Have you ever had player's remorse?

[Mike Fang]

I was playing Borderlands 2 recently and while completing a quest, I had one of those two different turn-in options. One was to give a blueprint I'd discovered to the rightful owners while the other was to deliver it to Hyperion. I looked at the rewards and wanted the shot gun Hyperion offered more than the pistol the other person did. So, despite some unease about delivering anything to this company run by a slimeball, I reminded myself this was just a game and went for the reward I wanted. After the other person yelled at me and called me a sellout, I immediately regretted it.

It wasn't the quality of my reward that bothered me at all, but the NPC's reaction. Despite trying to remind myself that this is a game, I felt genuinely ashamed of my decision. Still do, honestly. Has anyone else ever done something like this? Have you ever taken a moral low ground decision in a game, either for a particular reward or just to see what happens, and honestly felt BAD for doing so?

 

[tippy2k2]

I've never done it as a moral choice (I'm such a wuss; I avoid shooting cops when I can in GTA) but I have felt bad about actions during game-play due to normal actions.

VALKYRIA CHRONICLES:
One of my primary scouts was a dancer. I pushed her too far ahead of the group, which got her killed. Here was her death quote:

"Wow, my... My body feels so light... I feel like... I could dance like... a swan..."

...FUCK THAT! THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I'M LETTING YOU DIE FRESSIA!!! YOU'RE GOING TO DANCE AGAIN DAMN IT!!!

Needless to say, I reloaded immediately even though that goes against just about every fiber of my being when it comes to tactic games ('you make a mistake; you live with the mistake' has always been my tactic-game ways). I swore that if I made a mistake like that again, I HAVE to live with it...I was the most careful commander ever after that with zero deaths!

MASS EFFECT 3
This is a bit more of a cop-out on my part but it's one of the very few times that I've felt bad about something that didn't affect anything game-play wise.

Miranda (my honey-pie from ME2) was asking if there was still a future for us. I, being the emotionally confused Shepard as Ashley has now come back, said that I wasn't sure. I didn't realize that what Shepard was going to say was "Fuck that sugar-tits, I'm outtie. Keep the kid." (probably not exactly what he said...). When Miranda turned around, stating that it was OK but you could see the tears in her eyes...

Yup, another reload.

 

[wabbbit]

I was genuinely saddened when on my SC:Chaos Theory play-through I accidently killed a guard in a mission (He stumbled into the room as I was hacking something and was stood next to the alarm) Wrong time, wrong place Mr. Guard

After I kind of wondered if I could have used some equipment such as the flash to give me those extra couple of seconds to disable him instead as I had decided that I wasn't going to kill anyone that wasn't genuinely "evil". - Mainly as if you listen to the dialog in the game, most of the AI seem to hate working for their bosses and some don't even know about the corruption of the organisation.

I did consider restarting my save point, but I decided that it should be a lesson to my player for not checking the other damn door to start with.


Yes, I genuinely am that sad when playing games

 

[Zhukov]

The Walking Dead: Episode 2.

The game gave me the option to stab that one guy with a pitchfork or let him live. He was an arsehole. I stabbed him. I didn't know Clementine was watching. The camera pans over and there she is, standing there with her hands over her mouth looking utterly horrified.

Alt-F4'd in record time.

 

[AgentLampshade]

Every time I die in Borderlands 2, it reminds me I'm funding my enemies in my war. So I feel bad whenever I die.

A more direct example is Infamous 2, right at the end of the evil path, for obvious reasons. Manly tears bro! Manly tears!

 

[Pink Gregory]

The Walking Dead: Episode 2.

The game gave me the option to stab that one guy with a pitchfork or let him live. He was an arsehole. I stabbed him. I didn't know Clementine was watching. The camera pans over and there she is, standing there with her hands over her mouth looking utterly horrified.

Alt-F4'd in record time.

That was...crikey.

The Walking Dead has to be the only game in which I actually care about the kids. Maybe not Duck so much, but still.

Y'know the part at the end of Episode 2, when

Spoiler

you stumble upon an abandoned car, full of supplies, and you can explain to Clem that "it's not stealing, because they don't need it anymore" or something along those lines.

?

After your example, I *really* had to think hard about that one.

 

[Frezzato]

The only regret I ever had that was part of the story, as opposed to an upgrade choice.

Mass Effect 2:

 

[aguspal]

No.

I always chose good so thats probably why...


Only sometimes, once in a year or something like that I do choose a middle option (Not actually evil, just neutral, If I feel the good option is too ridiculously good). Other than that always good.


And I dont need any kind of special reward, I am going to get something better eventually. UNLESS it is an endgame weapon for being evil... but so far, no game that I played has done this, so yeah. I dont think I would do it either way.

 

[Jodah]

Any time I kill a dog in a game. Even in a shooter or something where they are trying to eat my face off. If it's a wolf, no problem, but a dog makes me feel bad.

 

[Fappy]

Oh yeah, I certainly get this. I try my best to roleplay characters, but sometimes it's just too hard to be the bad guy DX

 

[Mau95]

YES. All the time! "Don't steal that food, these people are poor!" for example.

 

[SilverUchiha]

Fallout 3, blowing up Megaton. This was during a second run through and I decided to go for bad Karma to let my frustrations out on the people of Megaton who pissed me off the first time around. But in doing so, I felt really bad for all the lives I took and opportunities I just let slip away.

 

[Quellist]

Any time I kill a dog in a game. Even in a shooter or something where they are trying to eat my face off. If it's a wolf, no problem, but a dog makes me feel bad.

Dont ever play the Witcher because i guarantee you wont want to do the quest involving Bowls of 'Dog Tallow'

My moment of remorse came when playing (years ago) Lord of the Rings on the old Commodore Amiga. A Ranger character (not one from the main story) finds you in the shire and saves you from two Black Riders at the cost of his own life, its played out as utterly unavoidable. Later in Rivendell you meet the woman he loved and tell her about his heroic death as she sobs her eyes out...i just HAD to find a way around that. So i reloaded, throwing away hours of gameplay, figured out how to drive off one of the riders and slew the other while keeping everyone alive and when we got to Rivendell i was so happy to see the game allowed for this as i got a touching little screen where the Ranger and his love Embrace as he leaves the party.

 

[The_Waspman]

I was playing Borderlands 2 recently and while completing a quest, I had one of those two different turn-in options. One was to give a blueprint I'd discovered to the rightful owners while the other was to deliver it to Hyperion. I looked at the rewards and wanted the shot gun Hyperion offered more than the pistol the other person did. So, despite some unease about delivering anything to this company run by a slimeball, I reminded myself this was just a game and went for the reward I wanted. After the other person yelled at me and called me a sellout, I immediately regretted it.

It wasn't the quality of my reward that bothered me at all, but the NPC's reaction. Despite trying to remind myself that this is a game, I felt genuinely ashamed of my decision. Still do, honestly. Has anyone else ever done something like this? Have you ever taken a moral low ground decision in a game, either for a particular reward or just to see what happens, and honestly felt BAD for doing so?

While not really players remorse, I have felt that about certain other quests in Borderlands 2 with multiple turn in options. In one of my playthroughs, I thought I might try talking to the other turn in option to see if I could find out what the weapon they were going to give me was. Turns out I couldn't actually do that, hence me getting a really shitty shotgun, and Claptrap sporting a Bullymong Fur mohawk for the rest of the game. Even though he told me he understood, I felt like Sir Hammerlock was disappointed with me.

Some of the other choices though, I would like to get some kind of reaction for. Ones that might have longer lasting consequences. The quest later on where

Spoiler: mild Borderlands 2 Spoilers

Marcus asks you to get his precious treasure chest back, turning it into Marcus could give you a small amount of store discount or whatever. Not that it would ever matter, because I will always always turn that quest into Moxxi. She did let me look at her sexy snaps after all.

OT, not really an in game choice, but I have players remorse about every single second I wasted playing Prototype.

 

[evenest]

In Fallout 3, during my evil play-through, I blew up megaton, and, after I encountered Moira, I had to restart and skip that option. I felt intensely bad.

In Mass Effect 3, I thought I was just being nice to Jack (don't remember romancing her in ME2) and ended up alienating Liara. Her reaction made me feel like a cheating bastard.

The "moral" "choice" (quotationally separated on purpose) in InFamous where Cole has to choose between the scientists and his paramour was upsetting as well. This one was different in that the game forces the decision, but it still had some emotional resonance for me.

On the flip side, playing through the evil branch of FO3 gave me such a great sense of catharsis when people were rude to me even as I was trying to help them and I could exact old world vengeance on them. Sassafras Sal took no guff from anyone.

 

[UBERfionn]

The "moral" "choice" (quotationally separated on purpose) in InFamous where Cole has to choose between the scientists and his paramour was upsetting as well. This one was different in that the game forces the decision, but it still had some emotional resonance for me.

I was playing as good guy Cole and when I got to that i decided to do the bad option and save mah woman only for it to be meaning less as both decisions do the same thing. I was presented with an option and then was slapped in the face for doing what i thought cole would do.

 

[Frontastic]

Many times in Mass Effect games and TES games. Poor Conrad Verner...
Or one time in Oblivion, I'd just finished the main quest and so was THE hero of the land when I came across some low level quest that involved killing a few fish that the NPC was scared of. Despite being a paragon of virtue up until that point I decided, I'm way above this kind of crap and took the "laugh in face" option (which I'd never seen before or since). Needless to say he ran off crying and calling into question my status as a hero. I felt AWFUl. Went to find him but he wouldn't give me the quest and let me make it up to him. I still feel bad that one...