Top 5 Damaged Books in Video Games
We all like books right? I mean, who doesn’t like books. That must be weird! Video games don’t seem to like them though. There are so many different types of burned, gnarled, downright ruined books across the gaming world. From large destroyed books to large ruined books, let me take you on a journey. A journey of broken books.
I must warn you that some of this may be hard to read.
1. Small Destroyed Book (Fallout 3)
This book is a stellar example of a developer’s anti-book crusade that runs throughout the entire series. There are a total of eight books in this game that have been damaged in various ways due to the war, and the toll that the wasteland has taken on them.
But it’s the small destroyed book that takes the cake for me. There has been so much neglect to these once majestic tomes, that even the item description says that they have been rendered unusable. They actually even encourage you to fire these books as projectiles from weapons.
Just devastating.
2. Damaged Book (Runescape)
Runescape is a game that likes to make lemons out of lemonade – or should I say, damage bonuses out of broken manuscript. (Nice one – Ed) (Please don’t pre-populate your articles with fake commentary from me – Ed).
Unlike the anti-establishment, anti-intellectual bias that runs through the developers of Fallout, treating books as nothing but scrap for weaponry, these books can help and grow the player. Which is what a books is designed to do, am I right?
Runescape wields the power of written text to allow extra pages to be “written” by the player, improving the book so significantly that it actually becomes a brand new item. An undamaged book, if you will. It really demonstrates how books can develop the mind and that’s really what RPGs are about. Incredible.
3. Damaged Book of Shadow Counting (EverQuest)
Everquest trailblazed the MMORPG genre, paving the way for a host of other RPGS to copy its controversial stance on taking books – those defining pillars of our society and the growth of civilisation – and practically destroying them for the whims of the player.
But unlike Fallout, which took book destruction and re-purposing to disturbing levels, Everquest allowed the book to be used as part of a dramatic quest to repair and restore it to its original glory. I applaud Sony Entertainment Online for being such a progressive when it comes to respecting the ideals and anti-fascist sentiments when it comes to book destruction.
4. The Pig Children (Skyrim)
I must clarify that this book is not physically damaged, but it is something much worse – biased. Now I don’t like to trample on free speech but I think it’s important for games, like people, to have ethics. I don’t think it’s fair for a specific race to have biased text written by a specific race. I reacted with disgust when I realised this pamphlet covered Orcs, who are my favourite race, in such a disgusting and disturbing manner.
There are no other books in the game to balance out this bias. I think it is worse than almost anything else in this list.
5. Large Burned Book (Fallout New Vegas)
We have already demonstrated that Fallout just doesn’t respect books. But it turns out they have attempted to redeem themselves, through the Fallout New Vegas DLC Old World Blues, where Large Burned Books can be recycled via a mechanical “Book Chute” and turned into Skill Books.
What a dramatic turn around. Bravo Obsidian. At least unlike Bethesda are treating books with the respect they should automatically earn in any game.
Sound off in the comments!
