You thought I was talking about Mario and Street Fighter?  Really?  I seriously have to clarify that I'm talking about story-driven games?  In a thread about Dragon Age?   Okay, if you say so.

Is this really a "trend" or just the state of gaming since forever? It's not like Mario or Street Fighter have deep narratives. Is this the future of gaming, or is this the present and past?

Brandon Sanderson’s characters often see their own worlds and time spans through the lens of modern perspectives. Shallan is a good example of this, and Jasnah Kholin as well. HoloDust’s point is disingenuous: every piece of fiction is written through the historical perspective of its creator. You can't entirely remove your historical perceptions and sensibilities when writing. For instance, Frodo and Sam’s relationship differs between the books and movies, as they were created in different time periods. In the books, there's a clear master-servant relationship between the two, while in the movies their relationship is more equal in terms of social standing.

Similarly, the way stories depict women and social minorities will always mirror how contemporary society views those groups. One of the biggest indicators of this is how sex is portrayed in media. When society was predominantly Christian and opposed to nudity, stories tended to be less graphic. Over time, as people became less bothered by nudity, media simply adapted.

There are few historically accurate books and movies, and they tend to be niche. The Northman comes to mind, an excellent movie inspired by Norse legends, showcasing various Northern European cultures that are often (wrongly) clustered as vikings. Interestingly, many viking fans disliked the movie because deep down people don’t necessarily want historical accuracy: they want fiction and scapist fun.

Here's the catch: If the most sucessful games don't have any story, then the prerogative is that games don't need deep stories. if anything, the more complex and divisive the story more detrimental it is to the game overall enjoyment, hence some games choose to make it as much adjacent as the main gameplay tibits as possible. Dark Souls comes to mind

Brandon Sanderson’s characters often see their own worlds and time spans through the lens of modern perspectives. Shallan is a good example of this, and Jasnah Kholin as well. HoloDust’s point is disingenuous: every piece of fiction is written through the historical perspective of its creator. You can't entirely remove your historical perceptions and sensibilities when writing. For instance, Frodo and Sam’s relationship differs between the books and movies, as they were created in different time periods. In the books, there's a clear master-servant relationship between the two, while in the movies their relationship is more equal in terms of social standing.

Similarly, the way stories depict women and social minorities will always mirror how contemporary society views those groups. One of the biggest indicators of this is how sex is portrayed in media. When society was predominantly Christian and opposed to nudity, stories tended to be less graphic. Over time, as people became less bothered by nudity, media simply adapted.

There are few historically accurate books and movies, and they tend to be niche. The Northman comes to mind, an excellent movie inspired by Norse legends, showcasing various Northern European cultures that are often (wrongly) clustered as vikings. Interestingly, many viking fans disliked the movie because deep down people don’t necessarily want historical accuracy: they want fiction and scapist fun.

You're right, but I didn't mention Stomrlight Archive specifically because under the fantasy surface it's clearly a world that has already developed the scientific method, so it makes sense at least some people would have post-French Revolution perspectives.

Of course, nothing is barring someone from writing a world that is politically but not technologically advanced. We've seen countless examples of the opposite in the media. I wish there were more low-tech anarchist or egalitarian fiction.

I think that's a bit inevitable, to be honest. Get too alien and you start to lose readers/players etc. from a lack of relatability.

How often have you seen proper period or setting-accurate religious sentiment being portrayed in historical or fictional works, for instance? Characters like Daenerys, Rand, Geralt, Frodo, etc. they all have typical 20th or 21st-century sensibilities.

Even in settings where they seem to have less familiar mindsets, they're almost never at peace with themselves and their environment (like Brandon Sanderson's characters).

Nothing reflects this more to me than DmC. Before launch and post launch both from the devs and and journalists insulted fans of DMC then when DmC rightfully failed. Journalists then acted like children and insulted DMC fans some more. I won't turn this into a DmC thread but oh boy that was one of the biggest publishers did not read the room and just insulted people der no white hair when that was never a real issue. This keeps happening and publishers practically never learn and take the wrong lessons. Capcom did and we got DMC5 but that is a rare win in these situations.

Here is the catch: every piece of art (and games are art, I will be fighting for that stance) has their own unique core point. Even more: we can often recognize art with a vision and passion and cheap copies that just try to look like the popular thing. Because Mario and Street Fighter are successful without a story doesn't mean you need no story for a successful game or that every game should be devoid of meaningful stories. That is the thinking of the soulless businessmen, the exact reason so many games turn to shit because a lot of managers think exactly that: just copy what is successful and we are golden. Concord says hello.