Games that force you to choose
In a lot of games there are moments where you can choose between certain options, often this is something that will have an impact on the world you´re playing in but usually the options you have are so diverse that there is a good chance that you´ll like one of the options. But what if they don´t give you a choice or the choices you have aren´t the ones you want to make? What do you do? I would like to add that there will be spoilers from Mass Effect trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 so if you´re not familiar with those games then you might not want to continue reading!
Some developers like to brag about the choices you have in their game, you have so much freedom and you can do so many things until you reach a moment in the game where you don´t have a real choice and have to choose between two outcomes and you don´t like any of them. For example in Mass Effect you have to choose to either leave Kaiden or Ashley behind, your first two team mates and there is no way to save them both. I hate the part where there is no way to save them both, you should have an outcome that would allow this because I miss one or the other in the other games and that sucks that you´d have to play the first game again and then save the other to see what kind of impact that has in the other games.
So developers lie to you? Not exactly, most of the game does exist out of choices and there is usually at least one choice that is quite acceptable. The problem is when it´s not, when you have to make a choice and that will lead to an outcome you´re not happy with, this isn´t always forced but sometimes does feel like it. When Wrex questions Shepard´s decision in the first Mass Effect game you have a choice to reason with him or shoot him, eventhough the situation is forced on you there is still a chance to solve it peacefully and to be honest Wrex is an awesome character you don´t want to lose! Unfortunately there isn´t always a way out, as I mentioned earlier with the Kaiden and Ashley choice in Mass Effect.
Your actions change the game? Exactly, which is why you don´t want to make a choice just like that. When I tried to recruit Loghain into the Grey Wardens in Dragon Age: Origins I lost Alistair and that sucks, but if you want the achievement/trophy for having all possible characters in your group then you´ll have to do it and if Alistair kills Loghain then his daughter Anora doesn´t want to marry him. So once again you have to be careful with your choice, one that is once again forced on you. The same problem you´l face in Dragon Age 2 where you have to decide what you want to do with Anders, without Sebastian in your team you can actually forgive him and try to make things right (not that this is really possible) but with Sebastian in your team there is no way that he´ll forgive Anders and he wants him dead! Once again you have to make a decision. One that might have some consequences in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
I like having a choice, if a situation is forced on me then I like to have an outcome that I can live with and not some bullshit like Mass Effect 3 where every ending felt almost the same. I get it that there isn´t always a way out, but it´s nice that you´re at least given a choice in the matter that feels like you´re actually doing something good or that you´re actually changing something and not just killing off someone and move on. Which is why I wish games wouldn´t force you to make a choice but keep things more optional, that you could go around certain situations to keep things the way you like it instead of choosing between a couple of choices that don´t make you happy and give you the feeling that it ruins your game.
Some developers like to brag about the choices you have in their game, you have so much freedom and you can do so many things until you reach a moment in the game where you don´t have a real choice and have to choose between two outcomes and you don´t like any of them. For example in Mass Effect you have to choose to either leave Kaiden or Ashley behind, your first two team mates and there is no way to save them both. I hate the part where there is no way to save them both, you should have an outcome that would allow this because I miss one or the other in the other games and that sucks that you´d have to play the first game again and then save the other to see what kind of impact that has in the other games.
So developers lie to you? Not exactly, most of the game does exist out of choices and there is usually at least one choice that is quite acceptable. The problem is when it´s not, when you have to make a choice and that will lead to an outcome you´re not happy with, this isn´t always forced but sometimes does feel like it. When Wrex questions Shepard´s decision in the first Mass Effect game you have a choice to reason with him or shoot him, eventhough the situation is forced on you there is still a chance to solve it peacefully and to be honest Wrex is an awesome character you don´t want to lose! Unfortunately there isn´t always a way out, as I mentioned earlier with the Kaiden and Ashley choice in Mass Effect.
Your actions change the game? Exactly, which is why you don´t want to make a choice just like that. When I tried to recruit Loghain into the Grey Wardens in Dragon Age: Origins I lost Alistair and that sucks, but if you want the achievement/trophy for having all possible characters in your group then you´ll have to do it and if Alistair kills Loghain then his daughter Anora doesn´t want to marry him. So once again you have to be careful with your choice, one that is once again forced on you. The same problem you´l face in Dragon Age 2 where you have to decide what you want to do with Anders, without Sebastian in your team you can actually forgive him and try to make things right (not that this is really possible) but with Sebastian in your team there is no way that he´ll forgive Anders and he wants him dead! Once again you have to make a decision. One that might have some consequences in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
I like having a choice, if a situation is forced on me then I like to have an outcome that I can live with and not some bullshit like Mass Effect 3 where every ending felt almost the same. I get it that there isn´t always a way out, but it´s nice that you´re at least given a choice in the matter that feels like you´re actually doing something good or that you´re actually changing something and not just killing off someone and move on. Which is why I wish games wouldn´t force you to make a choice but keep things more optional, that you could go around certain situations to keep things the way you like it instead of choosing between a couple of choices that don´t make you happy and give you the feeling that it ruins your game.
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