Shades = Ankhegs

[Evange]

For those who played BG1, I personally feel that the shades in PoE reminded me of the Ankhegs from BG1.

 

Both of them appeared rather early in the game and marked a significant spike in game difficulty.

 

I remember that Ankhegs could one shot my weaker party members and practically forced me to radically change my approach to battles.

 

Such nostalgia!

[apolloooo]

is it the enemy with level / stat drain ability? i friggin hate those friggin mobs.

 

in BG 2 restoration spell and scrolls are super common, but in BG 1 there is only minor restoration which doesn't work for those stat drain, so i have to backtrack my way to priests

[Serdan]

is it the enemy with level / stat drain ability? i friggin hate those friggin mobs.

 

in BG 2 restoration spell and scrolls are super common, but in BG 1 there is only minor restoration which doesn't work for those stat drain, so i have to backtrack my way to priests

Ankheg

I'm pretty sure they don't have any drain abilities, but they hit really hard and they are just north of the Friendly Arm, so you can get there at something like lvl 2 no problem.

[b0rsuk]

More seriously....

 

Fampyrs - Vampires

Wichts - Wights

Eotuns - Ettins

Guls  - ghouls

Caen Gwhla (or something) - banshee

xaurips - almost goblins (Skuldr look more similar, but don't appear in swarms)

blights - elementals

 

Lazy world building. You may as well admit you're just ripping off with a few monsters. Eotuns are mentioned in a description of a magic belt.

Edited April 20, 2015 by b0rsuk

[Jimmious]

Its not lazy its just typical fantasy as everyone would expect.
As for Xaurips I'm pretty sure theyre the equivalent of Kobolds.

[Jimmysdabestcop]

But Ankhegs also got you 500 gold per shell. And gave out mad XP. Pljus 2 unique armors.

[Lorfean]

More seriously....

 

Fampyrs - Vampires

Wichts - Wights

Eotuns - Ettins

Guls  - ghouls

Caen Gwhla (or something) - banshee

xaurips - almost goblins (Skuldr look more similar, but don't appear in swarms)

blights - elementals

 

Lazy world building. You may as well admit you're just ripping off with a few monsters. Eotuns are mentioned in a description of a magic belt.

Considering that the whole idea -- and a big selling point for the Kickstarter -- was to create a world that was heavily inspired by the Forgotten Realms, similarities like this really shouldn't come as a surprise. Especially to a backer.

 

The world building is, in fact, anything but lazy, and has actually been one of the most impressive aspects of the game. There is a ton of well developed lore, a lot of interesting and detailed history for the region the story takes place in, almost every character you meet has opinions on (or direct involvement in) recent and past events, and so on... The world feels very "lived in" which does wonders for immersion and role-playing. 

[Evange]

Woah why all the bashing? PoE hits all the right notes with nostalgia...although Shades posed a problems for weaker members (I'm looking at you Aloth), at least it was not as bad as the Ankhegs who could one shot your party.

[Jimmysdabestcop]

Woah why all the bashing? PoE hits all the right notes with nostalgia...although Shades posed a problems for weaker members (I'm looking at you Aloth), at least it was not as bad as the Ankhegs who could one shot your party.

 

Nothing like slow moving green spit to act as a homing missle right at your wizard or thief.

[Evange]

 

 

Woah why all the bashing? PoE hits all the right notes with nostalgia...although Shades posed a problems for weaker members (I'm looking at you Aloth), at least it was not as bad as the Ankhegs who could one shot your party.

Nothing like slow moving green spit to act as a homing missle right at your wizard or thief.

Lol yea I remember the first time I faced an Ankheg and I was thinking how bad could that slowing moving green spit do? The next thing I saw was the game over screen.

[KDubya]

Ankhegs were like free experience. My favorite was a 1/2 orc fighter/cleric with flails, shield and plate. Get to like level 4 or so, AC -5 and then go solo the ankheg map. Afterwards go collect my companions and start the main questline.

 

Shades are tough, hard to hit, inflict blindness and teleport. Plus that slow big missile that hits your weakest team members. Real pain on PotD.

[Ineth]

Fampyrs - Vampires

Guls  - ghouls

 

Well, they're staples of the Medieval European folklore that most Western fantasy settings are based on.

 

Except that in this game, those monster types actually have an interesting "backstory/rationale" to their existence and characteristics. So basically Obsidian is both hitting the right notes here w.r.t. what fans expect from a fantasy RPG, and being innovative at the same time. Why bash them for that?

 

Wichts - Wights

 

This one does seem to be a Tolkienism, but other than the name the PoE version of them is totally different from the Tolkien version and the D&D version, so it's not just a lazy rip-off either.

 

Lazy world building. You may as well admit you're just ripping off with a few monsters.

 

TL;DR: This is a Western high-fantasy cRPG, so what do you expect? If you want a setting where everything is new and different, wait for T:ToN to come out.

[b0rsuk]

I would prefer that designers be honest about it and just called them vampires, wights, ghuls/ghouls, banshee and elementals. They are not different enough to warrant a new name.

 

Speaking of original ideas, do you know that the original ghouls - from Arabian myths - are not exactly undead ? Yes, they have an affinity for graveyards and are sometimes mentioned as dwelling there, but they're demon shapeshifters. They prey on travellers, deceive them and try to eat them. They can speak very well.

[FlintlockJazz]

I would prefer that designers be honest about it and just called them vampires, wights, ghuls/ghouls, banshee and elementals. They are not different enough to warrant a new name.

 

Speaking of original ideas, do you know that the original ghouls - from Arabian myths - are not exactly undead ? Yes, they have an affinity for graveyards and are sometimes mentioned as dwelling there, but they're demon shapeshifters. They prey on travellers, deceive them and try to eat them. They can speak very well.

If they called them exactly like DnD and others call them then you would get people complaining that they are not the same as they are in those other games.  I've already seen it with people asking why they don't need fire to kill trolls anymore and that they aren't real trolls as a result.  Fampyrs are quite different from vampires too, they are not blood-drinking immortals who turn into bats but rather zombies that can still think and pass for human, I find that significantly different enough to warrant a different name to avoid false association.

[Ineth]

I would prefer that designers be honest about it and just called them vampires, wights, ghuls/ghouls, banshee and elementals. They are not different enough to warrant a new name.

 

As FlintlockJazz explained, they are different enough that some players might be irritated to have to dissociate them from D&D-based preconceptions if they were named the same.

 

Also Josh Saywer is a language geek, and he developed Dyrwoodan and Glanfathan naming schemes which most things in PoE tend to vaguely follow, so it's only natural that "classical" monster names would be brought in line with that.

 

Those two considerations are all there is to it I think; not a conspiracy to rip off other works of art and try to conceal it.

[b0rsuk]

Haha, the only thing all scandinavian trolls have in common is they're hairy and have a Big Nose. This is a troll:

[eLPuSHeR]

FYI: Gul is Spanish for ghoul.

[Ineth]

scandinavian [...] This is a troll:

 

lol, in the rest of the world we call it "hippo".

[NathanH]

I think I'm with the badger here. When I saw a Gul for the first time I didn't think "Aha! A creature that shares many similarities with a ghoul but likely with several key lore and mechanical differences!" but rather "Aha! A ghoul that is too cool for school!"

[Judicator]

For those who played BG1, I personally feel that the shades in PoE reminded me of the Ankhegs from BG1.

 

Both of them appeared rather early in the game and marked a significant spike in game difficulty.

 

I remember that Ankhegs could one shot my weaker party members and practically forced me to radically change my approach to battles.

 

Such nostalgia!

But you could farm Ankhegs for XP and gold. An hour of killing Ankhegs in that hole and you're level 6.

[InfiniteEternity]

Vithracks = Mindflayers

[Volourn]

"Well, they're staples of the Medieval European folklore that most Western fantasy settings are based on.

 

Except that in this game, those monster types actually have an interesting "backstory/rationale" to their existence and characteristics. So basically Obsidian is both hitting the right notes here w.r.t. what fans expect from a fantasy RPG, and being innovative at the same time. Why bash them for that?"

 

Uh.. Vampires and ghouls have more background/better rational than silly Fampyres or guhls. L0L

[Dadalama]

 

I would prefer that designers be honest about it and just called them vampires, wights, ghuls/ghouls, banshee and elementals. They are not different enough to warrant a new name.

 

Speaking of original ideas, do you know that the original ghouls - from Arabian myths - are not exactly undead ? Yes, they have an affinity for graveyards and are sometimes mentioned as dwelling there, but they're demon shapeshifters. They prey on travellers, deceive them and try to eat them. They can speak very well.

If they called them exactly like DnD and others call them then you would get people complaining that they are not the same as they are in those other games.  I've already seen it with people asking why they don't need fire to kill trolls anymore and that they aren't real trolls as a result.  Fampyrs are quite different from vampires too, they are not blood-drinking immortals who turn into bats but rather zombies that can still think and pass for human, I find that significantly different enough to warrant a different name to avoid false association.

 

That's even more sad because folklore where trolls came from, had nothing to do with fire or wolverine style regeneration. It had to do with sunlight turning them to stone afaik.

Edited April 20, 2015 by Dadalama

[b0rsuk]

 

 

I would prefer that designers be honest about it and just called them vampires, wights, ghuls/ghouls, banshee and elementals. They are not different enough to warrant a new name.

 

Speaking of original ideas, do you know that the original ghouls - from Arabian myths - are not exactly undead ? Yes, they have an affinity for graveyards and are sometimes mentioned as dwelling there, but they're demon shapeshifters. They prey on travellers, deceive them and try to eat them. They can speak very well.

If they called them exactly like DnD and others call them then you would get people complaining that they are not the same as they are in those other games.  I've already seen it with people asking why they don't need fire to kill trolls anymore and that they aren't real trolls as a result.  Fampyrs are quite different from vampires too, they are not blood-drinking immortals who turn into bats but rather zombies that can still think and pass for human, I find that significantly different enough to warrant a different name to avoid false association.

 

That's even more sad because folklore where trolls came from, had nothing to do with fire or wolverine style regeneration. It had to do with sunlight turning them to stone afaik.

 

 

What's even sadder is that many "fantasy fans" struggle with imagination. They can't imagine a troll that is not big, green, weak to fire and regenerates wounds. I like fantasy because it lets writers get away from limitations and create something otherwise impossible. They like fantasy because it's a familiar where everything is predictable.

[Volourn]

"What's even sadder is that many "fantasy fans" struggle with imagination."

 

Don't you mean DnD fans?  Nobody seemed to have a problem with LOTR trolls not regenerating. Why do people make stuff up?