Evil religions are easy fodder for JRPGs aren't they? Look at any JRPG and you see it's more or less all the same: There is some religion which everyone follows run by some corrupt officials who gleefully have the populace under their thumb - also these leaders have their hopes set on the the return of some messiah figure who ultimately turns out to be some kind of demon.
How many times has that scenario been used? In fact, very few in number are the JRPGs that portray religion in a more positive light (the churches in the Shining Force series comes to mind)
But when I consider the afore-mentioned scenario, what fascinates me the most is what happens next. In challenging, and subsequently defeating, the evil demon, the player character effectively destroys the influence of the evil religion and frees it's flock from it's grip. But then what? Exposing one's religion as a sham and then destroying it is a big thing - hardly the type one can walk away freely from. So what happens next? What do the followers do? Are they happy? Now that they have free will do they know what to do with it? Do they spend their days in confusion? Or do they form a big mob and go after the killjoy player character?
You know, as I type this I want to know what happens next. I would like to see an RPG (or indeed any kind of game) of two halves where the first half deals with the 'evil religion' scenario and the second half deals with the afore-mentioned 'aftermath' scenario. Why not? It would certainly make for an interesting twist to the tried/tested/run-into-the-ground 'evil religion' scenario. I know Final Fantasy X-2 sort of tried this but it didn't take the idea far enough (that and the rest of the game was total rubbish). I also know that Shadow of the Colossus sort of tackled this idea but that's more speculative.
The door is open so any takers?
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