Best morally ambiguous characters in video games

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Brawndo

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Jun 29, 2010
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My personal favorite is Niko Bellic from GTA IV. Despite being a killer for hire, he comes across as a likable person who tries to do the right thing, but keeps getting in bad situations. There are times during the main story where I despised him, and times where he was a saint.
 

Grabbin Keelz

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Jun 3, 2009
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The guy you play as from Just Cause 2. You are encouraged to destroy things like gas stations, telephone lines, and water towers claiming that it will 'cause chaos' and help the nation from oppression even though you pretty much play the role as a terrorist.
 

Ghored

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Mar 15, 2010
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Can I say Viktor Reznov?
Assassins from Assassin's Creed series?


A TF2 Spy.
 

Rachel317

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Nov 15, 2009
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Trip from Enslaved. She acknowledges that she's wrong by enslaving Monkey, then she lies and doesn't free him when she says she will and doesn't seem particularly remorseful about it, then

asks whether she did the right thing when she kills Pyramid and frees the slaves, knowing full well that Pyramid gave people a great new "life". Personally, I agree that Trip did the right thing

but her lust for revenge blinds her to right and wrong or, at the very least, the consequences.
I would probably act in a similar fashion to Trip, and even though she's a good character, her darker side is brilliantly explored. She's portrayed like a real person who is torn between doing the right thing and needing help; she does what she thinks is best with the information she has at the time.

I get sick of "morally ambiguous" meaning Lara Croft shooting people (who are just looking for treasures like she is) then wondering "What have I become?!" or Alex "I'm so conflicted even though I'm a very one dimensional character" Mercer. Trip is one of the first I've seen who portrays real peoples' conflicts really well.
 

Kimarous

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Sep 23, 2009
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Pararaptor said:
*snip*

Ishmael Ashur. He is working on & close to a genetic marker that will make humans far more resistant to radiation & trying to rebuild Pittsburgh, reclaim it from chaos. However, no-one alive will benefit from the marker, only those in the generation after it is perfected, & he uses slaves in his efforts to rebuild Pittsburgh.
Blast! Ninja'd! Yeah, Ashur all the way.

Also, despite how his raiders might react, he tries to be respectful to the slaves and refer to them as "workers."
 

blind_dead_mcjones

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Oct 16, 2010
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leos klein from armored core 2, though his intentions were noble (if somewhat similar to big boss' ideal) trying to achieve that through a coup'detat, ancient martian technology and inadvertantly sending phobos into the mars' atmosphere (where it subsquently broke apart) is kinda excessive
 
Nov 18, 2010
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For me, I gotta say Kratos from the God of War series. While he defiantly comes off as an asshole to everyone he's still likable in the way that he's a total BAMF. You gotta look at it from his point of view; he was deceived into killing the only two people in his life that he cherished and that brought him comfort, so basically, he was forced to grow in his rage and malevolence (an abnormally large amount for a Spartan) for many years. Once he finally completed his vengeance, he got a "job" that he fit perfectly and was content to try and forget the horrors of his past so he could eventually find some kind of inner piece. No such luck, though, as he was shortly betrayed by the gods and, eventually, the titans (which he formed an alliance with after the aforementioned betrayal). I'm betting something in him snapped with the first betrayal, and then completely broke after the others, as he decides to go on a god/titan killing spree which, inadvertently, causes natural disasters, death, and sheer chaos on a global scale. Judging by his motives, he's not so much a bad guy or a good guy, as he has nothing against the people who haven't wronged him but it doesn't mean he won't worry about their safety if they get in the way of him killing his enemies. The lesson here is, never, EVER betray a demigod and try to make his life a living hell; HE WILL FUCKING MURDER YOU!

Edit: Wow, long post, wasn't thinking about making it that long when I came to this page...
 

Baralak

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Dec 9, 2009
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Rachel317 said:
Trip from Enslaved. She acknowledges that she's wrong by enslaving Monkey, then she lies and doesn't free him when she says she will and doesn't seem particularly remorseful about it, then

asks whether she did the right thing when she kills Pyramid and frees the slaves, knowing full well that Pyramid gave people a great new "life". Personally, I agree that Trip did the right thing

but her lust for revenge blinds her to right and wrong or, at the very least, the consequences.
I would probably act in a similar fashion to Trip, and even though she's a good character, her darker side is brilliantly explored. She's portrayed like a real person who is torn between doing the right thing and needing help; she does what she thinks is best with the information she has at the time.

I get sick of "morally ambiguous" meaning Lara Croft shooting people (who are just looking for treasures like she is) then wondering "What have I become?!" or Alex "I'm so conflicted even though I'm a very one dimensional character" Mercer. Trip is one of the first I've seen who portrays real peoples' conflicts really well.
I agree, Trip was a great character!
 

Randomologist

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Aug 6, 2008
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"Be polite... [and] have a plan to kill everyone you meet".
-TF2 sniper. Also a man who chucks bottles of piss at you, and then waves and shouts G'day.