As a hobby, video games can be a solitary experience. This is especially true of single-player RPGs, where it’s literally the player against the world.
Not all video game heroes need to stand alone, as some have factions they can join and allies they can call upon when needed.
Usually, these allies will also have their own associated quests that need completing, but they’re worth the effort, as they exist in games where the player needs all the help they can get.
Not all factions are necessarily helpful or worth the effort to join. Some factions can be useless, while others are irredeemably evil, and joining them will bring nothing but woe to the story.
Most video game factions are at least worth considering, but a handful are so bad that they should be avoided at all costs.
10 Bodhi & The Vampires
Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadows Of Amn
When the player emerges on the streets of Amn in Baldur’s Gate 2, they’ll find that a war has broken out among two of the factions: the Shadow Thieves and Bodhi’s vampire coven.
While the Shadow Thieves don’t seem trustworthy, they at least offer to help the protagonist, for a price. The vampires are only interested in drinking blood and will attack the player on sight.
It is possible to form an alliance with Bodhi at the start of the game and wipe out the Shadow Thieves on her behalf, but this is a terrible idea.
Not only are the Shadow Thieves incredibly tough, but they also remove them as an ally later on, when the player has to face Bodhi, which is one of the hardest dungeons in the game.
9 The Salarians
Mass Effect 3
The Salarians are one of the most powerful factions in the Mass Effect universe, and the player will want their help in Mass Effect 3 if they want to take down the Reaper threat.
However, the Salarians’ help comes at a steep price, as they want Shepard to stop the cure for the Genophage, which is a biological weapon that has nearly wiped out the Krogan. This likely means killing Mordin, one of the party members who aided in the Genophage’s creation, and who wishes to make amends.
The Krogan have been staunch allies throughout the Mass Effect series, and their warrior culture is a lot more helpful in the fight against the Reapers than whatever the Salarians have been doing up to that point.
8 Hikawa
Shin Megami Tensei 3
Hikawa is the man who sold the world. At the start of Shin Megami Tensei 3, the player encounters him in the hospital, where he ponders in the basement, as the apocalypse happens, humanity is nearly wiped out, and demons of mythology return.
The player keeps encountering Hikawa throughout the story of Shin Megami Tensei 3, where he explains his motives. He plans to create a world of stillness, one free of human greed and influence.
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If the player sides with Hikawa, they get the chance to create his vision for a new world, starting as emptiness and leading to a reality the player doesn’t see. Not only is Hikawa’s vision stupid, but the player doesn’t even get to witness the result.
7 The Omar
Deus Ex: Invisible War
Unfortunately, the Omar in Deus Ex: Invisible War isn’t connected to the one from The Wire. These Omar are a society of faceless cyborgs, who are essentially the Borg from Star Trek, if they wore even more leather.
The Omar aren’t the most sociable of people, despite being useful traders. Despite this, the player can choose to side with them by slaying all of the other faction leaders. Surely this leads to a lovely ending, where humanity is united as one, right?
Nope, the Omar ending results in humanity nearly being wiped out and needing to rebuild itself from scratch, in a completely unrecognizable form. Deus Ex isn’t exactly known for its jolly endings, but the Omar are one of the worst factions to join, due to the horrors they unleash upon the world.
6 The Frenzied Flame
Elden Ring
The FromSoftware games are full of factions that barely influence the gameplay outside of multiplayer. Elden Ring is a huge exception to this, as various beings seek to achieve their own outcomes in The Lands Between and manipulate the player into serving them.
If the player encounters the Three Fingers, they can join the Frenzied Flame faction. If the player completes their mission, they will inherit the Flame of Frenzy, which is used for the Chaos ending.
The Chaos ending involves burning the Erdtree and destroying the world, with Melina promising to slay the protagonist. It’s not the most satisfying ending, unless people just really, really hate the bosses and want to see them blown up along with the rest of the planet.
5 The Legion
Fallout: New Vegas
The Legion faction of Fallout: New Vegas doesn’t exactly leave the best first impression, as they crucify people and leave them to suffer long and agonizing deaths.
As the name suggests, the Legion is an ancient Roman soldier cosplay group that seeks to bring brutal justice to the Mojave Wasteland while seizing power for itself. There are plenty of groups that oppose the Legion, but it’s possible to join with them if that whole crucifixion thing appeals to the player.
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If the player sides with Caesar, the Legion can bring order to the Mojave Wasteland. This comes at a terrible cost, as their brutal regime effectively enslaves the population.
4 The Rakyat
Far Cry 3
The bulk of Far Cry 3 is spent saving the protagonist’s friends, who have all been captured by pirates and hidden across the land. To save them, the player needs to team up with the Rakyat, the natives of the Rook Islands, who will aid the protagonist in their quest.
The leader of the Rakyat is Citra, the sister of the game’s main antagonist. At the end of the game, the player can choose to side with Citra and the Rakyat, which involves killing the friends you just spent the entire game saving.
Not only does siding with the Citra defeat the purpose of the entire game, but Citra murders the protagonist in the ending anyway, ensuring no one escapes from Rook Islands.
3 Way Of The White
Dark Souls
The Souls games are known for their brutal difficulty, but there are ways to make things easier, such as playing specific builds or calling on the aid of other players.
The Way of the White covenant in Dark Souls is intended as a way of making the game easier by reducing enemy invasions and making it easier to team up with other members. Unfortunately, this makes the game easier in a very boring way.
A big part of the fun of Dark Souls is the invasion mechanic, especially when the invader is defeated and sent packing. The Way of the White just isn’t that interesting compared to the other covenants in the game, effectively diluting the experience.
2 The Killer
Persona 4
Persona 4 is a murder mystery set in the small town of Inaba, where a serial killer threatens the population. The party soon realizes that the ability to summon Personas has fallen into the hands of an evil person, who is using it to unleash horrors on innocent people.
Near the end of Persona 4, it’s possible to side with the killer, destroying evidence of their involvement and letting them get off scot-free. This leads to a bad ending, with a genuinely creepy final cutscene.
Siding with the killer after everything they did is an unsatisfying way to end Persona 4, especially as it means missing out on the final section of the game. As such, most people with morbid curiosity will watch this dark ending online rather than seek it out themselves.
1 The Kuei-Jin
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
In the world of Vampire: The Masquerade, there is a now retconned type of undead known as Kuei-Jin, which mostly exists in Asia. As of the modern era, many had traveled the world, seeking to expand their reach, leading to conflict with the vampires of Europe and the Americas.
In Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, a group of Kuei-Jin attempts to overthrow Prince LaCroix and take over Los Angeles. It’s possible to join them, allowing the player to avoid the most demanding boss fight in the game easily.
The only problem is that the Kuei-Jin have little to offer the player, especially as they’re introduced so late, after the main character has spent hours getting to know the other factions.
They are distant from the goings-on of the L.A. Kindred, so there’s no real connection that can be formed. Also, they have the least satisfying ending in the game, so those who do side with the Kuei-Jin will end up regretting it.
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Author: 360 Technology Group
