ARGH

[Doc]

Yeah it looks like I should try AVIII then.  I've never been able to play an evil character in any game ever.  I would get disgusted with GIII very quickly.  Thanks Doc.
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Spoiler alert!

It's not so much that you are evil. It's that you are being used. By GIII you realise just how evil and corrupt the Shaper Council is. And if you follow that path, you work to keep the world enslaved. And your self as well. You are just another cog in a vast machine. And depending on how you play the game, you finish out as a nobody or a God, but a God completely brainwashed and under total control of Shaper ideals.

But it's to late. Pandora's Box has been opened. All your efforts are for naught. Victory is hollow and meaningless.

If you assist the rebels, you help unleash horror on the world. They want to destroy the Shaper Council, but they are no better. Reckless experimentation, power at any cost, and they are willing to sacrifice the lives of millions through genetically modified diseases, monsters, and plagues of all kinds to achieve their goals. They talk of freedom, but hold to the ideals of enslavement. They are the worst kind of hypocrites. You become canister crazy. You become one of many Gods. And the world burns.

Either way, no matter which side you chose, you wreck the world. It can be very uncomfortable. It's a kind of Kobayashi Maru... There is no cheating, no winning. At some point, you are forced to pick sides. There is no middle ground like there was in GI and GII. And there is clearly no right side. There is only death and dispair.

The Geneforge games take your own morals and ideals, and put them on trial in a very clever sort of way. If you play true to your own ideals, and do things in a certain way, the ending changes, varies, depending on how you played the game. If you play true to your own ideals, ethics, and morals, you are painted a picture of a future that you create. It isn't always pretty. It's not perfect. The hidden ugly selfish things that you do in the game that you don't think will have much of a consequence can really come back and bite you in the ass later. Things done in the name of peace can lead to incredible acts of war. Violent actions and reprisals, and fanatical devotion may lead to a fragile peace that lasts a while, but the genie is out of the bottle and any hope for the future is meaningless. Selfishness and lust for power corrupts absolutely, and in the case of GI, you are rewarded for your selfishness because you get to shape the future as a canister crazy newborn God. Being a traitor and saving your own skin may allow you to live a very long life, but at the cost of being a traitor to your own race and costing the lives of millions of others. If you allow it, it can really get in to your head and cause you to see your self in a different light. I love the games. But they will eventually take you to a place that you may not like to go. And you will be forced to examine your self at some point. Very few games do this to the player.

Avernum III is a great game. I beta tested it. It has my seal of approval. It is a game that you can, if you so desire, spend months playing. The longer you take, the harder it gets though, because the world is being ravaged. And there is a very, very large world for you to explore and see.