Original Creatures or Same Old?

[Ajit]

Do you prefer new cards that are completely unique, or more like the classic creatures you would expect to see in a fantasy game like this?  Maybe a combination of both?

For example; an elf.  Elves are in nearly all fantasy games it seems.  Everyone knows what an elf is.  Same with dwarves, orcs, dragons, phoenix, etc.  Is it important to keep those types of creatures in Elements, or to add some new and unique creations?  Like a Rustler is exclusive to Elements.  As well as an Ash Eater.

further explanation;
OK so I've been curious for a while, what does the community prefer when it comes to the Elements World?  What is the Elements World?  Is it a completely unique entity, or is it similar to say Middle Earth for example?

Should people develop ideas unique to the Elements world, or stick with the tried and true?

[Ajit]

Regarding the Crusader idea, I have to disagree with those.  That's history, not even fantasy.  Crusaders existed, no one invented them.  I like Crusader is what I'm getting at


Now regarding the names of things, I really don't mean to stop at just giving weird made up names to creatures, although that would be part of it.  I mean creating creatures that haven't been thought of before.  Or at least ones that aren't super common.  I know it is difficult, there are literally thousands of mythical creatures, and to create a new and unique one would be very difficult, but I think if Elements doesn't want to be just another fantasy game, its got to create a world of its own.  The pillars are a good start.

[Nepycros]

No, I actively support creatures and artifacts that have never been thought of before. Ideas that have never been conceived before are the future of this game, simply because fantasy is that which is innovative and creative. My ideas support this basis.

[Daytripper]

Voted combination.

If you just look at the  cards now, many have something recognizable. I think that this is good. If everything was completely new you'd have a hard time making sense of the cards.

Take vultures, spiders, mummies. They're known concepts. We should not be surprised a mummy turns into a pharaoh, and that scarabs are associated with it! What if the mummy had been a gnome and what if it had turned into a goblin when frozen? Would not have made sense to anyone.

The water creatures are partly named after actual animals, though they're a bit of a misnomer. You can see it bothers people a toadfish has little legs. The chry/physalia is actually a jellyfish. This could give you the wrong idea of what the card does.

Even the shrieker/graboid is not entirely new. Large ground dwelling worms are common in horror/SF films. Maybe you've seen one of those.

So I think it is good to keep those built in concepts. An element has natural associations after all. It is not totally random.

[Raptor6789]

World of Elements, anyone?

[Ajit]

Thanks everyone for voting, gives me a better feeling of what the community it looking for.

[zse]

I have no problem on having extremely unoriginal creature names like Ice Dragon, Giant Frog, Werewolf and Pegasus. BUT then again I just REALLY like that some creatures are named Retrovirus, Maxwell's Demon, Photon and Brimstone Eater. Because of that I voted for New/Original names, hoping more weird named cards would be introduced.

[Raptor6789]

maxwell's demon is actually a science term used in when describing the movement of gas particles. or something like that.
a photon is a particle of light.

those names arent that original...

[Marvaddin]

In case you dont know, Retrovirus also does exist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrovirus

[ZephyrPhantom]

I'm going to say the Elements world is a combination of fantansy, myth, and reality to an extent, thus creating a world of it's own.  The ingame entities may not realize it, but it is the Elementals that allow the world to exist - without their creative imagination, new cards wouldn't be created and new concepts like WoE wouldn't get added.

Overall, I think a combination of both works, the point of each card is to try to be interesting and semi-unique at the same time.

[zse]

maxwell's demon is actually a science term used in when describing the movement of gas particles. or something like that.
a photon is a particle of light.

those names arent that original...

In case you dont know, Retrovirus also does exist.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retrovirus

??? You both seem to have misunderstood the point I was trying to make: Using those names in fantasy game is weird and unique. Having those non-classic-fantasy names is great - names originating from physics, chemistry, biology, history, etc. Not just some pig latin words that mean nothing.

[Nepycros]

The real process should be coming up with new game mechanics, then constructing a title that fits it best, whether it be from regular mythology, or previously non-conceived ideas.