2013-03-29, 02:53 AM
(2013-03-29, 12:42 AM)HwitVlf link Wrote: I think the word translated as "demon" is more accurately rendered as "Evil Spirit". Just like the word which is commonly translated as "magician" these days is closer to "Master of Evil Spirits". Mind you, I'm not talking about the proper name which was phonetically spelled after the western word; to Japanese ears, that would have just like a made up name so it would be better approximated in a Western game by using a phonetic spelling of a Japanese word. "Magician and "demon" seem like dumbed down western approximations for something that could have a much better and rich back story. "Demons" have been made too much a cliche by every fantasy game/movie/book made during the last 30 years to be interesting. I think giving them a more colorful backstory and explanation- something like Hungry Ghosts, would be cool.
What words are you referring to? Akuma? Madoushi? Either way in this case. Monster and Demon have very specific meaning. Read the Races post. A Monster is like an Arthurian monster. It has elemental magic. A Demon is an engineered monster artificially enhanced with Light magic, or an offspring of such a monster. Enhanced by Guyra's experiments, some of which probably took place in the lab of KF2, where you find the last Light crystal.
Guyra is a master of Light and Shadow as the plate near his lair says. Seath is the master of the elements. Seath's minions are monsters. Guyra is weak against the elements since they are not of his nature. So he makes his Demon army to protect him. I may be wrong (I could check) but having played KF1 and KF2 not long ago, I am nearly certain that the Demons, the bipedal things with bat wings and tails, are called "Demons", like Dimon or something close to that (other than this I can only advise against reading individual kanji literally... also Shadow Tower's worlds are kind of based on Buddhist realms or whatever, including Hungry Ghosts)
According to the backstory for these games no monsters existed in the world until Valad separated himself into the dragons Guyra and Seath, though I thing that truly Guyra and Seath separated Valad now, but because the dragons are the organs of the gods to Valad he felt that this was done of his own volition. Consciously he wanted to give the races a god and a devil to rally around so to stop their warring, even if it meant dividing everyone up into two camps like axis and ally powers he figured this was better than a royal rumble (all against all) but subconsciously I think he was growing lonelier and lonelier as the only remaining god, and decided if there were two of him, at the least he would not be so lonely. But truly this sense of loneliness was the will to power of Guyra and Seath tearing at him from the inside out...
Guyra and Seath are like the mind of Valad. Just as we have two lobes in our brain, Guyra is the analytical lobe (left) and and Seath is the emotional lob (right) and so as the logical and magical halves of Valad separated his body, the Dragon Tree, was the only remaining husk, and in the madness that remained in it, instead of being the bed of the world's vegetation, it became instead the bed of the worlds monsters. So in a way the monsters are plantlike. As faerie folk often are, so anything like a sprite is classified as a monster.
Demons are more logical, like a dream that seems logical, however meaningless it may be, they follow rules, and orders, and can be very loyal, despite their monstrous origins. But monsters are disloyal. The demons in this way have much more in common with demonic beings the way they are portrayed in stories of the occult, and monsters have more in common with the kid friendly folklore of the old world. Demons then are more like the devils of modern day religions.
Anyway since this event birthed the monsters, it pretty much makes no sense at all to set a game prior to this period, because you'd have nothing to do battle with but men, animals, and dragons. The true dragon knights (like the final class equal Strength and Magic) existed prior to the monsters, though it may be that the title remained up to the events of the trilogy, either in legend, or rank.
PS: Just to be clear. The way damage works in these games is Fire blocks Fire. Which is the way its always worked. Monsters have no (built in) Light affinity (in theory they could still wear armor; indeed a half-monster PC may need to do so) the only affinity that the Moonlight Sword possesses. So a monster is completely at the mercy of the Moonlight Sword. It has no defenses. The power of the wielder is translated directly into damage. Demons on the other hand do have defenses. So a Demon is more than anything a challenge for the player even in the late game after attaining the Moonlight. Also a Demon was once a monster, so a Demon is an enemy that in theory can have no weaknesses, making it the ultimate challenge. Even Guyra and Seath have weakness, and very wide open ones, despite their immense power.
Likewise Light (aka. Holy) armor is of no value versus monsters. For them you need elemental armor. But versus Demons its a must.
EDITED: Also just to be absolutely clear. Light here includes Shadow. So like the moon that is half light and half shadow, this affinity swings both ways, but it is ultimately meaningless because it is a single affinity. It probably doesn't even make sense to say Light is holy and Shadow is unholy. If anything is unholy its the elemental magic probably. But truly Light is only called Holy because it represents law, which modern men came to value and associate with the daylight, where magic, and monsters, were associated with the night and considered unholy for obvious reasons, but most of all unlawful, because they follow no logic in their ultimate manifestations, and with most men, especially men of the priesthood, that does not sit well...
On the other hand you can also call magic holy. That is what Seath represents. He is more like a Shinto deity. And Guyra is a western deity. It's possible the mysterious people of the east worship Seath like Shintoism in Japan. Whereas we know the Three Kingdoms came to worship the forest dragon, aka Guyra, and that is fitting because he is the literal source of the light that they consider holy (though the true source is the Moonlight sword which arguably existed before everything, and if there is any true source of goodness in the world it's the players who ultimately make away with the Moonlight and use it to their own ends; it's Light/Shadow so it bends all ways on the moral spectrum of law)