Riddle me this, Holla Forums...

Riddle me this, Holla Forums. Why do so many games have the supposed bad guys looking so much cooler than the "good guys"? I would much rather play as the cool guys in sweet armour than some wimpy looking generic faglord.

LOL HES THE BAD GUY HE JUST WANTS TO KILL EVERYONE FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER

Because the evil guys need to look intimidating, and thus cooler in order to look evil. The good guys then just look whatever in comparison because they have to look heroic or plain in order to come off as the good guys.

came here to say this.

Bad guys on average get to be much more nuanced in their motivations and also with their design. You can make your bad guy anything from a psychopath, a power hungry politician, pure chaotic whatever, and more. Heroes get restricted because A, they must obviously be the good guys in their game because most people do not want to be challenged in the game with nuanced morals, and B, be relatable/self-insertable, meaning that instead of a character being developed to look like what he feels or wants to pursue, he instead looks like either some random John Doe or someone beyond heroic proportion, again, on average.

But user.

The enclave looks like shit.

enclave > brotherhood based on aesthetics alone
NCR > enclave based on aesthetics alone

Because most bad guys in a modern or scifi setting are based off of nazis or "fascist" styles, because that sort of appearance has been ingrained as evil for over three generations now. The creative types who write and design enemies for games now do it with the subconscious direction of basing it off of nazis despite whatever "original" ideas they have. It doesn't help that for any big game or movie to have a socially acceptable protagonist, they have to be the same sort of generic, egalitarian hero type that fights for the people against evil, strong individuals that rise up to destroy or enslave the world. The villains are the only ones that would have different motivations or backgrounds these days.

You think nazi stuff is cool because they're well dressed, have striking uniforms, and no matter how evil people think nazis are, most Germans in the photographs are fit, handsome, and very close to what most men would see as the ideal. Combine these physical attributes with the clean, imposing design motif of German uniforms (and machines, weapons, etc.) and you have something that, despite all the negative presentation, still comes off as cool, interesting, and in some cases preferable over the presented protagonist and their style.

I think this sort of thing stems from the whole trend of people thinking that things are the opposite of what they present themselves as.


A lot of how people perceive things these days comes down to how we all question what we see and assume that good things are actually bad things trying to hide and bad things are good things that we judge too quickly, whether or not we consciously make these decisions or observations. That's what I get from it, anyways.

Retro power armor looks the best.

You should try and get something else.

Thanks for your contribution.

Star Wars immediately comes to mind. The only thing I like about Star Wars is the Empire.

Did the Helghast even do anything wrong?

Yep that makes some sense alright, nice read user.

What makes someone cool is based off someone's subconscious thoughts. "Cool" can be interpreted in different ways.

>tfw you realise Halo 1 was pro natsoc on a galactic scale with humanity refusing to be mixed into the multispecies covenant that the (((prophets))) control

The Nazis are the ideal villain because they were superior in every way. Culture, morality, tradition, this was leagues higher than the Soviet secular collectivism or the money-loving ways of the British.

Pretty much this. Many bad guys in contemporary works are generally heavily inspired by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy because they are the most recent "real bad guys" we've ever had in modern times. Of course at the same time, the fascist aesthetic is very admired because of its unforgiving masculinity, cleanliness, and discipline, which is why in modern times there are far more people believing that the bad guy "x" did nothing wrong. It's because the human mind favors order over chaos, and these aesthetics burst of order and it's especially more pronounced because our modern world is very chaotic.

I wouldn't be surprised if in a world where Hitler won and Fascism began taking a hold of many nations that video games, books, and movies in their timeline would have elements of disorder and chaos represented as the bad guys. I'm sure those elements would end up being Jews, homos, retards, etc. This isn't new however, if you go back hundreds of years ago before the rise of Fascism and Nazis many bad guys were pretty much nothing more than representations of Jews.

I think what I'm ultimately trying to get at is that bad guys represent what society thinks is "anti-social," and since in today's society post-WW2 our bad guys are ones that are "anti-democracy." But it's fairly obvious to anyone that this current bad guy is becoming outdated as our society becomes increasingly radicalized because of ever increasing social unrest and economic turmoil similar to that of which birthed the original Nazis - the Weimar Republic. Because of all this the bad guys of today are to many the good guys fighting against decay and to bring back order.

Cause you're an edgy teen. You'll grow out of it.

It says more about the vidya that you play than that OP does, faggot.

You know they're speaking truth about Catholicism, user. Martin Luther was right to begin the reformation.

Cooperation with the Xeno isn't a bad thing, so long as you are still putting the best interest of humanity first, and aren't cucking out or mixing with them.

Basically this.


Ironic thinking that in reality everything is almost exactly the opposite of what it seems to be.

Well, which ones do you look at more? The guys who are sometimes around you, or the guys you focus on and shoot at the entire game? Enemies need to stand out, allies not so much. In most you'll never look at your own character outside of cutscenes, so it's obvious which element needs to look it's best.

A lot of devs are inspired by brutalism and utilitarianism when designing enemies because those strip away individuality and humanity and bolsters the sense that their only value is to kill as efficiently as possibly. You see this in almost everything. Take these two picture for example. While everyone has identical clothing, the Rebel Troopers don't wear full helmets protecting their faces. One is redder, another pale, one dude even has a mustache. The only difference among the Stormtroopers is their height.

"the awesome power of the atomic bomb"

why play a game about slaying pitiable dragons and laughable serpents?
perhaps the 'coolness' of the enemy, the monster, the villain, isn't so much a statement about aesthetics or fashion, but rather an admission that all demons and devils possess powerful qualities despite the abuse of such power.
perhaps 'the cool villain' is just fracturing the fairy tale.

the helghast are the actual good guys of the killzone universe

Because they need to look cool. You don't want to shoot uncool enemies, don't you?

It was based on the book of Revelations.

Because America is an "Outlaw Culture". At least that's what I read in a magazine once.

And which side sells more figures, is more iconic, and has more kids dressing up as them on Halloween? Creators should really take advantage of this and aspire to bring some utilitarianism to the "heroic" side, too.

Because developers are talentless hacks

I think there are a couple reason. First, the Rebel troopers just look fucking awful. The helmet is nonsensical while the outfits are just way to plain and uninteresting. Second, Halloween isn't as much about personal expression, but pretending to be someone or something else entirely. Third and final point is that the Rebels were losers without the assistance of Luke and they didn't do all the cool shit like build the Death Star.

I think the Uniforms worn by rebel troops on the Tantive IV actually look pretty damn cool.

post games where the protagonists have the best outfits

I get the feeling that you are the edgy teen.

It's not like they have a lot of competition though.

They were genociding the humans because they were the reclaimers and truth didn't want his religion becoming false to the public so he declared their entire species and existence as heresy

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more like body tbh fam

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The "Batman effect"

Bad guys are what drives the plot. Being the thing that drives the plot means they have to be well thought out and interesting otherwise you end up with


Now as far as "why don't I get to play as the bad guys," I'd say it's because people are too stupid to come up with morally ambiguous motivations and examine them fully from a perspective that doesn't push their own personal biases.

The reason for this is twofold

People naturally root for the underdog, so by giving the "good guys" shitty gear and the bad guys technologically advanced or more expensive gear it furthers the bullshit marxist idea of class warfare, and equality enforced by violence.