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That got dark really fast


Gravitus

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13 minutes ago, boggo2300 said:

I think the word you are looking for is Henchman...

 

Or patsy

 

 

sorry couldn't resist

Oh, I think quite knowingly poisoning people, whether being directed to do so or not, is quite villainous.  "We've already established that, now we're just haggling over the price," as the old story goes.

 

Tim "Black Scorpion" Sweeney: Matt (Posi) used to say that players would find the shortest path to the rewards even if it was a completely terrible play experience that would push them away from the game...

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1 minute ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Oh, I think quite knowingly poisoning people, whether being directed to do so or not, is quite villainous.  "We've already established that, now we're just haggling over the price," as the old story goes.

Still Phipps is the villain, you are just the henchman, it's not so much the evil part that breaks the villainy, but the lack of self direction 😄

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6 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Oh, I think quite knowingly poisoning people, whether being directed to do so or not, is quite villainous.  "We've already established that, now we're just haggling over the price," as the old story goes.

That’s actually the more tame part of the  dialogue . I was thinking more along the lines of the implied rape at the end was the dark part. And well laughing at blind children is pretty twisted too .

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59 minutes ago, THEDarkTyger said:

Yes for real. There are grades of evil. Not every villain has to be a sick and twisted sociopathic monster.

I agree.  To me, some of the most compelling villains are ones that you can relate to and understand, even sympathize with their motivations - like Magneto. 

 

I get it that some people are into depraved stuff though and won't begrudge them.  Personally, I'll just skip the contact.

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2 hours ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

And who says you can't feel like a villain playing red side?!

Me?  I mean, if we were to translate this to the DC universe,  Phipps is the Joker and the player is one of those big beefy dudes in white face paint that does the actual grunt work.

 

50 minutes ago, Clave Dark 5 said:

Oh, I think quite knowingly poisoning people, whether being directed to do so or not, is quite villainous.  "We've already established that, now we're just haggling over the price," as the old story goes.

No one ever said you couldn't do anything evil on redside.  You just do it at the behest of better, smarter villains.  You're a flunky the vast majority of the time.

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I love villains, but I hate Phipps.  He's a petty little monster who spends all his time bullying the weak and helpless, and laughing about it.

 

(My favorite villains are the ones who punch up or at least across, not down.  I like the tone of the game's Rogue and Villain Tip and Morality missions)

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3 hours ago, Gravitus said:

Lol for real?

For real.

 

Everyone has limits to their comfort zone.  Not just IRL, but even comic book villains.

 

In tabletop roleplay, I've had villains who went far out of their way to never harm, or even endanger, innocent bystanders.  As they would say, in-character to the heroes: "Look, I'm an art thief, not a monster.  I don't want anyone hurt, I just want loads of cash."  Said characters have even undergone a (temporary) heel-face turn, risking their lives to SAVE others.  Middle of a heist, a massive fire starts in a nearby children's hospital.  He turned to the Heroes, and said "look, the fire's more important than this.  Let's save those people, then we all walk away.  No theft, no arrest ... and none of those people wind up dead."

 

He was also always true to his word - letter AND spirit.

 

Some thieves DO have honor.  🙂

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I actually quite enjoy his arc. I suppose it's my love for really dark fiction. I don't like gore horror like saw or hostel or that ilk of movie but I do love american horror story and that kind of twisted nastiness. The first time I did it I was actually impressed they went that dark. Almost all the rest is of the "beat opposition to a pulp and steal their stuff" kind of mission. It's nice to see a bit of actual evil instead of just naughty people being a bit bad. However i can see how people would find his storyline unpleasant.

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2 hours ago, Queen Nefertiti said:

I actually quite enjoy his arc. I suppose it's my love for really dark fiction. I don't like gore horror like saw or hostel or that ilk of movie but I do love american horror story and that kind of twisted nastiness. The first time I did it I was actually impressed they went that dark. Almost all the rest is of the "beat opposition to a pulp and steal their stuff" kind of mission. It's nice to see a bit of actual evil instead of just naughty people being a bit bad. However i can see how people would find his storyline unpleasant.

Exactly ! I’m on my lore toon where I’m trying to get 100% completion (which means I’ve done close to 200 story arcs prior to this one, which is what compelled me to make this post) this was one of the few that stood out. Like you said most of it is beat up / kill person X, kidnap Y and steal Z.

 

Very few arcs were done out of pure evil for the sake of evil. Variety is the spice of life and it was nice not seeing another cookie cutter arc .

 

That being said I felt this was a world where there are a range of evil and types of villains. It’s nice to know that not everyone in COV is a Saturday morning cartoon villain, but to each his own .

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2 hours ago, Queen Nefertiti said:

 It's nice to see a bit of actual evil instead of just naughty people being a bit bad. However i can see how people would find his storyline unpleasant.

It's pointless evil, that's why I find him unpleasant.  If I want actual evil I'll run Vernon Von Grun; at least he's doing it for science.  Phipps probably kicks puppies for fun.

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7 minutes ago, Eva Destruction said:

It's pointless evil, that's why I find him unpleasant.  If I want actual evil I'll run Vernon Von Grun; at least he's doing it for science.  Phipps probably kicks puppies for fun.

Chaotic evil is a thing. And Phipps technically does have a goal. He states himself he keeps the dredges of society low so those in power can stay there. He also points out that since he’s undercover as a  philanthropist , it’s a good way to gather intel to feed to arachnos.  The guy just happens to like his work , hence Chaotic evil. 

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1 minute ago, Gravitus said:

Chaotic evil is a thing. And Phipps technically does have a goal. He states himself he keeps the dredges of society low so those in power can stay there. He also points out that since he’s undercover as a  philanthropist , it’s a good way to gather intel to feed to arachnos.  The guy just happens to like his work , hence Chaotic evil. 

Well, if we're going by D&D alignments, wouldn't he fall more under "Lawful Evil", since he kind of respects systems and rules - only that said systems and rules are extremely twisted and vile?  He's not acting randomly or without some plan/goal in mind.  I kind of envisioned "chaotic evil" as the bloodthirsty monster that randomly attacks passerbys or a gang that just attacks or robs people on a whim or with no provocation...

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4 minutes ago, biostem said:

Well, if we're going by D&D alignments, wouldn't he fall more under "Lawful Evil", since he kind of respects systems and rules - only that said systems and rules are extremely twisted and vile?  He's not acting randomly or without some plan/goal in mind.  I kind of envisioned "chaotic evil" as the bloodthirsty monster that randomly attacks passerbys or a gang that just attacks or robs people on a whim or with no provocation...

It complicated, evil alignments aren’t necessarily based off just a characters actions but their state of mind. Phipps respects the system only because if he didn’t he wouldn’t be in a position to live out his dark twisted fantasies .  

 

He’s not dumb, he’s smart enough to realize his niche and not over step his bounds with arachnos.  He wouldn’t be doing his job unless he enjoyed it 

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