Being Evil in RPGs

[Yosharian]

Examples are sacrificing companions at a blood altar for stats gains

I fail to see how sacrificing Durance is Evil, the way I see it, I'm doing the world a favour

You can sacrifice all companions.

.... That's the joke dude

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

Examples are sacrificing companions at a blood altar for stats gains

I fail to see how sacrificing Durance is Evil, the way I see it, I'm doing the world a favour

You can sacrifice all companions.

.... That's the joke dude

I just wish you could do them in batches instead of one at a time.

 

[NecroLord]

Zed Duke of Banville
Good catch! Completely forgot about blowing up Megaton...

Alright so in Fallout 2 you can also be a slaver(you can sell Sulik into slavery,though he is one of the best companions in the game and one of my favorites).
In Kotor 2 you can manipulate Atton into giving in to his hopelessness and accepting the Dark Side after his encounter in the past with that jedi woman who wanted to help him and turn him from the Dark Side.

Also


JC Denton. Villain extraordinaire.

 

[Bad Sector]

contrast this to the silly and cartoonish "give me all your credits or else" villainy of the first Kotor

"Silly and cartoonish" comes with the franchise, unlike KOTOR2, KOTOR tried to be as close to a Star Wars movie as they could, hence the tone. And at least to me, being "evil" in KOTOR was one of my most memorable playthroughs (even though i had finished the game at least a couple of times as a "good" character by then) exactly because of how over-the-top and deliciously "evil" your character was. It wasn't realistic (whatever a realistic evil character might be really), but it was fucking enjoyable to see all the surprised Pikachu faces the NPCs had towards you being evil near the end while you not only twist the knife but you take it out and apply salt between the twists was *chef's kiss*.

Overall i liked KOTOR2's writing much more, but i never found playing an evil character enjoyable in that game. Or most games for that matter - including Bioware's own later games (Dragon Age: Origins was the last game of theirs i liked playing a "bad" character, but it wasn't as enjoyable as KOTOR and the writing quality for "bad" characters dropped with the expansion).

 

[NecroLord]

contrast this to the silly and cartoonish "give me all your credits or else" villainy of the first Kotor

"Silly and cartoonish" comes with the franchise, unlike KOTOR2, KOTOR tried to be as close to a Star Wars movie as they could, hence the tone. And at least to me, being "evil" in KOTOR was one of my most memorable playthroughs (even though i had finished the game at least a couple of times as a "good" character by then) exactly because of how over-the-top and deliciously "evil" your character was. It wasn't realistic (whatever a realistic evil character might be really), but it was fucking enjoyable to see all the surprised Pikachu faces the NPCs had towards you being evil near the end while you not only twist the knife but you take it out and apply salt between the twists was *chef's kiss*.

Overall i liked KOTOR2's writing much more, but i never found playing an evil character enjoyable in that game. Or most games for that matter - including Bioware's own later games (Dragon Age: Origins was the last game of theirs i liked playing a "bad" character, but it wasn't as enjoyable as KOTOR and the writing quality for "bad" characters dropped with the expansion).

Hmm,I can't remember in what ways you can be an evil bastard in Dragon Age: Origins.
Off the top of my head:
You can fuck both Leliana and Morrigan then turn them against one another and have them fight for you?

 

[Desiderius]

whatever a realistic evil character might be really

Jaethal, Tsanna, Regongar, and even Nok Nok nail it pretty well. Most Evil has its rationalizations and/or is pre-rational.

 

[The Limper]

BG2EE adding Dorn who wants wipe the entire wedding party at the Radiant Heart off the map…. Villainy at its best.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I agree with other here that Planescape: Torment has some very evil actions for the player, many of which actually seem rational. For pure evil though, succumbing to the Tome of Pestilent Thought certainly took me down the dark path. Selling Nordrom into slavery and murdering Annah were low prices to pay for those forbidden spells.

 

[Palomides]

Cause Anomen to fail his knighthood, mock him, kill him.

Perhaps this is actually an act of being good?

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

"See that city? You can nuke that!"

It shouldn't count if it's a shit game like FO3.

 

[Chanel Oberlin]

I love being evil in games but sadly most fall into the cartoony conception of villainy. I would love if more games did the "smart villain" stuff well, being cunning from the shadows and force others to do your bidding.

 

[Bad Sector]

Hmm,I can't remember in what ways you can be an evil bastard in Dragon Age: Origins.

In DAO you aren't evil but you can play as a selfish asshole (i.e. a "bad" character). I brought that up because i found the writing for that fun and actually allowing you to be one, unlike their later games (starting from the expansion) where it feels the writers were writing an antihero tsundere for the "bad" character :-P.

I don't think they made a game after KOTOR where you can play an outright evil character.

Jaethal, Tsanna, Regongar, and even Nok Nok nail it pretty well. Most Evil has its rationalizations and/or is pre-rational.

Even though i bought it some time ago i haven't yet played Pathfinder: Kingmaker since i've heard it is a very big game. Perhaps after my current job is done.

 

[Nano]

Overall i liked KOTOR2's writing much more, but i never found playing an evil character enjoyable in that game. Or most games for that matter - including Bioware's own later games (Dragon Age: Origins was the last game of theirs i liked playing a "bad" character, but it wasn't as enjoyable as KOTOR and the writing quality for "bad" characters dropped with the expansion).

Yeah, moving forwards into Awakening with an evil PC is pretty disappointing. Much less options available for that compared to Origins.

This scene in particular was pretty awesome, though.

Hmm,I can't remember in what ways you can be an evil bastard in Dragon Age: Origins.

- Sell elves into slavery
- Kill a tribe of elves
- Convince werewolves to give up finding a cure for their condition simply because you want them in your army
- Allow dwarves to be sacrificed so they can be turned into iron soldiers against the darkspawn

There's a bunch more, but the thing about the "bad" choices in DA:O is that a lot of them are pragmatic. "Sacrificing the few for the many" kind of stuff. But those options are still much more brutal than what's in any of the other games Bioware's done since KOTOR.

 

[KörangarTheMighty]

I don't think they made a game after KOTOR where you can play an outright evil character.

Jade Empire. Closed Fist was supposed to be more along the lines of some of Kreia's ideology in K2, but in practice it was still a lot of the trademark simple extortion and thuggery that was present in KotOR. There were a few interesting options though, like freeing a slave from some pirates, then forcing her to fight for her life against one of the pirates who offers to buy her from you in order to win her own freedom.

 

[Mauman]

- Sell elves into slavery

Alternatively

Spoiler

use blood magic to gain permanent health bonuses by sacrificing the city elves.

There's also the whole "sell a child's soul for blood magic" thing (or sex with a demon), but that doesn't really count as you can have your cake and eat it too if your persuasion is high enough.

I don't think they made a game after KOTOR where you can play an outright evil character.

Jade Empire. Closed Fist was supposed to be more along the lines of some of Kreia's ideology in K2, but in practice it was still a lot of the trademark simple extortion and thuggery that was present in KotOR. There were a few interesting options though, like freeing a slave from some pirates, then forcing her to fight for her life against one of the pirates who offers to buy her from you in order to win her own freedom.

Yeah, this always annoyed me. They make a big deal of Closed Fist not necessarily being evil, but then most closed fist options are of the cartoonish twirled mustache way of doing things.

 

[Bad Sector]

Jade Empire. Closed Fist was supposed to be more along the lines of some of Kreia's ideology in K2, but in practice it was still a lot of the trademark simple extortion and thuggery that was present in KotOR.

I need to play Jade Empire again, i remember liking it at the time but i've only played it once with a "good" character.

Main issue i had for replayability is that

Spoiler

i know the twist

. I prefer when games leave things a bit more open story-wise for replayability :-P.

(KOTOR is different because

Spoiler

the twist is largely about you, not the NPCs, so having a playthrough with a different "you" still works

)

 

[Cpt. Dallas]

Selling Arcade into slavery to save Caesar. Crucifying Benny. Selling any companions into slavery in PS:T.

 

[Cryomancer]

In Gothic 2 - Returning 2.0 (not confuse with the base game), Vatraz becomes really mad with you if you commit an orc genocide. How committing an orc genocide could be considered evil?

 

[KateMicucci]

Expeditions: Conquistador (by choice) and The Age of Decadence (by necessity).

I wonder, is there some kind of secret path in AoD where you can win without being evil?

 

[KateMicucci]

Being evil should either not be allowed, or should be punished. Allowing players to be evil in video games is why the world is so messed up today.

 

[KateMicucci]

Jade Empire. Closed Fist was supposed to be more along the lines of some of Kreia's ideology in K2, but in practice it was still a lot of the trademark simple extortion and thuggery that was present in KotOR.

I need to play Jade Empire again, i remember liking it at the time but i've only played it once with a "good" character.

Main issue i had for replayability is that

Spoiler

i know the twist

. I prefer when games leave things a bit more open story-wise for replayability :-P.

(KOTOR is different because

Spoiler

the twist is largely about you, not the NPCs, so having a playthrough with a different "you" still works

)

These were pretty good tbh. I played blind and it got me both times, but in retrospect it was perfectly foreshadowed. Bravo Bioware.

 

[Space Satan]

- Sell elves into slavery

How is perfectly natural act is evil?

Also, in Neverwinter Nights, can't remember exactly what part, you can blackmail a poor woman, who want to get her newborn baby from rich abusive husband, with selling her baby to her...and throw it away after getting money from her.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

How committing an orc genocide could be considered evil?

this is explained in the base game

 

[Lazing Dirk]

Allowing players to be evil in video games is why the world is so messed up today.

Thank you for taking a break from writing stories about immigrants for the Daily Mail to bless us with your insights

 

[kangaxx]

Pathfinder WOTR - a very poor game overall, but you can play as

spoiler

a swarm of locusts

if you can be bothered to replay 100h+ of crap and hit some very specific evil triggers.