5 réponses à ce sujet

[SafetyShattered]

DA had some very dark subject matters in it such as rape, murder, betraying, etc.

I was wondering if DA2 is going to have a darker story like DA or will it go with a lighter story to match the new art design?

This is kind of an important matter for me because as I am getting older I have played a ton of light hearted rpgs.(kids save the universe...you know like that)

A big reason I liked DA was because it had the darker story and it wasn't ashamed to depict a dark world set in disturbing times.

So if anyone could give me some answers or thoughts because if DA2 becomes a light hearted rpg I would be a sad panda. (the first person that tells me what show the panda reference somes from gets a cookie)

[David Gaider]

It's not a light-hearted RPG, no-- though we do like our lighter moments, especially with the followers. Personally I think that you need those to contrast the darkness, or all you get is something very dreary.



Just how dark someone considers the subject matter is, of course, subject to interpretation. But I assure you there's no bunnies and rainbows to be had.

[David Gaider]

ThunderfoxF wrote...
Yeah it was pretty dark.
No it wasn't low fantasy, but it wasn't exactly high either.

To me it falls with works like Conan which is I would classify as "Dark Fantasy"

Honestly, I don't think it falls easily into any definition-- but, then, I suspect is same for most works that aren't seminal examples of the genre. And as AngryPants pointed out, I'm not sure what the definition really gains us.

Personally I consider the "low" part of the fantasy coming from the fact that DA is a world where people act like real people first (regardless of what they are otherwise) and where fantastical things happen inside a realistic context. But it's "high" fantasy because the magic is very powerful, and permeates the setting-- even if it doesn't have flying castles and unicorns. It's "dark" because it doesn't shy away from mature subject matter and doesn't have a morale dichotomy as its center-- but it does have fantastical evil (the darkspawn and the blight) and yet doesn't dwell on it in a gritty, ugly way as some dark fantasy can.

So how would you categorize that? Like with most categories, you can only fit it in there by ignoring what makes it different. To me, I think it's what's different that makes it special. But to each their own.

[David Gaider]

Zlarm wrote...
I find it rather comedic that you don't think it falls into any genre given how many times we heard it called "dark heroic fantasy".

Yes, well, if you think trying to market a game with a complete breakdown of what "category" it falls into would actually be interesting to anyone that isn't sitting here on these forums-- then you probably shouldn't be working in marketing.

Overall I'd say it's dark enough and heroic enough to deserve the name, and apart from people who try to show how clever they are by putting up examples of things they think are darker or better I don't think anyone really cares.

Modifié par David Gaider, 13 octobre 2010 - 03:03 .

[David Gaider]

DarthCaine wrote...
Dark fantasy in my book would include: actual on screen rape, torture of children, poverty everywhere, constant murders and robbing, cannibals, lots of blood, nudity, sex, drugs and alcohol, profanity, lots of torture, dark bleak outcomes for EVERY action and in no case a happy ending. (The Witcher fits a lot of these, while DAO loosely fits one or two).

Dark fantasy needs an dark bleak atmosphere of depression. DAO has a high fantasy atmosphere of LOTR and DnD.

Errr... okay.

Maybe something needs to be utterly horrific and depressing to be considered "dark" in your books. Fair enough. It's not like there aren't subjective opinions on the definition of categories everywhere on these forums-- all the way up to "RPG" itself.

But what you described there? Not going to happen. And also not an improvement, in my book. It's great that you like the Witcher-- I suggest playing that.

[David Gaider]

ChickenDownUnder wrote...
Dark fantasy (also called horror fantasy or Gothic fantasy) is a fantasy subgenre that combines elements of fantasy with those of horror.

If you're going to quote from Wikipedia, I'm suggest reading the rest of the article... in particular the part where this subgenre isn't clearly defined, and the "tending towards horror" and "tending towards fantasy" sections.

This seems almost as worthy an exercise as "let's define an RPG", to be honest. And unless we want to get to "all labels are useless so you shouldn't use them", I still think most people know what marketing meant.