Which CRPG has the most stupid name?

[eric__s]

I didn't buy The Temple of Elemental Evil back in the day specifically because of its stupid name. I have it on GoG now because I know what it is but back then, when the only thing I had to go on was a box and a name, the name just didn't cut it.

 

[eric__s]

Gothic

You know, Gothic really is a bad name. The game isn't dark, spooky gothic or ancient Germanic gothic. Where did the name even come from?

 

[Booger]

i want to add shroud of the avatar

 

[Saber-Scorpion]

Came here to say The Temple of Elemental Evil. It sounds so gosh darn silly. So it's a temple to... evil? What is "elemental" about the evil? Oh. It turns out it's literally referring to the four elements being represented inside the temple.

Another contender is Neverwinter Nights. Try saying it out loud to someone who doesn't know what it is. "Never... winter... knights?" "Well, see, Neverwinter is the name of a city..." "Oh, so you're Knights of Neverwinter. Okay." "No, it's 'nights', like nighttime. And no, it's not about the city's night life. Actually I have no idea why it's called that."

 

[Bio Force Ape]

 

[Deleted member 7219]

• Arcanum: Of Blah Blah Blah
• Divine Divinity
• Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
• Two Worlds II
• Kingdom Come: Deliverance
• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
• Risen 2: Dark Waters, Risen 3 (whatever the subtitle was)
• Nearly every JRPG. I can name so many. Bravely Default. Phantasy Star. Disgaea. Kingdom Hearts. Monster Hunter. Ys. Demon's Souls.

 

[vonAchdorf]

If "Sacred" is in, then the poll needs "Unbended" as well.

 

[Keldryn]

Oh look, it's Dragons of the Rip.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Reminder that someone, somewhere, must have fapped to Stella.

Carry on.

-

On topic: now that I think about it, 7th Saga was kind of inane since sending 7 people on an adventure simultaneously doesn't really count as seven sagas.

Gothic

You know, Gothic really is a bad name. The game isn't dark, spooky gothic or ancient Germanic gothic. Where did the name even come from?

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gothic

often not capitalized : of or relating to a style of fiction characterized by the use of desolate or remote settings and macabre, mysterious, or violent incidents

Sounds fitting enough.

 

[Infinitron]

Another contender is Neverwinter Nights. Try saying it out loud to someone who doesn't know what it is. "Never... winter... knights?" "Well, see, Neverwinter is the name of a city..." "Oh, so you're Knights of Neverwinter. Okay." "No, it's 'nights', like nighttime. And no, it's not about the city's night life. Actually I have no idea why it's called that."

You'd have to ask the developers of the original Neverwinter Nights: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_(MMORPG)

I like to think it has something to do with them assuming that their neckbearded players would be playing the game all night.

 

[roshan]

Infinitron can the poll be edited with the complete name - Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness

 

[Jaesun]

done.

 

[Darkion]

Voted for EXLAX ELEX. Almost voted for Divine Divinity, a title that kept me from playing that game for years thinking it was some kind of Final Fantasy rip-off, but I still feel sorry for Larian having been forced to use the name, so I gave it a pass.

Had to look up Bravely Default: Flying Fairy because surely that had to be a joke. Unfortunately it wasn't.

 

[ColCol]

Icy

 

[Ovplain]

'Lands of Lore'

 

[Joni Odin von Hassenstein]

Gothic

You know, Gothic really is a bad name. The game isn't dark, spooky gothic or ancient Germanic gothic. Where did the name even come from?

I don't really get the heavy criticism y'all have for that name.
It's pretty abvious to me that they wanted to refer to the dark and melancholic atmosphere related to the Goth-scene / subculture (as f.e. Björn Pankratz visited clubs with these kind of parties every now and then, and the scene was still quite alive and well back then).
And I really think the atmosphere of the game indeed was pretty "dark" all in all.

 

[Goblino]

Gothic is named as such because it's german low fantasy, it's a german game, the game has a dark atmosphere and color palette, and Mining Colony is a poor name for an american audience.

 

[himmy]

5 pages and nobody mentioned "Legend of Dungeon".

It says a lot of how much the video game industry relies on impulse buys by unsavvy customers that so many video games use completely generic words in their titles, hoping that people will just vaguely associate them with stuff. Say what you will about the movie industry, but you will rarely find films with names as ridiculous as some of the video games outside of the bargain bins. Stuff like Legend of Dungeon, RAW - Realms of Ancient War or Two Worlds 2 is just unbelievable.

Almost 10% of the games in my Steam library contain the word "war" one way or another and words like "legend", "quest", "age", "heroes", "shadow", "dark", "dead" are more common on Steam than on the back of a 13 year old power metal-obsessed kid's notebook.

Names like "Serpent in the Staglands" or "Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura" or "Geneforge" at least manage to entertain some sort of curiosity in regards to the content of the game.



Oh, and then there's the games, especially RPGs, which name themselves after the (sometimes horribly) made up names of the world or land in which the game takes place, from your Avadons to your Kingdom of Amalur to Lords of Xulima. At least stuff like Neverwinter sounds cool and is an established name, but most of them just make you sound like an idiot when you say them out loud.

 

[Alex]

Zed "Kingdom Come : Deliverance" is undoubtedly the stupidest title of them all. A classic example of the "let's string together as many empty, bombastic buzzwords as we can" syndrome, so prevalent in vidya gaems.
The result is so bland and impersonal it's not even funny...

With a name like that I would expect a game about the Apocalypse.

Man, that would be pretty sweet, actually. Pretty hard to make it worthy of the source material, but just imagine if someone could pull it off.

 

[Mustawd]

Black Geyser: Couriers of Darkness should get extra points for its crossover appeals as a gay porn.

 

[octavius]

I remember my brother snickering at the name "Death Knights of Krynn". Which is ironic, since later he would become a Dragonlance fan and buy all (?) the books taking place on Krynn. Even I who love the Krynn GB games didn't bother to read more than the two trilogies + Legend of Huma.

 

[Ludo Lense]

You know, seeing this thread evolve made me realize how bad video game names are due to their shlocky sci-fi/fantasy 80's influence during their becoming "mainstream".

You have something super undefined that can be be tied to the theme of the game...and 50 others like Destiny or Dishonored or a direct world reference like Planescape or Kingdoms of Amalur. Alternatively you can go full Nippon have some super Engrish nonsensical title like "Infinite Undiscovery".

It is all very sad since my favorite genre of books since childhood is Science fiction and Speculative Fiction and they have some of the best titles like:

"Something wicked this way comes" by Ray Bradbury
"We can remember it for you wholesale" By Philip K.Dick
"The dead lady of clown town" by Cordwainer Smith
"The gods themselves" By Issac Asimov
"Bug Jack Barron" by Norman Spinrad

So many eye-catching names.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

Voted Bravely Default because what the fuck does that even mean. "Flying Fairy" is just a nail in the coffin.

It's the combat stances that the characters can adopt. Think Jagged Alliance 4: Kneeling Prone

Not sure if the explanation makes it better or worse, though I guess we're at a point where there are so many JRPGs that normal terms like "attack" and "defend" don't cut it anymore.

Also, just saw on the wiki that there's a sequel called... For the Sequel. Imagination!

 

[Dr Skeleton]

Gotta go with Bravely Default: Flying Fairy. I had to google if it's real too, unsurprisingly it's JRPG.

 

[Alex]

No one mentioned Dink Smallwood?

Hehehehehehehe

i can't believe that's not intentionally bad-hilarious.