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before you knock it, try programming a game with shades of moral gray. it's hard enough trying to make two completely branching play styles or storylines, but we simply don't have the technology to cover all the degrees of human motivation. we'll keep getting closer, but just remember that developers aren't simply stupid, they're doing the best they can.
Hm.
I though games like Planescape Torment, Arcanum and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines handled morality pretty good. Particularly VTMB stands out for me. It's not without faults, but from a narrative perspective it did things really well.
Because your character was not very significant in the big schemes, just someone manipulated to believe one or another thing; because there was no one big truth, just many different perspectives the whole morality system was opened up. What you did had consequences, but there was no real clear answer to right/wrong.
Of course Bloodlines paid for that by being largely linear. A strong narration limits character choices. Many character choices limit narration (as with each choice narration becomes more complicated). That is what the more black and white morality tries to achieve, really - abstracting a concept, and making design easier.
This came from the PC Gamer review of Mass Effect 2 (just some highlight of the review I found on the internet, not the actual review :)
"The charm and intimidation skills that unlocked special conversation options in the first game have been melded into the Paragon/Renegade system, which now unlocks options based on how much of a swell guy or jerk you've been."
Sounds VERY cool. I think Bioware was spying on us here :)
Also, the bad part... :(
"The way Paragon and Renegade points are handed out could have been better, however. Often you're dealing with an issue so ambiguous that either path could be seen as good or bad, and when I'm trying to be a good guy it awards me Renegade points without telling me what it was that I did to earn them."
Source: http://themindchannel.blogspot.com/2010/01/pc-gamer-uk-reviews-mass-effect-2.html
Post edited January 22, 2010 by Twilight