Poll: Morality Systems: Good or Bad?

Recommended Videos

Luke Cartner

New member
May 6, 2010
317
0
0
A faction system (such was implemented for EQ) make more sense. In real life the moral questions dont result in you growing horns or developing a halo. They do however impact how well you are liked.
Having morality systems manage how characters look and the powers available to them seems to be a case of the tail waging the dog.

What I mean is you shouldn't have the ability to boil your enemies blood with shadow fire because you are evil. Instead you should be perceived as evil because you use an ability which boils your enemies blood with nether fire.
See the distinction?
 

salinv

New member
Mar 17, 2010
133
0
0
They could be a good system, but more often than not they are just another extra layer that does little more than allow the dev to add a bullet point saying they have a morality system. When implemented and used correctly, they work.

Personally, they need to overhaul the system as time progress, since most of the choices are idealistic and naive. For instance, what some games call a "good" choice can actually be one of the most "evil" ideas or methods out there. Some of the most "evil" outcomes are born from either being ignorant in the "good" decisions, or the feigning of the "good."
 

Giest4life

The Saucepan Man
Feb 13, 2010
1,554
0
0
I think most of the morality systems have the exact same flaw as this very poll: they give only two, clear cut, black & white choices that most people find hard to fall in. If morality systems can somehow broaden the choices offered to the user, then may be they can be a lot more fun they currently are.

I voted "good" because I think they added a thinking element to the game; in Fable 2, I was hard pressed to eating newly hatched chicks because it would have tarnished my image, but on the other hand I would have loved eating meat, but meat would make look fat. So basically, the game forced me to make a choice that I didn't want, and hence that part of the system was no longer fun for me.
 

Dango

New member
Feb 11, 2010
21,066
0
0
I usually like them, but it really does depend a lot on how their effect and how they are implemented.
 

FretfulGnome

New member
Jan 11, 2010
138
0
0
Sometimes good sometimes bad.

Fallout's Karma System = Good and fun.
Dragon Age: Origin's Morality System = Bad and ultimately annoying. Of course you can always just shower your party member's with gifts, then morality goes right out the window.
 

joshthor

New member
Aug 18, 2009
1,274
0
0
bioware does it good. KotOR the ending would change drastically, Dragon age was great, Mass effect did good as well, particularly number 2 - one runthrough i decided to save the plantation zaeed burned, and i ended up losing his loyalty, then i lost legions by offending him. both died at the end.
 

thethingthatlurks

New member
Feb 16, 2010
2,102
0
0
You know, Chaotic Evil is supposed to mean burning down orphanages, stealing candy from babies, and triple crossing people to get the most money, not the pussy kind of evil of killing for no reason other than trying to be evil. That's the kind of morality system I want. Screw black and white, how about evil, neutral, and good, along with chaotic, neutral, and lawful? It works!
 

subtlefuge

Lord Cromulent
May 21, 2010
1,107
0
0
Most morality systems are nothing more than a sociopathy/psychopathy scale. I would say get rid of them and I would hardly notice.
 

viking97

New member
Jan 23, 2010
858
0
0
lukemdizzle said:
they work when they are a core part of gameplay and story meshed together to make a more personal meaningful experience ex. mass effect or bioshock. they don't work when they're just there to make you play games over again to unlock new things or are just tacked on. ex. infamous
i disagree. in my opinion, imfamous had one of the better moral choice systems, despite the fact that the evil exclusive ability was much better than the good one, it was more or less balanced.

it didn't really seem tacked on to me. i haven't played mass effect, but bioshock's moral system DID seem a bit tacked on to me. all you get is 2 different endings, and a few different npc conversations. infamous had something like that, but took it farther. the environment and character model change accordingly to whether your good and evil, civilian npc's form mobs to attack you if your evil, and form mobs to fight the gangs if your good.

seemed to me that a lot of work was put into infamous, even though i do really hate the fact that you either jesus or hitler, with no middle ground.
 

The Madman

New member
Dec 7, 2007
4,404
0
0
Sure, I enjoy em when done right.

Oddly enough though I think Obsidian is better at the whole 'morality' concept than Bioware when it comes to rpg. The reason being that in general Bioware is pretty cut & dry in their writing of good vs evil, generally presenting dialogue as one good, one neutral, and one outright assholish option. That's not to say it's bad by any means, I love Bioware. But it does tend to get a bit, erm, cliche.

Obsidian, for all their faults when it comes to gameplay and polishing their products however, seem to have some extremely skilled writers that really love to jump into the more 'grey' tones if ya follow. In Mask of the Betrayer for example your character is faced with becoming a monster and rather than exploring the contrast between being a saint or a demon, it's more all about how far you're willing to go to survive. What are you willing to do for power, and are you prepared to face the consequences?

It's all extremely well done, and it's situations like that I most enjoy rather than the basic Good/Evil that many other games implement.
 

LoremasterVix

New member
Apr 2, 2010
26
0
0
Like most others are saying, I echo the sentiment that they're a good thing if done right. As a blanket statement the morality systems are interesting because often they allow choice even if it's black and white which I find much nicer than a single steady path. That said, I also like more discreet implimentation of the systems like Dragon Age where choice isn't an immediate effect towards glowing red eyes or a sparkly halo. So yes, morality systems are A-okay.
 

Belgian_Waffles

New member
Jan 24, 2010
490
0
0
Zombus said:
quasi-off topic: I think it would be hilarious if in some game there was an "I was evil all along!" option at the very end of the game where you betray everyone at the peak of their success and watch it all crumble around you as you rise from the ashes like the devious fiend you are.
Actually there is
In Kotor 1...
SPOILER:
When you encounter Bastilla on top of the temple even if you're the pinnacle of goodness in the galaxy there's an option to turn against everyone and reclaim your place as dark lord
 

AllLagNoFrag

New member
Jun 7, 2010
544
0
0
Marter said:
If used right, I enjoy them. Often times they don't work out properly though, and are too extreme for my taste.
Agreed, the "good" choice often seems too loving and caring and the "evil" choice is usually just blatantly rude and on the borderline of hate. There should be a more subtle approach in games. However, I did like the karma system with FO3 :)
 

Eclectic Dreck

New member
Sep 3, 2008
6,662
0
0
Generally, I don't like them. I've rarely been handed an important decision where one option was clearly evil and the other was clearly good. Morality systems tend to take this to the extreme and make one choice cartoonishly evil and the other worthy of sainthood. I'd like a little more grey area in my moralizing if you don't mind.