Does it always have to cost to be good?

[blankedboy]

Morrowind does the exact opposite. If you have to make a good/bad choice, the bad one always gives you incredibly shitty karma.

 

[WolfThomas]

What annoyed me was that taxation = evil. Hmmm.

Also why can't I tax the entire population an extra 1 gold coin each, I mean it's the tenth of the cost of a piece of beef.

 

[Cyberjester]

The game attempts to provide a moral dilemma, if you act in the way we perceive to be "good" then you're likely to loose something - but at the same time they hope you care deep enough about the potential consequences within the game to act based on emotions, rather than logic. It's not a great way to do this sort of thing, simply because, like you say, it becomes a repeated pattern that damages the players perceptions of "good" by taking away gameplay benefits.

One game I felt did the system justice was The Witcher, choices had consequences, yet there didn't always appear, at first glance, to be a "right" choice.

This. Agree on The Witcher too.

I would like to note that in general, good fails you every time. Nice guys finish last. On the other hand, evil brings in gals, money, and in general everything you could possibly want. So I'd say the game is pretty realistic here.