7 Times We Tried To Do The Right Thing but the Game Wouldn’t Let Us

Look, we honestly tried to be good, but these games just didn't give us any other option...!
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[@gothmissstress]

I do hate it a lot when you're given a lot of choice throughout a game, but in the most crucial moment a game gives you NO choice. Aw please. Why.

[@chrishubbard64]

Because then they have to program in a thousand offshoots of the ending of the game based on whatever random thing you did.

[@insaincaldo]

@@chrishubbard64 We are asking for some choice, not all of it.

[@ButterflyScarlet]

@@chrishubbard64 Then edit the game so you get a select number of endings based on certain choices. Have game designers never taken a quiz before?

[@justjames391]

Telltale games anyone?

[@insaincaldo]

@@justjames391 You usually always have choice, but you are locked into 2 or 3 must act now, hate all outcomes.

[@slyasa_fox]

You actually can save the bear in Detroit, what you have to do is maintain stealth the entire time, and once you have alice, go to the upstairs fireplace and start a fire, the bear will be seen outside at the end of the chapter.

[@nellylenaj3601]

i was about to comment this. Im happy someone else knew this

[@jimnguyen4804]

But in the case if you do start the fire, the sympathy of the people for the androids will go down during Marcus‘s game play. This could potentially change the outcome when Kara and Alice, and may be Luther if he made it, when they are about to cross the border at the Canada‘s checkpoint.

[@mellabihitsugya9826]

I was about to say I totally remember saving the bear.

[@KuueenKumi]

When Quantic Dream said it was their most branching game yet they weren't even kidding

[@spartythespart]

I couldve swore there is one the bear mauls the guy too and doesnt die

[@aaroncooper4237]

The ironic thing about the false surrenders in Rise of the Triad is that either you can commit a war crime by killing an unarmed surrendering enemy, or they can commit a war crime by falsely surrendering, but either way a war crime is committed

[@Khornecussion]

Considering it's the Triad, makes sense.

[@exxiethewriter3567]

You also can't spare the bandits in Skyrim even though they shout things like that you've bested them. They literally surrender, but you have to kill them or poof they're all better and ready to 'loot your corpse'

[@suprememugwump1405]

I hated this. For all the terrible things you can do in the game, all the alternate dialog, cut scenes, questlines to take, you should be able to let surrendering bandits flee.

[@alphacat77]

“We would spare the little sisters” don’t you mean you would. We all know Luke didn’t.

[@LordMogatron]

The monster

[@eliottdewitt893]

Hes simply a horrible human being

[@KarateKitty5000]

Was about to mention that myself :) Ellen going on about 'tasty adam' gave me flashbacks to that list video, and got me thinking :"Hold on, didn't Ellen save all the little sisters and then revealed that Luke the monster killed them?"

[@gamehunter88]

You can spare npcs? And then...like...NOT loot the corpses? You can play games like that?

[@gothmissstress]

@@gamehunter88 meh. cheats

[@Schrau]

On the plus side, actually feigning surrender with the intent to attack once the surrender is accepted (known as perfidy) is also a war crime.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

True. At least that's one thing the Geneva Conventions does right.

[@charastar3]

So THATS what my DM means when they say my party commits war crimes!

[@michaelandreipalon359]

@@charastar3 DM?

[@r.j.penfold]

@@michaelandreipalon359 Dungeon Master. There is also GM, which I believe stands for Game Master, but DM is usually specific to D&D.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

@@r.j.penfold Ah, OK.

[@MoiraMcGill]

Another for Detroit Become Human: when you don't have a choice to report finding the abused android in the attic or not.

[@sweetnightmare001]

Although, it makes sense. At that point in the game Connor isn't questioning whether or not he should turn in the deviant. He's still full Deviant Hunter. So really, it would've been stranger to be given the choice to change that so early on.

[@MoiraMcGill]

@@sweetnightmare001 Connor was already becoming deviant from the start because he was literally designed to do so. From the first time you load into him, as he's going to the roof scene, he's already becoming deviant as per the (I forget the exact wording they use) system error that shows in the upper right corner of the screen. And it continues to show until he finally becomes fully deviant. Amanda even reveals this to Connor later on should he become devaint. She doesn't reveal this fact to him when he doesn't deviate because to them it didn't really matter if he actually went deviant or not so long as he led them to their goal, plus they had the "deviant kill switch" for him for in case he did. Thus, it could easily make sense for that choice to be there, especially considering the information he'd absorbed by that point.

[@BigMoney_L]

@@MoiraMcGill 7 months late, sorry- I think either way, he deviates. He shows emotion (sparing hank/getting angry when he fails) he just becomes a deviant that refuses to belive he's like the rest who in his mind, cause chaos and "are the reason the country is on the brink of civil war" he wants to stop them so he doesn't get destroyed but either way he does, his face shows flickers of regret when the RK900 arrives and he's told he'll be decommissioned

[@hanasan4845]

I mean, in theory, you do have a choice in choosing not to find him. Not finding all the clues and not going to the attic. On my first playthrough, I was one of the four percent of people who failed that investigation, and I found I don't really mind, because I didn't really want to incriminate a clearly abused android. Though I did end up finding him on my second playthrough, I wanted to see the "28 stab wounds" scene

[@MoiraMcGill]

@@hanasan4845 That works.....unless you go into the attic. Once you go up, you have to find him and there are no more choices. I tried waiting to be timed out up there before and it didn't work

[@rickypedia999]

I always found the Little Sisters from Bioshock a weird one. You get less up front for sparing them, but for every 3 you save you get sent a care package from Tenenbaum as thanks, which includes enough ADAM that it not only covers the difference, it actually gives _even more_ than you missed out on as a result, along with various other supplies you wouldn't get otherwise.

[@Hartzilla2007]

Thats just seems to be a case of how sometimes making the more moral choice will also work out for you better than the other choice.

[@TylerInTraining]

@@Hartzilla2007 What bugged me about that is, while that's the correct lesson to teach in the real world, in game it diminishes the replay value somewhat. If you already know that taking this one path will give you the most resources, as well as exclusive plasmids you can't get otherwise, then you've no incentive to try the murder path to see what happens. And the bad ending isn't worth it in the slightest.

[@jeremyneill227]

@@TylerInTraining In an interview Ken Levine said this was due to publisher pushback and he wanted to add more impact to the decision. Apparently, they were nervous about too many branching choices and pathways. Which doesn't make sense to us now but hindsight is 2020.

[@Funkopedia]

Yeah it took out the whole point of a good-evil trade-off. I think Game Maker's Toolkit discusses this in a video about choice and consequences.

[@cardendietrich6873]

There are a few things with Bioshock that go to show that their set up for good and evil isn't as dynamic as it is for some other games, like Infamous or Mass Effect, it's more like the system in Dishonored, mimicking karma, which implies that it would be more fruitful to be evil and in the long run actually leaves you and the world much worse off and those who are inclined to "sacrifice" for the sake of being good are later rewarded, normally emotionally.

[@Book_Golem]

The whole "enemies fake surrendering" thing happens in Skyrim too. Really caught me off guard when it happened, then again when the bandit I'd just spared shot me in the back.

[@EclipsisTenebris]

Can't you just take their weapons? Not sure if they are dumb enough to fistfight you.

[@mrwog82]

Yeah, it's especially annoying since some innocent npcs can run in fear. There's even a "fear" spell. But no, every single surrender is a fake out.

[@Raixiel]

Happens in The Last of Us Part 2 as well. Super frustrating.

[@killertruth186]

@@EclipsisTenebris They will fist fight you.

[@EclipsisTenebris]

@@killertruth186 that is hilarious!... and kinda sad.

[@mitchellbonds766]

Not being able to spare Grey Wolf Sif even after learning his entire backstory in Dark Souls. This is made worse by Sif remembering you and howling mournfully before the battle starts.

[@bdp4]

You can have someone drop you his ring, save edit, or just not do it in new game+ at least.

[@expressosledghammer]

@@ragvarok7186 .... Are you fucking serious

[@CottonyAlmonds]

I always fewed it as time fuckery. You can't save them because time in the souls series is a circle, and Sif has already been killed, or is destined to be

[@arandomguy71]

Wow, That Is Just Sad....

[@jamessullivan3870]

My fiancee was watching me fight that boss and noticed how it gets injured and slower throughout the fight. Watching it struggle at the end is just devastating

[@RikkuEcRud]

The one in The Last of Us, either the doctor wasn't as qualified as we're told, nobody explained properly to Marlene, or Marlene wasn't paying attention to the explanation. Vaccines are for _viruses,_ not fungi, and properly researching an immunity would _never_ *start* with a lethal procedure, especially on a human subject and especially especially not on the _only_ case of an immunity. Odds are very high those doctors were so far out of their depths that they never would have even come close to any sort of cure or "vaccine" and Ellie would be dead for no reason.

[@omnom8378]

To be fair though they did find out why she was immune. Or at least the location of which the immunity comes from idk I’m not a doctor.

[@Kumquat_Lord]

Or maybe the story writers are just shite, tlou2 certainly proved that

[@jeremycheney142]

Plus a vaccine is useless for someone who's already been exposed.

[@davidwave4]

It’s a dumb video game trying desperately for moral ambiguity and pathos. There was no real medical background or justification, it was expressly designed to make you feel like shit.

[@queenofcookie3299]

@@omnom8378 well yes but finding ubnormalys in the brain can be easily found and since it’s a fungus that uses the brain/ spinal cord to get control over it’s victims it wasn’t exactly a mystery we’re the fungus in her body would be also the normal thing to do would have been to take a spinal sample or too wich isn’t nearly as invasive and would have given much more helpful results on how her body is combating the fungus

[@ihavenoideadanny]

The Portal One is actually part of the Lore, since at the ending of portal 2, Glados actually sends a partly charred companion cube.

[@ChaosDeary]

I'd like to see Jane's take on this video: "7 Times We Tried to Commit Mass Murder but the Game Wouldn't Let Us"

[@patrickmccurry1563]

@She Who Shall Not Be Blamed He was right in that movie though. Nuking it from orbit at the start would have caused only a single innocent death.

[@Living_with_Narcissists]

All joking aside, seven times we tried to be evil and the game didn't let us sounds like a good video.

[@Dean-nq8so]

"7 times genocide was a necessity"

[@submariNervous]

@She Who Shall Not Be Blamed True, but it would open up opportunities for at least one Commenter Edition sequel, which gives us the chance to have our evil little desires validated!

[@youngkim5909]

Little sisters in Bioshock. "Harvest" or "Rescue" *Glares at Luke* Anything you wanna say bud?

[@ANonymous-fq5ky]

Luke simply hates orphans, just look at the events in the town of Bum...ble from oxventure.

[@Rymeths]

Normal farmers in Mount and blade: its almost harvesting season. Farmers if Luke would play it: IT IS harvesting season! Rip and tear until everything is harvested!

[@alextheidiot7971]

@@Rymeths it’s 1912 all over again

[@DisgruntledGoblin]

Ah, pretty similar to the Rise of the Triad one is Skyrim: I was so annoyed when I realized that if you stopped attacking an enemy when they were low on HP and yelled "Mercy!" or "Victory is yours, I submit!", they would just start attacking you again a few seconds later when they regained some health. Made it pretty difficult to play as a character who only believes in killing as a last resort :/ Eventually I was able to use illusion magic to avoid some of the deaths, but still feels wrong for her to slash down enemies crying for mercy when circumstances prevent her from calming all the enemies with magic.

[@JayHog1992]

Hopefully there's a mod that fixes that issue and just makes them waltz out of the area or just run away instead.

[@aga3852]

Oh yeah I get exactly what you mean. I rather lower the casualties, at least when trying to get immersed.

[@fartlord17]

was just about comment this

[@A_Hylian_Not_An_Elf]

What I hated was that you can’t save the Dark Brotherhood members.

[@hernehaugen6878]

I always played Skyrim with a "kill only when you need to but don't weep for the stupid" attitude. Sure I didn't go out of my way to purge bandit camps but if you knowingly start swinging on me after you just watched me eat a f*cking dragon's soul, then don't you dare get mad at me for swinging back harder.

[@corruptedabyssknightbain4387]

There is also the fact that Daniel, the first deviant that Conner has to deal with in the game, cannot be spared, no matter what route you take, he will always have he's fate set in robotic stone

[@evanverser547]

What I love about the Companion Cube thing is that she says you incinerated it faster than any other test subject no matter how long it takes you to do it...almost as if no one has ever had the heart to do it before Chell

[@ddjsoyenby]

so there was a way........but us evil b@st@rds just never found a way!

[@Arindilwen]

Or GLADOS was lying. Again. Like she does a lot.

[@Chris_Sizemore]

@@Arindilwen If you are the first tester to make it this far, technically GLaDOS isn't lying.

[@Arindilwen]

@@Chris_Sizemore Also a possibility.

[@ADAJ342]

@@Chris_Sizemore ,isn’t that just lying by omission?

[@Cuiasodo]

Fun fact - the companion cube incinerator was added into the game thanks to beta testers taking the cube out of that map and breaking other puzzles and also finding other workarounds to taking the cube with them.

[@drankydrank1]

"In early versions of the game, the player was forced to simply abandon it and move on. However, the developers were seeking a way to make the player familiar with how Aperture Science's incinerators worked in order to use them to destroy the orbs in the final battle against GLaDOS. They hit upon the idea to have GLaDOS force Chell to destroy the Cube in the incinerator, believing the idea to be a "perfect thing" and "way stronger" emotionally, and attributing its success to "design arguments" between members of the development team."

[@Foxxie0kun]

Two big things to take from the last two entries: 1: If you can get an asset close to a terrorist leader and/or figurehead, an assassination is a safer option than further attempts at infiltration. 2: Pretending to surrender is dangerous and banned by the Geneva conventions, as someone who pretends to surrender but then attacks their captors causes suspicion to be cast upon every soldier attempting to surrender, leading to many unarmed personnel being killed to minimize risks rather than taken captive.

[@Joe-ky9tn]

One moment that would probably come to my mind was the Black space Cat room in Omori, where it constantly tells you that you have to kill your cat and the dialogue gets more and more tragic with time. But it doesn't really force you though. You can get out of the room by stabbing yourself, but it doesn't tell you that once.

[@IoEstasCedonta]

And the way to do that is by bringing up the menu, which is disabled for that entire section of the game except that one room.

[@little-earth-star6]

Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney. There is a flashback sequence where you must present a certain piece of evidence, but doing so will ruin Phoenix Wright's life, as you learn very early on in the game. Since it's a flashback sequence, there's no way to do the right thing.

[@KirbyCom]

Hey, look on the bright side! Sure, he lost his entire career and became a disgrace in the legal community, but he also got a cool magic daughter out of it

[@michaelandreipalon359]

History must be made, even if it means destroying a good man's life temporarily or not.

[@KirbyCom]

@She Who Shall Not Be Blamed I feel like you stepping in specifically led to a chain of events that stopped the world from being destroyed in that case

[@Gamer88334]

@@KirbyCom It did. The whole game could’ve been prevented if a certain antagonist would’ve simply welcomed being proven wrong instead being afraid of being proven wrong. That certain antagonist rigged pretty much everything, including you and Goro being involved in the game’s plot. The only thing they didn’t rig was their defeat.

[@eleanorsmith7152]

This series really likes to make you do stuff like that huh? In the second investigations game you play Gregory Edgeworth during the lead up to the DL6 incident, by this point knowing full well what’s going to happen to everyone involved but powerless to do anything to stop it. Your hands feel so red as everything you do leads everyone towards their various deaths/traumas, and let me tell you it is NOT helped by Gregory saying things like ‘I never want my son to be in the care of someone like Von Karma’!

[@foxmind2490]

The bottle shattering off the doctor and him not flinching was hilarious

[@joshuaholland5279]

How do they know shooting him in the foot killed him he could’ve just passed out from pain

[@PurpleMoon799]

@@joshuaholland5279 the second game..

[@joshuaholland5279]

@@PurpleMoon799 didn’t think of that, but in my play through I shot him in the foot and just acted like he was alive so I didn’t have to play the sequel

[@PurpleMoon799]

@@joshuaholland5279 fair enough

[@havardl4495]

you guys would go the right thing? Im having fun doing war crimes 1942 and not the from the allie's

[@sensei1067]

You can get past the surgeon in the last of us. You can actually walk right past him and he wont touch you. I just had the feeling he didnt have the guts, thought "dont make me do this bud", walked past him, picked the girl up and went boom happy end.

[@spartythespart]

i was actually waiting to see them say what happened if you just walked past and they just never even tried lol

[@gukeoke6312]

doesn't walking near him immediately make joel to stab his neck

[@sensei1067]

@@gukeoke6312 na

[@Linkforlife199]

Weird, I tried doing that for about 5min in the remastered version and it wouldn't let me, I even spared most of the Fireflies, except for the very last guy who I hopped a barricade literally right into his lap.

[@fagioli7063]

@@Linkforlife199 I was about to say the same thing!! When I got to that part I didn’t realize why the game just kept me there because it was a cutscene before that part I believe so I tried walking past him to get Ellie and it didn’t let me. I eventually figured out I had to kill him which make sense, since it’s an important part for TLOU2

[@danii8168]

In the Witcher 3, one of the first side quests where you have to decide between giving the sick woman a medication too strong for the human body, or letting her die peacefully. In fact some KZbinrs debunked the entirety of the quest and what the devs programmed after it involving an encounter with the sick woman's, (from my memory) lover, proving that in fact you could save her.

[@aboxinspace]

Damn, I gave her the medicine, but when I found her lover, he said she died horribly because of the potion. I'm glad to know there is a better ending

[@Veladus]

There's no happy option. Either she dies, or the potion leaves her severely brain damaged. Her lover says he's torn between wanting to curse you for not letting her die with dignity and wanting to thank you for saving her.

[@John.Not-Jack.Daniels]

Over four decades of brilliant work, an IMDB page most actors would kill for, and Clancy Brown is most remembered for Mr. Krabs.

[@HiddenInTheTruth]

He'll always be Lex Luthor to me

[@robynrees]

Kurgon from highlander

[@quigley6643]

Buckaroo Banzai!!!

[@TheKML777]

"The enemy cannot press the red button, if you disable his hands! MEDIC!"

[@UnstableEquilibrium]

Odin from Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

[@aedandragon]

My thing with being forced to go into Zlatko’s basement is that it’s a clear example of player vs character knowledge. It’s a thing I deal with a lot in D&D. You as the player may know that the trackers don’t work in deviants, but Kara has no way of knowing that, so she sees no reason not to trust him.

[@carlos_takeshi]

That's absolutely true. What I would have loved would be the option to play the scenario as if Kara trusted Zlatko (the game's actual scenario) and one where she didn't. The game has a ton of other branches, and it was a bit frustrating to be railroaded at that point.

[@dizzyheads]

Well to be fair why would she go all that way

[@Amayawolf_01]

@@carlos_takeshi Yeah I mean...creepy mansion, the way he acts so weird...I'm surprised one of his weird experiments didn't start going off on the way into the basement and spook her out of trusting him. It would've been nice to explore a bit and find something that hinted at him being shady. Well, more shady than he already seemed, that is.

[@theblackwidower]

Maybe then the game shouldn't be played from multiple viewpoints. That way you avoid such things.

[@Ivy-ir7jw]

It should've been pretty obvious if she had thought about it for even a second. She is a wanted deviant. If she had a tracker on her, no way would she have gotten anywhere without a compete swarm of cops hitting her.

[@blitzgirl6522]

22:54 The Last of Us series does this as well! You can't let someone go who's asking for mercy, they will just attack you if you wait too long.

[@maraudingstar1659]

I always thought that The Fireflies obsession with finding a “cure” although, a noble cause, seemed a tad bit ridiculous. Even if one were possible, it wouldn’t revert those already infected but prevent the healthy from contracting it. What I’m trying to get at is that the Jackson community & WLF base have been doing just fine without the need for one, they created their own system to deal with the infection & live a relatively normal life.

[@silverblade357]

Joel: "The fungus grows all over the brain." Marlene: "Right, so we're going to perform a brain biopsy and try to remove a couple samples. This comes with some risks, but our head surgeon knows what he's doing and we have spared no expense to prep an OR. We want to keep her alive as much as you do." Joel: "Huh. I just kinda assumed you were gonna pop open her head and rip her brain out." Marlene: "Why the fu... Jesus, Joel. How hard did our man hit you?"

[@marcelladonyi2409]

Ah, in a perfect world that would have been it.

[@rickyrns1059]

Literally the exact reason why I hated the Fireflies and to this day say that Joel did the right thing in saving her from what was most likely going to end up a worthless sacrifice (I don’t care what Naughty Dog says would have happened if Joel didn’t stop them, literally everything they were doing was incompetent and unnecessarily risky, it would have been a literal goddamn Deus Ex Machina if that team of unprofessional buffoons managed to actually create a cure from a very rapidly decomposing brain that would take the infection with it). Ellie literally did not need to die to make a cure, so the idea that a sacrifice would be necessary is straight up bs.

[@freddierhodes8201]

@@rickyrns1059 I mean, even if she didn't have to die, neither did the thousands she would have saved by dying. If they aren't willing to do it non-lethally, why does that still give you the right to kill them all.

[@NEETKitten]

@@freddierhodes8201 But nobody would have been saved. We don't even have fungal vaccines now! What makes you think a veterinarian (Yeah he's not even a people doctor) can create one with the literal scraps of technology that survived the apocalypse?

[@BezddRed]

@@NEETKitten People also forget that even if a vaccine was made, the world wouldn't be fixed overnight and a vaccine isn't a cure.

[@LordMogatron]

Love that Luke's first instinct in every Soulsborne game is to attack whatever is in front of him.

[@irishbob26]

Did you not see ellen attack the female merchant in dark souls? Clearly they're 2 of a kind.

[@Twiganut]

Except his Ghoul-Friends

[@ClownDollThatHasContemptForYou]

To be completely fair soulsborne games aren't exactly known for being trust worthy.

[@LordMogatron]

@@irishbob26 Every morning the Oxtra team wakes up and chooses violence

[@irishbob26]

@@LordMogatron all that kindness is an act. In real life Ellen's a thug and Luke's an mma fighter. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Cloud-bs2kn]

I think it's beautiful the way people try and save the life on an imaginary companion in an imaginary world aka the companion cube in portal. It shows how much compassion the human race really has. Personally, I dumped that thing into a fire as soon as I got the opportunity. But it kept coming back until the end of the level.

[@zoinksscoop20yearsago68]

As long as it's not humans, I'll try to save them at any cost. Companion heart cube deserves not being sacrificed, so was the lion (poor cat was not on good living conditions). Humans? not so much. Maybe kids if the circumstances are incredibly unfair, But adult humans in general? Meh, they will destroy themselves anyways so why bother? Just look at the surrenders ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@telepathickitten4653]

@@zoinksscoop20yearsago68 woah, be careful not to cut yourself on that edge bro.

[@cllywbbles8061]

Isn't the reason that Kara isn't allowed to leave Zlatko, because she as a character isn't aware that the tracker stopped working once she became sentient? I'd assume we aren't allowed to leave cause we are forced to behave and limit our knowledge to that of the character (we sort of become the character in that sense)

[@nohandlesplease]

CIA: We managed to get an armed agent within spitting distance of Makarov Also CIA: Instead of killing him why not just have the agent follow along with his rampages, what could go wrong?

[@emberfist8347]

Undercover operatives frequently have to do questionable things to get "in" with the organization they infiltrated. Even if Makarov didn't have plot armor in the game, there were still three other armed dudes including one with a GPMG who are capable of Bonnie and Clyding Allen. Also the operation was a joint op between the CIA and the 141 which Shepard commanded and he wanted to the operation to go sideways as he was planning with Makarov to start the war.

[@chrishubbard64]

@@emberfist8347 Yeah but there is a difference between "doing questionable things" and "murdering an entire airport full of innocent civilians." It takes literally a half second to spray the entire group at point blank range with a fricking machine gun that will tear right through their armor before they can do anything about it. There is no justifiable excuse to carry out the mission. I suppose they might hand wave it as being a new guy without the experience to understand that you dont follow some orders but anyone with the mental faculties of a flea should be able to figure out the moral balance here.

[@emberfist8347]

@@chrishubbard64 Morality doesn't really have a place in warfare. Also the airport is morally questionable because he was maintaining his cover so he could take him down later. Black Ops II why an agent maintaining his cover is the best option. If Farid doesn't kill Harper, Cloe gets killed later and that ends up with one of two bad endings. You also really overestimate the capabilities of the M240.

[@chrishubbard64]

@@emberfist8347 Morality absolutely does have a place in warfare. Its why things like the geneva convention exists and makarov is RIGHT THERE IN GUN RANGE. There is no reason to kill him later, kill him NOW. BEFORE he murders literally hundreds of innocent people. Maintaining cover is meant to be done so you can gather evidence for an arrest or at least be trusted enough to meet the higher ups. Again, you have all the evidence you need, the higher up is standing in front of you, and your magazine has a hundred rounds that will go right through his and his buddies fleshy melon of a skull before anyone can react. This isnt the final chase between yuri and makarov with price where you are in full juggernaut body armor, full helmet and all.

[@silverblade357]

@Ember Fist How about intelligence? Does that have a place in warfare? Assuming Allen's cover wasn't blown and they managed to prevent whatever Makarov had planned next, do you think Russia would care when an AMERICAN AGENT was involved in the premeditated murder of hundreds of people?! WW3 would absolutely still happen if the US refused to surrender Allen along with anybody giving him orders!

[@outsidextra]

Can...can we just....? Would it be possible to...? No...? Okay FINE! Here are the times games forced our hands into doing something we did our best to avoid.

[@blacksarlacc91]

Minor Spoiler for assassins creed valhalla : The new assassins creed valhalla has a mission involving an little child waiting under an tree for the return of her father who promised to be back before the last leaf of the tree falls down. Even if you search the whole city and the way in between those two points you can not bring her father back. Which you will discover (dead) once you search underneath the bridge of the city her father traveled to. (At this point I had already spent an solid 4 hours searching everything) The game only let's you one solution. Shoot the last leaf from the tree leaving the child devastated. (however as an last nice gesture you can take the leaf and put it on the table next to the child) I hate this mission and I loaded multiple saves from before I talked to the child after I discovered her dead father (after 4h of searching) trying every option during talking with her to see if it makes any difference...

[@kallasantysanty6092]

Yey Rise of the Triad, its nice to see it on a list as that game needs more love and attention it clearly deserve :)

[@dolenir]

In Red Dead Redemption, the Wronged Woman, you have to duel with a guy who got his maid pregnant. But if you try do disarm him, it’s instant death for you. Being forced to kill him dead.

[@mikeblatzheim2797]

@@dolenir Or RDR2, where Arthur from the start didn't want to do Strauss' work, but the mission was mandatory, the outcome unchangeable, and we all know the rest...

[@erebostenebris3954]

The exact same thing as in Rise of the Triad sometimes happens in Skyrim, an enemy (usually a bandit) will run around and start cowering in a corner while asking you to spare them, but if you do they decide to attack you again as soon as their HP recovers enough.

[@cy83rasf20]

Actually the Chamber 17 mission in Portal is like some sort of a "mad test". In fact, the guy who was there prior to Chell(who was writing on the walls) went mad because he really believed the cube was his faithful companion, instead of just a tool and a means to an end. That's basically one of GLADOS's psychological warfare techniques, to make you feel that way. I'm glad I didn't fall for that and incinerated that cube almost instantly. Even kinda proud of it lol.

[@SamJ.J.]

That dude had schizophrenia and was off his meds thanks to being locked in the apature science building.

[@kaysrandomchannel4618]

​@@SamJ.J.True.

[@JeiceTwiggs]

"oh she enjoyed him juuust fine. she licked her chops and asked for seconds" I am 100% using this line at some point in my life. funny as hell

[@outsidexbox]

See if you can spot the point in the red dead entry where the footage switches from Ellen's Arthur to Andy's Arthur 🤠

[@TJWallisIndustries]

The vest gave it alllll away 😜

[@calebroberson7264]

The different vests right?

[@MetaManGamingTM]

You can always tell if Andys the one playing a game because his character usually has swag

[@SentientMeat]

Why won't either of you feed Arthur though? The man needs to eat

[@sjkenfield]

Fashion.

[@superskh]

In Skyrim they have actual dialogue for randos challenging you to a fight where they concede. First time facing this was an orc who insisted, wrongfully, that I was a "milk drinker." Because I am kind and forgiving, I brought out a healing spell and healed him, then he went right back to wailing on me. I'm bummed they didn't have an option to just go our separate ways.

[@alexvazquez2871]

They do if you sheathe your weapon.

[@Autistic_Tarkov_Guy]

@@alexvazquez2871 sometimes

[@jm6456]

Kingdom come deliverance actually has this feature, in fact if you lose they will even show you mercy and let you go too

[@aceventurasspear22]

Another one regarding sparing enemies, if you’re in a Titan in Titanfall 2 and approach a lone foot soldier (Note: The soldier had to be human, not a robot) the soldier just…. Gives up fighting, they throw down their gun and just accept that they’re gonna die. Right up until you decide to spare them and walk away, whereupon they decide that not dying my being punched into a viscous red pudding is not what they wanted to happen, they’ll start shooting at you again

[@knowlessman]

Ohey, turns out Skyrim was copying another game's homework when it decided to make you kill surrendering enemies.

[@bibbobella]

TBF Skyrim don't really have surrendering enemies. They might go down and beg on their knee for you not to kill them...untill they get just a shiver of enough health...then they will jump up and once again attempt to kill your ass. It honestly annoyed me to no end that I couldn't just let them go so I even had to find a mod for it....

[@shadowsnake5133]

@@bibbobella which thank god those exist for modern console versions... just don't play ps3 pr xbox 360 versions, they aren't modable.

[@Kefkaesque13]

22:48 faking a surrender is actually a literal war crime under the Geneva Conventions for that exact reason.

[@sharondemoret2338]

well, he got what he deserved i guess.

[@scotcheggable]

The Geneva suggestions are irrelevant to anyone actually at war

[@NO-jk3fp]

@@scotcheggable i think if someone does not follow everyone is gonna gang the SH*T out of em

[@ripvanwinkle5968]

During the world wars killing a medic is/was considered a war crime but the Japanese didn't care so they killed the medics anyway so the U.S army said to remove the medic symbols from there helmets as it would make them an even bigger Target

[@NO-jk3fp]

@@ripvanwinkle5968 so your saying if you have a cross on your head your gonna be a target and most likely will die

[@reapergrimm8]

One instance that always raises my hackles is the Thieves Guild and Maven Black-Briar from Skyrim. Because of plot reasons, you're expected to join the Thieves Guild in order to advance the main quest. You can work around it a bit by passing a tough speech check. But even then you're stuck with the final word of the Disarm shout locked behind the Thieves Guild questline, as well as being stuck with any Stones of Barenziah in your inventory if you picked some up at any point in the game because they are flagged as quest items. Then we get to Maven Black-Briar herself, who is a karma houdini no matter what happens in the game. It's an open secret to everyone but the Jarl of Riften and Asgeir Snow-Shod that both the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood are at her beck and call. And while you can choose to destroy the Dark Brotherhood, you can't destroy the Thieves Guild. Maven herself is flagged essential, so even if you wanted to take matters into your own hands and go on a werewolf or vampire lord rampage to kill her, you can't. Honestly. I like to play Skyrim as a genuine hero and avoid being a thief when I can, even turning down a few daedric quests to maintain character. But the game expects me to join the setting equivalent of the mafia at some point and I can't actually do what I want to do. Which is get rid of said mafia.

[@mattkennedy9308]

I like the Morrowind Thieves Guild quests. More like actual non-killing Thieves and one of the quest lines is basically resurrecting the setting equivalent of Robin Hood. The only killing quests are against the Cammona Tong and a Fighter's Guild leader that sided with the Cammona Tong, which are the evil equivalent and trying to murder everyone.

[@firemoonlily]

I hated being forced to join the Thieves Guild for access to fences, when I just wanted to be an independent petty thief who just picked stuff up and said "hey im gonna sell this now", because i was (and still am) a weenie whos terrible in a fight

[@rjfrost7090]

Eh, the Thieves Guild and Maven are okay in my books. She's unscrupulous, but at least she isn't openly killing people in the city streets who are being an inconvenience to her like Thonar Silver-Blood does in Markarth. It's probably better to let her be in charge of Riften's criminal elements than killing her and risking someone worse coming along. Plus if you complete the Thieves Guild and Dark Brotherhood questlines the Dragonborn effectively becomes the leader of the two groups Maven goes to get things done. The Dragonborn is on roughly equal ground with her and thus can regulate the criminal elements of Riften (and in other parts of Skyrim.) so things don't get too out of hand.

[@reapergrimm8]

@@rjfrost7090 Thonar can be killed if you side with the Forsworn during "Escape From Cidhna Mine", effectively cleaning up most of Markarth's corruption. Thongvar can become Jarl, but he doesn't demonstrate a preference for Thonvar's tactics. Maven can't be dealt consequences at all.

[@rjfrost7090]

@@reapergrimm8 There are actually a number of things you can do to screw Maven over. Such as: 1. Kill her kids after getting one her alchemy ingredients, and lying to the other about where her fiance went. 2. Burning down all the bee hives at the goldenglow estate during the Thieves Guild questline. 3. Leaving the rats under Honningbrew Meadery alive. 4. Destroying the Dark Brotherhood so she doesn't have assassins anymore if you don't feel like leading them. 5. Helping a Dunmer who works at her meadery transport some stolen mead to an innkeeper in Ivarstead so you can take whatever you want from her meadery without it being considered stealing. 6. Helping Louis Letrush and her son steal Maven's prized horse and telling her about it, steal the horse for yourself, steal everything at the Black Briar Lodge that's not nailed down, and kill every mercenary she has employed there. You should probably do this before the first item on this list. 7. Progress the main quest until you get to the peace council between the Empire and Stormcloaks, then arrange for Riften to be given to the Empire so when you reclaim it for the Stormcloaks so Maven gets exiled from Riften. Then complete the Thieves Guild questline so she can show up for your coronation as Guild Master so she can see the guild no longer needs her patronage anymore to stand on it's own two feet whilst she is down 2 kids, a horse, her personal assassins, her businesses have been screwed with, and she can't even set foot in the city proper. Then steal all she's got on her, her bodyguard, her remaining son, and her house. And as for Thonar's brother. He's kind of a douche. I'd rather take an idiot jarl blind to the problems his city is suffering from than the douche who is the brother to the source of most of the cities problems.

[@antoanpaskalev4810]

When Makarov back tracked you to the elevator and went in swinging at you I lost my shit😂😂😂

[@27PSB72]

Just like in Rise of the Triads, Fallout 4 has a perk mechanic of pacifying enemies witch technically turns them friendly. At that point, depending on your perk level, you can give them specific commands like inciting them to attack or making them give you their loot via Trade, but... The moment you holster your weapon or turn your back on them, you'll be sure to face the wrath of a re-hostilised enemy. How nice!

[@freddierhodes8201]

I always thought of that choice in Detroit: Become Human as good role-playing, since you the player know that the trackers don't work, but that character does not, only Connor does.

[@DavidJoh]

Mind you those guys were obviously sketchy as hell. It's only bad because it's stupid.

[@PentiSam]

@@DavidJoh yeah, but kara is a sheltered housemaid robot. She doesn't understand human nuance very well.

[@mariano3716]

Fuck it, since you're playing it. You should have the alternative to not trust him. Choice is at the heart of what a deviant is, after all.

[@freddierhodes8201]

@@mariano3716 yes. But they're not idiots. They make decisions based of the info they have, not the info the omniscient God that controls their every waking moment has. Don't metagame dude!

[@mariano3716]

@@freddierhodes8201 but the thing is - each different player has an opinion and a playstyle. If is mandatory, just put it behind a cutscene, that's all we're saying. Don't force us to opt like you want me to if you're giving us the reins. Like I commented, deviants are deviants because they chose not to act under their directives, so that would be a possible outcome. Also, this is not a regular game - aren't this guy's games supposed to be interactive novelizations? Don't be dense.

[@AD-6896]

Romeo and Juliet is not a love story, Luke. I'll have you know that I'm willing to die on this hill.

[@chrishubbard64]

Its a show of idiot teenagers with self control issues getting everyone killed through their own stupid teen angst.

[@AD-6896]

@@chrishubbard64 And their stupid parents being too busy fighting to notice or help.

[@endlessevilinsanity]

Idk man, it is a stupid and unhealthy one for sure, that had it been written today would've been classified as YA, but a love story nonetheless.

[@shitbiscuit6955]

@@NotAFanOfHandles idk, killing yourself for someone seems like love to me

[@piercedsiren]

So were they

[@angstydoodles1101]

In Portal, the lack of a choice makes complete sense. It was exactly something GLaDOS would do. Manipulation and passive-aggressive comments are her MO. Giving you a companion, the only companion you have in a clinical and isolating place, and then ripping it away from you right as you start getting attached and forcing you to destroy it yourself, is Manipulation 101. You wouldn't have been able to take it with you because of that particle field right before the elevator, and leaving it behind would have been bad enough, but forcing you to incinerate it in order to progress? That's a purposeful, calculated psychological attack, manipulation perfectly accentuated by the off-hand comment at the end. "You incinerated your companion cube quicker than any other test subject."

[@lloydnicholls1439]

Is anyone going to mention that bit in "Innocence: A plague tale" where you have to lure a cute piggy to be murderered by a swarm of rats? Innocence? More like piggy murder!

[@kaysrandomchannel4618]

I've never heard of A Plague Tale, but that HAS to be on the list if they ever make a part 2.

[@nobody1807]

Trying to save characters who are scripted to die (eg Roggvir in Skyrim), not being able arrest enemies who are begging (eg bandits in skyrim) or not being able to kill the big bad because skript/sequal

[@GrndAdmiralThrawn]

Technically, if you’re fast enough, you can save Roggvir. Though the game will kill him itself a few minutes afterward. But morally, that’s not really your fault.

[@rjfrost7090]

I spent an hour trying to Soul Trap Roggvir without getting everyone in Solitude pissed at me for attacking the guy who was going to get his head lopped off anyway. I just couldn't stand that fool thinking he was going to Sovngarde for the only thing of significance he did in life was opening a gate. I had to time it just right as the executioner's axe was swinging down on him. Also in a previous playthrough I soul trapped and executed the guy Roggvir opened a gate for that deserved him getting executed as far as the people of Solitude are concerned. Screw that guy, I'm looking forward to doing that again in my current playthrough.

[@victoriousf.i.g.3311]

Walking out those damned barn doors in Red Dead Redemption.

[@ddjsoyenby]

THAT NEVER HAPPENED JOHN IS STILL ALIVE *runs while crying* "you need to accept john's dead someday"

[@GremlinSciences]

Or swapping to anything other than the basic 6-shot revolver You'll let me use my High Power pistol for duels, but not when its quick reload is actually needed? And I even had my Spencer repeater equipped, with more than enough rounds to wipe the whole crowd in one use of Dead Eye.

[@dracosfire7247]

If John didn't walk out those doors, and didn't die, the Government guys would have found and killed his family. John knew that, and when faced with the choice to die and let his family live, or live and have his family die, he made the obvious choice.

[@GremlinSciences]

@@dracosfire7247 Except John is a highly capable gunslinger and had no guarantee the government guys wouldn't just kill his family anyway, they had already broken their word more than once. The choice was actually to die on the off-chance they let his family go safely, or fight tooth and nail to ensure they are protected. With as many guns as John carried around all the time, and how capably he wielded them, he should have been fully capable of busting out of that barn with a bandolier of loaded revolvers, a repeating rifle one hand and a double-barrel shotgun in the other. Instead he strolls out with nothing but the basic revolver, regardless of what you had equipped.

[@ddjsoyenby]

@@dracosfire7247 john served as a distraction plus he knew he was the one they wanted.

[@dirtydirtmcgogurt]

It always bugs me in RPG's when all of the dialogue options lead to the same result, except with a random phrase inserted at the beginning. NPC - "What do you wish to do?" Player Dialogue Options - 1. Let's Go 2. What do you think? 3. We should wait. 4. Screw you, lady! You don't call the shots! (Player selects "Let's go!") NPC - "Let's go!" (RELOADS SAVE) (Player selects "We should wait.") NPC - "That's not a good idea, let's go!" So... why even ask, if you won't respect my answer?

[@kaysrandomchannel4618]

I KNOWWW

[@b3nt079]

Honestly, for DBH I always thought it was more frustrating to not let Carlo Ortiz's android get away from the attic rather than letting Kara go into the basement-

[@DarkNight3603]

So about the little sisters. Saving them is actually MORE beneficial than harvesting them. As you get a lot of Adam in supply drop fashion from them, and access to some powers you dont normally get. So id argue doing the right thing is the ONLY thing to do. Unless you want to do a run where youre the monster i guess.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

Yeah. Mostly for poor Elizabeth...

[@chrishubbard64]

True but you dont know that if you are new to the game. You only know that sparing them means less adam now thus making the game harder. But either way its a bad entry because this is about games where you CANT make the good choice.

[@michaelandreipalon359]

@@chrishubbard64 I can see what you mean. Still, even without thinking about her, you will feel bad when you harvest the poor things.

[@lasolady]

@@chrishubbard64 i recently played bioshock for the first time and while i knew the differences before, i couldn't murder them! i mean it breaks my heart SAVING them... and i didn't find the game to be hard by any means (in fact i am v disappointed with the final fight because like. it's so underwhelming???)

[@D_YellowMadness]

@@chrishubbard64 It's not an entry. They mentioned it before any of the entries, as an example of a game that *does* give you moral choices.

[@BebeQueens1]

In DBH’s defence, not going in the basement is definitely a meta gaming choice. Kara would likely go in there

[@GrndAdmiralThrawn]

As is stopping Makarov. You as the character don’t know that your cover is already blown. Though, I guess it would make sense if your character’s goal was to kill Makarov, even if it meant being gunned down by his henchmen.

[@bikeshedstudios6467]

Knowing the real world alterative of the deadly fungus in The Last of Us, the end of the game is actually good and that Joel did the right thing. If Joel didn't get Ellie she would have just died and it wouldn't have saved anything, in fact it would just make it worse.

[@Ares99999]

Explain how it would have made things worse. Explain how Ellie living was a positive for the world.

[@falsnamae3511]

@@Ares99999 The real-world mushroom it is based upon is parasitic: Vaccines cannot be made for parasites. People cannot be immune to parasites. But other parasites can crowd out parasites. And the mushroom zombies spread their parasitics through spores, but also through LIVING saliva and blood. Or in other words, every person Ellie bit in the storyline but didn't kill? Now a cure-carrier (not many of them, though, since you kill them all). Killing Ellie? Kills the cure. The more people Ellie frenches, bites, bleeds on, or who touch their own faces after interacting with her leaving any bodily fluids, the safer the world becomes. But that butcher of a veterinarian wants to kill the cure, and not only that, files in-game imply she's not the first one this non-lethal mutation has occurred in. They've killed multiple cure-variant-mushrooms in the past! And not only do they think "we should kill more", but they never stop for one moment to think "maybe arbitrarily killing them isn't working, after the tenth one here...", let alone actual science. Their deaths at Joel's hands improved the odds of the world finding out that there's a safe semi-symbiotic mushroom. The longer they lived, the more people would die, since their efforts are directly opposite to what a cure would be.

[@5koby4]

@@Ares99999 There's no vaccines for fungi that's for viruses, the tried multiple times before Ellie and failed, they could've done a biopsy and let her live instead of just ripping her brain out and digging through it, why wouldn't you study one of the few immune people on the planet over a period of time instead of immediately killing them.

[@seshthecat]

@@Ares99999 the fact that they had done the same thing many times before and never succeeded. Why would do it again be any different?

[@QuickSilverKitsune]

@@Ares99999 Vaccines do not work on Fungal Infections: they were killing immune people via these procedures for a type of medicine that would've had zero effect Ellie living however allows her to pass on the mutated version(either through regular encounters with others or having kids), which would potentially (over A LOT of time) give humanity a blanket immunity to the Fungus

[@percyjackson3885]

The part where Kara is in Zlatko's house is my favorite part of the video game. It shows how much Kara and Alice love each other.

[@maxvel0city906]

One moment in gaming immediately comes to mind on this topic and that's Spec Ops The Line and it's infamous White Phosphorus incident. Still sends a shiver down my spine any time I think of it.🥶

[@superphantom100]

Yeah. It’s been awhile since I’ve played it. Isn’t to goal of that mission to try and find the civilians?

[@yaoiboi60]

@@ichijofestival2576 Yeah. It's the character's action. Because you're playing a character.

[@razgriz821]

Did he know they were civies though?

[@bleees1637]

Yeah, I'm surprised Spec Ops isn't in this list, it's the biggest example of this, and then the game goes on to shame you for your action. While the "you could stop playing" argument has been thrown around before, that feels like a cop out. It fundamentally breaks the fourth wall, and you can never experience the consequence of your inaction. So if you're now thinking outside of the game narrative, and feel forced to continue, then it's clear that you're playing a game, and the people you're killing aren't real, and you as a player aren't responsible for anything, and the emotional/ethical argument is lost. It feels like that whole section only works if you play it as a bit of a mindless player just doing the objectives, and maybe the later narrative causes you to think about your actions, and question the objectives in other games?

[@hukuizstudios8481]

Damn, you beat me to it! I’ve never even played the game but I know nearly everything about the game due to my subscription to RabbidLuigi

[@Cuiasodo]

"This isn't a decision the Fireflies take lightly." Seeing as how they bother trying to search for alternatives for all about a day and how no one bothered to, I don't know, wait until Ellie woke up to ask her if she was cool with dying, I'd argue the contrary.

[@D_YellowMadness]

Plus they just couldn't stop poking the Joel bear. "Let's knock him out with a rifle while he's trying to resuscitate Ellie. Let's take Ellie while they're both unconscious. Let's glare at him, threaten him, shove a gun against his back, & literally dare him to attack while standing next to her belongings."

[@starrygeek]

Was FINALLY waiting to see someone else mention this. They LITERALLY didn't even tell her she was gonna die. They be like "Ok resuscitate her then..SURGERY" She didn't get to wake up and last thing she knows is she died by drowning. Not also at how the dude knocked Joel over the head while he was MID SAVING ELLIE'S LIFE. Like...COME ON

[@testingmyaudioaddiction3452]

Also, they ignored science. The cordyceps Ellie has is something different. Also, the way cordyceps are is that they can be destroyed only with anti fungal medicine, which is real science. So, thanks to MattPat, we now know that Joel did the right thing for the wrong reasons.

[@MrScaramanga16]

That was my thought when I played, plus what they are planning won't do anything to help find a vaccine, just how this version grows

[@mickidoesmedia]

plus i just dont trust the fireflies after all of the lore codexes in the game -- never truly believed they had the resources or intent to distribute the vaccine for the whole world

[@Megalomaniac_Trans_Lesbian]

Big news guys. Shooting the surgeon at the end of TLoU isn't the only way past him As it turns out, you can also use the melee button near him, at which point Joel grabs his wrist and pushes the scalpel he was holding in his throat Oh sorry, did you think I was going to give you a way not to kill him ? Well, tough luck

[@WillieManga]

LoL

[@Tony-The-Motherfucking-Tiger]

Lmao based

[@TheMAZZTer]

Did not realize Portal adds steps to keep you from getting stuck at the start of the test chamber. The companion cube section was actually added to familiarize the player with the incinerator, as they would need to already know how to use it to fight GLaDOS at the end of the game.

[@welshyb2928]

Also in Red Dead 2, any time you could have shot Micah. You were alone with him a LOT Arthur!

[@Chris_Sizemore]

I shot Micah quite often. Then the game failed the mission because I didn't play right. *sigh* So judgey.

[@keepyoureyespeeled]

He could've easily just left him in the jail at Strawberry, gone back to Dutch and said by the time he got there, they'd already hung him. Boom. Dutch wouldn't be happy but he'd have probably gotten over it and so many problems would've been prevented.

[@kemowery]

"Hey, Dutch, I busted him out like you said, but then he started trying to kill everyone in town. They got him. I think one of them shot him in the back of the head. Me? No, just someone. There were a lot of people shooting at him."

[@madalice5134]

Tossing dynamite at that jerk is one of the most satisfying game overs I've ever gotten.

[@madalice5134]

@She Who Shall Not Be Blamed Yes! I wpuld put killing Ashley, or letting her get taken in Resi 4 on that list. Her character was one of the most annoying ever. If the rumors about a remake of 4 are true, they have got to do a complete redo of her character.

[@cognitivefailure]

I'm gonna go with Mad Max, where you're forced to kill Chumbucket at the end. Chumbucket is your first and most faithful ally -- a groveling sycophant, really -- and his only sin was not wanting you to destroy the magnificent vehicle the two of you worked on together throughout the whole game. Kinda feel like Max could have figured a way to beat the bad guy without ruthlessly killing his only friend.

[@TimedRevolver]

Max also isn't what you'd call a 'rational thinker'. And the world he lives in has no happy endings. You either survive in a blighted hellscape, or get brutally murdered by some gang.

[@lordtyrant1638]

Granted, Chum also told Scrotus about Glory and her mum. Getting them both tortured and killed. Undoing any semblance of sanity Max had regained over his journey through the Wastes with them and Chum, seeing as he basically relived the deaths of his wife and child a second time.

[@evanwickstrom5698]

This. I couldn’t make it through the game because of this shit. I liked the gameplay, but I *hated* the decisions Max made that I had no control over... and I hated that basically every major bad thing after, like, the midpoint of the game is either directly or indirectly his fault. I couldn’t finish the game once I realized how much of a mess everything was, and that basically all of it could have been avoided.

[@jezackr3500]

The thing pissing me off with Joel isn't that I think I would make a choice to let Ellie die - it's that the game didn't trust me to make any choice. It's like the Devs letting me play this cool and heartwarming story about two people - and then at the very end when it all comes to head they rip the pad out of my hands like an annoying older brother and play it for me. "No, dammit, you have to FEEL like we tell you to!" It would be better if it was a cutscene=_=

[@user-yf3ph2gt5r]

This bothered me about the second one too. Not being able to drown that hag was the dumbest thing ever

[@CowKirbo]

In bioshock, you get more Adam from sparing the little sisters than harvesting them in the end because of the gifts and you get a better ending

[@inakiconde894]

You forgot killing Great Gray Wolf Sif. Specially if you confront him after completing the DLC. Just prepare to cry

[@thegreatpineapple4425]

He even limps. Never again. 😭

[@Tommyboi01]

Hell yea, I specifically didn't fight him so my manus fight cold be easier, and omg one try, so maybe I can get past his boss?, nope and not only that you get a new scene in which he recognises you and cries

[@Zoso14892]

@@Tommyboi01 I don't remember if I saw that but it was heart wrenching enough to know he was just guarding his master. It would be a bit like punting Greyfriars Bobby into the water of Leith...

[@Tommyboi01]

@@Zoso14892 tbh it is a small difference, instead of being angry and defensive, he jumps down and sniff's you, recognises that you fought manus together and then howls sadly before ructantly picking up the sword

[@Tommyboi01]

@@Zoso14892 but yea it was so sad because he's just being a good boy for his friend who sacrificed his life to save him Artorias himself isn't a bad guy he just got corrupted by the abyss after being killed by manus

[@jonathandavies1716]

Worst is when they pull that "you could have chose to stop playing the game buy you chose to do a bad thing instead" nonesense. Yes that might be an intriguing commentary on something or other, but I payed sixty quid for this game and would like to actually play it.

[@DavidJoh]

Yeah, I'll admit that I got Spec Ops The Line as a freebie packaged with something I actually wanted so I lacked any sunk cost.

[@metazoxan2]

Yeah I HATE when games try to question your morality with the idea that just putting the game down and refusing to murder DIGITAL CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT REAL is a real option. Give me the option to not kill and THEN yell at me for picking the kill option. But acting like I"m a psychopath for just trying to progress the game is just stupid. MOST of us can seperate reality from fiction enough that while killing innocents leaves a bad taste in our mouths we can do it to push the game forward.

[@Knightstruth]

How about that time in StarWars The Old Republic where you have to choose between saving your friend with benefits Jaxo or like 20 prisoners of war? If you save Jaxo she ends up with survivor guilt and never speaks to you again. If you save the POWs you have to watch your friend die begging you to save her. That was a rough storyline.

[@astridposey]

There's a theory that there's actually a person in the companion cube, which is why Glados keeps telling you it can't talk. Because repitition legitimizes.

[@andymcp4752]

How about a list of times games had ‘good’ options in a moral choices that resulted in us feeling even more guilty than the bad one Like a lot of the non lethal options in Dishonoured, or sparing Slate in Bioshock Infinite

[@koconnell968]

I never felt guilty about the nonlethal target eliminations in Dishonored. Nearly all of the targets are terrible people and deserve what they get (maybe with the exception of Lady Boyle). That said, I like the video idea 😄.

[@Tommyboi01]

How about mass effect 2, at the end of the dlc you have to either use a relay to give you more time to prepare for the reapers but it will kill half of the batarian species, orr you can leave the relay but the reapers will arrive a lot sooner, If you decide to take the risk and responsibility of overloading the relay the council just get pissy at you and don't prepare enough which leads to earth being decimated in the opening of 3 showing that all you essentially did was kill a crapton of batarians and not even dent the reaper forces And on top of all that cerberus is now attacking places itself

[@orlaithmcg]

In The Witcher 3, when you find the elderly cannibal couple and you think telling them to stop eating people is the better option (rather than telling the herbalist what they've done), but when you go back later the wife has starved to death. (I mean, if you tell the herbalist, he'll send monsters to kill them both, so I guess it's still better? But not great).

[@Tommyboi01]

@@orlaithmcg there's also that quest with the ancient leshen, you either kill an innocent girl that the leshen has attached itself to so you can kill it, or you perform a ritual to appease it but then some men get all murder happy and you end up killing them, either way the end log for the quest states, maybe the whitcher killed more people than the monster did

[@michaelandreipalon359]

@@koconnell968 Agreed.

[@Cricket-mo4vr]

Love the Souls entry on this, but I'm Genuinely surprised sparing Great Grey Wolf Sif wasn't on here. I died to that fight a trillion times just trying to walk away when he was limping

[@chilomine839]

Hated that Maiden Astraea song remix.

[@Windcry0211]

How about in "Batman: Arkham Knight"? You have a choice to save your innocent partner Robin or lock him in a jail. No matter what you choose, it will eventually lead you to lock him up.

[@brentramsten249]

i actually managed to talk to maiden astrea without killing her bodyguard. got a whole 2 seconds before garl dunked me into the plague juice. in the original demon's souls when you kill your 3rd arch demon, the music in the nexus changes to something a little more somber. i remember the consequences of my actions every time, because back then, i was convinced the background music knew what i had done. it wont let me forget

[@MxDemeanor]

What about the puppy in Little Misfortune? You can choose to set a cute puppy in a party hat tied to a tree free, or play with it. If you play with it, you throw ball that hits the tree causing a branch to fall and kill the puppy. And if you set it free, it runs towards the nearby road and, you guessed it, gets run over! Our choices are pointless! Yay😆

[@sharondemoret2338]

that must have been scaring to watch

[@thomasscroggs4410]

Technically a different category "Choices games give us that aren't choices at all." PS3 Infamous has one too, where you are given two different groups, the antagonist is going to hang, one group of five doctors, and your girlfriend as the sole person in another. If you hang the five, like Schroder's Cat, the game reminds you that your girlfriend *is* a doctor, as is one of the five. If you hang the one person, its your girlfriend, so she dies regardless.

[@aga3852]

Well to be fair the game is literally called "Little Misfortune"...

[@CaligoCastra]

​@@thomasscroggs4410 "Choices" games give us that aren't choices at all... I got some examples that are not (only) Playstation Pokemon: "Do you want to hear the explanation?" "No" "Ah I am so thrilled about this, I will tell it to you anyways!" (Pokemon Black/White - Vivian) "Do you want to join the catching tutorial?" "No." "Oh Please!" "No." "Oh please!" (endless repeat unless you press yes) (Pokemon X/Y) Dragon Quest Builders 2: A "friendly NPC" is catched by some enemies you could rip a new one easily. But they "force" you to yield and get yourself captured. If you try to say NO to the yielding the NPC triggers a loop unless you say yes. Also you are forced to imprison your friend FOR NO REASON and are not allowed to release him.

[@jrm967]

@@CaligoCastra honestly any game that is a sequel game should give an option saying do you wanna skip the tutorial or be like would you like a tutorial on the controls that are different from the previous game cause if you're playing the sequel then it stands to reason you played the first one and would know the controls

[@gwilym1991]

Well technically there is a way past the surgeon in TLOU that doesn't require you to shoot him. If you get close you also have the option shank him in the throat with his scalpel. Not sure that's better but it's an option.

[@ecir_winchester_petalclaw]

That way you can claim self defense.

[@willfanofmanyii3751]

@@ecir_winchester_petalclaw I'd say it's self defense for the doctor considering a guy with a gun just barged in.

[@ecir_winchester_petalclaw]

@@willfanofmanyii3751 But, I would also say there is a young girl's life on the line. Which makes it as the doctor is protecting, his stolen money from a bank. From, the police.

[@ecir_winchester_petalclaw]

@@willfanofmanyii3751 Or, from the bank owner.

[@isaacping7560]

I definitely remember the lion retrieval job, though I can’t say that I ever tried to find an alternative considering the fact that a literally and figuratively bloody lion is trying to kill me after already cutting down at least one other guy and several livestock animals.

[@naijachan]

In Spec Ops: The Line I spent like 40 minutes trying to get through the game without using white phosphorus. Then I realized that the game is very unforgiving, the enemies' aim is way too perfect and their number does not decrease, so I looked up if it is mandatory to use it to proceed.

[@omnitiontpictures]

Not the entry I was expecting from. Red dead redemption 2, what about not hassling the guy that gives you tuberculosis in order to not get tuberculosis....just seems more valid.

[@GoinGreninja]

Absolutely agree.

[@isaacgleeth3609]

Or just knocking him in the back of the head when he's not looking.

[@omnitiontpictures]

@@isaacgleeth3609 tried that.....didn't work lol

[@isaacgleeth3609]

@@omnitiontpictures True enough, but Arthur could have done that, the guy coughs on the ground, and Arthur has no TB.

[@omnitiontpictures]

@@isaacgleeth3609 lol wouldn't that be nice

[@Haiddon]

wait I just thought. why did they need to remove her entire brain to get the cordyceps? they could easily have just taken samples without killing her.

[@rickyrns1059]

Welcome to the club. Literally the only and yet still major reason why I actually completely agreed with Joel. They literally had no reason not to do that instead, so the fact that they decided to shows that either they actually never cared about keeping her alive at all and were purposely trying to kill her just like Joel for knowing too much, or they are completely and utterly incompetent in genuinely believing you need to take the brain out to get samples from it.

[@jaredcrabb]

Apparently they needed the whole thing.

[@noelkelleher9727]

@@jaredcrabb apparently, they also didn't know that you can't create a vaccine against fungal infections either.

[@jaredcrabb]

@@noelkelleher9727 And to my knowledge the fungus itself is useless in making antifungals.

[@anna-flora999]

@@jaredcrabb from what I know, it would have been less of an anti fungus and more of just... More of that fungus. It's the strain Ellie is infected with that makes her immune, right? Just have her bite some people

[@doubleactiondiz2498]

"Well Arthur I was thinking more along the lines of oh piss its a shitting lion" I died laughing at that

[@VicDumb]

Loved the quick Wolfenstein reference in the beginning, I'm 40 so I grew up with Hexen, Doom, Wolfenstein, Heretic etc. Such a great game! My dad worked at the test site in Nevada, and was able to bring home a Zenith 256 laptop that only ran dos. Look at how far we've come, Rdr2 is such a beautiful game

[@SebastianWeinberg]

How about a video titled *"7 Times a Game Made Us Choose between Two Stupidly Extreme Opposites with NO Middle Ground"* ? "Do you stand back and let this bad guy be ripped apart by the ravening lynch mob? Or do you step in and… let him toddle off scot free, suffering absolutely no consequences for his heinous crimes whatsoever?" What?! How can those be the _only two choices_ possible in this situation? _(Divinity: Original Sin)_ Plus there's all those simple-minded "morality" systems in which each choice boils down to being either an absolute perfect saint or an irredeemably satanic monster.

[@sarahgent2674]

"Do you want to blow up an entire town or not?"

[@ToxicBastard]

Infamous: Do you let every accused thief go scot free or simply leave them to be murdered? No you can't call the police to sort it out because that's their job.

[@brandonp7503]

Mass Effect 3: Sparring with judo moves is morally good, but sparring with strikes is evil.

[@richardarriaga6271]

@@ToxicBastard That's pretty realistic though. The Supreme Court (US) ruled that police are not obligated to protect citizens. A coward cop got off scot-free on a NYC subway as a poor guy was stabbed in the skull by a crazed man (poor guy lived). Court ruled police didn't have to protect him.

[@zuralani1]

Kotor2: Do you give this homeless man money or do you viscously verbally abuse him? No, no middle ground options here, we need to make sure the old lady on your team gets mad at you for not taking a middle ground option.

[@kemowery]

Mass Effect 2: Can I tell Anderson that I'm trying to take down Cerebus from the inside? No? Can I tell Ashley/Kaiden? No? Am I just genuinely, unironically working for Cerebus now? Red Dead Redemption 2: This is more "they can't tell every possible story" but as it was becoming increasingly clear that Dutch was going to get everyone killed and my Arthur was walking around with $20K in his pocket, I really wanted an option to give Dutch all the money he was asking for at once, end things, and then use the rest to run off to Tahiti or Europe with Sadie to spend Arthur's last days enjoying life.

[@professorhaystacks6606]

Mass effect one annoyed my friend and I so much. There's no reason not to take their info and tell them to GTFO, but you aren't allowed to. Even if you do get reinstated as a spectre and told to take them down from the inside... yeah what OP said.

[@Outlaw7263]

The arrival dlc in ME: 2 gave me Spec Ops the line vibes, I legit tried to warn the entire system to evacuate but the message was cut off and I was forced to kill and entire solar system

[@hyperfrosting_1498]

The one that hits me the hardest is Dragon Quest Builders II. The game pretty much forces the Builder into betraying best boy Malroth in order to progress the story, and you can’t even talk to him afterwards to explain what happened. And forget trying to bust him out of the cell you were tricked into building, that was the sturdiest thing you’ve ever built.

[@idkhowigothere]

The companion cube was my best friend, it made me feel like I wasn’t lonely when I had troubles figuring out puzzles. Now it’s gone

[@ecir_winchester_petalclaw]

I always find it funny, when anyone forgets to mention that Joel was doing all of that to retrieve some guns that was his. That were sold to the Fireflies, be it a dead Robert. And, when he finally gets there, not only did they not give him his guns. They were going to make him leave without his supplies all together. No payment equals repossession of merchandise. With or without emotions getting in the way.

[@Foxxie0kun]

Yeah, not just non-payment for goods and services rendered, it's like smacking the pizza guy in the head with a bat and stealing all the pizza and his delivery vehicle and telling him to fuck off.

[@benotar358]

No, A Way Out? No matter which way you play there's no way out of doing a terrible thing

[@bdp4]

Yeah. Why can't you let your friend go or get him a pardon?

[@xLanzer]

@@bdp4 cause everyone would choose that ending.

[@metazoxan2]

I'm shocked that WASN'T on this list. In fact it's what ruined the game for me because it hoenstly makes no sense. The cop character just wanted to avenge his brother. He did that. He had no particular need to hunt down the other character at the risk of his life ALONE! Seriously there was a swat team there why was he freaking alone!?! And the Criminal character could have just gone to prison or asked for a pardon. In the first place his main crime was just being involved with the guy that murdered an undercover cop. After everything he did he could probably get his sentence reduced. Or at the very least he could accept the consequences of his own crimes and wait out whatever sentence he gets. But NOPE one of them has to kill the other because of bullshit ending twists.

[@ThePhantomStinker]

Syphon Filter 2 did something similar to Rise of the Triad. In the stealth half of the lab level, once you retrieve your gear, it plays a cut scene of a lab worker on his hands and knees begging for you to spare him. Do so, and -- yes, you guessed it -- he runs out and yells to a room full of guards that you're in the building. Which is an automatic game over since it's a mandatory stealth mission. Then there's Jason Chance, who you have to rescue from the level... Even though you've known since the very first mission that there's been a mole within your ranks, and Chance seems to have plot immunity. There's a second one named Ramirez who is still alive, but you had to save his ass twice, while Chance always seems to be unscathed every time you reunite with him)... Yeah, you guessed it: Chance is the mole. Worse than that: He's the final boss. That could be a completely different list: People the game wouldn't let you off even though you easily could have and knew you should. Or worse, video game characters the game made you rescue before they betrayed you (hello Lance Vance).

[@kdjslvgds]

just finished TLOU2 so i'm back to watch all the videos that featured things i didnt want spoiled. it amuses me that the nurse/assistant to the surgeon in the final conflict of TLOU1 is voiced by laura bailey, and then we go on to have her voicing and portraying the arguable deuteragonist of TLOU2. love to see her.

[@emilydaulton2442]

The Last of Us "Not killing the surgeon" yeah no I used a flame thrower on that guy.

[@BlazedBarbie]

I shot him in the face, close-range, with a sawed off shotgun (shorty)

[@chuckclark3214]

😮

[@OttoNaCall]

Me too lol Edit: I played The Last of Us 2. Now I regret every single thing. :)

[@NODnuke45]

Fireflies: "We can save the world! All we have to do is *m u r d e r a c h i l d* ... Should we give her a choice? Nah!" Is it good to let people like that live? Nah!

[@32BitJunkie]

@@NODnuke45 That's messed up. You just guaranteed millions of other children get a horrible death. They sure won't choose to get eaten by zombies, but you made that choice for them.

[@gimpinmypants]

Spec Ops: The Line is a guilt trip from the very beginning but when the protagonist decides to use white phosphorous on what he thinks is the enemy it turns out he burned a bunch of refugees, women and children, and he has to walk pass their charred remains to get to the next area. Since the game was unorthodox I thought maybe I could change that outcome so I replayed that mission and found out I most definitely could not change it and had to do that war crime all over again. I’m still crying.

[@GoinGreninja]

Agreed. It'd be amazing if there was a way to avoid that. But by doing so, it'd ruin the point of the games' commentary, so I learn to live with it.

[@gimpinmypants]

@@GoinGreninja What really got me was seeing the protagonist’s own reflection on the monitor while he launched the gas. It seemed so ominous since I was supposedly the good guy. But it’s been years and that moment is still with me so I can’t fault it for that.

[@GoinGreninja]

@@gimpinmypants Agreed. It was one hell of a game. Deconstructing the modern military FPS genre and it was brilliant, if a bit heavy handed with it's message.

[@mapleseerope9381]

@Robert Sears it's not evil sure but to say it shouldn't be a crime is pushing it a lot, imo

[@GoinGreninja]

@@mapleseerope9381 Absolutely! Walker's squad wasn't evil for doing what they'd to do to survive a war but still, they'd done themselves a warcrime, whether they wanted to or not and should be punished for it.

[@galvenin505]

In the Blair Witch you cannot spare "Bullet" the dog. Markiplier has much more patience than I do and held a key for more than an hour to never get to spare him

[@spyjack69]

At least you get the companion cube back at the end of portal two

[@MinistryOfMagic_DoM]

I cannot stress enough about how fast I yeeted my companion cube into the incinerator. Didn't even have a second thought about it. I just threw it in because I was told to.

[@Krystal109]

Glados must love you.

[@sanicinapanic4264]

U Monster

[@DerMoerpler]

Same here. I never got why that was so difficult for people. It's not a character, it's a glorified crate.

[@ZarHakkar]

Pictured in this thread: people who don't anthropomorphize objects

[@elaineirwin8918]

I fear no one.... but this commenter..... he (or she or they) scares me.

[@VegaTomoshibi]

I'm normally okay with these sorts of things if there's a character related reason for it (e.g. Joel's personality in the TLoU example or the character not knowing in the DBH example) cause it's fun to roleplay, but if it's something that there's no in character way to justify it, it pisses me off

[@johnpfaff7532]

Sacrificing the companion cube is rough. It was just as rough on my 5th playthrough than my 1st. I think Valve was 100% intentional, as it's a very clever way to develop resentment towards Glados. It's brilliant.

[@omnimon2230]

Doki-Doki Literature Club. Twice over. Sayori: Regardless of what you give Sayori; the love her heart desires or the continued platonic friendship she’s convinced is best for her, she still ends up hanging herself because of Monika’s torment. Yuri: Regardless of the answer you give to her maddened confession, she’s so far gone that simply processing the fact that you gave her an answer is enough to break what’s left of her sanity.

[@bird3713]

I always think of Spec Ops: The Line, where they say “hey look, there’s some white phosphorus over there, but we mustn’t use it because it’s a war crime”. So I didn’t. Except the level eventually just overwhelms you with waves of enemies until you realize that you have to do it, and all of a sudden you’re a monster because of it.

[@sethketa]

That's exactly why I stopped playing that game. People treat it like a masterpiece for some reason, but it's just a movie that's pretending to be a middle-of-the-road third person shooter.

[@maxvernick7721]

@bird3713 that’s kinda the point, your choice wasn’t made then, it was made by buying the game and playing it in the first time place. It’s kinda like the movie funny games, it berates you for thinking that good things would happen, that there would be a happy ending and that you would be a hero. For trying to live out a fantasy where you’re in charge. Because in reality that doesn’t happen and the game is trying to show that.

[@o00nemesis00o]

@@maxvernick7721 Well, no... uh... if the message is 'you are a bad person for buying our game' as you suggest, then maybe they're just bad developers for not having things like 'you will be required to commit war crimes in this game world to complete it' written on the box... maybe the developers should look in the mirror.

[@twilightvulpine]

People try to say the right choice would be giving up entirely. When the game got me stuck like that I tried to go all the way to the beginning to see if that would give me an alternate ending. But it doesn't. Either you become a war criminal or the game completely ignores whatever you try to do.

[@stevenharper9108]

In fairness to Joel, the Fireflies weren’t exactly well known for their trustworthiness or accuracy in statements.

[@GoinGreninja]

And if you listen to the audiologs, which many don't, then you'll learn that the operation doesn't even have much of a success rate, meaning Ellie would die for nothing. And even if by some miracle some kind of cure WAS produced, then EVEN more wars and bloodshed would be wrought because of that cures' existence.

[@leithcrowther6086]

@@GoinGreninja You can’t vaccinate against a fungus.

[@GoinGreninja]

@@leithcrowther6086 My bad on that one. It should either be a fungicide or some kind of unspecific cure. Since I'm not a doctor, slipping up on that one makes sense and will be rectified.

[@leithcrowther6086]

@@GoinGreninja No, not just you. It's the doctor in the game whom I wanted to point out messed up. What he was trying was never going to work.

[@Tinyvalkyrie410]

@@leithcrowther6086 yes you can. In fact there are several in medical trials at the moment. Just like any other biological pathogen, you can train the immune system to recognize it.

[@Aileil]

I once soft locked a Nancy Drew game by following the "don't go into the producers area" rule. If you follow that long enough, you can get to a point in the game where it is no longer possible to enter the off-limits space and there is no where else you can go to trigger forward progress.

[@Moonboi64]

7:46 that flip tho 🤣🤣