Sacred_Path wrote:_noblesse_oblige_ wrote:I have no idea whether that is still happening or not. Presumably she can sing in Gaelic about non-Gaelic things. Or even about Gaelic things and most people would be none the wiser. Having pretty music sung in a particular language is fine.
THAT would really be misspent money though, wouldn't it?

Hmm... would it be? I am not sure I follow your argument. Are you saying that if the purpose for which Julie Fowlis was hired was removed, then it would be a waste to still have her music in the game? I am arguing that having pretty folk music, which just happens to be Gaelic in origin, would be fine in the game, regardless of whether the game is Gaelic-themed.
In the Dominions games, Swedish folk music, produced by a group called Draam (
http://www.draam.com/engindex.htm,
http://www.draam.com/engmusik.htm), is used for the sound tracks, even though the games have very little to do with Nordic myth or folklore. (There are three nations, based on Nordic myth, out of something like thirty plus nations (closer to seventy, if you count the nations of each era separately). And, unlike BT4, the designers didn't bother with thinly-disguised name changes to mask the identities of those nations. For example, the Jotnar of Jotunheim are indeed the giants (jotnar) of Nordic myth. Jarls are jarls. Etc....) As it turns out, the music from Draam is highly suitable for the game, regardless of the fact that about the only thing truly Swedish about the game is that it is developed by a couple of guys in Sweden.
Sacred_Path wrote:
Bard's Tale spells plus pseudo-Picts and pseudo-Norse also feel weird. Which is what I am getting at. I would rather that they just dropped the whole Gaels, Norse, and Picts thing altogether. But, if they are going to keep it, then I don't see much difference between "my Pictish axeman just repelled a dragon's breath" and "my Pictish, *cough* I mean Fichti, Spear Daughter just repelled a dragon's breath".
IIRC (and without consulting wikipedia

) not much about Pictish culture is known though. So there's a lot of room for fiction and imagination - in which case, it's better to go with a purportedly "fictional" people, rather than making up a culture and then slapping the name Pictish on it.
True that not so much is known about the Picts, but the connection between the Fichti and the Picts is too obvious, especially in context of their neighbors, the Einarr (Norse colonists) and Dael (Gaels). Also, there is enough known about the Picts that one can pick out parallels from the real world. I've already mentioned the matrilineal succession and matriarchy correlation and the Caith and Caithness correlation.
Sacred_Path wrote:
I can understand though that real world references in fantasy writing don't work well for some (or a lot) of people. I find the writing so far to be tasteful, and not in-your-face.
I am not necessarily offended by the writing so much as I simply don't want it in this particular game, if it is being advertised as the successor to the original three games.