Very nicely written. I agree, having a choice given to you where you don't know what either outcome may be is much more interesting than the two dimensional choices in Bioshock.
Tubatic, Im not saying that Fire and Ice is somehow less impresive/important The Road Not Taken. That's like trying to choose you're children....and your children are classic American poems!
Tubatic, Im not saying that Fire and Ice is somehow less impresive/important The Road Not Taken. That's like trying to choose you're children....and your children are classic American poems!
Oh man, i was thinking about making a blog about this, but youve done it better than i wouldve. I cannot agree more, this is how choice should be in a game. More so than the 'should i kill him, or not?' choices, i was really impressed with the
spoilers!
choices of which friend/employer to kill. It actually took some thought of which one of Dwayne or Playboy to kill, and i didnt want to choose either. Francis vs Derrick was easier, since i hated Francis, the snivelling little prick, but still i had to think about it.
I guess its a testament to how well written, acted, and fleshed out the characters are.
spoilers!
choices of which friend/employer to kill. It actually took some thought of which one of Dwayne or Playboy to kill, and i didnt want to choose either. Francis vs Derrick was easier, since i hated Francis, the snivelling little prick, but still i had to think about it.
I guess its a testament to how well written, acted, and fleshed out the characters are.
Ajaxender:
Totally agree with you about how hard it wa sto choose between Dwayne and Playboy, and how easy it was to choose between Francis and Derrick.
Thanks for posting on my blog entry!
Totally agree with you about how hard it wa sto choose between Dwayne and Playboy, and how easy it was to choose between Francis and Derrick.
Thanks for posting on my blog entry!
I agree that I like not being able to see the dichotomy of:
Choice A = Good Path. Choice B = Bad Path.
But at the same time, it doesn't seem like the choices I'm making in GTAIV are doing anything at all, other than which annoying "friend" is calling and complaining to me. I've only just unlocked the last island so maybe I'm not far enough to see the repercussions of my choices, but thus far I haven't seen the drug dealer I spared on the roof, or any consequence for blasting peeps in some of the other choices.
Again, maybe I just haven't reached that point, but I think a balance needs to be struck in the realm of virtual choice.
Either way, potent ideas.
Choice A = Good Path. Choice B = Bad Path.
But at the same time, it doesn't seem like the choices I'm making in GTAIV are doing anything at all, other than which annoying "friend" is calling and complaining to me. I've only just unlocked the last island so maybe I'm not far enough to see the repercussions of my choices, but thus far I haven't seen the drug dealer I spared on the roof, or any consequence for blasting peeps in some of the other choices.
Again, maybe I just haven't reached that point, but I think a balance needs to be struck in the realm of virtual choice.
Either way, potent ideas.
ShadeWithin:
I think that not seeing the results of your decisions points to the nature of choice as well! You may never actively see the consequences of your actions, but it’s equally important that you made them AND that you justified those decisions(as opposed to choosing from cookie cutter Good and Evil choices in games).
As for the Drug dealer on the roof, I spared him as well. The moment that was really tragic(and the reason that encounter sticks out when I think about the game) is the call to Francis Mcreary afterwards. He thanks Nico for cleaning up the "mess on the streets" and then(and here's the kicker) he tells Nico that the drug dealer was infamous for announcing that he would renounce his ways, and how the criminal had "renounced his ways" so many times before that a judge could never stick the guy in prison. You spared the drug dealer, as I did. So congratulations to us. We both fell for it.
That moment -effectively a slap in the face for you're good intentions- doesn't truly exist in any other game out there. GTA IV is the game that made choices potent; to allow the player to make decisions that have make us have an alchemical response to virtual situations
I think that not seeing the results of your decisions points to the nature of choice as well! You may never actively see the consequences of your actions, but it’s equally important that you made them AND that you justified those decisions(as opposed to choosing from cookie cutter Good and Evil choices in games).
As for the Drug dealer on the roof, I spared him as well. The moment that was really tragic(and the reason that encounter sticks out when I think about the game) is the call to Francis Mcreary afterwards. He thanks Nico for cleaning up the "mess on the streets" and then(and here's the kicker) he tells Nico that the drug dealer was infamous for announcing that he would renounce his ways, and how the criminal had "renounced his ways" so many times before that a judge could never stick the guy in prison. You spared the drug dealer, as I did. So congratulations to us. We both fell for it.
That moment -effectively a slap in the face for you're good intentions- doesn't truly exist in any other game out there. GTA IV is the game that made choices potent; to allow the player to make decisions that have make us have an alchemical response to virtual situations
Hmmm... for some reason I don't remember that phone call to Francis afterwards, I think I would have been really struck by that. It must have been one of those times where I was on the phone driving and smashed in to a pole, sending me through the windshield. Either that or I got a varied bit of dialogue, and it was less telling about the nature of my choice. And about GTA having more potent choices, I agree for the most part, but I think even some of those cookie cutter choices, like Mass Effect's "Save or Destroy the giant Killer alien species" make you have a response because of the way that the other characters react and, especially in that situation, the ambiguity of what actually happens to the species.
ShadeWithin:
You do bring up the choice about the monster alien speices, which I agree was the one really excellent choice in Mass Effect. However, I still think that it still leans on the side of being "an obvious choice". The monster basically tells you you we're right to murder all of her forcibly spawned children, and how SHE feels her species need to contol itself and be at peace.
If you kill it, it basically shows Shepard being a jerk and murdering the creature, whereas the letting the creature go plays the game's inspiration music.
It's still a choice that lays its cards on the table for the player to see, and its the kind of choices that have charectterized Bioware's games since Baulder's Gate.
You do bring up the choice about the monster alien speices, which I agree was the one really excellent choice in Mass Effect. However, I still think that it still leans on the side of being "an obvious choice". The monster basically tells you you we're right to murder all of her forcibly spawned children, and how SHE feels her species need to contol itself and be at peace.
If you kill it, it basically shows Shepard being a jerk and murdering the creature, whereas the letting the creature go plays the game's inspiration music.
It's still a choice that lays its cards on the table for the player to see, and its the kind of choices that have charectterized Bioware's games since Baulder's Gate.

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