Other sorts of fantasy/sci-fi

I'd say that, as far as non-book science fiction and fantasy goes, anime/manga is definitely where the best products are. Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Gasaraki, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (I hear the first isn't so good), and all the Miyazaki films are just as good as any genre work done in the West; as well as the others you mention. Neon Genesis: Evangelion remains my favorite SF work of all-time (and is a strong contender for my favorite "thing" of all time, in general).

There are a few good original movies in that vein as well, most recently The Fountain. Western Comics also make some strong contributions to SF/Fantasy, with stuff like Promethea and Transmetropolitan, not to mention all the superheroes who are basically science fiction characters in their own right (Grant Morrison even made a deliberate effort to play this up in his run on New X-Men).

As far as video games go, the Final Fantasy games spring immediately to mind, as do the Homeworld and Halo series.

It's a big world out there. Lots of good stuff across many different media.

Anime drives me nuckin' futs, but I love a lot of the other fantasy stuff that has come out.

I love Gundam Wing. Love it, love it. I bought the box set on DVD and watch it about once a year all the way through. Cowboy Bebop is a lot of fun too, and Outlaw Star. I also think Miyazaki's Spirited Away is one of the finest movies ever made, in any genre and any country.

I play Ultima Online, a fantasy-based online game--I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but I've been playing since beta TEN years ago (on and off, anyway). It's a fun game but I can't say it has many new ideas--games in general seem to be pretty generic in their depictions of fantasy and SF.

Anime and manga can be incredibly creative, though. But if anyone's going to use ideas they pick up from anime, be aware that a lot of it seems fresh to western audiences but are actually almost cliches in Japan--catpeople come to mind immediately.

Video games have potential, but mostly waste it. There is true storytelling possibilities there and none of them are being properly pursued. It's something I've always said I'll do, you know, someday.

Fantasy music can be wonderful. There's the band Nightwish, who is very heavily sci-fi and fantasy based. Wonderful listen. Especially their last album, "Once."

Fantasy comics are hit and miss, unless we count super heroes as sci-fi and fantasy (which I do) which case, they're frequently spot on.

Although we've had comics like Sandman and Fables, so comics are doing fine.

Ooooooh boy. PeeDee, you need to play Fallout and Planescape: Torment. Both have very well written dialouge, amazingly cool worlds to explore and steller plotlines. Torment is probebly a 'better' plotline. As the New York Times put it: "As a piece of literature, it blows away 'Lord of The Rings' for my $34.99"

Fallout can be found in stores, in a single DVD with every single game in the Fallout trillogy, but Planescape: Torment is a lot harder to find. Amazon, E-bay and bittorrent are probebly the only places I can think of. But it's worth it for a game where you can argue someone out of exsistance. Hehehehehehe

I had the first Fallout, I recall. It was back when I looked at the name "Interplay" and didn't immediately think "Ah. Garbage." Or "Yay! Bankrupt!"

I disctinctly remember the box art, at any rate.

Anyway, I'm not totally discounting video games. I've been playing them for a long, long time pretty steadily, and I've played a lot of them. Some of them have done very well story-wise (in particular, Midway's "Shadow Hearts" series has made me happy). I'm just saying that there are many, many things video games can do, both story-wise and art-wise, which they aren't even doing a little bit.

You should go find it and play it again. It's worth it.

I would, only I've just downloaded Rise of the Traid, and you can't tear me away from it for at LEAST another week, by which point I'll find Tyrain again and you'll have lost me for another week.

I'm with WildsScribe on the anime thing; it just drives me nuckin' futs to listen to a the squealing and shouting - it's all very migraine inducing. And I think I've plateaued on Video Games, aside from GuildWars which I haven't played in months (gave it up to focus on writing/completing my novel), I haven't touched a game that was worth my time or money.

I used to be huge on anime, not so much anymore though I do have a my collection still. Fruits Basket, Escaflowne, Rurouni Kenshin, Trigun, Wolf's Rain, X, and Outlaw Star are some of my favorites. ^^

My real interest though is video games. RPGs are pretty much the only thing I play with the odd action/adventure thrown in. I just love 'em to death, what can I say. ^^

Warp, if you haven't already, I'd highly recommend checking out Xenogears, which Xenosaga is actually a prequel of. A shame that they stopped after Also Sprach Zarathustra, it was actually planned out to be 6 games but the development team had a falling out with the company or something. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details since I still haven't gotten all the way through Der Wille Zur Macht lol.

I'd also recommend the other Tales games. Tales of the Abyss is the most recent I believe, I just picked it up last week actually, haven't played it yet though. There's also Tales of Legendia and a few more besides.

Right now I'm actually playing through Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria. I admit the whole premise of a game based on Norse mythology intrigued me quite a bit. So far it's got a really interesting story, the battle system is weird to me though. And I'd like to know why if I switch my party leader to the archer or the mage that my attack range doesn't increase. Don't have to be point blank to shoot something in the face, after all. But eh, mostly nitpicks. All in all I'm enjoying it.

I'm also playing through Final Fantasy XII again when I get tired of VP2 or just feel like it hehe. ^^ I'm such a geek I preordered the Collector's Edition months before release. I also put about 80 hours on it in two and a half weeks. >.>; Not obssessed at all! *Hides her wallscrolls.*

I play an MMORPG as well, Final Fantasy XI. Taking a break from it at the moment though since I have so many shiny new games to play. Next on my list after VP2 is Okami, followed by Tales of the Abyss.

~DragonHeart~

I don't know why, but the whole gameplay dynamic of MMO's turn me off. Maybe it's the money, maybe it's the grind...but I just don't like it. The only MMO that almost got me was Eve. And that was just because I heard about the epic inter-corperation assasination war that involved a year of infiltration and work, wherein the assasins joined the enemy corperation, worked their way up the ladder, became assistants to the CEO then, at the predeterimined date, shot the CEO in the back, blew her ship up, stole as much as they could from the corperation's banks then scooped up the CEO's frozen body and gave it to the man who hired them in the first place.

The money the enemy corperation lost was equivelent to 3,400 real world american dollers. Not to mention the 6 million in game credits, the five space stations, and the ten ships that were stolen/blowed up. In all, it took a year to plan and exicute.


Now those are hardcore players.

Zoombie said:

The money the enemy corperation lost was equivelent to 3,400 real world american dollers. Not to mention the 6 million in game credits, the five space stations, and the ten ships that were stolen/blowed up. In all, it took a year to plan and exicute.

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You couldn't pay me 3,400 to sit there for a year of my life to rattle away at something like that. I understand the draw of MMO's and I think that is why I've wasted so much time in the past and am only now focusing on (what is for me) more tangible accomplishments.

Maybe one day I'll get back into GW.

farfromfearless said:

You couldn't pay me 3,400 to sit there for a year of my life to rattle away at something like that. I understand the draw of MMO's and I think that is why I've wasted so much time in the past and am only now focusing on (what is for me) more tangible accomplishments.

Maybe one day I'll get back into GW.

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My wife and I have been Very Silly and purchased subscriptions to World of Warcraft. The thing is, we only play when we can both play together (she has a character she'll play by herself. I don't.) I enjoy it, in particular more than Guild Wars, because there are things I can do beyond fighting. We played Guild Wars all the way through, and Factions too, and after awhile it just feels like a 3D Diablo with multiplayer.

Video games, MMOs in particular, are fine and dandy, as long as you set up some system so that you don't wind up wasting whole days. It's why I nither play video games, nor watch TV, when my wife isn't with me. I just work.

(or hang out here. Sigh.)

farfromfearless said:

You couldn't pay me 3,400 to sit there for a year of my life to rattle away at something like that. I understand the draw of MMO's and I think that is why I've wasted so much time in the past and am only now focusing on (what is for me) more tangible accomplishments.

Maybe one day I'll get back into GW.

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You and me both. I said almost got me. Didn't quite, thankfully.

Most of the SF/F that I enjoy comes in the forms of television, film, books, and comic books/graphic novels.

Something else that hasn't been mentioned yet is visual art. Graphics, paintings, drawings, digital media, whatever. There are dozens of websites dedicated to art with a SF/F base, and I have found some beautiful artwork online. Outer space is my favorite subject.

PeeDee said:

Fantasy music can be wonderful. There's the band Nightwish, who is very heavily sci-fi and fantasy based. Wonderful listen. Especially their last album, "Once."

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I endorse PeeDee's choice of Nighwish. Excellent band (think power rock band fronted by an opera singer). I'm glad I got to see them before they fired the singer.