Gods and Heroes Interview

[Trippy]

From FiringSquad: Gods and Heroes Interview

I had totally forgotten about this MMOG which is in development at Perpetual Entertainment and was supposed to have been released last Fall. The interview is with Stieg Hedlund who was the designer of Diablo II. We had a discussion about the game last year here, and the game's site is here (warning Flash site).

[stray]

I don't think they'll be as unique as they think as far as backstory goes. Conan covers a lot mythological material as well. Also, Hyboria has a Greek/Roman like race (playable in AoC if I recall) -- The Apollonians.

[Strazos]

I would just like to point out that at the site, they attribute the name Nike (NEE-kay) to Athena (or Minerva, same thing) directly, which is somewhat incorrect.

They are actually referring to Athena Nike, Goddess of Victory, which is (depending on which source you are quoting) either an entirely different goddess who accompanies Athena, or a sort of physical manifestation of Athena's embodiment of victory in a battle (or something)....

Either way, I've never seen Nike = Athena. Perhaps this is something the Romans altered when they hijacked Greek religion. I don't know as I've never done work on pre-Christian Roman religion.

Sorry, pet peeve of mine. If someone is going to try and make a game based in a quasi-authentic historical setting, they should really get the historical part correct. Hell, they could hire a history student or two to fact-check things like this....

[stray]

I wouldn't get too worked up about that. I mean, some of those screenshots are of chicks in bikini armor.

Everyone knows that women didn't fight in wars then.

[Broughden]

I wouldn't get too worked up about that. I mean, some of those screenshots are of chicks in bikini armor.

Everyone knows that women didn't fight in wars then.

Well except for the Greek legend of the amazons. Women who cut off one their breasts in order to fire bows better. Are the screenshots of women with only one breast?

Either way, I've never seen Nike = Athena. Perhaps this is something the Romans altered when they hijacked Greek religion. I don't know as I've never done work on pre-Christian Roman religion.

No Nike was the daughter of Styx and the Titan Pallas. She was sister to Zelos, Kratos and Bia. In Roman religion she was known as Victoria.

[Glazius]

I wouldn't get too worked up about that. I mean, some of those screenshots are of chicks in bikini armor.

Everyone knows that women didn't fight in wars then.

Well except for the Greek legend of the amazons. Women who cut off one their breasts in order to fire bows better. Are the screenshots of women with only one breast?

Sigh.

That's a modern stupidity, brought on by someone reverse-engineering the name and assuming the prefix "a-" meant "lack of".

Actual Amazons when depicted in Grecian art are normally-chested and, if distinguished at all, are given a single earring.

It's likely the name came about from the fusion of a Persian term for horse cavalry, "ha'mazan", the reputation of said cavalry as kicking Greek ass up one side and down the other, a regional accent that dropped its aitches, and the lexographically identical prefix "a-" that meant "lots of".

--GF

[Broughden]

I wouldn't get too worked up about that. I mean, some of those screenshots are of chicks in bikini armor.

Everyone knows that women didn't fight in wars then.

Well except for the Greek legend of the amazons. Women who cut off one their breasts in order to fire bows better. Are the screenshots of women with only one breast?

Sigh.

That's a modern stupidity, brought on by someone reverse-engineering the name and assuming the prefix "a-" meant "lack of".

Actual Amazons when depicted in Grecian art are normally-chested and, if distinguished at all, are given a single earring.

It's likely the name came about from the fusion of a Persian term for horse cavalry, "ha'mazan", the reputation of said cavalry as kicking Greek ass up one side and down the other, a regional accent that dropped its aitches, and the lexographically identical prefix "a-" that meant "lots of".

--GF

Wouldnt the name have been descended from the Greek "amazoi" which actually means "breastless"?

Also wouldnt the legend have more properly evolved from Homer's tell of the Trojan War where the amazon Penthesilea was wounded in the right breast while fighting for King Priam?

My point being this is not simply a "modern stupidity" especially since it dates back to atleast the 3rd Century AD when the author Justine wrote of it.
But you are right there are no known works of art with the right breast removed, although it is frequently covered.

[Strazos]

Either way, I've never seen Nike = Athena. Perhaps this is something the Romans altered when they hijacked Greek religion. I don't know as I've never done work on pre-Christian Roman religion.

No Nike was the daughter of Styx and the Titan Pallas. She was sister to Zelos, Kratos and Bia. In Roman religion she was known as Victoria.

Well, see, I was correct then - then fucked up. Hell, they could have just gone to Wikipedia to factcheck that.

I only know Nike from my research related to Athena, but that seems like a pretty lazy mistake for a developer to make. I wonder what else they fucked up.

[Murgos]

I'm confused.

Theres Athena-Nike and also Pallas-Athena and then there is just Athena and Nike and Pallas?  I took an ancient mythology course 8 or 9 years ago but I don't remember all these versions of Athena running around.

[Nija]

It really bugs me that this guy is talking about expansions already.

C'mon dude, don't do the typical SOE stuff.

[Broughden]

I'm confused.

Theres Athena-Nike and also Pallas-Athena and then there is just Athena and Nike and Pallas?  I took an ancient mythology course 8 or 9 years ago but I don't remember all these versions of Athena running around.

Its easy to understand. Remember we are talking about 2500+ years ago. There was no Greek nation. No centralized government or religion with a senior arbiter of religious dogma. Many city-states and regions had their own beliefs. Just as you will still see this even in modern India today,  with different gods and goddesses from one village to the next.

Yes in some instances Athena and Nike were seen together, yet seperate. In one famous statue of Athena, Nike rests in the palm of her hand. However as is likely to happen in some societies this distinction was blurred to the point that the two goddesses became one.

Look at all the versions of Christianity that have sprung forth in just the last two thousand years.

[MrHat]

So when does the fun begin?

[Trippy]

Supposedly this Fall but they said a year ago that it would be available last Fall so who knows?

[Strazos]

I'm confused.

Theres Athena-Nike and also Pallas-Athena and then there is just Athena and Nike and Pallas?  I took an ancient mythology course 8 or 9 years ago but I don't remember all these versions of Athena running around.

I'm pretty surprised at how much Wikipedia has progressed with their non-mainstream material.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallas

The epithet of Pallas Athena is in my experience the most common, by far. I never knew about the origins of the epithet, so I guess I learned something today.

If you really wanna confuse yourself, look up epithets of Athena....there's quite a few.

[WindupAtheist]

The game should allow female avatars to cut off one boob for an archery buff.  Hell, every game should. 

[shiznitz]

But what do I get for losing a teste on my male wizard?

[WayAbvPar]

A pronounced limp.

[Strazos]

If they really wanted to be accurate, a lot of the females would be topless.

Oh yeah, and loin cloth for guys. Ugh.

[Murgos]

If they really wanted to be accurate, a lot of the females would be topless.

Oh yeah, and loin cloth for guys. Ugh.

Looks a little like a Boris painting:

[stray]

Are they trying to recreate the skin color portrayed in ancient Mediterranean mosaics, or are these people just the unfortunate victims of an artificial tanning solution?

[Strazos]

Are they trying to recreate the skin color portrayed in ancient Mediterranean mosaics, or are these people just the unfortunate victims of an artificial tanning solution?

If that's what they're doing, then again I say they need a consultant to straighten them out.

Though I don't think the skin tones look that bad.



Does anyone else think that looks like auto-attack?

[Azazel]

Are they trying to recreate the skin color portrayed in ancient Mediterranean mosaics, or are these people just the unfortunate victims of an artificial tanning solution?

Well, I'd prefer for something like this that the characters look more like real Greeks and Italians and Persians then, say, Disney's Hercules.

I bet they still have American accents when they speak, though. 

[Yoru]

Are they trying to recreate the skin color portrayed in ancient Mediterranean mosaics, or are these people just the unfortunate victims of an artificial tanning solution?

If that's what they're doing, then again I say they need a consultant to straighten them out.

Though I don't think the skin tones look that bad.



Does anyone else think that looks like auto-attack?

It looked pretty in person, but also killed my interest. Yes, that's auto-attack. Auto-attack with beautiful animations that repeat way, way, way too often.

I don't think there was a new SOE MMO on exhibit that didn't feature auto-attack and hotkeys.