religion, video games
I don't like it when video games have Gods in them - and I especially don't like it when you're obliged to be a worshiper of one
religion, video games
@lizardsquid What are your feelings on the Xeno games, then? Particularly Xenoblade 1 and 2, since those are the ones we've (well, Felthry) personally played through.
religion, video games
@Rosemary I've never played them!
religion, video games
@lizardsquid They're very very good games, with heavy religious overtones, but they tend to have themes of the religion not being the whole story, and sometimes being corrupt, and, well, I suppose I can't really say much more without being spoilery.
The Tales series has a few good entries along those lines too. We're fans of Tales of Symphonia.
religion, video games
@Rosemary I'll have to check it out sometime!
religion, video games
@lizardsquid Any idea what bothers you about it?
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I found it odd how they're treated as actually existing and powerful, while being completely insular by region/people. The best example I can think of for what I'm talking about is when I played Runescape years ago: The gods have followers everywhere and bestow powers to followers, but then you wander off into a desert and suddenly there's an entirely different pantheon. Also none of them seem to actually compete ever.
religion, video games | unrelated
@lizardsquid There's also a world-building concept for gods in general I had. If you want to hear that, I'll tell tomorrow. I think that might need a couple of posts.
religion, video games | unrelated
@BatElite oooo
religion, video games
@BatElite one specific example that annoys me:
In the Elder Scrolls games, the gods are *undeniably* real, yet the religious stuff in the game is based around religious structures that we have in the west? Which makes no sense.
also I think part of it is a consent thing - I don't consent to worshiping these gods, so if the game forces me to be a follower of them? that's upsetting
religion, video games
@lizardsquid The buildings always resemble churches, don't they? Any creation story inevitably ends up very abrahamic as well.
There was a post at some point on your tumblr about how the "be sparse and let the audience connect things" writing paradigm relies on a pool of shared knowledge. Going from that, I wonder how much that's caused "fantasy" to be so homogeneous and Europe-centred. Even outside of the "fantasy" pool there's not a lot of shared knowledge on cultures.
religion, video games
@BatElite @lizardsquid That's kind of how ancient religions worked, though. The Romans believed that the Egyptian gods existed to the same degree that they believed the Roman gods existed, they just were the gods of different people.
Ancient religion didn't really work the same way as modern ones.
religion, video games
@lizardsquid Breath of Fire II making the church the effective villain was interesting, though. And a very stunning thing to see in a game when I was in my early teens and in a pretty religious family.