![]() One thing that should be done at the very least is for writers and developers to recognize the difference between a vigilante and a terrorist. Not everyone who seeks revenge will target anyone who steps on their toe in a Walmart, but making a lot of stories and games with this intention leads to annoying and boring cliches. Some hypothesize that revenge can lead to blood knight habits of solving many problems with violence, but it depends on the character's psyche, the setting, and the environment. Mindless destruction of anything in the way is terrorism. In most circumstances, revenge is settling a debt that needs to be paid to one person or entity. Freakin' 'Hamlet' is beloved because the desire for revenge destroyed Hamlet, his family, Ophelia, and the kingdom of Denmark. 'Mass Effect' had a crapload of revenge subplots: some personal ala hacking and corrupting data and others acts of contained terrorism. Plus, he's a glass cannon like Sonic and company no one in that universe is the poster child for power fantasy without hours of hunting for powerful gems. Still, he saved Rouge when he could have left her to die, and he immediately changes his ways when he realizes the memory he obsessed about had a distorted message. 'Sonic Adventure 2' had Shadow when he was still cool he planned to destroy the world by activating a fuck-you laser, but his methods involved theft and (unintentional) deception, not direct collateral damage. 'Silent Hill Downpour' played around with the idea of revenge to reveal Murphy's past and for the wackiness of the town to make him face the consequences for his destructive thoughts and actions. Hell, despite the whining on both ends, 'Naruto' at least succeeded at showing how naive Naruto is in wanting to save Sasuke, who is also blatantly shown to be batshit insane along with his "restore family honor" justification. It can mean it's just a subplot that doesn't overshadow the main story, or if it's the central plot sometimes a moral discussion or questioning of motives can keep things reasonable. Setting aside debates on the value of human lives, I always found personal revenge stories between characters or within a person to be more interesting. Any mathematician would tell you one side of the equation is horribly off. ![]() A dead niece and two missing family members should not be avenged by a half-demolished city of millions. But in the case of Watch Dogs, Aiden should be executed, revived, and executed millions of times to counteract the over-the-top manner of "restoring balance". Revenge should ideally be about restoring balance that was disturbed. It reminds me of when I learned about the ancient Germanic tribe ideas of family blood feuds in an endless party ending in a growing pile of decaying corpses in the British Isles. Revenge, huh? The type you've been describing as boring is by far the most blatant and shallow example of an eye for an eye. ![]()
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