(Sorry, jumping in on your discussion.) I think the most important difference lies not in whether it it is important but that it feels like it's important. If the game gives you a choice and says 'Well, it doesn't actually matter.' it might not be an issue. If a game gives you a choice and says 'Nope, this is the wrong choice, we'll just pick the right one for you or just throw you into an eternal loop until you pick the correct choice yourself.' it probably will be.Ekkoberry wrote:I'd say choices that characterize the player in game by nature often have an impact on the story, even if it doesn't change much more than a line or two of reactionary dialogue. Personally I'd like a nod to it within the narrative itself, not just something like ("Do you like tea or coffee more?") (choice is made and story continues on unrelated) but if I feel in the moment it will have an effect, that my choice matters, then sure!pelmeniki wrote:I do have to ask, would you still feel that way in a game with a faceless MC where some of the choices are given to have no effect on the story, and instead exist to characterize MC?Ekkoberry wrote:Arbitrary/Padding choices I'm not given a reason to care about/I know won't affect anything in the story I feel are better left out, even if that means a game only has a few choices in the entire story. Choices are /there/ to be meaningful, otherwise why have a choice in the first place?
I do agree with you otherwise, I just needed this clarified. Thank you for sharing!
I guess like most things, it's down to how it's pulled off. Sleepy brought up some good points.
I don't know if you're familiar with the recently released Resident Evil 7, I'm just mentioning a currently mainstream game. There are plenty of other games that have similar flawed 'interactive' choices.
In this game there's pretty much just one interactive choice: which girl do you save? That decision will decide whether you get the good or the bad end, and a few scenes. However, the effects of the choice are disappointing to a degree that the game might've been better off without it and instead allow some other factor to decide whether you get that good end.
If you choose your girlfriend, you get the good end and because it's the end they want you to follow you won't feel disappointed.
However, if you choose the other girl she'll get killed a minute after and the girlfriend gets shoehorned in anyway to make sure the same level happens. And that feels lazy, it's just a few slightly different scenes with re-used assets but in the end the exact same game in between. The problem here is that it should have been different. This is not 'coffee or tea' like mentioned before, it's something that should actually have effect and be important. And I can imagine ways that it could've worked with minimal changes, like making Zoe be the one travelling through the ship (just a change of voice and a more detached perspective of the events that happened). But they didn't and instead made a rather insignificant and therefore disappointing interactive section to an otherwise enjoyable lineair-ish game.
If you choose your girlfriend, you get the good end and because it's the end they want you to follow you won't feel disappointed.
However, if you choose the other girl she'll get killed a minute after and the girlfriend gets shoehorned in anyway to make sure the same level happens. And that feels lazy, it's just a few slightly different scenes with re-used assets but in the end the exact same game in between. The problem here is that it should have been different. This is not 'coffee or tea' like mentioned before, it's something that should actually have effect and be important. And I can imagine ways that it could've worked with minimal changes, like making Zoe be the one travelling through the ship (just a change of voice and a more detached perspective of the events that happened). But they didn't and instead made a rather insignificant and therefore disappointing interactive section to an otherwise enjoyable lineair-ish game.
