Games where the plot revolves around a corrupt religion etc

the whole Billy thing and that Father Stone was only a minor point if you look at the entire plot, you can't really say that the game is about a corrupted religion because of that. It uses a lot of religious terms, and the whole "god" thing, but this alone does not qualify the game as having a corrupt religion.

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I'd have to agree and say Xenogears....awesome story and great gameplay. Perfect for what your looking for I'd say. Never played it but I hear good things about Grandia II also.

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While it's more of an action/strategy game with RPG elements, Kingdom Under Fire: The Crusaders' plot focuses quite a bit on that aspect. In fact, later on they were worried that the message about a corrupt church might be a bit TOO strong, they changed all references to the "Pope" (a major character in the game that's responsible for the religion's corruption, unsurprisingly) to "Patriarch", except they had already finished all the voice acting for the game and ended up blotting out the word Pope whenever it was spoken and only changed the subtitles to say Patriarch.

Soul Reaver 2, while again not a full RPG, also has a fair share of it's story dedicated to a fanatical religious group (which you spend most of the end-game fighting against, and it also has one of the more unexpected end bosses out there...even if it does kinda defy logic). Also, Deus Ex: Invisible War had a fairly interesting take on a religious group. It isn't really corruption as much as it is deception, but it's still a notable part of the storyline. Although once their true purpose is revealed to the player, their involvement drops off considerably.

And finally, Shining Force 3 (a strategy/RPG) had you fighting a crazy cult/religion for a bit of the game. Unfortunately, Scenarios 2 and 3 dealt with them more, but only the first scenario was made available outside of Japan.

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La Pucelle involves two rival religions with great characters and a unique story to boot. It doesn't focus so much on the corruption, but it's there.

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Originally Posted by Enkidu

the whole Billy thing and that Father Stone was only a minor point if you look at the entire plot, you can't really say that the game is about a corrupted religion because of that. It uses a lot of religious terms, and the whole "god" thing, but this alone does not qualify the game as having a corrupt religion.

I stand corrected. I still, however, would suggest Xenogears because it's an amazing RPG in it's own right. If the original poster has not played it and is a fan of RPG's then I strongly recommend it. Trying to summarize the plot in Xenogears is rather difficult. I suppose if you wanted to summarize the entire plot you could say that it's a story about man fighting and destroying his creator. This hardly suffices though because there's so much more involved than that.

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Originally Posted by Enkidu

the whole Billy thing and that Father Stone was only a minor point if you look at the entire plot, you can't really say that the game is about a corrupted religion because of that. It uses a lot of religious terms, and the whole "god" thing, but this alone does not qualify the game as having a corrupt religion.

Spoiler:

Well that was a small plot point, but the entire existence of Ethos is a critical and central story element. The Ethos pretty much controlled the surface world. The religion prepared and shaped the people for the awaking of Deus. Ethos controlled the excavation of the gears and well as controlled most of the technology of the world. They also controlled basic information about the true nature of the world. And finally the Ethos was put in charge of protecting the gates which hid Solaris from the view of the ground world.

I'd say all of that makes it a prime example of a game that centers around a corrupt religion.

FELIPE NO

La Pucelle was pretty much the only decently worthy title that Nippon Ichi decided to release, and only then did we get it thanks to Mastiff and some ridiculous censoring.

The early Breath of Fire games were fairly renouned for this, the Brood hero battles the evil God/Goddess in order to free the world from the tyrannical religion.

Final Fantasy X has to be the worst that comes to mind though, since the entire game was all PRAISE BE TO YEVON and even AFTER you took out the autistic metroid people STILL formed groups and cults about it.

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Originally Posted by Bradylama

Are you guys talking about that monastery where it's mentioned in passing that the Priests liked sexing young dudes? If so *yawn*.

Xeno has the thing about Priests dealing with Wels. The deception being that they're pretty much exterminators serving only to eliminate failed experiments and escapees. Of course, as far as Billy goes, there's another deception involving the fate of his mother and how he was "rescued" by Bishop Stone.

Xenogears could be said to revolve around a corrupt religion in the sense that Deus is false god of sorts. The WE is like the true god, though the message of the game is that you find strength within yourself and through your bonds with other human beings rather than relying on some god figure. It's a bit of a stretch perhaps, but not entirely dismissable as a candidate just because the Ethos business was minor in the grand scheme of things. Chances are that if you're looking for games with stories that deal with religion, Xenogears will fit the bill. It also has the Church of Nisan, which is a more positive depiction of religion, even if I don't remember them saying exactly what they worship. All I know is that they have nuns.

I'm surprised that no one has suggested FFX, as that one also involves a corrupt religion. I'm not the biggest fan of the game, but you should probably check it out and form your own opinion.

Personally, I'd go with the aforementioned FFT as my favorite game with a plot that revolves around a corrupt religion. Only thing is that their plan to play both sides is ultimately overrun by the plan to revive "Bloody Angel", who happens to be like an evil (and female?) version of Jesus, so it might as well be a slap in the face to religion anyhow. Or at least Christian religions. Especially for the Roman Catholic church. You gotta love how the heresy examiner is a self-righteous jerk. Even in his death, Zalmo says something like "Oh God, please punish the wicked..." Anyways, the whole story of FFT exists to reveal what actually happened beyond the coverup by the church, so that pretty much confirms it as the perfect game for you to check out, as long as you're okay with the whole SRPG thing.

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I do definetely agree with megavolt. In terms of a games that a plot revolves around a corrupt religion is definetely final fantasy tactics.

I wasn't particularly fond of the game when I first played it because I personally found it very difficult very early on in the game, but my gf was very persistant that I give it a chance. I take her word very seriously, and I played throughout the entire game and it definetely has one of the best plots of any rpg especially with all the twists and turns. Its nice to see the church looking at the main hero of the game as a heretic and contributing to a lot of the plot within the game itself.

Even though, I have to give credit to xenogears which is my favourite game of all time. To be honest xenogears was one of the first playstation rpgs I have ever seen played, and its story was totally captivating because I haven't seen too many games that used religion as such a strong theme as that game did. Even in xenogears, billy is my favourite character he fights for what he feels is for the good of humanity whether he was following the church's wishes or not.

I really think when you add corrupt religion to a storyline whether its an rpg or a movie it adds an interesting plot twist whether or not its predictable. Also when dealing with corrupt religion especially in video games you get to see an issue from both points of views. In some cases it also leads to character and story development. Its definetely an aspect that should be used in games, but in no sense should it become overabused.

The whole aspect of corrupt religion is being a high selling point recently especially with all the hype of The Da Vinci Code. All in all its definetely good to see this concept in rpg's and notice some of the greatest rpgs such as the ones I have mentiond above.

Some other rpg's that has a plot that uses corrupt religion from my knowledge are:

1.) Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
2.) Xenosaga II
3.) Vagrant Story
4.) La Pucelle Tactics

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Originally Posted by Kostaki

Final Fantasy X has to be the worst that comes to mind though, since the entire game was all PRAISE BE TO YEVON and even AFTER you took out the autistic metroid people STILL formed groups and cults about it.

Err, isn't that kind of how it is? Because most religions still have a following even after they've been proven incorrect or just plain crazy. I mean, look at Scientology.

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The church of Nisan worshipped the relationship between divine masculinity and femininity. This is reflected through the statue in the front of the cathedral, in which both sexes have only one wing, which forces them to support each other. That ties in to the game's conclusion that people must support each other to survive and plays on Gnosticism's reverence for the complimentary nature of sexual differences.

That said, I wouldn't call Xenogears a phenomenal RPG. A great story, maybe, that actually understands the religious symbology it uses, but Gear combat was a chore.

It's simple to sum up the game, because you can dilute anything down to a two-sentence description.

As has also been mentioned before, simply because a religion deceives does not mean that it is corrupt. The Ethos accomplished their stated goals for Solaris, but you could say that individuals like Stone and the other Priests were corrupt.

A "corrupt" religion would have to be one that doesn't render services according to what it's supposed to represent. The Catholic Church of Martin Luther's time can be easily seen as corrupt (particularly Martin Luther) as the Church allowed people to literally buy their way into salvation.

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Ah, I remember now. Thanks.

My view on the corrupt religion thing is that it simply depends on how much you want to read into it. Degrees of corruption and such. I'm pretty sure that just "religion with *morally* bad or dishonest intent" is what the thread poster was looking for. I might be wrong, but I'm sure he can specify otherwise if that's the case. If a religion is created to kill cats and does so, then it isn't corrupt as far as hiding its intent, but just that it would be considered morally reprehensible could justify labeling it as corrupt or "evil".

I was speaking idiomatically.

Don't forget Krelian. I'm not good at explaining things so I'll let Wikipedia do it for me. He said one of my all time favorite quotes. Though they may not be the exact words, I haven't played the game in years.

Quote:

"Why did she have to be sacrificed? Is god dead...? Is he just not there...? Maybe god never existed to begin with! ... If god doesn't exist in our world, then... I will create god with my own hands!"

^ Best heretical line ever said.

If thats not corrupt religion, I don't know what is. His motives may have been philanthrophic, but in my opinion he was as lunatic as they come. When I think of 'corrupt religion' in a game, the first one that comes to mind is Xenogears, primarily because of Krelian.

Spoiler:

Going so far as to kill every human being on the planet so they wouldn't have to to 'suffer' anymore, thats pretty corrupt. Then theres Merkaba/Deus, the artificial god thats actually a weapon, which Krelian built using human flesh [the god created with his own hands]. The reason it was called a god was because it created the humans (through Maing, 'The Mother') as spare parts incase it was ever destroid. Which it was when the Eldridge self-destructed 10,000 years ago, it activated Maing, The Mother, to give birth to all the humans on that planet. In time after there were enough human beings, Deus used them to rebuild itself, with Krelians help. That's a pretty sick method up back-up utilities. Anyway this artificial god had a power source, the Zohar, an ancient artifact of unknown origin. In fact, the Zohar was also the power source of every gear in the world, except the Xenogears. Within that power source, was the 'real' god of the Xenogears universe, called The Wave Existance (WE). The WE was trapped in the Zohar against its will, it was basically a giant prison cell for him. The Zohar draws its power from an alternate dimension, which gives it a limitless supply of energy. The WE got sucked into the Zohar when Deus activated it on the Eldridge during the game's intro. When Deus was destroid, so was the Zohar (or deactivated), all gears stoped working except Xenogears and the WE was set free. When it was set free it went back home to its own dimension, the wave dimension, Xenogears' equivalent to heaven where anything is possible. Krelian, having finally found god, went with him to heaven (yes, despite all of his sins), in the ending he says 'I go to walk with god.' This was the agenda he had set out for the whole time, but he wanted all of humanity to do it too, and the only way for that to happen was if they all died. Anyway, Krelian got what he wanted at the cost of half the planet's population. Talk about ambition, this is why he's one of my most favorite villains, to call him a martyr would be an understatement.

Sorry if thats a bit long winded, derailed and not 100% accurate. I couldn't resist reminiscing on such a great game.

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Grandia II has it real bad with this. Granas has followers and you don't learn about the followers of Valmar until real late in the game. It is'nt until you meet Pope Zera when he turns bad that Granas was

Spoiler:

defeated and killed by Valmar.

. Which is when the story get really warped.

FELIPE NO

The XENOSAGA series (up to episode III) pretty much had a twisted version of the christianity religion.

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I'd like to add Vandal Hearts 2 (PS1) to the list. It's a tactics RPG with a great story.

The issue that most people have with this game is the dual turn system. Basically you and the computer imput a movement and both are enacted simultaneously. To this day I still can't decide if the system is stupid or ingenius. I always end up in the middle, it's just another battle system.

Unlike other tactic games where your character's strength is determined by level and job class in Vandal Hearts 2 abilities are in weapons and equipment. You move skills from weapon to weapon, and your armor determines how your character "handles" (Winged Armor - Imune to landscape effects high movement low HP. Robes- Low HP high MP. Armor Low movement, Low MP, High HP. [Armor name I don't remember] average everythng.)

Another great thing about the game are the large and creatively made battle fields, large teams (At one point in the game you'll control up to 12 people at a time). And the challenge. Because the game has no job system this allows the computer to always keep pace with you. Unlike in FFT where you could basically level up early and teabag the game with two good party members Vandal Hearts keeps you grounded. Again due to the quality of your team relying almost solely in equips you have to rely more on inventory and battle tactics than brute force.

I love the hell out of this game, and talking about it makes me want to play it again. Also because it wasn't that well recieved if you find it anywhere you'll probably find it cheap.

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Tales of symphonia was all about religion but in the end it was just some twisted dude behind an organization controlling it and trying to bring his sister back

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By the way, Grandia II is probably the most "pro-atheist" game ever...

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Well, I do know there's TONS of games where the bad guy wants to become god then he attains that power and you end up killing him... so much for that

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