I can think of some obvious examples to start with, but my subtle but insidious nominee is Fable III. Fittingly for a pretentious grifter like Molyneux, the game requires you to raise a specific amount of gold or your kingdom is destroyed and you get a bad ending. The goalposts are moved by the game if you raise money in ways it doesn't approve of, and it is simply impossible to reach the fundraising goal in any way that isn't at least Enlightened Centrist levels of evil, the kind that lanyard-wearing neoliberals giggle about. That's right, you need to be at least this evil or your kingdom is destroyed. So deep and really makes you think about the hard decisions that are made by the ruling class, doesn't it? :zizek:

  • Sen_Jen [they/them]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Skyrim is interesting because the main political conflict in the game is actually quite similar, at least aesthetically, to the modern day radical Democrat vs Republican conflict in America. The Empire are shiny and nice, they rule by law, they open up trade and in Skyrim they are literally puppets to fascists. The Stormcloaks are openly racist to elves, they celebrate the founder of their kingdom who committed genocide against the local elves, and they're fighting for national independence in order to enforce their reactionary beliefs. I don't think its purposely written like this, but I think it is accidentally quite good writing about a hopeless political struggle between two reactionary forces. There is no real good ending, the closest you can get is a temporary truce to kill the dragons before the war starts back up again.

    • Catherine_Steward [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I don’t think its purposely written like this, but I think it is accidentally quite good writing about a hopeless political struggle between two reactionary forces.

      Nah, it really is supposed to be like that, sort of. They knew what they were doing when they wrote the Empire as being formed by a horrible tyrant the crimes of which history whitewashed and who was literally deified. I'm sure there were more than a couple liberals on the team for Skyrim who didn't understand the story of the game they were making, but it's definitely not accidental that both the Empire and Stormcloaks are clearly bad. I mean, even back in Morrowind it was implied that said deified tyrant('s ghost) felt like it was time for his own empire to fall, and for something new to rise up from its ashes.

    • UlyssesT [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      :frothingfash: SKYRIM BELONGS TO THE NORDS :frothingfash:

      If you're a non-Nord, especially an Argonian or Khajiit, you get to be "the good one" among the :frothingfash: and the dialogue treats you as such: Dragonborn Uncle Ruckus.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Nah, it's intentional. Elder Scrolls games generally don't have "good guys". Both the Empire and the Stormcloaks are intended to be understood as, at best, deeply flawed. If the Empire wins home rule gets crushed and Skyrim is violently reintegrated in to the Empire. If the Stormcloaks win the Empire is badly weakened, leaving it in an even more precarious state and unable to effectively resist the Aldmeri Dominion. And the Aldmeri dominion wants to unmake reality for religious and ideological reasons.

      This theme goes back to Morrowind, where the Empire openly does Imperialism, but the traditional Dunmer houses are slavers.

      • Frank [he/him, he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Also, the Empire is trying to placate the Fascist Aldmeri Dominion, but Ulfric is an Aldmeri tool. The Dominion arranged for his escape behind the scenes so he could destabilize the Empire. They set themselves up to win either way.