Being evil doesn’t mean being an arsehole.
In Kotor I would always help that Selkath guy on the first planet, it doesn’t mean I didn’t brutally conquer the galaxy with an army of endlessly producing ships.
KotOR did the evil path so well. You get completely different quests by going evil with comparable rewards. Other games you get someone asking for help, saying no is the evil choice but all that does is lock you out of the quest and give up all rewards, not KotOR, in KotOR being evil pays off
For most games, the evil path is only created so the player technically has a choice, so they feel like they played a role in the path they took. In reality, most of the time there is truly only one fully developed path and the developers knew which you would take.
I don’t want to call it lazy, because it isn’t and is just a smart use of resources. However, when a game actually fully fleshed out the evil path it is a work of wonder.
I’ve noticed that, too, that often the “choice” is really a choice between doing content or not doing content. Sometimes this is true outside of good vs evil choices, too. Do you help this person? If you say no you just don’t get that mission. There’s no fallout by not helping someone in other words.
I’d love to see more RPGs play with that (and I say that understanding how complicated and big of a task it is to do that)
Fingers crossed the remaster doesn’t end up being hot garbage.
Seems to be in developer hell for a while now, Id say the odds are low it wont suck
Aye. Most of the good / bad responses in games are like “flatter and cuddle” vs “spit in the face, and threaten sodomy”. As Yahtzee said it’s eating babies or saving babies, and no nuance.
Really evil is being friendly while lying to their face, then blowing up planet. Planescape Torment had the (lie) responses that were the closest I’ve seen.
This is what made Starfield so terrible for me. The choices were always: be nice, be super duper nice, be boring and “whatever”, or say something mean, but not mean enough HR would even care.
I’ve been playing around with using some kind of option picked at character creation to change the attitude of the responses you have to choose from, while still giving the same 5 or 6 options to resolve the dialogue; IE the outcome for option B is the same every character, but the dialogue expressed is different based on that character’s chosen attitude.
It would just suck writing everything multiple times; essentially saying the same thing, but using different words.
This is all well and good/evil, but refusing to pet a dog is much more evil than siding with Selkath
That game had one of my favorite evil moments ever when you can force a certain character to do summering horrible. Even though it’s old I won’t spoil it because it’s getting a remake and a lot of people will get to play for the first time.
But those who know what I’m talking about will remember that moment.
All too often, taking the “evil” path in RPGs just locks content. Most of the NPCs end up against you and you lose side quests rather than getting additional ones to compensate.
I think the Elder Scrolls games did well with the Thieves’ Guild and Assassins. There was a fair amount of content that was unlocked, and depending on your playstyle (and how much you roleplay in single player RPGs) you could still do major quest lines.
It’s just that, after decades of playing computer RPGs, I will tend to default to an paladin type character until I get the lay of the land.
Yeah, pretty much.
Good guy mission rewards: 2000xp, Defender of the People title (+6 to all fellowship roles), Defender’s Longsword, Defender’s Armour set, Magnathrop the Undying as party member, 3 hours of additional side quests.
Bad guy mission rewards: 2000xp. Hated title (-20 to all NPC interactions). A stick.
I mean do love playing out the fantasy of being a goodie two-shoes and being lauded over and rewarded for it, but your criticism is valid
On the other hand, in Skyrim the “good” path locks you out of content, as the dark brotherhood and thieves guild don’t have any real alternative questline (DB have but it’s an afterthought).
One of my favourite mods for Skyrim is one that lets you turn the thieves guild into a force of good, a la Robin Hood
Being a jerk in Obsidian games is fun. I used to do every small errand to please everyone, mainly for the rewards, but then found out as long as you can figure out the main mechanism, most tasks are optional.
Being more assertive really amps up the role playing aspect. Sadly not every RPG is this open and well-written.
I love the evil path in the Mass Effect trilogy. First game - you’re an asshole. Second game - LITERALLY A PSYCHOPATH. Third game - good guy but kind of sarcastic.
Third game is really bad when you shoot Mordin in the back and stop him from curing the Krogan. To me that was one of the most evil things I ever did in a game, I’ll never forget it lol.
Yeah, a few decisions are stupidly evil in the third one too, but overall renegade dialogue choices are mostly just funny.
Best I could ever do was Mass Effect Renegade
Of course, that does make you do a couple of genocides.
Bit of light treason.
There’s also those wild explosions of completely unnecessary violence.
Shooting past someone in shock’s head or decking a reporter for doing her job.
Renegade in mass effect is just the arsehole button. You’re not evil, you’re not even more effective, you’re just behaving antisocially.
you can still be a complete fucking psycho doing paragon. Like being corrupt as fuck about endorsements on the citadel.
Tbf, even in my Paragon runs, I always punched that reporter in the face.
But yeah, the one Renegade run I did was brutal. Like you just fucking shoot an ally for disagreeing with you? And you basically lock yourself out of some allies? Nah, that’s not my canon, here’s hoping they do better with ME4.
Dude… she’s just doing her job. Like it sucks but hitting someone in the face is something you only do when you’re ok with killing them.
Yeah it’s a game but what sort of fucked up fantasy is that?
She’s a Space Breitbart “reporter” though. That said, Paragon is the better path, you dismantle her verbally on air as the first Human Specter, does way more good than just punching a fool.
I can’t remember, I thought it was just tabloid garbage not Nazi propaganda.
Also murder is a bit far
She’s aligned with the Humanity First types. Breitbart might be a bit too far, maybe more like the New York Post. Tabloid racism and toeing the line of supporting fascism sometimes mixed with actual investigative journalism (of political opponents)
Yeah sure, so like shove her away or whatever but she’s no more frustrating than any of the myriad of obstructive people you encounter.
I’ve been hit in the face. It’s a fucking extreme thing to do to someone (source just trust me).
Removed by mod
Every time I try to play a morally ambiguous character, I get saddled with another player who isn’t playing amoral or evil so much as BAT-SHIT INSANE. Yes, Mr. Kicked-A-Dog-Into-A-Fire-At-A-Temple-Causing…Issues, I’M TALKING ABOUT YOU.
Like … we haven’t even left the location we met at yet. WTF?
I’m still sad from the time when I accidentally stepped onto a cute kitty in Deus Ex.😭
(If a remaster ever comes out, an option to pet cats must be added.)
Stardew 1.6 came out and I decided this time I’m doing the JoJo route for the achievement…:*(…
You evil bastard
I’ve never even felt like trying to play as an evil or bad character.
