TES may be High Fantasy traditionally, but they have stated that this game will have a grittier low fantasy feel too it. Because One it's in the land of Nords, so it has to have a certian 'epicness' to it, and Two it's during a dark age of Tamriel. The Empire has fallen and [censored] has hit the fan.

Personally I love Low Fantasy. A Song of Ice and Fire and The Conan Series are two of my favorite reads evar.

The only way TES could be low fantasy is if they announced that Nirn takes place on a planet we know of, or that it takes place on Earth. Therefore, TES will always be HF. go check out the definitions of both. The older and newer definitions.

Though they often take place on Earth or an alternate earth, this is not always the case. See: A Song of Ice and Fire. The true measurement is the prevalence of Fantastical elements.

Now, I don't disagree that TES IS High Fantasy, but the creators themselves said they are adding Low Fantasy elements into this game because of the reasons I stated. When Conan and Frank Frazetta is your inspiration, it's hard as hell not to add some low fantasy elements.

ASOIAF is technically high fantasy though. Low fantasy can be described as non-rational events occurring in a rational setting.

Hmm. That seems to be what wikipedia says, but I would disagree. I always thought of High/Low fantasy as a sort of indicator of the amount of fantastical that is in a certain.

Either way, Skyrim seems to be TES High Fantasy with some Low Fantasy thrown in ala Conan.

Yeah Skyrim is a good balance of high fantasy and realism until you start spewing fire from your mouth and ice from your a##. (wait a minute...)

Well, we CAN say at least that if not low fantasy, Skyrim will have an Sword&Sorcery inspired visual style

what would you call "A Song of Fire and Ice" by George R.R. Martin. (game of thrones on HBO)

If you don't like the fantasy in a Fantasy RPG, don't play a Fantasy RPG... That's like saying Bad Company 2 should be changed because you don't like FPS. Then play a different game type?

Which is basically Cyrodiil in Oblivion. There really wasn't any extravagant fantasy landscapes, opposed to Morrowind.


I know you were not asking me, but its hard to say. Similar to LOTR. Theres plenty of high fantasy stuff there, especially in the earlier ages. Pyromancer's, Dragons, white walkers, etc. are very high fantasy, while the human denizens and setting are for the most part lower fantasy, although it takes place on a fictional realm altogether, which makes it kind of high fantasy. So its hard to say and could be debated all day, depending on what your definition of high/low fantasy is and isn't.

Don't give a damn about the definitions, they are giving us what I suppose is earth like geography and physics, in a setting with wide use of magic, interfering gods, and the possibility of travel to other planes of existence, that is all I need to know.

As for the OP, there will probably be the usual mix of realistic looking steel and furs, with more fantastic looking armours, because they are made of fantastic materials or were crafted by mysterious, and dead, races. I don't see what there is to complain about.

[quote name='Xarnac The Conqueror' timestamp='1303864285' post='17550684']
Which is basically Cyrodiil in Oblivion. There really wasn't any extravagant fantasy landscapes, opposed to Morrowind.


I′ll have to disagree sir, but Oblivion felt too far from Sword&Sorcery to me. I think that the landscape has little to do with Sword&Sorcery, it is more about the feeling of the world; take Morrowind for example, Divath Fyr, a reclusive wizard who lives in a weird-shaped tower in a swampy area who posesses a subterranean dungeon filled with diseased monsters which used to be men, or the town of Ald-Rhun, built from bones of ciclopean creatures; or Dagoth Ur, a dreaded evil Demigod which is the final boss; all of wich sound as Sword&sorcery as hell, while oblivion was just Good vs. Bad in all guilds except the Dark Brotherhood.

AND, take a look at the concept art:

http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/8/2011/02/tentaclebears.jpg

It kinda reminds of this:

http://anm101f10rzoska.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/031-frazetta-mammoth.jpg?w=450

Anyway, methinks that we are discussing this faar too loong in an obvius troll thread

This guy should have seen armor in Morrowind, lol. It's called a fantasy game, so I like armor looking absurd and unwearable.

The game isn't based on Conan stories, they wanted the game to feel more brutal, like Conan, not the setting is based on Conan, because Conan settings are much different than Skyrim.

What was high fantasy about the landscape of Cyrodiil? Im nt talking about S&S, Im talking about the environment. Is Skyrim from what we have seen more like Morrowind, or Oblivion? Oblivion. In that it is more Earth realistic. This doesnt make it LF though, since its one of many realms.

I never said nor meant that it was based, I just said that it was somewhat inspired by Conan stories and Frank Frazetta art wich was mentioned in an early interview, and yes I know it is quite different, but also similar in a few ways, for example the nords and orcs are quite similar to the barbarian races in Howards Conan stories (the Asgardians, Vanirs, Cimmerians and Hyperboreans) also the land of Skyrim is similar as how Cimmeria was portraited in these stories so it makes sense that Skyrim borrows a bit of style from these. Please dont mistake me, Im just saying that they are similar, not equivalents nor much less ripoffs and each setting is unique and awesome. I dont want Skyrim to be anything but an TES game but I am quite happy with the "rougher" and more brutal style that they are taking

I said nothing about the landscape from Cirodiil being high fantasy. but I think I misunderstood you, and yes you are right, it doesnt make it low fantasy. what I tried to state is that while it will remain a primary high fantasy setting, it will have a S&S feeling, wich I foolishly confused with low fantasy.

Over the years, the terms "High Fantasy" and "Low Fantasy" have come to possess completely different meanings in literature vs. video games.

In literature, these terms are rigidly defined fantasy sub-genres. "High fantasy" is set in an alternate universe or fantastical, parallel world, while "low fantasy" is usually set on Earth with some reasonable explanation of why magic works, etc., often with significantly less magic or supernatural elements than "high fantasy" stories.

In video games, high fantasy settings are simply more over the top, bizarre, alien, fantastical, in the vein of JRPGs and to a lesser extent Shivering Isles.

In video games, low fantasy settings are simply slightly more realistic, often with darker themes and quests and more realistic characters.

Since LOTR-inspired settings have become the norm for WRPGs over the past few decades, a Tolkien-esque setting is actually considered more traditional and less "high fantasy" than, for example, the setting for the Final Fantasy series.

Explain the S&S feel your talking about. You mean just because of the Mammoth?

No, I used the concept art as an example. They said In an early game informer interview that they were somewhat inspired by the art from Frank Frazetta and Conan stories, wich are kinda the Archetype for S&S settings

I think the swords is fine, I dont think it is a longsword, it looks more like it would be a bastard sword so it would be thicker, and its better than buster swords

... i went to sleep- is that a crime?

to sleep?

do you people sleep?
:dry:

tes IS low fantasy

ignore the daedra and magic and how the countries have different climates from each other given their position on the map (possibly morrowind's pauldrons) you have a feasible world .

i hate the armour seen worn by the orc and khajit. i also think the swords are way too big (see every pick involving swords, especially the ones mounted on dovakhins back)

No, it's definitely high fantasy. You obviously don't know the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_fantasy of low fantasy.

That wikipedia article refers to the "low fantasy" genre of literature.

In videogames the term "low fantasy" has taken on a completely different meaning.

...

you know what i meant by low tho- everything should be explainable by either real world physics and ideas or magic - if armour is not magical i expect it to be feasible.