I think it’s a good thing for games developers to try and make their fantasy world a bit different from other games’ worlds, so I don’t think there’s anything wrong with putting slang into the game, however, it does strike me as a bit odd that they would choose to put in modern day slang.
If they are trying to portray a more realistic version of war in a fantasy world, wouldn’t it make more sense to make their own fantasy slang for the world? Morrowind had weird made-up slang throughout. People call you “N’wah” as an insult, and use comletely bizzare greetings like “Wealth beyond measure, outlander”, which allows them to use slang, without breaking the fantasy style of the game.
Anyway, i’m still not sure if i’m going to get KUF, I suppose poor voice acting doesn’t really matter if they game itself is good. I might wait and get it second hand at about ?15-20, so it’s not too much of a loss if I don’t like it.
Anyways there is no modern slang in KUF."The ladies love me! Look at these broad shoulders!"doesn’t strike me as slang.Oh and another thing about KUF : the music is all metallish.
But yeah you should probably wait a while to get it.Buying this game will make me have to think twice about buying Oddworld Stranger’s Wrath next month.
I think rather than the term “slang,” the term we are looking for here is “modern colloquialisms.”
And Drenholm is absolutely correct. There is nothing wrong with creating your own slang or colloquial speech, but certain patterns of speech, certain words have meanings and/or images intrinsically attached to them. Using words that sound modern in a fantasy setting carries with them a jumbled set of images that don’t mesh with the world itself, causing a sort of rift between the world and the characters.
This can also be used to have the opposite effect. Take the TV series “Firefly” for example. It’s a sci-fi show, but the character speak primarily like cowboys. They wear cowboy-like clothes, and most of the soundtrack is bluegrass, honky-tonk, etc… country stuff. But, they mix in some Chinese words now and then (the setting claims that China is the next super power, so most people speak some Chinese), and some new slang, and voila! You’ve got a setting with instant recognizability. You understand that it’s a frontier that they’re living on, hence the cowboy-speak. You know that it’s a bit foreign/in the future because of the Chinese and additional slang. You see?
As a side note… if you ever want to create a children’s toy/book/whatever that you want to be a success, be sure to include a whole new set of slang that adults won’t understand. Nothing gives children pleasure than knowing things adults do not. Take a look at Harry Potter, Pokemon, Dragonball, etc. Works like a charm.
None of the words in that specific line strike me as odd if they were ever used in a medieval setting in a friend-friend conversation.Don’t forget the middle ages weren’t just about knigs and princes blah blah blah…
Well, if LOTR never came to be, we wouldn’t have fantasy worlds as they are, but the point still stands. I wouldn’t want to read a story set in colonial America and have people talking like that, either.
Is it impossible to pull off? No. But it takes a much lighter touch and better writing than the people who did that game.
To be honest, maybe I am. But, I don’t see why it should be necessary to spend hours and hours playing a game before discovering what makes it fun. A well-made game should be interesting from the beginning and build up to a climax. It shouldn’t start dead in the water and then finally become fun after 10 hours of nothing (not saying that KuF has 10 hours before it becomes fun, just sayin’).
Also, a demo is supposed to highlight what makes the game good, and it failed to impress me.
I have actually played afew levels of KUF at a friends house, so I though I may as well post what I thought of it:
At first, it didn’t impress me very much, it seem to simply require you to charge into battle, then mash buttons until everything is dead, but I gave it a chance, and once I’d got the first few levels out of the way, the game starts to get very good. First off, the army customisation was much better than I expected it to be. There is allot of new equiptment that can be bought for each troop of men, and the troops can be upgraded from basic troop, knights and spearmen to anything from paladins, to eagle riders and airship crews. Another thing that impressed me was the amount of strategy involved once you had a few more squads of men, I liked how all the different troop types made a HUGE difference when fighting an enemy they are strong against (luring enemy knights into spearmen is great ). The way differnt terrain affects the battles is also very interesting, even very small things, like having your archers facing the sun, makes big differences to your preformance.
The hack-and-slash stuff was alright, too, and made a nice change from positioning troops and issuing orders.
As for the writing/voice acting, sure, it’s not great, but it doesn’t actually detract from the enjoyment of the game at all, so it didn’t really bother me.
). The way differnt terrain affects the battles is also very interesting, even very small things, like having your archers facing the sun, makes big differences to your preformance.