fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2749 ]

[ SECRET POST #2749 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2749 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 073 secrets from Secret Submission Post #393.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 1 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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In video games where the choices you make affect the plot, like Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, and so on - how do you play? Good, evil, or somewhere in between?

I tend to get really invested in the world and my character, and tend to play more for the "role playing" aspect of gaming rather than sheer gameplay. For that reason, it's really tough for me to play evil. I don't mind, err, chaotic neutral if you will, but even in video games, I just can't murder in cold blood, completely screw someone over, or even do anything emotionally disturbing. I just feel too bad about it. Now, trolling and minor mischief for the lolz are fine, but nothing really horrible.

Post inspired by my current Skyrim playthrough. I really wanted to play a darker character - okay, I mostly wanted the Shadowmere horse, which you only can get from joining the assassin's guild. But when forced to kill one of the hostages, I just killed the assassin instead, and abandoned any chance at getting that horse. :(

Both if I have the time. Good first, then bad.

I usually play good. I just always end up feeling really, really guilty when I play evil.

Evil.

/bases this off choosing the 'Dark' side in SA2B.

Yeah I sneak through everyone's houses and pockets in Skyrim and take anything that isn't nailed down (and have been known to save scum because I can't handle having a bounty), but I'm more 'chaotic good/neutral.' I can do some killing here and there, but not if it's morally ambiguous or you're killing someone innocent.

There's one particular Skyrim-related quest that has two options: Save a woman from the group looking to capture her or bring her to them. Both claim to be right. I looked it up online and it turns out you can't find out who's telling the truth. So I refused to do that mission because I was afraid to betray her if she was innocent. My boyfriend could not convince me that she was just data.

Actually, irrc there are hints that they're both lying. That she did actually do something wrong [despite her claims otherwise] - but not what they claimed she did*.

*I don't remember the specifics on the hints, just that they're there. Sorry!

That makes me feel a tiny bit better. But I still avoid her like the plague.

Re: Playing "evil" in RPGs

(Anonymous) - 2014-07-13 22:58 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Playing "evil" in RPGs

saku - 2014-07-14 08:23 (UTC) - Expand

Same! Skyrim, I pretty much stole everything I could carry. I got into Elder Scrolls first through Oblivion and I was terrified of breaking the law, so I never did, but by Skyrim I pretty much walk right by the residents of the house, say a greeting, then raid their wardrobes in the next room.

But killing, idk. A quick assassination isn't so bad, but when you have to emotionally confront the NPC, I can't do it. Like if they beg you not to kill them, ask for mercy, and so on. Nope, nope, nope.

For what it's worth, though, I think that woman in the quest you were talking about is guilty. I wasn't sure what to do either, but she just seemed a lot more hostile, and while she claims that those guys are assassins who want to kill her, they never actually do, they just paralyze her to bring her back home for justice (I don't think they even claim they will execute her). And her not going to the Jarl for help seemed fishy, too, she said the Redguard dudes would just bribe guards to get her, but they can't even successfully get into the city.

I love ambiguity in stories. But I hate playing them in RPGs, lol. I want to play the "best" way. :P

Re: Playing "evil" in RPGs

(Anonymous) - 2014-07-13 23:08 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Playing "evil" in RPGs

toku_mei - 2014-07-13 23:13 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Playing "evil" in RPGs

(Anonymous) - 2014-07-13 23:24 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Playing "evil" in RPGs

(Anonymous) - 2014-07-14 00:08 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Playing "evil" in RPGs

(Anonymous) - 2014-07-14 01:52 (UTC) - Expand

Re: Playing "evil" in RPGs

(Anonymous) - 2014-07-14 02:47 (UTC) - Expand

I sometimes go evil if I don't like how the game delineates "good" and "evil," and in games with more shades of moral grey, I try to actually think through the problem. I do have a bad habit of trying to be good to the point of making the game way less fun. (For instance, I played a strategy game where small farming settlements are really easy to conquer, but will join you without a fight if you pay them. I kept forking over the money, so my coffers were always drained and I lost out on XP, and I eventually had to give up on doing that.)

I have a very hard time playing nasty/evil/renegade/dark side, because I end up feeling sorry for everyone. Hell, I even have trouble playing the middle-ground sarcastic choice most of the time! And it's not just something about "good" vs "evil," either - paragon/renegade in Mass Effect is more of a means vs ends alignment, and I still struggle with trying to play renegade, though the sarcasm amuses me immensely.

So yeah. I always play the helpful, positive, kind one first, and then fail miserably at replaying as the opposite end of the spectrum, and can sort of maybe play as grey. (That makes me wonder if game designers account for grey players, and allow game completion without sticking to one side of the alignment... hmm...)

I am stupidly bad at being evil in games. I mean, I'm willing to steal anything not nailed down, but when it comes to moral choices, I almost always choose good. It's kind of pathetic.

Why is that pathetic?

Re: Playing "evil" in RPGs

inthecorner - 2014-07-14 00:23 (UTC) - Expand

I used to find it hard to play evil, or even slightly bad. But my Skyrim character has times where they are a bit impulsive and it's easy to sneak in more evil things during those impulsive times.

I usually play a good character with some asshole traits. Mostly because I find that 19 times out of 20 the "evil" route is poorly put together.

I couldn't even steal the Phoenix Down feathers from the Chocobo nest in Final Fantasy VII. :( Aeris sounded too disappointed in me for doing it. Let alone kill someone unprovoked in Skyrim..

When it comes to games with Good/Bad Karma, like your Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Infamous, etc. I almost always play good, occasionally some bad, but mostly because the bad is usually really bad it just seems to be doing evil for the sake of evil, or mixing the two just gives you crap for powers.

When it comes to games that don't really judge/take into account the morals of the situation, like your Elder Scrolls or Alpha Protocol, I tend to vary it a bit more since, really, no one is looking. It's why when I played through Oblivion and Skyrim for the first time I joined all the guilds and didn't really have a problem. I also don't really know how to roleplay well when I keep thinking of stuff I want and it all boils down to game mechanics or getting bored doing one fighting style all the time. I also blame the Oblivion Dark Brotherhood for having nice-for-murders people in it, and having fun early quests to it.

I just about always end up playing good or doing what I, as the player, think is the best choice morally. Due to this I've played through just about the same game of Dragon Age: Origins at least 5 times as I can't bring myself to do things I think are bad, despite telling myself that I will play an evil or morally dubious character this time around.

Lol me too. I really want to try playing DAO and get the Werewolves instead of the Dalish, and other "bad" options, but I always shy away at the last second. I also thought it would be fun to have a trolly playthrough where I lose as many companions as possible, but it's too hard to be a dick to everyone.

I pretty much only play good. I have a hard time playing evil because I feel guilty. If I ever do go the evil route, it's to unlock achievements because I'm a sucker for achievements. The first time I played DA2, my Hawke was the nicest Hawke ever and I had him try and be neutral in the whole mage/templar fiasco until the very end.

I play good or chaotic neutral if this benefits me more later on. I sometimes plan on doing an evil playthrough later on but they always veer off into goody-two-shoes territory after a few choices.

(On the other hand I love playing the evil side if I don't have a choice)

I'm gonna be honest, I can't do exclusively good or bad, unless it's Achievement-related. I always try to go for a healthy blend, depending on the type of character I'm playing as in a game with a morality system, as I find doing both extreme ends of the Good/Evil spectrum can turn out to be an incredibly boring experience for me.

Case in point: My primary Sith Warrior in 'The Old Republic' (he's in my icon, actually) is primarily Light Side: I like it with that character, because while a LS!Sith is basically 'Good Is Not Nice'/vaguely akin to a samurai, I still get to avoid doing some pretty nasty things that wouldn't sit well with me, morally. With my Sith Inquisitor, I'm using her to get the Dark Side alignment achievements (as the Inquisitor class lends itself more towards DS options. Plus, it's just fun to electrocute people for the hell of it, ngl), but she's more of a 'Chaotic Evil' type, so I'll occasionally pick Light Side options that suit her, as she's an alien in an incredibly racist/xenophobic culture.

Conversely, I occasionally pick Dark Side options for some of my Republic characters *if* it suits the character I'm playing. My Trooper is nearing the end of the class mission for the class, and she's been a hardline Neutral/Grey the entire game. My Smuggler has almost an even balance of Light/Dark, too (but I classify him as a Chaotic Good). Light Side can be boring, but there are times where it's not exactly the best option either, especially if you're playing a Trooper, but I digress. =V

Edited 2014-07-13 23:37 (UTC)

I can never go full evil or even really chaotic in my first playthrough but afterward I try to think up a character for whom it makes sense to do those things. But there are always some evil options I can't manage to justify for any character. And then there are those actions I just can't bring myself to do (usually because I like the character affected too much). For example, I don't think I'll ever be able to hand over Isabela or Fenris to the Qunari or Danarius, respectively.

I have a difficult time playing anything but good because I enjoy being good in games. It gives me fuzzy feelings to make characters happy or give them a second chance; doesn't matter that they're just pixels. If I can help I usually want to.

There are exceptions, but playing pure evil is almost impossible for me because I feel too guilty over it, to the point where I'm so disturbed that I'm not actually enjoying the game. There are some things I can justify doing (stealing in games like Skyrim, some of the renegade interrupts in ME, etc), but others I can't (there is no way in hell I'm ever getting through ME3 as a pure renegade. Some of the things you would have to do are appalling. And I can almost never kill innocent characters; it makes me feel like scum just thinking about it.)

The only game I've managed to go full evil with was Fable, I think. Those games are fun but there's fewer unique characters to get attached to (And you can't talk to them and form relationships with them on the same level as characters from, say, Mass Effect or Dragon Age), so it's easier to screw people over when they just seem like “civilian #28”.

It didn't even occur to me that I could kill Astrid until long after I did that scene. Then I felt kinda dumb and wish I had, because it would have fit my character waaay better. :/

If given the choice, I always pick thief or assassin characters. I try to start off as good (albeit chaotic good), but usually it just devolves into chaotic neutral territory as I start to get curious about things. "What would happen if I said/did this instead of picking the good/right answer?" And then something will piss me off in the game (some puzzle or boss fight) and the rest of the game will be more neutral evil where IDAF anymore.

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