For the Side of Good... or Evil?

by Kylen Marx 

So far, of every last RPG that I have ever seen, that I have ever played (and I have played quite a few), I have always been forced to assume the role of the good guy. FFI starts: you are the Light Warriors, and it is your job to save the princess, and to eventually save the 4 orbs that protect the world. Chrono Trigger: Your best friend's science fair project makes a pretty girl disappear, and you nobly decide to save her, eventually finding yourself on a quest to save all time. And we all know FFVII: You assume the role of Cloud (whom I think we can all agree is the main character), who starts out not giving a hoot about what he does in life, as long as he gets paid. But meeting one girl sends him on a quest to find himself and saving the Planet in the meantime. This is all well and good, but it gets to be tiring and rehashed after a while. I don't know about all you RPGamers, but I can only save the populace of a planet, or the universe for that matter, so many times. It's time for something different. And it just might fix the complaint about non-linearity too.

Let's assume the role of the bad guy for once! Why not program the game so that you have the option to be EVIL... For instance, I am currently playing Pokémon for Gameboy. The quest, for those of you unfamiliar, is quite simple: there are 150 monsters in the world, and you are asked to make a record of all of them. The guy that asks you never tells you how to, just that you do it. Along the way, you meet a criminal from a group called Team Rocket that uses Pokémon for "bad". He ask you, after you defeat him, if you'd like to join Team Rocket, but you are not given the choice to respond, you automatically answer no. BUT, what if you could say yes. You join Rocket, become a criminal, and spend the rest of the game trying to escape from the law, who uses Pokémon instead of guns. You run about with Rocket trying to take over the rest of the cities in the game, reeking havoc as you go. Normally, you can't steal monsters from other trainers, but because you are unlawful you can. You still have to, and can, fulfil your original task of collecting all 150 Pokémon; this just gives you an alternate way of doing it. It would definitely destroy the linearity of the game, produce an alternate ending or two, and give an already time consuming game more replay value.

Heck, how I would love to replay FFVII as old Sephiroth. Your quest: destroy Shin-ra, Midgar, and eventually the Planet (and in the meantime, drive Cloud Strife insane!). Sure, they'd have to tone down his all-powerfulness, but then again, considering that he'd have to complete the quest alone, it does add to the challenge. No one to throw a Phoenix Down at you. In the end, you foil Cloud and his little rag-tag brigade, who managed to escape your clutches the entire time, then you summon Meteor, suck up the energy that the destruction causes and become a demi-god. Or maybe Sephi's plan doesn't go according to plan... I don't even want to begin to imagine how fun it would be to assume the role of Kefka! I'd love to say no to saving the princess for once. Or maybe be the one kidnapping the princess.

Ok, I know, I know, morally, this is not the best thing for kids 12 and under to be playing. We want them to grow up with save the world ideals, and brain wash them to work towards peace, but isn't that what they have those nice little rating symbols for? Which few people pay attention to anyway? If we want more not-so-linear-but-not-to-non-linear games with more challenge added, this is definitely one way to go.