History Main / MercyRewarded

* ''{{Iji}}'' utilizes this well, but it's important to know that kills are only counted if they are caused by ''your'' projectiles (From version 1.6 onwards, those bounced off of a Resonance Reflector keep their ownership, allowing you to kill an enemy with his own rockets without getting your hands dirty). Assassins drop Nano when they voluntarily bail, so they don't count (with one exception). Also, breaking turrets, Skysmashers, and Proxima don't register on your kill tally either.

* ''MegaManX Command Mission'' features enemy medics. Kill them and they yield XP and money as normal. Kill everyone ''but'' them, and on their next turn, they'll 'Surrender' and heal your party instead, and if they're spared for another turn, they'll retreat, but not without a 'Thank You'.

* The ''MassEffect'' games occasionally use this. An excellent example: In ''MassEffect1'', you are given the choice to spare or kill [[spoiler:[[BeePeople the rachni queen]].]] If you spare her, you meet an asari in the [[MassEffect2 sequel]] carrying a message from her [[spoiler: promising [[ChekhovsArmy an army of rachni to help you fight the Reapers]].]]
** Although, ''MassEffect2'' also subverts this in one quest in Illium. [[spoiler: Sparing a begging mercenary recruit will come back to haunt you when it's revealed the recruit was an unrepentant CompleteMonster who joined the mercenaries after murdering an innocent[[AssholeVictim (ish)]] volus merchant and now walks free. NiceJobBreakingItHero.]]

* {{Galaga}} '88 had periodic bonus stages where sets of enemy ships flew by in preset formations without attacking. A large "perfect bonus" could be earned by hitting all the ships in the stage, but one could much more easily earn a "secret bonus" worth the same value as the perfect bonus simply by not firing at all during the stage.

* At one point later on in ''ChronoTrigger'', right after [[spoiler:the destruction of Zeal and the death of Crono]], the [[spoiler:remaining]] party members (led by Frog), meet up with [[spoiler:Magus]]. You have a choice to make: fight him, or choose to leave him alone. [[spoiler:If you choose the former, you battle him and kill him (for real). If you choose the latter, Frog sheathes his sword, says attacking him would be pointless, and Magus decides to '''join your party'''. Whoa.]]

* ''DeusExHumanRevolution'' is anything but subtle about this: Nonlethal takedowns are, pound for pound, worth twice as much XP as killing someone, and most quest resolutions saving lives pay off after a while as the grateful survivors get back to you.

* ''DeusExHumanRevolutions'' is anything but subtle about this: Nonlethal takedowns are, pound for pound, worth twice as much XP as killing someone, and most quest resolutions saving lives pay off after a while as the grateful survivors get back to you.

<<|VideoGameTropes|>>

** ''MassEffect3'' takes this to the extreme. Throughout all three games, an obnoxious reporter hounds [[PlayerCharacter Commander Shepard,]] hell-bent on digging up any kind of dirt she can find. In all three games, [[ComedicSociopathy you can spout a one-liner and then punch her out.]] However, if you import a save after both games, and in those games you non-violently managed to upstage her in her own interviews, [[spoiler: you can get her to support you for the coming war with [[AbusivePrecursors the Reapers.]] Well, didn't see ''that'' coming...

** Although, MassEffect2 also subverts this in one quest in Illium. [[spoiler: Sparing a begging mercenary recruit will come back to haunt you when it's revealed the recruit was an unrepentant CompleteMonster who joined the mercenaries after murdering an innocent[[AssholeVictim (ish)]] volus merchant and now walks free. NiceJobBreakingItHero.]]

* MateriaMagica features a samurai duck who wears a full set of ebony armor - valuable stuff at low levels. But if you pass him by without killing him, you earn the Mark of Truth.

* In ''FrozenEssence'', not using Mina's destructive power on [[spoiler:Caius]] after he severely injures Rune during the Life Path allows him to live long enough to thwart [[BigBad Oryon]] from recapturing Mina and Rune. Doing the opposite causes [[spoiler:Caius]] to die of his wounds instead and leads to one of the game's worst endings.

* The ''MassEffect'' games occasionally use this. An excellent example: In ''MassEffect1'', you are given the choice to spare or kill [[spoiler:the rachni queen.]] If you spare her, you meet an asari in the sequel carrying a message from her [[spoiler: promising an army of rachni to help you fight the Reapers.]]

* ''MegaMan X Command Mission'' features enemy medics. Kill them and they yield XP and money as normal. Kill everyone ''but'' them, and on their next turn, they'll 'Surrender' and heal your party instead, and if they're spared for another turn, they'll retreat, but not without a 'Thank You'.

* The ''SWAT'' series does this, however it still rewards you for breaking police procedure if you can knock out hostile criminals instead of opening fire. A bit of a JustifiedTrope in that minimal loss of life is part of their goals.

* ''The Suffering: Ties That Bind'' rewards mercy, but in this the form of ShootTheDog, by finishing off a slowly dying officer.

* ''Medieval: Total War II'' has its own take on this, giving a KarmaMeter to each of your individual generals. A governor-general that is very Chivalrous (as opposed to Dreaded) will increase population growth and happiness in a city instead of just public order. Good-aligned generals are, therefore, much more useful in empire-building. And given that troops fighting for them are less likely to run away, they're really helpful for taking on an enemy bristling with firearms.

* Used in ''Vectorman''. Go through a level without shooting once? Get a hefty point bonus. (This is doable on some levels thanks to the fact that your DoubleJump can do damage at certain points.)
* The original Midway side-scrolling shooter ''NARC'' had this. You could gun down every crook you meet, but if you stayed in his space long enough, he'd be arrested, for a nice end-of-level bonus. You ''are'' a cop, so this makes sense.

* One of the most interesting examples of this is in ''Mortal Kombat 3''. A certain button combination at the "Finish Him/Her!" screen would trigger a Mercy which grants the other player a tiny bit of life to continue fighting. It also allows you to perform Animalities after you beat that shred of life out of them. That's right, for sparing your opponent's life, you gain a brand new way to brutally murder them.

* ''Mardek'' 2 has a choice to spare a character. Doing so gets you a very useful shop in ''Mardek 3''.

* ''Megaman X Command Mission'' features enemy medics. Kill them and they yield XP and money as normal. Kill everyone ''but'' them, and on their next turn, they'll 'Surrender' and heal your party instead, and if they're spared for another turn, they'll retreat, but not without a 'Thank You'.

* At one point later on in ChronoTrigger, right after [[spoiler:the destruction of Zeal and the death of Crono]], the [[spoiler:remaining]] party members (led by Frog), meet up with [[spoiler:Magus]]. You have a choice to make: fight him, or choose to leave him alone. [[spoiler:If you choose the former, you battle him and kill him (for real). If you choose the latter, Frog sheathes his sword, says attacking him would be pointless, and Magus decides to '''join your party'''. Whoa.]]

* Violence is never the answer in the ''KingsQuest'' series. If you have the choice between violence and non-violence, the peaceful method is always the "correct" one that gives you the most points and the GoldenEnding.

* ''Scarface: The World Is Yours''. Ignoring rival gangs instead of blasting them means your drug-smuggling ventures are that much more profitable and easy. Blasted 'em anyway? You can outright bribe 'em into not hassling you so much. Of course to get one hundred percent completion they all have to die.

* In QueensBlade: Spiral Chaos if you fully break [[CuteMonsterGirl Monster Girl]]'s armor with TheOneGuy instead of killing her, she'll join your army. Sadly, you can capture only one monster of each type.

* Arguably invoked in [[RiftWar Return To Krondor]]. There are many situations in ReturnToKrondor where you get XP for avoiding a fight with various groups, but generally the reward is less than what you get if just kill them.

* ''Mardek'' 2 has a choice to spare a character. Doing so gets you a very useful shop in Mardek 3.
* The MassEffect games occasionally use this. An excellent example: In MassEffect1, you are given the choice to spare or kill [[spoiler:the rachni queen.]] If you spare her, you meet an asari in the sequel carrying a message from her [[spoiler: promising an army of rachni to help you fight the Reapers.]]

* JoWood's ColdZero gives you more XP for enemies KO'd rather than killed and still more for enemies left unharmed at the end of a mission.

* Robin Hood: Legend of Sherwood, an old Strategy First game, increases your overall game score and gives you more troops/workers if you keep your bodycount low. As compensation, knocking people out is dead-easy, you have infinite rope and tying them up works indefinitely as long as they aren't found by their comrades.

** Actually, it depends on the stage and weapons used.The only way to stun enemies is either by using Robin's Sneak Punch from behind, or using a blunt weapon (Little John's staff, a Brute's club, Scarlet's flail or Tuck's mace.Robin only gets a staff during sidequests).And that particular mission forces you to take Robin and Marian, both armed with bladed weapons, in your 5-man capped party.Considering that the characters that can tie stunned enemies are both armed with lethal weapons, this basically limits the number of nonlethal weapons you can bring to 2.
* Medieval: Total War II has its own take on this, giving a KarmaMeter to each of your individual generals. A governor-general that is very Chivalrous (as opposed to Dreaded) will increase population growth and happiness in a city instead of just public order. Good-aligned generals are, therefore, much more useful in empire-building. And given that troops fighting for them are less likely to run away, they're really helpful for taking on an enemy bristling with firearms.
** The original Medieval Total War had a somewhat less altruistic reward for not executing captured enemy soldiers, since this allowed you to ransom them back to the original owner for a fair chunk of cash. Of course, this meant that you would have to face them on the field again at some point, so it was often a good idea to [[VideogameCrueltyPotential put a few to the sword]] during the battle...

* In the Bakumatsu chapter of LiveALive, you are given four path options - Kill as necessary, Kill Everyone Ever Forever (not really that extreme, but you end up leaving nothing but bloodstains in your wake), Kill Everyone (but spare the women), and Kill No One. The latter two get your rewards, in the form of an Inrou (Medicine Box) from the women living in the castle if you've killed no women, and Yoshiyuki, Prisoner's sword (which is MARKEDLY stronger than any weapon you can acquire in the chapter) as your equipped weapon for the final chapter.

* The grizzled veteran quartermaster in the beginning of ''DeusEx'' rewards you with extra ammo if you use non-lethal methods, or withholds them if you kill. After a certain (early) part of the game, though, this ceases to be a factor.