History PragmaticVillainy / VideoGames

** If you manage to recruit Minthara by rescuing her from the Cult's clutches, it turns out that this was her general philosophy as well prior to the Absolute's brainwashing. She's just as ambitious and ruthless as a Lolth-Sworn Drow would be, but is incredibly loyal to her comrades, disciplined and observant about her circumstances. [[spoiler:Unlike Shadowheart, who can make a HeelFaceTurn by forsaking Shar, Minthara remains amoral to the very end, and is the party member most in favor of hijacking control of the Absolute rather than destroying it.]]

** [[spoiler:Lord Enver Gortash is the only one among the Chosen who decides to stop antagonizing the party come Act 3, and instead offers to help them subdue the Absolute if they take Orin out of the equation. This is because he's fully aware that ''everyone'', himself included, is screwed if the Elder Brain gets loose and he'd rather not pick any more fights unless he absolutely has to. He's also completely sincere in his offer and doesn't plan to betray the avatar, as he truly believes that the constant infighting among the followers of the Dead Three is why their plans have always fallen apart, and having them work together was the primary reason he co-founded the Cult of the Absolute with the Dark Urge.]]

** [[spoiler:Lord Enver Gortash is the only one among the Chosen who decides to stop antagonizing the party come Act 3, and instead offers to help them subdue the Absolute if they take Orin out of the equation. This is because he's fully aware that ''everyone'', himself included, is screwed if the Elder Brain gets loose and he'd rather not pick any more fights unless he absolutely has to. He's also completely sincere in his offer and doesn't plan to betray the avatar, as he truly believes that the constant infighting among the followers of the Dead Three is the reason why their plans have always fallen apart, which was the primary reason he co-founded the Cult of the Absolute with the Dark Urge.]]

** [[spoiler:Lord Enver Gortash is the only one among the Chosen who decides to stop antagonizing the party come Act 3, and instead offers to help them subdue the Absolute if they take Orin out of the equation. This is because he's fully aware that ''everyone'', himself included, is screwed if the Elder Brain gets loose and he'd rather not pick any more fights unless he absolutely has to. He's also completely sincere in his offer and doesn't plan to betray the avatar, as he truly believes that the constant infighting among the followers of the Dead Three is the reason why their plans have always fallen apart.]]

** [[spoiler:Lord Enver Gortash is the only one among the Chosen who decides to stop antagonizing the party come Act 3, and instead offers to help them subdue the Absolute if they take Orin out of the equation. This is because he's fully aware that ''everyone'', himself included, is screwed if the Elder Brain gets loose and he's rather not pick any more fights unless he absolutely has to. He's also completely sincere in his offer and doesn't plan to betray the avatar, as he truly believes that the constant infighting among the followers of the Dead Three is the reason why their plans have always fallen apart.]]

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate3'': Shadowheart will generally approve of non-violent solutions to problems, not because she has any qualms about violence and death, but because she prefers to not take unnecessary risks.

*** When the BigBad [[spoiler:Mael Strongheart]] takes over presiding the final case and [[spoiler:his attempts to cover up his accomplice's crime fails, he's perfectly willing to acquit the defendant Baron von Zeiks and adjourn the trial before anything can be traced back to him. It's only thanks to prosecutor Asogi's stubbornness that the trial ends up dragging on and implicating him as the true mastermind.]]

*** When the BigBad [[spoiler:Mael Strongheart]] takes over presiding the case and [[spoiler:his initial attempts to cover up his accomplice's crime fails, he's perfectly willing to acquit the defendant Baron von Zeiks and adjourn the trial before anything can be traced back to him. It's only thanks to prosecutor Asogi's stubbornness that the trial ends up dragging on and implicating him as the true mastermind.]]

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'': The killer of the third case in ''Resolve'' is happy to avert GuiltyUntilSomeoneElseIsGuilty and let the defendant get off, because that means the trial ends before it gets to decisive evidence that would reveal them. Ryunosuke ends up having to delay his own Not Guilty verdict in order to catch the killer.

** ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'': In the third case, the killer turned out to be smuggling a Borginian cocoon into the country, and killed an Interpol agent who was about to catch him. When accused of those crimes, he says that even if he managed to get the cocoon out of Borginia (which has extremely tight security and sentences smugglers to death), he would be hard-pressed to find a seller in the country in which the game takes place. According to him, he'd either risk being caught by Interpol, or his clients suspecting him of a sting operation. He's not wrong about this, but Apollo [[spoiler:manages to prove that he had a relatively safe client -- the Chief Justice, whose son is in the hospital with Incuritis, a disease that only the cocoon can cure. The Chief Justice would have much to lose if the scandal became public, so he naturally would have no reason to betray the person who sells him the cocoon.]]

** In a prequel comic, the Arkham Knight impersonates Batman and murders criminals, trying to frame Batman for it and make it look like Batman has snapped. He avoids killing innocents, both because he wants witnesses to spread the word and because he knows if he killed them, it would be obvious he was an impostor. In the game proper, he argues to Scarecrow to just let him kill Batman instead of using mind games and death traps. Getting rid of the biggest threat now is worth more than making him suffer and giving him chances to survive.

** Frank Fontaine opened up soup kitchens within Rapture, not out of love, but to build a base of loyal supporters among the city's lower class.

* ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'', Broken-Nose Jiang despises Big Smile Lee's prostitution and women-selling operations because she believes they are archaic and don't provide as much profit as white-collar crimes.

* ''VideoGame/Shantae''

* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndTheSevenSirens'': Risky Boots gets a moment like this when she makes sure that [[spoiler:the sirens don't kidnap Shantae, knowing that if they try to backstab her, Shantae can and will take them down.]] This is in spite of the fact that if she was taken, Risky could have never had to deal with her again. This is also the reason she doesn't go all out in their fights this game.

-->The best solution to a problem is usually the easiest one. And I'll be honest. [[spoiler:Killing you? Is hard. So you know what? You dangerous mute lunatic? You win. ''Just go.'']]

** ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'': The killer of the third case in ''Resolve'' is happy to avert GuiltyUntilSomeoneElseIsGuilty and let the defendant get off, because that means the trial ends before it gets to decisive evidence that would reveal them. Rynnosuke ends up having to delay his own Not Guilty verdict in order to catch the killer.

* In a ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' prequel comic, the Arkham Knight impersonates Batman and murders criminals, trying to frame Batman for it and make it look like Batman has snapped. He avoids killing innocents, both because he wants witnesses to spread the word and because he knows if he killed them, it would be obvious he was an impostor. In the game proper, he argues to Scarecrow to just let him kill Batman instead of using mind games and death traps. Getting rid of the biggest threat now is worth more than making him suffer and giving him chances to survive.

* The Agency of ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}'' normally go after criminals and the like due to the fact that people pay more for world stability. Also, Agent 47 prefers not to kill anyone who isn't his target, since collateral damage isn't professional and it creates the risk of more witnesses (though he will kill witnesses if he has to).

** For most playable Assassins in the series, killing civilians will give you a warning that "This ancestor did not kill civilians", and continuing to do so will saddle you with a [[NonStandardGameOver Non-Standard Desynchronization]]. This does not include Shay Cormac of ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRogue'' after he [[FaceHeelTurn becomes a Templar]] (though to be fair Shay accidentally kicked off the Great Lisbon Earthquake and killed a lot of people already, which caused his defection to prevent fellow Assassins, from a rather radical sect at that, from recklessly pursuing that particular list of precursor temples)... but it ''does'' include UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper in the DLC for ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedSyndicate'', whose warning message is instead "Jack did not compromise his plans by killing random civilians". He's not ''opposed'' to killing innocents, but he has a plan, and if killing someone is going to make things harder for him, that's not part of the plan.

* ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'': In the third case, the killer turned out to be smuggling a Borginian cocoon into the country, and killed an Interpol agent who was about to catch him. When accused of those crimes, he says that even if he managed to get the cocoon out of Borginia (which has extremely tight security and sentences smugglers to death), he would be hard-pressed to find a seller in the country in which the game takes place. According to him, he'd either risk being caught by Interpol, or his clients suspecting him of a sting operation. He's not wrong about this, but Apollo [[spoiler:manages to prove that he had a relatively safe client -- the Chief Justice, whose son is in the hospital with Incuritis, a disease that only the cocoon can cure. The Chief Justice would have much to lose if the scandal became public, so he naturally would have no reason to betray the person who sells him the cocoon.]]
* ''VisualNovel/TheGreatAceAttorney'': The killer of the 3rd case in ''Resolve'' is happy to avert GuiltyUntilSomeoneElseIsGuilty and let the defendant get off, because that means the trial ends before it gets to decisive evidence that would reveal them. Rynnosuke ends up having to delay his own Not Guilty verdict in order to catch the killer.

* ''VideoGame/EldenRing'': The final obstacle on the path to the [[OmnicidalManiac Frenzied Flame]] [[EvilVersusOblivion is a projection of]] [[EvilOverlord Mohg, Lord of Blood]]. It's pretty clear that Mohg doesn't care about the people of the Lands Between, but if the Frenzied Fire gets its way, it'd probably kill him, and even if it ''didn't'', he'd have nothing left to rule.