GUEST EDITORIAL: The Twist and Bout

[Incognitus]

Most gamers appreciate a good plot twist in a video game. Even if the twist reveals itself on Disc 3 and gamers can sense it way, way back on Disc 1 (remember the days where games had four discs?) a well-executed, reasonably-explained plot twist can do wonders for the story. It can turn a mediocre game into a memorable one.

Let me give you a few examples of twists that I thoroughly enjoyed (spoiler alert; rampant spoilers ahead). Castlevania: Symphony of the Night turning the entirety of Dracula's castle upside down, for instance, was a twist that I did not see coming. When that happened, I was in awe. "Uhhh...?! Same castle? Only upside down and more difficult? Awesome!" I felt the same way when I experienced Final Fantasy VI for the first time (this was before I had internet) and the World of Balance became the World of Ruin. "Holy hell, Kefka destroyed the world I came to know and now there's a new one to explore? Wow!" Exploring the World of Ruin for the first time was as amazing as it was depressing.

What if that big twist turns you into the game's main villain instead? How would you feel about being a role-playing game villain? (hint: I'd like it, but I'm a villain at heart.)

Think about it: almost every RPG follows a band of ragtag heroes on their path to vanquish evil and save the world. Save the Crystals, save the Espers, save the planet, save the Princess, save the world. Save whatever. You do a whole lot of saving when playing role-playing games. For once I'd like to experience a game ending from the opposite point of view, where defeating the main group of protagonists is the "good ending." Is there a game where it is revealed that you, the player, are really the main villain?

Games have allowed the player to control villains before. Any number of Final Fantasy games have villains becoming temporary playable characters who fight by the protagonist's side (Sephiroth, Delita... heck, Final Fantasy Tactics has a good dozen, I'm sure) with some even controllable for the short time they are with you (Seymour, Seifer). Chrono Trigger technically does it with Magus becoming recruitable at a certain point in the story. But I'm not talking about controlling or fighting alongside the eventual final villain or even something as simple as a Serge/Lynx (Chrono Cross) body-swap. I'm talking about you becoming the full-blown antagonist of a video game. World ruiner. Heroic quest denier.

Breath of Fire IV did this to an extent, though it's a bit of a stretch. Players were able to play as Fou-Lu, the main antagonist, intermittently throughout Ryu's main storyline (but in the distant past). Fou-Lu ended up being the other half of Ryu—the Yang to his Yin, as it were—and at the final confrontation, the player can choose to merge with his other half and destroy humankind or fight his other half and save the world. However in the event of siding with the enemy, it simply absorbs the main character Ryu and you are left with the rest of the protagonists to control. You don't take control of the new entity created from Ryu and Fou-Lu.

But what about a game where the villain turns out to be yourself—and one you can control?

Here's the run-down of a possible game plot to do just that. I call this the "Twist and Bout":

• Main protagonist introduced; name is fixed for voice acting purposes
• An unknown entity or consciousness inhabits the main protagonist early on in the story, through some sort of accident or chance event
• Game allows player to name the consciousness
• Consciousness interacts with the hero internally throughout the entire game, offering an outsider's perspective and subtly influencing the protagonist's decisions while making sure to conceal his/her true ambitions
• Main protagonist is spurred on towards some quest to save the world/the country/the princess/the plot devices
• Many other like-minded heroes travel with main protagonist; names also fixed for aforementioned reasons
• Heroes reach what would be the final dungeon
• Main protagonist transfers consciousness through some sort of techno/magical means and revives a gigantic entity
• That entity turns out to be.....YOU!
• Game gives you a choice to control yourself or destroy yourself

Most people, when asked to name what is essentially a disembodied voice or consciousness inside the mind of the main protagonist, would undoubtedly choose their own name. Functionally it exists as a meta-view on the game's overall plot and character decisions. It can provide comic relief, engage in deep inner dialogues with the main protagonist and act as his or her own foil. And hey, you can name someone/something significant to the story! Why not choose yourself?

A clever writing staff might throw in stuff to make the consciousness seem like nothing more than an extension of the player's own thoughts. In-jokes could be created to make the player identify with the consciousness. For example, the main protagonist could do something so dumbfoundedly stupid that it makes the player shake his or her head. Then the consciousness would call out the protagonist and let them know how dumb they are. The player would laugh because they were just thinking that same thing and the bond between consciousness and player could grow stronger through scenes like these.

Then this twist happens. You are now aware that the entity you named after yourself at the beginning is the end-all-be-all final boss. The game gives you a choice: support the band of misfits whose journeys through the world you have shared thus far, or side with the super-villain who thinks like you do and bears your own name. Which side would you choose?

[LocoColt04]

The concept of BEING the bad guy - genuinely, rather than the "evil protagonist" - and actually playing a tiny part until becoming a legitimate antagonist is definitely interesting. No game comes to mind that really does this in the way you envision, though I can think of a very small handful that do bits and pieces.

[Incognitus]

The concept of BEING the bad guy - genuinely, rather than the "evil protagonist" - and actually playing a tiny part until becoming a legitimate antagonist is definitely interesting. No game comes to mind that really does this in the way you envision, though I can think of a very small handful that do bits and pieces.

To take it one step further, what if the second half of the game (I.e. The World of a Ruin/Inverted Castle portion of this game) sees the now-conscious entity bearing your name gathering a ragtag band of evil giants, demons and genetically-enhanced horrors to destroy cities and locations systematically in a quest to assert your dominance as the World Ruiner. You could fend off the combined armies and technological weapons of the game's towns and cities. Other non-playable heroes the main protagonist and his/her crew met at inns/taverns/arenas across the land would lead these armies. Dialog with these NPCs during the first half of the game can give them some backstory so you can feel justified when you later crush them under your boot.

It's like if you turned out to be the Ruby Weapon or something.

[Boxman]

Not sure I really want to spoil anything for anyone, even for old games, so I guess this is a sort of general spoiler warning for my favorite twists as well as instances of where the main character could be regarded as evil.



I think my first would have to go to Killer7, though it's not certain quite what the impact of the twist is - there are quite a few different interpretations of what happens. A lot of people seem to go with the whole demi gods thing, with Harman and Kun Lan representing good and evil respectively, just as the game presents them, but I feel it is deeper than that. Harman and Kun Lan both are pretty much the angel and devil on Garcian's shoulders, but it is evident they both have a common interest towards the end of the game.

Garcian is in denial about being an assassin despite working with seven others, insisting he is only a "cleaner", and siding himself with Harman, that obviously makes him a good guy. However, it is revealed at the end that Iwazaru is actually Kun Lan, making for a wolf in sheep's clothing. Considering this and Iwazaru's design, in a gimp suit and all, it seems to me that bad thoughts were always in the back of Garcian's mind, bound and repressed.

I feel many other things were abstract reflections of Garcian and were meant to serve as clues in some way. Andrie Ulmeyda's passion mirror Garcian's need to kill, much as his ghost states later on. Curtis Blackburn abducting children was similar to the school from Garcian's childhood. Pink's Handsome Men is probably the most obvious reflection. Then there are things like Soul Shells needed to progress, perhaps as some warped attonement or owning the kills. The most prominent to me is the Forbidden Room - off limits, and when Garcian does enter, he comes upon enemies playing a game as if they were friends. Kun tells a violent story, one wherein a son stabs his mother to death. It's unclear whether this is a memory Garcian has but it seems neither of the two want him to hear it or be in the room at all.

Much later, a young Harman, probably closer to how he looked when Garcian killed him and stuffed him in the safe, goes to the Forbidden Room and kills old Harman and Kun. I feel this is more what the story is about; many seem stuck on the whole good vs evil concept, but both old Harman and Kun are using Garcian for their game and lying to him. They represent his denial, whereas young Harman, the man he killed, embodies the truth, as well as many other things that come to surface towards the games conclusion.


Bioshock is much simpler but still good and very memorable to me. I suppose it could be counted as a perk of having a silent protagonist. Atlas didn't turn out as interesting as Andrew Ryan but it was still worth having the twist.


Portal is also very simple and quite a bit less serious but I'm glad it turned out to be more than just taking tests and being rewarded with cake.


Finding out Hyrule was under the sea in Wind Waker was one of the coolest moments to me. Maybe it would have been obvious to others but at the time I was still relatively new to the series and didn't realize Hyrule was more important than other places. Link's Awakening's twist might have been cool if I hadn't spoiled it for myself.


MGS2's twist starting with Crazy Campbell's codec calls was awesome but it's so complex I'm not sure I want to delve into it.


Not sure how I feel about Far Cry 3. Overall I feel it was done decently except they made it glaringly obvious that you were pretty much becoming the same as Vaas, negating any shock value whatsoever.


I feel Fallout New Vegas is perhaps one of the few games I've played where you can really be evil. I would genuinely side with Caesar's Legion over the NCR but it is clear that they're meant to be the most vile and cruel of the factions.

[Taco-Calamitous]

(remember the days where games had four discs?)

I sure do! that was like the late 90's/early 2000's. Actually, I think Lost Odyssey might've been that many disks...

Also, I would choose to save the game before the ending and then do both options. See how each ending would end up. However! Technically in Warcraft 1 and 2, you get to choose to be the evil side (Orcs.) Also, there's this game that I never played. But that is not specifically what you specified.

Ha! your thread did not die! I'm annoying, huh?!