Bit of an explanation as to what prompted me to make this post: I recently played through Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 1 and 2 and I just felt off. I’ve slaughtered hundreds of innocents for my amusement in games like Fallout and TES, I play through No Russian with a grin, but for some reason, I refrain from killing bad guys in SGW? The first one has you hunt down Russian oligarchs and war criminals, while the second one is about Middle Eastern terrorists and this is the game where I feel bad about killing? There’s just something about the soldiers talking about their daily problems like making no money, uncomfortable boots and sweating too much, or showing eachother pictures of their dogs, not to mention the absolute horror when you’ve got a knife against their throat or when they find a body. I hope this isn’t weird, but I’ve never experienced remorse for killing a video game enemy, and I’ve played a lot of different games. I’d like to hear about your experiences, and which games do a good job humanising common enemies, the concept intrigues me.

  • Bicone@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I felt genuinely bad when GTA V forced me to torture some dude. I hate that scene and it stuck in my memory.

    • MRich92@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      My wife had to get me to do that part because she couldn’t do it. I decided to only waterboard the guy. Apart from the trauma and the injury/pain of being tipped over whilst tied to a chair, I figured that was the least physically damaging form of torture available.

        • MRich92@alien.topB
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          1 year ago

          I’ve never been subjected to torture so I can’t say from experience, but if I were given the choice of having each of my fingers and toes cut off knuckle by knuckle with a rusty cigar cutter and then each wound dipped in acid, or simulated drowning, I know what my choice would be.

      • CaneVandas@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        I just went at it from the angle of I wasn’t torturing him, Trevor was. Trevor is a psychopath so that is just totally in character for him. He is not my personal avatar.

        • MRich92@alien.topB
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          1 year ago

          It’s supposed to be absolutely pants-shittingly terrifying, but it’s also not meant to leave any lasting physical damage.

          • IamSkudd@alien.topB
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            1 year ago

            Yeah, you beat a guy or slice him up, you have to treat his wounds if you don’t want him dead. But I reckon you could waterboard a fella quite a bit before you needed a doctor.

      • L3s0@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        I had the same thought so I googled it and it’s apparently cut from the Japanese version of the game. Also it sounds like all sexual content was somehow censored from the game.

    • murxdrnj@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      Stopped the campaign there in 2013 and haven’t touched it since. Played some GTAO during the pandy but completely otherwise completely lost interest in the series because of that.

      • Denbus26@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        If you stopped during the torture scene, it may influence your opinion on the game to know how that mission ends. Trevor (the absolutely unhinged redneck lunatic you’re playing as) helps the victim escape while ranting about how the entire concept of torture is flawed.

        Rockstar is basically saying “Look, even this batshit insane criminal who regularly kills people without any sign of remorse knows that torture is useless.”

        • Terakahn@alien.topB
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          1 year ago

          I appreciate they were willing to go that far in the game. Kind of makes me wonder what 6 will have in store.

      • Mecanimus@alien.topB
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        1 year ago

        Same for me. I just uninstalled. It’s the game that made le realize I would never finish a Rockstar game tbh.

    • LDM123@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      I chose only the shocking option. In my mind that was probably the one that did the least amount of permanent damage

    • L3s0@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      That whole scene is apparently completely cut from the Japanese version of the game