The Game That Let Me Mourn My Lost Faith [View all]

[LostOne4Ever]

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Weirdly, I think Dragon Age: Origins—the first game in BioWare's fantasy RPG mega-series—represented the final, rasping coughs of my Christianity. While the sprawling RPG was certainly critical of religion (albeit by way of a fictitious religion that involved wizards and dragons, which my real world one sadly did not), it was surprisingly even-handed about the topic. I was drawn to that.10

Leliana, one of the game's many possible party members, was a devout member of the Chantry. I ended up having my character romance her. There was no contest. For me, at the time, she felt like the only "correct" option. I spoke with her every chance I got. Our voices cut through chilly midnight air as we discussed faith, the nature of it, how much good it had done for her. I was sold. I believed her. I felt like I was part of something, even if only in a video game.

The Game That Let Me Mourn My Lost Faith

Around that time I ended up dating a girl in real life who was openly Christian, who told me on multiple occasions how much she appreciated that I was too. We had long, romantic talks about saving sex for marriage and how conservative politics weren't that bad. All that time, though, tiny voices were at war in my head. "Is this really what you want? Is this really how you feel? Why are you doing this? Who are you trying to fool?" After a little less than a year, we broke up. It was messy. I haven't spoken to her since.1112

When it came time to make Dragon Age's end-of-game Ultimate Sacrifice, I couldn't do it. I'd promised Leliana we were gonna go adventuring together after we shut down the underground dragon apocalypse, and that mattered more to me than the notion of some nebulous afterlife. Regular life, here-and-now life, mattered more. Not long after, I decided I was kinda done with the whole religion thing. There were other contributing factors, certainly, but that was a turning point.

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[font style="font-family:'Georgia','Baskerville Old Face','Helvetica',fantasy;" size=4 color=teal] More at link

I thought this was an interesting concept. Anti-religious themes in videogames. In particular RPGs like the final fantasy series.

For those not familar with the series, almost every final fantasy game have a pantheon of gods, aeons, and mythological beings you interact, ally with, or even fight. Yet, many of their games have very vibrant anti-religious themes.

In final fantasy VI, the final boss has pretty much made himself into a god and you have to kill him. Final fantasy VII makes allusions to Jehova via one of the main antagonist Jenova. In final fantasy X one of the major themes is whether to obey religious authority or to embrace technology and rebel against the church of Yevon.

I noticed similar themes in other RPG's that I have played. The games are placed in worlds that are unquestionably polytheistic but show a strong distrust of religion itself. The Church is nothing more than a tool for the main antagonist in the game Tale of Symphonia, and the game Ogre battle 64 features many religions outright fighting each other and trampling on the lives of the average person in the process. Fire Emblem: Path of Raidance and it's sequel Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn feature a church that is behind multiple wars and trying to bring about the end of the world.

In many of these games, the gods are deconstructed to the point where mortals are able to "kill" these gods. They are not as almighty as one would think, and often have weakness and flaws. Meanwhile, mere mortals at times achieve so much power and strength it as if they become gods themselves.

Are there any good games that any of you have enjoyed that featured similar anti-religious themes or at least a strong distrust of religion? Or ones that influenced you in your disbelief?[/font]