A debate on "NO Sci Fi in muh Fantasy"

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Malkavius, Oct 5, 2021.

  1. IblisTheMage Augur

    Most sci fi feels like fantasy to me… #gettingoldbutitbeatsthealternative
  2. Elyssanda Bardbrain

    I always hated how the end of Might and Magic games (Heros of M&M too), there would be a spaceship that you got blasters and suddenly were godlike in killing ability. totally ruined the ends of the games for me.
    Kaenneth and Zunnoab like this.
  3. kizant Augur

    Considering that sci-fi is a genre of fantasy I don't see why anyone has a problem. Unless you're sticking to hard core sci-fi where everything has to be scientifically possible then it's all fantasy.
    Skuz, Elyssanda and code-zero like this.
  4. Zunnoab Augur

    Are there no spoiler tags available to use on these boards? I'm not sure if I ever ran into that issue before but I could use them now. I'll be vague.

    Funny enough being spoiled about that about the sixth entry of a certain old school dungeon crawler is what got me to try it in the first place. I thought it was a neat twist and had no idea other fantasy games did it too. Then I played a few hours and I did not grow up with old school maze dungeon crawlers and lost interest after a while. I don't regret trying the game though.
  5. Bigstomp Augur

    A gun duel would cause absolutely epic forum threads when you add lag.
    Benito likes this.
  6. Zunnoab Augur

    I have a really dumb confession.

    I played the Wild ARMs games and somehow didn't know they had a Wild West theme until playing the third game. Basically, "Wild West" themes don't have to be copy/paste of the old shows and movies. Wild ARMs is actually more of a sci-fi fantasy "world is decaying for a nefarious reason" series. Well the first three. I didn't play the ones after that.
  7. Bigstomp Augur

    Crazy old wild west game is called Gun Fight. My grandparents used to have a copy at their camp ground. It had gun handle control sticks and stuff. (time period, showing how ancient it was, we had moon cresta and kung fu master also - which were WAY more modern at the time).

    Like pong but with gun handles:
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  8. ZenMaster formless, shapeless

    Lorewise, there could be technologically advanced civilizations that commune with nature. One example are the Elders in Altered Carbon (Season 2). Another example are the Nox in the Stargate SG-1 series. Sci-Fi does not need to be H.R. Giger's Alien or your typical Greys. Sci-Fi can be subtle.

    I would like to see a taste of Sci-Fi with an expansion involving The Elddars in EQ.

    [IMG]
  9. ZenMaster formless, shapeless

    I also think EQ did Sci-Fi perfectly in Combine Dredge and Arx Mentis.

    [IMG]
    Zunnoab, Jumbur, Skuz and 1 other person like this.
  10. Kaenneth [You require Gold access to view this title]

    Even original Final Fantasy 1 and Ultima 1 ended up with robots and spaceships.
    Zunnoab, Tucoh, Skuz and 1 other person like this.
  11. Accipiter Old Timer


    Ugh. I just had a flashback to that infernal VoA mission flying around on that stupid machine.
    Skuz likes this.
  12. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    and the theme tune for that should have been:

  13. Accipiter Old Timer


    Ah, so that was a real song? I just figured it was a peeler song (using Canadian slang so as to stay under the radar).
    Skuz likes this.
  14. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    He was right up there with Boy George, who paid for Pete's funeral.
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  15. Tucoh Augur

    I remember finding this in ultima7 and being surprised they put a wing commander ship in ultima.

    [IMG]
  16. I_Love_My_Bandwidth Mercslayer

    Fanta-Fi. It has a nice ring to it, no? ;)
  17. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    My problem with the M&M 6/7 games, was not that there were robots and blaster-rifles. But that the blasters were so ridiculously overpowered that it made all the hard-earned skills/magic in everything else completely irrelevant. You could pretty much just hold the trigger down, and everything would melt away before your "turn" was over, making any strategic thought unnecessary.

    If it is well balanced and doesn't ruin the game-mechanics, then it can work well(depending on the setting ofc). Don't let the "theme" over-influence the game-mechanics, but use it to tell an exciting story instead.

    EQ wasn't ruined by giant robots and flying steampunk fortresses, it only added depth to Norrath! :cool:
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  18. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Then we have the sci-fi series "Babylon 5" spin-off "Crusade" which inverts this question with the "Technomage" someone adept in the use of advanced technology in ways that resemble a traditional magician or wizard. Here's one such Technomage, Galen

    [IMG]
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  19. Raytan Augur

    At the risk of showing my age, once again, there was an LPMud back in the day called "3 Kingdoms" I believe. It's been a lot of years and the LPMuds were well before most graphic games. Muds were mainly text based, if you weren't from that era and didn't know.

    I may misremember some of the details, but as I recall, 3 Kingdoms had a fantasy area, a sci-fi area, and a sort of chaotic area (attack of the killer purple dinosaur named Barney type of theme). You could become a "class" based on the guild you joined, but you could go into all three realms armed as a storm trooper or a wheel of time sword character type (and almost anything in between). They seemed to mix the genres quite well, imho, but when you're dealing with just text it would be easier to do. Still, they did manage to combine sci-fi, fantasy, and their chaotic realm fairly well :).

    Edit: I only posted this as quite a few other games were mention in the thread and didn't seem to be EQ specific. I think an LPMud may be as far away from EQ as you can get, but I thought fit the spirit of the thread well :).
  20. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    I think this is more the case of milking the franchise for more themes.

    Sci-Fi does not belong in fantasy, with rare exceptions. The Dragonriders of Pern did it well, but only by being up front from the start that Pern was a distant planet settled by people from Earth. You can also argue that Pern never was fantasy at all, despite the mind reading dragons...
    MasterMagnus likes this.