Have you ever played a game based on a franchise you don't really know?

[Tanukitsune]

I'm sure many of us have played a game and then found out it was based on a show, movie or cartoon you didn't know existed, if you bought a European adventure it's likely to have been based on a comic you never heard of.... if you bought a Japanese game it's likely to based on an anime (and if not they is usually an anime based on the game later)...

Did you know Strider was based on a manga?

But I'm here to ask about when you know the game is based on a show/book/cartoon/movie/etc, one you have never seen, but you've bought the game anyway because the concept or genre appealed to you?

I bought Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet because it looked like Lego Marvel (which it more or less was), but I never watched the show.

I've imported a few PSP games based on animes I've never watched, but I know they exist.

What about you guys? Have you ever bought a game based on something you didn't know... knowingly?

[elmuerte]

Nope, not that I know about.

[mikemariano]

I played Blade Runner before seeing the movie, which sounds weird, but it worked just fine for me. I knew there were references to the movie that I wasn't getting, but it didn't get in the way of the game's story.

The film infamously had a voice-over forced upon it, which made an awkward fit and was ultimately removed in later versions. The game committed to a voice-over up front, and it took full advantage of that pulpier style.

[Squid Division]

Do Metro 2033 or Sam and Max count? It doesn't feel like quite the same thing.

[miffy495]

I played The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay about a year before seeing either of the films. I now have a deep affection for all things Riddick-related (Pitch Black is just a good movie, and Chronicles is stupid, but I still love it in the way I love a bad Bond movie) based on being completely astounded at how unexpectedly good the game was. Still haven't played through Dark Athena, though I do have it on Steam.

Also, on a semi-nitpicking note, I'm not sure I would consider playing Superhero Squad without having watched that specific Marvel show playing the game without being aware of the subject matter. I'm pretty sure that at this point, everyone at least has a loose grasp of the big name Marvel characters. I know I do, despite having little to no interest in superhero comics.

[Patters]

  Squid Division said:

Do Metro 2033 or Sam and Max count? It doesn't feel like quite the same thing.

Yes, yes and so does the Witcher.

[Jake]

I think Chris has talked about playing X-Wing and TIE Fighter before really knowing what Star Wars was. I might be exaggerating that, though.

[Chris]

  Jake said:

I think Chris has talked about playing X-Wing and TIE Fighter before really knowing what Star Wars was. I might be exaggerating that, though.

I was aware that Star Wars was a thing but I had never seen it and I didn't know much about it really.

I also played Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis before I saw an Indiana Jones movie--started it, anyway. I saw my first Indiana Jones in the middle of my playthrough.

I also played the Blade Runner game before I really saw Blade Runner. Technically I had seen Blade Runner when I was recovering from surgery in the hospital full of morphine, but it was a very hazy, drug-addled experience, and I didn't retain much of it in a concrete sense.

I also played Chronicles of Riddick without seeing the film, and have still never seen either of those two movies (or however many there are).

And yeah like others same goes for Metro 2033, The Witcher, etc. I'm sure there are more.

I also played Monkey Island before riding Pirates of the Caribbean. OHHH

[Thyroid]

Strong Bad and two levels of 007: Goldeneye.

[Patters]

You could probably throw DnD based games here too.

Also I did the same as Chris, I played Rogue Squadron before I saw the movies, I haven't seen them in ages actually, maybe I should do that.

[twmac]

I played Sword of the Beserk: Guts' rage on the Dreamcast and then read the comics and watched the show.

I've probably done it with other series but nothing springs to mind right now.

[ThunderPeel2001]

  Tanukitsune said:

Did you know Strider was based on a manga?

Wikipedia says they developed the Manga at the same time as the game.

  Kroms said:

Strong Bad and two levels of 007: Goldeneye.

You didn't know who James Bond was when you played Goldeneye?!

  Patters said:

I played Rogue Squadron before I saw the movies.

Holy crap. That's incredible. Rogue Squadron was like 1999 wasn't it? The films had been re-released at the cinema and everything. Wow. That's amazing to me.

So, are you a Star Wars fan now? Do you like the prequels (seeing as you must have watched the first one around the same time you watched the others)?

[Squid Division]

To add a second question to the thread:

Has playing the game made you more interested/seek out the original media?

Metro 2033's announcement made me interested in the book, but it wasn't available in the US at the time (no idea if it is now or not). Sam and Max hasn't ever made me more interested to go back to the original game or comics, as I'm sure they're different in subtle, but significant, ways from the Sam and Max I know and have played.

Witcher is based on something? Never knew that.

[Patters]

  ThunderPeel2001 said:

Holy crap. That's incredible. Rogue Squadron was like 1999 wasn't it? The films had been re-released at the cinema and everything. Wow. That's amazing to me.

So, are you a Star Wars fan now? Do you like the prequels (seeing as you must have watched the first one around the same time you watched the others)?

I'm not sure of the exact time-line But I have more distinct memories of playing Rogue Squadron before I was struck by other Star Wars Films. I think I may have seen A New Hope before but didn't see them until later. Actually looking back I must have played it after seeing 4 and 1 seeing as I got it with my second n64 (handed down from my uncle) as I had DK64 on the first console. They didn't make an impression until I had the films on VHS though.

The prequels are dreadful.

  Squid Division said:

To add a second question to the thread:

Has playing the game made you more interested/seek out the original media?

Metro 2033's announcement made me interested in the book, but it wasn't available in the US at the time (no idea if it is now or not). Sam and Max hasn't ever made me more interested to go back to the original game or comics, as I'm sure they're different in subtle, but significant, ways from the Sam and Max I know and have played.

Witcher is based on something? Never knew that.

I'm actually reading Metro 2033 right now, I enjoyed the atmosphere so much in the early game that I decided to read it before playing it.

Yeah, The Witcher is a continuation of a series of books. Hence why a lot of the characters know Geralt. It's a pretty big series in Eastern Europe, apparently.

[miffy495]

The old Sam and Max game had me searching madly for the Surfin the Highway compilation for years, which I was finally able to get ahold of after it was rereleased through Telltale's store. I also did see Riddick for the first time simply because I liked the game. I don't think anything else has made me check out the source though. I had only read the first three volumes of Bone when I played the games, but as they only went through the first two, I don't think that counts.

[ThunderPeel2001]

  miffy495 said:

The old Sam and Max game had me searching madly for the Surfin the Highway compilation for years.

Same here.

[thorn]

  miffy495 said:

The old Sam and Max game had me searching madly for the Surfin the Highway compilation for years, which I was finally able to get ahold of after it was rereleased through Telltale's store.

Ditto. I was rather saddened when it was rereleased because I had paid a ridiculous sum of money on Ebay for a copy of the original print run.

[syntheticgerbil]

  miffy495 said:

The old Sam and Max game had me searching madly for the Surfin the Highway compilation for years, which I was finally able to get ahold of after it was rereleased through Telltale's store.

Oh man, even when that was in print originally, I remember calling every comic shop available in the Houston yellow pages looking for someone who carried the book (or even knew what Sam and Max was). I found one, begged my mom to drive me on the other side of town (this was 1996), and spent a whole $25 I had saved up from doing chores.

I just want to say, Jake Rodkin is so amazing for putting so much effort into arranging the reprint for Surfin' the Highway. It was incredibly long overdue for a reprint and now it is even more complete with all the missing stuff that only fans would even know about. Thanks again Jake!

[Tanukitsune]

Wow, I didn't expect so much response!

  Squid Division said:

To add a second question to the thread:

Has playing the game made you more interested/seek out the original media?

Metro 2033's announcement made me interested in the book, but it wasn't available in the US at the time (no idea if it is now or not). Sam and Max hasn't ever made me more interested to go back to the original game or comics, as I'm sure they're different in subtle, but significant, ways from the Sam and Max I know and have played.

Witcher is based on something? Never knew that.

I bought some Lovecraft after playing Dark Corner of the Earth and I'm pretty sure I played Discworld before buying the books?

I also bought Surfin' the Highway as soon as it was available at Telltale?

I think there was more... The Dynasty Warriors games make we want to find a book or documentary about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which I haven't found yet?

[Asembo]

I never got into Sci-fi as a kid, so I played Knights of the Old Republic before seeing any of the movies and thought it was a fantastic RPG. KOTOR then inspired me to watch the movies.

Without any knowledge about Star Wars, I decided that it would be best to start from what I thought was the first movie, Episode I. Let's just say that Episode I, up to this date, is the only Star Wars movie I've seen.

[Drath]

I'm sure there's tons I can't think of from my childhood; however, one that stands out was Goldeneye 007. I probably did know about "James Bond" existing, but I remember not even knowing Goldeneye 007 was part of it until much later; however (again) I did not care at all, and would of never watched all the bond films otherwise - which me and my friends proceeded to do marathoning through the game and movies many weekends to come.

[twmac]

  Tanukitsune said:

I think there was more... The Dynasty Warriors games make we want to find a book or documentary about the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which I haven't found yet?

I can help you there as I too became really interested in that period.

First off is the Blu Ray version of Red Cliff by John Woo. Make sure you see the 3 hour version, it is all based around that period and is beautifully shot. You will even recognise characters from the preview.

Second is this site:

http://threekingdoms.com/

Ignore the colin powell bit and scroll down. It contains info on different versions of the full novel as well as a fan translation. The fan translation isn't bad and it is an epic read. I think there are even multiple languages available.

[elmuerte]

oh... does it count that you've played a game of which you know is based on a franchise, but you are not really familiar with the franchise?

For example, I played the game Wheel of Time, and I knew it was based on those books, but I never read the books. Same for the Baldur's Gate games.

Other than that I can't think of any other games. I did play the penny arcade games, but never really followed the comics. But I don't think that even counts, because the games don't have much to do with the comics, except that they contain the same characters.

[Tanukitsune]

  twmac said:

I can help you there as I too became really interested in that period.

First off is the Blu Ray version of Red Cliff by John Woo. Make sure you see the 3 hour version, it is all based around that period and is beautifully shot. You will even recognise characters from the preview.

Second is this site:

http://threekingdoms.com/

Ignore the colin powell bit and scroll down. It contains info on different versions of the full novel as well as a fan translation. The fan translation isn't bad and it is an epic read. I think there are even multiple languages available.

Huh? I will recognize them? I thought their design in the game had little to nothing to do with reality? I'll try to check these out! Thanks! :3

  elmuerte said:

oh... does it count that you've played a game of which you know is based on a franchise, but you are not really familiar with the franchise?

That's exactly what I'm talking about!

[Thompson]

  Chris said:

...it was a very hazy, drug-addled experience, and I didn't retain much of it in a concrete sense.

Aha, please tell me you have bizarre, drug induced recollections of that movie that are totally different to the real thing.

Persona 4 was the first and only Shin Megami Tensei thing i've ever played. I'm sure the other games are good too, but I don't like the idea of going backward in a series. Is that weird?

Apart from that... Metro 2033 was a book? Huh.

I could name a million games where I played the 2nd or third one without ever playing the others but I think World of Warcraft is the biggest one for me, the closest i've ever come to Warcraft is playing LoL.

FAR CRY 2.