Video Games / Jerkass Has A Point

Jerkass Has a Point in Video Games.

Games with their own pages

Spider-Man (Insomniac)

Absented Age: Squarebound: Rumi points out that Karen's inability to be a team player hurts her music career because a trumpeter needs other players to complement them. While Karen acknowledges that this is a valid argument, Rumi is motivated by jealousy and refuses to accept the Sado Band Club, despite the latter being proof that Karen can thrive with the right team.
AI: The Somnium Files: Date can be incredibly blunt and pretty stubborn, but his intuition is pretty spot on and his logic tends to check out. Probably best shown with Iris in the Resolution route, where Date shuts down all of the conspiracy theories Iris truly believes in, but is doing so because he's trying to make sure she has a grip on reality, even if she gets distressed and frustrated with him.
AliceSoft's own flagship character, Rance, is one of the biggest jerks period. He has no problems killing men just because they annoyed him, or even be mean to women, especially towards his slave Sill because he believes that the world revolves around him. He also provides so many nuggets of wisdom that are very harsh but ultimately things that his allies cannot argue against. Just from the first game alone, he calls out the queen's attendant for not doing anything to stop her out-of-control queen and letting her do things as she wishes.
Rance: You say that the Queen's mind is broken and that she deserves pity. So what? Does this give her the right to kidnap those girls and do all those horrible things to them? And, by the way, what have you ever done that actually helped her?
In Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon, there is V.II Snail, a complete Hate Sink of a man who nonetheless does dish out some harsh truths throughout the game:
- While Snail’s attitude was awful towards Handler Walter during their first talk about 621, Snail did have a point that 621 had only destroyed Rubicon Liberation Front bases that were poorly guarded up to that point, thus Snail had no reason to believe 621 was capable of taking the heavily fortified base called “The Wall” from the RLF.
- During the “Hunt the Ice Worm” mission briefing, Snail decides to be one of the combatants to distract the Ice Worm, pointing out that “a rag tag team needs leadership.” Despite his snotty attitude like telling Chatty to his face that “because he’s an AI, he won’t fear death,” he does give solid advice like telling everyone to spread out so the Ice Worm would have greater difficulty attacking them. Furthermore, when G5 Iguazu acts astonished after 621 manages to temporarily knock out the Ice Worm for the first time, Snail reminds Iguazu that they “only jumped the first hurdle” and to remain focused, plus you’d be forgiven for agreeing with Snail upon Iguazu’s defeat that he was pathetic, mainly because of his whiny attitude the entire mission. Even G1 Michigan, Iguazu’s commander, only retorted that “Arquebus apparently sent someone to provide running commentary” rather than back up Iguazu.
- In the “Liberator of Rubicon” route, Snail hates how Arquebus command told him to spare 621 after subduing them with a stun needle launcher, instead sending them to be “re-educated” by Arquebus rather than be executed on the spot. As a result, upon being attacked by 621 on the Xylem colony ship, Snail realizes that the whole battle could’ve been avoided if he had executed 621 when he had the chance, thus Snail rants during the fight about “the dolts at command” having failed once again.
Baldur's Gate II: If both are in the party, Keldorn will attempt to lecture Anomen about the virtues of chivalry and honesty. Anomen is annoyed and claims that he does not need lessons at the moment. While Keldorn is definitely right in assuming that the young squire Anomen is too arrogant and immature, and he would benefit from his genuine attempt to share his wisdom and experience as a veteran of the Order, ultimately Anomen gets a point in that he was minding his own business and that "I have not bothered you, so it seems rude that you find the time to bother me". Given that his personal quest reveals that he has a Big Ego, Hidden Depths and a background of conflicts with his father, and that his Character Development might make him turn into a wiser person, in hindsight Anomen is acting defensive because he was always put into discussion.
Tassiter in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!. The Pre-Sequel is Jack's Start of Darkness, and Tassiter is Jack's Bad Boss and a Jerkass Hate Sink. However, while he's smarmy, condescending, and rude to both Jack and the player characters working for him, he's right that Jack is going way beyond his job description, and he's absolutely correct in his belief that Jack's obsessions with the Vaults will lead to nothing good.
In Bowser Jr.'s Journey, Koopaling bully Roy gets so fed up with Junior's Royal Brat attitude that he leaves the team. As Wendy points out (and the player will agree with, this being a sidegame to Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story), not even Bowser himself would treat his troops the way his son has.
In Bully, Mr. Hattrick is portrayed as a bad guy for wanting Galloway fired. But he does have a point considering that Galloway is an alcoholic - this is not good for the students period. What pushes this into a case of Black-and-Grey Morality however is that Halloway's only sins is drinking, while Hattrick's include bullying coworkers and students alike, allowing children to cheat, and taking kickbacks. The only point he has is that alcoholism isn't good for a school.
In Code Vein, the protagonists encounter the Self-Important Revenant trying to abduct a human woman. The protagonists argue that treating humans as cattle is wrong, but the Revenant hits back with some solid arguments: The Revenants were brought back from the dead against their will to fight for a cause many of them don't fully understand, all for the sake of preserving a Crapsack World, they live with the constant threat of losing their minds and transforming into monsters if they don't drink blood regularly, and without the Revenants the humans would all die horribly at the hands of the Lost infesting the Gaol of the Mists. He argues that humans having to give up some of their blood is a small price to pay compared to this, and it's hard to disagree with him.
Happens quite frequently in the Deus Ex franchise:
- In Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Wayne Haas reacts arrogantly towards Jensen when he strolls into the Detroit Police Station, and unless Adam wins a social battle against him, the Sergeant will refuse entry. However, the game repeatedly points to how Haas is in the right — Jensen's actions caused Haas to be busted down from a SWAT team leader to a lowly desk job, is under threat of losing his job, has a marriage in shambles, suffers from nightmares and has just been approached by the man who caused him to lose his status, who is asking for a favor instead of asking him how he is after all this time. Compounding that is the fact that Haas is correct about what will happen if he allows Jensen access — if you win the social battle and Haas lets him in, he is eventually fired from his job, and attempts to shoot you in the lobby of Adam's apartment complex unless you offer him to pull some strings with Sarif's HR department to get him hired as a security guard.
- In Deus Ex: Mankind Divided:
  - Task Force 29 member Duncan MacReady makes no secret of his dislike for the augmented Adam Jensen, and repeatedly disparages him right to his face multiple times about how they're not capable of being friends. Despite his brusque demeanor, his complaints about Adam's disrespect for the Task Force and chain of command (Jensen apparently works solo on operations alongside MacReady's team, which he sees as a threat to his authority) are legitimate, primarily because TF29 commander Jim Miller hasn't explained what Jensen's place in the hierarchy is. Jensen sassing him right back hasn't helped his attitude.
  - Miller himself gets this attitude, which eventually culminates in him referring to Jensen as an "insubordinate c***-up" when the latter decides to go off and pursue a lead that has nothing to do with the bombmaker. While he may be harsh in his words, Miller is entirely correct — aside from the fact that Adam is operating as The Mole for the Juggernaut Collective (and is pursuing his own investigation in regards with the Illuminati), he repeatedly stonewalls Miller, refuses to explain exactly what he's doing unless the player specifies it, and he was placed on the team against Miller's wishes. That Miller was already being set-up to fail behind the scenes by Joseph Manderley (and the Illuminati as a whole), it's no surprise that Adam's inclusion would lead him to eventually react angrily.
In Devil May Cry 5, while he could have been kinder about it, Dante was absolutely right to keep Nero away from Urizen. If Dante couldn't defeat him, what chance did a recently crippled Nero who had lost his arm and his Devil Trigger, have? He is also aware that Urizen is a part of Vergil, Nero's father, and does not want Nero to bear the burden of killing his own father.
In Digimon Survive, party member Ryo is an abrasive, cowardly Japanese Delinquent but occasionally reveals himself to be rather insightful and acts as a voice of reason.
Disco Elysium:
- In runs where you are playing as a vile, drunken, racist Rabid Cop, Kim Kitsuragi will quietly loathe you, but still admit when he is impressed by your moments of genuine insight.
- This is a frequent theme with Measurehead. Measurehead is an unbelievable fascist, will lecture you on baffling race science, and all of the race science is as wrong and silly as racism is in real life. However, hearing him out on his theories about how black people invented alcohol to turn white people into degenerates can make your character decide that, while he doesn't care about or agree with any of the other stuff, Measurehead is definitely right that he needs to quit drinking. In The Final Cut's Fascist vision quest, Measurehead will share with you his misogyny and his theories about semen retention, but he also gives you the only good piece of advice that you get about your goal to return to the past — that you don't want to, and should embrace the freedom and opportunities of the modern world instead of retreating inwards in failure. (Even Kim's advice that you should drop it and just take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror turns out to be very bad advice.)
Dragon Age
- Dragon Age: Origins:
  - Morrigan is a ruthless and power hungry witch who'd happily screw others over to get herself ahead. However she is right that trying to help everyone the party comes across will only slow them down, and that compromising with others often leads to the party's own advantages and gains being weakened.
  - Prince Bhelen may have had his own siblings done away with in order to remove competition to the throne, and calls for the execution of his rival and his entire family if he's crowned but he is completely right about the dwarves needing to change their ways in order to have any hope of survival. He mercilessly does everything in his power to become King so he can bring much needed reforms, and if crowned, he succeeds in steering the dwarves towards a better future.
  - Loghain is completely dismissive of the idea of peace with Orlais, saying that peace just means "fighting someone else's enemies in someone else's war for someone else's reasons." In later media you find out that the only reason Empress Celene wanted to marry King Cailan is so that she could add Ferelden's military to her empire in order to drive back Nevarra and give Tevinter pause. Given that Loghain was also a main contributor to the war that drove Orlais out of Ferelden, it makes sense why he doesn't want to just hand the country back over to its former occupiers.
- Dragon Age II:
  - Given the existence of demons and blood magic, Fenris is right that mages are dangerous when left unchecked, and not just due to Demonic Possession that can sometimes even happen by pure bad luck. Given that it's often the threat of the pursuing Templars that causes mages to resort to blood magic in the first place, Anders is right that the official response to this outside Tevinter is a massive overreaction that causes as many problems as it solves. Unfortunately for Hawke, both of them tend to express their perspectives in the most obnoxious way possible, verbally tearing into other party members on the slightest hint of disagreement and generally acting like assholes.
  - Hawke's aggressive responses when interacting with companions are usually right on the money. While he/she comes off as mean for disagreeing or going against them their reasons are just as good. Word of God has stated that rivalries are not bad, and that in some cases, it's more moral to oppose a companion than it is to support them.
- Dragon Age: Inquisition:
  - Vivienne is similar to Morrigan in being ruthless and power hungry, but she does bring up several fair points, namely that mages are dangerous and need some form of oversight. Anders not only blew up a Chantry full of innocent people, but a mage later attempted to assassinate Divine Justinia. Many mages who gained their freedom used it to hurt even more innocents and mages who didn't want to rebel were quickly killed by their kin. She calls the idea of mage freedom foolish since the Circles were also created to protect mages from people who would lynch them out of fear, a fear now very justified in the chaos of the Mage/Templar war. She also points out that the rebel mages picked a really bad time to rally for independence. Anders had already stoked the general population's fear of mages, but instead of taking this into account, the rebel mages opted for breaking free of circles entirely, which only deepened this fear and worsened the situation. She then reaffirms the jerkass part by not presenting any alternative solutions to the Templars' Misplaced Retribution aside from essentially "shut up and take it" which Vivienne herself does not have to do because her connections allow her to live outside the Circle.
  - Sera makes many comments about "elfy" elves and mages, but she does have a point with some of them (e.x. mages are dangerous, many elves look down on other elves they feel aren't as elfy as them, etc), though she's often so rude and dismissive about it that it can be hard for the Inquisitor to want to take her side.
In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the Vigil of Stendarr is a Church Militant order dedicated to hunting down and destroying supernatural threats to mortal life, including Daedra, Daedra worshipers, vampires, lycanthropes, and others. Though generally benevolent and good, they have a number of Knight Templar tendencies, such as not bothering to distinguish between actual malevolent threats and those who mean no harm (such as the worshipers of the more benevolent Daedric Princes and Friendly Neighborhood Vampires). If they see that you are carrying a Daedric artifact, even one belonging to a benevolent Prince like Azura or Meridia, they will demand that you hand it over and if you refuse, they will attempt to forcibly confiscate it. Despite these tendencies, they do have a valid point about containing Daedric artifacts and destroying Daedric influence, considering both Molag Bal's Planemeld and Mehrunes Dagon's Oblivion Crisis came very close to destroying all of Tamriel. Furthermore, following Martin's Heroic Sacrifice, the only way most Daedric entities now have of interfering with Tamriel is through the direct action of their mortal followers, meaning purging Daedric worshipers is the most effective way to mitigate their influence. Furthermore, even the "benevolent" Daedric Princes like Meridia and Azura are incredibly dangerous and alien beings who will destroy any number of mortals to advance their particular spheres of influence, so seizing their artifacts to limit their influence is entirely reasonable.
In Epiphany City, as unfair as Lily's situation is, Superb Man is right in saying she stole the powers he was supposed to have. Ends up subverted in the end when the prophecy was talking about her after all.
Eternal Radiance:
- Grady criticizes the Ashen Order for being slow to respond to Ancora's goblin problem and treats Celeste with contempt at first, but he has a point that the knights don't always prioritize the people they're supposed to protect.
- Although Valana is harsh in telling Celeste that the latter will slow her down, this is after Celeste recklessly charged into a desert and almost died of heatstroke.
Fallout: New Vegas:
- In a NCR-allied endgame, Colonel Moore has the NCR's ambassador to New Vegas fired and launches a smear campaign against you if you choose to broker an alliance between the NCR, the Kings and the Brotherhood of Steel. Seems harsh and petty, but the Kings are known for harassing NCR citizens on their turf although their leader doesn't know that his Number Two is fueling the fire out of xenophobia and the NCR was, until recently, at war with the Brotherhood, losing lots of men and having their economy in shambles as a result. You can't blame Moore for thinking that former enemies of the state are getting away a teensy bit easily just because some nobody vouches for them.
- Alice McLafferty is a crooked trader engaged in numerous amoral and illicit dealings. However, she is rightfully concerned when someone begins producing caps at the Sunset Sarsaparilla building outside of New Vegas. Because caps act as currency for most of the wasteland, making more is not only tantamount to counterfeiting, but also threatens to destabilize the economy.
- At the start of the game, Benny shoots the Courier in the head to steal the Platinum Chip as part of his plan to betray Mr. House and become ruler of New Vegas. He's entirely unapologetic when confronted about it, pointing out that any of the factions seeking to rule New Vegas — the NCR, Mr. House and Caesar's Legion — would kill to take control of the area. Benny is absolutely right, since if you ally with any of those factions, you will have to kill people in order to help them secure New Vegas, and there is at least one case in which killing someone is unavoidable. The player can even choose a dialogue option expressing agreement with Benny.
Final Fantasy:
- Final Fantasy XIV:
  - Geva of the Leatherworker's Guild and Blanstyr of the Armorer's Guild are Caustic Critics not afraid to browbeat people for the slightest mistake or imperfection. The thing is, these are crafters who make armor for adventurers and city guards. Poorly made equipment can fail and cost someone their life, making their high standards and zero tolerance for failure understandable.
  - When the Eorzean Alliance decides to go to Garlemald to help, the Garleans aren't as willing to listen and react with fear when they attempt to use healing magicks. It very much seems like a case of Honor Before Reason, except the Eorzean Alliance is flat out invading and by saying they want to save the people, are not exactly helping their case. And while they do want to help and acknowledge that the citizens and individual people of Garlemald aren't to blame, the Champion of Light is called out on having killed hundreds of Garlean citizens without batting an eyelash. Thus, their mistrust of the Eorzeans if not flat out fear of the Warrior of Light is fairly understandable.
  - Debroye, a medical student of the Forum in Old Sharlyan, is sick of her professor, Galveroche, making panaloaf that is incredibly horrible to eat despite the high amount of nutrients it has. While Galveroche does not care one iota on how food tastes, he does bring up how one's body can succumb to illness and disease if they don't get the proper nutrition in their diet. This inspires Debroye to refine her version of the panaloaf further so that it's balanced in both nutrients and taste.
- Final Fantasy XV: After the battle with Leviathan, the party is travelling by train and Noctis is still reeling from the events which included his fiancée's death. Gladiolus snaps at Noctis to stop angsting about it because he's not the only one affected by what went down and reminds him that Ignis lost his eyesight. Ignis quickly tells Gladiolus that his words are too harsh, but Noctis agrees. He needs to keep moving forward and not fall behind because of what happened.
- An interesting example in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: large parts of the fandom view Marche as a Villain Protagonist who is trying to forcibly destroy Ivalice, a world where his friends and his brother are happy because they can escape some of their problems in the home world. Whichever side the player might personally side with (whether they view Marche as right or wrong), both "wrong" sides make some very good points. If Marche is in the right, the royal forces, Ritz, and others are still very much correct when they claim that it's easy for Marche to want to go home — he doesn't have to deal with the same problems and bullying, or inability to walk (in his brother Doned's case) that his friends do, although as Marche admits to himself before the battle with Mateus, he too has problems that he faces in the real world. Further driving their point home is the argument that if Marche really cared for them, he wouldn't actively try to destroy a world that makes them happy without letting them take part in the decision too. Babus also makes the point that even if the world was an illusion created recently, he still has full and complete memories of his entire life in Ivalice that are as real as if he actually lived them, so what right does Marche have in destroying his current life in favor of the old one without even trying to get his consent? On the other hand, even if Marche is the real bad guy, he is absolutely correct when he claims that his friends, especially Mewt, are just using Ivalice as a way to avoid handling their real-world problems in any constructive way. Likewise it's clear that Mewt is far too irresponsible for his position as prince as he creates more and more obstructive and paranoid laws to start a witch hunt against Marche no matter how many citizens get caught in the crossfire which shows that more than anyone, Mewt is getting WORSE by staying in Ivalice. In the long run as shown in the Epilogue, Marche turns out to be correct.
  - In-universe, Ritz concedes that the game must eventually end, but says she will fight Marche to stop him from reaching Ambervale because she isn't quite ready yet.
  - Also, out of dialogue, you can also take into account the "cutscenes" when Ivalice is created. The argument of Marche having it easy since he doesn't have major problems in the real world can be reversed: in Ivalice, Mewt is the prince, Marche, Ritz and arguably Doned are adventurers and clan captains, which means losing Ivalice equals losing awesomeness; but the random citizens we see at the start, getting turned into wild animals/creatures you'll eagerly ''slaughter''? Yeah, maybe they'll find Marche has a point.
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
- Shinon, who was already established to be rather unpleasant, absolutely flips his lid and decides to Rage Quit when Ike becomes leader of the Greil Mercenaries, calling it Nepotism and viewing it as an utter betrayal of Greil's ideals. Gatrie leaves with Shinon, as while he doesn't have a personal grudge against Ike, he's personally loyal to his best friend Shinon. Ike himself concedes he doesn't blame Shinon for reacting that way as he is still very new to leading the group and doesn't feel like he measures up to his father, but Titania gives him a You Are Better Than You Think You Are speech.
- Shinon also gets another one when you encounter him later on in the story, working as a Daein soldier. While the Greil Mercenaries are appalled he'd work for their enemy, Shinon goes on a rant about how Daein doesn't care about social standing and only respects strength, noting that despite his talents, he wasn't given a position he deserved in Begnion or Crimea (aside from working under Greil) because of his status as a commoner.
- Soren is the only person in the Greil Mercenaries to object to their decision to escort Princess Elincia to Gallia (well, except for Shinon, but because of his hatred of Gallia) and cites it as "impractical". When Titania chastises him for being so cold-hearted, Soren replies that a small group of mercenaries has no way of standing up to the might of Daein's military and that Elincia has no way to compensate them as she's been forced out of her home. Greil concedes Soren's points, but he and the rest of the group decide to protect Elincia anyway, because she is Crimea's heir to the throne and needs their help.
- As the Crimean army pushes toward the capital of Daein, Elincia notices that the Daein army is becoming increasingly desperate, such as conscripting every able-bodied man to fight off the invaders and evacuating the area. As Elincia protests that Crimea wouldn't harm the citizens, Soren tells her she has no idea how to rule a country, pointing out that when a country is conquered, its citizens are treated as less than human, which is why rulers cannot afford to lose. Soren's words are so harsh he ends up making Elincia cry and Ike calls him out on his lack of tact, but Soren is right and Elincia knows it. Soren ends up being vindicated in the sequel, when the Begnion forces occupying Daein oppress the conquered people.
- Prince Reyson is very bigoted against humans because they are responsible for wiping out his entire family, and while he is blinkered by his hatred and goes too far with it when he almost uses the Dirge of Ruin to wipe them out entirely, he's isn't wrong that humans horribly abuse and mistreat laguz. It's only when he sees Ike protecting his long-lost sister Leanne that he comes to realise that there are good humans out there and he eventually comes to forgive them after Empress Sanaki (who is just a child and wasn't even born when the massacre happened) begs him and Leanne for forgiveness.
In the sequel, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Izuka is a thoroughly vile human being, but he does occasionally bring up good points:
- During Chapter 8, the Liberation Army receives news that Begnion is taking prisoners to a nearby swamp to be executed. Izuka immediately tells Micaiah to ignore it since it's obviously a trap. Both she and Tauroneo admit that he's probably right on the money this time, but Micaiah decides to go in anyway.
- Later Izuka expresses how Micaiah's popularity is going to make it impossible for Daein to recognize and respect Pelleas as its king. At first everyone says that's not true, but Micaiah herself realizes that he's right based on a conversation she had with Jarod. This actually helps Pelleas grow a spine later, although even if Pelleas lives, he will still abdicate the throne(albeit in part due to realizing he isn't Ashnard's son) and allow Micaiah to rule in his stead.
Fire Emblem: Awakening:
- Severa, one of the children from the Bad Future, loves to be spoiled and harsh towards others. It rubs many of the children, as well as whoever her father is, the wrong way, but in the end, some of her criticisms are true in form. One thing she addresses with Yarne is how his cowardice harms others. She also lays into Cordelia over her unrequited love for Chrom, and how she's still obsessed with him after marrying Severa's father (who can be one of several first generation male units, but not Chrom).
- While Chrom's father, the previous Exalt of Ylisse in the backstory, waged an overzealous war against the Grimleal stationed in Plegia that resulted in numerous deaths on both sides due to his lousy tactics, he was exactly right that an openly evil cult whose entire basis revolves around trying to bring back a dragon for the sake of killing all of humanity, in addition to practicing human trafficking, Human Sacrifice, and brainwashing citizens into slaves of the Grimleal needs to be completely destroyed.
- Gerome is an Aloof Ally who is cold towards his comrades, but he rightfully calls out Cherche for not being around for him growing up in the Bad Future (granted, he's talking with his mother's past self, who hasn't given birth to him yet). The normally unflappable Cherche is stunned by his words.
Fire Emblem Fates:
- In his C Support with Felicia, Saizo very bluntly refuses to eat the meal she brings him and comments that she's a shockingly poor excuse for a maid and openly admits he has no idea why Corrin keeps someone around who is so incompetent at her job, before later pointing out that Felicia is a much better fighter than a maid. While Saizo can be fairly rude, quite a few more pleasant characters agree with him.
- Niles does this quite a lot in supports, such as pointing out how unhealthy Camilla's obsession with Corrin is or pointing out how suspicious it is that nobody seems to know anything about where Selena comes from or her background, yet she's allowed to be Princess Camilla's retainer anyway.
- Azama is also fond of making harsh truths, even to Hinoka, who is not only a princess but is also his direct superior. In their A support, he reluctantly obeys Hinoka's order to save a dying soldier, then informs her that his efforts only served to prolong the man's suffering. Hinoka doesn't argue with him.
- He also points out in his support with Sakura that her timid nature hampers her authority as a princess and he's not wrong that her Shrinking Violet nature means that people often dismiss her concerns or talk down to her, making Azama notable as one of the only people who doesn't coddle her. In fact, he pushes her so far that she screams at him to shut up, and spends the rest of the support chain being more temperamental and assertive around him than she is around anyone else.
- In Chapter 18 of Conquest, Leo kills Zola, a defeated and helpless enemy, after the party foils his scheme to execute the Hoshidan royal siblings. Corrin protests this morally questionable decision, but Leo then says that if Zola was alive, he could only betray them later, such as by telling Garon that Corrin and his/her siblings had helped the enemy, so Zola had to be silenced. Corrin concedes that Leo has a point, and for good reason — in Birthright, Corrin saves Zola from Leo, and Zola repays the favor by betraying Corrin to Garon. In Revelation, Corrin doesn't object to Leo killing Zola after the latter takes Sakura hostage.
Fire Emblem Warriors: At one point, Takumi is suspicious of Darios, who is the prince of Gristonne, the antagonist faction of the game, and bluntly accuses him of trying to lead them into a trap. While Ryoma calls him out on slighting Darios with his words, he nonetheless confesses that he shares Takumi's concerns, since as royalty, he couldn't imagine turning on and fighting his own kingdom like Darios has. Takumi is proven right when Velezark possesses Darios and steals the completed Shield of Flames for himself.
Fire Emblem Heroes: Gustav gives a harsh lecture to Alfonse against being reckless and not thinking of the bigger picture when he could have left his country without its crown prince had he failed. His wife Henriette discloses he was just as gung-ho at Alfonse's age, which nearly cost him his own life at least once.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses:
- Felix is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold, but his "jerk" side comes out around his old friend Dimitri, as well as Dimitri's retainer Dedue, since Felix contemptuously refers to the former as a "boar" for being a revenge-crazed Blood Knight, and considers the latter an unthinking puppet to the former. His attitude is incredibly harsh, and even cruel, but it's not baseless. Dimitri becomes increasingly unhinged after the Time Skip, as well as a secondary antagonist on the Crimson Flower route, in which he's trying to kill Edelgard for the Tragedy of Duscur (something that wasn't even her fault). Felix is the only person in the Blue Lions to repeatedly call out Dimitri's Sanity Slippage. Meanwhile, Dedue admits to Felix that he'd be willing to commit atrocities such as massacres of women and children in Dimitri's name, says he doesn't care for the kingdom of Faerghus, and in the Crimson Flower route, gives some of the soldiers crest stones to transform them into demonic beasts, before doing the same to himself.
- Felix also points calls Dimitri a "boar who knows nothing save frontal attacks," which offends Ingrid. However, it's proven that Dimitri is the least tactically astute out of the three Lords and none of his housemates can counterbalance that flaw. In Azure Moon, Byleth's strategies prove essential to winning the war, but on the other routes, Dimitri's lack of tactical acumen proves his downfall. In Verdant Wind and Silver Snow, he gets all the Kingdom forces who came to Gronder Field with him killed, then dies in a futile attempt to chase down Edelgard. On the Crimson Flower route, he tries to bait Edegard into attacking his Church allies, but Edelgard is still able to see through him and defeats him. Dimitri admits in his supports with Gilbert that being a Frontline General is the only thing he's good at.
- Dimitri himself becomes rather unhinged after the Time Skip, after learning that his former Childhood Friend Edelgard is supposedly responsible for the Tragedy of Duscur and Dimitri's parents' deaths. He goes on a crusade of vengeance that results in the deaths of many people, both allies and enemies, and alienates him from his allies. Just before the battle of the Great Bridge of Myrddin on Dimitri's route, though, Dimitri asks Byleth if s/he, not unlike him, considered the person who killed Byleth's father, Jeralt to be unforgivable, and you can have Byleth say yes.
- In Dimitri's B-support with Ingrid, which can happen before the Time Skip, he bitterly says that Glenn, who died protecting Dimitri during the Tragedy of Duscur, died a "needless death". By saying this, he's criticizing the ideal of knightly honor, but it also seems as though Dimitri doesn't appreciate Glenn's sacrifice, which upsets Ingrid, causing her to leave and Dimitri to immediately regret his words. Despite that, Dimitri has a point; Ingrid apologizes for not considering Dimitri's feelings in their B+ support, and admits that Glenn probably died full of regrets in their A-support.
- Felix also harshly criticizes his father Rodrigue for caring more about his obligations to the late king of Faerghus than the lives of his people, and for saying that Felix's older brother Glenn died like a true knight. Rodrigue scolds Felix for his tone, but otherwise doesn't argue back, and admits that Felix isn't wrong to feel the way he does.
- In his support chain with Dorothea, Felix rebuffs her romantic advances by calling her out as a Gold Digger who is trying to marry into a rich family like House Fraldarius. Her support chain with Byleth makes it clear this is, or at least was, really the case as she outright states it to be her goal.
- Hubert also gets a turn at this in his C Support with Linhardt, as he tells him to his face that despite his magical talents and wide breath of knowledge, Hubert greatly dislikes Linhardt as he flits from subject to subject at a whim and never actually accomplishes anything with his studies because he's too busy lazing around and not taking things seriously. Given he spends most of his time napping and slacking off, Hubert has a point.
- Cyril does this on several occasions to people in his supports. He calls out Hilda for being lazy, Manuela for her unprofessional behaviour, and Ignatz for being more interested in the fact Cyril came from Almyra rather than who Cyril is himself. If one had gone through the Black Eagles and Crimson Flower route, they would think of Cyril as being a fanatic who is devoted to Rhea - but spending some time from his supports and realising that Rhea is, outside of supports, the only one who ever loved him, many do realise he makes a lot of points to the player and others.
- Seteth is often quite harsh and cold towards Byleth at first and he later admits he does trust them and think of them as a friend, but he's completely right about how suspicious and unorthodox it is that Rhea hired Byleth as a teacher despite Byleth having no experience as one (as they were a mercenary before), nor can they answer even basic questions about themselves, and his frustrations that Rhea won't explain her reasons for it are very understandable, though unfortunately he tends to take said frustrations out on Byleth, not Rhea herself.
- Lorenz gets one in his support chain with Dorothea, when she angrily rips into him about his classist views and how he discriminates against her because she is a commoner. Lorenz explains that because he is a noble, he feels he cannot marry a woman of low standing because he has to think about the betterment of his house when considering a wife, something a commoner wouldn't be able to provide, and that a commoner would have a very difficult time fitting into high society without proper training and the right temperament. Dorothea doesn't dispute this point, even though she concludes that this attitude will preclude a relationship with Lorenz.
- While Edelgard is generally not exactly a jerk, out of the three Lords, she gives the harshest response to Byleth grieving their father Jeralt's death, insisting that Byleth stop moping and instead start moving forward. It's implied that Edelgard says what she does because that was how she overcame the trauma of losing all her siblings, not to mention that she knows her father will likely die soon. Sothis expresses amazement at Edelgard's bluntness, but says that Edelgard isn't wrong.
- Count Grégoire von Varley is a loathesome man and an abusive father to his daughter, Bernadetta. When Bernadetta befriended a commoner boy years ago, Count Varley had the commoner beaten within an inch of his life, which left Bernadetta terrified to befriend commoners again. Bernadetta's support conversation with Yuri (the former friend in question) reveals that, at the very least, the beating itself was justified; the Count had caught said "friend" red-handed about to assassinate Bernadetta in her sleep, and reacted as any father (even an otherwise-abusive one) would.
In The Force Unleashed, Jedi Master Rahm Kota insisted on having a private militia serve under him during the Clone Wars because of his Fantastic Racism against the clone troopers. This ends up saving his life, as he was far away from them when Order 66 was activated.
God of War:
- In God of War (PS4), Atreus gets fed up with Sindri's endless bickering about the feud with his brother, Brok. Eventually, Atreus outright yells at Sindri to make up with Brok and stop whining because Sindri just wouldn't shut up about their disagreement. Atreus also says that Sindri just kept feeding his own ego by saying how great his methods are while not really disproving anything Brok did as unhelpful. While this outburst was uncalled for, and was a result of Atreus being drunk on the revelation of having Divine Parentage, Sindri still clearly takes what Atreus says to heart. Towards the end of the game, Sindri makes up with Brok, and the two start working together again. The dwarf brothers show no anger towards Atreus, and says that Atreus "told him what he needed to hear."
- God of War Ragnarök
  - Shortly after Atreus meets Heimdall, the latter wastes no time in establishing that he's the biggest jerk in the game, who cannot resist insulting virtually anyone he talks with. During an elevator ride, Heimdall gives Atreus a scarily accurate "The Reason You Suck" Speech, calling him out on desperately wanting to live up to his father Kratos, being impulsive and arrogant, and coming to Asgard for his own selfish ulterior motives. Atreus can hardly defend himself, and has to admit that Heimdall had him figured out.
  - Brok has a moment late in the game. Tyr reveals to the rest of the heroes that he knows a way to get to Asgard, resulting in Brok becoming immediately skeptical, harshly asking why Tyr never mentioned this until now, which Mimir says is a "fair question." Kratos then asks why Tyr withheld this information when Atreus was in Asgard, and Tyr explains that they needed to give "Loki"(Atreus' other name) time to figure out his destiny. The rest of the group appears to accept this explanation, but Brok continues to demand answers from Tyr, such as the particulars of how he plans to get to Asgard and why he's calling Atreus "Loki." "Tyr" then snaps, stabs Brok and reveals himself as Odin in disguise.
In Golden Sun, Lord McCoy's refusal to let you travel to Kolima is supposed to paint him as a jerk. Except, he's already hired the best mercenaries available, and they've all succumbed to the curse. Since he knows nothing about Adepts and Psynergy, he has no reason to believe some spiky-haired teenagers would fare any better. And he's RIGHT: even with their Psynergy, your party only barely escapes their first encounter with Tret's curse.
Sweet in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas always gives his brother CJ a hard time because CJ seems to have a tendency to run away from his problems or not take responsibility for his actions or lack thereof. Although the player never gets any concrete information on the event, Sweet implies that CJ let their brother, Brian, die (likely from not being there when he needed CJ and also likely gang related) and also notes how CJ ran off to Liberty City after Brian's death. Sweet also indirectly implies that CJ could have prevented their mother's death from the Ballas had CJ stayed in Los Santos instead of running off to Liberty City. While CJ doesn't try to deny the harsh truth from Sweet, he tends to make weak excuses for his actions or whines about how Sweet is too hard on him. Towards the end of the game, CJ is an extremely successful entrepreneur thanks the connections he made with rapper Mad Dogg and the Triad's casino business. He suggests to Sweet that they should leave behind the gangster life and have a better life with their newfound luxury. Sweet snaps at CJ and tells him how he is once again doing nothing for the hood by running away from it instead of defending it and making it better for everyone. Sweet also points out how CJ's talk about his success to fame makes him sound like Big Smoke. CJ shrugs and decides to humor Sweet by retaking Grove Street for their gang. Sweet eventually apologizes for being hard on CJ. Sweet, while being a total jerk towards CJ, is right that CJ is too quick in running away when things get tough instead of doing his part in helping out. CJ eventually accepts that Sweet was right about him and apologizes to him for letting down their family and letting Brian die.
Injustice 2: Early in the game's story mode, Robin (Damien Wayne) argues with Batman about his code against killing then watches as his father beats a mook to within an inch of his life, and asks if giving enemies permanent brain damage is any better than killing them.
In Jade Empire
- Gravedigger Shen is an unpleasant person who seems to have no morals to speak of, selling the possessions of those buried in his graveyard. You may be inclined to believe Miss Chan's claim that he killed her baby after she died in childbirth. But you hear from him that the baby also died, and if you show her to the baby's grave, Miss Chan realizes the truth and is calmed enough to pass on.
- Sir Roderick Ponce von Fontlebottom the Magnificent Bastard, an outlander who takes up residence in the Scholar's Garden, is arrogant and looks down on the people of the Jade Empire, and only agrees to leave if the player defeats him in a debate and a duel. However, he raises some legitimate points about the empire, such as how useful "dragon powder"(i.e. gunpowder) is in war. The scholars judging the debate seem to feel he has some valid points, even if they want him out.
- Surprisingly, Gao the Lesser, an arrogant brat who eventually becomes a kidnapper and a murderer after being kicked out of the Two Rivers School, is right that Master Li plays favorites with the Player Character. Master Li used the player to kill Sun Hai in order to usurp his power.
Kid Icarus: Uprising:
- In chapter 22, Dark Pit gets sick of Viridi and Palutena accusing Hades and humanity of throwing the world off balance and tells them point-blank that they and their "stupid wars" are just as responsible for disrupting the balance as Hades himself. While Viridi is just pissed that a "little nothing" like Dark Pit would talk to her like that, Palutena openly admits that he's not wrong.
- Viridi herself gives these twice over, the first time when she mentions all the reasons why Humans Are Bastards and demands to know why should they get special treatment over other forms of life they exploit, to which Pit and Palutena admit she has a point about (though still noting her methods are just as bad, if not worse). She also calls out Palutena for blaming Hades and her for causing the Aurum to come to Earth by being attracted to their fighting, when Palutena and Pit were fighting and raising all sorts of chaos fighting Medusa long before she or Hades got started.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep:
- While Master Xehanort is hardly a reliable source of information, his statements that Master Eraqus only thinks in absolutes regarding light and darkness aren't entirely wrong, considering the fact that Eraqus failed Terra in the Mark of Mastery Exam for showing a mere spark of darkness in his fighting style, accidental or otherwise.
- On Eraqus' side of things, given the many, many Dark Is Evil moments in the series and how much danger the universe and its inhabitants have been put in danger because of it, combined with Xehanort being such an Unreliable Narrator about his Yin-Yang Bomb claims, Eraqus' negative views on Darkness comes across as being Properly Paranoid (bad actual decisions notwithstanding). As well as the harm many others inflict when they succumb to it, the Xehanort's actions during Birth By Sleep and long after bolsters Eraqus's mindset that Darkness holds great dangers.
  - On a completely different topic, him having Aqua essentially spy on Terra is understandably seen as a huge breach of trust by the latter...and one that was completely justified given the amount times Terra has allowed himself to be led astray on his journey throughout his travels. Aqua's presence on the various worlds he's visited has helped to clean up the messes Terra(and Ventus) left behind. If Aqua hadn't been there, things could have turned out much worse. By the time the Final Battle occurs on the Keyblade Graveyard, Terra somberly admits that Eraqus was right about him needing to be watched.
Knight Bewitched:
- Uno calls out a thief for stealing from the Eastport Freebooters and selling the loot. The thief retorts that although the Freebooters steal from the rich, they're still disregarding the harm they're causing to those who financially depend on their victims. Uno is taken aback and agrees to purchase the stolen goods, which indicates that he sees the thief's point.
- Uno himself is one of the ruder party members and has a deep distrust towards the rich and powerful. When Prince Jaiden gets no punishment for firing on Ruth's ship and leaving the party stranded on Eastport, Ruth admits that Uno has a point about how the law favors the upper class.
Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords:
- This mixed with Good is Not Nice is pretty much Jedi Master Vrook's entire characterization. He opposes the training of the Player Character from the first because re-training and trusting a mindwiped Sith Lord really is a bad idea. And in the second game, he's even less thrilled with the Exile, seeing her (or him) as a "mediocre Jedi" whose presence only brings disaster...and turns out to be right.
- Kreia is a first-rate Evil Mentor. But even her detractors tend to admit she might just have a point about The Force playing both sides of a conflict, handing out Idiot Balls Because Destiny Says So, and basically screwing over everyone's capacity for free will and self-determination.
- Atton Rand is a smuggler, lowlife, and former Torture Technician. But he's got a point when he calls Sith and Jedi "men and women with too much power, fighting over religion while the galaxy burns."
The Last of Us: Despite treating Ellie as nothing but a nuisance and butting heads with her, Bill does point out that Ellie's earlier statement of needing a gun to protect herself and back up Joel and him is a pretty good idea. Joel ignores him at first, but eventually comes around after a Hunter almost drowned him and Ellie put a bullet into that guy's head, saving Joel's life.
Legacy of Kain: Defiance: At the beginning of the game, Raziel is trapped in the Underworld with the Elder God, repeatedly refusing to do his will under the belief that the Elder is nothing but a parasitic false god. The Elder, however, quickly deduces that part of the reason for Raziel's refusal to leave is out of fear of his destiny; to become the soul-stealing entity trapped within the Soul Reaver. Raziel admits to himself that the Elder isn't wrong, and ultimately decides to find a way to avoid said destiny rather than cower from it.
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time:
- Unintentional example at the beginning of the game: Mido refuses to let Link see the Great Deku Tree until Link gets a sword and shield. While Mido was doing it just to be a pest to Link and bar his way like a schoolyard bully, the sword and shield do turn out to be necessary both to kill the Deku Babas on the way to the Great Deku Tree and to kill the enemies inside of the Great Deku Tree. This "point" is so good that even Saria agrees with it.
- Ingo might be a spiteful, jealous man who eventually seizes control of Lon Lon Ranch and is such a jerk that Malon says she's too scared he'll mistreat the horses if she tries to leave, but he does raise a valid point that Talon is a Lazy Bum who spends more time slacking off than running the ranch, leaving Ingo to do everything and his young daughter has to wake him up when making deliveries frequently. It's not surprising Ingo took Ganondorf up on his offer to become the owner when given the chance. If you complete the sidequest to restore the ranch it appears Talon even ended up agreeing with him as he not only doesn't punish Ingo in any way but also resolves to not be so lazy and begin pulling his weight on the ranch: they're even seen partying together in the post-credits scene of the game with apparently no hard feelings.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: When Link reaches the end of the Earth Temple, Impa chastises him for being so late to save a captive Zelda that she had to personally intervene, and tells him that he won't be able to meet her unless he picks up the slack. Link is not happy to hear any of this, but he doesn't argue either. Instead, he makes Impa eat her words at the Temple of Time when he arrives just in time to save her from being killed by Ghirahim, allowing her and Zelda to escape through the Gate of Time.
Lie of Caelum: Kado Seto Endo likes nothing more than to dig at people's character flaws in order to break their egos, but he's usually honest in his criticisms. Kyou admits that Kado is correct that the former's brutal beatdown of Kenzo in the True path scared Miyu.
Mass Effect
- The first game has Player Character Commander Shepard attempting to argue with the Council that Big Bad Saren's Spectre status should be revoked. Shepard knows Saren is up to something because of a beacon that showed Shepard a vision of mass death and slaughter. After that, Saren stole the beacon, preventing Shepard from using it against him in his trial. During said trial, Shepard brings up this vision, to which Saren counters that all they have to go on is Shepard's word about any of this, and that no sane court could possibly accept "I saw it in a dream" as proof of anything. Shepard clearly doesn't like it, but Saren escapes the trial with his Spectre status intact because Shepard can also admit that Saren's point is a valid one.
- Still in the first game, Ashley Williams makes no secret that she distrusts aliens and, when pressed on it, clarifies that she doesn't hate them per se, but that each species will ultimately prioritize their own survival over others' (likening to letting your beloved dog die to save your own skin when you both are chased by a predator: you may like your dog and hate doing it, but the dog ultimately isn't human), and that as such, relying on non-humans is risky and foolish. Comes the third game, and the Reapers invasion causes the galatic community to nearly collapse as every single specie focus on saving their worlds before others', and the entire game is spent trying to convince the races to work together for a common goal.
- Mass Effect 2 has an instance with quarian admiral Zaal'Koris, who is entirely distrustful of both Tali and her father, and tries to get Tali exiled for treason after her father uses the geth parts she sent in an experiment that gets him and everyone else on the Alarei killed. However, he's also the only member of the Admiralty board who opposes going to war with the geth and sees them as another sentient species, with the quarians also largely to blame for what has happened. If you speak to him during the trial, he will explain his position in detail and tell Tali that he has no personal vendetta against her or her father; he is just doing what he thinks needs to be done for the good of the quarian people. Tali responds with "I do not agree, but I understand."
Zig-Zagged in Mega Man X: Command Mission. Halfway through the game when X meets up with Zero, he introduces Zero to the rest of the party members, and Zero, having recently almost been killed by a former teammate's Face–Heel Turn, reacts angrily and immediately leaves X again, claiming that said party members could go rogue and betray them at any moment. Later when Zero meets X again, in a battle with the aforementioned Face-Heeler, Spider, one of the party members and a former mercenary, takes a shot to the arm for Zero to block a Last Ditch Move, and later sacrifices himself by self-destructing to open a locked door so that the party could escape an underground mine set to blow-up. Zero then sees the error of his ways and realizes that he should be more trusting of others. Except that Spider turned out to have faked his death and was actually The Man Behind the Man in disguise, with said man being the Colonel who had commissioned X and Zero in the first place and had manufactured the entire conflict of the game, thus rendering the Friendship lesson meaningless and actually proving Zero right.
Dishonourable nobles in Mount & Blade aren't particularly nice. They're backstabbing, warmongering, and quarrelsome. However, "honourable" characters are still perfectly willing to raid caravans and torch enemy villages. If you take the honourable option and allow defeated enemies to walk away, your dishonourable allies rightly ask whether your honour will be much comfort to the orphans and widows caused because you let a general out to rebuild his army and keep going.
Octopath Traveler:
- Helgenish from Primrose's route is an unempathetic, abusive tavern-keeper who treats the dancers working for him like sex objects instead of women and is bar none the most repulsive Starter Villain in the game, but he technically isn't wrong when he tells Primrose that he gives her a place to stay and food to eat, since Primrose was rendered destitute after the murder of her father and ruin of her home. However, Helgenish's point is severely undermined by the fact that the only reason he took Primrose in at all is because he saw her as useful to him. When Helgenish catches on that Primrose's "submissive slave-girl" personality was a façade from the start and that she has always despised him, he tries to murder her.
- Mikk and Makk lead a gang of ruthless pirates that are harassing Rippletide at the start of Tressa's route. When Tressa confronts them in their lair, Mikk and Makk tell her that she should not expect them to go easy on her because "the world is a harsh place". Many of Tressa's companions have suffered a lot in their lives: Ophilia lost her parents to war when she was a little girl (although she was later Happily Adopted), Olberic witnessed his own friend Erhardt betray and kill their king (and Erhardt himself lost his home-village in a war when he was a boy and developed a deep hatred for the king for doing nothing to help his friends and family), Primrose witnessed her own father murdered at the hands of a criminal organization as a little girl, and wound up in the employment of an abusive tavern-owner who treats her like a slave while she looks for clues to the whereabouts of her father's murderers in the name of vengeance, Alfyn treats a criminal he naïvely believes will Heel–Face Turn, only for said criminal to waste no time betraying him and nearly killing an innocent little boy, causing Alfyn to nearly lose his way as a physician, and Therion was betrayed and nearly murdered by his own partner-in-crime Darius, who cruelly revealed he had only "befriended" him in the first place to reap the benefits of his thieving talents. With all this in mind, Mikk and Makk's statement is very accurate.
- During a travel banter between Ophilia and Therion during the former's Chapter 3, Therion tells her that she has too much faith in people when Ophilia doesn't believe the bishop of Goldshore has any sinister intentions behind his suspicious behaviour. This one is zig-zagged as Ophilia turns out to be right in this chapter, but in her next chapter is deceived by one of the Savior's followers into entering her house to help her non-existant sick boy, only to be ambushed by more of the Savior's followers and knocked unconscious. One of them also tells Ophilia that "it is not wise to put too much faith in others, for there are many in this world who are all too eager to deceive".
- Alfyn's Chapter 3 is the heaviest example, when we're introduced to a cynical apothecary named Ogen who refuses to treat a wounded man, much to Alfyn's indignation because he believes it is an apothecary's duty to treat anyone who needs medical help. It turns out Ogen realized that said wounded man (named Miguel) is a dangerous criminal, and his point that "some lives are not worth saving" chillingly turns out to be right when Alfyn treats Miguel in Ogen's stead... only to be "rewarded" with Miguel kidnapping an innocent boy to hold for ransom and then stabbing him in anger at his crying, forcing Alfyn to kill Miguel to save the boy's life. This incident leaves Alfyn in a major personal crisis in being an apothecary for most of his Chapter 4.
In Ōkami, Issun is rather harsh to Queen Himiko at first, but he does have a point that the latter does appear suspicious. They vanish during the Blight incident, not telling anyone why, and the inside of the building where Amaterasu and Issun finally meet them looks like a Boss Corridor. Issun is right that Queen Himiko is in fact planning something but they were actually planning to defeat Ninetails and not anything evil.
The title character of Pinstripe kidnaps Ted's daughter Bo and intends to adopt her, claiming that he'd be a much better father than Ted. While Pinstripe is evil, and would be a lousy parent, he's not wrong when he says Ted was a poor one. Ted adores his daughter and would fight tooth and nail for her, but the fact stands that his alcoholism led to them both getting killed in a drunk driving accident. That said, it's downplayed in that Ted is a loving father, is genuinely remorseful for his sins, and is clearly the preferable option to Pinstripe.
In Red Dead Redemption, Nigel West Dickens is a Snake Oil Salesman and general charlatan. But when John Marston expresses disgust for Dickens's behavior, Dickens rightfully points out that as a former armed bandit, John is the last person who can call him out on this. John tries to claim his gang was Just Like Robin Hood, but Dickens dismisses this as just an excuse to break the law, an opinion John himself ultimately agrees with.
In Red Dead Redemption II:
- Micah is a thoroughly unpleasant Jerkass towards the rest of the gang but he makes some good points.
  - After taking out a gang of O'Driscolls, Arthur asks him why every job he has with Micah always ends up with dead bodies. Micah points out since when did Arthur have a problem with killing O'Driscolls, to which Arthur chuckles and concedes.
  - When Arthur argues about Micah not doing any work around the camp, Micah rightfully points out that neither do Molly or Swanson and at least Micah brings some income outside camp.
  - Micah calls out Bill for leading the Pinkertons to the gang's hideout by asking everyone where the gang was hiding. Even if Micah was the traitor and he ironically wasn't the one to led the Pinkertons to Lakay, his point still stands.
  - Micah also has some valid criticisms of the gang, namely that the gang is simply too large to evade the law effectively or for any One Last Job, no matter how big, to provide enough money for nearly two dozen people to escape the country with.
- Played with in regards to Dutch chewing out Arthur for freeing John from prison. While he has a valid point that this will bring more scrutiny on the gang from the law and the Pinkerton agency and could have given their camp location away, Dutch would later proceed to murder an oil baron in broad daylight and in the middle of a town, an action that brings just as much unwanted attention to the gang. It's strongly implied that Dutch wanted John to be hanged and he criticized Arthur because he felt Arthur was undermining his authority.
Saints Row:
- In Saints Row 2 there is your former leader Julius. Before he is killed in the epilogue, he states that the reason he left the Gang and had you set up to die on the boat is because of how far the gang derailed off his vision of solving the ongoing gang wars in Stillwater, contributing to the problem in the process. Even going on to say they were now just "Vice Kings who wore purple". Considering how downhill it goes for the gang after the second game when the Playa takes over, you can't really blame him for trying to put an end to his gang; the Playa effectively proves Julius' point and can't really refute his accusations before killing him.
- Killbane in Saints Row: The Third is a complete asshat to the members of the Syndicate after his violent takeover, but nobody counters him when he angrily states that they need to face the Saints in combat now, who refuse to parley with the Syndicate ever since their first interaction, successfully killed their respected leader Phillipe Loren, and won't stop fighting until the Syndicate is down. The Syndicate already tried subtler methods like isolating the Saints from their resources and it didn't work, they have to start fighting back. In his own words:
Killbane: The barbarians are at the gate — we need a general, not an ambassador!
- In Saints Row IV, Matt Miller flatly tells the Boss that rescuing Johnny Gat is a terrible idea and, predictably, gets his ass beaten. Kinzie angrily tells the Boss that what Matt means is that, since they're the last humans in fighting shape, friendship and undisputed leadership or not, the Boss has no right to put the Saints and what's left of mankind in jeopardy by taking on the full might of the Zin just because there's a tiny chance that Gat is alive. And to hammer it home, she points out that everybody lost someone or something due to Zinyak's invasion and destruction of Earth, making the Boss' loss and grief hardly unique or special. The Boss grudgingly backs down and eventually apologizes to both of them for going off the rails.
In the short adventure/horror game Sara is Missing, the titular Sara's mother is quite controlling and emotionally abusive towards her daughter, however she is correct when she points out that a degree in parapsychology will not really guarantee her a well-paying job, or any job for that matter.
- She also reserves some say in Sara's activities, as she is the one paying for all of her expenses.
Persona:
- In Persona 3, Mr. Ekoda, a teacher at Gekkoukan High, is not a pleasant person; he even covers up Fuuka going missing for days after one of his students bullied her, since he's afraid of getting in trouble for his student's transgression. Despite that, he has a few good points. In Saori's Social Link, while Ekoda is overly harsh in giving her a suspension for appearing in a magazine (which fabricated the quotes attributed to her), she admits that it wasn't a good idea to let herself be photographed for 4,000 yen, since getting her photo enabled the magazine to publish the article. In the ending, Ekoda also refuses Fuuka's request for a technology club due to not having enough members, which is a legitimate requirement for forming a Japanese School Club (Though this does not account for the Fashion Club, which only has about two members). Fuuka doesn't take it personally but instead sets out to recruit the members she needs.
- Persona 5
  - Suguru Kamoshida, volleyball coach for Shujin Academy, abused his students for years without being punished. His Shadow gloats that he got away with it because the students, their parents, and the school let him get away with it in order to reap the rewards that came with winning tournaments. Ann and Makoto agree with this sentiment and feel guilty about not doing anything about it earlier.
  - Stalker with a Crush Natsuhiko Nakanohara, the first Mementos Shadow, rants about how the Phantom Thieves are going after him instead of someone much worse, like his former teacher Madarame. It initially seems like Nakanohara doesn't have a leg to stand on since he's blaming everyone but himself for his actions. But it ultimately turns out that Madarame has exploited his students by stealing their art, ruined many people's art careers, and caused one former student to commit suicide. The Phantom Thieves realize that Madarame's a worse criminal, and they need to start thinking bigger than personal problems.
  - Sae Niijima threatens to bring legal action against Sojiro Sakura and potentially cause him to lose custody of his daughter Futaba. Sae says from an outsider's point of view, Futaba's circumstances — never leaving the house, much less going to school, to say nothing of suffering from suicidal depression — don't paint a very good picture of her home life. The Phantom Thieves seemed to be swayed by her arguments, even briefly wondering whether Sojiro is abusing Futaba until they finally get him to talk about Futaba.
  - Youji Isshiki also has a similar point, noting that if Futaba never leaves the house and doesn't go to school, her living situation is hardly ideal. While he's only saying this to shake down Sojiro for money and was apparently abusive toward Futaba while she was in his care, Isshiki does have a point. Two social services workers get a call from him and come to check on Futaba, although Futaba manages to prove that Sojiro does deserve to keep her.
  - After confronting the head of The Conspiracy, the Phantom Thieves realize that, while their opponent is a complete jerk, he's right that the masses of Japan would rather be told what to do than think for themselves. The Thieves are forced to admit as much when despite Masayoshi Shido having a change of heart and confessing his crimes, the people of Japan are still going to vote for him as the next Prime Minister. This forces the Thieves to take much more drastic actions in order to get the populace to have a change of heart.
  - Ann's fellow model Mika initially seems fairly nice, but is fairly hostile toward Ann, and even has a manipulative streak. Mika expertly plays the victim when she and Ann have a fight, and tricks other models into missing their appointments. However, part of Mika's animosity toward Ann has a somewhat understandable basis — Ann has always relied on her natural good looks to get her through her modelling career. Others like Mika had to go through intense dietary restrictions and beauty regimes to get to where they are now. Ann is initially furious to hear all that, but is self-aware enough to admit that Mika has a point. At the end of Ann's confidant, regardless of whether Joker romances her or not, Ann will resolve to put more effort into her modeling career.
  - Most of Ryuji's former teammates are relatively rude and unpleasant to him, blaming him for getting the track team shut down as a result of Ryuji punching Kamoshida. That said, they do have a point that they were all suffering under Kamoshida (even if Ryuji arguably had the worst of it), and that Ryuji's actions resulted in their efforts being in vain. Ryuji agrees, and near the end of his Confidant, invites them to hit him.
- In Persona 5 Strikers, Zenkichi does not get off on the right foot with the Phantom Thieves, due to threatening to arrest Joker if they don't cooperate with him in his investigation of the Jail incidents. After the group learns that Mariko Hyodo, the third Monarch, went mad with power because of corrupt staff members and an incident involving a child's death, they debate who's responsible, but Zenkichi walks in, calls them out on naively thinking in terms of good and evil, and says Hyodo should have taken responsibility for the incident, as the one in charge. Some of the other Phantom Thieves take umbrage with his analysis, but in the end, they realize it's for the best. After Hyodo has a change of heart, she confesses to her misdeeds, and while she says some of her staff had been guilty of wrongdoing, ultimately takes responsibility.
Soaring Machinariae: In response to Maria's jealousy of her and attempt to drop out of school, Mel punches the former and points out that she had to rely on hard work rather than genius to succeed in automaton school and that it's insulting to her to just assume she's talented. Maria is stunned silent and decides to stay in school, showing that she realizes Mel has a point.
Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns has this occur in the The Three Childhoodfriends — Part 2 event. Iluka can sense the aura of nature and is amazing at predicting the weather, which a fisherman asks her to do and see if going fishing the next day would bring in a big haul. She gives him her prediction, then asks for 15.800G as payment. When the fisherman leaves, Ludus calls her out on asking for such a large sum. Iluka retorts that this guy, as a seasoned fisherman, should be able to read the weather himself and not rely on someone else to do part of his job for him. Ludus can't help but agree with her on that part.
Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden has long strings of this trope by Tetsuya Tsurugi from Great Mazinger. Throughout the course of the game, he basically trash talk both the heroes and the villains, and pointed out the flaws on their structures and performances in an increasingly Jerk-ish way. The problem is, he is completely spot on with every single one of his statements, which includes the fact that the Heroes has a rather ineffective ways to handle the situations, some of the teams has a leadership problems, the fact that Koji relied way too much on his Grandfather's Mazinger, and on top of it, a Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration comment of a big mistake made by Duo and Quatre that nearly resulted in the death of the whole team.
Magilou from Tales of Berseria is quite the Troll, but quite a few of the things she says still find their mark. Velvet gets this especially bad; Magilou points out that, despite giving Laphicet his name, Velvet is still treating him as a tool to be used instead of as his own being, something Velvet has derided Villain with Good Publicity Artorius for doing along with the Abbey, which makes Velvet not so different. Velvet is momentarily speechless, and acknowledges that Magilou is right, even if Velvet acts like she doesn't care.
Tales of Symphonia
- Zelos has a tendency to do this quite a bit. He may be a Sad Clown and a womanizer of the first order, but the party eventually comes to accept Zelos has harsh but well-meaning arguments.
  - After the Temple of Lightning incident, Sheena is incredibly depressed thanks to Volt killing Corrine with a bolt of lightning, especially since this is the second time people have died when Sheena tried to form a pact with Volt. When Zelos seemingly ignores Sheena's grief, the rest of the party call him out on his insensitive behavior. Zelos then counters that Sheena is never going to feel better if everybody insists on walking on eggshells around her. Lloyd eventually comes to agree with Zelos, although he does say that Zelos could have worded that better.
  - When the party is cornered at the Otherworld Gate, Sheena tries to pull a Heroic Sacrifice under the assumption that she's the only one the party's enemy wants dead. Zelos drags Sheena away from it and forces her to flee. When Sheena calls him out on it, Zelos replies that it would have been a Senseless Sacrifice, since it wouldn't have stopped Kuchinawa, the Pope and the armies of Tethe'alla, all of whom were gunning for the party's heads from pursuing them. Sheena ultimately admits he's right, but still is rather sour to Zelos for a time. (Doesn't help Zelos suggested Sheena give him a kiss for saving her — Presea called him out on it.)
  - Zelos even does this in the sequel. He calls Marta out on her Clingy Jealous Girl behavior, and how it's doing nothing but driving Emil away from her and making an already bad situation even worse. Zelos even says that it's okay to for Marta to pursue Emil romantically if that's what she wants to do, but she needs to learn there's a time and a place for it. After this, Marta does tone down a bit, suggesting that she listened to Zelos.
  - During an optional sidequest, the party encounter a lost little boy in Sybak who has been separated from his mother. Every building you try to enter turn him away because he is filthy and poor. When the boy complains and says Zelos should do more about how the poor are treated, Zelos tells the boy he shouldn't expect someone to just come along and fix his life for him and tells the boy that since his mother is trying to find work, he should also help out and being a child isn't an excuse to do nothing but complain. While kind of a jerk thing to say, especially coming from a guy raised in luxury like Zelos, he isn't wrong and it's true that many people in both Sylvarant and Tethe'alla choose to hang their hopes on the Chosen One instead of being proactive. However, once a guard finds the boy's mother, Zelos gives her a job as a maid in his mansion. When Lloyd compliments Zelos on the kindness of his gesture, Zelos tries to play it off by saying he just did it because she was pretty, but Lloyd and Colette aren't fooled.
- Kratos gets one when he points out how easy it was to lure the protagonists into a trap and says that they should have known that the Tower of Salvation connects Sylvarant and Tethe'alla, as it's the only thing that exists in both worlds.
- In an optional sidequest, you help out Lyla (who is actually a Loan Shark) track down the pirate Aifread, which requires you to visit several areas of Sylvarant that were destroyed by the Great Kharlan Tree. When you do find him, he calmly calls Colette out on abandoning Sylvarant in its time of need and he intentionally made the party chase him around the map in order to see the destruction caused, as well as visit the Houses of Salvation on behalf of his dead crew. He understands how hard the party worked for world regeneration, and that they're still trying to find another way to save the world, but he wants them to see how many people feel betrayed by the Chosen not completing her pilgrimage.^note Colette even admits he has a point and apologizes.
- Vharley is a scumbag of the highest order, being the direct cause of Alicia's death, but he's not wrong when he gloats about how Regal's wangsting made it incredibly easy to get away with the crime, as Regal blamed himself for her death and willingly turned himself in for it, while Vharley got away with it scot-free as a result and just casually moved onto his next test subject who proved to be compatible with the experiment — Presea.
- In the sequel, the mayor of Iselia is just as unpleasant as in the first game and still scoffs at Lloyd's idealism, but he also points out that this very same idealism means Lloyd would never engage in the Palmacosta massacre. Later, he turns out to be right when the killer is actually an impostor and Lloyd was Good All Along.
Tales of Vesperia:
- Aloof Ally Judith calls out Estelle for using the Guild to pursue her own goals and puts her own wishes over theirs. Although Yuri attempts to call her out for this, Judith is unapologetic and Estelle admits she has a point.
- Flynn's subordinate Sodia is overtly hostile to Yuri, and even tries to kill him after Alexei's defeat. That said, she's not exactly wrong to regard him as a criminal who could potentially cause problems for Flynn by associating with him, since Yuri had committed two vigilante murders during the game, along with various lesser crimes in the past. Yuri admits that Flynn needs someone like Sodia at his side, which is why he doesn't report her for the murder attempt, despite not forgiving her for it.
Tales of the Abyss:
- Luke might be an entitled jerk to everyone, inviting plenty of teasing and mockery, but he makes a very good point as to why picking on his lack of general world knowledge is over the line. He had amnesia of a pretty intense variety, not being able to remember anything at all before the age of ten, including his own family members. For what it's worth, the rest of the party stops picking on him over that, and only criticizes him or insults him over things that have greater consequences, or can't be excused on his circumstances (for example, his arrogant behavior as Ambassador of his country).
  Luke: I didn't have time for any of that! I had other things to learn. Like my parents' faces!
- Colonel Badass Jade Curtiss is often harsh and blunt in his statements, but he always has a good point to make when he speaks up towards people's actions or attitudes not helping the situation. He's just not nice about it. Towards the end of the game, the party has learned to trust his advice, even if they acknowledge his complete lack of people skills. When Natalia nearly gets the entire party killed towards the end of the game due to having a Heroic BSoD after Asch's death, resulting in them getting caught in a trap, Jade smacks her in the face and reprimands Natalia. Even though Natalia thinks Jade went too far, she concedes the point.
Tales of Xillia has The Dragon state that his actions were merely things he had to do, in order to save Elympios and doing everything to survive, which included using spyrix, something that kills spirits. When Milla tells him that it's their own fault for using the dangerous technique of spyrix, the Dragon fires back that he, and the others, shouldn't be blamed for something that was started two thousand years ago and that "it wasn't us" who decided to use spyrix to begin with. Milla is left speechless after that last outburst.
The Talos Principle: Milton constantly challenges you to give your opinion on a philosophical matter, then tears it to shreds. But he's never exactly wrong. This is his role in the simulation. His job is to instill doubt into the A.I.s, and get them to question what they think they know.
The Turing Test: Ava and the rest of the crew consider TOM the Jerkass (since he's trying to strand them on an alien moon), but they completely ignore that he is correct about the danger of introducing an alien microorganism into Earth's ecosystem. While the crew are focused on what they see as the 'good' effects (foremost, apparent agelessness and biological immortality), TOM rightly points out that the virus doesn't discriminate; it infects every type of cell, which could lead to illnesses and cancers that can't be treated or cured.
In Until Dawn:
- If the player chooses not to shoot Emily when Ashley insists on it, Emily almost gets shot by Mike because Ashley panicked upon seeing Emily's bite-wound from a Wendigo and thought she was going to turn into one and attack them, but the situation gets defused. Ashley tries to apologize to Emily, but only earns a slap from the latter. It's understandable that Ashley panicked and jumped to conclusions, but Emily being unforgiving makes sense: Ashley's panic almost got Emily killed.
- After the events with Chris, Ashley and Josh in the shed, Emily has doubts that Josh is actually dead and that she and Matt should check it out to be certain. Turns out it was a dummy planted by Josh to fake his death.
- Also, upon finding out there is a psycho on the mountain with them, the first thing Emily says is that they should "get help" ... which is a very good damn idea.
- If the players play Ashley as unrepentant about Hannah's fate, she does have a point that Hannah somewhat overreacted to the prank and chose to run out of the lodge and out into a storm as opposed to locking herself in her room to calm down.
- If the player has Ashley refuse to look for Sam when they know the Psycho is out there, Chris will reprimand her for being cowardly. However, Ashley was not entirely wrong as the Psycho ends up attacking her and Chris while searching for Sam with no way to protect themselves.
- While Josh was a bit tactless about it, he was right that Chris and Ashley, who have a mutual crush on each other, wouldn't do anything about it unless a traumatic event made them confess their feelings. In fact, Josh as the Psycho deliberately orchestrated traps to ensure that it would happen.
In The World Ends with You, Joshua is quite the Jerkass to Neku from the get-go, and Neku generally only tolerates him because he has to in order to win the Reaper's Game. Joshua's insistence on neglecting the missions so that he can advance his personal agenda concerns Neku, since the missions have to be finished, lest the players be erased (although only one group of players has to finish the mission). Neku explains that he has to succeed, because Shiki, his friend and previous partner, was taken as his entry fee, meaning that she'll be lost forever if he loses. Joshua contemptuously plays the World's Smallest Violin and says everyone has things they care about, so Neku isn't special in that regard. As callous as he is, he has a point, since Neku learns to care about other people over the course of the second week.
In World of Warcraft, while some players dislike Taran Zhu for his hostility toward the Alliance and the Horde, he turns out to be right that their continuing their war in Pandaria is a bad thing, for a few reasons. 1) It empowers the Sha, which feed on various negative emotions and as such, both encourage and grow stronger through conflict. 2) It weakens their efforts against those who are enemies to both factions and all of Pandaria, such as the resurrected Thunder King. 3) Garrosh's unearthing the Heart of Y'Shaarj devastates the sacred Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
- Garrosh has another moment of this in his final confrontation with Thrall in Warlords of Draenor, as he points out that everything he's done is directly Thrall's fault. Thrall made him Warchief of the Horde, despite Garrosh himself believing he wasn't ready, then Thrall up and abandoned the Horde during the Cataclysm, leaving Garrosh in charge of a city with limited resources,^note a neighboring ally who only recently reclaimed their home from a powerful witch doctor (Darkspear trolls), another whose land was being invaded by centaurs and quilboars (tauren), and two however-nominal allies which are too far away to even matter to the bulk of the Horde in Kalimdor (blood elves), one of which most don't trust anyway (the Forsaken). While Garrosh is no saint,^note he points out that Thrall doomed him to fail from the start.
Yakuza: Like a Dragon: Invoked. Arakawa keeps Sawashiro around for his ability to crack the whip on under-performing subordinates. While the amount of abuse Sawashiro heaps on Ichiban is far from justified, and only the tip of his jerkassery, he is absolutely right that Ichiban is an inveterate goofball, a bad earner and a liability to the family in many ways.
- Subverted by Bleach Japan. When the group originally appears, Ichiban and his friends comment that wanting to crack down on crime and corruption that usually go ignored by the police is a laudable goal, even if they and their friends get caught in the squeeze and Bleach Japan are sanctimonious jerks. However, it quickly becomes increasingly clear that Bleach Japan are more interested in using bullying, violence and intimidation to enforce their brand of puritanical, elitist and ethnonationalist morality on the most vulnerable people in Japanese society, the ones who have no way of receiving redress through Japan's notoriously racist and elitist judicial system, than anything else. The final nail in the coffin for sympathy for Bleach Japan is the revelation that they are a front for the Big Bad, who created them to squeeze out smaller crime outfits for his allies in the Omi Alliance and mobilize the Moral Guardians against his political adversaries.
YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG: While Alex's remark to Rory about nobody caring about his dead sister is rather callous, keep in mind that Rory had effectively caused him and the other party members to go on a wild goose chase and nearly got them killed because he had lied to them about his sister and trying to make her suicide about himself.

Jerkass Has A Point / Video Games

Games with their own pages

Previous

Index

Next

Jerkass Has A Point / Video Games

Edit Locked

Games with their own pages

Previous

Index

Next