Took A Level In Kindness / Video Games

• Ace Attorney:
  • Miles Edgeworth goes from being the ruthless Demon Prosecutor, concerned only with maintaining his perfect prosecution record even through shady means, to pursuing the truth for truth's sake and being a genuine friend and ally to Phoenix, Maya, and others (most notably, making an impromptu international flight and taking on the role of defense attorney — something he could get into trouble for if caught — simply because Phoenix needed him). By the time we see him in Investigations, he's willing to risk loss of career and arrest in order to help Kay Faraday and pursue the truth of what happened to her.
  • Ema Skye managed to slide all the way from one end of the scale to the other and then back again. In the original game's fifth case, she's introduced as a 15 year-old forensic investigator-to-be with all the enthusiasm in the world (this is also the characterization used in the Investigations games). Seven years later, in Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, she Took a Level in Jerkass and acts like a belligerent grump to newcomer Apollo Justice, frustrated that her career got sidetracked and that she's stuck in criminal affairs (though she still pursues forensic science with her younger self's enthusiasm under the radar). Come Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, she's now completed her forensics qualification exam and is working as a full-time forensic investigator, once more cheerful and enthusiastic about her work.
  • During Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All, Adrian Andrews is introduced as an aloof, disinterested manager for Matt Engarde who is quick to brush people off and scoff, which we later find out is all an act she puts up in order to cope with her mentor's death by trying to act like her. Come Trials & Tribulations, the sequel, after the circumstances of her mentor's death have been truly uncovered and the man responsible was sent away to prison, she's become a cheerful employee of Lordly Tailor who is truly grateful to Phoenix and can actually genuinely smile now (at least when she's not panicking as a Cute Clumsy Girl).
  • In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Dual Destinies, Simon Blackquill is introduced as a murderer and makes his first appearance manipulating the judge into letting him have his way, interrupting Apollo, and generally being the jerk most prosecutors are expected to be. In the third trial though, he joins in with everyone else to break Athena out of her Heroic BSoD, reminding her of the reason she became a lawyer and how she must not let a certain someone down. After he's acquitted in the last trial, he is then incredibly cooperative with Phoenix, backing his requests, sending his hawk to keep the Phantom from hacking Athena's Mood Matrix, and ripping the Phantom's mask to reveal his deception. In fact, the most antagonistic moments he has is when he gives the occasional reminder for the defense to provide evidence to back up their claims, which Phoenix reminds his colleges is what Simon has to do as prosecutor.
• Animal Crossing: The Cranky, Snooty and Peppy villagers have become nicer with each game (at least in the various overseas localizations, as they were always quite friendly in the original Japanese version). The cranky villagers have gone from jaded jerks to just being rough around the edges, snooty villagers have gone from narcissistic and elitist to kind but with refined tastes, and peppy villagers have gone from unpleasant spoiled brats to happy and energetic girls. In addition, none of the villagers steal from the player's pockets or try to scam them out of their money and items anymore.
  • In the first game and Wild World, Gracie the fashion designer is a snobbish and stuck-up woman who wouldn't shy away from insulting the town and its residents whenever she stopped by for a visit. Later games have Gracie be a bit nicer to others, while still very much thinking highly of herself. It's even stated that she took Label in as a pupil when she left home and 100% supported her when she decided to start her own clothing brand.
• Case 02: Paranormal Evil: In Loser Reborn, Marty was willing to use headpatting to effectively brainwash women into joining his party. In this game, he treats Sally as a genuine friend rather than an object. It helps that he's going through a zombie apocalypse rather than a wish-fulfillment reincarnation plot this time.
• Danganronpa:
  • In Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Byakuya Togami is a condescending Smug Snake who participates in the killing game with a perverse sense of gamesmanship, treating the murders of his classmates like an opportunity to amuse himself by manipulating the crime scenes and goading Naegi into doing all the work in solving them. But during chapter 4 he realizes that he unintentionally had a heavy hand in Sakura's suicide, which was meant to unite the students against the killing game: he made it clear from day one that he didn't care about anyone else's wellbeing, and he even told her to her face that he hoped that she died. This realization seems to knock him down a peg, shit-eating attitude-wise, and he's still kind of a dick afterwards, but he's less malicious, and obviously much more on his fellow classmates' side. Most importantly, during the final class trial, when everyone realizes that the apocalypse happened outside the school a year ago and their memories were wiped so they'd forget, Junko tells Togami that his family was completely decimated during the chaos, along with their company he's spent his entire life working tooth and nail to command, and now he's the only one left. This new knowledge paralyzes him for a while, but he and the rest of the students are roused back into hope by Naegi, and they band together to defeat Junko and leave to face the world outside. Come Dangan Ronpa 2 Goodbye Despair, he puts his position in the Future Foundation on the line, along with Kirigiri, to secretly help Naegi rehabilitate the Remnants of Despair. When the time comes to defeat Junko during the finale, he goes into the simulation along with Naegi and Kirigiri to help the students not lose hope when they figure out that they willingly went into the simulation and helped Junko cause the apocalypse. When all's said and done, he tries to keep up a veneer of superiority, but it's obvious that he's very much warmed to his friends and is willing to take huge risks to help them.
  • Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu in Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, who starts off distant, aggressive, and regularly threatens to kill his classmates. After Peko's execution and learning his sister is dead, he decides to make amends and changes his behavior. While he is still rude and hot-headed, he becomes one of the most loyal and steadfast members of the group.
• Dicey Dungeons: After she's beaten, Lady Luck, the sadistic host of the dungeons, gets a whole lot pleasant. She stops rigging her games against the heroes and lets her them and go, and even allows them to visit the dungeons anytime.
• Dante in DmC: Devil May Cry initially starts out as an uncaring, dickish guy. As the game progresses, however, he begins to mature and his interactions with Kat, especially the lengths he goes to just to save her, are pretty much the best indications of him invoking this trope. By the end, he has inherited several of the old Dante's traits, kindness and sense of justice included. He will, however, still take the time to fling insults at his enemies.
• Dragon Age:
  • For someone who starts as such a minor character, Cullen goes through quite the arc throughout all three games. Starting Dragon Age: Origins as a naive young Templar who might have been infatuated with a female PC, some Mind Rape when the circle he's stationed at gets overrun by demons drives him to hatred of all mages, advocating putting every one of them down. By Dragon Age II, he's calmed down a bit and is one of the few reasonable people in the story, but still has a very large amount of Fantastic Racism and is willing to overlook some of the greater atrocities committed by his fellow Templars to innocent mages. However, once his commander, Meredith, goes too far off the deep end with her fanaticism, he turns on her and is willing to let a mage-supporting Hawke go. Come Inquisition, where he apparently went through some soul-searching in between games, having left the Templars, feeling that they had lost their way, and is firmly disgusted by the actions they are now taking. While he still feels that mages are dangerous, almost all traces of his Fantastic Racism (bar a few insensitive comments) are gone, and he is fully willing to work with them, and work loyally for a mage Inquisitor. He's also a romance option, whether or not you're playing a mage.
  • Dragon Age II:
    • If he survived Origins, Zevran has been spending most of the time frame that Dragon Age II encompasses only killing the Crows that try to track him down. Okay, nothing too new, and Zevran was always much more laid-back than one would expect from an ex-assassin, but then when the Dalish offer him sanctuary in Act 3, he turns them down to hide out in the nearby caves so that none of them will get caught in the crossfire. Considering that this is the man who casually admitted he enjoyed killing (to an extent) and has killed innocents, or gotten them killed through his actions more than once, in the first game, this is quite the Character Development.
    • Fenris thaws out towards the end of the game towards Varric, Aveline, Isabela, and Donnic, and particularly Hawke (especially if he's romanced).
  • In Origins Morrigan is cold, sarcastic and abrasive to almost everyone. If the Warden takes the time to befriend or romance her, then by the time she appears in Dragon Age: Inquisition, she is much nicer and more gracious. Her verbal jabs are a lot less vicious, and even former teammates remark on the change. Depending on player choice, she may even be a loving mother.
• Dragon Quest V: Prince Harry starts off a spoiled, insufferable brat. Then his stupid antics get him and the Hero kidnapped and the latter's father killed off. Harry and the Hero spend ten years working as slaves until they manage to escape, whereupon Harry has become considerable calmer, kinder and more thoughtful.
• In The Elder Scrolls series, Sheogorath, the Daedric Prince of Madness, seems to take a level between the events of Oblivion's Shivering Isles expansion and Skyrim. Rather than causing random chaos like in previous games, Sheogorath's Daedric quest in Skyrim has you helping to cure the late Emperor Pelagius the Mad of the madness which has long plagued him. It probably helps that Sheogorath implies that he is the Champion of Cyrodiil, who takes up the mantle of Sheogorath at the end of the Shivering Isles.
• Fallout:
  • Although it's less "taking a level in kindness" as it is "not being as evil as they were before", the Enclave is significantly downplayed in Fallout 3 compared to Fallout 2. In Fallout 3, their main objective is to rule over the wasteland with an iron fist, with President John Henry Eden wanting to exterminate all mutated life in the wasteland, which would spare those in the Enclave and those in the Vaults. In other words, they are obviously very bad in Fallout 3. In Fallout 2 on the other hand, their goal was to release a modified FEV virus into the atmosphere to kill off all humanoid life on the planet other than themselves. And unlike in Fallout 3, they don't give a shit about non-radiated Vault Dwellers either, kidnapping and performing heinous experiments on the residents of Vault 13.
  • The Great Khans in Fallout: New Vegas, compared to the Khans of Fallout and Fallout 2. The Khans of the first and second games were all about the Rape, Pillage, and Burn, and any interaction was pretty much guaranteed to end in violence. The Great Khans, in contrast, make a living selling drugs and can be dealt with entirely through diplomacy. Sure, they aren't angels, but the Great Khans are far nicer than the Khans ever were.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Adelbert Steiner from Final Fantasy IX starts out as the most reluctant member of the party, only going along to protect Princess Garnet. He has a big grudge against Zidane for "kidnapping" her (it's complicated) and for being a no-good scoundrel, but he eventually realizes that Zidane is actually a good person.
  • Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII. She starts off as rather cold to her comrades, especially Snow, her future brother-in-law, but becomes a full-blown hero later in the game and in the sequel Final Fantasy XIII-2. Fang also goes through similar development.
  • A merchant in a Dark Knight quest in Final Fantasy XIV asks the Warrior of Light recover goods that were stolen from him and he demands that they go fetch the stuff right now. When the Warrior returns with the goods in hand, the merchant gets very snobby with them because his goods are covered in blood (from the enemies that stole the items) and says he can only pay them half of the intended reward because of it. This get's the Warrior's companion Fray who is a projection of the Warrior's anger and frustrations to give them a scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech before walking away in anger. You meet the merchant again in a much later quest and he is a lot nicer to the Warrior after having gone through several events that made him rethink his attitude and he apologizes for his past behavior.
• Between the end of God of War III and the beginning of God of War (PS4), Kratos has noticeably mellowed out. While he still has his moments of Unstoppable Rage, it's no longer his default emotion. Kratos is also trying to be a good parent to his son; even if he does sometimes snap, it's out of Tough Love instead of genuine anger. Apparently, the fact that he forgave himself for his past sins, combined with awakening hope from inside of him, had a big impact on Kratos as a whole.
• Hijikata Toshizo in Hakuouki is called the "Demon Vice-Commander" of the Shinsengumi for the iron fist with which he commands and for his unflinching willingness to enforce the group's rules of conduct and command or personally perform morally distasteful actions. He gets worse following Kondou's capture and execution, to the point that during the assault on Utsunomiya Castle, he kills a soldier who tries to flee, but by Hakodate, he manages to make peace with the inner turmoil that's been driving him and he becomes a much gentler and more approachable leader who says that the men under his command are "like sons" to him.
• Harvest Moon: Back to Nature was originally an outsourced port of Harvest Moon 64, but it eventually became its own game. Several characters changed personalities, both to this trope and the opposite:
  • Karen was originally a standoffish and mean Broken Bird until you befriended her. In Back To Nature (For Girl) and (More) Friends Of Mineral Town, she's lost virtually all of her attitude, is somewhat less of an alcoholic, and has become a laid-back Cool Big Sis.
  • Gotz was Karen's aggressive father in 64, but he's substantially nicer in other games.
• Buggs from Kindergarten is a Barbaric Bully who throws food at Nugget during lunch and will outright beat the protagonist to death if you refuse to give him half of your money at the start of the school day or provoke him by bringing up his Disappeared Dad. In Kindergarten 2, he's still a bully and troublemaker who's all too happy to start a Food Fight, but he generally acts nicer towards the protagonist than in the first game.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • Riku goes from Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy to Rival Turned Evil in the first game, but at the end snaps out of it and spends Kingdom Hearts II as The Atoner.
  • Axel eventually does the same by the end of Kingdom Hearts II, beginning his Heel–Face Turn, which is cemented for good when he, now using his original name Lea, saves a comatose Sora from Master Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance].
  • Several other former members of Organization XIII are shown to have done this in Kingdom Hearts III. Most prominently, Ienzo, formerly the Cloaked Schemer Zexion, now serves as Mission Control while spearheading the effort to give Roxas a body of his own, and is nothing but friendly and helpful. Vexen and Saïx both rejoined the Organization only in a bid to atone for their wrongdoings behind the scenes; they were likewise instrumental in creating and securing the replica bodies for the lost Nobodies. Furthermore, once the latter is defeated again and returns as Isa, he is shown in the ending spending time with Xion and Roxas, both of whom he despised as Saïx.
• Kirby: King Dedede started out as Kirby's Arch-Enemy, but he's mellowed out considerably since then. Nowadays, he is one of Kirby's greatest allies, with most of their feuds happening over a misunderstanding or King Dedede getting mind controlled.
• Knight Eternal: Ned is more polite than in the previous games, where he was somewhat snobbish about his knowledge of the future.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The whole Gerudo race undergoes this over the course of multiple games. In Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, they're a race of warrior thieves feared by the other peoples of the land because of their ferocity and tendency to kidnap people (though they're still bound by a code of honor that forbids them from, among other things, robbing from children or killing people). In Four Swords Adventures, in contrast, they're considerably friendlier with non-Gerudo, if a bit standoffish due to Ganondorf's recent actions. By the time of Breath of the Wild, they're no meaner than any other race, with the motherly Urbosa and Wise Beyond Her Years Riju in particular being two of the nicest characters in the game. Even their culturally-enforced "No boys allowed" rule appears to be now done out of tradition rather than actual hostility toward men, as most are willing to look the other way so long as a male visitor makes the effort to blend in and doesn't cause trouble.
  • Midna from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess starts off as very selfish, pushy, and only out to save her own world, without really caring about Hyrule. After seeing the kindness and bravery of Hyrule's people — especially Princess Zelda — she evolves into more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. After restoring her true form, when she shatters the mirror that connects Hyrule with the Twilit Realm, she expresses a bit of remorse that she'll never see Link again.
  • Mido is the resident jerkass in Kokiri Village in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, giving Link shit over not having a fairy, even going as far as calling him "Mr. No-Fairy". When you meet him seven years later, he's guarding the entrance to the Forest Temple, but his tone is very different. He says that he wishes that he could take back everything he said about Link (unaware that he is actually talking to Link as an adult) and tells you that if you ever meet Link, to tell him that Mido is sorry for being such a jerk to him.
  • Mila's father in The Wind Waker. During the first half of the game, he's an arrogant rich man who demands the rescue of his daughter from captivity in Forsaken Fortress. Tetra's pirates rescue Mila, but ask the father for a lot of money, leaving him and his daughter poor. This changes his viewpoint on life, and he becomes much more modest as a result.
  • Groose from Skyward Sword. He starts off as a typical arrogant and pompous Jerk Jock who has it in for Link, but at one point he follows Link to the land below the clouds and witnesses Link fighting and resealing the game's Sealed Evil in a Can. Though he's at first disillusioned over his own apparent uselessness, he comes to respect Link and begins to grow considerably more noble, even becoming a crucial ally to Link in a number of boss battles. You know he's changed considerably when you find yourself cheering him on when he jumps into the fray and helps Link.
• Like a Dragon: Osamu Kashiwagi, the Kazama family captain, appears in Yakuza 0 as a very strait-laced, stern, and strict figure who isn't afraid to lay down the law or beat down idiots personally. By the time the first Yakuza rolls around, he has mellowed considerably and prefers thinking and planning to violence (though doesn't hesitate to knock Nishiki on his ass when he screws up considerably in Kiwami).
• Mario Party 5: Compared to the previous game's Story Mode, Bowser isn't as ruthless towards the Koopa Kids when they fail as usual. He also accepts his defeat in the Final Boss battle, telling the player's character that he'll get better and come back for a rematch before leaving the dream world.
• Several characters in Mass Effect series move or have the potential to move this way as the story progresses, the latter depending on the player's decisions.
  • Many of your crewmates can do this over the course of the series, particularly for Paragon Shepard.
    • You can turn Garrus from a pure Cowboy Cop into someone who generally respects the rules and no longer believes that the ends justify the means.
    • Wrex starts out as a typical Krogan who is also disillusioned by them, and then ends up doing something about it by strong-arming himself into becoming the de facto leader of all Krogan kind, demolishing many of the more self-destructive Krogan traditions to unify his people.
    • Miranda goes from an Ice Queen and Knight Templar to being a Not So Stoic Atoner in the third game.
    • Grunt becomes much more respectful, especially if you do his loyalty mission. By 3 he has become a capable and (while rough around the edges) caring combat leader to a multi-national squad of krogan.
    • Zaeed learns to put the team first if you choose to save the workers on his loyalty mission (and have high enough charm skills).
    • Jack. By the end of the series, she's taken at least eleven levels. When you first meet her, she is a severely Broken Bird and a psycho who wants to kill everyone she meets because "every times someone that's not me dies, I figure my chances of survival go up a little". Shepard, particularly Paragon Shepard (and even more particularly if you romance her), starts to peel away her layers, gradually getting her to be more trusting and cooperative. In her loyalty mission, she finally comes to terms with what happened in her childhood, and starts to become a lot more of a team player, especially in the suicide mission, going so far as to respectfully refer to Shepard as "Commander" if chosen for the biotic shield role. By Mass Effect 3, she's toned down the wild look and become a Badass Teacher who is loved by her students and will do anything to protect them. She even has a swear jar, not that it helps much. According to her, she learned the value of teamwork on the suicide mission, and Shepard him/herself has taught her a lot about leadership.
  • Shepard can be played this way if you picked the Ruthless trait and/or imported a heavily Renegade save from the first or second game, then incline more towards Paragon choices in the second or third game.
  • Mass Effect 3:
    • Over the first two games, Turian Councilor Sparatus is an ass to Shepard and to humans in general. Come the third game, when it's been made clear that Shepard was utterly correct all along, he's the first one of the trio to provide Shepard aid in the form of vital intel, and is the only one of the three who doesn't start off as cold and dismissive toward Shep.
    • Udina, after being such a dismissive jerk in the previous game, is surprisingly supportive and polite toward Shepard... only to orchestrate an attempted Cerberus coup of the Citadel later on, resulting in his death at Shepard's hands. Though even then, he pulls the attempted coup because he feels that Cerberus are willing to help him save Earth's people where the Council apparently aren't.
    • Admiral Zaal'koris becomes a lot friendlier towards both Shepard and Tali in the third game after being a jerk towards them both in the second; if you played it right, Tali is now his main ally on the Admiralty Board, which goes a long way towards making people less obnoxious, especially since Tali and Shepard are now pretty much the only hope of getting out of a bad situation without most of the Migrant Fleet being destroyed in the process.
    • Aria can have a downplayed example during the Omega DLC if you choose to play Shepard as a Paragon consistently. Being the "queen" of the criminally-rampant Omega Station has taught her to be ruthless and dismissive of the factions that she has control over and that they are to be treated as mere chess pieces rather than people, and she has an ego to match. Consistently choosing the Paragon options in actions and dialogue for Shepard, combined with the presence of a Morality Chain in the form of her old turian lover Nyreen, causes Aria to gradually understand how their compassion and care spurs loyalty to them, something no amount of credits could possibly buy, as they all work together to retake control of the station from Cerberus. By the end, Aria's personality can shift to a Jerk with a Heart of Gold (which is about as much as can be plausibly hoped for someone in her position), most exemplified in what she does to General Petrovsky — she had been planning to choke him to death with her own hands, and normally the player must perform a Paragon interrupt to stop her, but if the player chose enough Paragon options beforehand, she spares him out of her own volition — and the different speeches she gives to Omega Station's residents afterwards (she will normally talk up the glory of Omega Station and by extension her own ego, ending it with "Don't fuck with Omega" as a Continuity Nod to the one law of Omega she mentioned back in the previous game of "Don't fuck with Aria"; in contrast a relatively softer Aria tempers her ego in the speech and talks about the people more, ending it with "We are Omega" to make a more contrasting Continuity Nod to another line Aria gave back in 2 of "I am Omega".)
    • The Reapers in the Extended Cut Synthesis ending. Since their mandate to protect organic life from synthetic life no longer applies because those boundaries don't really mean anything now, they start bringing the accumulated knowledge of the societies they've destroyed and helping with the reconstruction of all the worlds they've devastated, and are even shown putting a mass relay back together.
• In an interesting example, because it happens in Anachronic Order, Ocelot, over the course of the Metal Gear Solid series, goes from being a contemptible, toadying Combat Sadomasochist Torture Technician in Metal Gear Solid, to a sympathetic and worthy Anti-Villain in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, to a Necessarily Evil Utopia Justifies the Means Anti-Hero in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, to The Heart and inarguably a better person than Snake in Metal Gear Solid V.
• Mortal Kombat: Starting with the reboot, Johnny Cage undergoes Character Development that sees him graduate from a pompous Hollywood actor entering a life-or-death tournament just to give his career a boost to, in Mortal Kombat X, a Papa Wolf and A Father to His Men in the Special Forces, whose easygoing personality contrasts with his comparatively straight-laced no-nonsense ex-wife Sonya Blade. This comes to a head in Mortal Kombat 11, when the Time Merger brings Johnny face to face with his past self, whom he cannot stand.
• Naufragar: Crimson: Athena starts out very self-absorbed in her status as a church clergywoman, as shown when she rudely scolds Kyo for a misunderstanding she started when she tried to question him. She becomes more hostile towards Kyo when the latter impersonates Hyo to trick her into letting him out of prison. After Hyo kills her father, she becomes more empathetic towards the suffering of others, including Lance, who lost his own father figure.
• Pokémon:
  • Blue is a bratty, snotty Jerkass of a bully in Pokémon Red and Blue, who takes every opportunity to mock the player and rub his accomplishments in your face, but thanks to getting his butt handed to him by Red, a "Reason You Suck" Speech from his grandfather Professor Oak, and subsequent offscreen Character Development and maturing, he becomes less so by Gold, Silver, and Crystal, despite his arrogant streak still being there due to it being a fundamental part of his character. By the time you meet him in Pokémon Sun and Moon's post-game, he seems to be on much better terms with Red (though he does get a bit mad if you chose to battle Red instead of him).
  • The Rival, AKA Silver, from Pokémon Gold and Silver, as well as Crystal and the remakes, full stop. He is initially a cruel, harsh young man and an Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy in every sense of the word, but after many crushing defeats courtesy of the player and in one instance Lance, he eventually becomes friendlier towards the player and his own Pokémon — to the point where his Golbat evolves into a Crobat after reaching high happiness. This is upped even more in the remakes, where he takes several levels in it to the point that by the time he battles the player in the Indigo League, any antagonism towards the player in his speech is gone, and he reacts to losing with nothing but almost doting concern for his Pokemon and words of encouragement for the player, even going so far as to heal your party for you.
• Ratchet & Clank (2002): In his debut game Ratchet doesn't start out as a complete jerkass per say, rather he is more self absorbed and isn't interested in being a hero. The major reason he decides to help Clank initially is because he wants to see the rest of the galaxy outside of his home planet of Veldin and often sidetracks their mission to find Captain Qwark for his own self interest (such as helping out Skidd McMarxx so he can get a hoverboard). However his personality changes for the worse after Clank inadvertently almost gets them killed by a trap set by Captain Qwark, who is working for the game's Big Bad Chairman Drek, and for the second act Ratchet is more obsessed with getting revenge on Qwark then stopping Drek and starts bullying Clank, at one point telling him that he will sell him for scrap. By the games third act however, after seeing a planet destroyed because of his own obsession against Qwark, Ratchet finally realizes how important stopping Drek is, and apologizes to Clank before the two set out to stop Drek once and for all. By the end of the game their experience together turns the two into life long friends and by the sequels Ratchet has become a far more heroic and selfless hero.
• The Boss in the Saints Row series goes from merely taking part in criminal activities to a borderline sociopath whose possibly only saving grace is caring about the other Saints. Saints Row: The Third has the gang become Lighter and Softer, and the Saints and Boss really only fight other gangs, corrupt police, and soldiers who place the city under martial law. Boss also becomes a lot more caring throughout the game, and by Saints Row IV, s/he begins as utterly heroic and only gets better from there, to the point where s/he would actually make an off-kilter but still fine President.
• Morte takes off a few of her rougher edges over the course of Sands of Destruction. While she's quite selfish and interested in nothing but the destruction of the world at the start, by the end she's capable of empathy, stating that if any of her teammates have a problem, it's her problem, too, and she will help solve it with just as much gusto as she puts into solving her own issues. She even recants her path of destruction, vowing to rebuild the world instead, and genuinely falls for Kyrie, instead of just seeing him as a Person of Mass Destruction she could use for her own ends. She is still very impulsive and prone to acting without thinking, and still has a tough demeanor on the outside, but it's clear that a softer heart has grown under there.
• Josephine in A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) is a mild example. Unlike in the books and the film, she doesn't offer the Baudelaires to Count Olaf to save herself from being killed by him and she's a bit more honest about eating less than an hour before setting out on Lake Lachrymose.
• Super Robot Wars X:
  • Ange's interactions with Lelouch and Wataru play a role in making her character more benevolent and reasonable in this game. So much that when she finds Sylvia walking on her own, she offers her a hand to restore order to Misurugi and establish Cafe Ange in her old home.
  • Hopes starts off with rather kind of Jerkass, Smug Snake, and It's All About Me attitudes, but staying with the protagonist and X-Cross makes him become softer and nicer.
• Tales Series:
  • In Tales of Destiny, Leon Magnus is a huge Jerkass Woobie who uses shock tiaras on his teammates, snarks about everything, and rages at any kind behaviour shown towards him. He ends up betraying the party and dying, though for sympathetic reasons. He returns in the sequel as mysterious swordsman Judas, and he's matured into a quieter snarker clearly devoted to the party (especially Kyle, his nephew), going so far as to apologize to a character for not telling her that her brother would die and praying that his new friends will stay safe when he's erased from existence and can't look after them anymore. The remake of the first game makes this a case of Characterization Marches On, as he's retconned into a much nicer character all-around who acts like a jerk as his defense mechanism.
  • Tales of the Abyss:
    • This is a big part of Luke's character arc. He starts out as a certified Jerkass, selfish, irresponsible, disrespectful, and childish. One hefty Wham Episode and an Important Haircut later, he resolves to change for the better. He starts thinking for himself, respecting his comrades, and actively trying to win back their trust to the point where he's willing to pull a Heroic Sacrifice to make up for his misdeeds. That said, Luke was always kind, he just didn't know how to express it due to being actually seven as well as massively sheltered and spoiled due to them believing that he just has amnesia from the trauma of his kidnapping.
    • Jade Curtiss is a subtle take on this. Even Jade doesn't really notice until it's pointed out by another character that he's become a better person. When he does, he attributes his change to Luke's own development and influence.
    • Guy Cecil is this as well, though in backstory, as he originally was a Revenge-obsessed jerk underneath his facade. But caring for Luke brought out his inherent kindness and made his mask genuine.
• Happens before the game in Tears to Tiara 2. Hamil was a very cold and distant child. He didn't think twice about resorting to scorched earth tactics or destroying his own capital city in order to win a battle simulation, and he didn't understand why his father found this sad. In the seven years after Hasdrubal's death, having had to watch the Canaanites suffer under the rule of The Empire, he learned why. He now does his absolute best to protect everything and everyone. He will still use those tactics, but only if there is absolutely no other choice.
• Umineko: When They Cry: Battler is rather insensitive to others at first. He improves as he continues and discovers the truth.
• The Walking Dead:
  • Compared to Season 3, having AJ back in Season 4 results in Clementine acting more like her old self. Of course, as noted above, the player can still pick abrasive and/or aggressive dialogue options.
  • After Episode 2 of A New Frontier, Conrad finally cools down and returns to his usual nice demeanor. In fact, after Badger's death, he opts to leave Richmond to find some composure.
• The main character of The World Ends with You, Neku Sakuraba, starts out as a selfish, anti-social Jerkass who actively hates having to interact with other people. He tries to block people out by wearing headphones, and his rude attitude causes issues early on since the Reapers' Game requires cooperation with a partner. He slowly gets better over the course of the game thanks to influence from his partners, especially Shiki, to the point where he's willing to help Shiki out with her own personal problems. During Week 2, Neku slowly comes to understand that most other Players are fighting for reasons just as valid as his own, and becomes much more openly friendly and heroic. As it turns out, Neku's Character Development ends up derailing the Big Bad's entire plan. The whole point of the current Reaper’s Game was due to Joshua and Kitaniji making a wager over whether or not Shibuya and its people deserve to continue existing, with Neku, a jerk who had no regard for anyone but himself, essentially as the representative of what Joshua hates about the city. If even a selfish loner like Neku can change for the better, then perhaps Shibuya isn’t so lost after all.

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