Stolen Pixels #109: Let me Tell You About "Evil"

[Clashero]

Here's waiting for a game that allows you to be some sort of... benevolent tyrant. You do whatever the hell you please to the people you rule. Get them to fight each other, even. Make the city function while still being a rather poor place to live in. The most important bit is that you come out on top of everything when the dust settles.

Hah, now that I think about it, that game would be Ankh-Morpork Tycoon.

 

[Tales of Golden Sun]

Hilarious!
Especially the last three pictures.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

You do it for the lulz! Besides, I'm quite sure the army and the empire is trying to get rid of YOU aswell. Still hilarious though, good one.

Ah, but there-in lies the conundrum. You're just chilling in your tower getting a lap dance from the mistress, minding your own business, when suddenly a legion of the kingdom's armies arrive at your doorstep to invade and boot you out. At this point, you're no longer playing the villain, they are the villains now, and you're the anti-hero. Thus, the only way you can be "playing the villain" is if you attack them first... but that's where the problem lies. Just why are you attacking them? On a gameplay front, the game works just fine. But on a story front, the game has nothing to offer to the player who wanted to be the villain.

 

[randommaster]

Charmander char char mander charmander mander?

Mander char mander mander charmander. Char charmander char char, mander char charmander. Charmander char char mander charmander

No, my translator is working fine, I just have no idea what's going on.

Yeah, I have to agree with Yahtzee's comparison of Overlord 2 to pikmin. The thing is, though, that Pikmin gave you a reason to care, both because there was a strict 30-day limit, and because the pikmin were cute and you felt bad when they died.

 

[BloodyOne]

If I had a magical dark tower over pools of lava, I would make a magical Magma Cannon and shoot it around at random places.

 

[civver]

So I guess the minion is dead now? That was hilarious.

 

[Grahav]

Last panels were amusingly funny and sad at the same time. Poor bastard.

 

[Markness]

You do it for the lulz! Besides, I'm quite sure the army and the empire is trying to get rid of YOU aswell. Still hilarious though, good one.

Ah, but there-in lies the conundrum. You're just chilling in your tower getting a lap dance from the mistress, minding your own business, when suddenly a legion of the kingdom's armies arrive at your doorstep to invade and boot you out. At this point, you're no longer playing the villain, they are the villains now, and you're the anti-hero. Thus, the only way you can be "playing the villain" is if you attack them first... but that's where the problem lies. Just why are you attacking them? On a gameplay front, the game works just fine. But on a story front, the game has nothing to offer to the player who wanted to be the villain.

There is the possibility you have been doing various slight evil things are the empire decides you are a public menace. Therefore they attack you first but you are still the evil one.

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

You do it for the lulz! Besides, I'm quite sure the army and the empire is trying to get rid of YOU aswell. Still hilarious though, good one.

Ah, but there-in lies the conundrum. You're just chilling in your tower getting a lap dance from the mistress, minding your own business, when suddenly a legion of the kingdom's armies arrive at your doorstep to invade and boot you out. At this point, you're no longer playing the villain, they are the villains now, and you're the anti-hero. Thus, the only way you can be "playing the villain" is if you attack them first... but that's where the problem lies. Just why are you attacking them? On a gameplay front, the game works just fine. But on a story front, the game has nothing to offer to the player who wanted to be the villain.

There is the possibility you have been doing various slight evil things are the empire decides you are a public menace. Therefore they attack you first but you are still the evil one.

The problem is that we haven't told us this. All you said that is "maybe they're going to attack you" as the reason for why you're attacking this kingdom. Well, unless you've done other evil things, then they have no reason to attack you unless they are actually the villains. And if you did do evil things to provoke them, then we've come full circle back to the original question: Why did you do it? It also brings the question of "Why hasn't the story told us of these past deeds so we understand the motive of a preemptive strike against the kingdom?"

So basically, your proposed motive brings more questions than answers to the problem of "Why are you evil in Overlord besides for the sake of being evil?"

 

[Markness]

So basically, your proposed motive brings more questions than answers to the problem of "Why are you evil in Overlord besides for the sake of being evil?"

I'm not saying you are wrong about Overlord failing to provide sufficient motivation for the player to be evil, but rather I am saying that the lack of motivation for evil is not a fundamental one. An easy solution for Overlord would have one line from that old goblin that your recent raids etc on nearby villages etc have forced the empire to declare you as a public menace.

 

[TheFacelessOne]

"What other flavors does that smoothie come in?"

 

[Asurnasurpal]

I actually found myself motivated by the beggining of the game. You have a history with your first mistress, who is in my opinion the most interesting, and you want to take over Nordberg for revenge. But that's about it.