Games where it's not easy being good

[Beastro]

Dragon Age: Origins. Doing good acts nets you nothing, and IIRC, if you turn down a reward, you lose out on a specialization

This is undermined by the fact that you just have to unlock the specialization once to keep it, so you can pick the evil option, get the specialization and then reload.

Save-scumming undermines everything, though. I think I only got the specialization from the secret character because I thought refusing awards gets you a better award later. Completely forgot, though, maybe I did save-scum too. I have no idea. I just know that I was thinking to myself that being good means shit when I played it.

The thing is it's not just save scumming. You play evil the first time around and unlock it, it remains open for all subsequent playthroughs. The choice reward/loss is irrelevant afterwards meaning you can go in replaying good and choose Blood Mage as your specialization as soon as you can.

 

[Mexi]

Dragon Age: Origins. Doing good acts nets you nothing, and IIRC, if you turn down a reward, you lose out on a specialization

This is undermined by the fact that you just have to unlock the specialization once to keep it, so you can pick the evil option, get the specialization and then reload.

Save-scumming undermines everything, though. I think I only got the specialization from the secret character because I thought refusing awards gets you a better award later. Completely forgot, though, maybe I did save-scum too. I have no idea. I just know that I was thinking to myself that being good means shit when I played it.

The thing is it's not just save scumming. You play evil the first time around and unlock it, it remains open for all subsequent playthroughs. The choice reward/loss is irrelevant afterwards meaning you can go in replaying good and choose Blood Mage as your specialization as soon as you can.

Forgot about Blood Mage too, which is also a fun ass specialization. It's an "evil" specialization, IIRC.

 

[ItsChon]

One quest does not mean the quest makes it difficult to be virtuous. Just because you missed out on a reward or two here or there doesn't really mean shit. Pathologic is one of the few games named that actually fits the bill, and I can't think of any others off the top of my head.

This is something I really wish games would give a better go at, as I think it could add a lot of interesting dynamics to the story, especially if there is some meaingful C&C invovled regarding an organization you wish to join or a companion you wish to recruit.

 

[DalekFlay]

The thing is it's not just save scumming. You play evil the first time around and unlock it, it remains open for all subsequent playthroughs. The choice reward/loss is irrelevant afterwards meaning you can go in replaying good and choose Blood Mage as your specialization as soon as you can.

Blood magic is depicted as pretty much instantly evil in Dragon Age's world, I believe. In DA2 the normal nice guy mage leader instantly turns into an evil monster when he uses it. Tons of random enemies use it and are shown to be evil and corrupted. I kind of see it like the "dark side" in Star Wars. Maybe there's a few morally grey characters who use it I'm forgetting (only played the sequels once) but I'd still say in that world the mere use of it is an "evil" choice. Though gameplay mechanics wise, I guess it means nothing the second go.

 

[Jimmious]

In Mount & Blade Warband it's easier to get rich fast if you raid innocent villages.
You will lose "honour"/"reputation" (or whatever equivalent depending on your mod) and will have issues dealing with lords etc of course

 

[Lilura]

In Mount & Blade Warband it's easier to get rich fast if you raid innocent villages.

I don't see how. Easier to just take on mobs, take prisoners, and progressively up-tier combat units.

 

[Jimmious]

In Mount & Blade Warband it's easier to get rich fast if you raid innocent villages.

I don't see how. Easier to just take on mobs, take prisoners, and progressively up-tier combat units.

Raiding a village can net you around 6-7k fast and especially in early game that's a lot of money.
Another sneaky way to get a lot of money is of course to accept a lord's request to gather taxes and then simply not give him his moneys. He will get pissed off naturally but again, 5-6k while doing basically nothing
Taking prisoners etc takes time and what you get for lower tier troops is quite... low. Like 15-20 moneythings per shitty troop.

 

[rohand]

The Jedi Knight / Jedi Academy games - you get a lot of powerful force powers from the dark side (maybe other star wars games do it too)

 

[abnaxus]

ELEX

 

[Silentstorm]

Any multiplayer game you can play locally and has overpowered weapons, characters or abilities, i could just continue not being Oddjob in Goldeneye, but Harry is being a prick after winning 5 times in a row...well, my friend would get really mad if i stole his star in Mario Party, but he also came in last time we got together so screw it and so forth.

When you're losing or the person next to you is annoying you or has annoyed you, you sometimes just feel like cheating or pulling out everything you can just to spite them off.

 

[Falksi]

Manhunt.

 

[RK47]

It's somewhat annoying being 'good' in Divinity Original Sins series.
Skill books and gears are kinda expensive at the start so having no option to steal from or murder innocents to get them is going to make things difficult.
The higher-level skill books will also grow more expensive, thereby slowing your advancement even further.

 

[Gerrard]

BioShock is a very good example of morality done completely the wrong way. You're told that killing the "little sisters" will be to your advantage, but you can choose to save them instead. Then if you do save them, the game rewards you with a literal giftwrapped box filled with upgrade points ... even more than you would have got from killing them.

But that's wrong, you fucking retard.
It gave you like 15 points less than if you killed them, which is fucking nothing.

 

[Valky]

Monster Girl Quest challenges my ability to remain virtuous.

It challenged my ability of wanting to win every battle on the first try.

Resisting temptation is simply an elevated form of gameplay challenge unique to the H genre.

 

[mastroego]

I'd say Skyrim qualifies.

 

[Steamboat Willie]

The Asshole/Renegade options in the Mass Effect trilogy are hard to avoid, since the game is so much more entertaining when you choose them.

 

[Falksi]

I'd say Skyrim qualifies.

You're mistaking "not easy being good" with "not good"

 

[ghostdog]

KOTOR 2? You get much stronger jedi powers if you go dark side, though that may be a bad thing since an already easy game becomes piss-easy.

On the other hand combat in kotor is mostly crap, so getting over it fast may actually be better.

hmmm...

 

[DalekFlay]

It's somewhat annoying being 'good' in Divinity Original Sins series.
Skill books and gears are kinda expensive at the start so having no option to steal from or murder innocents to get them is going to make things difficult.
The higher-level skill books will also grow more expensive, thereby slowing your advancement even further.

This could be a thread in itself, but don't a ton of RPGs normalize theft to the point that you do it even with a goody-two-shoes character? I would guess most players, even if role-playing a Paladin or whatever, take shit from people's chests and basements and whatnot as loot to use/sell. I feel like it's simple reflex at this point.

 

[jebsmoker]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/846200/Bastard/

 

[Roguey]

KOTOR 2? You get much stronger jedi powers if you go dark side, though that may be a bad thing since an already easy game becomes piss-easy.

On the other hand combat in kotor is mostly crap, so getting over it fast may actually be better.

hmmm...

You can use dark side powers just fine as a light side user. The penalties are negligible.

 

[Nano]

You can use dark side powers just fine as a light side user. The penalties are negligible.

I dunno, I thought the Dark Side powers were using way too much mana if your PC is Light Side. Spamming Lightning isn't as viable because you have to go through, like, 3/4 of the combat encounters with insufficient mana.

 

[Mark Richard]

The Jedi Knight / Jedi Academy games - you get a lot of powerful force powers from the dark side (maybe other star wars games do it too)

Yeah, the devs knew what they were doing in Jedi Academy by upping the damage for force lightning if the player went weaponless and used both free hands.

 

[Roguey]

I dunno, I thought the Dark Side powers were using way too much mana if your PC is Light Side. Spamming Lightning isn't as viable because you have to go through, like, 3/4 of the combat encounters with insufficient mana.

You can stack wisdom to such a high degree to make it not an issue.

 

[Pero_Gamechuck]

Not sure if Papers, Please qualifies, but you have a family to care for, and one (or more) members will get sick or die; sooner or later.