Retro VG cruelty potential

[Anonymous No.2529592]

What are some downright mean things you can do in retro video games? For instance, being able to attack (or even kill) friendly NPCs.

I can't think of very many examples on consoles due to early censorship, although I'm sure there are quite a few computer games that will allow you to be a bastard.

[Anonymous No.2529603]

Syphon Filter games allows you to shoot and set fire in civilians. It's an instant failure at the mission though

[Anonymous No.2529612]

but most of the time that would get you instantly stuck, dead or arrested. it's just an illusion of freedom.

[Anonymous No.2529635]

>>2529603
speaking of Syphon Filter, you could taser someone and quickly knock them out, but you could also just hold the button down, and keep tasering them until they burst into flames

[Anonymous No.2529639]

Tons of PC RPG's let you freely kill any kind of civilian.

[Anonymous No.2529648]

>>2529603
>>2529635

lol, this sounds pretty fun. I've never played any games in the series before, so I'll have to check it out.

For PS1, you an attack civilians in Crusaders of Might and Magic, as well as in Xena. In Crusaders, the NPCs will retaliate or even cast spells. I think ever attacking an NPC pretty much screws up the game and makes it impossible to progress the story.

In Xena, you can kill civilians during rescue missions. You can get away with killing a few in some cases, but killing too many causes you to fail the current stage.

[Anonymous No.2529731]

Obligatory

[Anonymous No.2529786]

>>2529731
Came in here to post this.

[Anonymous No.2529789]

>>2529592
Running over cows in the arcade version of Cruis'n USA.

[Anonymous No.2530215]

In Ultima 4, you can kill friendly NPC's.

In fact, that's the optimal strategy in the early game; kill tons of people for easy money and XP, then kill the guards when they come after you. Then later on, pray for forgiveness and have everyone treat you like a saint. It's like a Christianity simulator.

[Anonymous No.2530230]

>>2530215
Does that stay true even in the NES adaptation*? While the NES version is almost an entirely different game, it's kind of amusing to see how vastly different the same game became.

*The NES version is too different to be called a port.

[Anonymous No.2530265]

>>2530230
No clue, I've only played the IBM-PC version.

[Anonymous No.2531048]

>>2529789

>running over cows

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyPNZJ-kyPs

[Anonymous No.2531056]

>>2531048
god i used to love going on the rails and colliding with the train when I played that as a kid

i have a vague memory of somehow getting on top of it too, or at least trying

[Anonymous No.2531089]

>>2530230

You can kill friendly NPCs in the NES ports of Ultima III and IV. They give puny experience, IIRC. I think the guards are the only NPCs worth fighting.

If you use the Skull of Mondain, all NPCs in that area die instantly, but you don't get any experience or gold. Leaving and re-entering the area causes the NPCs to return, and they aren't hostile toward you.

[Anonymous No.2531098]

oh... i remember you could do that in Tenchu.

the few negative points you got for it were worth it.

[Anonymous No.2531134]

>chao garden

[Anonymous No.2531146]

Running over/Shooting civilians in Command and Conquer.

My friend and I would wipe out the civves on every mission just because. Thinking about it, I never realized we were acting out war crimes just because.

[Anonymous No.2531147]

>>2529592
Myth: The Fallen Lords and Myth 2: Soulblighter

[Anonymous No.2531154]

>>2531089
>If you use the Skull of Mondain, all NPCs in that area die instantly
Woah, is that what the skull does?

I never used the skull, because I heard it makes the game unwinnable if you ever use it.

[Anonymous No.2531174]

>>2529592
>You can systematically starve your underlings.
>Push a town's peasants to the point of a peasant revolt.
>Then draft a huge portion of a town's population and use it to put down the revolt when it happens next turn.
>Smash all their industry.
>Sell all their food to buy halberds.
>Fucking do it again when they get pissed.
>Turn English countryside into basically Mordor.
It's pretty heavy on the peasant tears.

[Anonymous No.2531181]

>>2531048
Wow, that game looks really fun.

[Anonymous No.2531536]

>>2531154

The skull can be used in battle too. It wipes out all enemies instantly. I think you forfeit gold and experience as a result though.

It doesn't make the game unwinnable, but it does lower all your virtues in the process. You'll just have to find a way to build your virtues back up before you get ready to finish the game. It's not that hard. In fact, the skull is pretty exploitable for this reason.

[Anonymous No.2533450]

>>2531174
Must be what it felt like to be Chairman Mao Zedong.

[Anonymous No.2535895]

>>2529635
Used to load up the demo just to set fire to people with the taser

[Anonymous No.2535920]

>>2530215
>Christianity simulator
10/10

[Anonymous No.2539396]

>>2529592

In Baldurs Gate 2, when you fight the occupants of Mae'Vars guildhall, the shopkeeper Gorch turns red (hostile) but is unable to either attack, or completely flee the scene like some NPCs. He just runs into the furthest corner of the room and stands there kind of juddering.

when my party is in the docks district l sometimes drop by to torture him. Primarily by casting spook or horror on him, then punching him unconscious. Or summoning dogs and wolves and setting them on him; or using weak spells like shocking grasp, larloch's minor drain to fuck him up. l always heal him when he's on the brink of death so I can keep him around as a punch bag.

[Anonymous No.2539507]

>>2531134
Was there anyone who WASN'T turned into a sadistic fuck upon entering the Chao Garden?

I'd torture those little bastards for hours.

[Anonymous No.2539515]

>>2529731
killing the hamster is cruel. giving the dead hamster to Ed is downright sadistic

[Anonymous No.2540101]

>>2539507
Someone post the Robotnik gif.

[Anonymous No.2540208]

>>2540101

[Anonymous No.2540223]

Haven't played it myself, but I understand in Baldur's Gate (or another DnD based game) you can con a little girl out of a gold piece that she wanted to use to buy medicine for her mother, and then laugh in her face.