Throughout Beyond Good and Evil we are treated the cycling propaganda messages, news reports for either the Alpha Sections or the Iris Network. Each group purports the others to be the villains not working for the interest of the people of Hillys. Being that it must be one or the other the goal of the game is to search for the truth. Early on you are approached by the Iris Network to investigate the Alpha Sections and the imagery from their propaganda is much more denoting of villains. While there are two conflicting groups the game is directing you towards a single answer and the revelation of what it is.

The main goal and objectives of the game are centered on investigating and taking photographic evidence to reveal the truth. So while the question of ‘what is the truth’ and ‘what is going on’ are prevalent it is obvious to the player. The saw tooth face of the Alpha Sections commander and the incessant domineering control they seem to have over the planet leads the player to see them as an opposing force to a decent life for Jade and her family. In a meta sense we have the idea of the player conditioned to play as the lone hero. Given the circumstances of the story this role takes the form of an investigative photojournalist.

Though the argument can be made for that this one sided view could be Ancel’s commentary on the nature of viewpoint and subjective truth as it pertains to world view, but I feel that this is not corroborated by several facts of the game. You take control of Jade for the entire game and her entourage are solely made up of members of the Iris Network, including her uncle Pey’j. You could say this naturally colors her view point sociologically, or the fact that she is an entity that the Domz are after and that obviously opposes them that that could color her perception of the relative positions of right and wrong. I find that inconclusive and a little beyond the scope of what the game is presenting.

Beyond Good and Evil takes a simple art style and direction meant to enhance certain tonal qualities of the game. The areas result from a basic color pallet and the characters are set in certain representational color schemes meant to denote symbolic representation and association. Much like the color schemes of superheroes, to simplify the perception and make them instantly recognizable. From this point of view Jade has more in common with the Domz than she does the other members of the Iris Network of Pey’j. She is represented by green, yellow and white like the Domz, while many of the Iris Network have the colors yellow, blue and brown the same as Pey’j. Given the later revelation that she has a deep connection with the Domz, which isn’t completely explained, but seems to be symbiotic in nature, would denote any natural viewpoint from her to be naturally attributed subjectively to the Domz. Instead she works to uncover their plot and reveal the truth the Hillys population.

Furthermore, speaking of character viewpoint it makes sense to examine player viewpoint, which is decidedly in third person. The only time we actually look through Jade’s eyes is in fact when she is looking through the objective lens of her camera. At all other times we view the world from a rotating third person angle. Jade’s camera is the key to objectivity in Beyond Good and Evil. It can capture the moment as it was, not as we think it was. It is the item that captures the evidence and is your primary tool throughout the game. Being a tool of objectivity makes objectivity a primary goal of the plot.

A major theme of the game is objective truth, not subjective truth. The title Beyond Good and Evil when explored means it is representative of something not to be considered within the realm of the two terms themselves. Good and evil are opposites on a spectrum and the title is asking to look beyond them. Good and evil, however, are subjective terms, they have meanings, but what values that they constitute are not set in stone. In asking to look beyond subjective terms we are not asked to make a declaration or take one side or the other, but to look at what is there regardless what it is.

The animals you are asked to photograph are not good or evil. Your actions in taking their pictures may be beneficial, but it is an example of seeing what is there. There is no judgment only what is there. Another part of the world that exemplifies the objective truth of the world is the volcano. Near the beginning of the game you are told a rumor about a cache of pearls at the top of the volcano. This area is only reachable at the end. It starts only as a rumor, an unsubstantiated claim. Jade goes there, however, and turns it from a subjective belief into an objective reality. There is a cavern and there is a cache of pearls to be found. That is all well and good, but I think the two opposing groups represent the real meaning behind the title of the game best. The Alpha Sections and the Iris Network both have their own propaganda reels delivered to the people of Hillys. As is obvious to the player for one reason and another, the Alpha Sections are the evil and the Iris Network is supposed to represent the good. From both groups, however, comes some pretty hard to digest propaganda that is really in you face and difficult to take seriously. The Iris Network issues really make one cringe, because you know they are right, but their delivery makes them sound like insane conspiracy theorists. It’s only at the end in a final plea to the Hillys people themselves does everything change. No one is screaming or pointing fingers. There is no more fear mongering from either side; it comes down to a heartfelt plea and listing of the facts to the people. In a way this is Jade and company’s last stand.

Here it transcends the good and evil squabbles of the two groups and both groups’ attempts to win the hearts and minds of the people. Instead we have a few investigators telling the truth and showing the evidence of what has been happening. They have moved beyond both the Alpha Sections and the Iris Network in this move. It is by far the most important report made. The others may have gotten gradual support, but this is the one that caused the people to wake up and rise up in their own defense.

It is rather a hopeful message that the power of the people is all that it takes to drive off evil. What Ancel believes in here, is when presented with the truth and being a dangerous and horrendous truth, the people will do something about it. Whatever reasons a person may have for acting, be it self interest, survival, revenge, justice or any number of other motives the people will rise to right a wrong. It may seem not like much, but as I’ve said before it takes the power of the people to start things off. With their approval the governor can send the Hillys forces to defend their world.

The world of Hillys is simple when compared to our own. This simplicity allows for objective truth to be found and accepted much easier than it would be in our own. Thanks to Photoshop and the Internet, false information and lies can easily pass as truth. Because of that it makes real evidence harder to believe and accept. If Hillys had been more complex with multiple governments and more people and different areas and different types of thinking I don’t think the Iris Network could have gotten through. The people are always the key and here they happened to be receptive.

Truth is a difficult thing to nail down and differing voices make it hard to see everything objectively. We have to fight for it against all odds for it is the right thing to do and truth like it did quite literally to the people of Hillys, will set you free.

Spoiler Warning

2nd Warning: This is an experiment.

To understand any story is to understand the arc that the plot and characters take. I know that is a gross overgeneralization, but work with me here. Prince of Persia had three acts. The first act concerns itself with introducing the characters, the situation and the mechanics of the game. By the time you leave the canyon you pretty much have the idea for what is going on for the rest of the game. The third act contains the climatic battle with Ahriman, the denouement and the cliffhanger ending. The second act is where a majority of the action takes place. Here we have the four vignettes I detailed earlier and the ‘you can choose the order of the story’ gameplay. It is in this second act I’m going to focus my attention.

First a little overview of the four vignettes and the four enemies they are focused upon. Just a little boiling down of where they stand in their thematic relevance.

The Hunter – an embodiment of selfish desire and hubris and little else

The Alchemist – a traitorous enactor of crimes against humanity

The Concubine – a small amoral woman that is turned into a larger corruption

The Warrior – a tragic figure whose desire to save causes destruction

Now assuming each vignette is played to completion before moving on to the next we have 24 different possible combinations that could make up the second act. I bring this up to attempt something. I have contended twice already that Prince of Persia would have the story told much better as a linear narrative. I also have stated that all of this could have been accomplished without changing any of the middle action, merely structuring it. Well, I’m going to put my money where my mouth is.

The story arc of the game is simple. The Prince comes in as a solo artist on life, meets Eleka, gets dragged (willfully goes) into trouble, contends with enemies, seals evil god, breaks free evil god to save Eleka, to be continued. The ‘contends with enemies’ part is where the arc happens. The Prince has to undergo a change. Not just an attachment, but also a philosophical change of character to be capable of setting Ahriman free. That gives us two arcs to contend with, the thematic arc or Prince’s story, and the relationship arc or Eleka’s story. This would be if it were a long movie. However, due to the interactive nature of video games we also have a third arc to contend with, the gameplay arc or player’s story.

I’ll do my best to explain myself.

Each arc focuses on a different part of the information delivered to the player. The relationship comes from the interaction between the Prince and Eleka, not just in conversation, but also within the scripted actions during their ordeal against the corrupted. The thematic arc would focus on the representations the corrupted have with the Prince’s state between his beginning the adventure and concluding it. Here the final vignette will color the Prince’s motive the most. Finally we have the gameplay arc in which we have the play incrementally challenged by the enemies.

In looking directly at the four corrupted there are certain similarities you can see between them. Both the Alchemist and Hunter are based in rationality, while the Concubine and Warrior have their character based in emotion. Additionally, one could describe the Alchemist and Concubine as soft characters, since they are not really combat based as their counterparts the Hunter and the Warrior whom I would attach the descriptor of brute. Given this and their abilities I would tentatively give the order for the gameplay arc: Alchemist, Concubine, Hunter, Warrior.

Turning to the thematic arc of the story I look to the Prince at the beginning. His best line up is with the Hunter. Both are out for themselves and give little regard for others. The difference between them being the ‘put their heads on the spike’ part. Following the Prince’s attitude towards the other corrupted we find him thinking, but unconvinced by the Warrior’s actions of self-sacrifice. Moving onwards we see his almost confusion and later outrage towards the traitor and finally we see what makes the Prince the Prince. The Concubine reveals information about him that he won’t elaborate on, but the conflict there ends up being more of who he is than what he can do. My tentative thematic arc listing is: Hunter, Warrior, Alchemist, Concubine.

Then we have the relationship between the Prince and Eleka. To me the most touching moment between the two, in fact one of the few moments where I could believe that they could love each other, was the Prince’s trust in her when he jumped off the top of the tower. That type of trust has to develop and be nurtured through the rest of the game. In the city, the dialogue between Eleka and the Prince is very utilitarian and a sort of detachment between the characters as there was in the citadel. It could be that it was merely the locations, where Eleka had little to say, where as she had a few stories of her time in the palace she was willing to talk about. However, I would also contend that the end locations against the Hunter and Warrior were not as moving towards their characters solidifying a relationship, but laying groundwork. The Warrior vignette especially offered the Prince a conflict of opinion in Eleka’s interpretation of the Warrior’s actions to pull his interest further along. As for the Alchemist, I keep coming back to the image of the two of them relaxing on the platform after having defeated him and just laugh while looking up at the sky. I get a real sense of companionship out of that image, both of them relaxing in a quiet moment together. Tentative listing for the relationship arc: Warrior, Hunter, Alchemist, Concubine.

The three arcs of the story give us three vastly different preliminary orders. Working from this and to further examine other order possibilities I am going to see how we can make the different arcs work together in pairs of two.

The thematic arc and the gameplay arc are about building towards something. The thematic arc is there to set up a rational behind the Prince’s final choice and the gameplay arc is about upping dramatic tension in the interactive moments of the game until the climax against Ahriman. From this perspective we can see that there has to be a change within the Prince for him to make this choice, so you have to start him with an opponent that can mirror this, while offering an opponent who is not a powerful combatant. Following that you follow the vignettes of increasing the prowess of the combat, while keeping in mind what each corrupted represents. The toughest opponent who ratchets up the tension in combat is the Warrior, who also offers a meaningful mirror to the future decision of the Prince. My suggested order here would be: Alchemist, Hunter, Concubine, Warrior.

The relationship arc and the gameplay arc also see a rising action focused on increasing the tension in the story. While I wouldn’t suggest it as the best way to grow the relationship between Eleka and the Prince, Ubisoft went the sexual tension route, among moments of serious caring in regards to getting the characters together. While what I said above about the opponents needing start off easier or at least more straight forward still apply a need to modify it in regard to how each vignette deal with the relationship, especially in regard to Eleka’s desires and reactions. A more straightforward vignette at the beginning would facilitate their relationship’s arc of from rocky ground to deep trust. The Concubine could be argued as a better final encounter as it takes place in a section very close to her heart and is more telling of her history than anything else. But also it offers a hint of the Prince’s past in the final confrontation. It presents a kind of what might have been between the characters, the palace that they can never share. Here I suggest: Hunter, Alchemist, Warrior, Concubine.

Finally we have the close-knit combination of the Prince’s thematic arc and the characters’ relationship arc.  The Prince’s own arc is a reflection off of the decision that ultimately is tied to the relationship he has with Eleka and his desire to continue it in the face of death and destruction. In just looking at these two arcs the focus would be on them rather than the player. In both arc you have to start them out as strangers, something that would keep the characters at a distance, but bring them in towards a common goal. Then you would have to further break the ice between them, while having the Prince being offer contrary evidence to what he believed in. Then you’d have to both cement their feelings towards one another and present corrupted that could act as a mirror to his choice and desire. My suggestion here would be: Hunter, Warrior, Alchemist, Concubine.

So after all that theorizing I come down to combing the essence of what the three story arcs are trying to accomplish in a single linear choice. I looked it over and tried to find an order that would satisfy the relationship in growth and meaning, satisfy the thematic requirements of the Prince’s change and mental state, and satisfy the need to have an increasing opposition structure to the player. There isn’t one.

That is until I remembered a mantra of design. That you can only notch up the threat and power so high in a linear fashion before it looses the feeling of danger. It’s called power creep where things get too powerful that it breaks the game, or in this case the player loses interest. It is not fun to keep fighting a slightly stronger brute each time. You have to mix it up a little. A closer look at the different attack styles led me to the following order: Hunter, Alchemist, Concubine, Warrior.

As I have expressed before it is the perfect stating point for their relationship as it they keep their distance from each other through this vignette in comparison to the others and it mirrors the Prince in his beginning mental state. His is selfish and out for his own desires. It is in the conflict between the two that the Prince begins to differentiate himself from the other corrupted in that he can place the fate of the world above his desires. The gameplay offers a basic combatant whose tricks are more about getting to the Hunter rather than the actual battle with him.

Second is Alchemist, because it has Eleka open up a little to the Prince as she expresses her disgust with the machinery of the Alchemist and her loathing of the traitor himself. At the end of the battle on the highest platform they find themselves laughing about it and relaxing, as they get more comfortable with the other’s presence. Theme wise we later learn that the Prince himself could also been seen as a traitor as he turned his back on his royal heritage and abdicated all responsibility for his actions. We see the Prince moving further away from that identity. Gameplay wise is changes things up a little, with a more cautious combatant, who is more likely to use long-range attacks and is better at dodging the Prince’s own attacks. The Alchemist also displays a little of his power by infecting the Prince in one area, which adds a nice sense of variety giving the player a countdown clock to heal the fertile ground.

Thirdly is the Concubine. This is where the relationship bonds really begin to form. We have Eleka revealing more about her past to the Prince. In the opener to that section she is telling stories of her time there, watching performances and dreaming of far off lands, almost wistfully. She talks of her mother and the wounds that it left in her family. The Prince becomes more than a random savior, he becomes her confidant. The Prince reciprocates the trust when he leaps to his death expecting Eleka to be there and catch him. The Concubine represents the wish for power, but also is an agent of lust versus love. She uses men to further her own ends using her feminine wiles. She tempts the Prince as such, but he rejects her advances and turns to Eleka as his grounding agent. Selfish desires are becoming less and less a driving factor in his character. This vignette more than any other is the turning point of his character. The player gets a slightly different challenge as well. The Concubine is an illusionist and will put multiple copies of herself on the battlefield to distract and disorient. She is far more agile than the other corrupted and faster too. But the most defining characteristic is the fact that for a time she removes Eleka from the battle by entangling her in corrupted. The Player has lost a button. Also she casts a spell on the Prince at times to reverse his movements of what the player input is. It switches up an otherwise beefing up of the boss.

Finally we come to the Warrior. I’ve explained before why he makes a good endgame thematically. The Warrior more than any other is the mirror of the Prince at the end of the game. The Prince becomes the fallen hero, a hero pulled down by his own good intention. Eleka here really tires to focus on the fact here. The further you progress in the Warrior’s territory the more her dialogue focuses on factual things, like how to proceed. The Prince asks her jokingly if he could have the city and she agrees. In part it is foreshadowing to the task she knows she must do, but also it is an effort to distract and the Prince and distance herself. It is to no avail, as the Prince seems to be closer to her than ever as he carries her out of the Warrior’s fortress bridal style. She talks about his noble sacrifice, the kind that she will soon have to make, but the Prince rejects that concept, a possible indication of what he himself will do. As a combatant, none is stronger or more powerful than the Warrior. You can’t hurt him with any attack and you can’t even use the gauntlet attack on him. Blocking is almost a futile effort. Your only option is push him off the ledge, tower, or lock him in a cage. In the final battle after you drop him into a pit of lava he comes back and only then does he begin to lose health, but all you can do is run and dodge. This is not a battle of skill, but one of attrition. Beyond the final battle with Ahriman there is no more climatic battle in the game. It is a perfect ending to the 2nd act. At the end of the Warrior’s vignette the mood is somber as it should be. A good man gave his life and soul so that they may continue and now they must do just that.

I examined the different vignettes and looked at 7 different vignette orders. During the examination of each order I revised my opinion of certain details. In my final assessment, for example, I see a different meaning behind Eleka’s utilitarian dialogue than I did at first. I only changed my mind about certain details of the story; overall the game still disappoints me.

Were Prince of Persia made into a linear game this is how I would have constructed the vignettes with the given material. As it is this is my opinion on the order you should play the areas in to receive the most out of the story arcs.

The servants of Ahriman are the thematic representation of their fall from grace and at the end of the game, a representation of the Prince. Each had a desire that could only be fulfilled giving something to Ahriman, in their case, their souls. However, like Faust, they find their wishes fulfilled, but empty. The Hunter wished for more dangerous prey, a more cunning prey, but once he hunted humans he found there was no greater prey and was soon stalking a desolate citadel. The Alchemist gave his soul to attain knowledge and the ability to push the boundaries of his experiment, but soon found they were for naught in that they benefited no one. The Concubine wish to once again hold great power through influence of powerful people despite her disfiguration, but now hold court in an empty palace. The Warrior wished for the power to save his people, but now haunts a crumbling city, much like the one his people once lived in.

Each servant, the Hunter, the Alchemist, the Concubine, and the Warrior, is a small thematic vignette within the greater story arc of the game. The player has to complete four areas under the particular servant’s control before they are able to pursue and finish them off in the final location that the servant retreats to. Each one is thematically relevant to the servants’ purpose and state. Once done with each vignette the player moves on to the next one. Of course each self-contained story does not have to be done to completion before tracking a different enemy, but for the sake of thematic unity, we’ll assume for the play through that the player finished one enemy off before moving on to the next.

Examining each servant we find a different type of antagonist, with a different motivation and the supposedly a different lesson that the characters and player is supposed to come away with. I’ll examine each servant one at a time.

First is the Hunter. Here we have fallen prince who loved to hunt, but became bored with the pastime because he got too good at it. He wanted to move on to more dangerous and cunning prey, doing so led him to Ahriman. He is by far the most aggressive of the four, but also the most-straight forward. He does not speak; his intentions are more than understood. He sees the Prince and Eleka as trophies and nothing more. You do not speak to your prey, nor reason with them; you simply hunt them. The areas in which he chooses to fight are closed off, difficult to get to and more often than not allow him to blind side the player. In one area, during a magic flying sequence he knocks them out of the air and begins a battle. It is the only time in the game this happens and is surprising when it does. In another he stands waiting like the enemies do in the other areas only to have the ground fall away under your feet as you charge up to him. But in the end ultimately fails and dies because of it. There is no repentance in his character, he recognizes it as law of the jungle, be or be killed. He was a hunter whose prey got the better of him.

Next is the Alchemist. Here was a former member of the Ahura that betrayed his own people to Ahriman for the gift of being able to control the corruption. He used his new found power to continue his never-ending quest for knowledge. He displays an angle of insatiable greed, not for gold, but for knowledge, for his experiments. He sees no use for the world around him or its petty and temporary problem and seeks eternal knowledge that can serve no one, but only acts as simultaneously balm and fuel for his burning desire. The Alchemist literally locks himself away in his observatory, his ivory tower and it crumbles when he is no longer there and it is not missed. A testament to the uselessness of his endeavors compared to the crimes he committed to continue them. With his death, he cries out ego-maniacally that he can’t die, that he isn’t supposed to die. As corny as Eleka’s response is its true. Regardless the Alchemist is shocked not repentant.

Moving on the Concubine. Here is a woman who lust for power was her driving force. She was manipulative, crafty and always got what she wanted. Her downfall came from the loss of her beauty, the illusion that gave her influence. Ahriman returned her the power to do just that. In a world of politics and intrigue her powers are most effective. Her illusionary powers soon become tools for her own delusions rather than to delude others. She creates a different world for herself, which the different areas of the palace highlight, as this as the once majestical building is crumbling and the only power or authority that still remains is illusionary. Her prowess is not in combat, but the only way to stop her is to break her spell and like before she met Ahriman revealing her true ugly self beneath the facade.

Finally we come to the Warrior. He is a tragic figure. Unlike the other servants, he did not give himself to Ahriman out of his own selfish desires, but for the sake of his people. Ironically in asking for the power to save his people he had been granted a power of unequaled destruction. He had become a juggernaut and found himself an exile of the peaceful people he once saved. Now they are long gone despite the Warrior’s efforts. Upon Ahriman’s release he marks his territory in the city, where people like the ones he once protected once lived. His very presence is causing the city to crumble and breakdown around him. It is impossible to defeat him in a fight and must resort to pushing him off ledges or trapping him in cages, due to his immense powers. One can only imagine how the once peaceful king defeated an army. After a fight in one of the towers, the Warrior’s power leads to the Prince and Eleka forced to flee a collapsing building. The whole time Eleka tries to reason and appeal to who the Warrior once was. In the end it is unclear if she succeeded or if they were as the Prince claims, “lucky.” Either way the player can see the conflicted persona beneath the armor.

Each of these antagonists marks a thematic relevance to the Prince’s fate. Each of them made the choice to make a deal with Ahriman for their desires. If fact you can see a bit each of them in the Prince. The Prince is a traitor, a seeker of a prize, a lustful individual, and sacrificing himself for those he loves. As much as the relevance is appreciated it is dissonant that the Prince doesn’t take heed from other who have made this mistake in this choice.

Overall I stick to my belief that Prince of Persia would have played better as a linear narrative. Nothing seems to back this up better than the vignettes. In each one it would have built more tension and more antagonism between the Prince and Eleka and the servants of Ahriman.

The Hunter could have had a prolonged hunt across the four areas before leading his victims into his lair. He could have had a long-term strategy that would have been more in line with his greatest hunter motif. His trap diverts them into a different section that would lead them where he wanted them to go. The designers have the reason eh hunter keeps running away be to draw the two them deeper and closer to being his newest trophies. The end result of beating him would have provided greater satisfaction for having survived such a cunning foe.

For the Alchemist we are sort of only told of his atrocities and only see the results of his research. The broken down machinery, the reservoir and the tower. None of which seems very menacing or having only illicit purposes. In fact Eleka seems to take a staunch faith over technology stance of many fundamentalist religions. We could have worked our way up the large machinery to the tower where the experiments were conducted. We see the end result that could have their uses and the Prince may think them cool, until he witnesses the price and understands Eleka’s logic.

The Concubine could have started with her simple illusions, before building one upon the other creating a different feel of the gameplay mechanics and really messed with the player’s mind. Near the end the game started to do this, but I feel after the Prince and Eleka started breaking her illusions she creates more intricate and complex ones and not rely of tying Eleka down at the start of every single fight. The final illusion of the infinite Elekas is the type of screwing with the player I would have liked to see more of.

And the Warrior, as interesting as Ubisoft tried to make it, his destructive presence did not come across well, because the city was as destroyed as it was ever going to be. There were rumblings and the sounds of the Warrior raging, but never a visible sign of the destruction, except for one of the towers. It would have been nice to see the city become more and more dilapidated as the heroes continued on. Make the scenes of travel through the city more intense by having everything falling apart around you or if you weren’t fast enough on top of you. The idea that this being is so powerful could be represented through more than his health bar never being effected, you could have had his destructive power hinder and hurt even when he wasn’t in sight or near them.

None of the overall story ideas or thematic elements would have changed and probably would have been enhanced by a linear treatment. But there is more it would have added to the story structure than just details and tension. It would have created an overall thematic arc for the Prince. Many have called this game Eleka’s story despite the Prince being the title. I think it is both of their stories if the beginning and end are any indication. It’s just the physical trials are Eleka’s story, while the thematic trials are the Prince’s. Unfortunately they are lost in the ‘do it in your own order’ gameplay. What I mean is have there be a progression from one servant to the next as they heal the fertile ground so we can really see what it means to give in to Ahriman and better understand the choice that the Prince ultimately made.

I have more on Prince of Persia, but since this essay has grown to long, I’ll finish up my thoughts in the next post.