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My friend is in a reading group that has picked up "The Gargoyles of Notre Dame: Medievalism and the Monsters of Modernity" by Michael Camille. After reading it, he began thinking about gargoyles and the role they play in videogames:
It's a pretty cool book. And in the final chapter Camille discusses gargoyles in recent culture and he talks briefly about a lot of stuff like comic books, cartoons, movies, and kitschy bric-à-brac, but not video games. And I started wondering about that, because games have so much potential because of the increased level of simulation and interaction. Like what are the associations with gargoyles and how are they situated in various games? What do they do and why? What do they look like and why? It's pretty cool that gargoyles mean different things in different games.
So we started thinking of examples, and here's a few we found:
-Heroes of Might and Magic II, III
-Lords of Magic
-Quest for Glory I
-King's Quest VII
-Gargoyles (Genesis)
-Gargoyle's Quest
-Gargoyle's Quest II
-Demon's Crest
-Batman: Arkham Asylum
-Rampage World Tour
-Shining Force
-Killer Instinct 2/Gold
I think it would be totally rad to post on a message board and get some more examples. Maybe just limited to games where gargoyles are somehow functional (not just backdrop)-- ?
So how about it? Any other games where gargoyles play a significant role? And feel free to talk about the games mentioned and the gargoyles within them.
Diablo had gargoyles as an enemy who could turn to stone to regenerate while hurt. Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines also had a gargoyle who you could get a sidequest to either fight or recruit for different vampire factions.
I don't know of any other games where Gargoyles play a significant role, but I know you fight them in a few different CastleVania games, and in Symphony of the Night you can actually be turned into a (immobile, stone) gargoyle for a few seconds under certain conditions.
Fable II. Those pricks would taunt you whenever you were in ear-shot. Then you murder them and get prizes!
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cj iwakuraThe Rhythm RegentBears The Name FreedomRegistered Userregular
edited May 2010
Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines on the PC has a quest focused around taking out a mad Gargoyle; they're Tremere-controlled beings in the V:TM universe.
For about the first five years, Everquest had amazing Gargoyles; they were textured to look like weathered stone, they didn't have any idle animation, and they didn't have names over their heads like most monsters.
So, the effect of aggroing a gargoyle in EQ was very much like watching a statue start to move and come for you.
In one of the later expansions, they changed the gargoyle model, which retroactively affected every zone with gargoyles in and rather spoiled the effect, but it was awfully neat until they did that.
Throughout the cutscenes you see the always omnipresent gargoyles. Later on you find out the BBEG can turn them to life, and has been spying on various events through their eyes.
WarCraft III has a gargoyle unit, and I'd put money on most WRPGs having some form of gargoyle, named or otherwise.
Edit: Guild Wars
WoW also has gargoyles and Death Knights can spec to be able to summon one to attack for them for a small amount of time. There's tons of gargoyle enemies in the world as well, plus a lot that act like statues, hanging out stationary on cliffs and buildings.
Dungeons and Dragons Online has Gargoyles too. They're pretty much as they were written in 3rd edition D+D and a cross between a statue and a beast most likely made by a wizard.
Also, Master of Magic has them as a unit you can summon. I can't quite remember the spell school they were associated with, though. I think it's Chaos.
I feel I must point out the term Gargoyle is often used incorrectly. It's only a Gargoyle if it functions as a drain for guttering. Otherwise it is called a Grotesque.
Dungeons and Dragons Online has Gargoyles too. They're pretty much as they were written in 3rd edition D+D and a cross between a statue and a beast most likely made by a wizard.
Also, Master of Magic has them as a unit you can summon. I can't quite remember the spell school they were associated with, though. I think it's Chaos.
Was totally going to say this, and they are definitely chaos and had tons of armor. What a great game.
I feel I must point out the term Gargoyle is often used incorrectly. It's only a Gargoyle if it functions as a drain for guttering. Otherwise it is called a Grotesque.
In Discworld Noir there is a Gargoyle character who does have a Gutter running through his mouth.
Likely the only true animate Gargoyle in videogames.
Thank you everyone for the helpful examples, my friend has compiled them into a list and offered some additional thoughts on the gargoyle vs. grotesque discussion:
It's true that gargoyle technically refers to a fixture for conveying water off of a building. I think a more proper term for the sculptures would be "chimera." (The word is taken from the Chimaera defeated by Bellerophon, though it generally refers to composite beings and illusions). I don't like "grotesque" because it is vague and loaded with negative associations. It was made up in the sixteenth century to describe certain Roman wall paintings that offended the aesthetic sensibilities of the times. In the middle ages there were quite a few terms to refer to the gargoyles (from gargoule first recorded in 1295) and chimeras. Like babuini in Latin, or babewyn in English, which is related to our word baboon. (Not unlike the flying monkeys in the Wizard of Oz.) We could spend a lot of time with pretentious hair-splitting, but, honestly, it's really only useful when you need to make a distinction, which isn't the case in a video game.
So... anyways, this is the final list (32 total):
Ultima IV 1985
Quest for Glory I 1989
Gargoyle's Quest 1990
Gargoyle's Quest II 1992
Shining Force I 1994
Demon's Crest 1994
King's Quest VII 1994
Master of Magic 1994
Gargoyles 1995
Heroes of Might & Magic 1995
Killer Instinct Gold 1996
Heroes of Might & Magic II 1996
Rampage World Tour 1997
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night 1997
Lords of Magic 1998
Heroes of Might & Magic III 1999
Everquest 1999
Discworld Noir 1999
Diablo II 2000
Heroes of Might & Magic IV 2002
Warcraft III 2002
Primal 2003
World of Warcraft 2004
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2004
Thief 3: Deadly Shadows 2004
Sims 2 2004
Heroes of Might & Magic V 2006
D+D Online 2006
Fable II 2008
Batman: Arkham Asylum 2009
Ghostbusters: The Video Game 2009
Demon's Souls 2009
If anyone has some additional examples or insight, feel free to share it. Thanks once again.
Demon's Crest is fucking awesome. Loved that game.
I've been wanting to play this game forever. It looks awesome, but I can never find a copy. Apparently it's pretty rare?
I found a boxed copy once, some dude that if you look at him, you'd say "Eh, he doesn't know about games" so I went in for the kill. He sells tons of used SNES games, all for less than $5.
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Edit: Guild Wars
So, the effect of aggroing a gargoyle in EQ was very much like watching a statue start to move and come for you.
In one of the later expansions, they changed the gargoyle model, which retroactively affected every zone with gargoyles in and rather spoiled the effect, but it was awfully neat until they did that.
Throughout the cutscenes you see the always omnipresent gargoyles. Later on you find out the BBEG can turn them to life, and has been spying on various events through their eyes.
Er...you can buy gargoyles in The Sims 2? Does that count?
And he's listing the game in his post.
I can't really think of any examples that haven't been mentioned already. I guess gargoyles aren't that common in video games.
I came into this thread to post the exact same thing.
Oh I hate those dudes. All spearin' my mans and making creepy noises.
Also, Master of Magic has them as a unit you can summon. I can't quite remember the spell school they were associated with, though. I think it's Chaos.
Was totally going to say this, and they are definitely chaos and had tons of armor. What a great game.
Likely the only true animate Gargoyle in videogames.
If anyone has some additional examples or insight, feel free to share it. Thanks once again.
I found a boxed copy once, some dude that if you look at him, you'd say "Eh, he doesn't know about games" so I went in for the kill. He sells tons of used SNES games, all for less than $5.
Guy wanted $50 for it.