Poll of the Day > The "God is not as what he seems" trope in video games

(+) Yeah! (+)

Anyone name some examples of this trope in video games? A deity for which there is more than what they appear at first glance.

I think Japanese Fantasy games like Tales (Symphonia) and Final Fantasy (X) have examples of this trope.

Not exactly sure what you mean, gods who disguise themselves? Or people pretending to be gods?

Maybe Flemeth or Solas in Dragon Age.

Blightzkrieg posted...

Not exactly sure what you mean, gods who disguise themselves? Or people pretending to be gods?

Maybe Flemeth or Solas in Dragon Age.

I guess, for example, gods that seem benevolent but have some secret agenda or something. Or I guess false gods or prophets.

Okay then neither of those examples apply, I was thinking of gods who disguise themselves as humans.

I don't remember the plot but I watched my brother play Grandia II when I was younger and it definitely featured that idea heavily. I think the pope was the villain/final boss.

And not related to this trope at all but Assassin's Creed II ends with a fistfight with the pope.

Blightzkrieg posted...

Okay then neither of those examples apply, I was thinking of gods who disguise themselves as humans.

I don't remember the plot but I watched my brother play Grandia II when I was younger and it definitely featured that idea heavily. I think the pope was the villain/final boss.

I played Grandia II on PC but couldn't get very far.

A lot of JRPGs employ the trope to some degree or another, often as part of a broader plot of discovering that the church is evil.

Blightzkrieg posted...

And not related to this trope at all but Assassin's Creed II ends with a fistfight with the pope.

Wow, that's cool!

adjl posted...

A lot of JRPGs employ the trope to some degree or another, often as part of a broader plot of discovering that the church is evil.

Yeah, I agree there's many Japanese RPGs with this trope.

adjl posted...

A lot of JRPGs employ the trope to some degree or another, often as part of a broader plot of discovering that the church is evil.

I'm actually kind of curious now what western games play with this.

There are a lot that feature religious figures as villains but I'm struggling to think of any where "god" is the villain. I guess God of War comes close, but the gods aren't really presented as religious figures.

Probably should throw some spoiler tags on your original post if you still can, TC.

Sarcasthma posted...

Probably should throw some spoiler tags on your original post if you still can, TC.

Damn...I'm screwed, aren't I?

Probably not, but you never know.

Isn't this just Shin Megami Tensei?

Gaunter ODimm I think fits the description. Only because Im replaying Witcher 3 right now.

Sarcasthma posted...

Probably not, but you never know.

Thirty years from now TC's gonna be bouncing his granddaughter on his knee, log into his gamefaqs.gamespot.kotaku account on his brain phone, and find out he's been banned due to this topic

Azn_Psycho posted...

Isn't this just Shin Megami Tensei?

Ya SMT has go to be the poster child for this trope.

disgaea
breath of fire 2

Yeah the "good god" Granas in Grandia II is actually evil and the "evil god" Valmar is actually good.

Lunar plays with this, kind of.

Blightzkrieg posted...

Thirty years from now TC's gonna be bouncing his granddaughter on his knee, log into his gamefaqs.gamespot.kotaku account on his brain phone, and find out he's been banned due to this topic

Which is really going to suck for his granddaughter since she was named 'Gamefaqs' after her grandfather's favorite website, but now the pain of being banned is going to cause him to neglect her emotionally

umm...

I'd like an example where god is EXACTLY what they seem in a video game

Zareth posted...

Yeah the "good god" Granas in Grandia II is actually evil and the "evil god" Valmar is actually good.

what?

Lokarin posted...

umm...

I'd like an example where god is EXACTLY what they seem in a video game

Palutena in Kid Icarus: Uprising comes immediately to mind. No double-crosses there, that I can remember. This is probably also true of the other two games, but they aren't exactly story-rich.

Otherwise, any game where gods are just window dressing tend not to play with their motives and identities much. If the gods aren't actually characters and no plots are based around them, there usually isn't any deception as to their roles and intentions. Make a point of establishing a god as a character, though, and there's a pretty good chance that there's more to them than meets the eye, whether that's an outright betrayal down the road or some kind of reveal that changes your perception of and relationship with them.

Really, though, that's just part of designing interesting characters. If you already know everything about a character, there's no room for development. Gods tend to be presented as characters about which everything is known (because theology), so developing them interestingly hinges on either them concealing something from everyone or on something about them changing. Toss in the power levels inherent in them being gods, and you've got development with enough impact on the world to be a major plot point.

Xenoblade comes to mind.
And several of the Fire Emblem games.

But really, a ton of JRPGs have this trope.

Sheogorath in TES games?

Hejiru posted...

Xenoblade comes to mind.

"Which one?"
"Yes."

VFrench1933 posted...

breath of fire 2

The nature of the church as a whole is a large part of the main plot.

Also, as a separate answer, Fire Emblem Tellius games.

kind9 posted...

Sheogorath in TES games?

actually... ya; all the daedric princes are exactly as their lore implies

What does God need with a starship?

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GodIsEvil



Lokarin posted...

I'd like an example where god is EXACTLY what they seem in a video game

God of War.

Most gods there seem like assholes, because they are assholes.

Lokarin posted...

umm...

I'd like an example where god is EXACTLY what they seem in a video game

Althena in the first Lunar game (and kind-of, sort-of the second one). There are story twists involving her, but she's still the same benevolent deity that oversees the world that she's portrayed to be.

Other examples include the Goddess of Mana in the mana series (unless one of the newer games changed that), Din/Farore/Nayru from the Zelda series, and most of the deities from Mortal Kombat (Raiden, Fujin, Shinnok, the Elder Gods).

Lokarin posted...

I'd like an example where god is EXACTLY what they seem in a video game

Etro in the FF13 series. She's foolishly benevolent towards pitiable beings, both in her scriptures and in her actions in the games. Seriously, if she'd been any less of a bleeding heart, FF13-2 wouldn't have happened. In the END its a good result because it lets Lightning be in the right place at the right time, but that's straight up luck.

That is, unless you mean God with a capital G, Bhunivelze sucks, and Pulse and Lindzei have had their purposes intentionally obfuscated