Anticipating Age of Conan
Posted by Stropp on March 30, 2008I have to admit to feeling a little ambivalent about Age of Conan over the last couple of years.
While it’s been on my radar, and I’ve posted a few items on it, I haven’t really followed it with much more than a passing interest. Some of that has to do with my current game load. I’m already involved with a few MMORPGs. There’s only so many that I can juggle and still get anywhere in. A bit like relationships really.
I reckon I’m also a little bored with the fantasy factor. Nearly every game out there is based on a medieval swords and sorcery archetype. There’s not a lot new under the MMO sun lately. There’s a crop of SciFi MMORPGs on the way, Jumgate Evolution, Stargate Worlds, and the post apocalyptic Fallen Earth and friends. I am looking forward to these, but they won’t be out for some months (at least) yet.
I’d love to see some attempts at non-standard fantasy. Steampunk based on China Mievilles New Crobuzon from Perdido Street Station. Or perhaps Gothic fantasy based in an alternate Victorian era world.
So even with this slightly jaded feeling I’m experiencing at the moment, I’m beginning to get a sense of anticipation for Age of Conan.
Perhaps it’s because the world that Howard built for Conan isn’t based on Tolkiens world. JRR Tolkiens influence on fantasy fiction has been absolutely enormous. Much of the fantasy literature written since Lord of the Rings has borrowed much from Middle Earth. Howard however never borrowed from Lord of the Rings. Howard died in 1936 at the age of 30, nearly 20 years before Lord of the Rings was published.
As an aside, you could almost call Howard the Mozart of his time. By the time of his death at 30 years of age, he had written over three hundred stories and seven hundred poems and was an accomplished pulp fiction author. He is considered one of the seminal fantasy writers of the 20th century, along with JRR Tolkien.
I get the feeling that Age of Conan isn’t just going to be a mature rated version of World of Warcraft. I think it could be that something different style of fantasy that I’d like to see.
I’m looking forward to Age of Conan. Are you?
Popularity: 14% [?]
Can’t decide on future MMO’s…I’ll be an owner of a Wii & PS3 soon so my PC gaming will cut back a little so my MMO playing will naturally suffer. I would like to have got into the Warhammer beta but have heard nothing & I don’t think I tried for a AoC beta key. Did you Stropp?
I see a lot of console gaming in your future… lol
Just don’t chuck that Wii controller through your Tele….
I applied to both the Warhammer and AoC beta but haven’t heard anything back. I suspect it’s because I put down that I was a blogger – I think that scares the devs off these days. Pity.
[...] Stropp on Anticipating Age of Conan [...]
Add A Comment
Subscribe to the RSS Feed For These Comments