Video Game Cruelty Punishment: Difference between revisions

* In ''[[Ganbare Goemon|The Legend of the Mystical Ninja]]'', attacking innocent people in towns will cause a swarm of angry guards to assault you. They will keep spawning unless you leave the area.

* In ''[[Tomb Raider]] II'', attacking the Tibetan warrior monks in the Barkhang Monastery will result in ''every single monk in the entire level'' going for Lara's blood - and it can be easily done if the player is simply trying to help the monks out in their fights against [[Big Bad|Bartoli's]] [[Mook|mooks]] and accidentally target a monk instead of a gunman. They aren't hard to kill, but since there's so many of them it can be easy to become overpowered.

* In the [[Homestar Runner]] game ''[[Peasant's Quest|Peasants Quest]]'', attempting to attack the horse will result in you getting killed. You still have to {{spoiler|spook him}} to progress, though.

** Lowering the baby down the well and then leaving the screen would kill you. The game doesn't even bother with an explanation, it's just so disgusted with you that it won't let you play any more. Throwing the baby in the lake does not have this consequence, but only because he's an amazingly skilled swimmer for his age.

* While Duke Nukem can kill lap-dancers in ''[[Duke Nukem 3D]]'', his reward is only to get more enemies to spawn.

* ''[[Operation Flashpoint]]'' is a bit more lenient than most: you can "accidentally" kill one or two of your teammates during a firefight before the rest gun you down, but if there are no enemies nearby when you kill a teammate, you're as good as dead.

** In [[SWAT 4]], you can fail the mission by shooting ''the bad guys'' too much or without warning.

* If you shoot an instructor in ''America's Army,'' it teleports you to a Leavenworth jail cell in a [[Nonstandard Game Over]].

== Grand Strategy ==

* Games produced by Paradox Interactive actively encourage you to be ruthless and kill people.

** In Victoria II there pop up numerous events concerning the spread of nationalism and nationalist leader-figures. Some are terrorists and revolutionaries; others are poets and artists. You must choose between imprisoning them, or executing them. Likewise, you are given periodic choices between purging sections of your officer corps of (potentially) revolutionary officers or leaving them be. In both cases there are not-inconsiderable penalties for letting them live, not least of which being that said officers may well lead their divisions against you in an uprising.

*** Generally speaking, you are encouraged to democratise and lay the foundations of a welfare state rather than risk the widespread revolts or revolutions that come with consolidating power in the hands of the monarchy. But it is perfectly possible to go through the game without changing a single policy and simply kill every rebel and revolutionary that rises to oppose you - and there will be a ''lot'' of them, up to a fifth of your entire adult male population, even. This may or may not include some of your own armies as well. Simply killing them all is cheaper than providing pensions and unemployment benefits, and also results in armies that are highly disciplined and loyal. Though it does mean you end up killing (tens of) millions of your own subjects for effectively no good reason.

== MMORPG ==

** In fairness it should be pointed out that Blizzard encourages a certain amount of this by including achievements for killing certain NPC members of enemy factions a lot of the time other NPCs get caught in the cross-fire.

** In the ''Wrath of the Lich King'' expansion, there's an achievement you can get by killing fifteen turkeys in three minutes, and there are only a few places where there are enough of them to make it possible. Completing this achievement causes all turkeys and many other formerly nonaggressive creatures to become hostile to you and flocks of enraged turkeys will occasionally spawn and attempt to peck you to death. Fortunately ([[Crowning Moment of Funny|or not]]), the effect is temporary, and it's nearly impossible for them to kill a character who's of a sufficient level to belong in the zone.

== Platform Game ==

* In the ''[[Sonic Adventure]]'' series, if you severely abuse your [[Mon|Chao]], they won't listen to you or let you pick them up, and if you're ''really'' cruel, they won't eat, and will even [[Killed Off for Real|die earlier, without a chance to reincarnate.]]

* Namco's obscure platformer ''Beraboh Man'' featured a friendly robot at the end of each level who would give you power-ups and life-restoring food. You could punch it to net a series of funny messages like "OW! What are you doing?" and "You will regret hitting a friend". You will indeed if you do it too many times, because the robot ''will get pissed at you and won't show up anymore for 4-5 levels''. The game is already [[Nintendo Hard]] by itself (and almost without healing items in-game), so it's not a wise choice to "hit friends"!

* ''[[Persona 4]]'' actually tries to induce [[Video Game Cruelty Potential]] with Nanako, your [[The Cutie|adorable]] cousin, with her "I love you, Big Bro!" [[Squee]]! Then of course, she is {{spoiler|kidnapped by Namatame and taken into the TV world. After you rescue her, she apparently dies}}. The punishment comes from the fact that even though you really, [[Kick the Son of a Bitch|REALLY want to]], {{spoiler|pushing Namatame into the TV (or failing to convince your teammates that there's something you're missing) nets you the bad ending. And a [[Kick the Dog]], since he's not really the culprit.}}

** In both Persona 3 and 4, while the player is given the option to be complete assholes during Social Links, it's pretty much never a good idea since breaking relationships will inhibit your progress in the dungeons since the [[Relationship Values]] have a major impact on the development of your Personae. If you try to play the character as an anti-social Jerkass, chances are you won't get far.

* ''[[Yume Nikki]]'' and most of the fangames associated with it gives you some kind of killing implement to use as you desire. But try using them on the wrong NPC or the [[Goddamn Bats]] and you'll probably find yourself screwed over in some manner. Some might even be [[Demonic Spiders]] in disguise who proceed to outrun you, forcing you back to the nexus.

** ''.Flow'' in particular has a rather brutal punishment for trying to beat one of the local [[Goddamn Bats]] over the head while he's drinking: Countering your attack and then outright killing you in retaliation, which forces you out of your trance, but not before a short cutscene showing Sabitsuki's decapitated and busted up corpse. Also in general it seems that angering one will anger the rest while you're still zoned in, and one in particular happens to be a Demonic Spider...

* ''[[Demon's Souls]]'' took punishment to the extreme. If the player, whether intentionally or not, attacks an NPC, the NPC will continue to fight you until you kill them (if you die, the NPC will continue to attack you after you respawn). If you kill the NPC, he/she will never come back. This is true even if the story cannot be continued without that NPC. Considering that there are no save points, or any other way to "undo" the damage, this can be [[Unwinnable by Design|literally game breaking]]. Especially cruel given the length of the game.

** The Maiden in Black and Monumental seem to be the only ones needed to finish the game, and they either revive or are immortal. Deaths of other characters will deny you services, but are endurable.

* In [[Mass Effect 2]] you can choose to help either the [[Knight Errant|Justicar]] Samara or her sociopathic [[Black Widow|Ardat-Yakshi]] daughter Morinth during their [[Mexican Standoff]]. Helping one means the other dies. If the player chooses Morinth, not only are they deprived of one of a war asset and one of the most poignant scenes in [[Mass Effect 3]], but they also have to fight Morinth during the game's final stage after she's been turned into a [[Demonic Spider|banshee]] by the Reapers (and she makes no other appearances during the game).

== Shoot Em Up ==

* In ''[[Raiden Fighters]]'', you can uncover fairies that, when collected, yield 100,000 points each. You can also shoot them, and if you shoot a fairy enough, she ''will'' die, resulting in a [[What the Hell, Player?|"KILLED THE FAIRY!" message]] and a mere 10-point bonus; that's 99,990 points lost. It's very easy to do by accident.

* In ''[[Trouble Witches]]'', if you [[Stop Poking Me|poke the shopkeepers too much]], they get annoyed with you and boot you from the store.

== Visual Novel ==

* ''[[Three Sisters Story]]'' will punish you for sleeping with more than one of the titular sisters, or for sleeping with any other girl in the game without a condom. Moreover, if you rape one of the girls instead of letting her admit that she's a lesbian, she'll kill herself in front of you.

* In ''Glo-Ri-A'' you can rape a character in the prologue, but afterwards she ''shoots the main character dead'', and the player gets an admonition to "Play More Serious!"

* In ''Paperboy'', if you damage a customer's house, they will cancel their subscription. If you lose enough customers, it gives you a [[Nonstandard Game Over]] screen with the words "Paperboy Fired".

* Almost all the cards one can play in ''[[The Fateof The World]]'' comes with some downside, the if you caught doing all but one of the Black Ops cards (which include everything from funding terrorists, to spreading viruses, to releasing a rogue AI) you instantly lose the game.