I haven't been playing videogames as long as some of you losers (<3 you though). However, I have been playing for about ten years, and I tend to notice the little trends. For example, first person shooters have been around for a while, but since games like Halo:CE and Halo2, first person shooters have really gone wide scale. But that's not the trend I want to talk about. I'd like to talk about our fascination with "choices" in-game.
This concept has confused me for a long time now. The whole choices wave swept me up when I first played Knights of the Old Republic. It was great getting to decide whether you're a constructive person who plays by the rules, or an asshole who steals and cheats. Either way, you played how you want. Then, games such as Oblivion, Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and many other "nextgen" games have really been selling themselves based on the choices aspect. They advertise themselves as games of choice, and that's all fine and dandy, but aren't most games based on choice to begin with?
I'm not trying to raise a shitstorm here, because I do realize some games are extremely linear, but it seems like choice should be something included in games to begin with, not something that is a selling point because most games don't do it. However, I'm not bitching because I am glad more games are taking themselves in this direction, and many of the games that have attempted to add choice to games have been fantastic games.
What I'm thinking is, wouldn't it be fantastic if rather than having certain games market themselves based on choice (such as KOTOR, Mass Effect, etc), if the gaming medium advanced to where choice is a standard for all games. Obviously I'm not the first one to think something like this, but to me interactive media without choice is kind of weird.
I do, however, understand that there are many games already out there that don't market themselves as choice-games, but do include it as a minor or even major part of the gaming mechanics. In fact, one could argue that every game employs choice to some extent (and they'd be right).
Thoughts?
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There's got to be different endings to make it seem worthwhile otherwise replayability might get stale.
Personally, I shy away from these heavy choice games like Fable or the Elder Scrolls series, because to me it does feel like the different paths possible can, in a way, break the experience of the full package. I'd often much rather play a game that has a clear start and finish to get the full experience, rather than one that requires multiple playthroughs to feel completed.
That said, while I haven't played many games that advertise themselves around the ability to choose your own path, I do have a copy of Mass Effect on the shelf which is yet to be played. I got it to see if I could break into this sub-genre, so for when I get around to playing the game, heres hoping I enjoy it!
Mass Effect is a great game, and the good thing about Mass Effect is it doesn't really matter how you play it, you end up in the same place, and then you have a few different ways you can end it.
I played a bit of Oblivion but never got into it because all the choices were too daunting. That said, I'm having a blast with Fallout 3.
I can see the appeal, for some people I guess it makes it more immersive and they feel more like that character but I prefer games just letting the story unfold more like a book or movie with minimal input from me.