Expeditions: Vikings?

[Ubercat]

I skipped the first game based solely on the screenshots. Female Conquistadors? Talk about artificial inclusiveness. Spain at that time had pretty medieval views on gender roles unless my history is drastically off. Will the new game have black vikings? Transgendered?

They may be great games. (and maybe I should check them out on YouTube) I'm just sick of all the rewriting and expunging of history in the name of social justice.

[Gusington]

Black Viking is my favorite DC superhero.

[-budd-]

JH can post your thoughts when you get more play time. Hoping for a more fleshed version concept wise than the first.

[Sir Slash]

I thought this was a football sim when I first saw the title of the thread. 

[Philippe]

I was very fond of Expeditions: Conquistador, but there were several things about it that I found infuriating.  A portrayal of a society from a different time and place should not be modeled after what you wish your own modern-day society actually was. There were something like two women in all of sixteenth and seventeenth century Latin American history who took up arms, and it was considered extraordinary at the time. These exercises were very rare and of short duration, and for good reason: the Inquisition frowned on that kind of behavior, and probably considered cross-dressing to be proof of heresy. One of the damning charges against Joan of Arc had been that she dressed like a man: different culture and different century, but the same religious rule book.

Unfortunately the shield-maiden has entered popular culture courtesy of the History Channel's Vikings, so Expeditions: Viking's game designers can be forgiven for including them.  How common were they in actual reality? Not very, but they did show up in the mythological and semi-mythological folklore, though not so much in the history.  I could turn a blind eye to a few of them, but it's a bit much when a village gets attacked by a Norwegian raiding party where about a third if not more of the attackers were women.  I wouldn't be that surprised if a third of the defenders turned out to be women defending their homes, but the few incidents I can recall from the Icelandic sagas where women actually grabbed weapons were written to emphasize that the men weren't doing what the women perceived as their job, and the narrator clearly thinks that these incidents were so unusual they were worthy of note (and sometimes a little shocking). The famous incident in Vinland where a woman opened her shirt and started slapping her bare breasts with the flat of a sword was considered extreme and kind of scary (it apparently put the enemy to flight), and then there is the woman who took an axe to all of the female prisoners when the men were too squeamish to kill all of the witnesses.  Extreme and unusual behavior is a feature of primitive spell-casting, and medieval Scandinavians were surprisingly close to their shamanistic roots.

[Jarhead0331]

I did not go into this game expecting hyper-historical reality and authenticity. Having the story and background based loosely on actual history is enough for me. So far, for me, the vibe feels authentically Viking...the importance of family, the bond between clansmen, the importance of an oath, respect, bravery, etc. it's all here. The setting feels appropriately Norse, as well. Feast halls, mead, long boats, etc.

So far, there are several key women in the story arc...your mother, a friend, a witch and her apprentice (not a magic witch, think medicine and poison) and I've seen a huntress. There is also a female thegn that is situated close to the king. For some reason though, the notion of strong, independent women flows with Norse mythology and history in my mind, so it's working so far and it is not so off-putting or in your face. Trust me...if it was, it would bother me.

[Toonces]

Let me know when they add in zombies.


Mmmmmmm.....zombie Viking game.....aaggggggghhhhhh....   

[Ubercat]

I watched episodes 1 and 3 of an E:C let's play on YouTube yesterday and it looked mostly pretty good. Episode 2 had been deleted by YT. Someone panicked because apparently the word "savage" had been uttered.  ::) I hope they're OK. It's probably safe to come out from under the desk now.

[Nefaro]

Let me know when they add in zombies.


Mmmmmmm.....zombie Viking game.....aaggggggghhhhhh....   

;D


Need a fad-tastic viking game?

Viking & Zombie Crafting/Survival.

Just plug them into another Minecraft derivative and it'll fit right in with all the rest. 

[Steelgrave]

I did not go into this game expecting hyper-historical reality and authenticity. Having the story and background based loosely on actual history is enough for me. So far, for me, the vibe feels authentically Viking...the importance of family, the bond between clansmen, the importance of an oath, respect, bravery, etc. it's all here. The setting feels appropriately Norse, as well. Feast halls, mead, long boats, etc.

So far, there are several key women in the story arc...your mother, a friend, a witch and her apprentice (not a magic witch, think medicine and poison) and I've seen a huntress. There is also a female thegn that is situated close to the king. For some reason though, the notion of strong, independent women flows with Norse mythology and history in my mind, so it's working so far and it is not so off-putting or in your face. Trust me...if it was, it would bother me.

JH,  your post is what tipped the scales, made me put it in my cart and pull the trigger. Thank you, sir!