How to do the right thing in playing video games?

Plenty of games reward you for being the best or being the craziest, or the most evil, but some games just reward you for doing the nice thing.

Let’s talk about some great examples.

We’ve got 10, so let’s get
started off with number 10.

Here’s a classic example
of the sort of thing

that we’re talking about.

At the start of “Resident Evil 4,”

you can find a dog trapped in a bear trap.

If you wanna be a jerk, you can ignore it,

but it’s possible to help this pooch out,

and I mean, who wouldn’t?

You kinda have to go outta your way.

Freeing it doesn’t seem
to do anything at first.

The dog just runs away the moment you get

his leg free of the trap.

It takes a while, but
the dog does come back.

It reappears during the
first El Gigante fight

to help you out.

(menacing music)

(wolf howling)

– Hey, it’s that dog.

(dog barking)

– The dog can’t really damage the monster.

It’s mostly there as a
distraction to draw aggro,

but it makes the fight a lot easier.

That’s the last you kind of
ever see of this particular dog

but I like to think that it got away.

It’s that small little
interaction at the end of the day,

but it feels like a big
moment when it happens.

You saved the dog and then
the dog came back to save you.

It’s great.

Talk about man’s best friend.

Definitely Leon’s best
friend in that moment.

Now over at number nine,
we’re gonna leave this one

high on this list, just
’cause it’s so well known.

Gotta talk about it though.

If anyone remembers anything
about the “Bioshock” games,

you probably remember the whole thing

about the Little Sisters.

To upgrade your abilities
you need to collect

a resource called ADAM, which
you can get from killing

these little creepy
girls that wander around

the underwater halls of rapture.

That’s the way the game
tells you at first, at least,

that the only way to improve
your abilities is to kill

these seemingly innocent
children, as long as you can deal

with their big daddy guardians first.

You don’t necessarily
have to kill them though.

– There is another.

(girl whimpering)

Use this.

(jar shattering)

Bring them from the tomb.

I will make it to be worth your while.

– If you instead spare
them, then eventually

you’ll start getting
gifts from Dr. Tenenbaum

containing ADAM, and at the end of the day

you’ll actually get more from
sparing the Little Sisters

than you would from killing them along

with a few other rewards.

It kind of undercuts the whole
moral dilemma of, you know,

choosing to spare or
kill the Little Sisters.

The whole point is that you
need to kill them for ADAM,

but you get enough from
sparing them anyway,

’cause like the game still has to be fun.

Whatever, it’s probably
for the best that the game

doesn’t force you to
murder weird little kids.

Now over at number eight,
if you play through

the Dark Brotherhood
quest line in “Skyrim,”

you probably remember this guy, Cicero.

In comparison to the previous entries,

this whole part of the game
is a lot more morally gray.

I mean, you’re literally
part of an assassins’ guild

that keeps a corpse around
called the Night Mother

that tells them to kill people.

So this whole thing is a little
more twisted from the start

compared to most of the
other entries on this list.

Now Cicero is no saint.

He’s a weird jester that’s
pretty clearly nuts and believes

that the Night Mother is talking to him.

During the quest, “The Cure for Madness,”

he goes nuts and starts
attacking the other members

of the Brotherhood for
seemingly no reason,

and you’re given the
task of hunting him down

and dealing with him.

You track him to the Dawnstar Sanctuary

where he taunts you and
attempts to kill you with traps,

but when you finally confront
him, he asks you to spare him.

– You caught me.

I surrender.

(Cicero chuckling)

– A lot of people were probably
pretty fed up with his BS

at this point, but if you
do spare him he can actually

become a follower later
on, and in fact is one of

the more powerful ones you can get.

So this is less of a case
of doing the right thing

and more like, I chose to
side with this murderous guy

over another murderous guy,
but you’re still sparing him,

and it benefits you for being the nice guy

in the moment and it counts.

Now over at number seven,
oh, here’s another one

that’s definitely worth mentioning,
even if it’s well known.

In the first “Mass Effect” game,

one of the priority
missions is on Noveria.

Most of your time on this planet is spent

in a research facility
where these alien creatures

called the Rachni are
being experimented on

and surprise, surprise,
they escape containment

and are attacking everyone.

Probably didn’t see that coming.

Hmm, wow, really?

It’s like science fiction 101.

Of course you’d see that coming.

Now, after dealing with
the people responsible

for the outbreak, you’re given the option

of what to do with the Rachni queen.

You can either free them from containment

or kill them, which might
seem a little extreme,

but keep in mind that these
aliens were responsible

for the Rachni Wars which
killed a lot of people.

So there’s some concern about
keeping these things alive.

This queen does say
they’re different, however,

and if you choose to free them,

then that ends up being true.

It’s not actually until “Mass Effect 3”

that this decision pays off.

You may have to rescue the
queen again in that game,

but if you do, then the
Rachni become a powerful asset

to help you fight the Reapers.

At the end of the day,
it’s just another number

that adds to your readiness rating,

but at least you get something for helping

the queen out and overall,

“Mass Effect” one, two,
and three, just incredible.

Now over at number six,
sticking with BioWare,

the first “Dragon Age”
can be a tough game.

So you’ll need all the help you can get.

Most of the party members that’ll join you

are pretty obvious, but some
of them are kind of easier

to miss, like Zevran, for example.

He starts off as an assassin
that was hired to kill you.

After defeating him,
you’re given the option

to kill him or hear him out.

A lot of people out
there chose to kill him,

probably because they didn’t even realize

he could be recruited.

Visually, there’s nothing about him

that distinguishes him from an NPC.

The only really noteworthy thing about him

is his distinct voice, so a
lot of players just killed him

because he tried to kill
them, without realizing

that there’s a lot more to him than that.

He’s a good party member.

– Ah, so I am to be interrogated.

Let me save you some time.

My name is Zevran, Zev to my friends.

I am a member of the
Antivan Crows, brought here

for the sole purpose of slaying
any surviving gray wardens.

– He’s one of the least
judgemental people you can recruit

and rarely even gets mad at
you when you make decisions.

So that alone is kind of
a breath of fresh air.

Next over at number five,
okay, this is an unusual one,

but in “Xenogears,” you know, that crazy

“Evangelion”-inspired RPG
for PS1, there’s an enemy

that actually heals you
rather than hurts you.

This thing is found in
the stalactite cave.

It’s one of the first areas of the game,

and while your first instinct
is to start punching them

the second you see them,
like pretty much every enemy

in a JRPG, in this one specific case,

that’s actually a bad idea.

If you leave it alone and
just let it do its thing,

then it will actually do
exactly what its name implies

and fix your bots for free.

(thrilling music)

(swords clashing)

Sparing enemies in an RPG
is often a death sentence

most of the time, but in
this one rare instance

it actually really works out for you.

Nice job.

Next over at number
four, this next one has

its own “Resident Evil 4” dog moment,

but it takes a lot longer to pay off.

“Until Dawn” is a game all
about choices and consequences.

Sometimes doing the right thing pays off,

and sometimes it just completely backfires

horribly in your face.

So making a good or bad choice
isn’t always so obvious here.

In this instance, at least,

doing the nice thing actually pays off.

In chapter five, you run into this wolf

in the abandoned sanatorium.

Now, the wolf looks aggressive
and you have the option

to kick it, but if you
just let the timer run out

instead of acting, then
the wolf leaves you alone

and then you can get closer and pet them,

which actually makes the wolf your friend.

They’re not seen again until chapter nine,

but if you made friends
with them, they’ll help you

fend off the attacking Wendigos.

There’s still a lot of
ways you could screw up

and get this wolf
killed, but at this point

it’s ride or die with you
and helps you out a lot

during this section of the game.

That’s kinda like video
game 101 at this point,

always pet the dog.

Ooh, yeah baby, at number
three, let’s talk about

“Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver.”

It’s about time.

Here’s a little fact
that we never realized.

If you leave the human villagers
alone instead of absorbing

their souls, then they’ll
eventually start to worship you

and praise you as a hero.

This has the added benefit of
making it so vampire hunters

will leave you alone, which is something

I never actually knew about.

It’s a minor thing in the
long run, but it’s a cool

little detail that adds some
depth to this classic game.

You know, most of the time,
if you’re given some kind

of moral choice in a game,
they make it as obvious

as possible, but here
it’s really just up to you

if you want to spare or kill the humans.

You know, just walk on by them.

You know, there’s nothing in the game

telling you to do one thing or the other.

All right, I know technically
they did explain all of this

in the manual, but even in the PS1 days,

that wasn’t something everyone
checked out immediately.

It’s a small thing, especially if you were

a dumb kid like us, but any
of the reactiveness from NPCs

is unusual for a game like this.

It’s a nice, interesting surprise.

Now down to number two, there’s
a lot of good opportunities

to do good things in “Metro Exodus,”

but you don’t really get any
rewards for doing them, sorta.

You know, performing good
actions like sparing soldiers

or helping people out earns
you hidden moral points,

which primarily affect
what ending you get.

These moral points can be
found all over the place

and you can get them from
doing something as simple

as like, talking to
someone when they’re sad

to doing something crazy,
like sneaking through

an entire enemy camp
without being spotted.

All three Metro games
have these moral points

but in the third game, “Metro Exodus,”

it really matters because
this score determines

whether you live or die at the end.

If you’ve done enough
good deeds and earned

as many moral points as you
can, then your character,

Artyom, will survive and
live on to found a new

and safe community in this
post apocalypse landscape.

You know, for a series as
bleak as the Metro games,

there really are a lot of
opportunities to do good things,

and even though it may
seem pointless or bleak

in the moment, if you do enough of them,

the game rewards you at the end.

Now down to number one,
let’s talk “Undertale.”

Described as the RPG
where nobody has to die,

this absolutely massive game gives you

two options in combat.

You can either fight your
enemies like a regular RPG

or quote unquote spare them.

To spare enemies, you
have to talk to them,

figure out what their
deal is, and do something

to make them like you or at
least not want to kill you.

Every enemy is different and
figuring out how to spare

every enemy is one of the
more fun elements of the game.

It’s a big reason why people like this.

Now on the other hand, just
fighting them is simpler

and killing enemies earns you XP,

which makes you tougher and stronger.

So it seems like if you
spare too many enemies

you may be too weak to finish the game.

That’s not actually the case though.

You can get by just fine at level one,

but if you’re going into the game blind,

then it can be kind of stressful
the first time through.

Depending on how many enemies you kill,

you can get a few different endings,

and if you want the happiest possible one,

then you’ll have to spare everything.

You can’t kill anyone at
all to get this ending.

You also have to make friends
with all the main characters,

but the main thing is
again to spare every enemy.

Normally the game ends
on a hard cut to black,

which can feel pretty unsatisfying,
but if you take the time

to get the true pacifist
ending, then the whole thing

gets greatly expanded upon.

It’s an emotional and really
entertaining end of the game

and surprisingly tacks on a few more hours

of content to boot, and
the only way to get it

is to do the right thing.

In most games doing the right thing

is not killing one specific guy.

It’s okay to kill everyone else.

In this game, that’s just not good enough.

You have to spare everything and everyone,

and a lot of times it’s
just by hearing them out.

Anyway, those are some
cool examples of just

doing the right thing in the
game and getting rewarded.

Being the nice guy and
what it nets you is often

a satisfying thing in games,

and there’s plenty of other examples.

We can talk about a lot more

but we wanna hear yours
first in the comments.

If we ever make a part
two, we’re gonna be looking

to hear what you guys suggest,
any of your favorite moments.

So let us know.

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thanks for watching.

We’ll see you guys next time.

(exciting music)