Re: alien words I tend to like them but there's definitely a balance, and it takes a modicum of talent to pull off. The Elder Scrolls games calling their evil god-like spirits 'Daedric Princes' instead of 'Demon Lords' is nicely flavorful, and help makes the setting distinct. In contrast the Enduring Flame trilogy has alien names for things like camels and termites, which leads to kicking the reader out of the story when the context clues indicating which was which gave out two books and several real-life weeks ago, and one has to stop and think: 'Wait, which mundane critter has this alien name? Did the bad guy just bury the city under a mountain of evil corrupted camels, or evil corrupted termites?'

For games specifically, alien names also make it easier to Google if you get stuck on something. Generic names are more likely to bring up a flood of unrelated things.