Being painfully moral...

[Auron225]

It seems most people will replay a game several times if there is some kind of moral system in it - if only twice then once to be good and once to be evil. Usually I would only play something once but will aim for angelic. Having said that, there are times when I take it to a ridiculous level.

An example of mine would be Bioshock - I just finished it not long ago (I know, I'm so damn up-to-date) and there was an escort mission towards the end;

Spoiler

Escorting the Adam-less Little Sister, I was a bit careless at first and barely 1/4 of the way through it, she had only a slither of health left. Me being stupid, I saved it right right before she was going to harvest a corpse (with almost no hp) and she got killed after taking one hit. If she dies, you can get another one really easily with no consequences of any kind. Even though I know its just a game - the thought of a child dying on my watch didn't sit well with me so I aimed to reload again and again until I could finish it without her taking even ONE hit. It took a long time and was pretty damn hard but eventually I did it, after much trial and error.

SO, anyone ever take the painfully moral method even if its for no other reward than being a goody-two-shoes?

 

[Trollhoffer]

Generally, yes. I think the evil choices in games tend to be artificial, because a tiny minority of human beings actively try to be what they consider "evil". There's always some rationalisation that justifies choices in their minds, something that makes it sensible. This is why I prefer morality elements in games to be compromised of "differently good" choices.

 

[shrekfan246]

I died more than the Little Sister did in that section... also in Bioshock 2...

I don't penalize myself to the point of reloading previous saves because someone died in a game, but I've yet to complete a Renegade playthrough of the Mass Effect trilogy, if that says anything.

Sometimes I'll do whatever the game determines to be the "non-moral" choice, though, if I figure it's the more moral choice to make. Like

Spoiler: Slight Bioshock 2 spoilers

Gil Alexander in Bioshock 2, whose pre-recorded messages practically beg you to put him out of his misery when you finally find him, no matter what his current insane self might say. The game determines that letting him live is the "good" option, but I figure it's more merciful to adhere to his initial wishes.

 

[Keoul]

For Mass effect 2 I didn't realise the importance of upgrading your ship...
needless to say I was too stupid back then to load an old save so I replayed the whole game to make sure I saved everyone.

In other games however like Fallout New Vegas I just do whatever I want, stealing everything not bolted to the floor and killing anyone that got on my nerves or looked funny.

 

[LordFish]

OORRRR

Watch the alternate version on YouTube, like I did with Far Cry 3. Oh and BTW, both endings SUCKED, from the otherwise fairly decent story telling and voice animation/voice acting.

 

[FinalDream]

I play how I would approach the situation, guess I'm just a paragon by heart, I made sure I could save everyone in ME2, reloaded all the time to protect the little sisters. Some people say that's not really playing the game, but darn I can't live without getting the best good endings!

 

[Pulse]

I just play as "me" on the first playthrough and completely ignore aiming for extreme paragon/renegade or what have you.

The second time around I'm a complete dick. It's so satisfying. I heard you out last time, this time I'll shoot you in the face.

On my first playthrough of ME2 no-one died (I think, maybe one???), I was really surprised when the second time around I managed to lose about 4 of them didn't even realise it was possible.

 

[Mikejames]

I suppose I've been guilty of it, tending to play towards what feels right on my primary playthroughs despite potential rewards.

Loot the bodies of dead civilians in Red Dead Redemption? Avoided it.

Get a new weapon by abandoning the Chaos Covenant in Dark Souls? I stuck with trying to cure the Fair Lady.

Choice to brutally execute people in front of a child during Walking Dead?
...OK that game got me to do some crappy things.

 

[IrateDonnie]

I died more than the Little Sister did in that section... also in Bioshock 2...

I don't penalize myself to the point of reloading previous saves because someone died in a game, but I've yet to complete a Renegade playthrough of the Mass Effect trilogy, if that says anything.

Sometimes I'll do whatever the game determines to be the "non-moral" choice, though, if I figure it's the more moral choice to make. Like

Spoiler: Slight Bioshock 2 spoilers

Gil Alexander in Bioshock 2, whose pre-recorded messages practically beg you to put him out of his misery when you finally find him, no matter what his current insane self might say. The game determines that letting him live is the "good" option, but I figure it's more merciful to adhere to his initial wishes.

I had a real hard time killing Mark Meltzer in Bioshock2,but that was because I followed the B2 arg all the way until the end & it revolved around him trying to find his daughter. Gil was a hard decision also.

 

[shrekfan246]

I died more than the Little Sister did in that section... also in Bioshock 2...

I don't penalize myself to the point of reloading previous saves because someone died in a game, but I've yet to complete a Renegade playthrough of the Mass Effect trilogy, if that says anything.

Sometimes I'll do whatever the game determines to be the "non-moral" choice, though, if I figure it's the more moral choice to make. Like

Spoiler: Slight Bioshock 2 spoilers

Gil Alexander in Bioshock 2, whose pre-recorded messages practically beg you to put him out of his misery when you finally find him, no matter what his current insane self might say. The game determines that letting him live is the "good" option, but I figure it's more merciful to adhere to his initial wishes.

I had a real hard time killing Mark Meltzer in Bioshock2,but that was because I followed the B2 arg all the way until the end & it revolved around him trying to find his daughter. Gil was a hard decision also.

I actually didn't know Meltzer was one of the targets I had killed until I was looting his corpse, because at that section of the game I was going all off-kilter with my grenade launcher to take out the splicers and Alpha Series' attacking me.

His series of audio logs in the game were pretty touching, though, and I felt bad retroactively as I read his name as a corpse.

 

[Hawk eye1466]

Not really the most recent example of what I mean is infamous 2, played through once as good and second as evil and the evil one was a little better if only because it was pretty funny to watch cole as a totally unhinged psychopath.

 

[Diddy_Mao]

It really depends on the game.

In Mass Effect and InFamous I played as the Paragon or Hero moralities because they made more sense within the setting of the game.

In Games like Kotor or Jade Empire I tended to veer more towards the Closed Fist or Dark Side paths because the games were designed a little more openly and your morality could play out a little bit more organically.

And then there's the Fable series where eating the wrong thing gets you labeled an irredeemable kitten diddler so you might as well just play evil and get it over with.

 

[pure.Wasted]

The only game experience I can describe as PAINFULLY moral would be Dishonored.

I stuck with it because the game kept hitting me over the head with the fact that doing things amorally would lead to bad things happening in the world, although that's not really true (doing things in an obviously CHAOTIC way leads to bad things happening; you can kill as much as you like as long as no one ever sees you doing it).

It certainly made the game a lot less fun because most of the gameplay options are only available to people who go in guns ablazing. To top it off, the world wasn't all that different, and the characters didn't change in any fundamental ways... so... kind of a waste.

edit: this is compared to ME and DA:O/2 (75/25 Paragon), Bioshock (100 Para), and DEHR (75/25 Para), which I played basically however I wanted to.

 

[krazykidd]

Painfully inmoral . Sure . I don't be good in any game . Being good is for squares . Seriously though , i'm ( reletively ) good in real life , i take a vast amount of pleasure being evil . Sometimes i feel bad for certain things , but i do it regardless . Way more entertaining that being good .

 

[DementedSheep]

Weirdly I'm not like that with moral choices in games but I will go out of my way to make sure NPC's don't die even when they are generic no name re-spawning NPC's often turning what would have been an easy fight into one I have to repeat several times.

I don't generally play pure evil in games unless I really in the mood for it because evil is often stupid. If I'm playing naturally I usually end up somewhere in-between neutral and good.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

Funny you should bring it up. A few months ago, when I was replaying BioShock for the millionth time, I got to the escort bit, and I lost my first little sister. I was doing good and then she just walked in front of a turret, and stood there for the 10 seconds or so that it took to kill her. Like a deer in headlights. I didn't reload.

My hands are clean...

 

[Easton Dark]

I loaded the checkpoint in Halo's 343 Guilt Spark and managed to save the marines inside the facility when you're escaping. Not for any moral reason really, I just like seeing the guys who help me live, and to see if I could do it.

They just stand there motionless afterwards btw, I really don't think they were expected to live.

 

[lacktheknack]

I do pacifist runs.

I THOROUGHLY ENJOY pacifist runs.

That should tell you everything you need to know.

 

[Zombie Sodomy]

Whenever I set out to create an evil character I just end up being good anyways. I suck at evil