Summary
Everyone likes identifying with afaction. A faction is a great way to lend a protagonist a sense of identity in anRPG, 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 infor a branching storywhere each group—and their ideals—will help to determine what kind of world the player experiences.
However, not all factions are made equal. In some titles,likeThe 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, wheresiding with a certain faction has massive consequences for the game’s ending.
There are many things working both for and againstFallout 4. The combatand scavenging mechanicsare 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.
Considered by many to be one of thebestFalloutgamesin the series, and beyond this, one of the best RPGs of all time, the amount of freedom and customizationFallout: New Vegasaffords 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.
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.
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, likeShin Megami Tensei, those decisions don’t really start to change the story’s outcome until the end of the game.Triangle Strategyis instead built on the idea that each choice leads to its ownset 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.
One of the most beloved games in the series,Fire Emblem: Three Housesis another example of a JRPG breaking away from its linearity to showcase a broader, choice-based style of gameplay. Between exploring relationshipsand 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.
The faction choice inDying Light 2might 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?
These factions will decide the course of the story inDying 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.
WithGreedfall 2currentlyin Early Access, the original title has seen more attention than ever; and for good reason.Greedfallhas 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 inGreedfallis 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.
