Philosophical games?

[Ruairi iliffe]

I heard there are older games that deal with philosophy. I don't know any, so can you recommend me some? Except PS:T, played that.

I'd Chip in with The Void. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Void_(video_game)

Quick Synopsis

'The game is about a soul that accidentally lingered in the Void, before absolute death. The Void is a purgatory-like place, in which the most valuable thing is Color, a liquid that represents lifeforce. Color is scarce and famine is a usual thing for its dwellers ? beautiful naked Sisters and deformed monstrous Brothers.
Color is a universal resource in the game, at the same time it is the hero's health, armor, stats and ammo. With the help of Nameless Sister, the soul finds out that there is a way to escape and be reincarnated again on the surface, but in order to do this the player must disguise himself as one of the Brothers and eventually confront them.'

If you can get used to the Difficulty, odd game play and occational Nipple, you will be in for a real treat if you what something to really make you think about the concept of the afterlife and the Ego.

 

[Nenad]

-snip-

Yeah, I actually know Cleril (sort of), but never seem to get around to play his games.

 

[Bostur]

If you are into 4X type of games, Alpha Centauri might be worth a shot.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Alpha_Centauri

The gameplay isn't much different than other games of its genre, but the setting, story and ingame videos give it a special feel. And it can be pretty scary too.

Youtube has a lot of vids showing the general feel of the setting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwqN3Ur-wP0&NR=1

 

[pspman45]

Bioshock teaches the philosophy of Objectivism, an idea from Ayn Rand.
they don't go out and say it, but context clues confirm the idea

 

[DevilWithaHalo]

I would suggest the "Legacy of Kain" series.

I was thinking others, but they have more to do with Mythology than philosophy.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 deal with Religious philosophy quite well. DA2 does it especially well when they discuss the Qun. Like it or not, that shit makes sense. It's just a shame that the Qunari force it on people.

Fallout: New Vegas does political philosophy well by pulling down the proverbial pants of Democracy and Autocracy, thus exposing their merits and flaws for all to gawk at.

 

[mikev7.0]

No one huh?

Shenmue 2? Dues Ex: Invisible War?

Also, I agree with those who have already stated that philosophy exists, on some level, in everything.

 

[Polite Sage]

Philosophical shitstorm ala <link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remember_11:_The_Age_of_Infinity>Remember 11: The Age of Inifinity.
Fuyukawa Kokoro, a third-year sociology major, boards a plane bound for Hokkaido to meet a research subject in the Specified Psychiatric Hospital for Isolation and Aegis, or SPHIA. For unknown reasons, her plane crashes in the mountains in the middle of a snowstorm. Of the 31 passengers, only she, Kusuda Yuni, Yomogi Seiji, and Mayuzumi Lin survive unharmed. Unable to establish communication with the outside world due to the fierce snowstorm, the four decide to take shelter in an empty cabin and wait until the storm passes.

Yukidoh Satoru, a graduate student in the field of quantum physics, falls from the SPHIA clock tower. He later awakens with some memory loss and the realization that someone is out to kill him. Unable to leave the SPHIA facility due to a snowstorm, Satoru's only chance at living is to find that person among the three other residents (or perhaps the hidden culprit) of SPHIA.

Shortly after, Kokoro and Satoru realize that they are somehow exchanging bodies and Yuni appears to be at both of their locations... (from: http://vndb.org/v13)
<youtube=0agpDmjogBA>

It has references to psychology, metaphysics, quantum mechanics, the Bible etc. etc. IT's A GOD DAMN MIND SCREW!

 

[Matt-the-twat]

Would I be wrong in saying Braid? It's a puzzle game sure, but deals with the consequences of distorted time, etc. Haven't actually played it, but got it for someone as a present and he said it made him think anyway.

 

[Babitz]

Star Wars: KOTOR 2.

 

[thanexitium]

I'd take a look at Jade Empire, for the original Xbox. Done by Bioware in between Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2, it takes place in a Pseudo made up Chinese Empire, so you have some basis of knowledge to frame it with, but it's got a fair bit of originality (magic, floating rocks, demons and whatnot)
This game took the Good/Evil morality and turned it on it's head. Changed it to The Ways of the Open Palm, and Closed Fist. It wasn't about good or evil. The points ended up the same, do shitty things, get bad points, but they talked quite often about the theory behind them. Open Palm is just straight up do unto others as you would have done unto you, so not much looked into that, but they did a great deal of focusing on how the Closed Fist isn't necessarily evil.
To paraphrase the game, Consider this. A Man is walking down a road when he finds another man injured. An evil man would walk by him, because he didn't care, but a follower of the Closed Fist would walk by because he believes the injured man should have the power to help himself. Conversely, a follower of the Closed Fist might help the man, if he felt it would be beneficial to him in the long run. Closed Fist being the thought that Power is in the individual, helping others weakens them.
Bioware dealt more with this, and other subjects in KotOR II, as well. Kreia went really deep into certain theories and philosophies there, too many to enumerate here.

 

[Sabazios]

I would say the Deus Ex games, which deal with a myriad of things.

Shin Megami Tensei series deals with Law and Chaos, and Nocturne deals with solipsism, nihilism and social darwinism. Digital Devil Saga has massive Hinduism and Buddhism influences.

The Legacy of Kain series deals with time travel and paradoxes, and also the morality of vampirism, in terms of what deserves to live.

The Metal Gear Solid series deals with the nature of virtual reality, the nature of being a soldier, morality of war, nuclear weapons, and the meaning of ones existence.

Zone of the Enders deals with the loss of innocence, the morality of war and killing.

Okami is deeply deeply routed in Shinto mythology, and the philosophy comes out of that.

Silent Hill 2 deals with Freudian themes of guilt. The rest deal with similar things.

Killer7 has the conflict between the philosophies of East and West.

 

[spartan231490]

I heard there are older games that deal with philosophy. I don't know any, so can you recommend me some? Except PS:T, played that.

Bioshock touches on Communism vs Capitalism, as well as the morality of modifying your body with genetic therapy. Along with human experimentation and a handful of others.

Halo touches on Racial Supremacy and religious extremism. Really any game touches on philosophy. Look for any game that's story heavy and you'll get what you're looking for.

 

[intheweeds]

I heard there are older games that deal with philosophy. I don't know any, so can you recommend me some? Except PS:T, played that.

I would consider thinking about some of the more 'art' focused games. By that i mean stuff like '4 minutes and 33 seconds of uniqueness'. It has only one very simple mechanic. Its just a bar that moves across the screen for 4 minutes and 33 seconds. It checks to see if anyone else starts the 'game'. If someone else starts the game, you 'lose' and are no longer unique. I thought this was awesome.

Or check out:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/111200-Haste-Literally-Makes-Waste-In-Receipt-Racer

These are two games that have specific artistic statements to make. Idk if that is the kind of thing you are into thinking about, but i got a lot of enjoyment out of pondering both of these statements made into games.

 

[thenamelessloser]

Planescape: Torment

Deus Ex

Deus Ex Invisible War- This game may be inferior but the story isn't quite as silly and there is more philosophy as less crazy ass conspiracy silliness and more pseudo philosophical silliness.

Nier You can't really tell unitl you start playing the second half of the game a second time but this game probably challenges the accepted tropes in a fantasy action rpg better than most of what you really are in them.

Xenogears

Xenosaga games- only played 1 and 3

Star Wars Knights of the Republic 2 which someone else has mentioned. Especially reccomend this to people who liked Planescape: Torment

NWN2 Mask of the Betrayer may be since it has been compared to Planescape: Torment a lot. (haven't played the expansion yet, just made sure it worked still on original campaign. )

Jade Empire had an interesting philososphy exposition at the begiing of hte game of a selifshness that wasn't evil but it pretty much ended up being an evil jackass when you chose this path.

Arcanum

Bioshock

I wish somebody designed a game where you played as a random Greek citizen and you spent the entire game doing quests for Plato and Aristotle, oh and Diogenes too. For example, one of the quests would involve you fetching a basket of onions for Diogenes from a market.

Seriously though, I'd love to play a game like this. I've got this amazing concept in my head, I'm going to create an idea-chart and go from there.

I would like a game of being Socrates and just having to figure out what questions to ask people to make them fucking hate me by how annoying I am. The whole point of the game is how long you can last while annoying people without them trying to kill you. Not annoy them enough even if you last a long time then you lose but annoy them too much and die too early you also lose.

 

[Nenad]

Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 deal with Religious philosophy quite well. DA2 does it especially well when they discuss the Qun. Like it or not, that shit makes sense. It's just a shame that the Qunari force it on people.

Fallout: New Vegas does political philosophy well by pulling down the proverbial pants of Democracy and Autocracy, thus exposing their merits and flaws for all to gawk at.

I finished both DA 1 and 2, and really, really like the whole Qun thing, too bad there was so little of it. I always wanted more of that story line.

Philosophical shitstorm ala <link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remember_11:_The_Age_of_Infinity>Remember 11: The Age of Inifinity.
Fuyukawa Kokoro, a third-year sociology major, boards a plane bound for Hokkaido to meet a research subject in the Specified Psychiatric Hospital for Isolation and Aegis, or SPHIA. For unknown reasons, her plane crashes in the mountains in the middle of a snowstorm. Of the 31 passengers, only she, Kusuda Yuni, Yomogi Seiji, and Mayuzumi Lin survive unharmed. Unable to establish communication with the outside world due to the fierce snowstorm, the four decide to take shelter in an empty cabin and wait until the storm passes.

Yukidoh Satoru, a graduate student in the field of quantum physics, falls from the SPHIA clock tower. He later awakens with some memory loss and the realization that someone is out to kill him. Unable to leave the SPHIA facility due to a snowstorm, Satoru's only chance at living is to find that person among the three other residents (or perhaps the hidden culprit) of SPHIA.

Shortly after, Kokoro and Satoru realize that they are somehow exchanging bodies and Yuni appears to be at both of their locations... (from: http://vndb.org/v13)
<youtube=0agpDmjogBA>

It has references to psychology, metaphysics, quantum mechanics, the Bible etc. etc. IT's A GOD DAMN MIND SCREW!

Woah, wth is this? Never heard of it. It's PS3 isn't it? I only got a PC T_T

Oh Oh Oh!
La Noire
Highly sophisticated philosophy right there
but then again, a sidestory in that game mainly deals with psychology, see the thing about asking for philosophical games is, there arent all that many purely philosophical games because just like i said before, psychology and philosophy like to sit on the same chair

Will do when it comes on the PC ^^

 

[Ando85]

Check out Xenogears. It has a lot of philosophical themes as well as religious overtones. Due to its controversy it almost didn't make it to NA. Glad it did as it is my favorite game of all time.