Ideas needed - FOR SCIENCE!

[Sonicron]

Hello there!

I've had ample time to mull over what I'm going to write about in my bachelor thesis (subject: English philology), and I think I've come up with a decent enough topic. Seeing how I already turned a hobby of mine into a research paper once (Morphology 40.000: Word-formation processes in science-fiction literature) and it worked out pretty damn well, I decided to go with this:

Mythology: A comparison between literary works and re-imaginings in the video game medium.

I've already made a short list of games to focus on, the prime candidates so far being 'Enslaved: Journey to the West' and 'Too Human', but I'd like to ask the Escapist for input here. What more or less big games / franchises deal with (any kind of) mythology and have ties to / are based on known literary works? If possible, name the literary works that come to mind!
Oh yeah, and I'm likely going to focus on the narrative aspects, so the ludological component will be minor in comparison (but important nonetheless!); titles that are largely concerned with gameplay probably won't help me as much.

 

[JRCB]

Dante's Inferno is a given.

And I don't know about you, but to me, Halo seems pretty biblical. Really biblical.

Other than that, I got nothing.

 

[Mittens The Kitten]

Age of mythology and god of war are good for greek mythos, and Darksiders is a good example of a "re-imagining" of the biblical end of days.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

The obvious ones: God of War and Dante's Inferno - though that's more a poem than mythology.

Oh and (surprise, surprise) Age of Mythology.

You could also feature any fantasy game that uses mythological creatures.

 

[Sonicron]

Dear Lord... how did I not see Dante's Inferno?! Thanks, guys.

Also, as far as Darksiders goes (and Dante's Inferno as well, I guess), how likely am I to step on anyone's toes classifying the main narrative theme as 'Christian mythology'? Because I really can't think of any other way to call it in the given context.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Christianity has a rich and varied mythology, like any other religion. A bunch of it actually crosses over with Judaism and Zoroastrianism.

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

Its a real term, and unless you are dealing with a lot of dumb-dumbs who don't know what "mythology" means, then you should be fine.

Read some descriptions of the various angels in Juedo-Christian mythology. They are pretty crazy in the detail.

 

[Sonicron]

Christianity has a rich and varied mythology, like any other religion.

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

Its a real term, and unless you are dealing with a lot of dumb-dumbs who don't know what "mythology" means, then you should be fine.

... Huh. Lookie that. And here I thought I was venturing out onto thin ice. Thank you!

 

[Plurralbles]

Your'e an academic, you shoudl know that unless you're talking about legalizing child molestation you're never walking on thin ice.

 

[darth.pixie]

D&D has a lot of Greek myth creatures.

There is a game called Zeus:Master of Olympus and an expansion called Poseidon. The Labyrinth of Time and Wrath of the Gods are based also on greek myths. Rise of the Argonauts. Titan Quest.

Ragnarok (DOS game) and Valhalla (DOS game mostly text) on Norse myths.

Jade Empire on Chinese myths.

Mabinogi is a Korean MMO based on Irish myths. Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches is a point and click based on Welsh myths.

If you are interested in point and click or Hidden Adventure Games, I can list more.

 

[higgs20]

odyssey to the west and enslaved? although the comparisons are pretty thin on the ground, i suppose you could show how video games change and shape old stories to their own uses, using enslaved as an example.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

D&D has a lot of Greek myth creatures.

There is a game called Zeus:Master of Olympus and an expansion called Poseidon. The Labyrinth of Time and Wrath of the Gods are based also on greek myths. Rise of the Argonauts. Titan Quest.

Ragnarok (DOS game) and Valhalla (DOS game mostly text) on Norse myths.

Jade Empire on Chinese myths.

Mabinogi is a Korean MMO based on Irish myths. Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches is a point and click based on Welsh myths.

If you are interested in point and click or Hidden Adventure Games, I can list more.

Very good examples! may i add that you have an intriguing & funny avatar!

going back to the subject:
I still remember the Shields of Quetzalcoatl...aka Broken Sword 2
(Mechica's Mythology you don't really say Aztec in exact archaeology terms)

 

[Floppertje]

Dante's Inferno is a given.

And I don't know about you, but to me, Halo seems pretty biblical. Really biblical.

Other than that, I got nothing.

I'm not sure if it's 'really biblical' as in, having the same message as the bible (since a lot of the biblical references have to do with the covenant, which is a religious alliance of sorts, and you spend 90% of the games shooting at them). but there are TONS and even more tons of biblical references in halo, not least of which the name of the game (and the installations), there's the ark (you know, noah's boat and the thing they carried the commandments around in). the covenant (as in, the ark of the covenant). the Flood, which kills everyone... and i could carry on like that for a bit more...

aaaanyways, back OT: Heinlein's starship troopers? that book spawned 2 good movies (and one really shitty one), there's a game about a guy in power armor who jumps from spaceships to fight an alien hive-minded race... (have i mentioned that one before?), half life 2 rips it off with the sand lions (which are basically copy-pasted arachnids) and the flying telekinetic brain-sucking thing is also totally a ripoff from the brainbug.

EDIT: oh my god I am an IDIOT! how could I forget? Half life totally rips off 1984. but then again, so does pretty much every other dystopian-future game, movie or book. with exception of the apocalyptic ones i suppose.

 

[TheGuy(wantstobe)]

Hello there!

I've had ample time to mull over what I'm going to write about in my bachelor thesis (subject: English philology), and I think I've come up with a decent enough topic. Seeing how I already turned a hobby of mine into a research paper once (Morphology 40.000: Word-formation processes in science-fiction literature) and it worked out pretty damn well, I decided to go with this:

Mythology: A comparison between literary works and re-imaginings in the video game medium.

I've already made a short list of games to focus on, the prime candidates so far being 'Enslaved: Journey to the West' and 'Too Human', but I'd like to ask the Escapist for input here. What more or less big games / franchises deal with (any kind of) mythology and have ties to / are based on known literary works? If possible, name the literary works that come to mind!
Oh yeah, and I'm likely going to focus on the narrative aspects, so the ludological component will be minor in comparison (but important nonetheless!); titles that are largely concerned with gameplay probably won't help me as much.

Okami for a reinterpretation of classic Japanese myths, though there is not one central literary piece that springs to mind so it may not be ideal for your thesis.
Dante's Inferno is rather obvious with it being directly based on The Divine Comedy.
The Stronghold series of games focuses on Arthurian myth so that would be Y Gododdin or Annales Cambria along with many other literary sources.

Hope that's helped a little bit.

 

[Sonicron]

I would say one of the better games is a flash one that is called "Dont Look Back" or something along those lines. Its subtle but it is based off of a greek or roman mythos of a man goes to Hades to bring his wife back, Hades grants his wish on one condition, that if he can exit the underworld without looking back his wife will return.

as for narrative, its pretty light in text, visual, and sound, but conveys the story pretty well if you have some back knowledge of what it is based on.

Ah, the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. I'll definitely check this one out; for the purpose of my thesis this actually sounds more useful than God of War.

 

[Sonicron]

Okami for a reinterpretation of classic Japanese myths, though there is not one central literary piece that springs to mind so it may not be ideal for your thesis.
Dante's Inferno is rather obvious with it being directly based on The Divine Comedy.
The Stronghold series of games focuses on Arthurian myth so that would be Y Gododdin or Annales Cambria along with many other literary sources.

Hope that's helped a little bit.

Not too sure about Okami, but I'll take a look at the Stronghold games. Thanks! ^^

 

[Tossth Esalad]

Oh and (surprise, surprise) Age of Mythology.

Yeah, that's quite a, um, hmn... odd interpretation of both the Iliad and the Odyssey.



Edit: Oh, and Egyptian and Norse mythology as well.

 

[hittite]

Well, the title Xenosaga series are named after books by Nietzsche, and there's quite a bit of Christian Mythology attached along with some extremely unsubtle symbolism.

Edit: Also try Castlevania.

 

[Cpt_Oblivious]

Oh and (surprise, surprise) Age of Mythology.

Yeah, that's quite a, um, hmn... odd interpretation of both the Iliad and the Odyssey.



Edit: Oh, and Egyptian and Norse mythology as well.

That's why it's great for his project!

 

[Ordinaryundone]

As a thesis, might I recommend that you consider instead how video games can use a basis of mythology, along with creative license, to create new stories or reinterpret myths for a new audience and setting. Enslaved is a good example of the latter, and Okami is a great example of the former, as is God of War. Hell, you could easily reinterpret Kratos' story as an alternate, more cynical version of Hercules (in fact, I thought he WAS Hercules until he showed up in the 3rd game).

Man is born of gods and mortals, and uses his strength to accomplish great acts of heroism. Unfortunately, in a moment of weakness he kills his own family, and is tasked by the gods to preform acts of heroic community service. However, unlike Herc who gets absolved of his sins once he is done, Kratos has to face the fact that no matter what he does, he will always have to carry his sin with him because there is no evil greater than killing your own blood. Without this redemption guiding him, we see him dive deep into a spiral of revenge that ends with him exerting an almost Nietzsche-style Ubermenchian will upon his world, eventually burning away an old, outdated system of morals in favor of a world shaped by human hands. Thus, the story changes from a myth about revenge and redemption to one of human empowerment and the price of challenging fate. All by simply changing the ending of one well known story.

 

[Sonicron]

As a thesis, might I recommend that you consider instead how video games can use a basis of mythology, along with creative license, to create new stories or reinterpret myths for a new audience and setting. Enslaved is a good example of the latter, and Okami is a great example of the former, as is God of War. Hell, you could easily reinterpret Kratos' story as an alternate, more cynical version of Hercules (in fact, I thought he WAS Hercules until he showed up in the 3rd game).

Man is born of gods and mortals, and uses his strength to accomplish great acts of heroism. Unfortunately, in a moment of weakness he kills his own family, and is tasked by the gods to preform acts of heroic community service. However, unlike Herc who gets absolved of his sins once he is done, Kratos has to face the fact that no matter what he does, he will always have to carry his sin with him because there is no evil greater than killing your own blood. Without this redemption guiding him, we see him dive deep into a spiral of revenge that ends with him exerting an almost Nietzsche-style Ubermenchian will upon his world, eventually burning away an old, outdated system of morals in favor of a world shaped by human hands. Thus, the story changes from a myth about revenge and redemption to one of human empowerment and the price of challenging fate. All by simply changing the ending of one well known story.

That's... actually a pretty good idea. Seeing how I still have about three months to amend both title and subtopics of my thesis before I 'officially' get started, I'll definitely take this under advisement. Thanks for the great post!