had. I didn't care for Tidus as a main character, and the game felt lacking in heart (and it was kinda corny).

You said older people like 5? I've never heard that except in rare forum posts. 4, sure. I know Jeff and Brad liked 4. I did too. The limited list in order of most liked to least liked for me is 7, 6, 4, 8, 1. The rest are toss-ups. They aren't bad, but just don't have the same feel for me. Could be an age thing as you suggested. BTW and on that note, I haven't like any FF game as much as I did FFXIII since 8.

I agree with this. I love Fallout and I really digged Oblivion and Morrowind its just the fantasy that turns me off but I have faith in Skyrim

I'm with Patrick on this one. Swords? Great. Dragons? Awesome! Everything else fantasy? Fuck off. Skyrim seems cool though, but only because of it's design philosophy, not it's setting.

Oh wow, Patrick likes FFVIII too? Fuck yes.

You´re sooo right about FFVIII :D :D

@krabboss said:

Oh and FF8 isn't as good as 9.

this

Most people who are not that fond of fantasy can handle Game of Thrones(A song of Fire and Ice), since it has low-fantasy elements where orcs aren't being shat out of treeants at every turn of the story like LotR does.

I as well have a strong resistance to fantasy. This isn't winning me over though. Even if I were drawn to play another open world RPG, I still haven't played New Vegas yet.

@ahaisthisourchance said:

Most people who are not that fond of fantasy can handle Game of Thrones(A song of Fire and Ice), since it has low-fantasy elements where orcs aren't being shat out of treeants at every turn of the story like LotR does.

LOTR created Orcs and Treants! Game of Thrones has its dragons and ice zombies, so what is the big difference?

Skyrim seems like a huge step up even from Fallout NV, let alone Oblivion. It should be interesting to see how all the new systems(i.e. the procedural/random quests & the jobs) work out too. Anyway, I am supremely excited just to get back into the stuff Oblivion had to offer -- the different factions, lush world to explore, all of the dialog, and weird missions. Plus this time, we have dragons instead of oblivion gates, thus the game is already that much better.

Holy fucking shit, is that something we share in common? I cherish FF8, but not to the extreme like the cult of FF7.

@rawilliam said:

You´re sooo right about FFVIII :D :D

Yeah!

An aversion to open world gaming is an interesting phenomena which can be meaningfully discussed and which to some extent also happens to have implications for the divergent tastes of console and PC gamers. However, to my mind it makes no sense whatsoever to base gaming preferences on something as superficial as settings. Who gives a toss about whether you're fighting orcs and elves or giant space lobsters - as long as the act of fighting them (i.e. the actual gameplay) is something which suits your gaming preferences?

This article isn't about Final Fantasy...

The Witcher ruined what was left of my taste for fantasy. The first short scottish blacksmith dwarf made me realize how many times I have seen the same fucking hairy hammerwielder in the outskirts of a forest for far too long.

I'm not surprised that you are interested in this game even though you don't particularly like fantasy. I just pre-ordered this game...And i'm insanely pumped to play it :D

SkyRimJob. Imagine.

@OracleXIII: ... dude... oh... crap. Thanks for the mental image... I'll never forget it. Ever.

Hell....yes....ff8.

What about Orks and Eldar (orcs and elves... in sci-fi)! OH NOES!

:P I kid. I have to finish this weeks podcast still, but who doesn't want a sweet dose of Skyrim!?

@MonkeyKing1969 said:

I probably do not find fantasy as silly as Patrick does, but sometimes I do find some fantasy setting a bit too silly. However, then again I find the setting of Fallout...just as fantasy and far sillier. Fallout 3 is set in a silly, unbelievable, and impossible world from my point of view.

- Radiation does not make people into skin shedding ghouls or monsters. In fact the whole premise of making large enemies or monster enemies merely from super-saturating-radiation induced evolution is preposterous

-Atomic cars would not blow up with tiny mushroom clouds in evidence, and you certainly would live it you were only 100 feet away from one when it goes.

- Bottles caps seem like unlikely currency unless they were used as merely scrap metal…which in the game they are not. Moreover, there is far more real scrap metal in the world that is easier to collect then a bottle cap.

- Antigravity robots with saw blade arms are improbably because the field effect under a hovering robot would crush anything under it OR the energy needs to lift the robot using other means would too expensive.

Long story short, the enemies – setting - concept of the society shown in Fallout is the worst sort of fantasy crud.

Doesn't Fallout 3 admit that it's absurd at times? I've never played an entry but I thought the tone wasn't all that serious judging from game play. I thought the whole setting and universe was a throwback to 50s B movies!

I have the same problem with Cyberpunk. The visual stylings and tropes just, ugh.

I can understand the distaste for fantasy. As a whole I find it to be a very...lazy genre. I can find it enjoyable at times, but for the most part fantasy stories and games take every fantasy trope and hurl them at you. It feels like if you've spent time in one fantasy world then you've spent time in them all because everyone adheres to the exact same cliches.

That being said, I very very much enjoy the Elder Scroll series and I am stoked for Skyrim.

I'm not fan of fantasy at all either. I found The LotR trilogy to be pretty goddamned boring. I'm super into Harry Potter, so I think the whole orcs, elves, knights and dragons type fantasy is what I'm really not into. I borrowed Morrowind from a friend but could not get into it at all. Like Ryan said it just felt like I was waving weapons right in front of enemies a bit till they died. I loved Fallout 3 (NV is cool, but haven't finished it yet) mostly because of the post-nuclear fallout setting. My main Fallout 3 save was at around 85 hours around the time I got New Vegas. That game took over my winter of 08-09 and even a bit of 2010 when I came back to it before NV. New Vegas was more of the same, but it just didn't hook me as well. I'll go bact to it probably this winter.

As great as Skyrim will be for many people, I'm just not one of them!

I hear ya. I can't stand WWII games, and most games set in the current era.

@Meowshi said:

@ahaisthisourchance said:

Most people who are not that fond of fantasy can handle Game of Thrones(A song of Fire and Ice), since it has low-fantasy elements where orcs aren't being shat out of treeants at every turn of the story like LotR does.

LOTR created Orcs and Treants! Game of Thrones has its dragons and ice zombies, so what is the big difference?

I don't understand how anyone who's experienced both can't see the stark differences between them. What you sound like to me is "what's the difference between Die Hard and Sleepless in Seattle? They both take place in modern cities!"

I'm in the same boat as Patrick. Medieval fantasy just doesn't interest me. Same goes for post-apocalyptic settings. Damn shame too, as Bethesda's knack for open-world, choice driven, loot finding, character customizing games is completely right up my alley. Will I play Skyrim? Probably not. As much as I would enjoy the game mechanics, I feel no point in investing in a world that I have no interest in.

@ryanwho said:

@Meowshi said:

@ahaisthisourchance said:

Most people who are not that fond of fantasy can handle Game of Thrones(A song of Fire and Ice), since it has low-fantasy elements where orcs aren't being shat out of treeants at every turn of the story like LotR does.

LOTR created Orcs and Treants! Game of Thrones has its dragons and ice zombies, so what is the big difference?

I don't understand how anyone who's experienced both can't see the stark differences between them. What you sound like to me is "what's the difference between Die Hard and Sleepless in Seattle? They both take place in modern cities!"

I'm not saying they are the same. One is high fantasy and one is low fantasy. You can't claim that LOTR sucks because it has the same old Orcs and tree-people, when it is the series that every other fantasy setting is aping from. I guess I was just saying that GoT has its fantastical elements and commonplace tropes too ... and I guess I'm also saying that people who think LOTR is "boring" are probably dead inside.

But that's problem something I should keep to myself.