I was thinking today: What is good that is steampunk and is not Girl Genius? I can't actually bring anything to mind. Everything I've seen, read, or played has been awful. Is the genre really in so sad a condition?
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Some games have done Steampunk justice but yea overall it seems there's more Wild Wild West in steampunk than many others. Although I will say Hellboy 2 has some psuedosteampunk elements that were awesome.
I think that for the purposes of this thread, if you have to ask if it counts, it doesn't count. When checking on the quality of fantasy adventure literature as a genre, you don't have to ask if The Lord of the Rings counts. What I'm getting at is that apparently, the steampunk genre does not really have a solid core of good material. It's built around squishy crap.
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I think that for the purposes of this thread, if you have to ask if it counts, it doesn't count. When checking on the quality of fantasy adventure literature as a genre, you don't have to ask if The Lord of the Rings counts. What I'm getting at is that apparently, the steampunk genre does not really have a solid core of good material. It's built around squishy crap.
I would say this is the truth of the matter. It is more of a stylistic movement today for the most part especially when compared to the source of its name, Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk has a very strong cohesive literary background from 80's movement. Though modern cyberpunk is pretty much in the same place as steampunk where it used as a catchall for the genre and style with very little modern cyberpunk achieving the same groundbreaking success that those that came before it did.
I haven't read any of the original steampunk works from the 80's save one (because it was written by cyberpunk writers), this is the Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling which according to the wikipedia article "is credited with bringing widespread awareness of steampunk." This book is fantastic but for my money I would rather read cyberpunk over steampunk everyday.
Going back to other people responses in this thread the wiki article cites these examples for "Victorian Steampunk"
"Some examples of this type include the novel The Difference Engine,[18] the comic book series League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the Disney animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire,[2] the Anime series Fullmetal Alchemist and the roleplaying game Space: 1889.[2] Some, such as the comic series Girl Genius,[2] have their own unique times and places despite partaking heavily of the flavor of historic times and settings."
All of which have been listed in this thread. You could go back even further and say that the original H.G. Wells works were steampunk but that seems extremely revisionary.
TLDR: If you have read Girl Genius the only steampunk work worth picking up is The Difference Engine and that's because it was written by cyberpunk authors.
Edit: heh my sig seems appropriate for this thread.
I would say this is the truth of the matter. It is more of a stylistic movement today for the most part especially when compared to the source of its name, Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk has a very strong cohesive literary background from 80's movement. Though modern cyberpunk is pretty much in the same place as steampunk where it used as a catchall for the genre and style with very little modern cyberpunk achieving the same groundbreaking success that those that came before it did.
I think Stephenson basically won cyberpunk with Snow Crash. Nothing after that has been relevant, and I can say this safely despite having read barely any of it.
I haven't read any of the original steampunk works from the 80's save one (because it was written by cyberpunk writers), this is the Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling which according to the wikipedia article "is credited with bringing widespread awareness of steampunk." This book is fantastic but for my money I would rather read cyberpunk over steampunk everyday.
Have not read that. I'll give it a look.
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I think Stephenson basically won cyberpunk with Snow Crash. Nothing after that has been relevant, and I can say this safely despite having read barely any of it.
Have not read that. I'll give it a look.
This is true, Snow Crash is one of my favorite novels ever. I actually just reread it. It was the end of true cyberpunk with Diamond Age as the new direction with wetwork being replaced with nanotech. This being the metaphorical end of cyberpunk is especially true when
he kills off the traditional cyberpunk protagonist who has wetwork and the traditional loner status
The Court of the Air is a pretty good steampunk-ish novel, from what I remember? [The first amazon review is 'the best OK book I've read in a while,' which seems to be about right.] In general, though ... yeah. not so much. I think Vash is steampunk-ish, ... i.e. Trigun, the anime. That was good. but there just is not much steampunk. It's much more viable as an idea than an actual thing.
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I would go out on a limb here and say the series Warehouse 13 has many steampunk elements to it and even incorporates H.G Wells as a character for a short time.
As for games I can't even believe no one has mentioned Arcanum. It is a bit old but man did that game just ooze steampunk. It is worth running a xp machine just to play that game.
I think that for the purposes of this thread, if you have to ask if it counts, it doesn't count. When checking on the quality of fantasy adventure literature as a genre, you don't have to ask if The Lord of the Rings counts. What I'm getting at is that apparently, the steampunk genre does not really have a solid core of good material. It's built around squishy crap.
'Skind of the point, though. Steampunk doesn't have its own elements, it assimilates elements from other genres, and gives them an anachronistic background to emphasize them. Follow that recipe and you get something kewl, like Torchlight or Hugo... force the whole story to be about Steampunk and you get Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
That being said, I find Steampunk.com to be an okay portal, although as you can imagine from their obviousness they tend to go a bit overboard with the fandom.
I would go out on a limb here and say the series Warehouse 13 has many steampunk elements to it and even incorporates H.G Wells as a character for a short time.
Eh... that really is out on a limb. There's certainly a steampunk aesthetic to some Warehouse equipment, like Artie's computer and the Teslas. But artifacts are fundamentally magical, not technological, and that sort of contradicts the essence of steampunk.
Follow that recipe and you get something kewl, like Torchlight or Hugo... force the whole story to be about Steampunk and you get Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
Okay, first of all, Sky Captain is awesome. And second, it's clearly dieselpunk, not steampunk.
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One of my favorite pure steampunk things is the movie Steamboy. It's an anime movie by the same maker as Akira. The Wild Arms RPG series on the PS2 has plenty of steampunk elements, as does Arcanum on the PC. Steambot Chronicles on the PS2, and Nostalgia on the DS, both count. I also consider Evolution 1 and 2 on the Dreamcast/Gamecube to be steampunkish.
Jules Verne has Steampunk in just about every novel.
The Gundemonium bullet shooter games on the PC, as well as Jamestown, have significant steampunk elements.
Several Miyazaki movies, including Castle in the Sky, include significant Steampunk elements.
Really now, a relatively Victorian fantasy setting with anachronistic technology run off steam power isn't steampunk? You seem to be operating under the wrong idea of what steampunk actually is.
Dunno the genre very well. Does Full Metal Alchemist count?
Arguably not, most of the technology was in some cases more advanced like automail. Time setting was WWI-WWII around that time mixed in with some more modern social elements with women.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen does have steampunk in it among other things.
I suppose it does not use steampunk itself to accomplish anything extraordinary plotwise. And FF gameplay is saddening given that Boring But Practical is usually optimal.
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There are other games other than Final Fantasy 7 in that series?
There's tactics. That's about it.
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I quite enjoyed Chris Bachalo's Steampunk comics and I own the whole set. Sad it never finished. But I love everything by Bachalo, from his Sandman & Death stuff all the way to his later, cartoony Joe Maduriera style stuff.
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Re: People misusing the term Vanilla to describe a flying, unleash (sometimes trample) critter.
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I would say this is the truth of the matter. It is more of a stylistic movement today for the most part especially when compared to the source of its name, Cyberpunk. Cyberpunk has a very strong cohesive literary background from 80's movement. Though modern cyberpunk is pretty much in the same place as steampunk where it used as a catchall for the genre and style with very little modern cyberpunk achieving the same groundbreaking success that those that came before it did.
I haven't read any of the original steampunk works from the 80's save one (because it was written by cyberpunk writers), this is the Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling which according to the wikipedia article "is credited with bringing widespread awareness of steampunk." This book is fantastic but for my money I would rather read cyberpunk over steampunk everyday.
Going back to other people responses in this thread the wiki article cites these examples for "Victorian Steampunk"
"Some examples of this type include the novel The Difference Engine,[18] the comic book series League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the Disney animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire,[2] the Anime series Fullmetal Alchemist and the roleplaying game Space: 1889.[2] Some, such as the comic series Girl Genius,[2] have their own unique times and places despite partaking heavily of the flavor of historic times and settings."
All of which have been listed in this thread. You could go back even further and say that the original H.G. Wells works were steampunk but that seems extremely revisionary.
TLDR: If you have read Girl Genius the only steampunk work worth picking up is The Difference Engine and that's because it was written by cyberpunk authors.
Edit: heh my sig seems appropriate for this thread.
Like smashing face? Like not worrying about pitiful tokens or life gain? Check out Stonebrow, Krosan Hero for all your face smashing needs
I think Stephenson basically won cyberpunk with Snow Crash. Nothing after that has been relevant, and I can say this safely despite having read barely any of it.
Have not read that. I'll give it a look.
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This is true, Snow Crash is one of my favorite novels ever. I actually just reread it. It was the end of true cyberpunk with Diamond Age as the new direction with wetwork being replaced with nanotech. This being the metaphorical end of cyberpunk is especially true when
Like smashing face? Like not worrying about pitiful tokens or life gain? Check out Stonebrow, Krosan Hero for all your face smashing needs
and eyes are full of death besides
but luckily the soul is wise -
it sees beyond my blindness and
forced failure makes a better guise,
so as i come again alive,
it feels like life's a decent plan
The Prestige doesn't count.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
As for games I can't even believe no one has mentioned Arcanum. It is a bit old but man did that game just ooze steampunk. It is worth running a xp machine just to play that game.
Hugo.
2011.
Director:
Martin Scorsese.
'Skind of the point, though. Steampunk doesn't have its own elements, it assimilates elements from other genres, and gives them an anachronistic background to emphasize them. Follow that recipe and you get something kewl, like Torchlight or Hugo... force the whole story to be about Steampunk and you get Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.
That being said, I find Steampunk.com to be an okay portal, although as you can imagine from their obviousness they tend to go a bit overboard with the fandom.
Eh... that really is out on a limb. There's certainly a steampunk aesthetic to some Warehouse equipment, like Artie's computer and the Teslas. But artifacts are fundamentally magical, not technological, and that sort of contradicts the essence of steampunk.
That is an oversight.
Okay, first of all, Sky Captain is awesome. And second, it's clearly dieselpunk, not steampunk.
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One of my favorite pure steampunk things is the movie Steamboy. It's an anime movie by the same maker as Akira. The Wild Arms RPG series on the PS2 has plenty of steampunk elements, as does Arcanum on the PC. Steambot Chronicles on the PS2, and Nostalgia on the DS, both count. I also consider Evolution 1 and 2 on the Dreamcast/Gamecube to be steampunkish.
Jules Verne has Steampunk in just about every novel.
The Gundemonium bullet shooter games on the PC, as well as Jamestown, have significant steampunk elements.
Several Miyazaki movies, including Castle in the Sky, include significant Steampunk elements.
That's all I have off the top of my head.
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Really now, a relatively Victorian fantasy setting with anachronistic technology run off steam power isn't steampunk? You seem to be operating under the wrong idea of what steampunk actually is.
Oh, ****, that's right, Verne. And Wells too.
I formally retract this thread.
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1) I think you might want to replay the game, specifically paying attention to areas like Jidoor, Nikeah, etc.
2) This:
Emphasis mine. Figaro Castle doesn't run on magical fairy sparkle dust, nor did Doma's railroad, nor did Narshe's technology.
tl;dr Your lack of knowledge about the game does not change its genres.
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Arguably not, most of the technology was in some cases more advanced like automail. Time setting was WWI-WWII around that time mixed in with some more modern social elements with women.
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen does have steampunk in it among other things.
There are other games other than Final Fantasy 7 in that series?
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*cringing and moaning*
I suppose it does not use steampunk itself to accomplish anything extraordinary plotwise. And FF gameplay is saddening given that Boring But Practical is usually optimal.
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There's tactics. That's about it.
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Happy, sure, but you're still wrong about it being a crappy game.
Tactics is proof that FF is at its best when it's ripping off real history.