History VideoGameCrueltyPotential / RolePlayingGame

* Rather mild example...in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'', you can not only run up and smack the Queen of Hearts (who dies in one hit) with your Keyblade and she falls in the battle with the card guards, but make [[Disney/PeterPan Captain Hook's]] day miserable. You can simply light his pants on fire and cause him to run around in mid-air. Or knock him off the ship and watch as he yells "YOU'LL NOT GET ME OTHER HAND!!!" before he almost hits the water. Even more satisfying when you light his pants on fire and he puts it out right over the water.
** Goofy is also the perfect height for you to throw barrels right into his face.
* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', should one of your dream eater allies get KO'd (And you usually have to ''try'' to get this to happen, since they're generally MadeOfIron), a timer will start ticking down, and if it expires before you revive it, [[FinalDeath the dream eater will fade away]], and leave behind a dream piece. The dream pieces left behind in this fashion can be ones that aren't currently available through other means, meaning you can potentially create some new types of dream eaters much earlier then normal by repeatedly sacrificing other ones (Namely, the ones generated by AR cards, which are easily replaced).

** There is a bird's nest in North Corel with a mother cockatrice and her chicks. You can choose to leave it alone or go for a treasure, but are strongly encouraged to leave it alone if either Tifa or Aeris are in your party. If you choose to go for it, the reward is ten Phoenix Downs, but first you have to kill the mother cockatrice. [[MurderArsonAndJaywalking And the girls will make fun of Cloud's hair.]]

** Use Psychic with your Mewtwo on a level 2 Starly. Mind rape ensues.

* Especially prevalent in later ''{{Ultima}}'' games, as complexity increased so can the twistedness of clever players. One example that leaps to mind, in ''UltimaVII'' one can bake bread. Stay with me here, one of the ingredients is a bucket of water. [[GoodBadBugs For some odd reason]] the game lets you use buckets of blood as well. More twistedness, the first bucket of blood you can find is at a murder site, and the son of the murdered man can join your party. You can, without the game realizing the implications, feed this son bread baked with the blood of his murdered father.
** There are entire internet communities devoted to finding out the evil things you can do in ''{{Ultima}}.''
** One of the few good things players had to say about the [[UltimaIX ninth installment]] was that little thing involving Lord British and the poisoned bread. Go Google it.
** In ''UltimaIII'' you can drum up some quick, easy cash by creating new characters for the party with the express intent of selling all of their equipment. ''[[ButWaitTheresMore But that's not all!]]'' There's a place in a town where you can donate blood (reduction of hit points) and you get payment for it! So before you delete the naked characters you can sell almost all of their blood for cash!

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' makes cruelty a lot less entertaining. The list of people you can kill - you, personally - can include [[spoiler:Mordin, shooting him in the back to stop him from curing the genophage; Wrex, after he finds out you sabotaged it; one of Samara's daughters; Legion, if you let the quarians wipe out the geth, in which case you can shoot him ''four times''.]] Renegade Shepard goes from being an amusing jerk to a monster.

* ''{{Arcanum}}'' offers lots of cruelty options, especially to the talented mystic. One particularly glorious possibility involves charming a wolf or bear, then walking to the nearest town, entering an occupied house, and releasing your control over the wild animal (but not before leaving the house and Magelocking the doors and windows). Other fun activities include using Force Walls and Walls of Fire to trap and burn the clothes off passersby and tricking {{NPC}}s into picking up and equipping armor that deals continual poison damage.

** The move Frustration becomes more effective the more your Mon hates you.

*** ''[=KOTOR=]'' was ridiculously, hilariously cruel. On the Sea planet Manaan, you've been asked by a worried father, Shaelas, to find his young daughter. Depending on your actions on the quest, you'll be afforded the option to shake him down for extra credits for his information, before finally telling him [[spoiler:"I killed your daughter, Shaelas. And I'll kill you if you tell anyone about this. Now give me those credits!"]]
*** Hell, let's go crazy. In the sequel, after you defeat [[spoiler:Master Atris]], you have the option of letting her live. Or killing her. Which, granted, is pretty standard in ''[=KOTOR=]''. However, for the sake of sheer cruelty, [[spoiler:locking her in a chamber with Sith Holocrons for the rest of her life, letting her go gradually insane]] is the recommended choice.
*** Her reaction to The Exile leaving is like a lit match to NightmareFuel.
*** It was always impossible to resist the opportunity to play the thorough rogue on Korriban. The final test of the academy would leave the player character alone with the academy master, Uthar, and his assistant, Yuthura. If you suck up to Yuthura enough over the course of the academy's initial tests, she asks for your help in betraying her master during the final test. With him dead, the two of you will share power at the academy. You can accept, and then go rat her out to Uthar, who rewards you by advancing you further through the academy tests and gives you poison to plant on Yuthura, so that she will be weakened during the final tests. The fun part is going back to Yuthura, showing her the poison and telling her what happened. She will chide you for endangering the plan, but give you some poison of her own to use on the headmaster. The ''really'' fun part is going ahead and using the poison on both of them, leaving them to come to the slow and horrible realization during the final test that they've been ''triple'' crossed. Then you kill them.
**** It's even better to first [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech lecture them about how their betrayal-happy ways made them way too easy to fool.]]
*** The best part about being an absolute monster of a dark sider is how gleefully HK-47 reacts to your cruelty. Get your dark side score high (low?) enough and he'll come right out gushing over you and the number of new ways that the exile has taught him to be cruel. The dark side conversation option is something to the effect of "Stick with me, and you'll learn a few things," to which he replies "Oh yes, Master, I already have."
** Never pass up the chance to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTS5VsRMGCg ensure the untimely yet amusing demise]] of some thugs on Nar Shaddaa in the sequel, even while Light Side.

* ''MassEffect'' lets you be particularly cruel to some people. One option you have: come across an [[OneGenderRace asari]] commando who was betrayed by the leader she was devoted to, fed to a giant sentient plant, and out of thanks for freeing her, she gives you the critical PlotCoupon you need to keep going? Nope, sorry, she's too dangerous to let live. Bullet to the brainpan.
** And yet, despite the killing, that was still nowhere near as satisfying as punching out an annoying reporter. On ''live galactic television''.
** That fanboy who you meet in the Citadel? Wants to help you out. ''Point a gun at him, so he'll piss his pants and run crying''.
*** This is also one of the correct solutions. Not being cruel enough or not being nice enough when dealing with him will end badly.

** ''"I've had enough of your disingenuous assertions."''

* VideoGame/MassEffect3 makes cruelty a lot less entertaining. The list of people you can kill - you, personally - can include [[spoiler:Mordin, shooting him in the back to stop him from curing the genophage; Wrex, after he finds out you sabotaged it; one of Samara's daughters (and you can let Samara herself commit suicide); Legion, if you let the quarians wipe out the geth, in which case you can shoot him ''four times''; and you're directly responsible for Tali committing suicide if you let the geth wipe out her entire race.]] Renegade Shepard goes from being an amusing jerk to a monster.
** Renegade Shepard? If we accept that the upper right choice on the wheel is paragon and the lower right choice is renegade (like it is for the whole trilogy), then [[spoiler:siding with the Geth by allowing the upload]] is the PARAGON choice. [[spoiler:That's the choice that wipes the quarians out and drives Tali to suicide in what is probably the [[TearJerker single most gut-wrenching scene in the entire series]]]]. [=ReneShep=] gives a slow clap. Bravo, [=ParaShep=]. Bravo.
*** Although the alternative in that case [[spoiler:was deliberately letting an entire race die; the quarians got ''themselves'' killed despite Shepard's warnings]]. Of the many, many cruel things that Shepard can do, [[spoiler:Tali's suicide]] is not Paragon ''or'' Renegade Shepard's fault. By comparison, that situation where [[spoiler:Shepard can heartlessly gun down Samara's daughter? That's only possible if you ''allow'' Samara to commit suicide in front of you, which she flat-outs says she only does to ''ensure her daughter's survival'', thus making Samara's death pointless]].
** Except that only happens if you make a series of choices that do not allow you access to the para or renegade dialogue options, or ignore certain missions before tackling the main one.
** In the Leviathan DLC, you find a severed Husk head. You can activate the experiment it's a part of and it sends a powerful electric shock into it, where it screams in pain. Do it enough times (at least the first time you come to the lab) and it will explode.
** With the "right" choices and assuming you don't botch the Crucible, you can get at least 5 races wiped out. The Rachni (kill the Queen in the first game, or don't rescue her/her replacement in the third), the Krogan (sabotage the cure, and kill Mordin so he can't try to fix it after the war assuming that's even an option), the Quarians (side with the Geth), the Geth (choose the Destroy option), and the Reapers (again, Destroy, though the Reapers at this point deserve it).
*** Arguably even more than just five. Each Reaper contains the remaining genetic code of one race that the Reapers have already driven to extinction. If you choose the Destroy option, you are also finishing what the Reapers started and exterminating the remnants of every single race the Reapers had ever destroyed.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAge: Origins'' you can do quite some cruel things such as slitting the throat of a kid instead of going into the kids dream and help him to get rid of the demon possesing him.

* ''MassEffect'' lets you be particularly cruel to some people. One option you have: come across an [[OneGenderRace alien]] commando who was betrayed by the leader she was devoted to, fed to a giant sentient plant, and out of thanks for freeing her, she gives you the critical PlotCoupon you need to keep going? Nope, sorry, she's too dangerous to let live. Bullet to the brainpan.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D'', should one of your dream eater allies get KO'd (And you usually have to ''try'' to get this to happen, since they're generally MadeOfIron), a timer will start ticking down, and if it expires before you revive it, [[FinalDeath the dream eater will fade away]], and leave behind a dream piece. The dream pieces left behind in this fashion can be ones that aren't currently available through other means, meaning you can potentially create some new types of dream eaters much earlier then normal by repeatedly sacrificing other ones (Namely, the ones generated by AR cards, which are easily replaced).

** You can find, and turn in to be enslaved or destroyed, a [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman synthetic human]] who intentionally had his mind wiped. If you do things right, he'll even beg. And you get a Perk for doing so.

** Much worse than the above examples is using the Enclave's KillSat to blow up the Citadel and permanently betray the Brotherhood.

* You can be an ''evil'' [[JerkAss bastard]] in ''PlanescapeTorment''. Especially to Dakkon. "Oh hey, this chick is suffering but [[ICannotSelfTerminate can't commit suicide]] and you're their culture's euthanasist? [[spoiler: And you swore a [[IOweYouMyLife life debt]] to me?]] ''Torture her to death.''"

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAge Origins'' you can do quite some cruel things such as slitting the throat of a kid instead of going into the kids dream and help him to get rid of the demon possesing him.

* ''KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning'' allows you to toggle friendly fire so you can freely slaughter helpless villagers. One of the loading screen tips even encourages you to do it! And of course there are the obligatory dialogue options that let you blackmail/extort people.

*** ''{{Skyrim}}'' added in an option for players to marry certain [=NPCs=]. Inevitabely, they allowed you a way out of marriage... by allowing you to ''leave your fiancé at the altar''. You can then [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential rub salt in the wound by telling them you never loved them and it was all a big joke to you]]. To make it worse, you can choose to humiliate them further by saying so in public. And it's not limited to just one potential spouse, either--you can do this to ''every'' elligible man and woman in Skyrim if you so choose.

* There are lots of opportunities for recreational mayhem in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrolls'':
** In Morrowind, it's possible, with sufficient skill (or judicious use of cheat codes) to make a spell that will paralyze an enemy for extremely long periods of time and do 1 point of damage per second until they die. You can then sit and watch as your enemy is slowly burned/electrocuted/poisoned/drained of life. With some of the alchemy exploits, this can also be done using poisons. Do this with drain life and multiple victims, and you have a self sustaining means of continuous health regen while in a dungeon. This would mean that you are being sustained by the continuous suffering of your foes. Add a continuous health regenerating effect, and it's possible your enemies will survive this torture, so that you can do this over and over again. You can make this last in-game months, or years. Add soul trap, and death will only change their fate from agony to bondage within a soul gem. [[GodOfEvil Molag Bal]] would be proud.

* As might be expected, ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has a number of these if you choose to follow TheDarkSide. You can destroy a personal assistance droid on Dantooine in the first game, then tell its distraught owner that it's still out there somewhere. Then there is the whole Sandral-Matale feud, which, [[EarnYourHappyEnding depending on how you played it]], could have a happy ending. [[KillEmAll Depending on how you played it]].

* Start a New Game + in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' just to take three hyper-powerful characters into Guardia Forest and unleash hell on some poor unsuspecting imps. Triple Techs, particularly Omega Flare, is a little bit of overkill on a critter with 30 hit points, but it's still somehow very satisfying to drop the equivalent of a magical nuke on some harmless little green thing.

* ''FableII'' takes this kind of thinking mans violence to new heights. The game has a semirealistic economy that functions as a result of how people are feeling. In short? Rampage through town to sink the economy, buy up all the property and jack the rent up to sink it lower AND make money faster, and then buy goods off your abused tenants at a hilariously low price!

*** ''{{Skyrim}}'' added in an option for players to marry certain [=NPCs=]. Inevitabely, they allowed you a way out of marriage... by allowing you to ''leave your fiancé at the altar''. You can then rub salt in the wound by telling them you never loved them and it was all a big joke to you. To make it [[ItGetsWorse worse]], you can choose to humiliate them further by saying so in public. And it's not limited to just one potential spouse, either--you can do this to ''every'' elligible man and woman in Skyrim if you so choose.

* In ''DragonAge'' you can do quite some cruel things such as slitting the throat of a kid instead of going into the kids dream and help him to get rid of the demon possesing him.

** ''DragonAgeII'' continues the tradition; the game's GreyAndGrayMorality means that there are compelling arguments for and against a lot of the things you can do, but there is ''no'' justification for some of them. For example: one of your companions, Fenris, is an escaped slave on the run from his [[BloodMagic blood mage]] master. When his master inevitably catches up with him, you can help Fenris fight him off... or you can ''hand him over,'' saying you don't need him any more, leaving Fenris so gutted by your betrayal that he leaves with the slaver without a fight.