Are you on the wrong side?

[FaceFaceFace]

Do you ever find yourself on the "wrong" side in a video game's story? For instance, do you ever play one of the thousands of games that have you playing a rebel in a futuristic dystopia and think that'd you'd rather be siding with the government? Is a game's villain an "ends-justify-the-means" type who you actually agree with even though your character makes it their mission to stop them?

More info: There are plenty of games that offer choice between sides, for instance the Shin Megami Tensei series which pits Chaos against Order, but there are many more that give you some well-worn dichotomy and assume you'll agree with them that the side your character is on is the good one. Since I personally value order over freedom (which is itself a discussion for another time), I often find myself siding with the "bad guys." For instance, in Deus Ex I chose the "become a god" ending, though I was fine with the Illuminati ending, too, and I just wondered why the game didn't let me declare my belief that that crazy world needed to be controlled earlier and avoid all the fighting against Page.

So, have you ever had any experiences where you sympathized more with the supposed villains that you were supposed to be stopping than your own character?

 

[Hagi]

I have a grudging respect for Caesar in FO:NV and seeing as most companions are quite strongly against Caesar's legion I guess they're the bad guys. Although I'm not sure I'd call myself sympathetic with his cause.

Other then that not really. A lot of my games actually have options to be the bad guy yourself, though I guess FO:NV does that as well it's just your companions who won't all join, or the bad guys are more of an alien force of nature like the Darkspawn or the Reapers, can't really side with those.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Every Dragon Age Origins quest ended dubiously. The game was such pain, those last minute "moral choices" after questing for three hours with what you THOUGHT was a clear-cut goal only served to make it worse.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Mirror's Edge. I don't see any evidence that the government is evil. The city looks like a nice place to live. Why should I side with the Runners? They could be transporting drugs or nuclear weapons.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Sort of yes and no for Fallout 3. I didn't support any of the factions really. I supported the Brotherhood more, but felt like they were just the lesser of two evils. My ideal ending to Fallout 3 would have been to finish a quest, come home to Megaton, and just kick back and relax. No saving the world, no getting caught up in the politics of people I don't agree with, just a life of scavenging and helping people out wherever you can.

You know, a game where you formed a community rather than having an actual overarching quest.

 

[werty10089]

I didn't really understand why the necromancers from Oblivion were such bad guys. I have no problem with necromancy, it sucks that I couldn't join them.

 

[Saltyk]

During KOTOR2 they allude to the fact that Darth Revan was actually trying to protect the galaxy. They point out that he always tried to leave planets with their defenses mostly intact. Slowly coming to realize that Revan might have been a good guy even when he was evil was kinda shocking. And actually made me even more angry that Malak betrayed Revan. Seriously Revan would have won the war and prepared the Republic for the coming invasion. He happened to realize that the Jedi didn't always have all the answers and was more of a gray Jedi than a Sith. Holy crap! Why couldn't we have played THAT story?

 

[dead.juice]

I don't get this a lot in games, (at least not that I can think of at the moment,) but I defiantly feel this for a lot of movies.
Sometimes the "bad guys" are easier to relate to, and have interesting motives that show that their "heart" is in the right place, or that their actions could get things done, (i.e. Fight Club.)
Maybe there is a better way to deal with X, but at least they're getting shit done that the typical Mr-perfect-unoriginal-uninspiring hero couldn't or wouldn't.
Maybe that just makes them anti-heroes, but even in the cases where they are purely evil,(i.e. the bad guys from kids movies or comic books), their story tends to be much more interesting than the arch-typical hero, to the point that I want the movie to be about them. I've seen the hero save the city enough, sometimes the world of the bad guy is more fun, in a vicarious way.
(At least its original).

 

[Zakarath]

Well, I remember wishing in DoW 2 that I could take the part of the Eldar rather than the Space Marines (who I kinda hate)...I was glad to hear that they got a campaign in Retribution, although I haven't gotten around to playing it yet.

...I'm fairly certain I'm going to want to take the part of the dragons in Skyrim and the game isn't going to let me.

...I kinda wish that the Halo series had more focus on the Arbiter, because the elites were way more interesting than the humans.

The game Elven Legacy sets the hero as an elf who does a lot of fighting with humans, but I didn't really mind until they kind of suddenly went all "YAHHH KILL EVERYONE!!!" ...wtf?

 

[Something Amyss]

Mirror's Edge. I don't see any evidence that the government is evil. The city looks like a nice place to live. Why should I side with the Runners? They could be transporting drugs or nuclear weapons.

It seems quite often we're told one side is bad and expected to accept it based on the fact that "they" said so.

 

[Lionsfan]

I dunno, I can't think of anything. I would like to see a Movie/Game where they do that. Like where you play as the Bad Guy who's stirring shit up for the wrong reasons

 

[CommieX]

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance.

At best, you're ruining your best friends escapist fantasy. At worst, you're a genocidal monster.

I still love that game though.