I still don’t get why they put them in games
Being a psychopathic murder machine is way too specific of a playstyle to be in every rpg with multiple action choices
I think, it’s a combination of things.
To some degree, it may make the player choice seem broader, as you can go full hero or full villain. In some sense, you can also go into the middle by kicking a puppy at one point and then helping an elderly lady at another.
But then, it’s also just hard to portray nuance. If the options are “pet kitty” and “punch kitty”, you know what’s what. But if it says “pet kitty” and “ignore kitty”, it becomes a lot less clear. Maybe the kitty does not want to get pet by a random stranger. You probably won’t be able to gauge its reaction from the character model to know what’s the right choice.
But you also won’t know what “pet kitty” really means. Will your character be gentle and back off, if the kitty does not appreciate the gesture? Or will they stroke that kitty until it bites them?
I just replayed GTA V after the update and I forgot how bad I feel on the torture mission. But then I remembered what the guy looked like and only had to deal with two cutscenes worth. Also got a great line of dialogue if you shout the target early.
“What the fuck, Michael!?”
“It just felt like that was the guy.”
“How do you know.”
“I had a hunch. It’ll check out.”
All I can see is “Is he trying to pull the trigger with his thumb?!”
AI-generated shit.
I tried to go evil in Baldur’s Gate 3 several times now. Not a chance.
My favorite part about my Dark Urge playthrough is that they often phrase the option as something like, “think about hurting the cat,” and that cat was just a dick to me so while I’d never actually hurt the cat, I can certainly think- oops, I just fucking tortured and murdered that cat.