History Main / EvilPaysBetter

*** Besides, the light spells "HourOfPower" and "Day of Protection" are basically packages of every {{buff}} spell from all the other magic styles, divine or arcane (minus "Immolation" from fire magic), and casts these spells at four times the power of their regular variants (meaning they last pretty much all day). Add "Day of the Gods" on top of it on high level and you get a party that's basically invulnerable, and Paralysis will knock pretty much any enemy out of commission. Sure, you find pedestals that cast these spells on you -- in the good faction headquarters, which is quite a ways from the last dungeons, and also rather impractical to sneak in and out of every time you want those buffs cast at you (at a considerable lower skill level than you could do yourself).

** Although none of these options are mutually exclusive (this troper did all 4 guilds in his game).

** Mm. As far as this editor can see, it typically splits between "evil cuts costs and pays better now" and "good increases profits and pays better tomorrow". Abusing employees and cutting benefits will slash overhead, but losses and sick days will cost; health insurance will cost dearly, but increased morale and efficiency will pay off.

-->--'''Spider-Man''', ''[[MarvelUltimateAlliance Marvel: Ultimate Alliance]]'', on [[spoiler: Black Widow]] working for [[BigBad Dr. Doom.]]

* Appears for the most part in ''GrandTheftAuto'', with ''GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' being the one exception, sorta. Working for the [[AffablyEvil nice Triad mob boss]] pays better then working for the [[CompleteMonster heartless corrupt police officer.]]

*** Although for the player willing to cheat, money is rather inconsequential in the game, since you just need to buy real estate to rent out then [[GameBreaker set your system date to years into the future to get gold quickly.]]

* BioShock is somewhat of an aversion. Harvesting a Little Sister gets you twice as much ADAM as saving one, but for every three you save, you get 200 ADAM and some goodies. By the end of the game, harvesting all of them yields more ADAM than saving them, but not by much, and the bonuses easily counteract the difference.

* In BioShock, Harvesting a Little Sister gets you twice as much ADAM as saving one, although for every three you save, you get 200 ADAM and some goodies. By the end of the game, harvesting all of them yields more ADAM than saving them, but not by much.

*** And THEN, of course, you can go back to your employer, who tries a YouHaveFailedMe on you. Turns out he wanted the nymph to dissect her and use her parts for magic. You then kill him for ''another'' 2000exp, and loot his tower for his gold and magical artifacts. Meaning you got paid ''thrice'', with no negative repercussions. Who said ChronicBackstabbingDisorder wasn't fun?

** Also nice in GTA4 it would be more of "Evil pays at least anything" with the mission [[spoiler: where you have to choose if you kill Patrick or Francis McReary, the nice criminal brother of one of your friends or the corrupt cop (also the dick brother of you friend). The evil guy pays you 20.000 dollar and you can call him three times to loose your wanted level, an ability that otherwise only has your optional girlfriend. Patrick instead gives you for saving his ass nothing.]]
*** Choosing the mission for money is also pointless, as there are countless ways of getting it.
** The opposite occurs with [[spoiler: the assassination of Playboy X (jerk) or Dwayne (ex-criminal who wants to get on with his life. Killing Playboy results in getting his crib as additional savehouse with cameo clothes of GTA3s protagonist, also you are becoming friends with Dwayne with a notable friendship bonus. Playboy gives you a few thousand bucks and never talks with you again.]]

Related tropes include RewardingVandalism and VideoGameCrueltyPotential. Opposing tropes include CutLexLuthorACheck and VideogameCaringPotential.

**** Also, in the last mission in Broken Steel add-on, you have the option to nuke two targets, the Enclave-controlled Mobile Base Crawler, or [[spoiler: The Citadel, aka the HQ for the Brotherhood of Steel, your most loyal in-game allies]]. If you choose the former, your reward is...GoodFeelsGood and a thanks speech. Doing the latter nets you the most powerful handgun in the game (specifically, the rarest of rare version of [[RevolversAreJustBetter Scoped .44 Magnum]]).

* The ''[[BaldursGate Baldur's Gate]]'' series mostly inverts the trope - sure, you get an extra hundred gold here and there, but the good side gets more XP, more unique magical artifacts and KarmaMeter bumps that ''decrease store prices'', ultimately rendering your money-grubbing ways moot. The evil {{NPC}}s tend to be better than the good ones, though, but since each game only has about four evil ones, you'll inevitably have to use them in every evil game you play. Oh yes, and you basically have to act [[LawfulStupidChaoticStupid Chaotic Stupid]] to be evil anyhow, which makes the whole thing damn unsatisfying.
** However, in BaldursGate 1, you're tasked with freeing a Nymph from a mage called Ragefast. You can kill him for 2000xp and his tower full of valuble magical artifacts and take the Nymph or let her go. Or you can say the right things to him, and he'll let the Nymph go without a fight, and you'll get 2000exp and a lock of her hair (which you can have turned into a powerful magical pendant later on) without a fight. But you can also do BOTH, by first persuading Ragefast, and then when the Nymph has gone, leaving you her lock of hair, inciting him to fight and killing him. That's 4000exp, and the hair, AND his items, without loss of reputation. This is just one example of the quests where you can do the right thing AND the wrong thing, for double the payment and no repercussions.
*** And THEN, of course, you can go back to your employer, who tries a YouHaveFailedMe on you. Turns out he wanted the nymph to disect her and use her parts for magic. You then kill him for ''another'' 2000exp, and loot his tower for gold and magical artifacts. Meaning you got paid ''thrice'', with no negative repercussions. Who said ChronicBackstabbingDisorder wasn't fun?

* Occasionally, the symbiote suit in ''Spiderman: Web of Shadows'' makes missions easier. For instance, in one mission, you can either disable a suit of armor with a PressXToNotDie sequence or just go symbiote and throw a car. This goes the other way too, as certain choices are more effective with the good choice as well.

** This is actually one of the major themes of ''{{Fable}} 3'' -Once you become the King of Albion, you have to choose between making good and evil decisions. Evil decisions generally reward you with more money, but earn you the animosity of your people and former allies; whereas good decisions please these people but put the nation in debt, making it much harder to amass the gold you need to protect Albion.

* In ''TheGodfather'' game, a lot of your income comes from shopkeepers and racket bosses you have intimidated into joining the Corleone cause, as well as {{Armed Blag}}s and [[BankRobbery Bank Robberies]]. Trying to make money off the corpses of enemy gangsters is challenging and slow-going, with ammo costs acting as a MoneySink until you buy a safehouse with ammo for all the gun types. For a SelfImposedChallenge you can try being NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters and forgo any of the above, but prepare to waste a lot more time.

*** And that the Mages Guild if you a complete Game Breaker just for completing it halfway. And the Fighter's Guild only gives standard high-leveled loot.

***[[GameBreaker On the other hand, money is rather inconsequential in the game since you just need to buy real estate to rent out, then set your Xbox 360's date to years into the future to get gold quickly.]]
*In the first ArmoredCore, similar to Fable's 'attack the farm' quest, there are two missions to either attack or defend some cargo, I believe, and attacking it pays more.