Being the bad guy

[Veno]

Fallout 3 has it pretty good. I went through it twice, one good, which I'm comfortable with, and one bad, which I don't usually do, but was still pretty badass.

Depending on if your karma is good or evil, you'll be able to interact with different kinds of people, like Regulators for good, Slavers for evil. Those who've played it know what I mean, I'm not that good at explaining things.

[pakopako]

Of course, there are games that give you good-paths and evil-paths. Then there are just simple games that make the evil path into a "challenging" path. Then there is...

Der Langrisser (SNES, PSX) (fan-lation available) where there is no obvious "good" or "bad" path.

If you side with the Light faction, you fight a holy war to end all wars.
If you choose the Chaos faction, you fight a holy war to end all wars.
If you choose the Human (Imperialist) faction, you lean humanity in a bloody war to wean itself from the gods.
And then there's "I'm so powerful, I can be a dick to everyone."

Hm. I don't think that's an option in Guardian Heroes.

[Xeogred]

Kotor?

One of the most balanced ones out there in my opinion and even technically has a middle option.

If you want to play the bad guy, there will be plenty of missions to skip but others to make up for them. Even better is you can do some of the good side missions and then screw the person in the end (or kill them).

Glad you guys mentioned this. Mass Effect doesn't even compare to how flexible the KOTOR games were, "Neutral" is the word I'd say. I really felt like I was a Han Solo, Kyle Katarn, or Captain Mal (Firefly) kind of guy who was "good in the end" but didn't take shit, and I always did a lot of missions that'd help people out, but in a way that would benefit me as well (like telling someone you'll do this or that if they give you something in return).

Badass Neutral Good, if only the Mass Effect games had that kind of alignment as well.

[mugenmidget]

Kind of a small one, but I liked becoming "dark" Mega Man in Mega Man 64/Mega Man Legends. Fun to commit bad deeds, but unfortunately while you do get some benefits, you're more or less compelled to return to being "good" (and your actions don't change the story in any significant way):

You may have noticed, but it is possible to make MegaMan a saint or a villain. Anytime you perform good deeds, MegaMan will become lighter. However, if he's not a good boy, he'll become darker. If he's Light MegaMan, people will like you, and you'll get a 20% discount at all stores. However, if you're Dark MegaMan, people will hate you, and there will be a 20% INCREASE in prices. You also won't be able to compete in the Pokte Village quiz or get letters at the post office. However, you will be able to trade with the peddler behind the pillar in the area where the Saul Kada Ruins entrance is.

You can become Light MegaMan by generally doing good things. Once, I was Light MegaMan by the time I reached Nino Island, without even trying. Failing that, you'll need to donate 1,000,000 (a million!) zenny to the church in Yosyonke. You may even need to donate more than that if you were Dark MegaMan to begin with. The easiest way to become Dark MegaMan is to kick around pigs at Appo and Dah's house. It's even easier if you give the Cute Piggy Shu gave to you to the girl at Nino Island. While your physical appearance changes, the only way to know for sure is by talking to specific people or checking the prices and tone of the stores. Personally, I talk to the kids playing around on Nino Island.

Anyway, once you're Dark MegaMan, you'll want to buy the Reaverbot Eye and the Taser from the shady guy standing around where you fought Teisel. The Taser is used to develop a special weapon. You can sell the Reaverbot Eye...Go through the back door of the Junk Shop at Yosyonke City and talk to the Junk Shop owner. He will give you the Reaverbot Claw (I'm actually not sure if he does this for you if you're Dark MegaMan). You can sell the Reaverbot Claw to the shady peddler. Also, you can sell the Reaverbot Eye to this Junk Shop owner. When he asks if he can buy it from you, tell him no, and he'll offer 300,000 zenny. He won't go any higher than this, so don't refuse, or his price will drop to 10,000.

There are no other benefits to being Dark MegaMan, so you'll want to donate at a least a million zenny to the church to return to normal (or Light MegaMan, if you wish).

In the Japanese version (Rockman DASH) you can apparently abuse even more animals!



Now you see that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.

[RCBH928]

I really cant think of specific examples, but many of the games I played will always give you more than one option that is very clear you should NOT choose , and there is always that 1 option that is clearly the one you are supposed to pick for things to work out well.

Of course I didnt deny the existence of games where both paths might be balanced, I just said seems to me that most games that give you options, they really don't want you to pick the other path they want you to pick the "good" path , its unbalanced.

I did give the example of being a Vampire in Oblivion, also in oblivion if you steal something or kill some one , you get chased all around the game and put in jail and they deduct points from you. And this is a game created by one of the biggest RPG developers where its all about choices. I am giving examples of Oblivion because its the most recent one I played, other games dont come to mind. I just played RE1(i know its not rpg, but good example) if you dont save Wesker, you get the BAD ending or so I understand. See, a penalty for choosing the "evil" path. I can think of another game, Monkey Island, you get multiple answers to choose from. Choose the wrong one, you will probably get the response you DONT want! So you end up choosing the nice and friendly answer just so you dont go through trouble. I remember clearly going into one store to ask for a treasure map I think, and if you gave him the wrong answers he will ask you to leave the shop.

[MrPopo]

Oblivion has two entire guilds dedicated to dirty deeds (done dirt cheap). Yes, if you murder someone out in the open the guards come for you. This is to be expected; that's the reason guards exist. So you find someone in a back alley, or sneak into their house.

[aaron]

i'm running through fallout 3 again as an evil character for the first time. it's kind of awesome, but probably only because i know what happens in a lot of the quests that i didn't miss out on the first time by being a saintly character.

[Pulsar_t]

Further reading on the topic:

http://gamasutra.com/blogs/EricSchwarz/ ... Payoff.php

http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2010/04/col ... choice.php

The OP made valid points, I for one tend to choose to be the good guy most of the time, but there are occasions when this can be coaxed if the penalty isn't severe.

[RCBH928]

I guess others agree with me,
if I would sum my topic i would say: Most games punish you for chosing the "evil" path, while different rewards and storyline(levels/quests) should be presented instead for each path

[Pulsar_t]

Or you get a different 30 second ending like Bioshock.