R P G A M E R . C O M   -   E D I T O R I A L S

Bring on the Villainy

!

!

J. Matthew Sloderbeck
STAFF EDITORIALIST

After years of playing roleplaying games, traveling across countless worlds, meeting thousands of people, and saving the world so many times that I've lost count, I've come to a conclusion: evil just can't get a lucky break.

Ever since gamers first picked up a controller and agreed to embark on a vast adventure that put them up against near-impossible odds, the games have always been different, but the story usually ends the same way. Good wins over evil, wickedness is vanquished, and righteousness can claim victory for good. Oftentimes, once the spawn of evil are destroyed, the world is saved, and our fearless heroes can be secure in the knowledge that War, Pestilence, Famine, and Death have been thrown from their horses forever.

Yawn.

On one hand, I can understand the intent behind such stories, because they fit a universal theme of heroism and virtuosity. Human myths and legends are filled with tales of mighty warriors and brave damsels who overcome evil odds in the service of a god, or an important virtue. Some games today even use or borrow these themes to tell their own stories, such as God of War, or Valkyrie Profile.

But consider the other side of the coin: that of the evil protagonist, sometimes called the "anti-hero." The aforementioned God of War featured such a character: Kratos, a warrior of Sparta in ancient Greece, who uses less-than-exemplary means to accomplish his goals. Other such characters can be found in popular literature, like Raistlin Majere of the popular DragonLance series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, a dark-hearted mage who would destroy the entire world in order to become a god. Or Hannibal Lecter, the wicked and diabolical cannibal created by Thomas Harris (Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal), the brilliant sociopath who could kill a man and feast upon his flesh without hesitation or a hint of guilt. Americans especially glorify the anti-heroes of our day, sometimes cheering them on even when we realize that they could be Evil Incarnate.

"Anti-hero stories" could best be classified according to three different, yet co-dependent criteria:

• First, the "hero" must be, in fact, a villain, or someone that could be considered bad, or evil.
• Second, the anti-hero must be fighting to protect his own interests above all else.
• Lastly, the anti-hero can be kind or assist others, but only to further their own goals.

So I ask: where are these anti-heroes in our roleplaying games? And why haven't they received their own time in the spotlight? True, everyone knows who Sephiroth was from Final Fantasy VII, and that he was a madman who sought to destroy the planet, but he was never a hero to be cheered, but a villain caught up in his own hubris. I would not classify him as an anti-hero, because players were never challenged to cheer for him, or offered a chance to help him accomplish his goals.

Of course, some RPGs have featured a sort of quasi-anti-hero: several that come to mind are Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Makai Kingdom (both from developer Nippon Ichi) and the Shin Megami Tensei series from Atlus. These games feature demons and demonic powers (perhaps in order to make the games seem "edgier"), and the SMT series is known as a more mature sort of RPG; indeed, both SMT: Digital Devil Saga, and it’s sequel, SMT: Digital Devil Saga 2, for the PS2, received a "Mature" rating from the Entertainment Safety Ratings Board (ESRB) in North America.

Disgaea, which features the character Laharl, Prince of the Underworld, could classify as featuring some anti-heroes amongst its cast (such as Etna, a girl demon; or Dark Adonis, the "Mid-Boss"), but this takes the subject matter of demonic powers and twists it so hard towards comedy that sometimes it's easy to forget how "evil" these characters are supposed to be. Likewise, Makai Kingdom, while trying harder to make its characters more serious and harsh than Disgaea might have (like Overlord Zetta, who was once the most powerful demon in the Underworld), still uses comedic effect many times throughout its story, which blunts much of the effect it might have had. Now, both games are good, in my personal opinion, but to classify them as true "anti-hero" stories would be a disservice.

The Shin Megami Tensei series, on the other hand, might be one of the few "true" anti-hero tales around in the history of RPGs today. With its own focus on demonic forces that the player uses in order to succeed, and some of the protagonists in the Digital Devil Saga series that become demons themselves to become stronger, SMT is the only series that comes to mind that fits the criteria of being a story about anti-heroes. This sort of story may be coming into its own soon, if SMT is a sign of things to come.

To this, I have conflicting emotions: happiness that a different kind of story is finally being told, and frustration at every game developer who insists on retelling the same rehashed story of deliverance, goodness, and the world's salvation. Even if the players change each time, and the denominators get a facelift with each new retelling, the story always ends the same way. Now don't get me wrong: I enjoy saving the damsel in distress, and watching the world bow at my feet as they praise me for saving their civilization from utter and total destruction.

But isn't it high time I got a chance to blow up some stuff, too?