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Video Games: Can you play evil/bad characters?

If the game is heavily abstracted (ultima 2, 3), or its written that way as a story-line of sorts, it can be fun.
If it's free-form and you're just "doing bad stuff", or realistic with assassins guild story from Oblivion for example, it doesn't sit well and I wouldn't intentionally want to play it that way. I was scarred by some assassins guilt mission that had me kill some good female knight, stakeout in her own home. Not good!

Even Hitman, where you're killing bad guys, is a bit disturbing IMO.
 
Pretty much only GTA games. The sole point there is mayhem, and it's impossible to take even pretend-seriously, so... :shrug:

Otherwise, no matter what I intend, I end up saving the girl;s stupid lost dog or whatever it is.
 
For some reason I tend to play the good guy on videogames, but during the time I played tabletop like D&D it was usually as either a neutral or bad guy.
 
Fishking said:
Haha...that game holds exactly zero interest to me specifically because the entire premise of it would bother me to play.
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OrphanSlug said:
Just about all of the Grand Theft Auto series...
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I quickly got bored of GTA III, but that's what all the 'cool kids' were playing at the time. I've decided to give the game another try with GTA 5, but thus far have quickly lost interest in it for . . . Spyro the Dragon. I've got quite a back-log built up before I give it another shot.

I'm not even a fan of movies like Scarface and The Godfather. I've got no problem with criminal anti-heroes, but it's pretty much impossible to identify with a murderous, power-hungry, tyrannical protagonists such as the ones Al plays in these movies.
 
maquiscat said:
I .very much a console/controller guy, and my husband works best on a PC with the keyboard and mouse. To each his own.

Sent from my Z982 using Tapatalk
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My father plays PC games from time to time, and I'm most at home on a console. It might be a generational thing. His interest in computers started in the 80's as a potentially useful skill-set to have, and I'm simply a guy who grew up in the 90's, when consoles were first starting to truly dominate the gaming scene.
 
DH Kirkwood said:
My father plays PC games from time to time, and I'm most at home on a console. It might be a generational thing. His interest in computers started in the 80's as a potentially useful skill-set to have, and I'm simply a guy who grew up in the 90's, when consoles were first starting to truly dominate the gaming scene.
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We're both the same age, so that's not it for us. But we're also old enough that we have played on every console ever. I remember when Pong first came out. There are plenty of PC I remember and love like the first Diablo's. I still want to play Masters of Orion against live players.

Sent from my Z982 using Tapatalk
 
DH Kirkwood said:
I'm capable of doling a joke or two out, but my detection for it must be broken. :doh
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No. It's my dry delivery. Picture me as channeling Steven Wright:

 
DiAnna said:
I always play a "good" character. Not perfect, mind you...I'm willing to sacrifice a mercenary-for-hire for the best piece of armor in Skyrim (I donate largely to one of the Nine Divines in penance), and have no problem accepting a contract to take out a bitch-on-wheels hag who abuses the children in her orphanage. Nonetheless, I try to get through an entire game with less than 5 "murders" to my name, although there are always 1 or 2 accidents that I can't figure out what happened, lol! The poor innocents probably got in the way of a careless dragon "shout"! :lol:

Dragon Age and Mass Effect trilogies, same thing. My character always strives to wear the white hat and be the "good" savior of whatever universe she inhabits. Since most RPGs usually have entirely different gaming experiences, quests, and cut-scenes for "good" and "evil", I have on occasion tried to go all "bad girl" just to get a different experience; it usually lasts less than 20 hours before I give it up. It's just no fun for me.
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i think your setting up the orphans to be assasins if you kill grelog? grellod? whats her name though

even if you attack the brother hood the night mother is not their and neither is the little vampire girl

and their just so happens to be an orphanage field with children who now deeply appreciate the use of murder

who would probably like a caring family in a city controlled by a woman who backs the thieves and assassins guild in exchange for ther services

your effectively serving them up to sithis and worse maven on a silver platter
 
Not often. The problem is very few games pull off evil play properly. Most RPGs that attempt this just end up with dialogue options that are

1) Superman
2) Wise ass “neutral”
3) Cartoon villain twirling mustache

And because the general storyline has to progress in a near-identical fashion, the PC who randomly murders hobos and kittens must also save the princess. It just ends up lame. I think a game needs to be designed ground-up with this in mind if it’s going to work, not just “slap on evil dialogue trees.”

Mass Effect did it ok with the “renegade” side of things, which wasn’t strictly “evil.”

Dishonored had a good “stealth/knockout sneaking or trail of bodies” dichotomy. Made for very different gameplay.

KOTOR did it alright too.
 
Fishking said:
In any number of RPG games out there they give you plenty of options to do behave in all kinds of ways, while developing your character. One thing that I've never been able to do is play an evil/bad character. Yes, I feel guilty "killing" computer codes, stealing, ect...I just can't do it. Most of the times when I try I just end up feeling too guilty and restarting.

So how about it? Does anyone else have the same problem or can you play an evil character just fine?
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I usually play good characters with a rebellious streak - I've sometimes played bad on a second playthrough but I rarely play games twice.

There's a great RPG called tyranny where you play a character who is essentially the envoy for an evil overlord. He's already taken over the land and you're not a hero overthrowing him, but an evil guy who's trying to quash rebellions and handling internal disputes and struggles. It has lots of nuance on the evil side of things. Worth a play.

Tyranny on Steam
 
Nilly said:
I usually play good characters with a rebellious streak - I've sometimes played bad on a second playthrough but I rarely play games twice.

There's a great RPG called tyranny where you play a character who is essentially the envoy for an evil overlord. He's already taken over the land and you're not a hero overthrowing him, but an evil guy who's trying to quash rebellions and handling internal disputes and struggles. It has lots of nuance on the evil side of things. Worth a play.

Tyranny on Steam
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I'm looking at it and it looks very Baldur's Gate series in it's gameplay, which I just love those games. Which I have Baldur's Gate II Enhanced addition on my Steam account.
 
blarg said:
i think your setting up the orphans to be assasins if you kill grelog? grellod? whats her name though
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Nope. Killing her allows her kind-hearted assistant to take over, and she immediately sends out flyers saying that the children are available for adoption. If you talk to said assistant, she grills hell out of you to find out if you'll be a good parent; if you pass, you can adopt two of her kids (or adopt homeless kids around Skyrim if you have certain expansions downloaded).

even if you attack the brother hood the night mother is not their and neither is the little vampire girl
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Don't have a clue what little vampire girl you're talking about (unless it's the ghost girl killed by vampires in Morthaal); however, once you sleep after killing Grelod, the head of the dark brotherhood, Astrid, takes you to a cabin with three bound civilians. She informs you that Grelod was a brotherhood contract, so you must choose to kill one of the civilians to repay it. I just kill Astrid instead and release the civilians. The game then leads you on a quest to destroy the entire dark brotherhood, which I do. From then on, the guards revere me for destroying the dark brotherhood, and I once again am a hero!

and their just so happens to be an orphanage field with children who now deeply appreciate the use of murder

who would probably like a caring family in a city controlled by a woman who backs the thieves and assassins guild in exchange for ther services

your effectively serving them up to sithis and worse maven on a silver platter
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Nope.

Say, are you certain you've actually played Skyrim at all, lol? :)
 
Fishking said:
I'm looking at it and it looks very Baldur's Gate series in it's gameplay, which I just love those games. Which I have Baldur's Gate II Enhanced addition on my Steam account.
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The original Baldur's Gate was the first video game I ever played, and it hooked me for life, lol! Been a huge BioWare fan ever since.
 
DiAnna said:
Nope. Killing her allows her kind-hearted assistant to take over, and she immediately sends out flyers saying that the children are available for adoption. If you talk to said assistant, she grills hell out of you to find out if you'll be a good parent; if you pass, you can adopt two of her kids (or adopt homeless kids around Skyrim if you have certain expansions downloaded).



Don't have a clue what little vampire girl you're talking about (unless it's the ghost girl killed by vampires in Morthaal); however, once you sleep after killing Grelod, the head of the dark brotherhood, Astrid, takes you to a cabin with three bound civilians. She informs you that Grelod was a brotherhood contract, so you must choose to kill one of the civilians to repay it. I just kill Astrid instead and release the civilians. The game then leads you on a quest to destroy the entire dark brotherhood, which I do. From then on, the guards revere me for destroying the dark brotherhood, and I once again am a hero!



Nope.

Say, are you certain you've actually played Skyrim at all, lol? :)
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if you join the dark brotherhood they have a vampire girl if you attack them shes nowhere to be found

iv completed the dark brotherhood and destroyed it so i know what happens

besides the vampire girl ciciero the care taker of the night mother and the night mother are nowhere to be found

sorry but at best you can stall the rebirth of the dark brotherhood by doing nothing leading it or purging most of it away only begins its rebirth

Babette | Elder Scrolls | FANDOM powered by Wikia


If the members of the Dark Brotherhood are killed in "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!," Babette is not among the members in the sanctuary.


Cicero | Elder Scrolls | FANDOM powered by Wikia

Night Mother | Elder Scrolls | FANDOM powered by Wikia

and you still leave the vampire and several orphans especially the young lad form windhelm got future listener written all over him as perfect candidates to take up the mantle the dark brotherhood in the perfect location for it

the kindly new matron would make an excellent test of ther loyalty when the time comes to boot before that im sure she could be enthralled
 
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DiAnna said:
The original Baldur's Gate was the first video game I ever played, and it hooked me for life, lol! Been a huge BioWare fan ever since.
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Such a great series....so epic. What was your favorite classes? I liked to try and solo as much as I could to level up faster and then grab party members later and they'd be higher level then. My two favorites were monk and conjurer.
 
Fishking said:
Such a great series....so epic. What was your favorite classes? I liked to try and solo as much as I could to level up faster and then grab party members later and they'd be higher level then. My two favorites were monk and conjurer.
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In Baldur's Gate, I loved having a full compliment of followers. I loved being a spell-caster, sword-spell. I was pretty green then, and carried my cadre with me where ever I went! I didn't solo back then, I gathered my party as basically a spell-sword. I kept my team with me at all times.

Later, I realized that my "team" was targeted in Baldur's Gate II, Icewind jDale, etc., but I still had a team with me. Moving up to Dragon's Age, I selected team members with more care and carried on my spellsword expertise, but I always had a thief, spell caster, and "Go for the eyes, boo!" in my party! Those days were great fun!

My favorite classes were spell-swords, and still are. I beat them to death with a sword, and burn them to death with a fireball. Years have passed, and I'm now into Dragon's Age Inquisition. A terrific game, where my partners are against the rules.
 
blarg said:
if you join the dark brotherhood they have a vampire girl if you attack them shes nowhere to be found

iv completed the dark brotherhood and destroyed it so i know what happens

besides the vampire girl ciciero the care taker of the night mother and the night mother are nowhere to be found

sorry but at best you can stall the rebirth of the dark brotherhood by doing nothing leading it or purging most of it away only begins its rebirth

Babette | Elder Scrolls | FANDOM powered by Wikia


If the members of the Dark Brotherhood are killed in "Destroy the Dark Brotherhood!," Babette is not among the members in the sanctuary.


Cicero | Elder Scrolls | FANDOM powered by Wikia

Night Mother | Elder Scrolls | FANDOM powered by Wikia

and you still leave the vampire and several orphans especially the young lad form windhelm got future listener written all over him as perfect candidates to take up the mantle the dark brotherhood in the perfect location for it

the kindly new matron would make an excellent test of ther loyalty when the time comes to boot before that im sure she could be enthralled
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Absolutely not part if the game. Your Wiki pretense has nothing to do with what actually happens when one does when actually happens. Clearly you went an entirely different way than my character did; What you describe is wring, and does not happen. Simply googling your reactions has nothing to do with actually playing the damned game. You have't played the game; you've merely wiki'd some of the idiocy that does NOT become your idiocy. I was never a vampire; you, apparently, were. I still wonder if you actually played the game or simply Wiki'd it to pretend that you did.
 
DiAnna said:
Absolutely not part if the game. Your Wiki pretense has nothing to do with what actually happens when one does when actually happens. Clearly you went an entirely different way than my character did; What you describe is wring, and does not happen. Simply googling your reactions has nothing to do with actually playing the damned game. You have't played the game; you've merely wiki'd some of the idiocy that does NOT become your idiocy. I was never a vampire; you, apparently, were. I still wonder if you actually played the game or simply Wiki'd it to pretend that you did.
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You know nothing, lol.

Next time, try actually playing the damned game instead of pretending you were involved when you were not. You meant nothing; you lied about everything.
 
DiAnna said:
You know nothing, lol.

Next time, try actually playing the damned game instead of pretending you were involved when you were not. You meant nothing; you lied about everything.
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That can't be. It must be a misunderstanding. There's no way someone pretends to have played a game just to randomly confront someone.
 
DiAnna said:
Absolutely not part if the game. Your Wiki pretense has nothing to do with what actually happens when one does when actually happens. Clearly you went an entirely different way than my character did; What you describe is wring, and does not happen. Simply googling your reactions has nothing to do with actually playing the damned game. You have't played the game; you've merely wiki'd some of the idiocy that does NOT become your idiocy. I was never a vampire; you, apparently, were. I still wonder if you actually played the game or simply Wiki'd it to pretend that you did.
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um i know the kids dont get recruited in the game but the set up is perfect

and yes the dark brotherhood has a little if 300 year old vampire in ther ranks

and you dont kill her cicero or the night mother

i never said your player was a vampire
 
DiAnna said:
You know nothing, lol.

Next time, try actually playing the damned game instead of pretending you were involved when you were not. You meant nothing; you lied about everything.
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Kill one person, and you can solve so many problems. I wonder at the possibilities!"- immediately after Grelod the Kind is killed.

Runa Fair-Shield | Elder Scrolls | FANDOM powered by Wikia

When I grow up, I'm going to be an assassin. That way I can help lots of children, just like you." – After completing Innocence Lost

Aventus Aretino | Elder Scrolls | FANDOM powered by Wikia

we love you dark brotherhood

 
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DiAnna said:
Don't have a clue what little vampire girl you're talking about (unless it's the ghost girl killed by vampires in Morthaal);
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I think he's talking about the little girl that's an assassin for the Dark Brotherhood. You probably don't know her because you didn't join them.
 
DiAnna said:
In Baldur's Gate, I loved having a full compliment of followers. I loved being a spell-caster, sword-spell. I was pretty green then, and carried my cadre with me where ever I went! I didn't solo back then, I gathered my party as basically a spell-sword. I kept my team with me at all times.

Later, I realized that my "team" was targeted in Baldur's Gate II, Icewind jDale, etc., but I still had a team with me. Moving up to Dragon's Age, I selected team members with more care and carried on my spellsword expertise, but I always had a thief, spell caster, and "Go for the eyes, boo!" in my party! Those days were great fun!
Click to expand...

Good 'ol Boo! Even Irenicus couldn't separate him from Minsc.
 
DiAnna said:
In Baldur's Gate, I loved having a full compliment of followers. I loved being a spell-caster, sword-spell. I was pretty green then, and carried my cadre with me where ever I went! I didn't solo back then, I gathered my party as basically a spell-sword. I kept my team with me at all times.

Later, I realized that my "team" was targeted in Baldur's Gate II, Icewind jDale, etc., but I still had a team with me. Moving up to Dragon's Age, I selected team members with more care and carried on my spellsword expertise, but I always had a thief, spell caster, and "Go for the eyes, boo!" in my party! Those days were great fun!

My favorite classes were spell-swords, and still are. I beat them to death with a sword, and burn them to death with a fireball. Years have passed, and I'm now into Dragon's Age Inquisition. A terrific game, where my partners are against the rules.
Click to expand...

Tank/Support/DPS is the trifecta that works for all RPGs pretty much. What really makes some of these games fun is trying to do it without that combo. I did a Baldur's Gate all-rogue playthrough once, that was fun. But then you run into a dragon or something that doesn't give a crap about your stealth or backstabs and WELP. Dragon Age solo runs are fun. (although DA2 isn't well setup for it IIRC)
 
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