Intelligent Evil Playthrough

[d0riangray]

As the titel suggests, I would like to see the inclusion of a evil way to play through the game that is not reduced to the normal evil options of killing everything you see for a fist full of gold and instant gratification. Normally the modus operandi in most games is: good choice - may inconvenient in the short term, but yields lasting benefits; bad choice - instant gratification, but in the long term you miss out on rewards/quests/exp.

 

In recent years many games that gave players the option of making moral decisions have even moved completely away from giving you the chance to be an evil bastard to just giving you the choice between reaching your (good) goal politely or brashly. And while PE wants to offer moral choices the description in my opinion goes in the same direction. Do I want to sacrifice a friend to save a town - no I want to be the guy burning it down!

 

While I enjoy leaving dead puppies in my wake as much as the next bloke, I am more the guy that builds up a budding slaver empire and subjugates cities. This may cause some additional work so it may be a good idea to include a stretch goal offer that to players.

 

Anyone else interest in this?

[Cantousent]

I never play evil characters if I have the choice. However, i was forced to do so in MotB and I have to say that good dialogue can make evil characters quite entertining. I think there are nuances and subtleies in human interaction that make evil options interesting, but the team must be dedicated to the dialouge and they must. not. thow. good. options. under. the. bus. They have to be as dedicated to providing intelligent good options as they are of providing intelligent evil ones.

[d0riangray]

True, but honeslty the good options are the default, so they will be what developers spend most time on. This is perfectly fine as most people like to be the knight in shining armor fantasy. However, in my opinion missing the evil options devalues the good ones, without the possibilty of being the bad guy you can't really be the good guy.

[Oerwinde]

Intelligent manipulative evil would be fun to play. Having only a reputation meter goes a long way with this, as to be really successful at being evil, people have to like you.

[Moonlight Butterfly]

I like playing as evil characters but mostly they just come across as a jerk I don't want my character to be nasty to her companions when she could bend them to her own ends. MUAHAHAA.

 

I think playing as evil in Fallout 3 was my favourite. My character was called Electra and had severe Daddy issues. 'You are going to abandon me huh? Then I'll nuke this town to get your attention'

[Macbeth]

I’d definitely like to be able to play the game in an intelligently evil way, which would mean there are malign options available to me like blackmail, extortion, sadism etc. in addition to the plain old do-as-I-say-or-I-pierce-you-with-the-pointy-end routine.

 

To be a true villain is to be ruthlessly cunning, not psychotically savage – at least not all the time!

[Cantousent]

To understand evil options in dialogue, all you have to do is be married for ten or twenty years. You'll be writing that dialogue from both perspectives no problem.

[cealicu_ca]

To understand evil options in dialogue, all you have to do is be married for ten or twenty years. You'll be writing that dialogue from both perspectives no problem.

 

[andreisiadi]

Practical Incarnation FTW ! (Planescape Torment reference)

[Zeer]

If possible I always play evil characters, usually it means, (if the game has any freedom) - intimidating everything that moves and acting psycho every time, so D&D chaotic evil I guess, other choices lead to "good" outcome (fun.. but sometimes an evil mastermind schemer is the thing I really want to play with my character )

 

if it's a linear game you usually get just polite/arrogant options with some violent actions you character can sometimes do.. and they all lead to the same outcome.. not really fun.

 

So I'm all in favor for freedom of choice.. all kind of moral choices, switching sides, joining 'evil' factions and working towards a glorious end of days.

[teknoman2]

well im usualy somewhere between chaotic good and neutral in my dnd games, i kept Geralt neutral in the witcher and i had barely a point toward light or dark side in the kotor games. so im actualy fine either way, but i do see the lack of actual role play options for lawful or neutral evil characters. in almost all games it is indeed always a choice between being a good hero or a d.ickhead hero, but a hero anyway

[Kissamies]

I have faith in Obsidian about this. They have been better than most in writing evil in the past. For example, I couldn't make myself play evil in KoTOR1, but in KoTOR2 I did and enjoyed it.

[Arcoss]

I have faith in Obsidian about this. They have been better than most in writing evil in the past. For example, I couldn't make myself play evil in KoTOR1, but in KoTOR2 I did and enjoyed it.

 

Pretty much this

[Entropious]

As George Bush, I have this to say: being the evil bastard that I am, I would be very happy to see implemented, plot-driven possibilities for evil of all shapes and sizes: deception, fraud, murder, thievery, smuggling, slave-trafficking.

 

I am not one to be obsessed with "grey" shades of evil. I am fine with such actions being portrayed as being a heartless, lawless bastard/cruel tyrant/cynical charlatan. However, let it be concise, logical, plot-driven and full of variety.

[Dianjabla]

In FONV you got to be the man/woman at the top through treachery & deceit.

Yeah, Ceasar died due to "compliactions" in his surgery, I am the new ceasar.

Ok, creepy dude in your capsule, I'll take over after beating you with this 9 iron and then I'll play groups off against each other to come out on top.

 

Obsidian can do this. Might actually be fun...

[Milten]

Interesting question. Yes, being 'evil' in most of the games means aggressive schizophrenia. "Argh, I'm so evil that I'm going to kill you all your relatives".

But if anyone can do sane evil way it's Obsidian. Ha, I still remember that "I thought it was bomb" line from AP, which in my opinion has one of the best evil role-play.

[yulva]

Well I certainly like to play intelligently delivered (and epic) evil characters in my rpgs. Even though usually constructing the evil side of a protagonist comes second to his good nature in production, Obisidan does the best job I've seen in rpgs when writing evil parts.

 

I'm thinking of Planescape and MotB here to be exact.

[d0riangray]

Interesting question. Yes, being 'evil' in most of the games means aggressive schizophrenia. "Argh, I'm so evil that I'm going to kill you all your relatives".

But if anyone can do sane evil way it's Obsidian. Ha, I still remember that "I thought it was bomb" line from AP, which in my opinion has one of the best evil role-play.

 

My point exactly, the problem is that we would need more than just one epically evil decision that actually makes sense. One example would be party members, in most games you have to be nice to them in order to get ahead in their stories, a simple (lie) at the end of those lines would go a long way let you play the manipulative bastard you wanna be.

[Pidesco]

I'm much more interested in murky morality than in clear cut good/evil dichotomies.

[Monte Carlo]

Evil works fine if the evil-doer's motive makes sense. Evil-for-the-sake-of-it might have it's place (the Iranian government, Enron, Electronic Arts et.al) but really evil with a purpose is more entertaining.

 

I want my evil character to be witty, manipulative and charming. I want him to be, convincingly, able to pretend to be good whilst being astonishingly evil.

[Tale]

My only real question is "will I be able to eat a god?" As far as intelligent evil options go in video games, I've never seen it beaten.

 

I have two things I want from moral choices in these games. Ones that inspire some measure of conflict or cognitive dissonance is the most important. If they can give me that, I'm golden. The second is the ability to be underhanded while maintaining an otherwise positive objective. I think these kind of tie in together. Killing two people to save a ten. Eating a baby for immortality, but you totally wouldn't eat a baby under any other circumstance, and may even spend the rest of the game protecting babies.

[GhostofAnakin]

I agree with the general sentiment of the OP. It would be nice to play an evil character who isn't just basically a bully and an extortionist.

 

In fact, it might make more sense for an evil character to *pay* a NPC money, instead of trying to strong-arm them into giving it to you. For instance, guards are looking for you. An evil character could pay a low ranking guard to be their informant to both keep tabs on what the guards are doing, as well as lie about the PC's whereabouts to the rest of the guards. Unfortunately, in most games that would be deemed the "good" action because it involves not killing the guard or stealing all his money.

 

So I'd like to play an evil character that actually has some brains, rather than just kill, kill, kill all the time just to prove how EVIL! he is.

[alphyna]

It's hard for me to play an evil character, true, so I rarely do this. BUT. When you make a "good" moral choice, it doesn't really feel that good if the alternative is moronic, rude or the (Attack) button — 'cause it's not a good choice, it's an intelligent choice. Even when choosing good I want to see that evil has its merits — and its logic. Perhaps tempting logic. Perhaps I can try it once, just to see what happens...

 

That's how evil should work, not by "kill and loot" logic.

Edited September 22, 2012 by alphyna

[molarBear]

i really hope we can get a proper evil playthrough. almost exclusively in every cRPG you are punished for being evil: botch the quest, lose the xp and forced to kill the NPC etc.

Edited September 22, 2012 by molarBear

[Merin]

I can't stand playing evil or even murky most of the time.

 

That said, without the dichotomy, choosing the "good" option kind of loses it's oomph.

 

So while I'm rarely, if ever, going to touch it - I'm all for a well written evil path.