Summary
- RPG factions shape protagonist identity in branching storylines.
- In some titles, like The Outer Worlds, faction choices affect reputation and gameplay.
- Fallout: New Vegas allows for complex alignments with consequences, offering high replayability.
Everyone likes identifying with a faction. A faction is a great way to lend a protagonist a sense of identity in an RPG, helping to color them with the principals and paradigms of whatever specific group they’ve chosen to align with. Usually, when a game starts asking the player to make choices about siding with one group or another, they know they’re in for a branching story where each group—and their ideals—will help to determine what kind of world the player experiences.
5:10
Related
30 Best JRPGs On The Nintendo Switch, Ranked
If someone is looking for a great JRPG to play on the go or at home, these Switch games represent the genre at its best.
However, not all factions are made equal. In some titles, like The Outer Worlds, siding with one faction or another is really more about piecing together a character’s reputation, and while the major factions come together during the story’s conclusion, there’s more at play that decides the overall outcome of the story. Players looking to make the biggest impact on the world should keep an eye on these titles, where siding with a certain faction has massive consequences for the game’s ending.
6
Fallout 4
The Game’s Major Factions Each Have Their Own Final Act.
There are many things working both for and against Fallout 4. The combat and scavenging mechanics are perhaps the best in the franchise, but fans of titles from earlier in the series’ history point to the fact that having such a characterized protagonist leaves very little room for roleplay in this role-playing game. Players can still have different flavors of this protagonist, however, determined by which of the four factions they decide to side with.
Each faction has its own end game, complete with perks exclusive to that group and boss fights that are determined by which of the other major groups players have made enemies of in taking their chosen side. It adds a lot of replayability to this already expansive title.
5
Fallout: New Vegas
Change The Fate Of The Wasteland Forever.
Considered by many to be one of the best Fallout games in the series, and beyond this, one of the best RPGs of all time, the amount of freedom and customization Fallout: New Vegas affords players is staggering. Within the four major factions players can align with, they can composite many smaller factions to the same cause, each of which have their own questlines that can determine the composition of their own group.
Related
Best RPGs That Don’t Have Complicated Mechanics
Some RPGs can be daunting, but these games keep things simple for players who want to immerse themselves in the story.
Beyond this, the karma system of the game gives each faction its own flavor based on where the protagonist sits on the moral spectrum. A good-aligned Courier siding with Caesar’s Legion, trying to reform it from the inside? An evil Courier joining up with Mr. House to essentially make as much blood money as possible? The game accounts for any combination of faction and morality choice, an impressive feat considering how little development time Obsidian was given by Bethesda to make it.
4
Triangle Strategy
An Iconic Switch Title Offering Far More Choices Than Most JRPGs
JRPGs are often quite linear in their design, rarely expanding to allow for much in the way of alternative narratives based on player choice. Even in games known for multiple endings and moral alignments, like Shin Megami Tensei, those decisions don’t really start to change the story’s outcome until the end of the game. Triangle Strategy is instead built on the idea that each choice leads to its own set of story-changing outcomes.
Players’ choices will see them side with either the Roselle, the Holy State of Hyzante, or the Grand Duchy of Aesfrost. There’s a moral axis that also determines this choice, and watching it all unfold makes for an utterly fascinating story in one of Square Enix’s best-ever games.
3
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Each House Brings Its Own Strengths And Challenges To The Game
One of the most beloved games in the series, Fire Emblem: Three Houses is another example of a JRPG breaking away from its linearity to showcase a broader, choice-based style of gameplay. Between exploring relationships and gathering crests, players can expect to go through this title a few times over if they want to truly experience everything it has to offer. From the very beginning, choosing a House to instruct immediately sets the tone for the story, but that’s not the only time that players’ allegiances will be tested.
How the unfolding story changes for each player depending on what House they pick is incredibly satisfying to watch on subsequent playthroughs. There’s far more to each faction’s story—and the ending it offers—than just a different shade of paint on the same narrative.
2
Dying Light 2
Freedom And Security Both Come At A Cost
The faction choice in Dying Light 2 might seem a little binary at first, but deciding between the Survivors or Peacekeepers is a little bit more complex than simply choosing between good and evil. The zombies are the evil ones in this game. Oh, and the bandits. Players can’t join either of them, though, so should they strive for security at the cost of personal freedom, or maintain that freedom, but risk greater vulnerability?
Related
Dying Light 2: Every Secret Item & How To Find Them
There are only a handful secret items in Dying Light 2, and be it for bragging rights or functionality, they are worth tracking down.
These factions will decide the course of the story in Dying Light 2, and beyond this, how the game ends overall. Both factions also reward players with different unique perks as the game goes on, meaning it’s worth playing twice to see which faction they prefer.
1
Greedfall
Science Or Faith, Exploitation Or Harmony
With Greedfall 2 currently in Early Access, the original title has seen more attention than ever; and for good reason. Greedfall has to have one of the most unique settings for an RPG among any of its peers, doing away with high fantasy for something more technologically advanced and more akin to the Renaissance era.
Choosing a faction in Greedfall is a two-question process that will eventually decide the game’s ending. Question one: is imperialism good or bad? Question two: If imperialism is good, should we exploit people and resources with the power of science, or the power of magic and religious propaganda? Answering these questions will align players with one of two main factions, altering not just the campaign’s ending, but one of the two major cities they visit throughout the game.
More
10 Best RPGs To Escape Reality, Ranked
Need a break from everyday life? These RPGs offer rich stories, emotional journeys, and the freedom to disappear for hours.
Comments
Array