Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Am I good or evil?





I recently borrowed a copy of this game from a friend (thank you illustrious Monkey) which I am very excited about. I've been wanting to play this for quite some time - but since I didn't have nor did/do I ever plan to purchase a Hex-box, I wasn't holding out too much hope that I would ever get to. (I won't rant on the Hex-box here - that's another post another time - just way too many reasons for my distaste for said system.) At any rate - I put much thought into how I was going to play this game as the four discs were loading onto trusty Space Ghost (for those of you that don't know - that is the name of my newly rebuilt system - again, long story - 'nother time). You see - normally I just want to get the most game completion possible - which forces me to make certain decisions when faced with "this or that" choices in games (see Final Fantasies and the like) whether that's the choice I really WANT to make or not. Ultimately I decided to play this game ENTIRELY as though it was me making the choices. I figure this is a pretty neat way to see if I am (by the standards of this particular interpretation of morai) good or evil.


I didn't get very far last night because it was late, I was tired, and then a transformer blew on our block and we lost power for the better portion of the evening - but I'll give you my beginnings and try to write along so that you can see whether I am good or evil (though I'm sure most of you have likely already made your determinations about that:). At any rate - you start off with the introductory quests in your little village. Your sister's birthday is "today" and you don't have a present nor do you have any money to buy said present. That's alright - your dad tells you that he'll give you cash for every good deed you do within the town. So I set off to find my "good deeds". You can tell who you can "interact" with because they will glow green.


First green glower I see is a little girl that has lost her bear. I figure can't be that hard to find a bear (objects you can interact with glow blue so I figure I'm looking for a blue glowing bear) but after wandering around the village for quite some time I've seen no sign of a bear of any sort so I just start looking for other green people. Second green person I find is some dude making out with some chick behind the houses. I wander over and he says "don't tell my wife" and offers me a bribe. This one is fairly easy for me - of course I'm going to tell your wife you ass, in fact where is she? I'm on my way there now. I tell her that her idiot is over behind that house with some ho and behold, my first good points. Because I now have no idea what to do I follow the lady back to her husband to see if they turn green again - which they don't - but as his wife is tearing him apart the idiot makes some negative comment toward me and so I punch him in the crotch (it's the crotch not by choice though I probably would have chosen that too - but because that's how tall you are). The score now goes 1 good and 1 evil. Now you may ask "why" I punched the cheater in the crotch - or you may not anyone who knows me knows I would TOTALLY do that. My only issue is the evil point. I don't think punching cheaters in the crotch is evil - I think it is something that must be done. Either way - I am now the yin-yang of good and evil. These two aren't doing anything of benefit to me at this point so I wander off again on the quest to find the bear. I don't find the bear - what I do find is a bully kid who is picking on another little kid. I talk to the bully kid and he tells me that the little kid is hiding a bear that the bully kid wants to destroy. Now I know where the bear is but when I talk to the little kid he refuses to give me the bear until I do something about the bully. Now - first I ponder on this - hitting the cheater was wrong so shouldn't hitting the bully be wrong? I mean they're both BAD people who did something wrong. Then I remember I'm playing this game as if I was me - so I proceed to beat the snot out of the bully who runs away crying for his mommy like the little bitch he is. But wait.... what's that? I get a good point! Hmm... now I'm confused but decidedly moving back toward the good side as I claim the bear from the boy and head back in the direction of the girl to whom I must return it. On my way I notice another large man running in my direction - turns out he is the village idiot - I mean officer who has heard that I have been striking people in public for no reason (I'm assuming he means the cheater) and tells me that will not be tolerated and if I was a man instead of a child I'd be properly punished for it (along with a whole string of other crap that I tune out of in the game much the way I would tune out of it in reality - I can't help it - if I hear the word "should" my brain just shuts down). Now after standing there and listening for awhile I punch the "officer" in the crotch and go on my way (yes, I realize that in reality I cannot punch cops in the crotch without going to jail but believe me when I say I'm always THINKING they deserve to be punched in the crotch) - hello evil point number two and we are now back to an even spread. I find the girl, return the bear, good point - and I'm back on the light path for a moment. I know I have one more task to find to be able to afford my sister's gift so I set out in search of the last green. Eventually another man comes hauling ass in my direction - and I get ready for some crotch punching if necessary. Turns out dude has to pee really bad and just wants me to watch his boxes for him so no one steals them while he's gone. I figure that's the easiest good point so far so I stand between the boxes and wait for the guy to relieve himself. As I'm waiting a snot nosed little brat waddles up and informs me that I can go into his barns and bust up his barrels to steal the stuff inside while he's gone. Well - I KNOW that's wrong - plus, I'm not really one for the thieving in reality so I just ignore the kid and stand my ground. When I don't go to bust and steal the snot begins to talk smack. After ignoring him for awhile and wondering when this idiot is going to get done with whatever number he's on at this point - I finally break and punch the snot right in his smart little mouth. Needles to say there comes an evil point and I'm back to the baseline of 50/50. Oh well - so I don't really know anything at this point - it's still been an incredibly interesting process. I do have the distinct feeling I'm going to end up being evil.

More as it happens!