Games that make you really feel it when you kill

[rockchild17]

Shadow of colussus was cool because it reminded me of a Faulkner story about a legendary bear a boy cannot bring himself to kill, but It actually worked alot better in SOtC. It's probably the most direct comparison I can make of a video game to literature.

Also, I thought that the melodramatic ending to Metal Gear Solid was hilarious. Your mashing the button to blow gray fox to smithereens, and snake just goes "I can't do it!". Great parody moment.

 

[Fleaman]

The Little Sisters felt too much like emotional manipulation for me to care what happened to them. I was more invested in the Big Daddies from the beginning, for the rush from killing such a worthy enemy.


Got a personal anecdote from Oblivion. That quest with Glarthir, that crazy wood elf who thinks he's playing Paranoia. I was playing for pure greed, breaking into houses and looting their shit; I knew the quest and my plan was to squeeze as much cash out of Glarthir as I could. I used the nights he asked me to stalk his three victims to actually scout their houses and see if they had anything worth taking if I offed them.

One of them was some rich dick, spent a bit of time planning to kill him in his sleep, and there were the wine brothers, who had a lot of food I could turn into potions, but the first was this peasant girl who lived in an outhouse and thought Glarthir was a little cute. I kind of decided to leave her alone since there was no money in it, but then I realized that I had actually told Glarthir that she was part of the conspiracy, so she'd be on the list of death. I hadn't saved in ages, so I couldn't take it back, and I couldn't kill Glarthir instead since I'd be forfeiting the reward, so I went to her house that night and killed her with a broadsword while she was asleep. It shouldn't have mattered, since a week before I'd razed Bravil to test a spell, but it did for some reason.


Anyway, the Boss is a good answer, but I feel worse about killing the end boss in Silent Hill 2. Not worse as in "guilty"; more like worse, "nauseous". "Aghast", perhaps. It wasn't regret for killing her, but regret that I hadn't been fast enough to kill her before she startedJAMES
JAMES
JAMES
JAMES

 

[Cheesus333]

I felt awful when I killed Ted in Dead Rising 2. For the love of God, he was obviously mentally hadicapped! It was not his fault at all!

And also Jessica, one of the Brotherhood lieutenants in Saints Row 2. Not regret that I had her brutally murdered, regret that she got off so damn lightly.

 

[Defense]

NieR had me hesitant to kill Shades after I finished NG+. Even the normal shades that don't say anything.

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

Playing through Shadow of the Colossus is an exercise in compassion for the giants you're killing. Especially considering some of them don't even actively fight back against you. I mean, let's face it: one of them is a llama. Since when are llamas aggressive? Really, you're just committing colossus murder. Tie that with the emotional story behind it all and it's a great example of caring when you kill something.

How about BioShock? The Big Daddies are just trying to protect the Little Sisters, and you're out for their blood. How is that justifiable? Everything was going fine until you came along. In all honesty, you're the kind of person that the Big Daddies were designed to fight. They're supposed to protect the Little Sisters against people like you. Monster.

Or how about when you kill Andrew Ryan with a golf club simply because he asked you to? That scene moved me. It was pretty insane, though I don't know if it counts, considering you don't actually do it yourself. Thoughts?

Also, obligatory comment about being forced to kill the Weighted Companion Cube in Portal.

...bastards...

To be fair in Bioshock thats only if you Harvest the little sisters, if you save them your doing a good thing. Remember that the Big Daddies were actually usually Criminals that were forced into becoming a Big Daddy, and killing them and rescuing the little sisters is a good thing, not to mention either way if you remove little sisters then it would take away most of the ADAM production of Rapture meaning that the inhabitants cant splice up anymore

Well yeah but the Big Daddys and the Little Sisters have no way of knowing whether you want to save her or kill her for the ADAM, and they only attack if you attack first.

Playing through Shadow of the Colossus is an exercise in compassion for the giants you're killing. Especially considering some of them don't even actively fight back against you. I mean, let's face it: one of them is a llama. Since when are llamas aggressive? Really, you're just committing colossus murder. Tie that with the emotional story behind it all and it's a great example of caring when you kill something.

How about BioShock? The Big Daddies are just trying to protect the Little Sisters, and you're out for their blood. How is that justifiable? Everything was going fine until you came along. In all honesty, you're the kind of person that the Big Daddies were designed to fight. They're supposed to protect the Little Sisters against people like you. Monster.

Or how about when you kill Andrew Ryan with a golf club simply because he asked you to? That scene moved me. It was pretty insane, though I don't know if it counts, considering you don't actually do it yourself. Thoughts?

Also, obligatory comment about being forced to kill the Weighted Companion Cube in Portal.

...bastards...

To be fair in Bioshock thats only if you Harvest the little sisters, if you save them your doing a good thing. Remember that the Big Daddies were actually usually Criminals that were forced into becoming a Big Daddy, and killing them and rescuing the little sisters is a good thing, not to mention either way if you remove little sisters then it would take away most of the ADAM production of Rapture meaning that the inhabitants cant splice up anymore

Is it really a good thing to take away others' desires to splice, while splicing yourself? To fuck up a system you are a newcomer to, and don't know much about? And so what if they were criminals? In Rapture, speaking out against Ryan could probably net you an arrest near the end there.

OT: For some reason, I felt it deeply in Mafia II, when
SPOILER ALERT
Frank got killed by the cleaver-wielding Chinks.

Well yeah but you are doing the right thing for the little sister when you save her, also yes that is a good point that they may not have even committed a crime apart from speaking out against ryan, but when you learn what happens during the Big Daddy-fication, you realise its probably kinder to put them out of their misery. Theyve been forced to protect a small girl, who's had her childhood snatched away from her, they have no sense of self, the only thoughts they have are about protecting this girl, theyve been heavily spliced, and no to mention, theyve been grafted into their suits, that means, skin peeled off and a diving suit welded on.
To answer about whether its right or not to splice while denying others, at the start of Bioshock you pretty much need to splice to survive, if you harvest the little sisters, Jack is no longer wanting to survive, but simply to become more powerful, so yes, in that case it is wrong, but if you save the little sisters, then you are only taking whats necessary to survive, and you are also giving a child a chance to live a normal life, and preventing the citizens of rapture to cause more harm to their bodies than they already have

EDIT: But i will say, I dont feel bad for the Big Daddies when i kill them, i feel bad for them when i think about them, all the horrors theyve been put through. And with little sisters i do feel sorta bad for them when i kill their protectors, but i kinda get over that when i save them. But if i kill them then i feel like a complete bastard

 

[GiantRaven]

Has anybody mentioned the end of Metal Gear Solid 3? That was just brutal.

 

[MishiSings]

I did not want to kill Loghain. I only did it because I wanted a happy ending with Alastair, and he runs off to sulk like a spoiled child if you let Loghain live.

But I think the most traumatizing thing was playing Prince of Persia: Warrior Within directly after Sands of Time.

See, at that point I was used to golden sand monsters being absorbed by a dagger. They couldn't be said to be properly alive, and they weren't human enough that I felt the least bit guilty for killing them.

Of course, next thing I know, the Prince is talking with an american accent and literally the first word out of his mouth is '*****' (when I can't recall him ever swearing in the first game) and sudden there are girls dressed like hookers all over the place... back to the point.

In Warrior Within, the enemies are mostly made of flesh and blood. They make small-talk amongst themselves before they spot you. Their cries of pain sound disturbingly human. They bleed copious amount of blood when you kill them, and you can kill them in so many gruesome ways. Then you encounter the female enemies. The ones who moan as if in the throes of passion and exclaim things like "There's SO much PLEASURE in PAIN!" I felt even more conflicted about killing those, because they apparently wanted me to, and I ALKSDJFLKSJDF. Ew. Just, yuck. No lady, I do not want to think about how the Prince is acting out your snuff fantasies.

To make a long story short, OH GOD THAT'S A LOT OF BLOOD I THOUGHT THESE THINGS WERE SANDMONSTERS GODDAMMIT AND OMIGOD THESE WOMEN WANT ME TO PLUNGE MY BIG SHARP DAGGER INTO THEIR SOFT BELLIES AUGH EW I'M SUCH A PSYCHOPATH. I think the Warrior Within was the first game I ever played which contained realistic-ish violence not directed at a player character, which might explain my reaction to y'all if you think I'm a wuss.

 

[jcallen]

Bioshock 2 harvesting Little Sisters made me fell horrible.

 

[Solo-Wing]

Playing through Shadow of the Colossus is an exercise in compassion for the giants you're killing. Especially considering some of them don't even actively fight back against you. I mean, let's face it: one of them is a llama. Since when are llamas aggressive? Really, you're just committing colossus murder. Tie that with the emotional story behind it all and it's a great example of caring when you kill something.

How about BioShock? The Big Daddies are just trying to protect the Little Sisters, and you're out for their blood. How is that justifiable? Everything was going fine until you came along. In all honesty, you're the kind of person that the Big Daddies were designed to fight. They're supposed to protect the Little Sisters against people like you. Monster.

Or how about when you kill Andrew Ryan with a golf club simply because he asked you to? That scene moved me. It was pretty insane, though I don't know if it counts, considering you don't actually do it yourself. Thoughts?

Also, obligatory comment about being forced to kill the Weighted Companion Cube in Portal.

...bastards...

I rarely fought the Big Daddies myself. I just waited till they got in front of a security cam then hurled the security plasmid at them. Since the plasmid itself does no damage to the target, the Big Daddy's eyes didn't turn red and the security just tore them apart. How ever harvesting the little sisters did make me feel something...

 

[L0rd0fDarkn3ss]

I registered on this site just to reiterate Shadow of Colossus. Most games you at least get a sense of accomplishment when you down a boss, but I just felt crudy at the end of that one.

And also to mention Prototype. Being in the Marines myself I kinda felt bad when I threw Lance Corporal Schmuckatelly or 2nd Lt Bootstrap (or in some cases BOTH) 15 blocks to splatter into pink mist. I couldn't help to think sometimes when I was surfing on some innocent bystander, cutting a lady in half for health, or punching a car until it exploded; what if I was just doing my normal day to day driving to work and had some asshole kick my car door in , rip me out, and cleave me in half?

 

[L0rd0fDarkn3ss]

In Warrior Within, the enemies are mostly made of flesh and blood. They make small-talk amongst themselves before they spot you. Their cries of pain sound disturbingly human. They bleed copious amount of blood when you kill them, and you can kill them in so many gruesome ways. Then you encounter the female enemies. The ones who moan as if in the throes of passion and exclaim things like "There's SO much PLEASURE in PAIN!" I felt even more conflicted about killing those, because they apparently wanted me to, and I ALKSDJFLKSJDF. Ew. Just, yuck. No lady, I do not want to think about how the Prince is acting out your snuff fantasies.

That probably explains why I'm so messed up. I do recall feeling weird towards that game when I first played it. It was my first Prince of Persia game, and also the first game where I realized 'Wait, I can pass this section WITHOUT killing these people?'

 

[Fetzenfisch]

I'm replaying COD2 on hard. and damn, if you had a 5minute shootout with one hidden enemy and then you barely get him without dying. maybe even in close combat. Thats Something you not just forget. Especially if he doesnt die on the first real hit and crawls away or tries to get the pistol out of the holster to shoot you.

 

[SimuLord]

I can't say there's a lot of really visceral killing in the games I play, but a perfect headshot with any scoped weapon in Fallout 3 or New Vegas (especially my beloved Sniper Rifle in both games) on a human target is just so...satisfying.

Raiders in 3, Fiends in New Vegas, both make the perfect "damn, that felt good" sociopathic kill.

 

[MishiSings]

In Warrior Within, the enemies are mostly made of flesh and blood. They make small-talk amongst themselves before they spot you. Their cries of pain sound disturbingly human. They bleed copious amount of blood when you kill them, and you can kill them in so many gruesome ways. Then you encounter the female enemies. The ones who moan as if in the throes of passion and exclaim things like "There's SO much PLEASURE in PAIN!" I felt even more conflicted about killing those, because they apparently wanted me to, and I ALKSDJFLKSJDF. Ew. Just, yuck. No lady, I do not want to think about how the Prince is acting out your snuff fantasies.

That probably explains why I'm so messed up. I do recall feeling weird towards that game when I first played it. It was my first Prince of Persia game, and also the first game where I realized 'Wait, I can pass this section WITHOUT killing these people?'

Which section was that?

Mind you, I never finished the game, because I was having trouble killing the Griffon, and wasn't able to do so before I ran out of health, goddamn Sand-Wraith mode.

 

[L0rd0fDarkn3ss]

In Warrior Within, the enemies are mostly made of flesh and blood. They make small-talk amongst themselves before they spot you. Their cries of pain sound disturbingly human. They bleed copious amount of blood when you kill them, and you can kill them in so many gruesome ways. Then you encounter the female enemies. The ones who moan as if in the throes of passion and exclaim things like "There's SO much PLEASURE in PAIN!" I felt even more conflicted about killing those, because they apparently wanted me to, and I ALKSDJFLKSJDF. Ew. Just, yuck. No lady, I do not want to think about how the Prince is acting out your snuff fantasies.

That probably explains why I'm so messed up. I do recall feeling weird towards that game when I first played it. It was my first Prince of Persia game, and also the first game where I realized 'Wait, I can pass this section WITHOUT killing these people?'

Which section was that?

Mind you, I never finished the game, because I was having trouble killing the Griffon, and wasn't able to do so before I ran out of health, goddamn Sand-Wraith mode.

During most of the 'platforming' sections there were baddies patrolling around that you didn't have to kill to get to the next part of the level. It was, in essence, just the platforming part.

For example, anytime the Dahaka gave chase and Godsmack is playing in the background, there was a patrol in one of those sections. You could easily kill them, or ignore them since the big black demon was breathing down your neck. It was up to you.

 

[rhyno435]

Heavy Rain. That scene where

Spoiler

you have to decide whether or not to kill Nathaniel. I didn't end up killing him, but the fist time I played it, man I was on the edge of my seat. I really had trouble deciding if I should but a bullet in him or not.

Quoted for truth. Man, I completely forgot about that. That game had a lot of those moments, I thought. I really need to play that game again...

So true. Basically every choice I had to make (once the game really got going), including one with the origami killer during one of the endings, hardest decisions I've ever had to make in a game.

 

[Paulie92]

Also I just played Fable III, this isn't someone I killed but that chicken at the end of the intro that really made me feel bad

 

[Eternal_Lament]

I don't really feel sad when I kill NPC's in games, and for the following reasons. 1) whenever they are attacking me, it becomes a situation of survival on my part, which takes away te guilt from their kill, 2) since enemies and NPC's are often repeated, the shock of killing one is taken away when I kill 50 other clones of that NPC, and 3) in games like MW2 where there are other forces that are killing NPC's, me killing the NPC's is more an act of trying to speed up the progress rather than perfroming acts of cold-blooded murder.

There are however a few exceptions to this:

1) the colossai from Shadow of the Colossus. As well as only really attacking because I am posing a threat to them rather than the other way around (# 13 doesn't even attack you, he just tries to escape you), the ending of the game really strikes the idea in me that all those deaths not only got me nowhere in terms of my end goal, but also created a situation where countless lives are now threatened and lost (if Mono is indeed the Queen in Ico), all because of my selfish wants.

2) any dog (except wolves, cerberus, or the dogs from Demons Souls) because, well, I just love dogs and hate to see it when I'm the one killing them.

3) the enemies from Condemned 1. This may seem like a strange answer, but besides the manniquens and those of The Oro, the rest of the enemies are either those being manipulated by the Hub-caps late explained in Condemned 2 or simply those who have become the victims of an uncaring society, and while enemies are repeated, that aspect is negated when 1) you rarely ever see what the enemy looks like till they die and stay still, meaning the enemy can really be anything, making their death that more meaningful, and 2) even if they are repeated, the way each enemy looks further drives in the point that these were victims of an uncaring society who, becuse of their mistreatment, were doomed to end up like this.