When Has a Game Made You Feel Absolutely Terrible? *POSSIBLE SPOILERS*

[Brownie80]

So I was playing Spec Ops [small]and you already see where I'm going with this[/small] and it seemed like a normal third-person shooter until I came to this. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7TaLjdXMc]

So yeah. Isn't really a happy thing, isn't it.

Have you ever had a similar experience playing video games?

 

[tippy2k2]

Spec-Ops and Telltale's The Walking Dead are the only two that have really made me feel like I was a horrible person.

Spec-Ops for the obvious reasons if you've played it (it completely blindsided me as I had not heard anything really on the game and I am a huge fan of games like Call of Duty and whatnot; it's like they made the damn game for me) and The Walking Dead because of the choices you had to make at the end of Season 2 (especially when I saw how others reacted to the choice and what happened if you went the other way with it... [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.863523-Poll-Lets-talk-about-Telltales-The-Walking-Dead-Spoiler-Alert-S1-S2] *Note: Spoilers in that link)

 

[Rolaoi]

I guess it's because everyone talked so much about Spec Ops making you feel terrible that it ruined the experience for me. I actually felt worse playing Call of Duty 2. It was a little bit after I joined the military, and I picked up a pistol off a dead NPC. It was the same type of pistol my granddad carried in and brought back from WW2, and seeing it on the dead soldier made me feel a little sick. I stopped playing it, and never finished it.

Another instance with less connection to my own life would probably be finding out I could save Curly Brace in Cave Story. That made me feel really shitty.

 

[G00N3R7883]

Dragon Age 2, Anders. Spoilers obviously.

I didn't really like him at first, but over the course of the game my Hawke mage developed a good friendship with Anders, driven by a mutual desire to protect innocent mages. And then Anders went insane and blew up the chantry, and I had to choose his punishment. What could I do? Every other time a mage hurt innocents, I killed them to prevent it happening again. So, A) I had to kill my friend, B) I felt some guilt because I'd assisted Anders with his preparation, and C) I lost my best healer which screwed my party balance a little.

Far Cry 3.

I don't like killing animals. I can justify killing wolves, bears, spiders, etc in most games because they're aggressive and its self defence. But the Far Cry 3 crafting system basically forces you to kill passive animals like goats and pigs so that you can carry more guns and ammo. If you don't do it, you'll be very weak in combat vs Humans. I did it, but it felt very, very wrong.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Far Cry 3.

I don't like killing animals. I can justify killing wolves, bears, spiders, etc in most games because they're aggressive and its self defence. But the Far Cry 3 crafting system basically forces you to kill passive animals like goats and pigs so that you can carry more guns and ammo. If you don't do it, you'll be very weak in combat vs Humans. I did it, but it felt very, very wrong.

Yeah, I hate games that force you to hunt down inoffensive animals. I had the same gut-wrenching reaction from Red Dead Redemption, and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. I killed the requisite animals for crafting whatever and that was it.

Except cassowaries. Fuck those aggressive creatures.

 

[ExDeath730]

Knights of the Old Republic: When you go Darkside, you make Zaalbar kill Mission. Yeah, i know some people don't like her, but make her wookie friend kill her using the Force is really, really fucked up.

Captcha: I have fallen - Yep, i felt like it too, i had to take a bath after that one.

 

[Sleepy Sol]

Sunless Sea makes me feel absolutely terrible. In that I really want to play the game to get to all the really juicy story bits, but the gameplay is so horribly boring to me that I may never experience them.

 

[Zontar]

Eve Online of all things, mainly because I'm neck deep into the lore so I'm fully aware of just how many people I kill in-universe. Seriously, you can't ever get past the tutorial without killing thousands of people, to say nothing of when you loose one of your bigger ships.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Some of the Dark Side choices in SWTOR, particularly the option to shock Vette using her slave collar whenever she opens her mouth. Keep it up and don't take off the collar, and you end up with some lines that made me feel like a genuine monster when I saw/heard it. There is the option to give the activator for the collar to a Sith even more prone to using it... but curiosity couldn't beat the ick sense this time. Guess I'm just a big softie.

More recently, a certain party member in Devil Survivor whom is on the edge of committing suicide... that you can give a verbal push over that edge if you're a heartless wretch with no soul curious to see what happens. And she's smiling once you convince her to run to her death. 'Everything... everything's going to be fine, now... thank you...'

You monster.

 

[Recusant]

I thought Spec Ops: the Line would hit me with this (though not for the obvious reason), but it didn't. What was supposed to be an emotional gut-punch was not only undercut but completely annihilated if you just tried to avoid it. The... action in question is unavoidable; no matter how many guards you mow down, more keep spawning in. The impossibility of the task is supposed to be underlined by this, but it ends up derailing it instead; any rational person, soldier or otherwise, would withdraw, figuring more was needed to reestablish control of the situation. The game tried to subvert the rampaging action hero stereotype, but didn't go far enough. I could tell what it was trying to say, but the mechanical ineptitude with which it was presented robbed it of any real impact. I thought that would get to me; it didn't.

The only game that's actually made me feel bad was Homeworld. Enough people- and enough of them people whose opinions I trust on this sort of thing- told me that it was absolutely wonderful that I felt bad every time I tried it and found myself thinking "when does this get fun?".

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I got floored by Spec Ops, and I got it when it first came out, before the spoilers were everywhere. The game actually got me twice. The one part, as well as the ending when you find out what's going on. First, and so far only, time I game actually made me need to put down the controller because I felt sick.

Another time I felt bad was in Black Ops II. When you are given the choice as to whether to keep your cover and kill your friend, or blow your cover and save him. I knew that keeping my cover would ultimately save more lives so I did, but it was still hard.
And then to see that character betrayed and murdered by someone he trusted one minute later, without anyone even acknowledging what his sacrifice saved...that was low.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

I've thought about playing Spec Ops, but I know I'll just spend the entire game thinking, come on, get to the white phosphorus bit. I know it's coming ... any second now.
But it just won't have the same impact since I know it's coming.

 

[Z of the Na'vi]

One of the "final bosses" of South Park: The Stick of Truth really came across to me as in bad taste. Previously and in more recent times, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have avoided mentioning Chef in any way shape, or form since Isaac Hayes departed the show and his unfortunate death. Having to "kill" Chef (albeit a Nazi zombie, but I digress) just felt, I don't know...wrong.

Even for South Park, I found that to be a bit much. I felt like crap after that.

 

[Dalisclock]

Don't know about terrible, but "Valiant Hearts: The Great War" made me feel super depressed at the end.

Interestingly, I just finished playing "Edna and Harvey: The Breakout" and both endings are some form of depressing.

 

[balladbird]

Even after all these years, the true demon path in "Soul Nomad and the World Eaters" still punched me in the gut the hardest.

I should probably quantify: with games like Spec Ops and the like, I knew ahead of time that the player punch was coming, which helped to soften the blow. World Eaters, though, was a Nippon-ichi software title. Yeah, they called the route "true demon", which would normally have been a clue that some horrible stuff was about to go down, but the previous 'dark' storyarcs NIS had done were things like "demon queen etna" in disgaea, and other such tongue-in-cheek stuff.

The true demon path of World Eaters had its fair share of dark comedy, sure, but unlike literally EVERY other title NIS has ever made and ever will make, that dark humor was utterly buried under wave after wave of terrible events, with the characters you knew and loved in the proper game having their hope slowly drained, and the only characters who remain by your side being broken shells of people who just want to see the world burn.

still one of the best games by the publisher though. highly recommended, though the demon path is only for those with a strong stomach.

 

[BarkBarker]

How does any game make you feel bad if it gave you no choice, I just disconnect and do what I gotta do. Evil out of choice with no pressure is when I feel bad, even then I have to be aware that my actions have real consequences in this game, else I feel tricked and manipulated.

 

[Spider RedNight]

I was playing Animal Crossing once and I caught a Coelecanth on accident in the dead of night and I was completely torn about whether I should sell it for loads of bells, give it to the museum or house it in my awesome modern-themed house like a convict. A highly coveted convict. My 12-year-old mind could barely handle the pressure of such responsibility.

Oh, wait. Ummmmm all the Silent Hill games have made me feel really crappy at one point or another but that's kind of the point. The video game cruelty potential of Bioshock also got pretty harsh, too.

I found out that I completely cannot play KotOR as a dark sider because I LITERALLY can't make those choices to be a dick for no reason. I can't encourage human kids to pick on an unarmed, injured Ithorian because that's a dick thing to do. I can't sell this old man out to this crime lord because it's just not what I do.

I know it's all fake but that's just what I do; I get invested and the characters I create in "create your own" games tend to reflect my own code

 

[beastro]

Far Cry 3.

I don't like killing animals. I can justify killing wolves, bears, spiders, etc in most games because they're aggressive and its self defence. But the Far Cry 3 crafting system basically forces you to kill passive animals like goats and pigs so that you can carry more guns and ammo. If you don't do it, you'll be very weak in combat vs Humans. I did it, but it felt very, very wrong.

Yeah, I hate games that force you to hunt down inoffensive animals. I had the same gut-wrenching reaction from Red Dead Redemption, and Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. I killed the requisite animals for crafting whatever and that was it.

Except cassowaries. Fuck those aggressive creatures.

I feel terrible that you guys feel this way and didn't enjoy off-roading through packs of animals like I did.

Last time I felt kinda bad for doing something in a game was to an actual person, being on my newbie PK on Everquest and befriended another newb pk troll to lull him into equipping his good gear. We charged into a pack of lowbies and I held back letting him get the brunt of the damage so I could Harm Touch him and take his Mithril BP.

Reading his tell "You low" was a mix of laughter and wondering if I went too far.

I didn't.

I have to admit most games keep the game disconnect going and thus minimize the impact. The last big laugh I got from an in game characters reaction was saving that kid in Fallout 3 from giant ants only to sell him into slavery, how he pauses as it dawns on him before calling me a monster was great.

 

[Veldel]

MOTHER FUCKING 3 that game just everything I never felt more depressed at a games end.

 

[Slenn]

I never liked the quest line in Thousand Needles post-Cataclysm. It involves kicking out a population of centaurs from their homeland because lame goblins want you to make an oil rig there. I absolutely dislike goblins because they're all just greedy exploiting twerps. I can never take this scenario in good humor because I'll I'm being forced to do is being a jerk to people and treating them like they're stupid.

When I first did Starcraft Brood War back in 8th grade, I couldn't finish it because I didn't like the fact that I had to kill Fenix in a mission. I finished the game a year or so ago because I felt like it was high time I knock it off my bucket list.