# Mythologies in Gaming



## Master Mo (May 27, 2011)

A few days ago I thought to myself how amazing it is that there are so many games that are so rich in design and world, that they even could be considered to have an own unique mythology.

So I wanted to see what you guys think  is the best mythology in gaming. But it has to be a (nearly) completely new one and shouldn`t borrow too much from real-life (excising) mythologies.





My vote goes to *Panzer Dragoon*: From artdesign, gameplay, language to music I think it is amazing. A very rich world with a deep story and environment to deepen the whole experience.

So what do you guys think is the best "artificial" mythology in gaming?

*EDIT*: massive typo


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## leeday100196 (May 27, 2011)

Maybe the Dragon Quest series? I don't really get what you mean by mythologies as compared to real life ones.


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## Master Mo (May 27, 2011)

leeday100196 said:
			
		

> Maybe the Dragon Quest series? I don't really get what you mean by mythologies as compared to real life ones.


Yeah, Dragon Quest is pretty interesting choice 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




What I mean is that people really appreciate mythologies crafted in movies such as StarWars or LotR but I think games also have pretty interesting and rich self-made worlds. For example Zelda with the unique creatures and such or Metroid with different civilizations or the games from Team Ico and so on...


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## Fel (May 27, 2011)

Definitively the Elder Scrolls, the amount of flavour text in the third installment alone (Morrowind) could fill a normal book. You've got a complete history, star signs, pantheon of gods and other beings, unique flora and fauna, well-thought out geography, several countries and so on.


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## Guild McCommunist (May 27, 2011)

Mass Effect.

If you read pretty much all the little notes and lore you can find it's about as deep a sci-fi universe as Star Trek. It's absolutely ridiculous how deep you can travel.


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## Paarish (May 27, 2011)

Probably Grandia? But certain aspects of it are similar to Castle in the Sky


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## Zekrom_cool (May 27, 2011)

Final Fantasy series. Especially Final Fantasy 4.


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## Satangel (May 27, 2011)

Fel said:
			
		

> Definitively the Elder Scrolls, the amount of flavour text in the third installment alone (Morrowind) could fill a normal book. You've got a complete history, star signs, pantheon of gods and other beings, unique flora and fauna, well-thought out geography, several countries and so on.



So so true, TES is amazingly deep. Those books are really amazing shit. 
Dragon Age comes to mind too. So much reading material in there.


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## Zekrom_cool (May 27, 2011)

Satangel said:
			
		

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Yes Dragon age and Dragon Quest are alos nice.




199th post.


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## Nah3DS (May 27, 2011)

I don’t know if this can count as a "artificial mythology"... but definitely is the best "artificial world"

Pokemon.... 649 reasons to support this
5 different regions to explore
a lot of cities, towns, ruins, caves, forests to visit
a lot of mysteries to unfold


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## Zekrom_cool (May 27, 2011)

NahuelDS said:
			
		

> I don’t know if this can count as a "artificial mythology"... but definitely is the best "artificial world"
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> Pokemon.... 649 reasons to support this
> 5 different regions to explore
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Pokemon cannot be considered a proper mytology cause it has cycles, computers and all other modern stuff. Mythology is when there is no silicon, no techno stuff. Thats my opinion.


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## MaxNuker (May 27, 2011)

But do they Have "God" this one would be Arceus, that created everything and every pokemon... they also have "Guardians" of Time, Space, And whatnot... so i think it would be the most completed mythology? xD


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## Gullwing (May 27, 2011)

The Legend of Zelda... It may not seem like so but it is a really huge world with many events and meanings... Let's the teh Hyrulean Civil War, the Great Flood, the Sheikah... There are many many things in the Legend of Zelda Mythos and Timeline that yet have to be explored... Did you know that essentially in the Wind Waker, the great sea hides all of Hyrule in it's bottom? Yeah, the great sea became a sea after the Great Flood.


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## Nah3DS (May 27, 2011)

Gullwing said:
			
		

> The Legend of Zelda... It may not seem like so but it is a really huge world with many events and meanings... Let's the teh Hyrulean Civil War, the Great Flood, the Sheikah... There are many many things in the Legend of Zelda Mythos and Timeline that yet have to be explored... Did you know that essentially in the Wind Waker, the great sea hides all of Hyrule in it's bottom? Yeah, the great sea became a sea after the Great Flood.


You made realize that Zelda it's the best game mythology just for one reason...
It’s not like they told you in the game about all this events... the majority of games are like: "blah blah blah... 100 years ago... blah blah blah... that's what happened"
In Zelda... you already have been through all that history in the previous games, you've experienced it all!... that’s the beauty of Zelda.


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## Gullwing (May 27, 2011)

NahuelDS said:
			
		

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Uhuh! I wish we could get a solid timeline! I was in love with the franchise but after a read on the Zeldapedia articles, I fell even deeper in love with it  
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




 I allways thought that in Ocarina of Time, Link took the Master sword and instantly travelled in time... But that's not the case. He eventualy fell in a deep enchanted slumber for 7 years.. And of course in these 7 years, Ganon touched the triforce, the triforced split in 3 part, and he took the triforce of power, conquered Hyrule etc etc etc


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## Keylogger (May 27, 2011)

I vote Age of Mythology!


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## naved.islam14 (May 27, 2011)

Keylogger said:
			
		

> I vote Age of Mythology!


+1


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## AlanJohn (May 27, 2011)

MaxNuker said:
			
		

> But do they Have "God" this one would be Arceus, that created everything and every pokemon... they also have "Guardians" of Time, Space, And whatnot... so i think it would be the most completed mythology? xD


Wait, I thought Ho-oh was the god pokemon.


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## Nah3DS (May 27, 2011)

AlanJohn said:
			
		

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that was back in 2001.... now it's all changed


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## FAST6191 (May 27, 2011)

A nice idea for a thread- personally I love mythologies for games and otherwise and can quite happily kill a few hours or more just reading about them without even bothering with the media they were constructed to support. I am however going to have a very hard time distinguishing between art design, mythology and gameplay that uses them not to mention the question of "what is a mythology?"- voices in ones head/delusions (see something like the void or eternal sonata or even psychonauts) right through to world/universe spanning things complete with magic/technology equivalents or even games that bridge the two or maybe just near enough to reality but with a few differences.

To my mind Final Fantasy just seems to be a mish mash of existing philosophies and mythologies ( http://www.gametrailers.com/video/part-xii...l-fantasy/27455 says it pretty well) although I probably should make a passing nod in the direction of Joseph Campbell's work at this point.

It seems then I have many areas to pick from although they diverge just as quickly

"ancient history"- your Greek (and associated civilisations), Roman (and associated civilisations), Chinese (pretty much self contained) and so forth right through to medieval times and whatever was going on in Japan at the same time.

Stepping aside from this you have fantasy with all the many subgenres it boasts.

I do not see so much in the way of modern mythologies aside from "world war 3" and maybe whatever goes on in broken sword and point and click/adventure worlds but they largely seem self contained when it comes to games. I am not sure where steampunk and ?punk fits.

Sci fi- broadly I guess this is near future or perhaps even a "what if" the last up to 100 years played out differently to "far future" (stuff like Dune which I will get onto in a moment although that seems rather similar to some of the completely alternative universe fantasy)

Alternate reality- usually "aspects of mythology were real and it is the modern day or at least since about 1850" or something "odd" (starting at Little Big Adventure and moving through to some of the stuff in http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/vie...d-is-Not-Enough ) and I will stretch that to include things like bayonetta (although arguably Bayonetta is truer to much of Christian mythology than just about anything else for several hundred years now which I find endlessly amusing) and El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron (not out yet in English). I might include something from some of the newer Nordic developers but I think I then cross from mythology to aesthetic qualities.
I am not entirely sure where Zombies fit in either and I should mention Turok as well.

I then have to ask where do other works fit into this- many games are based around comics, books, film universes, existing mythologies new and old 
Equally despite my curiosity I was still raised among western mythologies so others sit in different places in my mind where I imagine someone raised among those others might view western mythology in a similar fashion .


I think in the end, at least as far as the last few years have gone (if going back to the C64/amiga era then things change) I am going to look to Russia and eastern Europe for this, the games might not be the best but purely on mythology very little comes close.
Metro2033- based on a book I know but for backstory and general story it stands above just about everything I have played in recent times.
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - it was based on a book but it shares very little with it and the film (is the TV show out yet?)
Precursors- not a great game (so unpolished it is not funny) but it hits very close to what I want from a game.
The Void- I finished it a while back but it will stick with me for a very long time to come.
Head further into this and it gets every crazier.

Honourable mention to Resonance of Fate. It is not that original a theme (several classic sci fi works do similar) but it worked for me.

A qualifier for the likes of Bethesda and Bioware along with many other western RPGs- good stuff but nothing that stands out as far as mythology goes- the competition is too stiff.


Either way- long may this sort of thing continue.


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## boktor666 (May 27, 2011)

naved.islam14 said:
			
		

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+1


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## cris92x (May 27, 2011)

Zekrom_cool said:
			
		

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I'm sorry but that had to be the stupidest thing i read today... Thats not wth a mythology is, a mythology can be futuristic, mythology is just a collection of myths related to  a culture. Pokemon can be considered a myth, not a very deep one but a myth.


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## Master Mo (May 27, 2011)

FAST6191 said:
			
		

> ...I am however going to have a very hard time distinguishing between art design, mythology and gameplay that uses them not to mention the question of "what is a mythology?"- voices in ones head/delusions (see something like the void or eternal sonata or even psychonauts) right through to world/universe spanning things complete with magic/technology equivalents or even games that bridge the two or maybe just near enough to reality but with a few differences.


Ya, it`s pretty hard to make out what is mythology and what isn`t. Especially in a medium like gaming...

For me when a world in a videogame (or other medium) is so vast and rich in every way, that you are even interested in it beyond the game or gameplay itself it becomes somewhat of a mythology.

Like you said sometimes I`m just reading about all these things developers created and I get so immersed into this world they`ve created that I find it fascinating. And that is most of the time after I finished the game!

Talking about gaming not being art but I guess that a complete other subject


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## KingdomBlade (May 27, 2011)

Okami's Shinto mythology was very nice.

And yes, Age of Mythology. XD


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## toguro_max (May 27, 2011)

Ha, Age of Mythology is a good catch.
For me, a "mythology" is just a "universe", including everything within it.
For example: Sonic. You have antopormophic animals (and normal animals) living with humans and a mad scientist. There is a whole (short) story behind the events (Eggman going nuts [even if it's contestable], capturing animals, Angel Island falling from the skay and causing great floods and after being restored, etc).
Mortal Kombat. I could use the "MK: Mythologies" joke here >-p But there is a whole world, story and development behind the series (which is being retold on the last game).
Street Fighter, Metroid, Phoenix Wright... Basically every game has it's own (little) mythology. Some of'em borrow elements from other mythologies (or even on its whole, Like Zangeki no Reginlev), and, therefore, should not be treated as a "game mythology" (Again, with Zangeki, its a norse mythology, not a "Zangeki" one).

Anyway, i Like the Half Life mythology, including Portal and such. The story can be so expanded and they can explore the past of future of this universe.


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## Rydian (May 27, 2011)

Font-paged about this 'cause it's an interesting topic for discussion and I'd like to see more people's input.



			
				Zekrom_cool said:
			
		

> Pokemon cannot be considered a proper mytology cause it has cycles, computers and all other modern stuff. Mythology is when there is no silicon, no techno stuff. Thats my opinion.Mythology doesn't have to be old shit.
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I was trying to think of one mythology that really stood out to me, and this might be one of them.  Even with as many games have been released there's some answered solved, but a lot more mysteries left.


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## The Catboy (May 27, 2011)

Strangely enough, I love the Pokemon mythology/history. Like how the pokemon world came to be and how things happened in the pokemon world
Information can be found here


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## Master Mo (May 27, 2011)

Please guys also state what you think is the best one... I know it is a matter of preference but it would be great to see what you think is the best, why you think it is an own mythology and what made you interested in it maybe even beyond playing the game


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## Nah3DS (May 27, 2011)

Zekrom_cool said:
			
		

> Pokemon cannot be considered a proper mytology cause it has cycles, computers and all other modern stuff. Mythology is when there is no silicon, no techno stuff. Thats my opinion.


yeah... tell that to FFVII fans

on topic: I also like games based on Norse mythology... like Valkyrie Profile and Tales Of Phantasia.


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## Wizerzak (May 27, 2011)

Half-life universe (Aperture Science, Black Mesa etc.)


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## Jolan (May 27, 2011)

I don't know, but I'd vote for the Mass Effect mythology. I really hope they work on something that lets us play through the vast history of events that happened before the ME games' timeline.


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## Windaga (May 27, 2011)

I've got a few, but I think the one that stands out the most to me is the SMT mythology - specifically the Persona line, but I think all of the titles have such intriguing situations that I find myself scouring over each and every corner of a title, finding notes and piecing information together to learn as much as I can about the story. I've spent hours just going over monster/demon/persona descriptions and setting areas, seeing how they correlate to different areas and so forth. 

One of the reoccurring themes in SMT is the power struggle between lawful and chaos, and not in your typical sense; it's not good heroes fighting villains, or even angels fighting demons (even though that does happen) - it's more of a political, religious struggle between the creator and those that oppose it. I really dig how deep into different mythological lore SMT gets, and how they utilize even religious icons in unique ways. The stories are insanely deep, and they even carry into one another, which really makes you think. There are so many "OHHHHH" moments that I can't help but smile at some of the ideas the series has put forth. I also appreciate how mature the series can get, but still remain tasteful and respectful. It's just really interesting to see how someone could take Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Japanese, and English lore and throw them altogether and have it make sense. Such a wonderful experience. 

Oh, I'd also like to mention the Metroid Prime Trilogy and BioShock. Just the sheer amount of story and content that can be found via scanning and video logs is great, and piecing together the history by looking over your notes is just a fantastic experience. I didn't even play BioShock - I watched my friend play through it -, but I sat through the entire play through of the first 2 and thought - "Man, that was awesome. I can't wait to see where this goes next" at every turn.


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## _Chaz_ (May 27, 2011)

A Gay Little Catboy said:
			
		

> Strangely enough, I love the Pokemon mythology/history. Like how the pokemon world came to be and how things happened in the pokemon world
> Information can be found here


I read the whole thing, amazing read.


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## Goli (May 27, 2011)

Final Fantasy. I really love the whole series' mythos (and I'm not talking about storylines here!). I just find so exciting to see how the diffferent elements change in each installment. It's so diverse that you could even say it has sub-mythologies, for example, from what it's known all Fabula Nova Crystallis games share many common elements with all other Final Fantasy games, but things like l'Cie are exclusive to them. On a more particular note, the Ivalice Alliance games are probably the ones with the most developed universe.
Also a honorable mention to the Ogre Battle Saga, Tactics Ogre in special.
Yasumi Matsuno


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## PeregrinFig (May 27, 2011)

The Dragon Quest series stands out to me, because although each one has a separate world, they share some elements. The first three games talked of the legendary hero Loto (with DWIII actually being about him), and IV-VI all had Zenithia in them. I like to think that the king of the citadel in DQVI is a reincarnation of the Zenith Dragon. Every DQ game always has me sucked into its world.

Ivalice is also an extremely fleshed-out world, I just hate that it usually feels like you just hear about far-off locales and events you don't get to witness. Sometimes the Ivalice games' flavor text feel more like you're reading a history book than being involved in the world.


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## Nah3DS (May 27, 2011)

_Chaz_ said:
			
		

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I lol'd at this:
_1500 years before Generation I:_
_Magikarp population mutates and becomes weaker. _


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## rgros (May 27, 2011)

For me.. Warcraft and specially World of Warcraft.

It has it all.


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## Fishaman P (May 27, 2011)

WTF?  Why is this on the front page news?

Anyway, the Mushroom Kingdom.


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## Hielkenator (May 27, 2011)

Metroid Prime Universe. Retro did an amazing job. Team Ninja are pathetic.


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## DragorianSword (May 27, 2011)

I like Fable and it's mythology, you see Albion change over the 3 games. Big fan of the series and I'm incredibly glad Fable III came out for pc.
I also agree that pokémon has an interesting mythology


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## bassgs 435 (May 27, 2011)

the Shin Megami Tensei games. the compendiums have lots of info about the roles of each demon in their respective real world mythologies. and I like reading through that.


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## EJames2100 (May 27, 2011)

Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Fable, Star Wars, The whole DC/Marvel Universes/s.

Quite a few games has their own and very good Mythology.

Fire Emblem is also one of the games that start with "1000 years ago..." but I always like reading all the text to learn about it's history and it's not half bad.


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## xorrox (May 27, 2011)

Metroid, the back story behind samus is great and there is enough lore spanning all the games even the crap ones to make her complete from A to Z, leaving the rest of the universe open - fanfic, homebrew games, etc... are easily adaptable given the amount of information readily available.

However, my two most preferred are specifically: Final Fantasy 3 (usa - 6 in J.)  and Chrono Trigger (snes - didnt much care for the added content of the DS version)

In Final Fantasy 3 you cover so many different characters, their individual back stories and how they all came to meet and what role they play in the epic story.
My first time through the game took me nearly a year to complete (im a perfectionist and i tend to xp grind WAY TOO much 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





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but the story and detail to every character and the lore behind the story`s events itself was just inspiring - back when making a game was about plot and character development, solving puzzles, strategy and actual thought process/imagination - graphics, audio and bell and whistles came second - ah substance... rest in peace....


speaking of substance: that`s where Chrono Trigger Ties up the race. a simple kid, tossed into a crazy life/world altering events by sheer random chance.... (*cough destiny cough*) and finds himself chasing and courting a princess, fighting demons, demi-gods, TIME, and all manner of monsters and evil.  In the year 1000 a freak accident rips a hole in space and time and sends him and his friends 400 years into the past, where a plot of treason and betrayal risk to undo all they know from their time. Solving that one issue leads them from their "present" (yr1000) to the year 2300 a post apocalyptic place of ruin, to the dawn of humanity in 65,000,000 BC - even to the very end of time...
Multiple endings, no linear story, wicked crazy plot development - one of few games in which the main hero is killed off LOL Come on - how is it no one called these two before me?


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## Blaze163 (May 27, 2011)

I can't in all seriousness give this to the Final Fantasy series as the mythology is always different, therefore while they're nearly always good, they just don't get a chance to fully develop over time. Great, but not the best. Personally I think Bioware takes the title one way or the other. Either Dragon Age Origins or Mass Effect. Overall I'd probably give it to Mass Effect. It does such a fantastic job of making us feel like we're a part of a huge galactic community. There are so many tiny little details that add a truly astonishing level of depth. Things you might not even notice, like the volus by the bio-enhancements stall on Ilium talking about how he needs something 'flashier' that lets him 'own the room'. The quarian in the bar talking about inter-species dating and the resultant medical issues. Sit and read/listen to the codex entries some time. The whole world feels so deep and well crafted that half the time I forget it's even a video game. It feels like something more, which is unbelieveably difficult to accomplish. 

I tip my hat to everyone at Bioware who worked on Dragon Age or Mass Effect, who helped in any way to create these rich and involving worlds. As Screwattack so eloquently put it, you're studs. Every last one of you.

I wonder if Bioware are hiring


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## dekuleon (May 28, 2011)

Age of Mythology FOR THE WIN! I always play it via Hamachi with my friend! You can customize the shortcut to work with Hamachi and enable widescreen! Works perfectly with windows 7 and any pc!

The Legend of Zelda are my favourites games, and they are also amazingly good! Specially Ocarina of Time!! Getting it for 3DS as soon as possible!!


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## koimayeul (May 28, 2011)

the shin megami tensei as mentionned is the best to my appreciation


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## Zhelkus (May 29, 2011)

In my opinion, the strongest and richest lores I've seen are in Mass Effect, WarCraft and Legacy of Kain. I seriously love plot twists and these three have that in abundance.


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## Sterling (May 30, 2011)

Personally the Fallout series is absolutely intriguing. Alternate timelines are so fun.

Dragon Age has a rich history as well.

Also, the Elder Scrolls.


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## Taleweaver (May 31, 2011)

Nice catches on the last two posts. Legacy of Kain (the first one...have barely played the other) may have played like a simple hack 'n slash game, but the rich story elements, the mood and great voice acting made it _very _compelling.

Fallout has the atmospheric mood, but while the Mad Max-setting is pretty consistent throughout the series, I wouldn't say it is really a mythology.



Still, my personal best I can think of (or at least tied with Legacy of Kain) is Abe's Oddyssey. In most other games, I don't give a damn about NPC's (except if there's some reward in it). But those little mudokon's just have too much charm to pass up. Combined with the chanting, their primitive religion, all that sort of stuff...it just gets my vote.



@others: I don't mean to bash on the big names, but after too many games, I find it hard to keep the mythologies intact. Lots of RPG's seem to come up with mythologies because their audience expects it to (usually with a counter-religion involved, so there is some REASON why the player has opposition). It's usually paper thin...especially with long series, where the mythology either repeats itself (Zelda) or completely ignores previous installments (Final Fantasy).

I admit I'm not easily touched by video game stories. But if I care more about that poor Nali getting attacked by a brutal skaarj (Unreal reference) than some thousand-year old temple getting attacked by some metalchrome robo army, then the latter game is doing something wrong.


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## ChaosZero816 (May 31, 2011)

My picks are Starcraft and Castlevania.

Starcraft has a mysterious vibe to it. There are many things still unexplained at this point in the story and there is so much room in explaining the next events that will occur.

Castlevania is a rich blend of different mythologies that influence its stories. It has Greek, Norse, and it also takes from the bible. IMO, it has one of the most diverse storyline of all the game series that still go on up to this day.


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## Zhelkus (May 31, 2011)

@ChaosZero816: the bible is judeo-christian.


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## Waflix (May 31, 2011)

I'm thinking of Super Scribblenauts

Final Fantasy, especially III (DS).


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## Deleted member 473940 (May 31, 2011)

Elder Scrolls Series is very rich in content and still going strong!

However, I like God of War lol. Because of familiar names, and how they evolved the story.


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