Being the Boot

[Paragon Fury]

Maybe its just me, but I grow tired of being the "good" guy. I'm tired of being the rebel, the rescuer, the "seems to be the bad guy but is really the good guy" guy. Is it just because developers are scared not to have everyone be the "nice one" in the end?

I mean, Crackdown is really the only game that scratches that itch. Sure, you're technically playing as the "law", trying to protect the citizens from gangs/zombies, but that doesn't mean you don't get to be an oppressive douche and install a totalitarian government along the way. The Darkspawn Chronicles DLC lets you do it too, but the gameplay was too annoying to really make the most of it.

And games where you just choose to be an ass don't count; being the oppressive, totalitarian ass needs to be part and parcel of the game. Why can't the next Red Faction game have you playing as the EDF, come to crush and dismantle the pathetic Red Faction once and for all? Why can't the next Saint's Row or Saint's Row DLC have you playing as Ultor or the US Army, come to finally annihilate the Saints?

 

[FalloutJack]

What, you mean like Destroy All Humans where you're out to conquer the Earth and the only reason you might do any good is because others might interfere with your brain stem harvest?

 

[Condor219]

I can see your point. To be the king who's seen as evil by all the other members of society, but he thinks he's doing good. There have been plenty of video game boss rants about "well, you say I'm evil? how many have you killed?" but I've never actually played as a villain that was the main character in that situation. The big problem would be that the character would need understandable justification for their actions, otherwise you're just playing as a guy who's an unfeeling ball of hate/complete ass. But if someone could manage to shape motives and situations like that in a game, I think it'd be a stellar plot.

In short, we need a seems-to-be-the-good-guy-but-is-really-the-bad-guy.

 

[emeraldrafael]

thats why i enjoyed inFAMOUS. I know, its probably not the best example, but turning into vadar with the ability to shoot palpitine lighting was awesome, especially when you just start being a dick as you become more evil.

 

[Bento Box]

In short, we need a seems-to-be-the-good-guy-but-is-really-the-bad-guy.

You can do that, but only if the player knows it from the start. The last thing you want to do is disenfranchise the players by shouting "SURPRISE YOU ARE ACTUALLY THE SERIAL RAPIST KING PRIEST EMPEROR."

There are games that let you be the bad guy -- you just tend to have to own a PC and be old enough. Not saying you're neither of these, but it seems like if you qualified, you'd know about the Dungeon Keeper and Black and White games.

Destroy All Humans, every Fallout game, every Fable game -- really, any game that promises you to let you build your character your way, generally allows you to be a total monster-king-of-pricks.

 

[Condor219]

In short, we need a seems-to-be-the-good-guy-but-is-really-the-bad-guy.

You can do that, but only if the player knows it from the start. The last thing you want to do is disenfranchise the players by shouting "SURPRISE YOU ARE ACTUALLY THE SERIAL RAPIST KING PRIEST EMPEROR."

There's a difference between using a cop-out ending and turning the world upside down on the player and laying out the motives carefully. Red apples and green apples are both apples, but we all know red ones are better. The player could be told the protagonist is evil, but doing so slowly by showing viewpoints from the other side, and backstory, and subtle personality hints, etc., as well as displaying the character's own justifications for their actions (that don't necessarily have to be evil) are a lot better than just saying "You're evil. You like doing evil stuff. That's your justification."

 

[Adam Galli]

GoldenEye Rogue Agent. You kill James Bond.