Any good games for Evil characters?

[.Pixote.]

What SuAside said: Arcanum. Obviously.

I played an evil character in Arcanum (-100 on the evil scale), but the game seemed to play with very little difference, compared to a so called good character. But slaughtering innocence people left, right and center had a sort of appeal, while it lasted. Killing everyone in Stillwater seemed as evil as it got…naturally I smacked Kerghan around and took over Arcanum at the games end.

 

[Crni Vuk]

Crni Vuk, cronicler, others - thanks for the discussion we're having I've decided to start playing The Witcher after all - I remember liking the book a lot, so I assumed the game won't be bad either. So far I like it (I'm in the chapter One). The absence of that boring good-vs-evil thing is probably just enough... I had to get rid of that Bioware-specific taste in my mouth I like how the devs kept the book's atmosphere and Gerald's attitude - he is mostly neutral and just doesn't give a rats ass to anything unless he paid. At last, something refreshing.

yes exactly what I like about the setting even when the Witcher doesnt contain that much choices or dialogues. But at least the setting feelt believable.

Interesting is also the alchemy. Seriously spend some time working on it, reading the books and collecting plants. Its one of those rare games where it really isnt just a gimick.

Bioware games on the other hand (Kotor, Jade Empire, Mass Effect, ME2) force you to be the good guy. you can be the gentleman or the roughneck but in the end you are on the side of the angels.

Even if a cliche setting ( Hey its Star Wars after all I dont want or expect anyting else then black vs white ! ), I thought you could be pretty evil in the end in Kotor ?

 

[Barrett]

Deus Ex 1
It is true that you are not evil in the classical sense but everything you do is morally questionable. Yes, there are few good choices you can make, but practically those does not affect the bigger picture - not even the slightest sense.

This is the most obvious at the ending;
[spoiler:2d8aecb77e]

1. You can become what the main antagonist could have been - a despotic technocrat demi-god
2. You can become what was the main antagonist and its band - member of a secret organization ruling the people behind scenes - it is my fav ending cause it makes a good frame to the whole story
3. Or you can simply fuck up the whole world

Anything you chose at the end will not make the world a better place - it remains a same or worse. The notion of "Liberté, égalité, fraternité" is not achieved - true freedom remains non-existent.

[/spoiler:2d8aecb77e]

 

[alec]

I played an evil character in Arcanum (-100 on the evil scale), but the game seemed to play with very little difference, compared to a so called good character. But slaughtering innocence people left, right and center had a sort of appeal, while it lasted.

Wut? Arcanum has tons of possibilities to be evil as hell. Just mindlessly killing people is not really considered the pinnacle of evil roleplaying, you know? It's the way you choose to solve problems that reveals your evil character. And pretty much every big quest has an evil option as well as many many minor quest. As a bonus certain objects give you extra evil karma and the story diverges at a certain point, leading to stuff like

Killing everyone in Stillwater seemed as evil as it got…

Which is pretty amazing when you think about it. Instead of solving quests over at Stillwater like a goody-two-shoes, you can also kill them all off and side with evil. Brilliant.

naturally I smacked Kerghan around and took over Arcanum at the games end.

Nah. I find that inconsistent. You should have sided with Kerghan and not have killed him. His end speech makes so much sense that I can never get it over my heart to kill the old goofy necromancer. You just know he's right.

Damn. Now I feel like reinstalling.

 

[.Pixote.]

I actually completed all the missions in Stillwater, then happily slaughted them…the dark female Elf (M'in Gorad) who instructed me to wipe out Stillwater suffered a similar fate. Every character that taught me their final master skill also had to perish (there can only be one master)... Stringy Pete should of happily passed me his ship, but no I had to slap him around (one tough bastard). On the island of Thanatos I poked Nasrudin in the ribs with my sword and he happily teleported me to The Void…

Damn. Now I feel like reinstalling.

I never uninstalled it. But you are correct there are many ways of playing an evil character, and not just the obvious kill, smash, type.

 

[PastaMasta]

Definately Planescape : Torment, although if your posting on these forums im sure you've already played it.

 

[Phil the Nuka-Cola Dude]

Freelancer on RP servers, or any Discovery mod servers.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

I actually found that PS:T isn't that great for evil characters. I also found that the main ethical divide seems to be b/w lawful and chaotic, and I can only recall a few instances where lawful choices were evil, etc.

 

[pipboy-x11]

I actually found that PS:T isn't that great for evil characters. I also found that the main ethical divide seems to be b/w lawful and chaotic, and I can only recall a few instances where lawful choices were evil, etc.

Agreed. I have had the same impression about evil path in PS:T. An "evil" character there is closer to paranoid then to evil. Or closer to those psycho types who get drunk and then beat up their girlfriends.

I've got to add that the whole concept of good-evil in D&D and similar systems (like the one used in PS:T) is way to close to christian ideas of heaven-vs-hell with obvious who-is-who and, therefore, too limited and boring usually. Probably that's why most evil roleplaying is so dumb like "someone's asking you question, what kind of answer you give? (good/neutral/evil)"... No real difference from FO3 "[intelligence]..." and so on marks on answers. And PS:T is not that different. Way too obvious. Even that omnipresent Hitler did what he did not because he wanted to be "evil" in the "die-die-die, muahaha, OMG I feel the power" sense. True evil always comes from the best intent.

The best concept in a game I've seen so far is the one in the Witcher I'm currently playing. No clear distinction "those ones are good and those are bad", choices are complex and mostly you are trying to figure out which one is the lesser evil. Thanks to those here who advised me to play the game, BTW. Despite of some quirks here and there, the game itself is probably the best one I've seen since FO2.

 

[Ausdoerrt]

Well, the character alignment system has to be tied to some sort of morality concepts to be able to even exist. Not surprisingly, D&D bases itself on traditional western philosophical/religious ideas. And while the system is limited, I don't find it bad at all. It's just that most games that had the 9-alignment system have failed to integrate alignment shifts successfully. I think it could be pretty versatile if done right.

 

[Crni Vuk]

its limited by the way how a game is written. YOu simply cant cover every possible aligment without writting a book.

The system was done for PNP sessions with a director of some sort which would push the game and story in a direction and react to the players. Here the system around aligments works very well.

Though as you said if done right I think it would offer a lot. Well more then most games I think.

 

[Grin]

I've always enjoyed playing an evil role in Fallout 3.

Perhaps because of the total lack of any hint of humanity in the NPC's. I couldn't empathize with them, it just felt right to bring down pain and disaster on these, lifeless, dim-witted, f*cks.

 

[Graveworm]

Overlord 1&2. very evil character. rly.

 

[SuAside]

Overlord 1&2. very evil character. rly.

Only, not really...

 

[Professor Danger!]

What about Super Mario Bros.? Just keep on committing suicide over and over again until the game is over. And it's assumed that the bad guys win and the princess is never saved.