Poll: Do you find it Difficult to play the Bad Guy?
- Thread starter TheLefty
- Start date
When it comes to video games, I find it nigh on impossible to be a bad guy. Partially because a lot of "evil" choices in games come down to being a troll with a gun, but mostly because I utterly cannot bring myself to pull some of the stuff being evil would require. Call it Chronic Hero Syndrome or whatever. I'm like that in real life, as well. Weirdly, neither of those seem to extend to stage villains. I love playing villains on camera or on stage.
Depends on the game. I can't stand it when the "asshole" reactions are no more than terret(sp?) syndrome.
NPC: Save my wife before she is burned alive in the fire.
Evil Response: Fuck off.
That isn't really one from a game obviously but I am sure you catch my drift. When subtlety is involved and dialogue flows well, I have no problem playing the bad guy. The previous bad guys are just annoyingly boring.
NPC: Save my wife before she is burned alive in the fire.
Evil Response: Fuck off.
That isn't really one from a game obviously but I am sure you catch my drift. When subtlety is involved and dialogue flows well, I have no problem playing the bad guy. The previous bad guys are just annoyingly boring.
There easier to empathize with.Swarley said:
And I find it harder to do the dilly-dally ideal-ness of being good.
[small]That why I'm the only person left in the Wasteland..[/small]
I cannot recall any rpg, or action game with an alignment scale, where playing the villain made any sense.
I wouldn't mind playing a criminal, but the villainous route in most games just gets LESS loot and lower discount overal, so you basicly have to content playing the psycho just for kicks. That doesn't work for me. Villany should be about attaining maximum profit and maximum influence.
Then again, in most RPGs the PC can keep his good alignment, while stealing everything not nailed down (the NPCs don't notice) and getting people out of trouble in exchange for all their money (questing).
I wouldn't mind playing a criminal, but the villainous route in most games just gets LESS loot and lower discount overal, so you basicly have to content playing the psycho just for kicks. That doesn't work for me. Villany should be about attaining maximum profit and maximum influence.
Then again, in most RPGs the PC can keep his good alignment, while stealing everything not nailed down (the NPCs don't notice) and getting people out of trouble in exchange for all their money (questing).
I prefer not to murder innocents but have no qualms with pinching their stuff. It's difficult sometimes.
Like in Oblivion where you have to murder an innocent to get into the dark brotherhood. I waited until I completed the Arena fights until I killed my first innocent (which was the grand champion at the end). It was worse when you did the ultimate daedric quest thing and you had to kill an innocent of every race.
Like in Oblivion where you have to murder an innocent to get into the dark brotherhood. I waited until I completed the Arena fights until I killed my first innocent (which was the grand champion at the end). It was worse when you did the ultimate daedric quest thing and you had to kill an innocent of every race.
It depends on the situation. For instance, in kotor when you go to wookieworld(can't recall the name), I can never bring myself to sell the world out to slavery, even if I'm playing an evil character, but I will gleefully act as devilishly as possible on Korriban. I've never actually played a game that would fit my definition of an evil character though. I agree completely with what was said about it in one of Yahtzee's reviews that the moral systems are too cut and dry. There's no real motive behind any moral choice other than being a dick, neutral, or a boyscout. Continuing with kotor, I like to lead Bastila on so that finally betraying her is that much more evil and fitting to my evil genius sith character, but if they had any impact on my moral scale in the game, luckily they don't, it would say I was being good. As shallow as Episode 3 was, at least Lucas put enough depth so that Palpatine seemed to be a good guy to the other characters.
No problem with it. I won't kill anyone unless there's a reason to, but when I do have my reason, I don't have a moral conflict with it. And this could be something as simple as "I find this character annoying," which is an opinion I hold of a vast majority of both real and fictional people. Unless it's a game like prototype, which in that case the only time in which I'm not killing someone is when there's too much blood and mangled body parts occupying the screen for me to see.
I usually think of myself as a diabolically evil mastermind, but generally I just do what feels more badass.
well... this is odd i have serious trouble being the good guy in games i just cant help seeing a harmless civilian and lining up a perfect headshot especially in oblivion if i have a bow. oh and i like killing whole towns because i beleive that im saving them from the zombie apocalypse...
EDIT: i am always good in real life though i cant even stand saying something bad to my enemies
EDIT: i am always good in real life though i cant even stand saying something bad to my enemies
It depends.
Firstly on the game. If it is a game like Overlord where you are "forced to be the dick" as Yahtzee puts it ([link]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/822-Overlord-2[/link]) then it is quite boring and has no emotional or moral connection to me at all.
Secondly if its a moral choice, then sometimes. Some games do it well, and some don't. There needs to be enough pull either way to make the rewards of being good or evil equal and a real hard choice to make. Many games make one or the other more attractive with what you can get from them, and what they stop you from getting with NPCs of the opposite moral path, usually the good path being the better.
Games are slowly getting better, but as of now, there isn't really that much difference between good and evil, in that many games, but if its good, like a few RPGs (and rpg element games) out recently that pull me into the story, it can be difficult to be evil, because I wouldn't be.
And anyway you can always make another save file, even if you prefer being good, evil is usually more fun.
Firstly on the game. If it is a game like Overlord where you are "forced to be the dick" as Yahtzee puts it ([link]http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/822-Overlord-2[/link]) then it is quite boring and has no emotional or moral connection to me at all.
Secondly if its a moral choice, then sometimes. Some games do it well, and some don't. There needs to be enough pull either way to make the rewards of being good or evil equal and a real hard choice to make. Many games make one or the other more attractive with what you can get from them, and what they stop you from getting with NPCs of the opposite moral path, usually the good path being the better.
Games are slowly getting better, but as of now, there isn't really that much difference between good and evil, in that many games, but if its good, like a few RPGs (and rpg element games) out recently that pull me into the story, it can be difficult to be evil, because I wouldn't be.
And anyway you can always make another save file, even if you prefer being good, evil is usually more fun.
No. I can quite happily be evil 'till I'm blue, or more likely "evil-red", in the face.
I prefer to be good though in the main; this is only because most games cater to the good story much more than the evil one. By this I mean quests that, if you wish to be evil Bob, you have to ignore. I like doing everything I can; having to skip quests to maintain my evil facade hurts my brain.
In games where they have alternative quests or the quest has good/bad/neutral options then I prefer being the bad guy. If I'm going to escape from reality I'm gonna kill some fools while I'm about it.
I prefer to be good though in the main; this is only because most games cater to the good story much more than the evil one. By this I mean quests that, if you wish to be evil Bob, you have to ignore. I like doing everything I can; having to skip quests to maintain my evil facade hurts my brain.
In games where they have alternative quests or the quest has good/bad/neutral options then I prefer being the bad guy. If I'm going to escape from reality I'm gonna kill some fools while I'm about it.
That depends. I enjoy killing most characters, but some will, I don't know, "Imprint" on me, and I'll go as far as I can to protect them.
Sometimes, but then a game like Red Dead Redemption shows up! (This is not me hating on the game, it's a great game and all that, blah, blah blah...)
There is NO REASON to be evil in that game. No reason. You get virtually nothing for being law except maybe some extra money (Which you already have an excess of if you're good). Even if you need to do something evil, you can just slap a bandanna on and not have it hurt your Honor. Plus, the rewards are SO much better for being good. When evil, you get a discount at stores in Thieve's Landing, and when good, you get a discount at stores anywhere BUT Thieve's Landing. More importantly, it seems like you really have to go out of your way to be evil, while being good is a piece of cake.
However, in a game like Fable or Fallout 3, it can be fun as hell to be evil. In Fallout 3, you can nuke a town, and in Fable you can slaughter whole towns and kill your sister for the best sword in the game.
There is NO REASON to be evil in that game. No reason. You get virtually nothing for being law except maybe some extra money (Which you already have an excess of if you're good). Even if you need to do something evil, you can just slap a bandanna on and not have it hurt your Honor. Plus, the rewards are SO much better for being good. When evil, you get a discount at stores in Thieve's Landing, and when good, you get a discount at stores anywhere BUT Thieve's Landing. More importantly, it seems like you really have to go out of your way to be evil, while being good is a piece of cake.
However, in a game like Fable or Fallout 3, it can be fun as hell to be evil. In Fallout 3, you can nuke a town, and in Fable you can slaughter whole towns and kill your sister for the best sword in the game.