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Baldur's Gate vs. The Lord of the Rings vs. Harry Potter

DjimmyDjimmy Member Posts: 749
edited September 2012 in Archive (General Discussion)
Which do you think is the best according to storyline, characters, atmosphere and experience as a whole? Explain why.
  1. Baldur's Gate vs. The Lord of the Rings vs. Harry Potter149 votes
    1. Baldur's Gate
      42.95%
    2. The Lord of the Rings
      32.89%
    3. Harry Potter
        4.03%
    4. Other(specify in your comment)
        8.05%
    5. All
      10.07%
    6. None
        2.01%
«1

Comments

  • raywindraywind Member Posts: 289
    Robin Hobb the farseer trilogy is my personal favourite.
  • ajwzajwz Member Posts: 4,122
    I pick Baldur's gate or lord of the rings since I am not a twelve year old.
  • CCarluNNCCarluNN Member Posts: 200
    For fantasy, I turn to Forgotten Realms.
    For science fiction, I turn to Stargate.
    For something real and now, I turn on the news.
  • g314g314 Member Posts: 201
    Shin said:

    Very hard to compare a game series to a book series. I at least get different experiences out of them. The BG series are extraordinary games, but as we all know they fell flat as books. That's not to say that they couldn't have been done better, but many dimensions from the game are lost in book form - and likely the other way around as well, as LotR so far hasn't (imo) worked very well in any game form.

    As for Harry Potter, to me that isn't in the same league as those two.

    Couldn't have said it better myself!
  • Permidion_StarkPermidion_Stark Member Posts: 4,861
    I love Baldur's Gate.

    But for "storyline, characters, atmosphere and experience as a whole" I'd take the first five seasons of Buffy or the the one and only season of Firefly any day of the week.
  • RazorRazor Member Posts: 436
    Harry... Pothead?
  • LemernisLemernis Member, Moderator Posts: 4,318
    Tolkien wins this hands down, for me. From a literary standpoint, at least. No contest imvho.

    Harry Potter I know nothing of but the very first movie, and it did nothing for me. I felt no affinity with its characters or world whatsoever.

    But I have to say that what I like most about FR is its incredible diversity. There are so many places and facets of the world to explore. If I could actually enter either the Forgotten Realms or Middle Earth... i.e., had a choice of only one or the other... I think I would probably choose the Realms. Just to travel and see as much of it as I could.
  • SeldarSeldar Member Posts: 438
    That should be : BG series vs Skyrim vs Two worlds or something like that
  • KholdstareKholdstare Member Posts: 160
    I love Baldur's Gate and LotR, so it was hard for me to choose. I was also tempted to hit "Other" to count A Song of Ice and Fire.
  • RazorRazor Member Posts: 436
    edited September 2012
    yea... from the moment LotR is there there can't be no other choice. Its the birth of... a world.
    Really why HP is in there... still hurts my eyes, the poll for HP should be side by side with twilight and narnia...
  • PhælinPhælin Member Posts: 316
    "The Witcher Saga" by Andrzej Sapkowski
  • EnialusMeliamneEnialusMeliamne Member Posts: 399
    LOTR for me. That said, I hope to someday see Faerunian adventures on the silver screen.
  • O_BruceO_Bruce Member Posts: 2,790
    The Witcher franchise - I mean both novels ("The Witcher Saga" as Przemkas mentioned) and videogames. Film and TV show had quality of a crap, thought. I like the feeling that word in The Witcher is descriped quite similar to ours in certain aspects (althought mr. Sapkowski claimed it wasn't intentional) like politics, not obvious differences between good and evil, things like that.
  • elminsterelminster Member, Developer Posts: 16,317
    edited September 2012
    I felt like being rather elminsterish today, so I voted multiple times on this poll.
    Post edited by elminster on
  • taletotelltaletotell Member Posts: 74
    I think LOTR isn't a great read. I know that is a heresy but it is true. Long dreary journey, unimaginative in its magic, and a villain who has no face and whose surrogates are cardboard. Tolkien built a cool world but not a great plot.
    Harry potter had the opposite problem. The plots were interesting, the villain and underlings were all somewhat human in their depth, but the world and magic made no sense. A middle schooler can levitate a troll's club to hit him with it but an adult can't handle a giant. Rowling should write for someone else's world.

    BG takes a cool world and puts a good plot in it.
    So does dragonlance.
    So does every world Hobb has made.
    So does Martin.
    So does Bakker.
    There are a lot better works to compare BG against
  • KelesKeles Member Posts: 31
    as enjoyable as the BG and the Forgotten realms are they're not LotR (imo) which is just about the standard that all fantasy based works are compared against. LotR set the standard and revitalized an entire genre...tough to beat that!

    now if this was specific to gaming and a comparison of gaming worlds only...then I could jump on board with BG/FR being top dog given the wealth of gaming info that has been put out there. ~
  • jhart1018jhart1018 Member Posts: 909
    BG is great, but a lot of the FR stuff got on my nerves after a while. I had to stop reading it. The "long awaited third installments" to a couple of my favorite series were so unforgivably awful that I refuse to acknowledge their existence and it turned me off reading anything FR to this day. HP is great through book 4; after that, it degenerates quickly. LoTR--I prefer The Hobbit by leaps and bounds. As far as world building and story arc, I love Jim Butcher's work, both in the Dresden Files and the Codex Alera.
  • KelesKeles Member Posts: 31
    jhart1018 said:

    BG is great, but a lot of the FR stuff got on my nerves after a while.

    agreed. almost all the early stuff was great but then they went and got all silly and the quality dropped way off, especially at the end. made me a sad lil gamer. :( ~
  • ZafiroZafiro Member Posts: 436
    Middle Earth, for we all know that the original is better than the sequel. All fantasy RPG's are coming from LotR.
  • AkerhonAkerhon Member, Translator (NDA) Posts: 614
    Icewindale Trilogy :)
  • SmaugSmaug Member Posts: 216
    edited September 2012
    Yeah it's tough to compare literary works to a video game, two totally different experiences.
    Best Literature = LoTR
    Best Video game = BG
    Best Movie = still LoTR over HP, except that last scene where Sam and Frodo are reunited and they share that tender look that seems to say, "we want to blow each other right now."
    Post edited by Smaug on
  • CandramelekhCandramelekh Member Posts: 109
    Harry Potter? LOL
  • TalvraeTalvrae Member Posts: 315
    I'm personally more a Fan of Frank Herert Dune than LotR (what a bore fest seriously, take all the will power of the world to read trought the Concil of Eldron) But i wont compare video games to novels it's just not fair
  • AnduinAnduin Member Posts: 5,745
    LotR... No contest. All other fantasy fiction has elements that can be inferred from LotR.

    On a side note. How on earth can you even compare Harry Potter and BG?!? It's like comparing a trifle with a Ferrari F40...
  • LordsDarkKnight185LordsDarkKnight185 Member Posts: 615
    Pfft all of you Harry Potter haters dissapoint me.

    But I agree it does not compare to BG, LOTR, or any FR novel.
  • cloakanddaggercloakanddagger Member Posts: 111
    The more fantasy I can surround myself with the better.
  • shawneshawne Member Posts: 3,239
    I tend to dislike works where the central conflict runs along a basic Good vs. Evil/Light vs. Dark binary; BG allows for more complex variations.
  • Awong124Awong124 Member Posts: 2,642
    Why is Harry Potter even in there?
  • TalvraeTalvrae Member Posts: 315
    Awong124 said:

    Why is Harry Potter even in there?

    My guess? It's a big spawning sage, who had quite a lot of influnece, a big lore and his fantasy, and pretty big lore
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