What's in a Name?
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- Опубликовано: 16 сен 2024
- After an extended absence, Tome returns to finally critique Flesh and Blood in a way that doesn't feel wonderful to do (as evidenced by how painstaking it was to create this video), but felt necessary.
In it, we cover Game Design, Grokability, and World-Building, all centered around the concept "What's in a Name?"
This one was difficult to make, because I do not enjoy the word "Bad," to describe things. I want to understand why something is the way it is, and this is the closest I could get to figuring out why Rathe is built on Puns.
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So after watching the video I first want to say great work! I can definitely see how a name describing the character to be a detriment when it should be the character that gives the name purpose.
Some things I want to point out that relate to lore:
- Arakni ~doesn't?~ have parents. They were found by a train driver in the Pits after a dreg attack where they were sent to Southmaw Asylum for Dr Krest Mortimer to use in the 'Iconoclast' trials. Their name was probably given to them by Dr Mortimer.
- Arakni isn't specifically any gender; their gender is simply unknown and we don't know how they identify. Some might call this non-binary but I think of it as gender-ambiguous.
- The Savage Lands might be called this simply by others in Rathe. We do know of some sort of ancient civilization called the Azeri which may have their own name for the region.
- Rhinar's parents are unknown as he awoke as a baby all alone in the Savage Lands and had to fight to survive. Where his name comes from is also unknown; it could be given to him by the Solanian soldiers that often patrol the outskirts of the Savage Lands and/or patrol into it where they often encounter brutes.
- The Deathmatch Arena is located between Solana, The Savage Lands, and Volcor. Think of it as a 'mini-region'. Betsy and Olympia both grew up there.
- The mysterious illness in Misteria seems to be exclusively affecting the Mugenshi, Katsu and Benji's clan. The rest of Misteria is fine.
- Enigma (and Prism) are both very interesting characters. Enigma is part of a group called the Ledgers who help preserve the history of Misteria. Enigma is a 'reincarnation' of sorts with multiple past lives that she herself only vaguely remembers, hence her past is an 'Enigma'. Because of this, she doesn't really have parents perse and could have been given this name by others in the Ledger group to denote her 'spirit' that gets passed down through generations rather than that specific version of herself. As others have said in the comments that name from one of her past lives was Fumei.
- Prism on the other hand mirrors Enigma is many ways. She suddenly appeared as a child in the Library of Illumination in Solana with no trace as to how she got there and was found with a droplet of arclight (which became Luminaris). Prism may have been named by the magister that found her. It is my personal theory that Prism and Enigma are avatars of the sun and moon as their existence in Rathe and their creation are specifically recorded as a mythological story.
- The creation of the Rosetta comes from the Queen of Candlehold. During the Third Age when she was battling the Old Ones, the Queen gathered the essence of the ancient Davnir and used it to unleash a massive burst of energy to defeat them; the downside to this was that her people were also hit and became part of the Flow within Candlehold (this is called the Strale). Before the Queen fell into a slumber, she imbued seeds with the souls of her people and scattered them about the region so they could regrow into thee Rosetta. Briar's particular seed was scattered into a particularly dense and dangerous area of Candlehold - the briars. Because of this, when she was reborn she was particularly more hardy and stronger than her contemporaries. It specifically states in the lore that "she took the name Briar" so I would assume she was named this by the Queen.
- I don't think Oldhim specifically says that Aria isn't his home, as he helped to defend it from the Old Ones during the Third Age. The reason he is still around today is because the ancients protected the Ollin at the end of their battle by encasing Isenloft in ice from which Oldhim would eventually thaw out of. As for his name, well, perhaps he forget his 'real' name and everyone just calls him old?😅
- The auroras of Volthaven were created by the death of Yvor, the Ancient of Lightning and Ice. The ancients are heavily revered as part of the culture in Aria so Aurora's name might be paying homage to those auroras.
- Dorinthea is 100% named after James' nana whose name was Doris. James put up a very sweet tribute to her on his Facebook page, calling her "The real Dorinthea Ironsong" 🥰
Anyway once again fantastic work! Hope you enjoyed reading all those lore tidbits!
EDIT: Just remembered to mention that Iyslander's real name is Lyra. As part of her backstory she unlocked her hidden powers and was transported to the Bleak Expanse in Aria where she developed amnesia.
Incredible! Perhaps we should do a follow-up addendum video where we can clear some of my mistakes up. I'm also very keen to hear where some of this lore information came from, because in my research, I didn't see many of things you mentioned, but I also know you've been given a sort of deeper knowledge of the world than most people get.
I will repeat: Gorgonian Tome makes the best fab videos
You make the best comments! Lol
Nuu is probably based on the Nure-onna. A snake lady Yokai. You can see it with the snake motifs her reacts have.
Yeah I could see that. That's a huge bummer if that's the case.
her lore states she's literally a snake monster
@@tendousouji4232 Wouldn't that then give away her intentions the literal second you meet her? "Hi Miss, what's your name?"
"Murderous Snake Demon."
"Oh okay I'll go this direction, then. Bye!"
@@gorganiantome 🤣But not really, because Japanese doesn't exist in Rathe. :D
I always thought Uzuri's name was a play on usury, hence, Shake Down. And Kayo was a reference to chaos.
Yeah other commenters have pointed that one out. I just didn't catch it. Not particularly familiar with the word until after the comments section lol. Kayo is definitely Knock Out, though. K.O..
That last hero brought a tear to my eye. Great video!
You and me both! Thanks!
Keen! Great to have you back
Happy to be back! Thanks!!
This is one of the very few things about flesh and blood, and after "Genis wutchuneed" I have no hope on their names anymore
You know what's weird is that I actually can get behind specifically Genis lol. I could imagine a wacky Merchant calling himself Wutchuneed. If it's his actual name? Absolutely not. But as a self-ascribed moniker, I can see it. But yeah, the names are rough.
It's actually a nod to a real person the James or other devs knew. Apparently Gene always had the cards needed for tournaments. If you needed something, Gene is WhatYouNeed
Oh damn, that's some pretty good points! You make a great assessment about how some characters' entire character is cheapened when their name is artificially punny just relating to what they are or how they function in the game without it relating to how real people get named. Couple of notes tho, Uzuri's name comes from the act of usury (high interest extortion), but you marked it as a name you really like since it felt natural and memorable until you knew about its artificiality. Azalea is a kind of flower, and that feels alright since real people are named after flowers all the time, but it feels wrong when a gang leader's name means "Illegal Activity" since it feels artificially forced. I don't think any heroes' names serve any gameplay purposes, they are just puns for artistic reasons, and most of these names feel pretty good until you learn the pun, which can be arguably bad as you raise (especially Oldhim being translated to Old Man in french). But Fai meaning fire or Kassai meaning Katana-Sai just doesn't detract from the name for me, since those pun connections don't come that naturally. The one thing though, Please Read Arakni's hero page/story, they are an experimented on orphan who lives for the craft of assassination and doesn't speak, they were likely named Arakni by others because they hunt like a spider, and nicknames like that I think are one of the most believable kind of fantasy names, just like how The Mountain is called that in game of thrones and just completes the character. However, Arakni is referred to as "they" in all official publications, so please do not mess with that without proper reason, we do not call Vynnset "he" just because she can look boyish at first glance, and melding it with the old "Arakni is Starvo" anti-meme that cropped up on the purple discord is not it.
Otherwise damn fine video, yo
Fascinating! That didn't turn up in my research about Uzuri (but I didn't think to change the spelling). That's a huge shame! Because that means she's totally ruined for me as a character lol. "This is my sister, Dancer. Oh! And here comes my cousin Mechanic."
Azalea being a flower is probably why I didn't even clock it. People are named after flowers and flora all the time. "Rose," etc.
As for your Arakni point, yeah i read it it, and that's why I couldn't decide if the name was good. As a brutalized orphan, basically tortured from birth, the "nickname" Arakni fits really well. It's interesting that they came to the exact same latin root word that our world did for spider, but whatever, some conveniences I'll allow. BUT, it's not a guarantee that it's a nickname, and that's where my problems come from. That we can't say for certain is a problem in my mind, because it further entrenches my thoughts that this world exists solely for gameplay reasons, and not enough thought was given to heros and why they are added to the world.
Thanks for the great comment!
You always do a fantastic job of laying out your thoughts. Thank you for clearly expressing your feelings on puns! As a lover of puns It was much easier to understand where you are coming from and while I don't feel the same way it was fascinating to understand your line of reasoning. :)
That's all I can ask for! Thanks for watching!
This video is nothing but INCREDIBLE, thank you for the work you do for the community with these.
My pleasure! Thanks for watching!
I feel like Lexi's name comes from e-LECTRI-city...
Also great analysis on Dorinthea (didn't knew the story behind it) and the fact that people call er Dori or Thea further establishes the fact that people relate and care for this character
great vid!
I sure hope not about Lexi lol. It sounds a bit like a stretch, but I can see why you think that.
This is some quality work. Also, I grew up in Kaysville too! Technically Fruit Heights (we can talk about the name and who decided to be so on the nose with that one). I went to Davis and trespassed at Kay's Cross and lived through the east winds. Was NOT expecting to hear someone call out my hometown like that lol.
Whaaaa? No way! haha. I went there too. Also Fruit Heights makes perfect sense! The reason being is that it was incorporated in 1939, so naming conventions shifted at that time, so I totally buy that name (because, hey, it's up on the bench (another great worldbuilding word) and there's a lot of fruit grown there!) lol.
You really popped off on this one, I kept waiting for you to destroy the wrench named Banksy but maybe that deserves its own video
😂 Rest assured, I'm not a fan of that name either.
Fun fact, if you pronounce Levia like "Lee-vee-uh", it means "to be joined" in Hebrew, which is metal af given her backstory.
The whole video was about how this is bad! Imagine if Frodo was named "Sinder Fateflinger," or "Caster Doomthrow." That's what "Lee-vee-uh" makes me think about. And I really....really.....really don't like that.
Just gotta point out that teklovossen’s first name is Jules which is undoubtedly a reference to the unit of energy… joule.
Big true! I neglected that because people tend to call him Teklovossen. I do think that, had he been introduced as Jules, I would have liked him more as a character, even with the Joules connection. I don't really like Joules as the reference because it's kinda laterally extending the problem I see. But that's a great catch!
I absolutely LOVE the video! I'm not quite as lore versed as Deadsummer, but I do know volcor, so I thought I'd add one or two notes.
Most people wouldn't name their home 'Volcano-land', but the Volcai aren't most people. The Volcano is about as close to sacred the Volcai as they can get. The Great Dragon sleeps beneath the volcano, and the ebb and flows of the lava define much of their way of life. The Volcai pride themselves on how much tougher and stronger they are than the other races because of their ability to live in the volcano's shadow. Calling their land Volcor (And themselves Volcai) makes sense as a way to announce 'hey, we're tougher than you'.
Also, the Dracai believe they have actual dragon's blood in their veins (Whether this is literal or figurative is slightly up to debate, but it does unquestionably give them tangible magical powers. See: 'Blood of the Dracai' being a fabled card in league with Fyendal's Heart or the Arknight shard.). The name 'Dracai' is a way to name themselves in relation to their Draconic heritage.
Fai is SLIGHTLY cringy on the pun, but as mentioned, with the volcai people being especially proud of their ties to the volcano, Fai, even with it's direct elemental callback, does fit as something a parent might legitimately name their child as a strong sounding name.
Thanks so much for your thoughtful comment! I really appreciate reading through this. I want to qualify my argument with Volcor a bit (as I've done in other comments, because it's become clear to me that my argument is being misunderstood.) What I was ultimately trying to say is "Mt. Volcor, Volcor the region, and Volcor the capital city," are really what bother me. I grew up in Utah, in Kaysville, north of Salt Lake City, which is next to The Great Salt Lake. And what Volcor feels like is "I grew up in Volcor, in Volcor, next to Volcor." If the region were named the "Ash Basin," and the capital city were called "Bloodfire," and then the mountain was called "Mt. Volcor," I would be MUCH more accepting. But as it stands, everything is just "Volcor." Leading to my critique that that's just not how people name things.
Might be a stretch. But I think Rhinar's name is actually a reference to a character (Einhar, the beastmaster) from Path of Exile. a game produced by another New Zealand company. Chris Wilson and James White both know eachother and used to play MTG together.
While I suppose that's possible, it seems unlikely given their other attributions. It would be strange to me if Dori was named after JWs Grandma and Rhinar was named after a character in a game his friend made.
Wasn’t expecting a MrBtongue shout-out in 2024. His video essays were among the first I ever got into. Very cool!
Mr B tongue was the first YT Essayist I ever watched. I still go back annually through his catalog because the videos are so applicable
@@gorganiantome Hell yeah! Such a great writer and thinker. I can still hear him saying “verisimilitude? very-simulation-dude” in my head.
Speaking of great video essays, I enjoyed this piece of yours on names in Flesh & Blood. I don’t play the TCG myself, but I’ve subbed to your channel and look forward to diving into your work. Cheers, GT!
@@shaxberd7211 Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it. And yes, I can also hear "very simulation dude" in my head so clearly lol.
slight miss here, boltyn is called like this, caus he is a bold warrior, the bolt thing is probably secondary if at all intended
I have it on pretty good authority that that's not the case
I've had the same issue with naming in this game for a while and I'm really glad you made a video talking about it. The punny names can be endearing but I'm ultimately frustrated by them. I think LSS's approach to worldbuilding has been gameplay-first for so long, I hope they add some depth as they begin to take the story more seriously.
Me too. Me too.
The technology of Metrix can cohexist with the medievalism of Solana or the brutalism of Savage lands in the same vein that Silycon Vally exists in the same planet as the Amazon rainforest or some very isolated tribe. But aside from that reasoning, in-lore Metrix extracts it's technology from dark forces (as it was revealed with Teklovossen lore) and it depends entirely from a core that cannot be moved. If you stray too far from the core, the technology fades and your cool robots won't work.
I understand how it works, but I don't buy this argument that Silicon Valley and Amazon Rainforest tribes are the same as Metrix and the Savage lands.#1, technology has creeped into many of these tribes. Tons of anthropological reports on that. #2, Silicon Valley and the isolated tribes are 1000s of miles away from each other, where it looks like, on the map of Rathe, that Metrix is about a 5 hour drive. #3, the technological disparity between two cultures is a human-created one. We could, at any time, show up at the Tribe's house and hand them laptops. We have the ability to do that. We choose not to for something we believe to be benevolent.
Technological advances like that don't stay isolated. We don't really know how Rathians move from one region to another, so maybe it's actually an insane journey to undertake. But if that's the case, why can Dash fight against Dori to begin with? Can they coexist in the game itself (rather than the lore)? Do all fights with Mechanologist heroes take place in Metrix even if they're fighting a character not from there?
As for the Source, very bizarre justification for why technology is isolated to one city. Why don't those in the pits have it? Is it really so exact that stepping one millimeter outside of metrix city walls shuts all the power off? How is that justified in gameplay? Why is a mecha warrior a 6 damage card as well as Blanche? Why don't the magic users on the outside of metrix just stand 15 feet outside the range of the source and hurl bombs at them endlessly? Metrix would be totally powerless to prevent that.
Also, if they have the capacity to make plasma batteries and portable plasma carriers, they probably have figured out the lithium ion, or some other means to transport energy. This is just how it works, technological advances beget other technological advances. Let me give you an example. There's a card called "Quickfire." This is what Quickfire necessitates in order to exist: a textile industry, propellant discovery, advance machining techniques. Those require an industrial revolution. An industrial revolution requires discovery of SO many things. You can't "discover plasma" first and never figure anything else out. It's caricature work.
This is the problem with justifications like these. Lazer focusing on a macguffin to explain huge world laws crumbles under inspection. The real reason Metrix exists is to give the game visual variety, and therefore it has a thin justification in the lore.
Awesome video! I hope LSS listens to these critiques and embraces their own unique lore and character names.
Me too!
Love the inclusion of Māori naming conventions in this video among everything else you do. Kia kaha ❤
Imagine if Rathe were heavily inspired by Māori myth and culture! I'd play a whole fantasy game with a fantastical rendition like that. So unique and cool compared to the drab, overused European history. Kia Ora!
Ontop of some other narrative reasons other people have listed, it also very possible that in some of these names the person named themselves.
Which is 100% my head cannon for Max Nitro with 'the hype' being a goofy moniker or "the hype" is my middle name joke.
Totally! And that's fine. I can also imagine Maxx giving himself that name. I think they could have done something really cool with Maxx where it's written on the card "Max Nero" or something, but then graffitied to include the extra X, the nickname, and crossed out last name. That gives us SO much information about his character.
Only heroes playable in CC. Talks about Chane, dodges Dorinthea. Cries in OG warrior.
Ok, I commented a bit too early. Also, is Dori the only playable character to have a last name?
Did you watch until the end? I talked about Dori. And yeah I should have said "were at one point playable in CC. You didn't complain about Iyslander so that's strange. Not sure what this comment was meant to achieve other than a paltry attempt to look smarter than someone who made a RUclips video?
LSS should just pull a Josh Scott but for world building and lore and just hire you.
One could only hope haha. I did apply, but I didn't make the cut!
Finally someone said it. The names are bad.
Great video as always! I'd like to throw my 2 cents into the mix when it comes to Enigma, since after reading her lore, it turns out Enigma seems to be more of the name of a role, and not the name of the character itself. While portrayed on the card as Enigma, her real name is Fumei, which, unfortunately for you, according to a google search, means "Not Clear" in japanese. Although I do think she would be a more relatable character if they gave her a name like Fumei on the actual hero card.
Thanks!
Yeah that's what I gathered from the names given to Illusionists. Fumei is a better name for the card, for sure. The problem is that everything is so vague that it can be quite difficult to discern what a real name is, and what is simply a moniker.
On your point around 20:52, an important note is who named the place. There is a local village called (translated badly) evildogville and its a good illustration that if someone else names a place (power dynamics) it may be derogative on one hand and it could be accepted by the locals on the other. But yea, names in FAB are very bad.
Yes! That is one option I could see be a justification for the weird naming. If there's an aspect of colonialism applied to our lens of the world, I could accept the naming conventions much more readily. Much like how "Japan," is not actually called "Japan," by the Japanese. We just don't have enough evidence that this is the case. But you're absolutely right that this could be something which could be leaned on for further development and justification!
Oh boy! New video!
Oh, and if my multiple comments didn't already suggest it, it was a very interesting video... though as a dad these naming conventions speak to me on another level
How is being a dad making these names speak to you on another level? I'm not denying that is the case, just curious as to what you mean.
@gorganiantome Dads and puns go together. Just a weird way to blame my love for puns on being a dad.
You fully just went over the fact that Florian is also a real life name, by the way. But as one, I am grateful for explaining, or at least trying to explain, what my name means.
Lol I know. I was so locked into thinking of the game reference that I genuinely didn't even catch it until you and a few other commenters pointed it out to me. I even know two Florians personally! 😂
I'm from a city in Mississippi called Gulfport. It's right by Woolmarket and Orange Grove.
So. After watching this I think Mississippi isn't real
Those are actually the kinds of names I'm talking about! Those names, in my opinion, should be in fantasy. They're so clueless and nonsensical. At some point, I can imagine it was called Woolmarket because, well, there was a woolmarket there. But not anymore, right? or Orange Grove...it probably was a place where oranges grew. If those were in a fantasy world, they'd be called "Orangodor," and every single person from there would wear orange armor and helmets made out of oranges. The denizens of woolmarket (probably called "Wewlwillow") would each have a trusty sheep they take with them into battle. It's dumb. The main fault fantasy world builders make is assuming that the name of a place will always apply.
If you read her lore, I believe it notes that dorinthea is called Thea in childhood, which is sort of circular.
Awesome video!
Totally! But how did the writers of the world come to thea as her name? That's the question I wanted to investigate. But yes, you're right! Thanks so much for the kind words.
@gorganiantome I didn't word that as well as I might have, dorinthea is (probably, definitely?) named dorinthea for the reason you mentioned, James white (probably) calls her Thea for the reason you mentioned, James (probably) had them put in the lore that she was called Thea in childhood to honor that memory, which is why some others call her Thea as well.
One thing I find interesting is your (not recorded😉) look at Iyslander, it seems a little shallow to me. We have a nation called Iceland because it's an ice land. I think Iyslander isn't necessarily supposed to be a given name, but rather what all the people not from ice lands would call her, hence a moniker she might have taken up or been given, in which case I don't think it's that bad? (If it is supposed to be her given name then I definitely agree it just feels like lazy writing.😅)
@@hasshatter Iceland is a country! That makes sense to call it that. We call Icelanders, Icelanders (which also makes sense!) An Icelander parent naming their child Icelander is...Bizarre at best. We don't name our kids like that.
And if it's a Moniker, that's fine, but they should probably tell us that. Part of what drives me so crazy about all this, is that there's clearly room to clarify SO many character names, and they just don't do it. If everyone calls her Iyslander because they saw her step off a boat, then fine! But we don't have enough evidence lol.
@@gorganiantomeIyslander is a moniker they told us her real name is Lyra it's mentioned in the story Calm before the Storm
@@superRCRock Yeah, that was mentioned in DeadsummerArts amazing comment, as well. My question in response to this is, "if that's the case, why didn't they put her name on the card?" Because Lyra is a wonderful name! I contend "Lyra, The Iyslander" is a wonderful name to see on the cardboard itself. The reason they didn't, I believe, is because they think, for some reason, the Grokability of the character is more important than the flavor of the character, which I argue is wrong, at least, in my opinion haha.
Really solid video, as always! Rathe names have always been interesting to me, especially when you start diving into the lore and flavor text and find even more fascinating names and characters (that we can hopefully learn more about someday). But for the heroes, it almost feels like LSS can’t decide between names that feel real or derivative puns, as your video demonstrated. The latter could be due to LSS trying to imitate the hero-naming convention that we use for popular heroes (Captain America, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, etc) where their names become iconic because it describes their character designs and actions. I really hope the hero names weren’t chosen because they were sitting around a bar and someone said “we should make a character focused around gambling and call her ‘BETSY’ lmao”
Also, while watching this video I couldn’t help but compare Rathe names to League of Legends champions. The “-ai” naming convention from Volcor is similar to how the Void characters all have apostrophes in their names (Rek’sai, Kog’maw). Two characters from League of Legends, Renekton and Nasus (anthropomorphic Crocodile and Dog Demi-gods inspired by Egyptian mythology) stuck out to me in particular as if these two existed in Rathe, they might’ve been called “Crocolus” (Crocodile + Collosus) and “Siphonog” (the name of the spamable ability Nasus uses, “Siphoning Strike” + Dog). Weak names that feel like characters in a cheap action flick and not demi-gods in a fantasy land. I hope that moving forward we see more characters with interesting names that feel believable instead of names that feel like placeholder puns that ended up sticking. Also, more lore would be nice, too many unfinished stories right now 😂
Interesting point about Marvel. The thing about those characters, though, is those are all nicknames. "Hero" names, as it were. As we know Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanova, etc. I would also be very annoyed with Marvel if Cain Marko was actually born "Juggernaut" lol. Great point, nonetheless though! Interesting to think about.
I've seen a huge influence of LoL on Rathe in general actually. Piltover and Zaun is like, crazy close the Metrix and the Pits. Solana is so much like Demacia. Freljord much like Isenloft region of Aria, etc.
I'm pretty sure Maxx is an orphan and may have named himself same with Rhinar and Kayo although they may have been named by the Deathmatch Arena (Edit because I got further in the video😂)
Fair enough! Pretty wild that he called himself something that doesn't exist in Rathe (Nitro), or, at least, does exist and the discovery of such a thing would necessitate *so many* other advancements in chemistry and medicine.
Thank Dylan for leading us through that sea of information. It's as if you were born from it.
Haha thanks! Maybe my parents DID know I would eventually navigate these rough seas, and so that's where that came from!!!
As someone who enjoys puns, im happy that gorg tome has finally compiled for me the ones i was missing in the names, thanks
Do you like puns in world building, though? 😂
I can see their failures on it as you show, but... As i engage in the game mostly on the game side more than the lore, i don't hurt on them
Edit cuz i thought if it just as i posted, i guess that limited engagement in the end is just a show of how it hurts it
@@fatalerror7721 I believe it's just a symptom of Post-Modernist "Everything is Ironic" era of fiction. The benefit of working in the post-modernist mode is that you get to make jokes about everything in your story and people are just supposed to accept it "because it's just a game." But I definitely fall more on the side of New Sincerity and moving on from this post-modernist hellscape where characters are simply mouthpieces for something, or someone, else.
But, of course, if you don't engage with the game on the lore side then I don't fault you for liking their names.
Thank you Dylan for being the heart of sophisticated FaB content beyond value analysis and spoiler discussion podcasts.
A huge chunk of words follow below here, but tldr: PvE and a recognizable IP should be LSS's focus to catapult their game to the next level.
The topic you bring up is a very fair critique and has been a regular gripe of mine with the game. Similar to you, it may be the only substantial critique I have for LSS, but I want to take it as a gate to explain why PvE is so crucial for the future of this game, it's IP and the company LSS.
I am convinced that FaB is at a key point for it's own future. Beyond good product and game designs, the metric of their narrative and design of their IP has to be the driver to catapult their game into true competition with other companies. MtG, even though their lore is trash now aswell, got a lot of build up in the past and help them establish their world and IP. Pokémon had a show, video games to build their IP, etc...
If LSS does not take their IP and their world serious, noone will. A distinguishable and coherent Rathe is the key for the promise that is made with the companies name - Legend Story Studios.
I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but I think LSS has to focus on bringing PvE ASAP for this.
They seem afraid to mess it up, by design and game mechanics. They want to focus their effort on good draft product,is what they say. But the mechanics almost don't matter too much for PvE. They could make it a clone of the Wow TCGs Raid decks and be done with it. it's more important to finally allow people to express their heroes in the World of Rathe. Hire some folks to make a Rathe RPG. Just look at DnD - if the mechanics don't work, you make a new edition down the road, where you adjust some mechanics.
And let's be honest here. FaB biggest appeal, even though not primarily advertised, is the idea you can play a card game which is inspired by RPGs. Pick a class, be a hero, choose your Equipment, defeat a foe. We only need one more thing: Go live your character out in an adventure. Build your own legendary story.
Thanks for reading, and sorry, but English is not my first language. Hope I made my points clear. Again, keep up the great work.
Agreed on all fronts! PvE is where the fantasy can live and breathe!
2. disseminate or introduce (something undesirable)
Second definition of the Oxford dictionary, for Nuu it makes sense. She's all about deception.
That's incredible that her parents had the forethought to name her something so deceptive! 😂
Good catch though. Makes me hate her character but oh well.
Aria was cut off from the rest of the Rathe, for further connection to a solo
Interesting, I hadn't made that connection. That actually makes me like it less, I think. It depends on the timeline and when it was named (and by whom), I suppose, but to me it would be really weird if some faraway township was called "The Boonies." Granted, Aria is a region, not a town, so maybe if it had been named "Aria Valley," I would be much more accepting of it.
This is such a fantastic video and the fab comunity is lucky to have a creator like you willing to deep dive like this! I wish LSS will continue to deepen the lore so more content like this can exist. I also wanna defend the naming of Volcor. Arcoding to the lore, life in the region is shaped by the periodic eruptions of Mt. Volcor. I think it is quite fitting that the people of the region name it after its most defining feature. What do you think? For a real world examble of a very literaly named volcano, there is one in Iceland called Eldfell. Which literally means fire mountain.
Thanks so much for your kind words! I appreciate that very much.
As for your point about Volcor, though XD,
Eldfell is the name of the Volcano, not the nearest city to the volcano. Mt. Volcor is fine (a bit generic, because Volcanism is a latin rooted word. i'd have preferred Maunganui type words to fit their NZ roots), but in my mind Volcor is unacceptable as a name for a region or a city. That's the point I'm trying to make there. From what I can gather, Vestmannaeyjar is the name of the city near Eldfell. It makes sense to me that humans would name volcanos, the islands they're on, and the cities nearby different things, because they are...well, different things! Lol.
@@gorganiantome I see your point. A fantasy should be more fantastical. This is maybe a good examble of how shallow some parts of the lore is. The volcai live in Volcor on the hills of Mt. Volcor
@@BaseJuggler Yes! Exactly. And the thing is, LSS could fix this immediately by simply giving us more. For all I know, the city isn't actually called Volcor. Maybe only the mountain is! But based on the info we have now, we have to assume Volcor is the name of the region (because of Savage Lands, Aria, etc.). Even just imagine it was called "Volcor Caldera," and how much more it would feel like a real place.
@@gorganiantome maybe one day they will put a little more flesh and blood into the lore. Really hope so :D
Very interesting video on topic of naming.... Hopefully the puns will eventually fade
I hope so too!
Fantastic like always
Thank you!
Another great video. I'm thirsty for deeper lore.
You and me both!
Great great video! It's very much appreciated that you share some knowledge with us that grants a new understanding of some things we might not uncover ourselves.
To me it seems the grokability is soo engrained in how FAB is displayed that I can't really fault the game for it anymore. Not to be negative about it but I think the priorities are really straight in FAB about this. From appearances to naming conventions the game really wants you to spend as little RAM as possible understanding what characters' roles and surroundings are about. Not being a native speaker I'm glad I sometimes get to not be attentive to this but some names are so on the nose the confrontation with them hurts with every encounter (like Oldhim).
I like a lot that the stories seem to have a bit more going for them again but with TCGs it sadly always remains clear that it's a rather sad place to find decent fantasy. Null Signal weirdly enough seem like they still do it best with Netrunner.
Agreed on Netrunner. Null Signal are a Shining beacon of hope for me in this world lol. And I can sympathize with feeling grateful that the names help non-native speakers, but for me the immersion of the world is totally gone. I don't feel any connection to any character other than maybe Briar. I also feel like they could have leaned on their Subtitles more for the grokability angle. Like why not name Oldhim...anything other than Oldhim and then his subtitle is "Stalwart of Essence." Which effectively communicates what he does without having to make some joke about him as an entity.
could it be named winter fell where they stopped the first night king? where winter fell. a city named after a battle
Could be! I personally would have been happier with Winterfell if it were the name of the region and not the city itself. That said, Winterfell is a fine name. I really just wanted to use a modern example of a landmark. I could have just as easily have used Mount Doom as an example, which in my mind is a really cheesy name wrapped up in a world of nearly perfect names 😂
@gorganiantome mount doom has some in universe etymology of why it's called that. But Tolkien could also be working backwards.
Yet another wonderful video.
Glad you think so!
florian is also a German first name that is quite common
Yeah that was a miss on my part. I even live in Germany and know multiple Florians 😂
I believe that Kayo, Armed and Dangerous got the "armed" part from Handy, a character from Happy Tree Friends.
Don't ruin my day even more please! XD XD
@@gorganiantome sorry... I promess I'll not see the video again to search for more of this facts...
@@gorganiantome tbf I don't think such a basic pun really needs to have been "gotten" from anything
also bright lights plays in the future compared to the rest of the lore. see vossen lore
I did see it. I saw no definitive material suggesting it was in the future. And even if it is, why can Dash fight Dori?
They're back!!!!
Thanks for the confused cry screams this afternoon. I'm pretty sure my neighbors are more concerned.
But seriously, great job on the episode. Always look forward to them
also, one thing bother me, is will there be a chance Oldhim is a pun for Odin, the god?
Probably, but they didn't do a ton of Raven motifs, which is what i'd expect if he were an Odin reference.
also, one other thing: the daemon that Levia chooses to follow: blasmophet, is from real real-life baphomet demon
Yeah that one I know. It seems like all the demons share some root with old-world religions in some way. Ursur (Ursa), Blasmophet (Baphomet like you said), and Nasreth (Nasareth? Could be a different one.)
@@gorganiantome a bit sad it's not covered in the video, so I have to give a pad in my back lol
old Kassai lore said she came from Volcor, and she in fact, was a Volcai, which is why she has a name similar to Volcai in 17:03. it was actually confirmed in multiple lore article from LSS
I understand that Volcor is her origin. I noted that in the video. The point I'm making about her name is that it is, likely, some Pun like Katana and Saber/Sai. I could be wrong about it, but I don't think I am. Her name is likely a pun, because nearly every character in the game has a name which is a pun.
@@gorganiantome it's fair that her name is a pun, a joke of some sort, or a derivative of some words, I don't question that. I just say it's just that the end suffix is because of her origin. maybe it's my misunderstanding in the video that you said she have a similar name to the next origin
It’s a shame you didn’t include many young heroes, cause Genis Wotchuneed is such low hanging fruit 😂
(Also, I too am from Kaysville, and the reveal in this video completely jumpscared me)
Lol! Small world ay? Another commenter mentioned subbing similar.
This video is great and there was clearly a lot of effort put in. But unfortunately many of the premises are incredibly false. First saying cities aren't named after their surroundings is a wild statement. As someone who came from Summit, New Jersey a town on top of a mountain who knew people who went to a college named Lake Forest which is in Lake Forest Illinois i would like to say some cities and towns are most definitely named after their geographical surroundings. Secondly, people often name their children after objects or eluding to objects that they wish their child to emulate such as rose. I think a name like arakni could point to good storytelling rather than bad, it could show how in the pits the traits of a spider are far more valued than that of something beautiful. I see where a lot of the points come from, chane and betsy are gimmicky names that are based on gameplay mechanics but, far more of the names make sense in a real world environment then you give them credit for. Nevertheless loved the detail and work.
I think you've misunderstood some of my arguments. Of course cities can be named after their surroundings. What I said is making everything about a particular place reflected in the name of that place is what I don't like, especially if it serves some obvious in-game function. I don't like that all characters from Solana are light magic. It makes the city feel constructed. Of COURSE Solana can be named after a light source. Of course the Savage Lands can be savage. But that doesn't require the people of that location to then be reflections of that.
As for Volcor, the umbridge I take with it is NOT that it's called Volcor. It's that the region, volcano, AND city are named volcor. That does. not. exist. So to take your Summit, New Jersey example. That's a great name. If the Volcor capital city were on top of the Volcor Volcano, I would love if it were called Summit. That's something humans would do. What a fantasy writer would do is call it "Maw Hellwyn." And that is a terrible name that is not believable. Another example: I'd suggest Volcor be renamed to "Ash Basin." Or something to reflect ash. Mt. Volcor would stay the same. And then the capital at the base of Mt. Volcor would be called something like "West Cliff." Because it would be on the West Cliff of the Caldera. The reason this is better, in my opinion, is because this is more reflective of what humans name things. We don't name our cities "shithole" because why would we? But that's what Rathians seem to do.
As for names of characters, yeah there's some. That's why I like Azalea, named after the flower. I even said I liked Arakni if it were a nickname, because that name makes sense as a nickname. As a real name, though? Humans tend not to do that. We don't name our kids the latin-root word or ecological classification of something. We don't even know if there's spiders in Rathe, and it would be especially strange if Rathian Ecology worked out to be such that it got the same classification name for an 8-legged creature with an exoskeleton. If that's the case, I don't buy that parents would do that. It's too negative. It seems like, based on other comments, that it's a moot point though because Arakni was a tortured orphan and so I buy they'd give them a horrible title. I still don't like the ecological naming though.
But to take the point further though, we know that Rathians have a species called "Big Horn." Which look like Rhinos. While I don't know anyone named Rhino, I can imagine a brutish tribe in the Savage Lands calling Rhinar "Strong Horn" or "Bloodhorn" or something. That fits with their surroundings much cleaner than "an animal that does not exist and got its name from a Latin-based classification system originating in Europe."
So while I thank you for your kind words about my video, I have to completely disagree with your suggestion that what I'm saying is "incredibly false" or that I'm making a "Wild Statement," when I'm not.
Grok good.
Me like grok.
Great video, thank you for that! I always thought Kano was a "short-stylish" version for name 'cannon', since he is indeed a cannon in game. About the Guardians hahaha funny, if they are really together with Brutes in Savage lands... But i will stand for Demonastery, since it is like a literally a living Hogwarts that knows how to hide and seek for seeking minds.
Thanks so much! Kannon would also make me really sad lol.
Re: Demonastery. Sure! But then why not call it something more like Hogwarts? Hogwarts is no direct reference at all to the school's function, and now we associate the name with that exact thing because it's written so!
@@gorganiantome Hahaha indeed. Naming things too obvious in FAB makes it looks like... silly!
Counter point to naming a daughter prayer, we have names in English like Christian, hope, and charity. Having a name like zen isn't farfetched.
No it's not the most far-fetched name of them. And you're right we do have Christian in our world. But Zen isn't really the name of the religion. Zen, as far as I have read and know, is more akin to a philosophy which was co-opted by Buddhism. So maybe Prayer isn't the best comparison, more like naming your child "Utilitarianism," or something lol.
That said, it would have been nice if in Rathe didn't have 1:1 recreations of our Earth religions to base theirs on.
I hope LSS considers contracting you for writing and worldbuilding. Blaze seemed especially uninspiring.
I've applied in the past! Didn't quite make the cut. But maybe someday!
Also, agreed. Blaze was... Not my favorite 😂
I love your videos
I love that you love them!
Thank you so much for this. FaB is an amazing game, but the “cheesiness”(?) of the character names is the only thing that personally really annoys me about it…
Yeah it really bothers me too. I'm just glad that so many people feel this way. It makes me realize I'm not crazy. There's dozens of us!!
Absolutely amazing video! As I was watching and saw the Rhinar hate and my heart hurt a lil bit then the ending came… and I get it… Dori Simp lol jk! Please keep the Videos coming!
Lol i made this whole video just to dunk on Rhinar, actually! Jk! XD
Gorganian tome is the Summoning Salt of FaB
I could only dream to be so big haha.
amazing video!!! I've decided that Nuu is "nusance" but that's me reaching
Blood root
You gave little time to Lexi and suprisingly you had no complaints but isn't she just slightly softer version of (Vol-)Kano with the way that her bow is F-lexi-ng or she is f-lexi-ble.
Lexi is a real name which is derived from "Alexander" or "Alexis." I have friends named Lexi. I also don't see how "Flexible" relates to her character in the same way that "Vol-kano" relates to Kano, because Kano is an "Eruption" of fire damage backed up by several of his cards (Lessons in Lava, for example). Flexible as in flexing the bowstring? That could just as easily be "Pull" or "draw." If her name was "Drawsi" or "Flexine" then i'd despise those names appropriately lol.
@@gorganiantome I guess I am slightly biased because I am not a native English speaker so I am only used to traditional English names and Lexi feels incredibly fake to me.
Arakni is *not* non-binary, so far as we know. However, nobody knows their gender so we shouldn't just assume it's a guy. LSS also only uses they/them pronouns in the official lore and articles. Their gender is unknown, and based on their lore, I'd argue that they probably don't even understand the concept of gender, so they can't exactly identify as non-binary.
We just...don't know. It's also most likely that they don't have a birth name. The lore indicates the the Dregs (of which Arakni is one) don't use verbal communication, but merely body language and grunting sounds. Arakni was only referred to as Subject 1413 in the lore until they escaped Southmaw Asylum and were taken in by Uzuri, so the most likely explanation is that Uzuri, needing something to refer to her new protege by, gave them the name Arakni and nicknamed them The Huntsman based on their physical traits and manner of killing.
The lack of verbal communication among the Dregs would also suggest that Arakni is not mute, but rather just hasn't bothered learning how to speak in whatever common tongue Rathe seems to have.
The point I was trying to make there is that LSS was perfectly happy to bank the goodwill off of the fans saying Arakni is non-binary by technicality, then there was basically no followup from there. It made the goodwill ring really hollow in my mind.
You missed Uzuri's Pun. It's after the word 'Usury', means thievery or Putting Off.
Update: I found word stems in Latin whulst searching where Nuu means Naked.
Yeah someone else mentioned that in another comment. Totally ruins the character for me, unfortunately lol
@@gorganiantome awwww no T^T. Mabye take solice in the fact that I derive great joy from figuring out each new heroes pun.
@@gorganiantome you're my fav FaB channel btw.
That would make a lot of sense. In french, "being naked" translates to "être nu" (naked = nu)
@@thyronebennett1170 That brings me no joy! I want good character names! lol
I do like this video, but I have another way of looking at the names of the heroes. Although the names for the location are mostly fine.
It's not the names of the heroes, it's names or titles that others give them. They are called heroes, they are doing things that people want to talk about, but they might not know their names. People could simply want to have a better way to talk about Riptide than "you know, the big green sickly dude that traps people in the Pits and work for the clan of assassin but he actually uses a bow" and instead went with something that would invoke a clear image of who they are talking about. "The guy who is always around the water, is super dangerous and traps people, like a riptide, screw it, that's what I call him now". In this interpretation, the lore isn't the story of Rathe, it is the snippets of stories that reaches us from either archives, news papers or more likely legends and stories.
Now, as much as I like this video and pretty much everything you put out so far (thank you for making me realize I was a Grappler player btw, I always wanted to play fighting games but could never get into it because I could never find a character I enjoyed, now I love giving hugs with Potemkin), I have to try and prove that Volcor for the land at the foot of the volcano or Demonastery for the monastery of demons aren't stupid names. If I was searching for a name for a fictional country that was made of a collection of semi independent states, united under a charter and located in armerica, I can tell you that I would give it absolutely any other name than "United States of America" (bonus points for the United States of Mexico to the south, too bad Canada decided to have provinces instead of states, we could have had the hat trick). A closer exemple would be Autralia which is basically land of the south.
Kano, sure he can be volcano, but he also is canon. He hits very hard, but after his initial combo, he needs time to build another one, like a canon needs time to load a new charge. I think his title comes from both.
Hey! Thanks for replying with some discussion points. I'd like to address them.
If that first point were the case, there wouldn't be a bunch of heroes who's names are their names. Uzuri, Dori, Fai, Kassai, etc. We do know that Iyslander's name is Lyra, for example, so there is some evidence, but that doesn't get us all the way there. I agree, that works very specifically for Riptide, but that does not extend to Kano, or Kayo, or Rhinar, or Levia, or etc. This to me signals clear intent that characters are named as game pieces first, and second as narrative entities. From the gameplay perspective, it makes perfect sense to name characters as a means to an end. "This character doesn't have a good name, let's call him Riptide." "Oh, perfect! And if anyone asks, we can say that it's a nickname!" Is my expectation for the naming process of this character (obviously stripped and pared down), but that logic shows that his name is a Means to an End. Means to and End.
You're welcome! I'm glad I showed you my least favorite character ever! LOL.
The problem I see with your argument about the U.S. is there's a built in history as to why it's like that. The US history is effectively a massive story about how settlers left a region to found a new one that was fundamentally based around the idea of the separation of power.
If Volcor was established by a people who worship Volkanos, were trying to raise a volkano out of the lands of Solana, and were then cast out as exiles, that would be different. That has a history and a weight. These people *really* like Volkanos! Perhaps their god is Volcor, and this god is very controversial among other Rathians. So they move south to the "Ash basin," where they anoint the volkano there "Mt. Volcor," and *maybe* even name their capital "The Grand City of Volcor." I'd prefer they name it something else, but I think this is better.
The point I'm trying to make about Volcor is twofold: Regions, Cities, and Landmarks almost exclusively do not share names, because why would they? It doesn't make sense to name two things the same! So problem #1 is not "it's called volcor." Problem #1 is "Volcor is the name of a region, a Volkano, and a city name, and that doesn't make sense." Does that make sense?
To follow up with Australia, yes "land of the south" makes perfect sense to me. Again, it's not that Australia is called land of the south, it's this idea that Australia would only be australia. The capital of australia isn't "Australia." It's "Canberra." The region of Australia isn't "Australia" it's "Oceania" or "Asia." Australia also isn't one cohesive place. There's people from all over the world living there! Granted, modern times and all that, but Australia is a secluded island. Surely, given Rathe is about the size of Ukraine, there has been some migratory events which establish villages in other regions that don't share naming conventions.
Final point on Volcor, the over-simplicity of the naming conventions is what's annoying. Why can't water-magic people live in Volcor? Even if their powers are diminished? What tension and intrigue that would bring to the story! Well, no, they can't in Rathe, because Volcor is Volcano place and only lava people can live there. Bummer!
Demonastery
I'm not sure what your point about the Demonastery was? In my mind it's nigh on indefensible. A portmanteau of two words with roots in Latin and Greek, relating heavily to the Catholic church and its history, just doesn't fit in a fantasy world with no other nods to Catholicism. Would you have liked it if Demonastery was called "Shed min'zar?" Because that's the phonetic Hebrew version of "Demonastery." I think it personally would have been more interesting, but I think it still has the same problem. It's like the bad guys calling themselves "the bad guys," which is doubly strange given FaB's express intention to try and make the war of Shadow and Light be one of gray murkiness. In my mind, the people of the Demonastery ought to have named their place something akin to the Demon familiars the Runeblades have (Ursur, Nasreth, etc.). I think I understand why they didn't, because that would indicate some "big bad" that LSS might not want to reveal yet, but surely more work could have been put in to naming that region. I think that's something we can agree on.
As for your final point about Kano being also "cannon." #1, that doesn't help my feelings on him. That's misunderstanding the point I'm making. I *don't* like when characters are named after some means to mechanical end. Why did Kano's parents know that he'd be a powerful wizard, and so they had the forethought to name him "Cannon?" That's bizarre. #2, I'm almost certain it's just meant to be Volkano. His art is centered around lava, fire, and volcanos. Also, Volcanos have a big eruption and then need time to recharge like Cannons do lol.
Anyway, sorry for my massive reply lol. I'm just really passionate about this stuff and I want to make sure my argumentation is clear. It is perfectly fine by me if you or anyone like the names of FaB. I tried to make it as clear as possible that the information provided in the video is my opinion. I've heard from plenty commenters at this point that they like the pun names, because it gamifies their understanding of the lore. Fine by me!
@@gorganiantome I hope I didn't come out as trying to defend the names of either the heroes or location, they are weird. I was simply trying to explain how I personally deal with the sucky names. It feels more immersive to tell myself some story about the names being more akin to titles. At least in most cases, I don't think about it at all when interacting with heroes with actual names, guess that shows the impact of a good name now that I have to think about the difference.
As for the locations, to my knowledge, we don't have much information on the history of most places (we do have a bit more for Solana and the Demonastery because of the war of the monarch) so there might be some relevant knowledge we just don't have. For Solana and the Demonastery we know that the founders of the Demonastery used to be in Solana and rebelled, if Solana (which could have been named something else and got renamed when the sun zealots took over) worship a form of sun god, it make sense for those who want to showcase their opposition to them to say that they worship the opposite so a form of demon which lead to a stupid name that isn't just a stupid name.
Plus, there are places like Québec which is both the name of the provice, the county (not quite, but close enough) and the city which is the capital of said province. The name comes from an Algonquin word that describe the river at the location of the city and it is very likely that this was known when they chose to use that name as they had already been trading between French and Algonquin by then.
That said, I agree that many names are sub par. My favorite is Azalea but I'm biased because she was the first hero I played when I got into the game even if she was meme tier at the time.
PS: Why do you hate Potemkin? He's just a big guy trying to give hugs :) although, I understand that if you like Rushdown he is very unpleasant to face, much like I despise facing Faust with his random bullshit and his stupid long poke.
@@roguenoob No totally! Please don't think I'm trying to come after you or anything. I'm just so starved to talk about lore that I jumped at the opportunity! lol.
The points you make are totally valid, except with Potemkin who is just miserable to fight against lol. His fists are too mega, as it were.
I'm going to ruin Katsu's name for you (cuts you)... your welcome
Welp. Another one to toss out of my mind-canon lol. Thanks!
What I thought Vynnset's name origins were linked to Venn Diagrams, where theyre described as "uses simple closed curves drawn on a plane to represent sets" (wiki) so Venn + sets = Vynnset.
I think shes supposed to be kind of a character in between 2 worlds (Rathe and Shadow or wtv its called).
Also Runechants kinda look like diagrams on their own, but i dont think thats the main point.
Interesting! I would have never, ever thought of that!
@@gorganiantome its quite out there for a name origin, I think its one of the least obvious but also cool fictionnal name if its in fact Venn diagrams.
I didnt go as in depth in my analysis of the names, but I also found them cheesy at times. Like, I dont want a cheesy name like Oldhim for and old guardian dude, its like calling a pirate Raiden or a mercenairy Boba Fett...
i really, REALLY *LOATHE* the heroes names in FaB - soooo moronic it makes people actively hate the game and never pick it up...........
i part-own 2 board games clubs/bars and MtG veterans outright refuse to try FaB because of this silliness ):
Yeah it can be tough. It's hard to take a world seriously when it doesn't take itself seriously.
Yee it hurts that lss has no clue what to do with the lore... They tried, did some short stories and gave up
Very sad that there was so little care put into lore, now its too late to change that probably:(
Katsu is win in japanese
Couple different definitions from what I've found
Nu in Portuguese is without clothes.
Oh GOD no!
i hate much rathe is like league of legends
If Oldhim was a woman, would their name be Oldher?
Unfortunately, probably yes.
the lore is pretty lazily written
I certainly do not play this game for the lore
No problem in that!