Background Pony #6A2E
"[@Warcraft278":](/1056697#comment_4944088
)
To be fair, Replicated Man is a special situation. Doctor Zimmer is also kind of a dick, as well as the head of the SRB which is basically responsible for most of the Institute's less than pleasant doings. I don't feel bad about helping Harkness in that one.
The Karma system was kind of silly. It would make sense in situations where there is a clear "good" and "bad" choice (like running around killing a bunch of travelers vs. donating blood to the less fortunate), but a lot of time you got karma based on some weird and often narrow-viewed choices. Killing the ghouls that attack Tenpenny Tower gets you negative karma (and a less-than-happy review from Three Dog) even though they were obviously planning to murder everyone in that building. One didn't have to resolve the situation "peacefully" to see that the ghouls were one nasty comment away from going back to plan A. What's worse is the bastards kill off Daring Dashwood, and he actually liked the idea of having them there!
I liked New Vegas' take a little better, because it defines "karma" more about the lines of how each faction views you instead of some overarching morality system.
To be fair, Replicated Man is a special situation. Doctor Zimmer is also kind of a dick, as well as the head of the SRB which is basically responsible for most of the Institute's less than pleasant doings. I don't feel bad about helping Harkness in that one.
The Karma system was kind of silly. It would make sense in situations where there is a clear "good" and "bad" choice (like running around killing a bunch of travelers vs. donating blood to the less fortunate), but a lot of time you got karma based on some weird and often narrow-viewed choices. Killing the ghouls that attack Tenpenny Tower gets you negative karma (and a less-than-happy review from Three Dog) even though they were obviously planning to murder everyone in that building. One didn't have to resolve the situation "peacefully" to see that the ghouls were one nasty comment away from going back to plan A. What's worse is the bastards kill off Daring Dashwood, and he actually liked the idea of having them there!
I liked New Vegas' take a little better, because it defines "karma" more about the lines of how each faction views you instead of some overarching morality system.