Forums » Elder Scrolls

• Shimazu

  

  • 209 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 3:44 AM EDT

  Never state opinion as fact.
  
  A criteria can be made to suit any outcome, so any attempt at comparisons are a waste of time.
  
  Although I do share your OPINION that fantasy is better.
• The Hermit

  

  • 108 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 3:48 AM EDT

  No love for retrofuturism? I am a steampunk guy. Arcanum is a neat retro-game combining magick and engineering. ^_^

• Shimazu

  

  • 209 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 3:54 AM EDT

  First things first, I'm not sure what a 'true scientist' is, you are either a scientist or you're not; it doesn't need an adjective. Are you a scientist?
  
  Secondly if you are so sure on a point that somebody else isn't, you have to put forward reasons as to why you are right. As it stands no reasons have been put forward, therefore my viewpoint remains as it was.
• Vazgen

  

  • 1483 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 9:01 AM EDT

  Adaptations are as much a testament to the author's skill as to the nature of the genre itself. It is hard to make a good adaptation for a genre, and it's arguably harder to make a good one for science fiction, considering that it has less visual effects and more thinking involved. I Robot 2004 is inspired by Asimov's works and is a very good movie. 

  I love LOTR movies but people who've read the books are quite dissatisfied with them (I'm not among them) claiming that they stray too far from the sources.

  There are many factors in the number of book sales, not only author's writing and ideas but also advertisement, connection to adaptations - everything publisher has to do to gain profit. Then there is the mentality of a casual reader - to read something easy and fun as opposed to something that makes you think afterwards. I suggest we exclude the book sales. 

  Both authors heavily influenced their respective genre. The thing is, that science fiction also had a number of other great writers attributing to it. Arthur C. Clarke, Frank Herbert, Harry Harrison, Robert Sheckley... Tolkien created a huge and well-thought-out universe that served as an example for every other writer. In science fiction there was a number of such well-thought-out universes. And speaking of Asimov's influence, Three Laws of Robotics served as a basis for many discussions about how humans and robots will interact in the future (Princeton)

  Tolkien had one successful book series (Hobbit and LOTR), Asimov had a number of them (Foundation, Robots being the most successful). 

• Borommakot

  

  • 1217 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 12:49 PM EDT

  Technically, I'd say that yes it is. When we say magic in the sense it's understood today, we're talking about something that defies the established scientific laws and theories. While it's more believable in some fantasy settings than others (Harry Potter, for example would push the boundaries of this perspective, imo), magic does not preclude the existence of its own governing scientific laws.

  Start with the most basic and obvious example, alchemy. It's chemistry, plain and simple, with an "al" in front. Forming compounds with new properties by combining more basic material in specific measures.

  In my (admittedly limited) experience with TES, magic is a form of energy, which people can manipulate to varying degrees. It can be viewed as a kind of energy that responds to signals from the brain, not unlike some of the VR technology being developed now. If the source of magicka, or the exact way it's controlled could be pinpointed, the mystery would be unraveled.

• Borommakot

  

  • 1217 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 12:53 PM EDT

  Answering everything as "alien" isn't much of an answer, particularly regarding the ability to shout. Unless you're also suggesting that every race currently on Tamriel is descended from dragons, because anyone can learn to shout; it's not unique to the dragons. Suggesting that dragonborn are literally born from dragons is also far fetched, besides being disproved by the lineages of the dragonborn emperors.

• Borommakot

  

  • 1217 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 12:54 PM EDT

  Woops, that's supposed to be "In my experience fantasy is..."

• Deleted Member

  
   

  September 9, 2014 1:16 PM EDT

  Depends which type of Sci-Fi and Fantasy we're talking about.

  I've always found that cliché sci-fi like what you find in Mass Effect / Starcraft / most superhero american comics / and so on, is so absurd and nerdy that it turns me off.

  Same thing in fantasy for LotR, American MMO's, Harry Potter and so on, it's so cheesy and repetitive that it becomes a turn off. They have been using the same fantasy creatures for decades now: elves, orcs, trolls, gnomes, giants, and humans always get to be the most bland, boring race possible. Let's not forget how many fantasy writers are influenced by nordicistic views.

  I prefer stories that are either more subtle or that are outright, openly ludicrous. I liked reading Gemmell's Drenai tales because 95% of the story is realistic, he just adds in some magic with the Dark Brotherhood / Templars so as to spice it up. I also like Star Trek / Stargate because it's nothing over the top. They're humans discovering aliens and alien planets, I can relate to them more than I can relate to some cyborgs from the future. Asian culture (Korean MMOs and manga in particular) are so unrealistic that they pull a 360 and become enjoyable again, Dragonball being the perfect example.

• Nekros The Shadow

  

  • 50 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 1:41 PM EDT

  I already put out my reasons why skyrim is sci-fi, and just because no other people on the skyrim blog have reasoning that skyrim is sci-fi doesn't mean that there are other people out there who wold agree with me. And by true scientists I mean actual scientists.

• Vazgen

  

  • 1483 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 1:46 PM EDT

  I have to ask, how is Mass Effect over the top and Star Trek / Stargate isn't?

• Nekros The Shadow

  

  • 50 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 1:48 PM EDT

  

• Deleted Member

  
   

  September 9, 2014 2:29 PM EDT

  Star Trek and Stargate make an effort to remain believable. They're  both very sciency. The protagonists are people like us, they just got access to better technology and go explore the galaxy with said technology. I can relate to these series because I imagine that if we had a spaceship or a stargate in the real world, we'd try to explore worlds exactly that way.

  Mass Effect... well... Ironman suits, sexy cyborgs, 99% characters make humans look so boring you wonder why the human race still exists, awkwardly borrows fantasy elements like latin names and "spells" / combat style in general while still remaining Sci-Fi. If it didn't take itself so seriously, it would be like Star Wars or Halo, but since it does it just gets stuck in the uncanny valley.

  Also, all of that is subjective.

• Vazgen

  

  • 1483 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 4:19 PM EDT

  I know it's subjective, I'm just interested in why you think that way. For me Mass Effect is quite believable, human-like aliens are a little off-putting in that regard but Star Trek has them too. Besides, Mass Effect series are games, while Star Trek are movies. A lot more room for character development on a TV screen. 

  I don't see why you'd say about human characters being boring (probably seeing Kaidan in ME1?) but there are a lot of interesting human characters in the trilogy. Also, latin names? Unless you go with turians, who have not latin-sounding names too (like Tobestik).

  Guess it's just personal taste thing, without some deep reasons I try to dig up 

• Borommakot

  

  • 1217 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 4:24 PM EDT

  A lot of naming and language issues in Mass Effect (and many sci-fi settings) are at the mercy of "translator" hand-wavium. I don't expect that a human could necessarily even reproduce the sounds made by a Turian, or Elcor mouth. How names are sorted out is mystery sacrificed for the sake of telling the story.

  I'd also say that many of these things are concessions made to involve a target audience, rather than to further the genre.

• Deleted Member

  
   

  September 9, 2014 5:05 PM EDT

  Mass Effect has excellent character backstories and has many aspects I appreciate, such as lack of Smurfette principle, lack of stereotypes, no deus-ex-machina protecting main characters and many interactions available which allows for even more character development of your own. I just don't like the setting itself, this type of Sci-Fi is repeated in every space video game there is, it crosses over fantasy too much while not enough to become science fantasy.

  There's also the fact that in Star Trek, Stargate and others (eventually the video game Infinity Battlescape) you're "in the dark". They're exploring the galaxy, nothing is established. There's that mystery in the air of discovering new lands, it's like when you play Skyrim for the first time and feel in awe everytime you discover a new town. I tend to like that kind of adventurous atmosphere. In Mass Effect and the others, most things are established already, so for me there's less mystery in it.

• Tom

  

  • 624 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 5:26 PM EDT

  I am not abandoning the discussion, but I do not have time to write an adequate response until closer to the weekend.

• SpookyBorn2021

  

  • 1467 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 5:33 PM EDT

  See for me it really depends on what it comes under (book, movie) for me books are often more well known when they're of the fantasy genre compared the lesser known Sci-Fi novel.
  
  But movie and Video Game wise I prefer Sci-Fi because of the amount of adaptions from book to movie, say LoTR for instance it has to be in my top 5 favourite books of all time and I've read it so many times, but all these books mentioned that have influenced Sci-Fi well I've heard of them but I haven't read them so the movies that take inspiration from them are unknown and a surprise for me.
• Vazgen

  

  • 1483 posts
   

  September 9, 2014 6:55 PM EDT

  I think you're going to enjoy the new Mass Effect, currently in development. It is said to have focus on exploration, much more than any of the trilogy games