Worlds without tolkienesque races

Peregrine · Jun 3, 2019

Are there any epic fantasy video games of any genre that dont have tolkienesque worldbuilding and races such as orcs, dwarves, elves? The key word is epic fantasy. I am not interested in urban fantasy or historical fantasy.

I understand that its hard to make your own race and that they are recycling the same formula because of its popular appeal, but are there games that take a alternative path to worldbuilding? While fantasy worlds can be original in execution, they are pretty stale when it comes to the choice of races.

If they have races that are just old races with a different name such as pseudo-elves, pseudo-dwarves and pseudo-orcs, that doesn't count.

Svrtnsse · Jun 3, 2019

Does Final Fantasy count as epic fantasy?

Devor · Jun 3, 2019

Just the whole idea behind having "races" at all is very Tolkein and leads into those comparisons. Having stone people and lizard people is just the next logical step. Elves and dwarves go back into Viking times. What Tolkein actually did was make them into people and civilized. It's not unlike what Bram Stoker did with vampires when he wrote Dracula. So I would say anything that lets you pick a race like they're all "balanced" with human is already Tolkein-esque, no matter what races they go with.

That said, you could take a look at the Final Fantasy games if you're looking for epic and different. Since JRPGs tend to give you preset characters, instead of letting you create them yourself, they don't have to reign in and explain away the wonder of their other races for the purpose of balancing your character options.

Peregrine · Jun 3, 2019

Devor said: ↑

Just the whole idea behind having "races" at all is very Tolkein and leads into those comparisons. Having stone people and lizard people is just the next logical step. Elves and dwarves go back into Viking times. What Tolkein actually did was make them into people and civilized. It's not unlike what Bram Stoker did with vampires when he wrote Dracula. So I would say anything that lets you pick a race like they're all "balanced" with human is already Tolkein-esque, no matter what races they go with.

That said, you could take a look at the Final Fantasy games if you're looking for epic and different. Since JRPGs tend to give you preset characters, instead of letting you create them yourself, they don't have to reign in and explain away the wonder of their other races for the purpose of balancing your character options.
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Sorry, anime style fantasy is not my cup of tea.

skip.knox · Jun 3, 2019

Let's suppose for a moment that the answer is "no". What would be your follow-up?

Gray-Hand · Jun 4, 2019

Dark Souls?
Any game set in the Hyborian Conan world won’t have tolkienesque races.

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Worlds without tolkienesque races

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