I personally much prefer fantasy that draws from real life lore / mythology / history. I like to see medieval style knights alongside Japanese style samurai alongside pirates alongside Arabian style desert warriors etc. That and mythological creatures and races such as dragons, ogres, elves, dwarves etc.

I find it much more believable and I can play characters I am familiar with.

In mythology we see cities in the clouds, cities under the seas, cities carved through rock, giant sea monsters, dragons, women with snakes growing out their head, Harpies, elves, dwarves, pixies, ogres, titans, armies of stone etc etc so this isn't about not having imagination but rather a fantasy that draws inspiration from real world such as our own ancient history / mythology v's a fantasy that tries to create a world all on its own.

Example of fantasy that sets it's foundations on our own mysterious lore / mythology are:

1. Warhammer = Empire & Tilea = central Europe (Holy Roman Empire) & Italy, Bretonnia, Albion & Estalia = Arthurian myth, France British Isles & Spain, Araby = Arabia, Norsca & Kislev = Scandinavia & Russia etc, Nippon & Cathay = Japan & China, Lizardmen = Americas, Dwarves = Mesopotamia (like Skyrim also has mammoths, Sabre-tooth tigers etc)
2, Lord of the Rings = based itself on races and warrior styles from Germanic lore (The only thing that Tolkien truly invented himself was the Orc).
3, Fable = pirates, gypsies, bandits, Albion = Europe, Samarkand = Japan / China etc
4. Witcher = witcher is a witch-like character from Slavic mythology (Witcher is a Polish made game)
5. Risen = pirates, west Indies themed areas
6. Gothic = Germanic / Slavic mythology (Goth was a Germanic tribe from Scandinavia / Northern Poland)

And the purpose of this thread is?

Gothic/Gothic 2 are some of my favourite RPG's of all time.I really love the more realistic aproach mixed with some fantasy,mythology from our real world.
So i agree with you.
I will always remember the first time i played Gothic 2,when i came down the mountains to get inside the city.The guards didn't let me becouse i looked like a burgler and bum.So i had to bribe them or talk them over.But that didn't work.So i had to find another way.The solution was a nerby farm.The farmer made a deal with me to get some new clothes to get inside the town.But i had to work on that farm for some time to get the clothes from him.I love these special moments in games.Creative quests and funny dialogues.That game had almost everything and even more of what Skyrim has to offer today.And you had to figure this out without any quest marker holding your hands all the time.Of course the grafics weren't as good as they are today.
Good old times farewell

I'm not understanding this thread. You've expressed your opinion that you enjoy real world mythology and games based on that. So what? I like it too.

Is the point of this thread to say that you are upset about Skyrim's lore??

While I agree with you partially about having references to our own ancient mythology and archetypes based on it (for example I like having differing cultures like easterners, desert-folk, pirates, classic warriors, barbarians, imperialists, and various arcane cults alongside animals, beasts, demons, undead, deities) I would not have my fantasy actually plucking our traditional mythology from our past and drop it into a new context or setting. For this reason I prefer high fantasy.

I was thrown off by the presence of minotaurs and unicorns and even mountain lions in Oblivion and a little less so by the wildlife of Skyrim because some of it seemed a bit out of place. At the very least, they could have been called something else or altered to look somewhat different from our experience on our own world.

I think Morrowind did this amazingly well which is why I loved it so much. But the overall premise and lore of The Elder Scrolls is such a welcome change to the myths we grew up with. The fact that they broke their mer up into different races and cultures alone impressed the hell out of me.

The bottom line is, if I want some Arthurian fantasy I will dust off my Bullfinch's and read it. But if I'm going to invest in something new, you better not sell me something I've already read.

I don't think the OP is upset with Skyrim, i think hes just wondering how the rest of the community feels about the different styles.

I like my fantasy to be original. Elves, orcs, dragons and crap bores me.

TES have some saving graces that sets it a bit apart from the classic fantasy tropes, so it's okish as a setting for me.
If only Beth had dug a bit deeper into the lore with Skyrim.

TES has some of the best lore for a game series. The problem is that we dont really get to expleriense very much of it in their games.

Something unique. These days I get get into traditional fantasy with all the crazy minotaurs, and elves, and all this stuff. It's good, but once you've seen enough of it. It's hard to get into unless you mix it up somehow.

Yes and no.The game has some great lore.There plenty of books and stuff but probably nobody ever reads them.I guess

Read op, kind of disagree a bit. I much prefer artistic interpretations of Aspects from our own reality that try to make the things unrecognizable unless you put them under a microscope and then see where they were derived from. Like guars from Morrowind. There is not really anything that really looks like them in our world but there lots of things that look kind of like them. I much prefer Morrowinds setting to Oblivions or Skyrims and that was because it was alien. Tbh, most game series that take things like knights, ninja and samurai and put them into games are not doing those things justice. They should just use a different name. They usually just butcher the ideology of those things. Like effing Ninjas...Ninja were hired clannish Assassins with a tradition, they were normal people who used unorthodox tactics, fighting styles and weaponry to do their jobs and be effective, they did not walk the shadows or have special powers. There were were few if any noble assassins in the ninja clans. Speaking of assassins, that word itself has become warped out of its own real meaning and spelling by fictitious writings since before the renaissance.

Coming up with something truly unique is hard. But I'd much rather see that done in an interesting way then Dragons or goody two-shoe knights for the umpteenth time.

Are you kidding? I read them. In Skyrim my warrior build is an avid book collector. I read every book I come by in a TES game. If there aren't books in the next one, I will be PO'd.

Most every "high fantasy" draws from real world mythos. So yeah, I don't really see the point but ok, I'm glad you prefer "real" myths rather than made- up ones....

Thanks for sharing, OP. Now, your point?

Each one to their own, I guess. I myself think opposite.

This thread came about as a result of seeing people criticise Bethesda for being "too real". I for one only play it as it is more believable as opposed too childish or plain stupid. I've played TES since Morrowind and I also love Fable, Fallout & Raqe. I was a bit unsure at first when Morrowind came out due to it being a Dungeons and Dragons type of game. I'm hooked ever since. Other games on the market seem more like kiddie's worlds.

This thread was supposed to see if others felt the same way. I was going to add a poll. I'm guessing it would have been easier to just say high fantasy v's low fantasy.

My long point of trying to explain that it is not real life but more ancient mythology / lore from real life because after reading threads in the lore section it seems some people then try to argue exact and precise comparisons with ancient civilisations which just seems daft. To me that is like going on a forum about the films such as "Immortals", "Clash of the Titans" or "300" and arguing whether it is based on Greek civilisation. Or films such as "Beowulf" & "LOTR" being based on Norse mythology or whether Prince of Persia, Aladdin or Sindbad are based on real South Asia / Arabia. For newer world fantasy it could be Pirates of the Caribbean being based on real pirates. I think TES is very similar to Warhammer in terms of world and races. Warhammer also has real world animals such as sabre tooth tigers and mammoths alongside dragons. Warhammer I'm guessing is to date the most successful rpg ever made and opened the way for much of rpg today. I'm curious if any of the millions of worldwide fans over the years ever criticised Warhammer lore for being "too real". I'm sure most just embraced it as it caters for everyone and I'm sure it is less restrictive as if they put a samurai, ninja, ranger or templar into the game, it isn't out of place and also stops the arguments that it is something from our world and therefore shouldn't be there.


I'm looking forward to Witcher 2 (just ordered it) and Risen 2 when it comes out. I recently bought Amulets of Amalur and thought it was crap and boring. The armours just look daft and I feel no real connection with the character (much due to shallowness of build choice). Whereas with TES, even after completing the game I find myself going back and making multiple characters based on real people & civilisations I am familiar with coupled together with what I know on TES lore.

Yeah thats the problem, you always read about it but dont really get to "experiense" it.

Dawnstar was supposed to be a major port city, rich with workers and sailers. When we got 10 buldings and 1 ship. Thats how they crap on their own lore.

Same as Winterhold. Winterhold was a famous city, and even had a gladiator team called Annihilators, but instead they used a lame excused to cut it out from lore.

This is just some of the lore that we only hear about, but when we actually play the game, half of it has been scrapped.
It was the same with Oblivion.

I thought Dawnstar was originally a garrison town. I was expecting to see an Imperial fort like the ones in Morrowind (Dawnstar as the new Gnisis). It didn't even have a wall or any guard towers


I felt the same with Oblivion. It looked absolutely stunning landscape and graphically pleasing as does Skyrim but I was so disheartened with the Nibenay region of Cyrodiil and also Anvil. The Colovian region was great and reminded my of medieval Europe (perhaps a market and a few jugglers / entertainers would have hit it off) but I was expecting the Nibenay (being the richest part) to have rich looking marble cities with rich ports looking more like something from ancient Greece or ancient Rome. What we got was wooden huts that would have been better situated on the outskirts of the Imperial city as slums. I think the team covered Cyrodiil too early on. They should cover the lesser provinces first and leave the richer and grandiose provinces until last when games technology is at its best.

TES is high fantasy the way I see it. Mythical creatures are available as playable races and they roam the street just like different skin color races in our street. Magic is very common and widely used. I don't see how "real" the series is.

This, it's classified as high fantasy. No way in hell is it low fantasy. Though at the same time it is a lesser high fantasy story. The diet coke of high fantasy if you will, just one calorie.

I would quite agree. I wish the towns were more unique (all the smaller Hold capitals + other settlements got about ten houses per town, all built in the same style) and actually like their lore/book counterparts.