I swear every single JRPG has some kind of precursor race. It’s to the point where I’d be interested in seeing alternative ways to keep things fascinating. I actually do love the mystery that “mysterious vanished” precursor races bring, but surely they’re not the only way to give that feeling?
Been playing through FFXVI while also watching Monster Hunter lore videos recently, which inspired this meme.
Forgotten Realms (D&D’s main setting) has all of that and more:
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advanced precursors in spades
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several alien races (e.g. Mind Flayers) that often double as an enemy
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some regular-ish people who are able to make advanced technology that somehow doesn’t revolutionize society (e.g. the artificer character class)
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Finno Korean Hyper war
I think the scream extractor is such a great underappreciated icon of capitalist horror.
And it runs on children.
Although it is a rather nice crutch, especially when the next alternative is “The invention is trivial, refer to the margins” type of world-building.
Just finished playing Horizon: Zero Dawn and this is honestly so true lol. Despite it, it’s still a good game with an intriguing storyline imo
Tbf, that’s a major plot point of the game (if not the entire plot itself), rather than a “sidenote” (like Final Fantasy games - love them but they do that a lot).
