Have you ever regretted killing a NPC?

[RJ 17]

*snip*
Seriously, how are you supposed to play a murdering vampire assassin-mage when the majority of the people can't be murdered?

PC version and mod out all essential flags.

But note that NPC behavior can be very very strange in Bethesda games and though you believe in player driven consequences the game may have different ideas.
I'll cite an Oblivion example.
There is an exMage guild NPC that gains -Rep towards you multiplied by your rank of Mage guild.
What this means is that if you finish the quest and become Archmage, then pass him on the street without having previously improved his disposition towards you he will be "kill on sight".

In my game he attacked me first as I was entering a store, I hadn't noticed because I was a low stage Vampire taking sunlight damage, the guards attacked him, the guards don't know how to aim and arrows hit NPCs, NPCs retaliated, guards retaliated, faction flags and rep levels were thrown all over the place and by the end of it all the entire town had been murdered before I even knew it had started.

Essential flags are there to stop that from breaking your save irreparably. The lowest form of AI BS would be dragon/bandit attacks wiping out the main quest as you come on screen of finishing it.

OT: I've regretted killing a lot of NPCs, I can't even dredge up specific examples in the sea of Bethesda/Bioware/other games.

So the city erupted in a riot and everyone died? That actually sounds pretty badass.

I get your point, which is why I'd rather it be built in-game and not something you have to mod in as I imagine they could make it so that such a situation doesn't occur while having the player still be able to kill anyone.

 

[mew4ever23]

I managed to falcon punch link in SSBB right while he was doing the navi taunt. No regrets.

 

[The Goat Tsar]

snip

I think Bethesda originally made an attempt to make everyone killable, but then changed their minds. Some of it is even hidden in game. I play on pc, so on my uber Stormcloak character, I used console commands to make Elisif non-essential after the civil war and killed her. The Stormcloak guards then started commenting that a Daedric prince killed her. I looked it up here:

http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Elisif_the_Fair#Trivia

Turns out Bethesda even planned for Erikur to replace her but decided against the idea. Sad, really. There's so much cool stuff almost in game, like Nazeem almost had a purpose besides being a dick. He was supposed to lead a faction called Wintersand Manor.

 

[TAGM]

No, for it to be a true sandbox everyone should be able to die and you just have to deal with the consequences. "Killed the Erl of Whiterun before you finished the main quest? Well tough-titty, guess you don't get to see the end of the main quest on this character."

You know, they actually did that with Morrowind. It basically let you kill plot characters, and when you did, a little message came up saying something along the lines of "You dun goofed! Your destiny has been irreversibly changed. Reload a save, or continue on the hopeless path you have created."

Speaking of - I always feel a speck of regret when - and if - I go on a mindless slaughter quest in any game. I very rarely do it, so there you are, but when I do... Yeaaah, guilt. So, yeah, I regret every single NPC I kill, for no fucking reason.

'Sept maybe morality points.

 

[Headsprouter]

Yes. I am incapable of playing any game as a thoughtless mass-murderer because of this. It just seems wasteful in my eyes. In Minecraft I wanted to see an iron golem, so i murdered a NPC village. No golem to be seen, and I regretted it ever since...I could have had an easy-to reach village...

 

[BytByte]

Accidentally smashed your storage man in Demon's Souls as well the blacksmith at the same time. Thankfully, before I killed them, I unplugged my PS3. No save, no loss of all of my stones thank goodness.

 

[RJ 17]

No, for it to be a true sandbox everyone should be able to die and you just have to deal with the consequences. "Killed the Erl of Whiterun before you finished the main quest? Well tough-titty, guess you don't get to see the end of the main quest on this character."

You know, they actually did that with Morrowind. It basically let you kill plot characters, and when you did, a little message came up saying something along the lines of "You dun goofed! Your destiny has been irreversibly changed. Reload a save, or continue on the hopeless path you have created."

Speaking of - I always feel a speck of regret when - and if - I go on a mindless slaughter quest in any game. I very rarely do it, so there you are, but when I do... Yeaaah, guilt. So, yeah, I regret every single NPC I kill, for no fucking reason.

'Sept maybe morality points.

To clarify, my character had a strict "don't take shit from anyone" mentality and had an uncontrollable urge to kill anyone that dares to hurl an insult. Like those random adventurers who call you a milk-drinker. I don't know what's wrong with drinking milk, but I'll be damned if I let someone say that to me in an insulting manner.

Which is why I wanted to kill all the nobles in Windhelm, every last one of them refused to show the Dragonborn proper respect. In all honesty, I'd rather a message pop up saying "You done gone and broke the game. Reload, start a new game, or you might as well have at it." Every now and then a little GTA mindless rampage is fun is all I'm saying. In Oblivion I used to don the Grey Fox's cowl and run through the streets killing guards and anyone else that wanted to fight...only to run away, remove the cowl, and have everyone forget what just happened. Ahhhhhh those were the days. :3

 

[God of Path]

I'm not sure if you "kill" people in loneliness, there aren't really even people, and they just disappear, but I thought they died. And I felt bad for it. I ended up just trying to avoid causing any more "deaths." gamelink: http://www.necessarygames.com/my-games/loneliness/flash

 

[TAGM]

No, for it to be a true sandbox everyone should be able to die and you just have to deal with the consequences. "Killed the Erl of Whiterun before you finished the main quest? Well tough-titty, guess you don't get to see the end of the main quest on this character."

You know, they actually did that with Morrowind. It basically let you kill plot characters, and when you did, a little message came up saying something along the lines of "You dun goofed! Your destiny has been irreversibly changed. Reload a save, or continue on the hopeless path you have created."

Speaking of - I always feel a speck of regret when - and if - I go on a mindless slaughter quest in any game. I very rarely do it, so there you are, but when I do... Yeaaah, guilt. So, yeah, I regret every single NPC I kill, for no fucking reason.

'Sept maybe morality points.

To clarify, my character had a strict "don't take shit from anyone" mentality and had an uncontrollable urge to kill anyone that dares to hurl an insult. Like those random adventurers who call you a milk-drinker. I don't know what's wrong with drinking milk, but I'll be damned if I let someone say that to me in an insulting manner.

Which is why I wanted to kill all the nobles in Windhelm, every last one of them refused to show the Dragonborn proper respect. In all honesty, I'd rather a message pop up saying "You done gone and broke the game. Reload, start a new game, or you might as well have at it." Every now and then a little GTA mindless rampage is fun is all I'm saying. In Oblivion I used to don the Grey Fox's cowl and run through the streets killing guards and anyone else that wanted to fight...only to run away, remove the cowl, and have everyone forget what just happened. Ahhhhhh those were the days. :3

Yeah, honestly, I prefer a little message over "I am invincible lol" as well. Not that I ever actually go killing plot-important characters anyway, but the option of being able to so I can just fuck up the game was pretty nice.

Although, honestly, I only found it out through using the admin console to get myself into secret rooms and then killing a plot-important bloke that spawns in one and tries to kill you. So, ya know, my guilt was somewhat undermined by the fact that A) I saw it coming, and B) even if I didn't, I'd already cheated, so I wasn't saving anyway. x3

It's kind of weird, really, how Skyrim took that OUT. I mean, that's barely any extra programming there, to have a "You dun goofed up destiny" message come up. What with the realism craze that's still sort of going on today, you'd expect them to at least let you kill plot important characters yourself. Maybe even let them die from dragon attacks, although, that could really fuck you over in the first few levels of play. (character levels, I mean.)

 

[BarbaricGoose]

Every time I kill an animal I regret it. Even bears--godless killing machines that they are. They're just trying to survive, so I try to let them.

I can't think of a recent example of a human I killed and then regretted killing, but there's been quite a few.

 

[Diablo2000]

You can skip all this and go to the question at the bottom if you want.

I never really started the story of GTA 4. The multiplayer was always so distracting, and by the time the DLC came out I had forgotten all about Niko Bellic. Since it's the summer game drought, I said "screw it" and decided to go through the story. I came to the part where I had to choose to either kill Playboy X or Dwayne. I parked my car between Playboy's and Dwayne's houses and sat there. I liked the missions I did for Playboy, and he seemed like he had everything under control. On the other hand, Dwayne had just come out of prison, and I liked his personality and not being called "Money" every five minutes. But if I had to do another strip club mission, Dwayne would be the one to go. I decided to kill Dwayne, just to put the poor bastard out of his misery. I was prepared to go when I lightly bumped into a cop car. Lights flashed, sirens sounded, and by the time I got away from the cops I was a block away from Playboy X's. I began thinking. Playboy is kinda a douche anyways. He lives in a fancy big ass apartment and makes Dwayne live in the projects. Plus, when he told me to kill people, he did it like a pussy. I decided he would die.

I killed Playboy X, and as soon as I did, I regretted it. I felt bad about it. I liked Playboy. He seemed like a good enough guy, and he talked about building playgrounds and saving people's lives. I felt shitty about the whole situation, and I wish I could go back and kill Dwayne. That's really the first time I've ever regretted killing a NPC.

My question is;
Have you ever regretted killing a NPC? If so, who, what game, and why?

I killed Playboy... Didn't felt bad about it, I knew that he was a prick that could and would sell me out the first chance he get.

One NPC that I did felt bad about killing was the Maiden in Kingdoms of Amalur, she didn't want to be "evil", that was what fate set out for her, and of course that during the Ballads quest she does some pretty nasty stuff, but she was desperate and her actions are some what understandble. Needless to say that I took the weak path and decided to reload the game and not kill her...

I did felt a bit bad for killing the Boethiah follower in the House of Horrors quest, that until I read a bit more about Boethiah and figure out that she\he is a massive *****\douchbag... So yeah... Fuck that guy.

 

[asspills]

This will get buried, but one time I was playing The Darkness, and got sick to my stomach. Like, lurch over and wince, due to guilt.

In one of the semi-free-roaming sections, I stumbled upon a girl in an apartment. After doing her mission, my younger self decided to kill her on a whim (I hadn't fought any one in awhile and my younger selfs a DICK). I turned to do it once, felt a pang of guilt, almost left, then just turned back and did it. POP.

By chance, despite the games wonky ragdoll physics, the girl fell in a really realistic fashion. She was just starting a dialogue line the moment I shot her, and was cut off as her body fell backwards, and her legs tripped on the couch behind her, making her body stumble and flip over it and land on the ground on the other side, angled up as her legs rested one on the cushion, one ontop of the backrest. From my perspective her legs were the only things visible, aside from a perfect splatter of crimson on the wall in a pattern and lighting more realistic and chunky looking than I had seen in the game so far. After standing perfectly still for about 5 minutes, I walked closer and inspected her body from the front. Sprawled out on her back, with a single hole in her head. I had to rest, physically, because this was the first time a game made me feel like I committed murder. I didn't reload a save, but I sure as hell never went back in that room again.

 

[teebeeohh]

I'm not sure if you "kill" people in loneliness, there aren't really even people, and they just disappear, but I thought they died. And I felt bad for it. I ended up just trying to avoid causing any more "deaths." gamelink: http://www.necessarygames.com/my-games/loneliness/flash

yeah that game did not work at all for me because you can actually touch other dots and they vanish, but some vanish on their own. made me completely not care. and when you make a game and call it a "notgame" the amount of pretentious bullshit makes me wanna choke.
and of course Korean children are miserable, half of them are starving to death while their fat baby-faced leader opens an amusement park.

OT: not really, when i go on killing sprees i don't mind and other than that i prefer to avoid killing as much as possible.
oh the boss. i hated killing the boss

 

[asspills]

Some song or movie was playing on the tv in the background too. It was all I heard, fainter than faint in otherwise complete silence as I sat there feeling awful. I turned the tv off before I left.

This was honestly a lot more affecting than any scripted character death in any other game. Pressing X for this, Y for that doesn't have nearly the same effect.

 

[crazyrabbits]

Killing the kid standing right near the starting area of Battery Park - Castle Clinton in Deus Ex. I remember playing the demo for the game years ago, and this kid was the first thing I see when I get to the area. I didn't have any food on me, so I decided to be a dick to him and keep pushing for information. Then I decided to shoot him to see what would happen. Felt so bad after that now I get soy food and give it to the two kids in the park every time I do a playthrough.

Not really killing, but leaving Cid to die in FFVI. I know he can get better if you feed him enough of the "good" fish, but it's so difficult that I just leave it and run around the island battling monsters instead. Still makes me feel bad, though.

(Also, this is one of the few times where someone has said they wanted to kill Dwayne. His storyline is way better than Playboy's (and he isn't a testy, double-crossing snake) - plus, you get Playboy's condo too! What's bad about that?)

 

[Denamic]

I'm not sure how many times I've brought up Dark Souls now, but I'm going to do it again.
So, Dark Souls. Crossbreed Priscilla is an optional boss that's non-aggressive and actually tells you how to leave the place.
It's even worse if you have an idea of why she's there in the first place.
It's likely she sealed herself in the painting to escape the cruelties of man.
And when you attack her, she goes "I expected as much from thee."
Basically confirming her belief that everyone's an asshole.
I felt so guilty. Also, I cut her tail off and used it as a weapon.
Naturally, I only did that with great reluctance.

 

[Sharpiez]

I haven't posted in awhile but this thread popped up and convinced me to hop on:

OT: Malak at the end of SW:KOTOR. After everything that happened, learning about becoming Revan, saving all of my friends, turning Bastila back, etc. The game kind of had you convinced that if you were virtuous enough and heplful enough you could bring anyone over to the light side.

Then you try and turn Malak, and everything is going well... and then he says it... Something to the effect of "But it's too late for me, maybe had our roles been reversed... etc." And then he dies. Right around there is when Bioware cemented my loyalty and my perspective on videogames shifted quite a bit.

 

[Blarkuntvhite]

The first person I thought of when I read the thread title was... Dwayne from GTA IV. Huh.
After I did that mission, I didn't think about it at all, the guy was a sad sack who didn't put up a fight at all. I did a few other missions, got in a few police chases, a couple of hours of gameplay later I checked my email.
Oh... God.
The one and only time I've felt bad over killing someone in a game.

 

[White_Lama]

Mordin Solus in Mass Effect 3.

I never completed that Renegade playthrough after his death scene.
Probably never will.

 

[WolfDude191]

If i'm playing a good playthrough of Fallout 3 or Oblivion, then I get annoyed when I have to kill any named character through a quest or through an accident.

But if i'm playing an evil playthrough, then usually I just murder everyone and take their stuff like the evil bastard I am.