History PetTheDog / Videogames

** The Boss comes across as a sociopath who revels in the evil they do in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2''. In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' though, they mellow out considerably, particularly in regards to the other Saints. The god ending and DLC take this further, with Boss positively nuzzling Jenny to the point where she becomes a PromotedFanboy by standing up for herself and killing her JerkAss director, knowing Boss will have her back. They then get several more in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', including fighting for the human race, going out of their way to rescue crewmates, and saying that they'd take the bullet for a friend. Oh, and the DLC where they [[spoiler:[[ItMakesSenseInContext save Christmas]]]].

** The comics also add another dimension to the otherwise morally questionable mercenaries: even they draw the line when children are involved, and always act kindly towards them. (Even if, in the case of BLU Spy, "acting kindly" means [[spoiler: teaching a little kid how to use an icicle as a weapon so he doesn't get kidnapped]].)
* Subverted in the non-canonical ending of ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 5''. Kazuya actually paid respect to his grandpa Jinpachi before fighting him by giving him a respectful bow. After beating him, he even cradled him on his hand while remininscing his past with his grandpa, when he was an innocent boy... cue Kazuya getting his EvilEyes activated, killed Jinpachi with his own hand and cue another EvilLaugh... [[BaitTheDog He got you again, didn't he?]]
* Belladonna gets one in ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', but ''especially'' if Riesz is in the party and is not the main character. During the "Big Bad Pileup" in which 2/3rds of the [[BigBadWannabe aspiring big bads]] are eliminated by the successful one, Belladonna explains her EvilPlan to Riesz, but since the Dark Majesty's remains were destroyed, she has no reason to harm Elliott at all, so she has him returned to Laurent before [[AlasPoorVillain committing suicide]] offscreen.
* Very, ''very'' rarely, [[JackassGenie Calypso]] from ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'' gets one such moment. For example, in Twisted Metal: Head On, when Mortimer wishes to return to his grave instead of wishing for {{Revenge}} against the punks who dug him up, Calypso fulfills his wish with no strings attached.
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' makes this an important part of a PacifistRun, since many monster encounters can be resolved without fighting if the player performs acts of kindness and affection on them. The specific actions for dogs always include a literal "Pet."
* In ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'', the PC acts as a {{Psychopomp}}, recruiting Einherjar from the 'worthy dead', and sending the rest to Hel. One of your recruitments features a low-down thug named Badrach, who's popped up in the stories of several other characters before -- including participating in the kidnapping and transport of a princess, which led to her death. When his deeds finally catches up with him, he drags himself home to his worn-down little house, and his sharp-tongued wife, bleeding all the way before collapsing on the doorstep... and in the afterlife, he finds Lenneth Valkyrie waiting for him, only too eager to send him hurtling down into Hel -- but she gives him a chance: Did he ever do ANYTHING worthy? A single good deed? He first tries to lie, but he cannot -- instead, he merely spouts a string of crimes, from mugging and burglary to outright murder. But finally, he does recall a single redeeming act -- one time, he was running security for slavers, and one slave, a little girl, took a shine to him. When the slavers' pay didn't measure up to his expectations, he ditched them and took the girl out of spite, bringing her to...an abandoned church. Probably better than staying with the slavers, though.
** A bit interesting if you look closer, its implied the girl he saved was lucien/rucio's sister that was sold off in the prologue.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III: The Frozen Throne'', Illidan Stormrage is a power-hungry, demon-night elf hybrid. Still, he goes out of his way to help save [[spoiler:Tyrande, his sister-in-law, for whom he harbors an unrequited love.]]
** Seeing how [[spoiler:His brother acts towards him every time he gives him a chance to, from the war of the ancients and forwards, one can argue that he's actively been working to turn him into a villain in order to secure Tyrande for himself, which in some ways would make a lot of the good things he does fall into this trope's territory.]]
* King Foltest from the ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' games is generally described as "The arrogant, sister-humping warmonger", a completely justified characterisation. However, he is AFatherToHisMen, and recognises and remembers the name of a private from a battle over four years earlier. Also, when interacting with his children, he turns into a complete creampuff.

-->'''B.J''': "Good dreams, Max."
** There's also a later sidequest to find and retrieve a concentration camp survivor's lost wedding ring.
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Kel'Thuzad is an undead lich who serves as TheDragon to Arthas Menethil, the Lich King. However players can confront a kitten named Mr. Bigglesworth in his lair. If killed his reaction seems to be sadness and vengeful hatred towards those heartless loot-seekers that just killed his kitty.
** King Varian Wrynn, who is considered a racist jackass by some, gets one when he allows an enemy general to pass through Alliance lines unmolested so that he could retrieve the body of his slain son.
** Garrosh Hellscream, his is clear counterpart among the Horde, got one as well when he executed a warlord for attacking innocents and showed respect for the wisdom of a still-grieving Tauren chieftain.

** The flashback to Mia's first case shows that the arrogant Diego Armando still showed up to assist a rookie like Mia, when Grossberg overslept.
** Miles Edgeworth (pre-HeelFaceTurn) threw away a victory that he had in the bag because the main actor of his favorite TV show would be convicted in the place of another person who was very obviously guilty. He also refused to use forged or falsified evidence.
*** WordOfGod says that Miles Edgeworth has a literal dog, named Pess, who serves as his LivingEmotionalCrutch.
** Franziska has her soft spots, particularly towards young children and the hapless Adrian Andrews. [[spoiler: Even if she previously manipulated Andrews' codependency issues for court purposes.]]
** And in case 3-5, she seemed genuinely worried for the emotional well-being of Sister Bikini when everything started falling down around her. She also whipped Phoenix so he would give her words of encouragement. Take that however you will.
** In the non-prosecutor department, [[spoiler:Matt Engarde has a cat named Shoe whom he asks you to feed.]]
** Another non-prosecutor variant [[spoiler:is Kristoph Gavin, the original mentor for Apollo Justice who assists him in defending Phoenix Wright in a murder trial. He is initially sincere in both helping Apollo master the basics of lawyering, and defending the case. However, the tables quickly turn when Phoenix ends up cornering ''him'' as the true culprit, and it's later revealed that he's the BigBad of the game, having sabotaged Phoenix's career in a fit of hubris and spite.]]
*** And in a literal example, examining a photo in [[spoiler:Kristoph's jail cell later on reveals that he has a dog named Vongole who he seems pretty attached to.]]
** Subverted by Manfred von Karma taking in and raising a young Miles Edgeworth after Edgeworth's father died. Teaching the kid everything he knew and training him for his career sounds like a kind thing to do for the son of von Karma's rival, but actually, von Karma just taught Edgeworth to be as ruthless and amoral as he is. [[spoiler:He also did it with the ultimate intention of completing his revenge on Gregory Edgeworth, ensuring that his son would turn out nothing like him.]]
* An ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'' cutscene shows the enemy ace Yellow 13 holding and petting a small dog. He also [[spoiler: saves the narrator and the barkeeper's daughter from getting caught by military policemen after the latter is seen planting explosives.]]
* Kitsune, the fourth Lord of Chaos in ''VideoGame/AdventureQuestWorlds'', is extremely fond of all of his fellow [[{{Youkai}} Yokai]]. When Emperor Daisho started inviting foreigners from outside Yokai Island to the island itself, Kitsune became furious and didn't share the same sentiment with Daisho, vowing to do everything he could to return the island to its former secluded sanctuary -- which is how Drakath made him the fourth Chaos Lord. Kitsune became a MagnificentBastard as soon as Drakath convinced him to use the Hanzamune Dragon Koi Blade to free the O-dokuro from its prison in the rift of time.

** And in the Doomwood saga, Drakath, being the AffablyEvil guy he is, has landed himself in this spot since he kindly retreieves Vordred's helmet and returns it to Sally.
* The protagonist of the remake of ''VideoGame/TheBardsTale'' is an AntiHero JerkAss more interested in, as the game states, "coin and cleavage" than saving the world. He is a compulsive liar and cheat, swindling his way through life and seducing his way through women. However, not only does he pick up a dog companion early in the game, but he [[spoiler: sheds a genuine tear and vows revenge when the dog is killed by a monstrous minion of the apparent BigBad]].
* At the end of ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine,'' it's revealed that Joey Drew has been [[spoiler: receiving letters from his former employees. He even has a letter from the janitor, Wally Franks]], who is astounded that Joey would even remember him.
* Booker [=DeWitt=] of ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' is a former PinkertonDetective. And by "former", we mean that [[EvenEvilHasStandards he was kicked out for "behavior beyond the acceptable bounds of the Agency."]]. He was also present at the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre Massacre of Wounded Knee]], and there he [[spoiler:burned teepees with women and children inside (ostensibly, he did this to gain the acceptance of his comrades after they rejected him for his own Native American ancestry)]]. Despite this -- [[TheAtoner or very possibly because of this]] -- in a game dripping with DeliberateValuesDissonance, he has some relatively progressive views on race. Booker treats the African-American janitors and attendants with far more politeness than the other citizens of Columbia and often urges them to drop the "subservient" act around him. Booker is also quite feminist for someone of his time period. [[MoralityPet And there's his interactions with Elizabeth]].
* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', everyone mocks at [[IdiotHero Bang Shishigami]]. The only one who actually praised him genuinely is Hakumen. That's right, the HeroAntagonist who exemplifies GoodIsNotNice.
** In ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift Continuum Shift]]'' he gets another. When he meets Tsubaki Yayoi, instead of brushing her off, as he does most people, he sits down and asks her to 'listen to an old man's tale'. He tells her of a story of a woman he loved, but who tragicly died. [[spoiler: He was referring to Tsubaki herself, as Hakumen is really Jin Kisaragi from the previous time loop. Then once he figures out Hazama's plans for Tsubaki he finds this loop's Jin and convinces him to go save her, not wanting her to die in this loop too.]]
*** Alternatively in his Bad Ending upon realizing the plan Hakumen goes to fight Hazama himself [[spoiler: only to find that's she's already blind while Hazama beats her while she's down and insults her]] at which point Hakumen ''[[UnstoppableRage completely loses it.]]''
** Also, in the first game, Ranga the Bloodedge is given two options after defeating Arakune in his story mode. Option one is to just leave and let Litchi greave over him. Option two is to stay behind and finish the job. If you choose this option, Ragna stays and argues with Litchi over why she should let him kill Arakune. Eventually, he leaves her and grumbles something along the lines of "If you wanna save him, go ahead. It's none of my business." But, as he leaves, he also quietly whispers "Good luck."

*** Tsubaki is his MoralityPet and possibly his LoveInterest, so he cares about her well-being ''a lot''. She's the only person in the game that Jin doesn't insult or belittle at all, if he beats her, he apologizes and promises to pick her up when it's all over, and [[BerserkButton if you actually hurt her in front of him, he will]] '''[[BerserkButton hunt you down]]''' [[BerserkButton and make sure you never do so again]]. The same is true for [[spoiler:Hakumen]].

*** In the Drama CD The Wheel of Fortune. [[spoiler:It was shown that when they were kids, he is rather affectionate to Saya before she became sickly]]. The reason for Jin's hatred towards Saya and why she suddenly became ill is as of now unknown.
** In ''VideoGame/BlazblueCrossTagBattle'', Hakumen is as gruff and aloof as ever, but he is practically ''fatherly'' to [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Weiss Schnee]], giving the girl words of encouragement and complimenting her fighting ability. He also shows a lot of respect for [[VideoGame/{{Persona 4}} Yu Narukami]].

* Revealed near the very end of ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2''. Director Tiedemann, who seemed throughout the game to be a cold, ruthless CorruptCorporateExecutive, is in fact shown via three audio logs to have had the best interests of humanity in his heart. He went along with the Marker project because humanity was slowly dying out and he thought that this was their best hope for salvation, and when the outbreak occurred he blatantly disregarded the protocols set in place by the shadowy figures in charge and called for a station wide evacuation, doing his best to save as many citizens as possible from the necromorphs.

** During Connor's chapter you often have to choose between an act of kindness or completing your mission, such as save Hank or continue chasing a Deviant, shoot or spare a pair of Deviants, or [[spoiler: whether or not you'll shoot an innocent android in order to gain information. The more often you choose to pet the dog the more Deviant Connor ''himself'' becomes, as he himself is developing emotions and a sense of empathy in spite of his programming. After all, it's ''human'' to want to save a friend, spare a genuinely victimized person who lashed out in SelfDefense, or refuse to harm an innocent for personal gain]]. You also get to ''literally'' pet the dog at one point, as Connor can pet Hank's dog Sumo.
** Late in Kara's chapter you watch someone drop their bus tickets and have the option to either keep them and board the bus yourself, or be nice and return them. [[spoiler:Returning them actually bites you in the ass as, while it was the nice thing to do, it also forces you to attempt to cross the river into Canada and results in Luthor's death]].

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', [[spoiler:Loghain]] can get one if you have him in the party with your dog. It turns out, that part of the reason he hates the Orleasians so much is because they killed his dog.
** The Qunari, the resident ScaryDogmaticAliens of the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' setting (of the religious fundamentalist variety), are the only society in Thedas to have complete racial equality. So much so in fact, that the name "Qunari" is a catch-all term for all followers of the Qun, whether they be human, elf, dwarf, or the horned [[DraconicHumanoid Draconic Humanoids]] that make up the bulk of the Qunari faithful. Also, they are extraordinarily accepting of transgender individuals. Ironically, the latter comes from one of their more political incorrect elements, namely their enforcement of strict gender roles.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': [[BigBad Psaro]] used the Secret of Evolution to uplift the animals around Rosehill, giving them the ability to talk. This wasn’t done out of pragmatic means, as they’re not hostile towards you when they visit (although they still hate humans), so apparently he did this for no other reason other than that it would make their lives easier.
* In ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors: Empires'' the ending consists of a 'clip show' with various officers of your faction in "''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' outakes". One clip shows one of your officers leaping in front of a runaway carriage to save a small lapdog, then with their most heroic and staunch Chinese Warlord face, they nod approvingly over the tail-wagging little thing. Especially funny when a real jerkass officer like Lu Bu does it. Downright hysterical if that officer happens to be the Emperor of China at the moment.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** Between the events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollSIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' and ''Skyrim'' (due in large part to the previous events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''), the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dunmer (Dark Elf)]] people were forced to [[TheMigration flee their ancestral homeland]] of Morrowind due to the events of the [[ColonyDrop Red]] [[ChekhovsVolcano Year]] and the subsequent [[LizardFolk Argonian]] [[TheDogBitesBack Invasion]]. The High King of Skyrim, homeland of the generally [[FantasticRacism elf-hating]] [[HornyVikings Nords]], formally offered the Dunmer people the island of Solstheim to resettle on. Subverted, however, as a rather cynical old Dunmer noted -- Solstheim was always a [[GrimUpNorth barren rock]] that no one has ever particularly cared about outside its [[FantasyMetals ebony and stalhrim]] deposits, and was theoretically already claimed by Morrowind even if no one there wanted it at the time. Further, refugees were already pouring in after the Red Year, meaning the Nords would have had a hard fight against desperate people on their hands if they wanted to keep the island. To quote from the declaration:

*** If you've completed any of the faction questlines, you have the option of introducing yourself as the leader of said faction to [[spoiler:Tsun, the old Nordic god of "trials against adversity" and [[BodyguardingABadass shield-thane]] of [[TopGod Shor]], when you meet him in [[WarriorHeaven Sovngarde]].]] If you introduce yourself as the [[TheArchMage Archmage]] of the [[WizardingSchool College of Winterhold]], he remarks about [[KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect how badly mages have been treated]] as of late, and mentions how mages are honored in Shor's hall. It's a nice moment after enduring snarky remarks about magic during the rest of the game. You [[DuelBoss still have to fight him]], but he sees you as an equal, same as if you introduced yourself as [[TheChosenOne Dragonborn]] or the Harbinger of [[AdventureGuild the Companions]].
*** In the Daedric quest of Clavicus Vile, the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] of [[DealWithTheDevil Bargains]] and [[LiteralGenie Wishes]], you have the option of reuniting him with his severed [[MoralityPet external conscience]], [[BigFriendlyDog Barbas]]. If you do so, he (reluctantly) decides not to flay you in the most gruesomely manner possible for disobeying his order to [[KickTheDog kill Barbas]] instead. The implication is that the return of Barbas, and thus Vile's full divine power (and his conscience), is the better deal for Vile.
*** [[MadGod Sheogorath]]'s Daedric quest is this for [[TheCaligula Pelagius the Mad]], relieving the poor deceased emperor of the madness which has long plagued him. [[spoiler:Given that this Sheogorath is heavily implied to be [[PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo the Champion of Cyrodiil]], this may be the result of him [[TookALevelInKindness Taking A Level In Kindness]] since the last game]].
** In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'', despite admitting that most of her [[BigGood benevolent acts]] were purely for her own benefit and that you were her UnwittingPawn, the Daedric Prince Meridia does do two helpful things for the player -- The first is locating and returning the [[PlayerCharacter Vestige]]'s soul -- although Cadwell was the one who asked her to do, she agreed regardless. The second is accepting Cadwell as her new servant, and enabling him to assist the player in various ways, such as opening the way for NewGamePlus content.

* Subverted by a literal case in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' -- the Legionary Antony displays more regard for the dogs under his charge than he does for people. He offers his aging favorite to be killed in the arena for the possibility of giving her immortality as the brain of a cyber-dog, and he gives the other dogs a teddy bear to play with -- which he [[KickTheDog took from a child slave]].
** Played straight in the ending if Caesar's Legion wins and Caesar himself is still alive. One of the only non-evil things he does is let the humanitarian organization Followers of the Apocalypse leave Vegas peacefully because he himself was raised by the Followers.
** The nominally GoodIsNotNice [[TheFederation NCR]] get quite a few:
*** This depends hugely on your political views, but if you work hard enough and jump through enough hoops, [[EarnYourHappyEnding the Good Karma NCR ending is probably the nicest ending in the game]].
*** In one notable scene, the NCR are handing out supplies to the NCR refugees in [[WretchedHive Freeside]]. If you pose as a refugee for a quest, you get a dialogue option where you mention having a local friend who needs food. The NCR officer mentions being under strict orders that they cannot offer food for locals. [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Right before handing you another food package to take back to him]].

** In ''Dead Money'', [[SplitPersonality God]] may be a [[ControlFreak controlling]] {{Jerkass}}, but he openly admits that [[PsychopathicManChild Dog's]] welfare is his top priority.
*** Dean Domino is also this. He's a complete and total bastard (and an unrepentant one too) but if you're decent to him in spite of this, what is potentially a boss fight turns into the two of you actively working together to escape a death-trap riddled theater. Upon encountering Domino for the first time here, he's genuinely happy to see you, exclaiming "Hey, partner! Nice to see a friendly face!" before explaining how to help him. His epilogue, should you have befriended him, is also this, since it suggests some part of him really does feel bad for the things he's done.
** Even ''you'' can get a few. You will be very likely playing as some form of AntiHero, anyway. For example, with a high Charisma score, you can play with the [[BarbarianTribe Boomer]] children and give them toys. Regardless of your [[KarmaMeter alignment]].
** Father Elijah is a deeply selfish and callous man who generally sees other people as glorified machines meant to achieve a goal... with the exception of Veronica, who he genuinely seems to love like a daughter. If you tell him that you know her, he'll be overjoyed that she's still alive. However, like with Antony, it's deconstructed, as his kindness towards her often takes twisted forms; for instance, he sabotaged her relationship with Christine because [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain he's homophobic]] and [[UnwantedAssistance misguidedly thought he was helping her]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}''
** Quite literally with Paladin Danse, an utmost supporter of the Brotherhood of Steel and their ideals who shows nothing but sneering condescension (if not outright hostility) to your other companions when switching them out. When you switch out [[CanineCompanion Dogmeat]] for him, however:
-->'''Dogmeat''': ''(sad whimper)''
-->'''Danse''': Don't worry, boy. I'll make sure this soldier comes home alive.
** Another much more surprising one is on one certain quest involving a [[spoiler: ghoul child]] one of the many things he's a FantasticRacist about, if brought along he reassures the [[spoiler:child]] that he'll help him [[spoiler: find his parents]] and seems very concerned over his safety.
** The main story quest "Dangerous Minds" is one such moment for [[spoiler:Kellogg, the ruthless Institute-hired merc who killed your spouse and kidnapped your son. After living for years as a soldier of fortune after his family is murdered by raiders, he is seen caring for Shaun while living in Diamond City under the cover of being a regular dad and his son, the last time in his life he would be able to live as a normal family man.]]
* The first part of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' serves as this for pre-insanity Sephiroth by showing that before the notorious mission to Nibelheim, he was actually a [[SugarAndIcePersonality cool, but fairly nice person]] who had friends and worried about them.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'', a random man helps out the player rescue the girl. It turns out that that man is [[spoiler: Julius, the BigBad]] and the hero even thinks to ask why he helped him out. [[spoiler: Julius]] mentions that he wasn't sure that the girl the hero was trying to save was the girl that [[spoiler: Julius]] wanted -- meaning he essentially helped the hero out for no apparent benefit to himself since [[spoiler: Julius doesn't even help the hero beyond getting him the book of fire that he needs.]]
* At the end of ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon,'' [[spoiler: Harlan Wade]] is so deeply affected by guilt over what he did to [[TheWoobie Alma]] that he decides to [[spoiler:[[RedemptionEqualsDeath let her out and allow her to kill him]].]] [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Then again]], he knew she was little more than a walking personification of murderous hatred by that point ''and let her out of her box anyway'', which makes him a bit less sympathetic.
** In ''Project Origin'', one of the intelligence files reveals that the music box that appears early on in the game in Genevive Aristide's apartment (and is the source of the recurring theme music throughout the game) originally belonged to Alma, and that Aristide had it brought to her home, so she could listen to it and remind herself of how guilty she is herself.
*** Given Aristide's greedy, self-justifying behavior and comments in both Project Origin and the supplemental promotional materials, the idea of Aristide feeling any guilt over Armacham's treatment of Alma seems highly unlikely. Maybe Aristide just likes the music box's tune.
** Alma herself has a few Pet the Dog moments toward both the Point Man and Becket, like when she [[spoiler:kills a group of Replicas that have the Point Man pinned down in ''Extraction Point'',]] or when [[spoiler:she kills an Abomination that is directing Replica soldiers against Becket, or kills ATC troops in Becket's path in Wade Elementary.]]

** [[spoiler:Yomiel]] [[GrandTheftMe possesses people]] to force them to commit crimes, cuts a deal with a foreign nation who will almost certainly use what he offers them to attack other countries, and [[spoiler:manipulates poor Kamila into killing her own mother, albeit indirectly.]] Towards the end of the game, [[spoiler: he saves Lynne and Kamila from drowning by breaking open the submarine door that's stuck and manipulating junk to make an arm to pull them out.]]
** We also get one from [[spoiler:Dandy, who is very polite and kind to Kamila, even when he kidnaps her, giving her a book and juice, finding it disturbing that he and his associate were asked to hold Kamila captive in the remains of her former home, and crying over Kamila's fate in the timeline when she was crushed to death.]]
* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus'' seems to have a number of cinematics showing tender moments between Kratos and his family, before you-know-what happens. The ultimate peak of this, Kratos reuniting with [[spoiler:his daughter after renouncing his violent past and powers]], is followed by a heartbreaking ShooTheDog moment, in which he has to shove [[spoiler:his daughter]] away (in one of the series' trademark ''button mashing minigames'' no less) in order to save the world. It goes a long way to establish just ''why'' Kratos is so goddamn angry in the later games.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'', the title character is very officious and ill-tempered, but has a few of these moments, most notably in the PlayableEpilogue where he [[spoiler:unambiguously thanks the player character, his son Zagreus, for the actions he took in the main game that Hades had been actively working against.]]
* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' [[spoiler:manages to pull this off ''in reverse.'' Over the course of the game, Shelby saves the HookerWithAHeartOfGold from a former client, stops a suicide, takes care for said suicide near-victim's baby, stops a liquor store hold-up, and if the player is fast enough, saves Lauren again from a drowning car. Then you find out he's the Origami Killer. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation It's up to the player to decide whether these acts were genuine, or if he was simply a]] ManipulativeBastard.]]
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'', where throughout the game, you see the cold blooded killer keeps a pet canary. However, the moment the bird starts chirping at an inopportune time: *crunch*.
** Also subverted in ''[[VideoGame/HitmanContracts Contracts]],'' where 47 has the option of petting the dog in order to advance his agenda: for example, he can offer to take the place of a tired bartender -- so he can poison a customer's drinks.
* In ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleHulkUltimateDestruction'' you generally run around doing whatever you want, and that usually involves the killing of many, many, ''many'' innocent people. But if you so choose to grab a person you have an option besides throwing them into the distance: Putting them down gently and patting them on the head.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', after [[spoiler: Splitting Ventus' heart in half and creating Vanitas, which nearly killed him]], [[BigBad Master Xehanort]] took him to his homeland, the Destiny Isles, so he could spend his last moments in a peaceful world. [[spoiler: Then cruelly subverted when Ven connects to Sora's heart and recovers, and Xehanort makes him suffer much, much more.]]

** Bokoblins in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' are implied to take good care of the horses that they ride, as they are fully tamed.
*** Revali may act like an egotistical jerk most of the time but he does genuinely (if begrudgingly) respects Princess Zelda for her pluck and altruism and he feels sorry for her being unable to awaken her powers despite all the hard work she's put into. He is uncharacteristically somber and lacking any of his usual criticism when Zelda returns from the Spring of Wisdom with still nothing to show for it.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'', Linebeck spends the entire game as a gutless coward who has to be bribed by [[spoiler:the Ocean King]] to convince him to help out at all. At the very end of the game, [[spoiler:he sees that Link lost his sword and is being attacked by Bellum and promptly stabs the demon to give Link a chance to fight back. The poor guy is then possessed for his efforts.]]

* Frank from ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' provides a rather literal example. Although he is presented as a dangerous and violent drug dealer who often threatens Max and Chloe in his quest to get the money he is owed, it is shown that he has a soft spot for dogs. Talking to a certain police officer can reveal that he once rescued a bunch of fight dogs, one of which he kept as his pet and companion. Another, less literal example, is if [[spoiler:you get on his good side during the confrontation in episode 4 and convince him to help you find Rachel.]] If you do that, he'll also [[spoiler:give Chloe her gun back if he took it during an earlier episode.]]
* ''VideoGame/ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlRevis'' features Roxis (TheRival, JerkWithAHeartOfGold and [[HeelFaceTurn once a part]] of the QuirkyMiniBossSquad) who gets a few of these moments throughout the game, mostly after being recruited into the game's band of heroic friends. The first example was almost literal: adopting a stray kitten whose mother just died. He's even seen baby talking to it, although he'll deny any such events took place when confronted
* In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'', Bowser, when facing three of his soldiers who betrayed him and returned to grovel their way back, decided to quickly scold them and order them back to their posts ASAP instead of outright kicking them out or worse.
* Depending on your playthrough of ''Franchise/MassEffect'', Commander Shepard has his moments. Most notably if s/he's usually [[JerkAss renegade]] and starts [[WhatTheHellHero abusing NPCs outside his/her crew]] but takes a moment to [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold console his/her squad]] with any problems they might have. This can be played fully straight if s/he's constantly renegade all the time in the [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 sequel]] but takes the paragon route on the crew's loyalty missions.
** [[AssInAmbassador Udina]] gets one in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''. Aside from actually acting like a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, he also tells you about how the destruction of the entire Alliance parliament (most of whom he knew on a FirstNameBasis) has affected him.
** Zaeed in the ''Citadel'' DLC gets hooked on a claw vending machine game while trying to win a toy for a child. Bear in mind that Zaeed is pretty much a PsychoForHire and regularly discusses, in a very casual way, how [thing] wiped out half his squad once.
** A Renegade Colonist Shepard gets one in the ''I remember me'' mission, when dealing with a badly traumatized girl taken as a slave in the same raid Shepard narrowly avoided. Renegade Shepard encourages the girl to be strong and tells her that she is strong enough to face what happened.
* [[BigBad Lord Wily]] of the ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series has paid for the medical treatment of [[spoiler:Joe Mach]]'s daughter, and he also temporarily abandoned his quest for revenge on society to [[spoiler:take care of Baryl for a friend.]] He [[spoiler:walks into an exploding volcano to rescue his own son Regal and give him a second chance to be an upright human being courtesy of LaserGuidedAmnesia mixed with a rather amazing ResetButton.]]
** The one from [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic the classic series]] gets a few too; in [[spoiler:''VideoGame/MegaMan10'', he turned out to be the villain ''again'', but, when he got a fever from Roboenza, he was put into the hospital, he escapes soon afterward, but not before leaving enough Robonenza cure capsules to cure a population, and if it's not enough, they could still examine it and determine the cure]], Wily may be a villain who wants to take over the world, but he's ''not'' a heartless monster.

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', a female villain pets a dog to prove her not-all-bad-ness. One of the characters remarks that her love of dogs must mean she's good inside, prompting the main character to rant about how her love of dogs proves nothing. While it might seem like a subversion at the time, as we proceed it turns out that the villain is not a creepy stalkerish murderer, but a lonely dog lover who only wants to be loved. [[ShootTheDog Then Snake kills her.]]
** [[MagnificentBastard OCELOT]] of all people gets one in the same game as an EasterEgg. If you get all the way to the torture sequence without saving, he'll remark that if you die there [[NoFourthWall you're going to have to go all the way back to the beginning.]] Then he gives you the chance to just submit right there without a fight, and even offers to tell everyone else that he broke you through torture.
** Snake's love of animals probably counts too, because it's the first suggestion we get that he's anything other than an action hero with no inner life. In fact, Snake's dismissal of Otacon's defense of Wolf on this basis is deeply ironic and not a little tragic -- he loves dogs too, but he believes himself to be an intrinsically worthless human being outside of the battlefield. Snake's self-loathing becomes more apparent by ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', until [[spoiler: Big Boss reappears, more-or-less apologizes to Snake for how fucked up his life was, and then tells Snake to live out the short remainder of his life in peace and happiness.]]
*** Snake even gets some additional moments in his cameo appearance in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Brawl'''s CODEC conversations. Specifically, he sticks up for the two {{butt monkey}}s, [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Luigi]] and [[VideoGame/StarFox Slippy]], telling the [[spoiler:A.I.]] Colonel to show Luigi some respect and praising Slippy's mechanical skills and offering to purchase a weapon from him.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' Fortune blasts apart a squad of Navy Seals for not being able to shoot her and then apologizes to the dead seagulls that got hit by their bullets.
--> "I'm so sorry my beauties. I'll see you again someday"
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'' has a ''literal'' example with a cat. During one of the villain's {{Motive Rant}}s while you're surrounded by enemy soldiers and you're free to look around, you can turn and watch one of the soldiers be visited by a cat. Rather than shoo it away he makes sure his boss isn't noticing, takes a knee and pets it, and then waves goodbye as it walks away. [[spoiler:Then the first thing you do once the cutscene ends is cut those enemy soldiers to ribbons]].
* In ''VideoGame/MOTHER3'', Fassad is shown as being down right evil: torturing monkeys, and corrupting innocent civilizations, but after he is defeated, [[spoiler: the player meets his pet mouse who is eagerly awaiting his beloved master's return.]]
* Travis Touchdown of ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', a perverted, BloodKnight {{Otaku}}, has a thing for cats. He owns a Scottish Fold, Jeane, which he can interact with in both games and one of the jobs in the first game has him finding runaway cats.
* When you get to The Room in ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}'', you encounter the Guardians of the Zones you previously defeated, and they seem to do a total 180 of their established personalities. [[SirSwearsALot Dedan]] offers to dry your tears and go on a pedalo ride, [[FallenHero Japhet]] tells you to be careful around the cliffs, and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Enoch]] promises to bake you cakes later. [[spoiler: It is commonly accepted that this is a flashback, and they are speaking not to the Batter, but to Hugo. At some point after becoming the Guardians they [[JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope jumped off the slippery slope.]]]]
* Gogandantess from ''VideoGame/Onimusha2SamuraisDestiny'' is a highly arrogant Genma who is the self-proclaimed "greatest swordsman of all demons". Although he isn't nearly as evil as the other Genma shown in this series - in fact he is [[NobleDemon very honorable and chivalrous]] -- he's still definitely a bad guy. So, it comes as a surprise to Jubei (and the players) when, just as it looks as though Oyu is going to plummet to a fiery death, Gogandantess [[VillainousRescue leaps in and saves her at the last second]].
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'': [[spoiler: Former BigBad Kuro Seimei, though still antagonistic,]] does this by giving [[spoiler: Seimei]] a hint to the [[spoiler: fragments of the Sword of Kusanagi,]] which puzzles [[spoiler: Seimei]] himself.

* Minor example: In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', there's a snippet of dialogue from a Yasogami student that hints that SadistTeacher Kinshiro Morooka can have some pleasant moments, as the student said that she got some candy from him. He's also in the habit of offering serious career advice to his students on the sly. However he's always a jerk towards the protagonist and his friends so they never actually see this aspect of him.
* A subtle variation of this may have shown up in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'': Cyrus, the nihilistic and emotionally disturbed BigBad who proudly claims he only uses Pokémon for their power, has a Golbat that in his final battle has turned into a Crobat. Golbat only evolves into Crobat when it has developed a particularly strong bond of friendship with its Trainer.
** A far less subtle case is where Cyrus, after the hero battles through his mooks and defeats him in battle, praises the hero's courage, gives him/her a Master Ball as a reward, and tells him/her where to go to save the Spirit Pokémon. In ''Diamond'' and ''Pearl'', this ends up ruining his plan, but in ''Platinum'', he's more prepared.
** Golbat's evolution into Crobat is also used in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' to show that [[HeelFaceTurn the rival character has begun to properly care for his Pokemon instead of just trying to use their power]].

* Dutch van der Linde in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' pets almost as many dogs as he kicks being an AxCrazy NobleDemon and ByronicHero who leads a gang of outlaws. [[spoiler: Probably the most known example is when he saves John Marston from Micah Bell after siding with the Micah and betraying John years prior, and then leaves John with the huge sum of money from the Blackwater heist]].

** Annette Birkin was right up there with all the other batshit insane Umbrella researchers whose entire motive behind working with viruses seemed to be "[[ForTheEvulz because]]", at the very least genuinely does love her daughter and not only begs the heroes to rescue her from the infection, but also tells them how to do it.
** Oswell E. Spencer, the man directly or indirectly responsible for ''every death and monster in the entire franchise'' and a sadistic nihilistic misanthropic AGodAmI EvilutionaryBiologist known for killing anyone who's outlived their usefulness because they might know too much, has exactly ''one'' shred of humanity in him and has done exactly ''one'' decent thing his entire life. He was decent to his loyal butler Patrick, who he apparently grew up with and was his childhood friend. When he's outlived his usefulness, [[spoiler:Oswell simply dismisses him and sends him away rather than having him killed, which also spared Patrick the grisly fate of Oswell's security staff when [[BigBad Wesker]] showed up.]]
** Ada Wong gets a good one as part of her [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold unknown story]] in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' where, during her escape from Lanshiang by helicopter she takes the time to gun down some zombies that have survivors cornered on the rooftops. Her repeatedly helping Leon ''may'' count too, but that's less about simply being good and more about having [[DatingCatwoman the hots for him]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}}'', at the beginning of Robopon 2, Dr. Zeke finds Cody washed up on the beach and saves him, taking him to his house until he wakes up. Unlike his brother in the previous game and his father, he seems to be an Affably Evil kinda guy.
* The Boss in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' comes across as a sociopath who revels in the evil s/he does. In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' s/he mellows out considerably, particularly in regards to the other Saints. The god ending and DLC have this further, with Boss positively nuzzling Jenny to the point she becomes a PromotedFanboy by standing up for herself and killing her JerkAss director, knowing Boss will have her back.
** Troy Bradshaw as well...after becoming police chief he keeps Boss on life support and gets Gat protection in prison as a way of making up for being an undercover cop with the Saints.
** [[BigBad Killbane]] get one in Saints Row the Third when he lets Matt Miller leave the Syndicate with no strings attached. He even offers himself as a job reference! This is further highlighted by Matt clearly antsy and fearing ResignationsNotAccepted the entire time he's walking off, especially since Killbane broke the neck of the last person who said they were getting out.
** The Boss gets several in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', including fighting for the human race, going out of their way to rescue crewmates and saying they'd take the bullet for a freind. Oh, and the DLC where they [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext save Christmas]].]]
* Koei loves giving ''UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga'' pet the dog moments:
** A cinematic in ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors: Empires'' has Nobunaga trying to cheer up Nene when she's upset by her husband's philandering. (This one happens to be TruthInTelevision, quoted straight from a letter Nobunaga wrote to Nene.)
** In the Sengoku ending of VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi, [[GenkiGirl Xiao]] [[MoeBlob Qiao]] gets upset when the three main characters (Nobunaga, Uesugi Kenshin, and Takeda Shingen) start trading not-so-veiled threats at each other, so Nobunaga chuckles and pats her on the head. (It's AllThereInTheManual -- Xiao Qiao reminds him of his sister Oichi.)
** In ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors 2'', this gets raised to HoYay levels when he sheds a tear at [[spoiler: Mitsuhide's death]] in his ending.
* ''VideoGame/ShadowHeartsCovenant'' has a GiantMook named Lenny, who is a recurring foe on the first disc. On the second disc, however, one {{Sidequest}} reveals that he spends considerable amounts of time petting the dog. Among other things: he saved an old woman from muggers, he sent one mook with an ailing mother to report to their boss and thus saved him from certain death on the next mission, and he made a poor thief self-sufficient by teaching him math (which helped him get a job).
** And in the sequel, when Johnny gave him a glass of water a few years before the game, he vowed to serve him for life, serving as a BattleButler and being the muscle behind his top-tier Tool attack.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'': [[spoiler:When Eris was serving as the gatekeeper for the LotusEaterMachine, her only desire is that the inhabitants find their peace due to the environment sating their desires. She is genuinely saddened that Luna was not able to find peace in the dream despite being willing to give into it, and tearfully lets her leave once she comes to terms with her parents' death.]]

** During ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'''s final story, [[spoiler:Eggman sets aside his rivalry with Sonic and company to stop the ARK from crashing into the earth. While the credits roll, we see Eggman having a friendly conversation with Tails about how he used to idolize his grandfather (the man responsible for almost destroying the world this time)]].

** In ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'', Eggman falls off a cliff as a consequence of trying to keep Sonic safe (they're teaming up against a bigger threat), [[spoiler:though in this case, he had engineered his sacrifice so he would be able to surprise Sonic later on after the bigger threat was taken care of]].
** Shadow was absent at Sonic's birthday party in the beginning of ''Videogame/SonicGenerations''. At the end of the game, he reappears at the party with everyone else. Instead of going back to whatever he was doing before, he decides to stick around, though he does keep himself in the background.
* ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'': At the end of the Normal Path, [[spoiler: Gig admits his regret over everything Drazil made him do, taking responsibility since he still enjoyed what he did even though his personality was changed.]]
** [[spoiler: In the Demon Path Dio is risking his life to save his queen and eventually has a full blown HeelFaceTurn.]]
** Subverted in [[spoiler:the Demon Path]] where [[spoiler:Revya saves the life of a angel just so that s/he could ''kill her friend right in front of her'']]. This behavior is also mocked when [[spoiler:Lobo is revealed to be a traitor in the Demon Path]], specifically [[spoiler: if you choose to say that you trust Lobo, his FreudianExcuse kicks into play and he leaves you, claiming that people who trust each other are fools. Gig mocks him for it.]]

* In VideoGame/StarcraftIIWingsOfLiberty, if you choose to [[spoiler:kill the infested colonists (which includes Dr. Hanson)]], both [[DeadpanSnarker Tosh]] and [[TokenEvilTeammate Tychus]] console Raynor in their own ways.

** Sagat allowed JokeCharacter Dan, whose father he killed in a fight, defeat him to gain either the title or closure they sought. This was the first step in his HeelFaceTurn, as he saw how much obsession with revenge ruined Dan's life (at the very least, it caused Gouken to turn him away partway through training, resulting in his JokeCharacter style), and he realized his obsession with Ryu was doing the same to him.
** Balrog, of all people, gets one of these in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV''. Bison's plans have, apparently, gone to Hell, and Balrog is stomping around the ruined base looking for some treasure to loot before the whole place blows up. He runs into a scared child instead, and opts to carry him out. He only decided to save him ''after'' he discovered he had some sort of special powers, so his motives might not be as altruistic as they seem... [[spoiler: ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' has the kid, Ed, showing up in some story modes, and it seems he and Balrog ''have'' sorta become [[VitriolicBestBuds friends]].]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld'':
** [[PsychoforHire Alice]] gets one in a sidequest, wherein an old lady from Sylvarant is thrown away by a priest from the [[CorruptChurch Church of Martel]] when she requests that he save his son. After Alice and Decus show up and beat up the priest, Alice tells the woman to go to Flanoir, where her son will be given free treatment. This may be because [[spoiler: [[FreudianExcuse Alice's parents were slaughtered by animals on a forced pilgrimage.]] This is also the reason why she believes MightMakesRight.]]
** In a very literal example the Mayor of Iselia, who was firmly established as a [[FantasticRacism racist]] JerkAss in the previous game, can be found petting his dog.
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'': Yuan gets one of these in a sidequest as well. After spending the entire game as a cold, impatient, manipulative bastard who appears not to care about even the HeroicSacrifice of his closest subordinate, you follow him across both worlds on a sidequest where he's searching for something that he sharply refuses to explain. [[spoiler:Turns out it was his engagement ring to Martel, and when he finds out that Lloyd was the one who picked it up, he's willing to literally beg for its return.]]
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'': It's easy to forget because he's [[DeadpanSnarker so damn funny,]] and technically on your side, but [[MoralSociopathy Jade Curtiss]] [[FourEyesZeroSoul is pretty]] [[MadDoctor damn evil.]] And his cruelest moment, [[spoiler: suggesting Luke kill himself to destroy the miasma]], comes right before an extremely rare moment of kindness:
-->'''Jade''': That's what I would say if I was an emperor, with a country and people to look after. As your friend...I feel compelled to stop you.\\
'''[[spoiler: Luke]]''': I didn't realize you thought of me as a friend.\\
'''Jade''': Oh? Of course not. I can be a terribly cold person...I'm sorry.
* Yeager of ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' was portrayed as one of the BigBad's servants, and was considered to be evil and manipulative. However, there are two girls who're helping him, and during his final battle, explicitly ordered them to ''not'' join in the fight between him and the heroes, heavily implying that he ''wanted'' to die. If you do a big of digging, you find that [[spoiler: Gauche and Droite were actually from an orphanage that Yeager ''funded'', and pledged their lives to help him]].

* ''VideoGame/ConvictionSRPG'': Stan the Bloody is one of Emperor Abyss's generals and looks like a wild brute. He's also an antagonist because the empire is aligned with the Dark Elf while the party is aligned with the Light Elf. However, he cares for several kittens and retreats from a battle he was otherwise likely to win in order to save them.

** Snake's love of animals probably counts too, because it's the first suggestion we get that he's anything other than an action hero with no inner life. In fact, Snake's dismissal of Otacon's defense of Wolf on this basis is deeply ironic and not a little tragic - he loves dogs too, but he believes himself to be an intrinsically worthless human being outside of the battlefield. Snake's self-loathing becomes more apparent by ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'', until [[spoiler: Big Boss reappears, more-or-less apologizes to Snake for how fucked up his life was, and then tells Snake to live out the short remainder of his life in peace and happiness.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III: The Frozen Throne'', Illidan Stormrage is a power-hungry, demon-night elf hybrid. Still, he goes out of his way to help save [[spoiler:Tyrande, his sister-in-law, for whom he harbors an unrequited love.]]
** Seeing how [[spoiler:His brother acts towards him every time he gives him a chance to, from the war of the ancients and forwards, one can argue that he's actively been working to turn him into a villain in order to secure Tyrande for himself, which in some ways would make a lot of the good things he does fall into this trope's territory.]]
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Kel'Thuzad is an undead lich who serves as TheDragon to Arthas Menethil, the Lich King. However players can confront a kitten named Mr. Bigglesworth in his lair. If killed his reaction seems to be sadness and vengeful hatred towards those heartless loot-seekers that just killed his kitty.
** King Varian Wrynn, who is considered a racist jackass by some, gets one when he allows an enemy general to pass through Alliance lines unmolested so that he could retrieve the body of his slain son.
** Garrosh Hellscream, his is clear counterpart among the Horde, got one as well when he executed a warlord for attacking innocents and showed respect for the wisdom of a still-grieving Tauren chieftain.

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarChainsOfOlympus'' seems to have a number of cinematics showing tender moments between Kratos and his family, before you-know-what happens. The ultimate peak of this, Kratos reuniting with [[spoiler:his daughter after renouncing his violent past and powers]], is followed by a heartbreaking ShooTheDog moment, in which he has to shove [[spoiler:his daughter]] away (in one of the series' trademark ''button mashing minigames'' no less) in order to save the world. It goes a long way to establish just ''why'' Kratos is so goddamn angry in the later games.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'': [[spoiler:When Eris was serving as the gatekeeper for the LotusEaterMachine, her only desire is that the inhabitants find their peace due to the environment sating their desires. She is genuinely saddened that Luna was not able to find peace in the dream despite being willing to give into it, and tearfully lets her leave once she comes to terms with her parents' death.]]

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** Bokoblins in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' are implied to take good care of the horses that they ride, as they are fully tamed.
*** Revali may act like an egotistical jerk most of the time but he does genuinely (if begrudgingly) respects Princess Zelda for her pluck and altruism and he feels sorry for her being unable to awaken her powers despite all the hard work she's put into. He is uncharacteristically somber and lacking any of his usual criticism when Zelda returns from the Spring of Wisdom with still nothing to show for it.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass Phantom Hourglass]]'', Linebeck spends the entire game as a gutless coward who has to be bribed by [[spoiler:the Ocean King]] to convince him to help out at all. At the very end of the game, [[spoiler:he sees that Link lost his sword and is being attacked by Bellum and promptly stabs the demon to give Link a chance to fight back. The poor guy is then possessed for his efforts.]]
** At the end of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'', [[spoiler:Ganondorf knocks out Link and steals the Triforce of Courage, but promises not to kill him or Zelda. Unfortunately, this goes out the window a second later when he loses the chance to rule Hyrule and goes rather crazy, determined to drown them all.]]

* In ''VideoGame/MOTHER3'', Fassad is shown as being down right evil: torturing monkeys, and corrupting innocent civilizations, but after he is defeated, [[spoiler: the player meets his pet mouse who is eagerly awaiting his beloved master's return.]]
* Minor example: In ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'', there's a snippet of dialogue from a Yasogami student that hints that SadistTeacher Kinshiro Morooka can have some pleasant moments, as the student said that she got some candy from him. He's also in the habit of offering serious career advice to his students on the sly. However he's always a jerk towards the protagonist and his friends so they never actually see this aspect of him.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}} Onmyōji]]'': [[spoiler: Former BigBad Kuro Seimei, though still antagonistic,]] does this by giving [[spoiler: Seimei]] a hint to the [[spoiler: fragments of the Sword of Kusanagi,]] which puzzles [[spoiler: Seimei]] himself.
* Save the truly villainous ones, the normally antagonistic rival prosecutors in ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' games each have their own Pet the Dog moment to prove they're not as mean as their courtroom abuse of Phoenix would have you think.
** In "Bridge to the Turnabout", the smug Godot shows a soft spot for children when he comforts a distraught Pearl by giving her his last cup of coffee, and sweetens it for her.
** The flashback to Mia's first case shows that the arrogant Diego Armando still showed up to assist a rookie like Mia, when Grossberg overslept.
** Miles Edgeworth (pre-HeelFaceTurn) threw away a victory that he had in the bag because the main actor of his favorite TV show would be convicted in the place of another person who was very obviously guilty. He also refused to use forged or falsified evidence.
*** WordOfGod says that Miles Edgeworth has a literal dog, named Pess, who serves as his LivingEmotionalCrutch.
** Franziska has her soft spots, particularly towards young children and the hapless Adrian Andrews. [[spoiler: Even if she previously manipulated Andrews' codependency issues for court purposes.]]
** And in case 3-5, she seemed genuinely worried for the emotional well-being of Sister Bikini when everything started falling down around her. She also whipped Phoenix so he would give her words of encouragement. Take that however you will.
** In the non-prosecutor department, [[spoiler:Matt Engarde has a cat named Shoe whom he asks you to feed.]]
** Another non-prosecutor variant [[spoiler:is Kristoph Gavin, the original mentor for Apollo Justice who assists him in defending Phoenix Wright in a murder trial. He is initially sincere in both helping Apollo master the basics of lawyering, and defending the case. However, the tables quickly turn when Phoenix ends up cornering ''him'' as the true culprit, and it's later revealed that he's the BigBad of the game, having sabotaged Phoenix's career in a fit of hubris and spite.]]
*** And in a literal example, examining a photo in [[spoiler:Kristoph's jail cell later on reveals that he has a dog named Vongole who he seems pretty attached to.]]
** Subverted by Manfred von Karma taking in and raising a young Miles Edgeworth after Edgeworth's father died. Teaching the kid everything he knew and training him for his career sounds like a kind thing to do for the son of von Karma's rival, but actually, von Karma just taught Edgeworth to be as ruthless and amoral as he is. [[spoiler:He also did it with the ultimate intention of completing his revenge on Gregory Edgeworth, ensuring that his son would turn out nothing like him.]]
* A subtle variation of this may have shown up in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'': Cyrus, the nihilistic and emotionally disturbed BigBad who proudly claims he only uses Pokémon for their power, has a Golbat that in his final battle has turned into a Crobat. Golbat only evolves into Crobat when it has developed a particularly strong bond of friendship with its Trainer.
** A far less subtle case is where Cyrus, after the hero battles through his mooks and defeats him in battle, praises the hero's courage, gives him/her a Master Ball as a reward, and tells him/her where to go to save the Spirit Pokémon. In ''Diamond'' and ''Pearl'', this ends up ruining his plan, but in ''Platinum'', he's more prepared.
** Golbat's evolution into Crobat is also used in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' to show that [[HeelFaceTurn the rival character has begun to properly care for his Pokemon instead of just trying to use their power]].
** Archie and Maxie in ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' also use Crobat, though they are [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well-Intentioned Environmentalists]] so it's not a far jump for them to be responsible Pokemon Trainers.
* ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'': Mercenary helmsman Lawrence borders on being a JerkAss most of the time, but when he's not on duty he chooses to hang out with [[TeamPet Pow]], so he can't be all bad. Also, when [[spoiler:the Crescent Island base is destroyed]], he is seen clumsily trying to corral the escaped chickens.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon,'' [[spoiler: Harlan Wade]] is so deeply affected by guilt over what he did to [[TheWoobie Alma]] that he decides to [[spoiler:[[RedemptionEqualsDeath let her out and allow her to kill him]].]] [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Then again]], he knew she was little more than a walking personification of murderous hatred by that point ''and let her out of her box anyway'', which makes him a bit less sympathetic.
** In ''Project Origin'', one of the intelligence files reveals that the music box that appears early on in the game in Genevive Aristide's apartment (and is the source of the recurring theme music throughout the game) originally belonged to Alma, and that Aristide had it brought to her home, so she could listen to it and remind herself of how guilty she is herself.
*** Given Aristide's greedy, self-justifying behavior and comments in both Project Origin and the supplemental promotional materials, the idea of Aristide feeling any guilt over Armacham's treatment of Alma seems highly unlikely. Maybe Aristide just likes the music box's tune.
** Alma herself has a few Pet the Dog moments toward both the Point Man and Becket, like when she [[spoiler:kills a group of Replicas that have the Point Man pinned down in ''Extraction Point'',]] or when [[spoiler:she kills an Abomination that is directing Replica soldiers against Becket, or kills ATC troops in Becket's path in Wade Elementary.]]
* ''VideoGame/ManaKhemiaAlchemistsOfAlRevis'' features Roxis (TheRival, JerkWithAHeartOfGold and [[HeelFaceTurn once a part]] of the QuirkyMiniBossSquad) who gets a few of these moments throughout the game, mostly after being recruited into the game's band of heroic friends. The first example was almost literal: adopting a stray kitten whose mother just died. He's even seen baby talking to it, although he'll deny any such events took place when confronted
* ''VideoGame/FableII'': You can play as evil as you want, but your faithful dog still loves you.
* In ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors: Empires'' the ending consists of a 'clip show' with various officers of your faction in "''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' outakes". One clip shows one of your officers leaping in front of a runaway carriage to save a small lapdog, then with their most heroic and staunch Chinese Warlord face, they nod approvingly over the tail-wagging little thing. Especially funny when a real jerkass officer like Lu Bu does it. Downright hysterical if that officer happens to be the Emperor of China at the moment.
* An ''VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies'' cutscene shows the enemy ace Yellow 13 holding and petting a small dog. He also [[spoiler: saves the narrator and the barkeeper's daughter from getting caught by military policemen after the latter is seen planting explosives.]]
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney'', where throughout the game, you see the cold blooded killer keeps a pet canary. However, the moment the bird starts chirping at an inopportune time: *crunch*.
** Also subverted in ''[[VideoGame/HitmanContracts Contracts]],'' where 47 has the option of petting the dog in order to advance his agenda: for example, he can offer to take the place of a tired bartender- so he can poison a customer's drinks.
* [[BigBad Lord Wily]] of the ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series has paid for the medical treatment of [[spoiler:Joe Mach]]'s daughter, and he also temporarily abandoned his quest for revenge on society to [[spoiler:take care of Baryl for a friend.]] He [[spoiler:walks into an exploding volcano to rescue his own son Regal and give him a second chance to be an upright human being courtesy of LaserGuidedAmnesia mixed with a rather amazing ResetButton.]]
** The one from [[VideoGame/MegaManClassic the classic series]] gets a few too; in [[spoiler:''VideoGame/MegaMan10'', he turned out to be the villain ''again'', but, when he got a fever from Roboenza, he was put into the hospital, he escapes soon afterward, but not before leaving enough Robonenza cure capsules to cure a population, and if it's not enough, they could still examine it and determine the cure]], Wily may be a villain who wants to take over the world, but he's ''not'' a heartless monster.
*** In ''VideoGame/SuperAdventureRockman'', Wily says that he loves his robots, and would never allow [[BigBad Ra Moon]] to destroy them.
* Koei loves giving ''UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga'' pet the dog moments:
** A cinematic in ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors: Empires'' has Nobunaga trying to cheer up Nene when she's upset by her husband's philandering. (This one happens to be TruthInTelevision, quoted straight from a letter Nobunaga wrote to Nene.)
** In the Sengoku ending of VideoGame/WarriorsOrochi, [[GenkiGirl Xiao]] [[MoeBlob Qiao]] gets upset when the three main characters (Nobunaga, Uesugi Kenshin, and Takeda Shingen) start trading not-so-veiled threats at each other, so Nobunaga chuckles and pats her on the head. (It's AllThereInTheManual - Xiao Qiao reminds him of his sister Oichi.)
** In ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors 2'', this gets raised to HoYay levels when he sheds a tear at [[spoiler: Mitsuhide's death]] in his ending.
* In ''VideoGame/BlazBlue'', everyone mocks at [[IdiotHero Bang Shishigami]]. The only one who actually praised him genuinely is Hakumen. That's right, the HeroAntagonist who exemplifies GoodIsNotNice.
** In ''[[VideoGame/BlazBlueContinuumShift Continuum Shift]]'' he gets another. When he meets Tsubaki Yayoi, instead of brushing her off, as he does most people, he sits down and asks her to 'listen to an old man's tale'. He tells her of a story of a woman he loved, but who tragicly died. [[spoiler: He was referring to Tsubaki herself, as Hakumen is really Jin Kisaragi from the previous time loop. Then once he figures out Hazama's plans for Tsubaki he finds this loop's Jin and convinces him to go save her, not wanting her to die in this loop too.]]
*** Alternatively in his Bad Ending upon realizing the plan Hakumen goes to fight Hazama himself [[spoiler: only to find that's she's already blind while Hazama beats her while she's down and insults her]] at which point Hakumen ''[[UnstoppableRage completely loses it.]]''
** Also, in the first game, Ranga the Bloodedge is given two options after defeating Arakune in his story mode. Option one is to just leave and let Litchi greave over him. Option two is to stay behind and finish the job. If you choose this option, Ragna stays and argues with Litchi over why she should let him kill Arakune. Eventually, he leaves her and grumbles something along the lines of "If you wanna save him, go ahead. It's none of my business." But, as he leaves, he also quietly whispers "Good luck."
*** He gets another one with Taokaka. After fighting him in her story mode, Ragna offers her some of his food.
** In ''Continuum Shift'', Jin Kisaragi is a [[JerkAss complete asshole]] who throws death threats to anyone who gets in his way. However:
*** Tsubaki is his MoralityPet and possibly his LoveInterest, so he cares about her well-being ''a lot''. She's the only person in the game that Jin doesn't insult or belittle at all, if he beats her, he apologizes and promises to pick her up when it's all over, and [[BerserkButton if you actually hurt her in front of him, he will]] '''[[BerserkButton hunt you down]]''' [[BerserkButton and make sure you never do so again]]. The same is true for [[spoiler:Hakumen]].
*** Although to a much lesser extent than Tsubaki, he's also quite friendly to Makoto, if a little [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]]. He seems to genuinely care for her well-being, saving her life when [[BigBad Hazama]] attempts to "discipline" her (read: he's trying to off her [[spoiler:because [[HeKnowsTooMuch She Knows Too Much]]]]).
*** He also seems genuinely sorry for the female officer he knocks out to escape the NOL ship at the start of his story.
*** In the Drama CD The Wheel of Fortune. [[spoiler:It was shown that when they were kids, he is rather affectionate to Saya before she became sickly]]. The reason for Jin's hatred towards Saya and why she suddenly became ill is as of now unknown.
** In ''VideoGame/BlazblueCrossTagBattle'', Hakumen is as gruff and aloof as ever, but he is practically ''fatherly'' to [[WebAnimation/{{RWBY}} Weiss Schnee]], giving the girl words of encouragement and complimenting her fighting ability. He also shows a lot of respect for [[VideoGame/{{Persona 4}} Yu Narukami]].
* The protagonist of the remake of ''VideoGame/TheBardsTale'' is an AntiHero JerkAss more interested in, as the game states, "coin and cleavage" than saving the world. He is a compulsive liar and cheat, swindling his way through life and seducing his way through women. However, not only does he pick up a dog companion early in the game, but he [[spoiler: sheds a genuine tear and vows revenge when the dog is killed by a monstrous minion of the apparent BigBad]].
* ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' [[spoiler:manages to pull this off ''in reverse.'' Over the course of the game, Shelby saves the HookerWithAHeartOfGold from a former client, stops a suicide, takes care for said suicide near-victim's baby, stops a liquor store hold-up, and if the player is fast enough, saves Lauren again from a drowning car. Then you find out he's the Origami Killer. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation It's up to the player to decide whether these acts were genuine, or if he was simply a]] ManipulativeBastard.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', [[spoiler:Loghain]] can get one if you have him in the party with your dog. It turns out, that part of the reason he hates the Orleasians so much is because they killed his dog.
** The Qunari, the resident ScaryDogmaticAliens of the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' setting (of the religious fundamentalist variety), are the only society in Thedas to have complete racial equality. So much so in fact, that the name "Qunari" is a catch-all term for all followers of the Qun, whether they be human, elf, dwarf, or the horned [[DraconicHumanoid Draconic Humanoids]] that make up the bulk of the Qunari faithful. Also, they are extraordinarily accepting of transgender individuals. Ironically, the latter comes from one of their more political incorrect elements, namely their enforcement of strict gender roles.
* In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'', Bowser, when facing three of his soldiers who betrayed him and returned to grovel their way back, decided to quickly scold them and order them back to their posts ASAP instead of outright kicking them out or worse.
* In ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'', the PC acts as a {{Psychopomp}}, recruiting Einherjar from the 'worthy dead', and sending the rest to Hel. One of your recruitments features a low-down thug named Badrach, who's popped up in the stories of several other characters before - including participating in the kidnapping and transport of a princess, which led to her death. When his deeds finally catches up with him, he drags himself home to his worn-down little house, and his sharp-tongued wife, bleeding all the way before collapsing on the doorstep... and in the afterlife, he finds Lenneth Valkyrie waiting for him, only too eager to send him hurtling down into Hel - but she gives him a chance: Did he ever do ANYTHING worthy? A single good deed? He first tries to lie, but he cannot - instead, he merely spouts a string of crimes, from mugging and burglary to outright murder. But finally, he does recall a single redeeming act - one time, he was running security for slavers, and one slave, a little girl, took a shine to him. When the slavers' pay didn't measure up to his expectations, he ditched them and took the girl out of spite, bringing her to...an abandoned church. Probably better than staying with the slavers, though.

* In ''VideoGame/TheIncredibleHulkUltimateDestruction'' you generally run around doing whatever you want, and that usually involves the killing of many, many, ''many'' innocent people. But if you so choose to grab a person you have an option besides throwing them into the distance: Putting them down gently and patting them on the head.
* Subverted by a literal case in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' - the Legionary Antony displays more regard for the dogs under his charge than he does for people. He offers his aging favorite to be killed in the arena for the possibility of giving her immortality as the brain of a cyber-dog, and he gives the other dogs a teddy bear to play with - which he [[KickTheDog took from a child slave]].
** Played straight in the ending if Caesar's Legion wins and Caesar himself is still alive. One of the only non-evil things he does is let the humanitarian organization Followers of the Apocalypse leave Vegas peacefully because he himself was raised by the Followers.
** The nominally GoodIsNotNice [[TheFederation NCR]] get quite a few:
*** This depends hugely on your political views, but if you work hard enough and jump through enough hoops, [[EarnYourHappyEnding the Good Karma NCR ending is probably the nicest ending in the game]].
*** In one notable scene, the NCR are handing out supplies to the NCR refugees in [[WretchedHive Freeside]]. If you pose as a refugee for a quest, you get a dialogue option where you mention having a local friend who needs food. The NCR officer mentions being under strict orders that they cannot offer food for locals. [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight Right before handing you another food package to take back to him]].
*** If you get a relationship value of Accepted with the NCR, a [[EliteMook Ranger]] will appear and meet you out in the wastes. He'll give you a radio and explain that you can call for NCR support should you need it.
** In ''Dead Money'', [[SplitPersonality God]] may be a [[ControlFreak controlling]] {{Jerkass}}, but he openly admits that [[PsychopathicManChild Dog's]] welfare is his top priority.
*** Dean Domino is also this. He's a complete and total bastard (and an unrepentant one too) but if you're decent to him in spite of this, what is potentially a boss fight turns into the two of you actively working together to escape a death-trap riddled theater. Upon encountering Domino for the first time here, he's genuinely happy to see you, exclaiming "Hey, partner! Nice to see a friendly face!" before explaining how to help him. His epilogue, should you have befriended him, is also this, since it suggests some part of him really does feel bad for the things he's done.
** Even ''you'' can get a few. You will be very likely playing as some form of AntiHero, anyway. For example, with a high Charisma score, you can play with the [[BarbarianTribe Boomer]] children and give them toys. Regardless of your [[KarmaMeter alignment]].
** Father Elijah is a deeply selfish and callous man who generally sees other people as glorified machines meant to achieve a goal... with the exception of Veronica, who he genuinely seems to love like a daughter. If you tell him that you know her, he'll be overjoyed that she's still alive. However, like with Antony, it's deconstructed, as his kindness towards her often takes twisted forms; for instance, he sabotaged her relationship with Christine because [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain he's homophobic]] and [[UnwantedAssistance misguidedly thought he was helping her]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}''
** Quite literally with Paladin Danse, an utmost supporter of the Brotherhood of Steel and their ideals who shows nothing but sneering condescension (if not outright hostility) to your other companions when switching them out. When you switch out [[CanineCompanion Dogmeat]] for him, however:
-->'''Dogmeat''': ''(sad whimper)''
-->'''Danse''': Don't worry, boy. I'll make sure this soldier comes home alive.
** Another much more surprising one is on one certain quest involving a [[spoiler: ghoul child]] one of the many things he's a FantasticRacist about, if brought along he reassures the [[spoiler:child]] that he'll help him [[spoiler: find his parents]] and seems very concerned over his safety.
** The main story quest "Dangerous Minds" is one such moment for [[spoiler:Kellogg, the ruthless Institute-hired merc who killed your spouse and kidnapped your son. After living for years as a soldier of fortune after his family is murdered by raiders, he is seen caring for Shaun while living in Diamond City under the cover of being a regular dad and his son, the last time in his life he would be able to live as a normal family man.]]
* Revealed near the very end of ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2''. Director Tiedemann, who seemed throughout the game to be a cold, ruthless CorruptCorporateExecutive, is in fact shown via three audio logs to have had the best interests of humanity in his heart. He went along with the Marker project because humanity was slowly dying out and he thought that this was their best hope for salvation, and when the outbreak occurred he blatantly disregarded the protocols set in place by the shadowy figures in charge and called for a station wide evacuation, doing his best to save as many citizens as possible from the necromorphs.
* Subverted in the non-canonical ending of ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 5''. Kazuya actually paid respect to his grandpa Jinpachi before fighting him by giving him a respectful bow. After beating him, he even cradled him on his hand while remininscing his past with his grandpa, when he was an innocent boy... cue Kazuya getting his EvilEyes activated, killed Jinpachi with his own hand and cue another EvilLaugh... [[BaitTheDog He got you again, didn't he?]]
* Gogandantess from ''VideoGame/Onimusha2SamuraisDestiny'' is a highly arrogant Genma who is the self-proclaimed "greatest swordsman of all demons". Although he isn't nearly as evil as the other Genma shown in this series - in fact he is [[NobleDemon very honorable and chivalrous]] - he's still definitely a bad guy. So, it comes as a surprise to Jubei (and the players) when, just as it looks as though Oyu is going to plummet to a firey death, Gogandantess [[VillainousRescue leaps in and saves her at the last second]].
* Depending on your playthrough of ''Franchise/MassEffect'', Commander Shepard has his moments. Most notably if s/he's usually [[JerkAss renegade]] and starts [[WhatTheHellHero abusing NPCs outside his/her crew]] but takes a moment to [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold console his/her squad]] with any problems they might have. This can be played fully straight if s/he's constantly renegade all the time in the [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 sequel]] but takes the paragon route on the crew's loyalty missions.
** [[AssInAmbassador Udina]] gets one in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3''. Aside from actually acting like a ReasonableAuthorityFigure, he also tells you about how the destruction of the entire Alliance parliament (most of whom he knew on a FirstNameBasis) has affected him.
** Zaeed in the ''Citadel'' DLC gets hooked on a claw vending machine game while trying to win a toy for a child. Bear in mind that Zaeed is pretty much a PsychoForHire and regularly discusses, in a very casual way, how [thing] wiped out half his squad once.
** A Renegade Colonist Shepard gets one in the ''I remember me'' mission, when dealing with a badly traumatized girl taken as a slave in the same raid Shepard narrowly avoided. Renegade Shepard encourages the girl to be strong and tells her that she is strong enough to face what happened.
* Kitsune, the fourth Lord of Chaos in ''VideoGame/AdventureQuestWorlds'', is extremely fond of all of his fellow [[{{Youkai}} Yokai]]. When Emperor Daisho started inviting foreigners from outside Yokai Island to the island itself, Kitsune became furious and didn't share the same sentiment with Daisho, vowing to do everything he could to return the island to its former secluded sanctuary - which is how Drakath made him the fourth Chaos Lord. Kitsune became a MagnificentBastard as soon as Drakath convinced him to use the Hanzamune Dragon Koi Blade to free the O-dokuro from its prison in the rift of time.
** Zahart was extremely fond of [[JackassGenie Tibicenas]], the eighth Lord of Chaos, whom he got the ability to summon and command after Drakath gave him a chaorrupted magic ring. He was so fond of Tibicenas that he wanted to use him to rule the Sandsea for all eternity after paying off his debt to Drakath by using the red diamond found by his slaves to animate the Chaos Sphinx. Unfortunately for him, Tibicenas has plans much worse than he himself had originally planned.
** And in the Doomwood saga, Drakath, being the AffablyEvil guy he is, has landed himself in this spot since he kindly retreieves Vordred's helmet and returns it to Sally.
* ''VideoGame/GhostTrick'':
** [[spoiler:Yomiel]] [[GrandTheftMe possesses people]] to force them to commit crimes, cuts a deal with a foreign nation who will almost certainly use what he offers them to attack other countries, and [[spoiler:manipulates poor Kamila into killing her own mother, albeit indirectly.]] Towards the end of the game, [[spoiler: he saves Lynne and Kamila from drowning by breaking open the submarine door that's stuck and manipulating junk to make an arm to pull them out.]]
** We also get one from [[spoiler:Dandy, who is very polite and kind to Kamila, even when he kidnaps her, giving her a book and juice, finding it disturbing that he and his associate were asked to hold Kamila captive in the remains of her former home, and crying over Kamila's fate in the timeline when she was crushed to death.]]
* The first part of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'' serves as this for pre-insanity Sephiroth by showing that before the notorious mission to Nibelheim, he was actually a [[SugarAndIcePersonality cool, but fairly nice person]] who had friends and worried about them.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventure'', a random man helps out the player rescue the girl. It turns out that that man is [[spoiler: Julius, the BigBad]] and the hero even thinks to ask why he helped him out. [[spoiler: Julius]] mentions that he wasn't sure that the girl the hero was trying to save was the girl that [[spoiler: Julius]] wanted - meaning he essentially helped the hero out for no apparent benefit to himself since [[spoiler: Julius doesn't even help the hero beyond getting him the book of fire that he needs.]]
* Travis Touchdown of ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', a perverted, BloodKnight {{Otaku}}, has a thing for cats. He owns a Scottish Fold, Jeane, which he can interact with in both games and one of the jobs in the first game has him finding runaway cats.
* Yeager of ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' was portrayed as one of the BigBad's servants, and was considered to be evil and manipulative. However, there are two girls who're helping him, and during his final battle, explicitly ordered them to ''not'' join in the fight between him and the heroes, heavily implying that he ''wanted'' to die. If you do a big of digging, you find that [[spoiler: Gauche and Droite were actually from an orphanage that Yeager ''funded'', and pledged their lives to help him]].
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', after [[spoiler: Splitting Ventus' heart in half and creating Vanitas, which nearly killed him]], [[BigBad Master Xehanort]] took him to his homeland, the Destiny Isles, so he could spend his last moments in a peaceful world. [[spoiler: Then cruelly subverted when Ven connects to Sora's heart and recovers, and Xehanort makes him suffer much, much more.]]

* After a Space Route scenario in ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'', Laodecia finds a capsule with a weakened Earthling floating inside. She manages to say that her name is [[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Fuala]] before losing consciousness, and Laodecia orders her tended to. This act apparently caused Fuala to become loyal to the Balmarians' cause.
* The Boss in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' comes across as a sociopath who revels in the evil s/he does. In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' s/he mellows out considerably, particularly in regards to the other Saints. The god ending and DLC have this further, with Boss positively nuzzling Jenny to the point she becomes a PromotedFanboy by standing up for herself and killing her JerkAss director, knowing Boss will have her back.
** Troy Bradshaw as well...after becoming police chief he keeps Boss on life support and gets Gat protection in prison as a way of making up for being an undercover cop with the Saints.
** [[BigBad Killbane]] get one in Saints Row the Third when he lets Matt Miller leave the Syndicate with no strings attached. He even offers himself as a job reference! This is further highlighted by Matt clearly antsy and fearing ResignationsNotAccepted the entire time he's walking off, especially since Killbane broke the neck of the last person who said they were getting out.
** The Boss gets several in ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'', including fighting for the human race, going out of their way to rescue crewmates and saying they'd take the bullet for a freind. Oh, and the DLC where they [[spoiler: [[ItMakesSenseInContext save Christmas]].]]
* In VideoGame/StarcraftIIWingsOfLiberty, if you choose to [[spoiler:kill the infested colonists (which includes Dr. Hanson)]], both [[DeadpanSnarker Tosh]] and [[TokenEvilTeammate Tychus]] console Raynor in their own ways.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}}'', at the beginning of Robopon 2, Dr. Zeke finds Cody washed up on the beach and saves him, taking him to his house until he wakes up. Unlike his brother in the previous game and his father, he seems to be an Affably Evil kinda guy.
* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'':
** As nasty they are to the enemy, RED and BLU are portrayed both in [[AllThereInTheManual the official supplemental comics]] and fanworks as surrogate family members for one another. In-game behavior depends on who's playing, but the game definitely rewards working together and helping one another out, and all classes also have genuinely nice things to say to teammates either through [[TauntButton dedicated button press]] or triggered automatically.
** The comics also add another dimension to the otherwise morally questionable mercenaries: even they draw the line when children are involved, and always act kindly towards them. (Even if, in the case of BLU Spy, "acting kindly" means [[spoiler: teaching a little kid how to use an icicle as a weapon so he doesn't get kidnapped]].)
* Booker [=DeWitt=] of ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' is a former PinkertonDetective. And by "former", we mean that [[EvenEvilHasStandards he was kicked out for "behavior beyond the acceptable bounds of the Agency."]]. He was also present at the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre Massacre of Wounded Knee]], and there he [[spoiler:burned teepees with women and children inside (ostensibly, he did this to gain the acceptance of his comrades after they rejected him for his own Native American ancestry)]]. Despite this - [[TheAtoner or very possibly because of this]] - in a game dripping with DeliberateValuesDissonance, he has some relatively progressive views on race. Booker treats the African-American janitors and attendants with far more politeness than the other citizens of Columbia and often urges them to drop the "subservient" act around him. Booker is also quite feminist for someone of his time period. [[MoralityPet And there's his interactions with Elizabeth]].

* From the ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' franchise:
** Annette Birkin was right up there with all the other batshit insane Umbrella researchers whose entire motive behind working with viruses seemed to be "[[ForTheEvulz because]]", at the very least genuinely does love her daughter and not only begs the heroes to rescue her from the infection, but also tells them how to do it.
** Oswell E. Spencer, the man directly or indirectly responsible for ''every death and monster in the entire franchise'' and a sadistic nihilistic misanthropic AGodAmI EvilutionaryBiologist known for killing anyone who's outlived their usefulness because they might know too much, has exactly ''one'' shred of humanity in him and has done exactly ''one'' decent thing his entire life. He was decent to his loyal butler Patrick, who he apparently grew up with and was his childhood friend. When he's outlived his usefulness, [[spoiler:Oswell simply dismisses him and sends him away rather than having him killed, which also spared Patrick the grisly fate of Oswell's security staff when [[BigBad Wesker]] showed up.]]
** Ada Wong gets a good one as part of her [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold unknown story]] in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil6'' where, during her escape from Lanshiang by helicopter she takes the time to gun down some zombies that have survivors cornered on the rooftops. Her repeatedly helping Leon ''may'' count too, but that's less about simply being good and more about having [[DatingCatwoman the hots for him]].
* Laharl gets a few of these in ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'', generally involving Flonne and/or Sicily. For example, after kicking Lanzarote's ass in ''VideoGame/DisgaeaDimension2'', he accepts her fealty and ''immediately'' tasks her to look after Sicily, a huge fan of Lanza's music.
* Dio from ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward''. Although not shown in game, WordOfGod has said that the cold-hearted, murderous terrorist once saved a stray cat.
* Frank from ''VideoGame/LifeIsStrange'' provides a rather literal example. Although he is presented as a dangerous and violent drug dealer who often threatens Max and Chloe in his quest to get the money he is owed, it is shown that he has a soft spot for dogs. Talking to a certain police officer can reveal that he once rescued a bunch of fight dogs, one of which he kept as his pet and companion. Another, less literal example, is if [[spoiler:you get on his good side during the confrontation in episode 4 and convince him to help you find Rachel.]] If you do that, he'll also [[spoiler:give Chloe her gun back if he took it during an earlier episode.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' makes this an important part of a PacifistRun, since many monster encounters can be resolved without fighting if the player performs acts of kindness and affection on them. The specific actions for dogs always include a literal "Pet."
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''
** Between the events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollSIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' and ''Skyrim'' (due in large part to the previous events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''), the [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dunmer (Dark Elf)]] people were forced to [[TheMigration flee their ancestral homeland]] of Morrowind due to the events of the [[ColonyDrop Red]] [[ChekhovsVolcano Year]] and the subsequent [[LizardFolk Argonian]] [[TheDogBitesBack Invasion]]. The High King of Skyrim, homeland of the generally [[FantasticRacism elf-hating]] [[HornyVikings Nords]], formally offered the Dunmer people the island of Solstheim to resettle on. Subverted, however, as a rather cynical old Dunmer noted - Solstheim was always a [[GrimUpNorth barren rock]] that no one has ever particularly cared about outside its [[FantasyMetals ebony and stalhrim]] deposits, and was theoretically already claimed by Morrowind even if no one there wanted it at the time. Further, refugees were already pouring in after the Red Year, meaning the Nords would have had a hard fight against desperate people on their hands if they wanted to keep the island. To quote from the declaration:
--->''"Untithed to any thane or hold, and self-governed, with free worship, with no compensation to Skyrim or the Empire except as writ in the armistice of old wheresoever those might still apply, and henceforth let no man or mer say that the Sons and Daughters of Kyne are without mercy or honor."''
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
*** If you've completed any of the faction questlines, you have the option of introducing yourself as the leader of said faction to [[spoiler:Tsun, the old Nordic god of "trials against adversity" and [[BodyguardingABadass shield-thane]] of [[TopGod Shor]], when you meet him in [[WarriorHeaven Sovngarde]].]] If you introduce yourself as the [[TheArchMage Archmage]] of the [[WizardingSchool College of Winterhold]], he remarks about [[KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect how badly mages have been treated]] as of late, and mentions how mages are honored in Shor's hall. It's a nice moment after enduring snarky remarks about magic during the rest of the game. You [[DuelBoss still have to fight him]], but he sees you as an equal, same as if you introduced yourself as [[TheChosenOne Dragonborn]] or the Harbinger of [[AdventureGuild the Companions]].
*** In the Daedric quest of Clavicus Vile, the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] of [[DealWithTheDevil Bargains]] and [[LiteralGenie Wishes]], you have the option of reuniting him with his severed [[MoralityPet external conscience]], [[BigFriendlyDog Barbas]]. If you do so, he (reluctantly) decides not to flay you in the most gruesomely manner possible for disobeying his order to [[KickTheDog kill Barbas]] instead. The implication is that the return of Barbas, and thus Vile's full divine power (and his conscience), is the better deal for Vile.
*** [[MadGod Sheogorath]]'s Daedric quest is this for [[TheCaligula Pelagius the Mad]], relieving the poor deceased emperor of the madness which has long plagued him. [[spoiler:Given that this Sheogorath is heavily implied to be [[PreviousPlayerCharacterCameo the Champion of Cyrodiil]], this may be the result of him [[TookALevelInKindness Taking A Level In Kindness]] since the last game]].
** In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsOnline'', despite admitting that most of her [[BigGood benevolent acts]] were purely for her own benefit and that you were her UnwittingPawn, the Daedric Prince Meridia does do two helpful things for the player - The first is locating and returning the [[PlayerCharacter Vestige]]'s soul — although Cadwell was the one who asked her to do, she agreed regardless. The second is accepting Cadwell as her new servant, and enabling him to assist the player in various ways, such as opening the way for NewGamePlus content.
* Very, ''very'' rarely, [[JackassGenie Calypso]] from ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'' gets one such moment. For example, in Twisted Metal: Head On, when Mortimer wishes to return to his grave instead of wishing for {{Revenge}} against the punks who dug him up, Calypso fulfills his wish with no strings attached.
* ''VideoGame/RandalsMonday'': You can help a struggling salesman in one early puzzle. This is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] later in the [[spoiler:prison chapter]], where said salesman does not return the kindness and you have to give him some payback.
* When you get to The Room in ''VideoGame/{{OFF}}'', you encounter the Guardians of the Zones you previously defeated, and they seem to do a total 180 of their established personalities. [[SirSwearsALot Dedan]] offers to dry your tears and go on a pedalo ride, [[FallenHero Japhet]] tells you to be careful around the cliffs, and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Enoch]] promises to bake you cakes later. [[spoiler: It is commonly accepted that this is a flashback, and they are speaking not to the Batter, but to Hugo. At some point after becoming the Guardians they [[JumpedOffTheSlipperySlope jumped off the slippery slope.]]]]
* Dutch van der Linde in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' pets almost as many dogs as he kicks being an AxCrazy NobleDemon and ByronicHero who leads a gang of outlaws. [[spoiler: Probably the most known example is when he saves John Marston from Micah Bell after siding with the Micah and betraying John years prior, and then leaves John with the huge sum of money from the Blackwater heist]].
* Mr. Grizz in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' is the BadBoss of Grizzco Industries who employs you in the game's Salmon Run mode. If you achieve the highest ranking in Salmon Run, "Profreshional", and clear a round, he'll sometimes tell you that you might be "the best employee he's ever had".
* ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman'':
** During Connor's chapter you often have to choose between an act of kindness or completing your mission, such as save Hank or continue chasing a Deviant, shoot or spare a pair of Deviants, or [[spoiler: whether or not you'll shoot an innocent android in order to gain information. The more often you choose to pet the dog the more Deviant Connor ''himself'' becomes, as he himself is developing emotions and a sense of empathy in spite of his programming. After all, it's ''human'' to want to save a friend, spare a genuinely victimized person who lashed out in SelfDefense, or refuse to harm an innocent for personal gain]]. You also get to ''literally'' pet the dog at one point, as Connor can pet Hank's dog Sumo.
** Late in Kara's chapter you watch someone drop their bus tickets and have the option to either keep them and board the bus yourself, or be nice and return them. [[spoiler:Returning them actually bites you in the ass as, while it was the nice thing to do, it also forces you to attempt to cross the river into Canada and results in Luthor's death]].
* Belladonna gets one in ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', but ''especially'' if Riesz is in the party and is not the main character. During the "Big Bad Pileup" in which 2/3rds of the [[BigBadWannabe aspiring big bads]] are eliminated by the successful one, Belladonna explains her EvilPlan to Riesz, but since the Dark Majesty's remains were destroyed, she has no reason to harm Elliott at all, so she has him returned to Laurent before [[AlasPoorVillain committing suicide]] offscreen.
* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/PapersPlease''. [[PlayerCharacter The Inspector]] may be a PunchClockVillain capable of moments of benevolence, and those moments may feel pretty good to the player, but he does have a family of his own to take care of, and too many citations can cost him his job. In short, petting the dog can screw him and his family over if the player isn't careful.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Hades}}'', the title character is very officious and ill-tempered, but has a few of these moments, most notably in the PlayableEpilogue where he [[spoiler:unambiguously thanks the player character, his son Zagreus, for the actions he took in the main game that Hades had been actively working against.]]
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'': [[BigBad Psaro]] used the Secret of Evolution to uplift the animals around Rosehill, giving them the ability to talk. This wasn’t done out of pragmatic means, as they’re not hostile towards you when they visit (although they still hate humans), so apparently he did this for no other reason other than that it would make their lives easier.

* Dutch van der Linde in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' and ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' pets almost as many dogs as he kicks being an AxCrazy NobleDemon and ByronicHero who leads a gang of outlaws. [[spoiler: Probably the most known example is when he saves John Marston from [[CompleteMonster Micah Bell]] after siding with the Micah and betraying John years prior, and then leaves John with the huge sum of money from the Blackwater heist]].

--> ''"Untithed to any thane or hold, and self-governed, with free worship, with no compensation to Skyrim or the Empire except as writ in the armistice of old wheresoever those might still apply, and henceforth let no man or mer say that the Sons and Daughters of Kyne are without mercy or honor."''

* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/PapersPlease''. [[PlayerCharacter The Inspector]] may be a PunchClockVillain capable of moments of benevolence, and those moments may feel pretty good to the player, but he does have a family of his own to take care of, and too many citations can cost him his job. In short, petting the dog can screw him and his family over if the player isn’t careful.

--->'''Jade''': That's what I would say if I was an emperor, with a country and people to look after. As your friend...I feel compelled to stop you.
--->'''[[spoiler: Luke]]''': I didn't realize you thought of me as a friend.
--->'''Jade''': Oh? Of course not. I can be a terribly cold person...I'm sorry.

* At one point in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyAdventures'', a random man helps out the player rescue the girl. It turns out that that man is [[spoiler: Julius, the BigBad]] and the hero even thinks to ask why he helped him out. [[spoiler: Julius]] mentions that he wasn't sure that the girl the hero was trying to save was the girl that [[spoiler: Julius]] wanted - meaning he essentially helped the hero out for no apparent benefit to himself since [[spoiler: Julius doesn't even help the hero beyond getting him the book of fire that he needs.]]

** Between the events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollSIVOblivion Oblivion]]'' and ''Skyrim'' (due in large part to the previous events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]''), the [[OurElvesAreBetter Dunmer (Dark Elf)]] people were forced to [[TheMigration flee their ancestral homeland]] of Morrowind due to the events of the [[ColonyDrop Red]] [[ChekhovsVolcano Year]] and the subsequent [[LizardFolk Argonian]] [[TheDogBitesBack Invasion]]. The High King of Skyrim, homeland of the generally [[FantasticRacism elf-hating]] [[HornyVikings Nords]], formally offered the Dunmer people the island of Solstheim to resettle on. Subverted, however, as a rather cynical old Dunmer noted - Solstheim was always a [[GrimUpNorth barren rock]] that no one has ever particularly cared about outside its [[FantasyMetals ebony and stalhrim]] deposits, and was theoretically already claimed by Morrowind even if no one there wanted it at the time. Further, refugees were already pouring in after the Red Year, meaning the Nords would have had a hard fight against desperate people on their hands if they wanted to keep the island. To quote from the declaration:

* In ''VideoGame/Hades'', the title character is very officious and ill-tempered, but has a few of these moments, most notably in the PlayableEpilogue where he [[spoiler:unambiguously thanks the player character, his son Zagreus, for the actions he took in the main game that Hades had been actively working against.]]

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''
** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'': During the game's final story, [[spoiler:Eggman sets aside his rivalry with Sonic and company to stop the ARK from crashing into the earth. While the credits roll, we see Eggman having a friendly conversation with Tails about how he used to idolize his grandfather (the man responsible for almost destroying the world this time).]]
** ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'': E-123 Omega is generally rude, antisocial, and utterly obsessed with killing Eggman to prove his own superiority. When the group encounters several pods containing android copies of Shadow, Shadow and Rouge begin to worry that the former may also be an android. Omega's response is to comfort Rouge in his own way.

** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'': Again in the final story, [[spoiler:Eggman assists Sonic's friends in bringing him back to life to stop the end of all existence.]]
** ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'': Eggman falls off a cliff as a consequence of trying to keep Sonic safe (they're teaming up against a bigger threat), [[spoiler:though in this case, he had engineered his sacrifice so he would be able to surprise Sonic later on after the bigger threat was taken care of.]]
** ''Videogame/SonicGenerations'': Shadow was absent at Sonic's birthday party in the beginning of the game. At the end of the game, he reappears at the party with everyone else. Instead of going back to whatever he was doing before, he decides to stick around, though he does keep himself in the background.

* During Connor's chapter in ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman'' you often have to choose between an act of kindness or completing your mission, such as save Hank or continue chasing a Deviant, shoot or spare a pair of Deviants, or [[spoiler: whether or not you'll shoot an innocent android in order to gain information. The more often you choose to pet the dog the more Deviant Connor ''himself'' becomes, as he himself is developing emotions and a sense of empathy in spite of his programming. After all, it's ''human'' to want to save a friend, spare a genuinely victimized person who lashed out in SelfDefense, or refuse to harm an innocent for personal gain.]]

** Oswell E. Spencer, the man directly or indirectly responsible for ''every death and monster in the entire franchise'' and a sadistic nihilistic misanthropic EvilutionaryBiologist with a serious GodComplex known for killing anyone who's outlived their usefulness because they might know too much, has exactly ''one'' shred of humanity in him and has done exactly ''one'' decent thing his entire life. He was decent to his loyal butler Patrick, who he apparently grew up with and was his childhood friend. When he's outlived his usefulness, [[spoiler:Oswell simply dismisses him and sends him away rather than having him killed, which also spared Patrick the grisly fate of Oswell's security staff when [[BigBad Wesker]] showed up.]]

*** If you've completed any of the faction questlines, you have the option of introducing yourself as the leader of said faction to [[spoiler:Tsun, the old Nordic god of "trials against adversity" and [[BodyguardingABadass shield-thane]] of [[TopGod Shor]], when you meet him in [[WarriorHeaven Sovngarde]].]] If you introduce yourself as the [[TheArchMage Archmage]] of the [[WizardingSchool College of Winterhold]], he remarks about [[KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect how badly mages have been treated]] as of late, and mentions how mages are honored in Shor's hall. It's a nice moment after enduring snarky remarks about magic during the rest of the game. You [[DuelBoss still have to fight him]], but he sees you as an equal, same as if you introduced yourself as [[TheChosenOne Dragonborn]] or the [[BadassInCharge Harbinger]] of [[AdventureGuild the Companions]].

* The Boss in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' comes across as a sociopath who revels in the evil s/he does. In ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' s/he mellows out considerably, particularly in regards to the other Saints. The god ending and DLC have this further, with Boss positively nuzzling Jenny to the point she becomes a PromotedFangirl by standing up for herself and killing her JerkAss director, knowing Boss will have her back.

* [[BigBad Lord Wily]] of the ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' series has paid for the medical treatment of [[spoiler:Joe Mach]]'s daughter, and he also temporarily abandoned his quest for revenge on society to [[spoiler:take care of Baryl for a friend.]] He also gets a CrowningMomentOfAwesome when he [[spoiler:walks into an exploding volcano to rescue his own son Regal and give him a second chance to be an upright human being courtesy of LaserGuidedAmnesia mixed with a rather amazing ResetButton.]]