Fantasy Games - PS3 or Wii

[ckastens]

PS3:
I've played Folklore, Heavenly Sword, Harry Potter, Assassin's Creed
I have Prince of Persia, but haven't had time to play it yet
Wii:
I've played Zelda, Okami

Any suggestions on other good fantasy-themed games?

[Kenneth Mark Hoover]

I only ever played on PC, but I thought Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate were both solid.

[Scott H. Andrews]

I only ever played on PC, but I thought Icewind Dale and Baldur's Gate were both solid.
Yep, the same for me.

A buddy of mine works in computer game sound--he did all the sounds and sound design for Warhammer (http://www.warhammeronline.com/). I've never gotten into those big online MMORPGs, but I hear they're very slick. I worry that if I ever got sucked into a game like that, I would never find time for reading ever again! :)

[Saladin]

Tell me about it, Scott -- I don't play MMORPGs (I play video games to AVOID real people). But a well-written, immersive non-online video game is still a massive time suck. I've actually put myself on an Xbox 360 fast as I work through my novel draft!

That said, ckastens, if you want a good RPG, BUY ELDER SCROLLS: OBLIVION NOW!! It's jaw-droppingly immersive and non-linear. Visually gorgeous, cleverly written, complex but not confusing. It's the closest I've ever come to a great tabletop RPG on a console.

[JW Carroll]

Yeah, Oblivion is probably the best computer RPG I've ever played. I love that you can play it as a traditional roleplaying game with lot's of quests and talking to NPCs or as a pretty straightforward action game where you can run around and kill things. It's also nice that you can play the game in both first or third person perspectives.

Oblivion is probably the single greatest enemy of my writing however :rolleyes:

[ckastens]

Thanks for the tips!

I've managed to avoid MMOs up till now. I don't need that kind of time sink.

I played a bit of Oblivion and didn't really get into it.

I noticed that Assassin's Creed 2 has been announced and will take place in Renaissance Venice. I am getting anxious for that game to come out.

And I did play PoP since my last message. Fantastic game, for those who like the series.

[Scott H. Andrews]

My music buddy who worked on Warhammer actually now works for the company that made Elder Scrolls Oblivion. He forwarded me this press release about upcoming Elder Scrolls novels to be written by Greg Keyes (http://www.bethsoft.com/eng/news/pressrelease_042709-3.html).

What little I read of Keyes's Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone was quite solid. I usually don't care for fiction set in game or movie worlds, but I find the recent trend of "real" authors like Keyes and Jeff VanderMeer writing media tie-in F/SF very interesting. I wonder if it shows that the media companies want slightly better fiction for their tie-in books (or if they just want the more famous authors' names).

[Grace Seybold]

What little I read of Keyes's Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone was quite solid. I usually don't care for fiction set in game or movie worlds, but I find the recent trend of "real" authors like Keyes and Jeff VanderMeer writing media tie-in F/SF very interesting. I wonder if it shows that the media companies want slightly better fiction for their tie-in books (or if they just want the more famous authors' names).

How does that generally work? Does the media company call up an author and ask them to do a book, or does the author decide they want to do, say, a Diablo II book, and pitch a book proposal to the company? I gather that with long-running established tie-in series like the Star Wars novels it's very much the company that picks the authors (presumably because there's such a large pool of people who *want* to do Star Wars fiction, Star Trek fiction, etc), but for a property that has less of a fanfic-oriented base, how does it get arranged?

[Scott H. Andrews]

Does the media company call up an author and ask them to do a book, or does the author decide they want to do, say, a Diablo II book, and pitch a book proposal to the company?
As I understand it, it's the company working out things through their businesspeople and approaching either a publisher or an author. So it's not the authors pitching a proposal; it's the media companies coming to them.

[Saladin]

Going in the other direction, there's some good writing going on at video game studios today. Particularly Bethesda, Bioware and Rockstar. Interesting to note also that Naomi Novik worked on the excellent "Shadows of Undrentide" supplement for Neverwinter Nights before the Temeraire series came out...

[ckastens]

Going in the other direction, there's some good writing going on at video game studios today. Particularly Bethesda, Bioware and Rockstar.
Gamasutra recently put up a good (and long) article about their top 20 game writers.
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3935/the_gamasutra_20_top_game_writers.php
They mention Bethesda, Bioware, Rockstar, and many others.

[ckastens]

How does that generally work? Does the media company call up an author and ask them to do a book, or does the author decide they want to do, say, a Diablo II book, and pitch a book proposal to the company?

I've heard from multiple people that it is almost always the media company that contacts the author. These tie-ins are more of an afterthought, a way to make a few extra bucks and get more publicity for the main product (advertising within a bookstore, basically).

Finding the author is done mostly by connections. Either someone in the company knows or likes a certain author, so they contact that person directly.

Someone posted a great article about this a few months ago, but I can't remember where right now. Bummer.

[ckastens]

Someone posted a great article about this a few months ago, but I can't remember where right now. Bummer.

I just remembered, it was in the SFWA Bulletin (Feb-Mar 2009). William Dietz did an interview with the president of the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers and with the Director of Product Development of CBS. Great stuff.

[The Crimson Avenger]

The Bioware games Mass Effect and Dragon Age:Origins are both fantastic games.

[Saladin]

I didn't like the control scheme for Mass Effect 1, so I gave up on it. Supposedly Mass Effect 2 is better. Dragon Age is amazing -- ties with Oblivion and Baldur's Gate II IMO for best CRPG of all time.

[Michael R. Fletcher]

Though the graphics have come a long way, I'm not seeing much (in terms of plot) beyond the Ultima games I played back in the 80s.
Go there, get this, give it to him, and he'll give you the next clue...and so on.
Maybe my expectations are too high. That said, Uncharted 2 totally got me. The main character had...well...character.

[Aouragh]

Well, there are alot of Fantasy Games that you could play on the PS3, such as Harry Potter, Assassins Creed 2, etcetera. I prefer playing Assassins Creed 2, I think that is one of the best games ever released in the fantasy niche, it is such a realistic game and you can play it every day without getting bored.

[Saladin]

Well, there are alot of Fantasy Games that you could play on the PS3, such as Harry Potter, Assassins Creed 2, etcetera. I prefer playing Assassins Creed 2, I think that is one of the best games ever released in the fantasy niche, it is such a realistic game and you can play it every day without getting bored.

Haven't played Pt II yet, but I will say that Assassin's Creed I -- while suffering a bit from repetitive, 'on-rails' game play -- was visually stunning, and was probably savviest, best-written fictional take on the Crusades I've ever encountered (including novels, movies, etc.).

[ckastens]

I'd say part II lost a bit on plot but gained a ton on gameplay. Took me about 27 hours to finish (there's a tracker in the game) and I enjoyed it a lot. The recreation of Venice is particularly stunning. The game does start a bit slow, though, you have to slog through a few hours of practice and explanation to get your full range of abilities, but after that it's a lot more fun.