Am I supposed to feel bad?

[HerbertTheHamster]

I have no problem slaughtering baby polygons

voxels, on the other hand...

 

[repeating integers]

Well, I really can't bring myself to play Renegade in either Mass Effect - the conversation options all make me want to punch my character in the face, something you don't want to do to your avatar. And I have frequently felt bad about being unable to save somebody, or killing NPCs - that's kinda hard to do if it wasn't intended (though not impossible) so I'm going to assume we are meant to feel bad.

 

[mjc0961]

That quest should have had no karma gain or lose, seriously one ending resulted in a large group of innocents being killed.

Which is quite clearly a bad guy ending and thus should result in karma loss. You can resolve it peacefully which is quite clearly a good ending and thus should result in karma gain. So of course it should dole out karma.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

The designers want you to feel bad, they want you to get an emotional connection with the game. It's part of the reason why games are so great!
I know in the new Deus Ex I...

Spoiler: This is a big ol' spoiler

Felt really bad for Faridah when she dies, she was just an awesome character!

Spoiler: You can remedy that problem.

Just kill or incapacitate all the enemies in time, make sure to take down the heavies first. She'll live if you're quick enough. She IS an awesome character.

Some games are meant to invoke those kinds of emotions in you.

 

[Arctarus'sCookie]

Well in Fallout 3, I did care to an extent of the people in the game. I was usually neutral and did whatever the hell I wanted to do and got labeled as "Evil" because I did things for the fun of it (Stealing stuff and placing grenades in people's pockets). If I met someone who was nice I would try to keep chaos and misery out of their way, but if someone (like those little shits in Little Lamplight) are jerks but I need them for a mission I'll keep them alive but do something to screw them over once I'm done. Strangely enough I finished the game as a "Good guy".

 

[LaughingAtlas]

I've had a few moments where I genuinely felt bad about an in-game deed. In Bully, I wondered if, for once, small children would be susceptable to pointless, non-plot-related violence. I got my answer when I socked a little girl in the face and she ran off in tears.
A pang of regret may follow discovery.

Spoiler: In Overlord II

Upon corrupting the benevelant fairy queen, (or whatever she was) she became deluded, seduced by the horrible power I wielded as Dark Lord. Now, you do this to stop Solarius's abominable machinations, but I saw it as taking the pure-hearted queen and making her a twisted power junkie. Death seemed the best way to free her from my unintentional spell. [sub]Little did I know...[/sub]

Spoiler: In Dragon Age 1

I romanced Morrigan, that is, took the evil bastard options with her in my party. I got her loyalty up to 100 just before the final mission whereupon I accepted her deal knowing it meant we would never meet again. As my remaining allies did that "last words" thing just before we split up, Morrigan, demented, kill-them-all Morrigan, said something like "I feel too close to you, I wish this could have been easier...
My love."
It was then, not when I slaughtered the Dalish, not when I gave Branka the Anvil of the Void, not when I doomed a child to be possessed by a demon without warning years later, that I felt I had out-Heroded Herod. I usually play the good guy, so I toyed with her heart for the same reason I do most any evil in-game deed, to see what would happen.

 

[Bebus]

I love the 'evil' options in games. More often than not they are actually 'I look out for myself' options, or 'get out of my way I have a job to do' options. The actual evil, 'I kick puppies' options are quite rare unless in games that aren't so serious, or in stories like KOTOR where the dark side makes it a bit more understandable.

You are a soldier (or something) and the world depends on you getting the job done. Do you really have time to stop and be nice to the person asking you to find her missing $5?

 

[Dango]

I always feel to bad choosing the evil options in games, with Mass Effect being the only game where I've gotten at least somewhat far without stopping, mostly because a lot of Shepard's evil dialogue is hilarious bad:

 

[Jodah]

I rarely feel bad about random jerks in game. I have a hard time backstabbing companions and such.

DA2

Spoiler

Slaying Anders was one of the hardest decisions I ever made, even if he deserved it.

And animals are harder to kill than people.

 

[Mcupobob]

I always play the bad guy first when I start a game. Usually blowing through most of the side quest or collectibles. Then when on my second play through I play the good guy and try for a 100%. Not sure why but thats just who I role. Never really felt bad about doing evil things in a game though, except I think in fallout 3, that game can sometimes pull at your heart strings.

 

[KingofallCosmos]

It doesn't surprise me with Fallout 3. I just finished an evil run and it just doesn't fit with the story, or even the general atmosphere. In New Vegas it's more a grey area. I enjoyed playing bad guy in ME, Infamous, but in Fallout 3 it's weird.

 

[Wardi Boi]

I always feel to bad choosing the evil options in games, with Mass Effect being the only game where I've gotten at least somewhat far without stopping, mostly because a lot of Shepard's evil dialogue is hilarious bad:

What the hell? I can't tell if that's really him, it can't be...

On topic though, deciding between Roman and uh... the ginger lady in GTA4 was depressing after finding out what the consequences for your choice was.

 

[t3h br0th3r]

Many games these days seem to be implementing some sort of moral choice system into them and I have always taken the good path because that's my own choice but whenever I want to do a "evil" option or I'm forced to do one, I always feel bad and/or end up caving in.

The best example for me was in Fallout 3 because I killed the ghoul, Roy Phillips, with a pocket grenade like the gameplay demo without even thinking about it. However, later on when I found his followers, I had no choice but to kill them since I couldn't do their side of the quest. I just felt horrible and depressed and decided that killing when they were asleep was the best way to do it but it was quite difficult especially after talking to the woman ghoul who had faith in Roy and his plan and was generally pretty nice.

Are we, as the the players, meant to feel sadness or remorse even though that is the choice we want to happen or are forced to commit something immoral; or does it just come you as a somewhat disturbing trait?

By the way, share some of your experiences, don't just mention the Roy Phillips example above.

Quicksave, kill everyone, quick load.

 

[t3h br0th3r]

double post, my bad

 

[shadyh8er]

It's very hard for me to break my hardwired 'be a good guy' attitude.

I hear ya buddy. When I was doing a "good" runthrough of Infamous, I Bio-Leeched a random pedestrian because I was desperate for health while audibly saying "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

 

[scar_47]

Theres been a few times where this has occured its never too bad if I'm being evil its kinda expected that there will be a situation in which its clear your the bad guy like nukeing megaton yep I just killed 30 odd people to get some caps and a swank room having the odd wastelander, three dog, and my dad throw it in my face was a nice touch never really letting you forget. The only times I feel truly bad are when I accidentally do something like in the new deus ex I never rescued the hostages in the first mission because I had the quest markers off and kept thinking they were in a further are cut to then end of the mission where everyones talking about my failure and putting the company before human lives I felt terrible.

 

[fatal2704]

...Your grammar hurts me.

 

[Hides His Eyes]

I very very rarely do evil things in these kinds of games. I would like to, since after the first play-through, if the game has replay value I will play it at least one more time with a character who resembles myself much less, so it would make sense to make an evildoer and have some fun. The problem is that in almost all of these games being evil just doesn't make sense. Because the story always involves saving the world from an evil power, and a truly evil person would either throw in his lot with the evil power, or just quietly get on with his life of crime while everyone's distracted. All the good/evil choices I'm offered seem a bit meaningless considering a really bad person wouldn't be in that situation in the first place. TES and Fallout are a bit better for playing evil characters since you can ignore the save-the-world quest if you want, but I still don't get all that much enjoyment out of it.

 

[MrThisguy978]

in all games except one i always had to play the good guy because i felt too guilty when i did otherwise, like in mass effect one with the fan
my friend would threaten him and tear his heart out and i would just go "why u do dis"

HOWEVER

i was a mass genocidal asshole on all fable games and i dont know why. i always blamed the accents it made me not feel and compassion towards them as people. I still had my prostitute wife who loved me and bared me 2 sons to set up for Fable 3

 

[Dr Jones]

Yep me too. I started FO:NV, as a badass cannibal. Destroyed Goodsprings, f***** up the NCR good, but eventually caved in.. Now im on good terms with the NCR xD