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Looking for RPG where evil triumphs
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 10:24 am
by szenhidrat
Hey!
Need suggestions for an rpg where you can be really evil. And i mean REALLY. I know there are a lot of games where you can choose your aligment and then say a few bad things to people but still in the end you save the day/world/good guys/etc. So are there any games where you can become the destructor of world(s) or where you help evil to triumph. (play'd both kotors)
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 2:59 pm
by TAKR86
I can't really think of any RPGs right now that allow you be the bad guy as much as KOTOR 1 and 2, but Fable 3 (if it can truly qualify as a RPG) allows you be an evil tyrant (but you still have to save the world, but for an evil egotiscal tyrant I think saving yourself is not that far out).
Dragon Age: Origins allows you be evil or sort of evil on your way towards saving the world.
Fallout: New Vegas allows you to join Ceasar's Legion and they are a bunch of evil bastards if you ask me, but maybe from a post-apocalyptic perspective they might be right about the way to ensure humanity's survival (still in this game you can be really evil).
In Gothic 3 you can choose to side with the evil god Beliar.
Jade Empire is a little more like KOTOR 1 and 2.
I don't think any of these games really have the same evil character feeling as KOTOR 1 and 2, but they do allow you to make some/a lot of evil choices and it can have quite the impact on the game (at least in Fallout: New Vegas). It's a good question, I'll be looking foward to see if anyone comes up with better answers, as it could be fun to be the evil villain more often.
Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 3:30 pm
by szenhidrat
Yeah i was wondering about Ceasar's Legion too wheter the are really that bad or they take on things just a little 'harder'. But anyways played New Vegas and G3 already. Tried out Fable 3 but i hated it so much i just couldn't get past the first 30 minutes.
Thanks for the suggestions i will check out Dragon Age and Jade Empire then but of course any more suggestions are welcome too.
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 4:28 am
by Darth Gavinius
Kinda depends whether you are looking for evil within the confines of the story or evil by nature of free will. There are a lot of games old and new that can cater for the second. Elder Scrolls games give you the option of not helping at all and becoming a sociopath, psychopath and assassin. The BGII and ToB give you some good options in pursuing an evil path and the game is not so much about saving the world as it is pursuing a personal score. There are some good mods for NWN and NWN2 that follow an evil storyline - though their main campaigns follow the save the world mechanics.
Though I would have to agree with TAKR86, KOTOR and KOTORII are probably the best examples in the genre of getting a truly evil outcome.
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 10:22 am
by GawainBS
Planescape Torment fits the bill too. No World Saving there. Vampire: Bloodlines does too. Alpha Protocol too, if you want. Overlord I & II come to mind.
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 3:43 pm
by Stworca
Temple of Elemental Evil
Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 5:17 pm
by Nymie_the_Pooh
Anything by Troika is superb as long as you remember to get the community patches. The only game of theirs I haven't seen mentioned yet, and I could have glossed over it, is Arcanum. There are some companions that will only join you if you are evil, but I haven't played evil yet so don't know how well evil really plays in Arcanum. There are so many ways to build new characters and stay good that I just never got around to trying evil. Like everything Troika has done, there is some real replay value here.
Mask of the Betrayer is an expansion for Neverwinter Nights 2 which can be interesting for evil characters. This expansion has a mechanic in place that is very closely tied to the story itself. There are some who find it an annoyance and others feel it perfectly reinforces the story. I don't want to spoil anything, but the mechanic alone tends to help push people toward extreme good or evil if they aren't disabling it through console commands.
While technically not an RPG, you may want to check out Saint's Row if you enjoy the two newest Elder Scrolls games and want an evil option. My limited experience with Saint's Row series has been Oblivion with mini games and less monotony, but you are a member of a street gang instead of a prisoner. Three has a stronger main story than the second one, but the second has more side content to keep people playing longer after they were done with the story itself. I haven't tried the first one as it is not available on PC, but it's not hard to jump in new on either of the later two games. There is quite a bit of character customization as far as appearance goes. Sadly however, the only gameplay differences between characters stat wise is what weapons you decide to carry.
Since I'm already moving away from RPGs, Prototype is really easy to go evil. In fact, it's really hard to fool yourself into thinking you are a good guy as you literally absorb people to gain bits of information from them. It plays quite a bit like Web of Shadows, but it's better executed. Web of Shadows is another one I guess as even though you are Spider-Man you are struggling with the black suit and there are many opportunities to give in to it. By the end you can choose to embrace or reject it and there are consequences for doing so.
It's hard to recommend games with a real option for going evil. I had a couple more paragraphs typed up talking about why, but I realized I was ranting. I think all of the games mentioned by others in the thread so far are all great games and a large part of that is moral choices combined with variety of character options within the system for those games.
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 8:09 am
by TAKR86
Saint's Row is a sandbox game and that's the only thing it remotely has in common with Oblivion or any other openworld RPG!
Posted: Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:30 am
by Nymie_the_Pooh
I can easily concede that may be the case. My experience with sandbox games outside of roleplaying games is sorely limited so Oblivion is only the closest I have happened to play myself for use as a comparison.
Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2012 7:28 pm
by LastDanceSaloon
The two games which immediately spring to mind are Evil Genius and the older Dungeon Keeper. Both are RTS rather than RPG however.
In terms of finding an RPG which specialises in the progress of a specifically evil pathway then, yes, you are going to have quite a job finding one. This is not because it's impossible to make an RPG in this manner, but rather because it's a heck of a lot harder. You're basically looking for two games in one and the general idea of RPGs is that one encounters crucial people who provide crucial plot progression to which killing everything in sight often leads to being 'stuck'.
Also, the RPG is born of Hero Mythology, the idea of a small groups of allies joining forces or hiring mercenaries to eradicate an all-oppressing force/threat. In order to fully portray and evil scenario then one would have to be the all-oppressing force/threat which would kind of eliminate the concept of levelling up as one would already have to be levelled up in order to be in that state.
The only other alternative is to present a game where everyone is happy and content and you have to progress in the reverse to a traditional RPG and perform quests to disrupt the status-quo rather than restore it. But, again, this would lead to army building and hiding in bunkers while minions fought rather than actually doing any fighting one's self.
If you want to play a traditional RPG but just want the option to kill everything in your path then most games provide that.
Maybe someone will test the waters one day with an evil-based RPG, maybe you'll play a minion or mercenary to a demon or something, but will you then be complaining/wishing for an option to play a good character in such a game?
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 6:29 am
by galraen
The Baldur's Gate trilogy allows you to finish the game as about as evil a character as you can get, but much of the game getting there is pretty ambivalent as far as good/evil is concerned; there are several evil options available though.
You can be extremely evil in Arcanum, just don't bother with Jeffrey Taralond Ashe (sp?), in my experience he's a totally useless NPC. The evil ending may come as something of a shock too, probably not the outcome you would expect. but very different from any ending I've encountered on any other game.
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 11:46 am
by shadowwot
Wizardry 4 is the only RPG I am aware of where you play as the villain, summon monsters, and kill heroes (actual player characters from Wizardry 1 that were submitted to Sir-Tech). However, Wizardry 4 is from the mid 80's and is very old school and one of the hardest computer games ever made.
There are a lot of games that let you take the "Evil" path, but it's not the same as being the villain.
Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2012 11:58 am
by Kipi
One possible game would be Dungeons (and the sequel) where you practically control the evil overlord and try to build better, more attractive dungeon to lure the heroes inside so that you can harvest their soul energy.
While the game is similar to Dungeon Keeper and Evil Genius it's actually hybrid of RPG and simulation since you can control your own avatar around the dungeon, complete tasks and slay heroes (and minions of opposing dungeon lords).
Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 9:49 am
by Curry
szenhidrat wrote:Hey!
Need suggestions for an rpg where you can be really evil. And i mean REALLY. I know there are a lot of games where you can choose your aligment and then say a few bad things to people but still in the end you save the day/world/good guys/etc. So are there any games where you can become the destructor of world(s) or where you help evil to triumph. (play'd both kotors)
Well, the original
Fallout comes to my mind, if you choose to end the game prematurely by becoming a mutant. With no one disrupting the Master's plans, the Wasteland will be overrun by the Mutant Army.
And of course in
Arcanum you can side with Kerghan...

Posted: Thu Jan 12, 2012 3:20 pm
by Ares2382
In Arcanum it's more then just who you side with in the end. The main quest actually splits up into a "good" route, and "evil" route after you visit a certain elven city.
Posted: Wed Jan 16, 2013 1:52 am
by Siatru
Lol I was searching for the same thing as you when I got to this thread...
Try Soul Nomad. (PS2)
It's practically the only game I saw with a really Evil Story Route.
I'm not really sure how you unlock it, I think its when you finish the main story first and playing the game the 2nd round.
Anyway, Soul Nomad is a JRPG with a route called the "Demon Path"
its when your Character just snapped or something (by the beginning of the story I think, I mean the 2nd playthrough of course.) And then he/she kills the old woman who was taking care of him for over a decade along with the Party you fight with when you choose to follow the Main story. And then set off to Kill Everyone else just for the heck of it. Forcing certain NPCs to be your peons along the way.
It gets better.(or worse) Most of them just go insane. It's kinda funny how things turn out too~
All the BIG bad bosses Along with your supposed allies Band together to defeat only you. (you're practically the Main Villain) that will be the final battle. If you lose, they get a good ending, the ending being much like most RPGs happily ever after ending where the Last Boss who was going to destroy the world is defeated. (The Canon Big Bad Bosses become good in this ending) If you win however.... well, everyone's dead, And you become even more powerful. One shotting two gods and the world. (you also get an evil laugh even though you have a Silent Protagonist)
Currently looking for another game with This exact type of Evil Route, Ending, Storyline