Unoriginality...

[Blitzkommando]

I am currently getting sick of movies and games that are 'remakes' or 'redux' of previously successful games or moves. Doesn't anyone still have a mind left? Come on. Sure there are a handful that are new and unique but many use such similar storylines or gameplay in the case of games that I wonder what we are going to get out of it.

Even some of the newer movies have just taken storylines from previously successful movie/book characters* and there is nothing new here. Many actors/actresses tend to play the same personality or character type in all their movies or TV shows... Geez are they really actors/actresses? Or is that the only character they know how to play. The industries have become redundant. Just look at all of the Mario/Sonic games being brought to the new consoles from the old.

There are exceptions to these and I can see some reasons to remake/redux some movies/games but this is getting out of hand. I mean come on... SMB2 for GBA...? Before SMB3... That's just... stupid. If they are going to remake something at least make it something that people want. Sure SMB2 is fun but it was not nearly as deserving as say SMW, SMW2 or especially SMB3.

The content of the games has been the same for a while now. All of these 'government conspiricies' type games are getting old. Heck there are beginning to be way too many WWII based games. Sure that's a great time period but come on. Same with Desert Storm type. There were plenty of other wars that had guns. Korea, WWI, heck even a Cold War-turned-Hot would be nice. We keep seeing sequels to games with little change in the actual game. The same has happened to some movies.

All I'm saying is it would be nice to see something totally off the wall. As I said there are many new original games but no real biggies. I just hope that Half-Life 2, Doom 3 and Halo 2 end up being as new in content as they say, and from what I hear there is little worry of that. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! and Kirby Airride are new spins on both series which is nice but come on.. If I see another crappy Mario Party game I'm going to get sick.

All in all there are exceptions to this rule but there are many games/movies and I'm sure books, that have unoriginal storylines and characters.

*LOTR is not an example of this as it is just bringing a great book series to a well-deserved motion picture debut. I'm sure there are other movies that are the same case so don't go flaming me over "What the @#%! do you mean LOTR is not original?!?!?!" Anything of the like of that will be ignored.

[Dime]

Unoriginality? Hah, check FKL.

[Benzine]

It's called going with the flow. Making a medium chunk of change on a tried and true is better business than laying it all on the line for a new concept that could go straight down the crapper. Even if a new concept hits big, it's instantly cloned because you don't reinvent the wheel unless you absolutely have to.

It all boils down to humanity's fear of the unknown. It's a basic premise of life and you might as well accept it. Doesn't mean you have to live it, just expect it from your common man.

It's funny though, this all reminds me of the mission hill where they crack the SAT "code" then like a week later I see ads for that movie "The Score" (I think) where the High school kids are stealing/cracking the SAT. Dunno how close they were to being made of eachother, but it's almost the exact same concept.

Edit:
I find it kind of odd that even the games you are looking forward to are all sequels and all in the played out genre of FPS. Isn't this exactly what you're ranting against?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Benzine on 2004-01-09 23:41 ]</font>

[polishedweasel]

It's called, everything has already been done. If you want to do the things that haven't been done, you'd be politically incorrect, since that's all that's left to do. : Live with it, Shakespear was the guy that started all that "good" drama bull shit. Fear teh poet from 500 yrs ago. I'm serious.

[anwserman]

It comes down to money.

Make a generic rip-off game, and make money.
~or~
Make an original game, a unique concept, throw tons of money at it and watch it flop - possibly causing bankrupcy.

Yeah, the second idea kinda reminds me of Jet Set Radio. I loved it, public hated it... meh. At least they didn't go bankrupt though, Smilebit.

[KodiaX987]

All that stuff may be unoriginal, but here's the thing: People buy it. 2 Fast 2 Furious was an insult to an already "shitty" genre. Know what? People went to see it. Terminator 3? People watched it. Matrix Revolutions? People watched it.

This is why we are up to Final Fantasy 12 now. The same old system, but the people still buy the game. So they press the lemon as hard as they can to get all the juice out of it.

[Sord]

Hardly nothing is ever old. We just take the ashes of the old and add some gleam to it. Read that somewhere.

[Mixfortune]

On 2004-01-15 19:55, Sord wrote:
Hardly nothing is ever old. We just take the ashes of the old and add some gleam to it. Read that somewhere.



In short, there's no more archetypes to be had.

[Shimarisu]

On 2004-01-11 05:16, polishedweasel wrote:
It's called, everything has already been done. If you want to do the things that haven't been done, you'd be politically incorrect, since that's all that's left to do. : Live with it, Shakespear was the guy that started all that "good" drama bull shit. Fear teh poet from 500 yrs ago. I'm serious.



And if you think Shakespeare was original, think again.

Almost all his plays are put together from a mix of actual history, legends and folklore. Even when there's an original story, he nicked a few names from folklore. It wasn't a case of originality, but writing style. Fantasy writers are still doing the exact same thing. Shakespeare was actually the paperback writer of his day, he wrote for the masses, who often could not read, he had to reference things they were familiar with. Dickens is another prime example of a superb writer who wrote for complete idiots. That's why all his plotlines are incredibly simple. Again, it was the character based stories, not plot that made him succeed.

In the end, it boils down to this:

You don't have to have a good plot if you made really good characters.
You don't have to be original if your writing is fucking superb.
You don't have to bother working ever again, if you can do the above and then rehash the same old crap ad infinitum.

- Shimarisu

[Squall179]

Well, talking about FPSs, Metroid Prime was in my opinion, a great game. Even though it was a FPS, it was a more inteligent one than, say, Halo. (not that Halo isn't good, its more of shooting stuff than Metroid where you have to use strategy and know how to use Samus's abilities to your advantage)
Yeah, I played Half-Life and Halo. I just liked Metroid Prime more is all.

[KodiaX987]

Other literary unoriginal... Moliere. Yep, that super-famous dude of the comical art actually copied all his works from old Greek and Roman texts. And here's the sweet part: he didn't do it because he wanted to, he did it because it was the law. Under the reign of the Duke of Richelieu, all original work was forbidden. Instead, playwriters had to go fetch an ancient text and revamp it.

[KaFKa]

On 2004-01-16 11:24, KodiaX987 wrote:
Other literary unoriginal... Moliere. Yep, that super-famous dude of the comical art actually copied all his works from old Greek and Roman texts. And here's the sweet part: he didn't do it because he wanted to, he did it because it was the law. Under the reign of the Duke of Richelieu, all original work was forbidden. Instead, playwriters had to go fetch an ancient text and revamp it.


what.... the.... fuck....?

[Bradicus]

On 2004-01-15 23:41, Shimarisu wrote:
And if you think Shakespeare was original, think again.

Almost all his plays are put together from a mix of actual history, legends and folklore. Even when there's an original story, he nicked a few names from folklore. It wasn't a case of originality, but writing style. Fantasy writers are still doing the exact same thing. Shakespeare was actually the paperback writer of his day, he wrote for the masses, who often could not read, he had to reference things they were familiar with. Dickens is another prime example of a superb writer who wrote for complete idiots. That's why all his plotlines are incredibly simple. Again, it was the character based stories, not plot that made him succeed.

My one year of drama class ALMOST had some practical use... you have robbed me.