There is a large focus on choice in the videogames of today.
In games like Infamous and Fallout, for example, players are tasked with choosing between a good or evil path. It is an interesting mechanic that, unfortunately, leads to mixed results.
Sure, choosing between two paths makes the game more interesting and varied, but aside from a sometimes striking visual transformation of the main character and some new mission goals, the game’s overall sequence of events pretty much stays the same.
Back in 1992, though, classic adventure game Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis offered players an in-game choice that was truly revolutionary for the time. It was an innovative addition that dramatically changed the way the rest of the game played, and challenged players to view traditional videogame narrative in a whole new way.
The Set-Up
The late ‘80s and early ‘90s were easily the golden age of graphic adventure games. Between the glorious releases from Sierra and LucasArts alone, PC gamers everywhere were treated to a constant barrage of absolutely classic titles.
One of the most classic of these releases was LucasArts’ Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, an original adventure for the iconic archaeologist that was not only an exquisite adventure game, it could have easily been turned into a movie and felt like the perfect follow-up to Indy’s latest cinematic release (at the time), Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
In the game, you play as Indiana Jones, successful college professor and world-class adventurer.
After a brilliant opening sequence that finds Indiana Jones literally falling into clue after clue to locate a mysterious statue, Indy meets with a man named Mr. Smith on the campus of Barnett College.
Using a small key, Mr. Smith opens the statue and removes a small bead.
With no warning, Mr. Smith pulls a gun on Indy and steals both artifacts.
Learning his true identity is that of Third Reich agent Klaus Kerner, Indiana Jones begins his pursuit of the dangerous thief.
His tracking mission leads him to a woman named Sophia Hapgood, a former archaeologist turned psychic who is an expert on the lost city of Atlantis.
After her awkward/sexy meeting with Indiana, Sophia learns that her office has been ransacked by Kerner. You see, Kerner and the Third Reich are searching for ancient Atlantean artifacts, including a necklace worn by Sophia (one that luckily was not taken since it always lives around her neck).
Using her psychic powers and mystical connection to Atlantis, Sophia learns that a nasty Nazi scientist named Dr. Hans Ubermann is searching for the ruins of Atlantis to find an ancient power to use in warfare.
With Indy’s help, the two set off on a world-hopping journey to meet up with the Nazis and put a stop to their nefarious plan.
After traveling to many countries on many continents, Sophia and Indy eventually learn that the location of Atlantis can be found in a book in Barnett College, the same college Indy has taught at for years!
It is here in Barnett College when this week’s Memory Card moment occurs.
The Moment
At Barnett College, Indy separates from Sophia and heads into the university’s massive library to locate the book containing the information he is looking for.
After solving a series of puzzles using such seemingly random items as chewing gun and a lump of coal (I love adventure games!), Indiana finds the book he is searching for: "The Lost Dialogue of Plato".
With the book in hand, Indiana Jones heads back to his office to meet up with Sophia.
There, the two look through the book, trying their hardest to decipher the secrets that lie within.
After flipping through some specially marked pages, Sophia and Indy find the information they need.
Atlantis, it seems, is not in the Atlantic Ocean as so many people had guessed. It is actually 300 miles off the coast of Greece in the Mediterranean. And to locate the legendary underwater city, three stone discs must be found.
Before having time to celebrate this newly acquired info, Sophia steps back. She announces that she has a psychic prediction for Indy.
She tells Indiana that she will not be able to go with him to Atlantis.
At this point, the game stops and three dialogue choices appear on-screen.
This doesn’t seem strange, since dialogue selections appear in all the conversations throughout the entirety of Fate of Atlantis.
But the choice the player makes at this point is of vast importance.
After revealing her psychic prediction is that she will not be accompanying Indy to Atlantis, these three specific choices in dialogue appear:
-You’re right, I better think this through alone. -I’d rather tackle this together with you. -I’d rather go into action by myself.
Depending on what you choose, the entire rest of the game completely changes.
By selecting the first choice, players are unknowingly choosing to take the Wits Path; the second choice leads to the Team Path; and the last selection becomes the Fists Path.
After making (and cleverly confirming) his choice, the game moves forward based on whatever path the player (and, in turn, Indy) chooses.
If Indy selects the Wits Path, he continues on his adventure all by himself, with the game putting a huge focus on difficult puzzles. If the Team Path is selected, Sophia accompanies Indy and the game uses both characters for its central gameplay (i.e. switching back and forth). And, finally, the Fists path puts a heavy focus on the game’s fighting mechanic (and less focus on puzzles), forcing Indy to get into many action-based fights as he makes his way to find the stone discs.
All three paths are completely different and entirely change the way the game is played.
Although the same overall locations are visited in all three paths, the things that happen along the way are entirely unique. New items and puzzles appear in all three paths; some characters will show up in one path, while not appearing in another; even some of the more detailed locations you visit are different.
With his next destination being Monte Carlo and Algiers, Indy (or Indy and Sophia!) heads off to these locations to find the stone discs.
Here, the effect of the choice he made back in Barnett College comes into play. Had he picked the Wits Path, Indy is faced with many complicated puzzles that most fans of adventure games would be familiar with (using and combining a wide variety of items to move forward, etc.).
If he chose the Team Path, both Indy and Sophia must tag team their way through many different scenarios to find the stones they are searching for.
With Fists, all of these puzzles and characters are tossed aside, as Indy engages in a (slightly lacking) fighting mechanic, turning the game into much more of an action title, rather than a point-and click adventure.
His choice playing out before him, Indy eventually finds all three stone discs and makes his way to the entrance to Atlantis.
It is here when all three paths converge, the story seamlessly continuing forward with the same events and puzzles regardless of the path that was selected earlier.
With the mysterious ruins of Atlantis before him, Indiana Jones sets forward to rescue Sophia and put a stop to the Nazis’ evil plan.
You can watch Indiana Jones make his fateful choice right here:
The Impact
Okay, I just have to get something out of my system really quick:
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I LOVE INDIANA JONES AND THE FATE OF ATLANTIS SO MUCH!
There. I feel so much better now.
But, seriously, the game is fantastic. There is a reason it is considered one of the best adventure games ever created. And this monumental choice halfway through the game is one of many reasons it is so outstanding.
First off, I love how the game changes depending on what choice you make. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, something like Infamous for the PlayStation 3 features choice throughout, but never really uses that promising mechanic to its full extent.
The good vs. evil choices in Infamous are interesting, but almost too obvious and predictable.
In Fate of Atlantis, the choice you make turns the game into three completely unique experiences. Each path offers new puzzles, new characters, and even some new locations. Yes, the paths converge before the end of the game, making your choice ultimately meaningless in the long run, but that is not why the moment is so memorable.
The moment works because it is so seamlessly incorporated into the story. In fact, it is so seamless and organic that you don’t even really know you are making a choice at all!
The first time I played Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis I chose the Team Path. (What can I say? I loved Sophia as a character and didn’t want to part ways with her.) I didn’t really know I was choosing the Team Path, but the dialogue choice that most appealed to me as a player was “I’d rather tackle this together with you.” That’s what I wanted Indy to say.
The second time I played through the game, I selected “You’re right, I better think this through alone,” thereby embarking on the Wits Path, a much more challenging (and completely different!) branch in the game.
I had assumed that no matter what dialogue choice I made, all things would lead back to Sophia still coming with me to Monte Carlo and Algiers -- that’s how things usually work in adventure games.
But, no. I chose to go alone and Indy went alone.
The game changed based on my decision.
As my adventure continued, the puzzles also had changed -- which made sense, given the fact that the original puzzles had been designed around tag teaming between two characters the first time through.
I really wish more games embraced this style of “choose your own adventure” storytelling. And I really wish more games would completely change the overall gameplay depending on a moral choice you make halfway through, just like Fate of Atlantis so successfully accomplished.
Depending on your choice, the game becomes a tag team mission, a traditional adventure, or an action game. Three completely different play types doing three completely different things.
Brilliant.
Admittedly, there have been some games over the years that do a similarly great job with choice. The Mass Effect series in particular not only finds certain choices affecting a player’s entire game, those same choices lead far into the sequels as well. A rather impressive feat!
And Heavy Rain is also worth mentioning, with its numerous moments of branching paths and alternate storylines.
But it all started with Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. It’s been twenty years since the release of LucasArts’ class adventure game, and only a handful of titles have duplicated the choice mechanic in such a creative and unexpected way.
It is an absolutely incredible moment in one of my most beloved adventure games of all time.
Chad Concelmo is Destructoid's features editor. He loves hanging out with awesome people. That's why Destructoid makes him so happy, since it is full of THE MOST AWESOME PEOPLE OF ALL TIME! Also, dolphins.
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Chad enjoys punching old ladies in the face, Super Metroid, Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES (best system ever!), Final Fantasy VI, Day of the Tentacle, Shadow of the Colossus, Mother 3, Beyond Good & Evil, Contra III, Valkyria Chronicles, Punch-Out!!, Half-Life 2, and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
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Ah nice, I loved this game back in the day. It was the first game I ever had on a CD format for my computer, so it's the first I ever heard actual dialogue. I recall that it's far superior to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
@The White Light -- SO much better than Crystal Skull, and I am one of the few people that liked that movie! :)
I really wish the fourth Indiana Jones movie had been based on this game. Such a classic, Indy-esque story!
Great memory card. My parent's computer had a built-in demo for this game that I used to play over and over. I'll never forget how in the second grade, there was one copy for sale at my school's book fair (go figure) for 19.99. My mom gave me 15 for the fair. Even though I knew I didn't have enough money, I took the game to the checkout table just to see what would happen. Imagine my surprise when the woman working the table misread the price tag as 9.99 (the 1 was kind of faded) and I got one of my all time favorite adventure games AND an extra few bucks of walking around money. I think I rationalized it at the time by convincing myself that the gods of Indiana Jones WANTED me to play that game. I obliged them by playing the shit out of it (including all three paths). So good.
Wow, I got first post in one of Chad's Memory Card articles. My life is complete.
But yeah, when I first played through the game, I didn't even realize that the choice existed. I ended up doing the team path (I also liked Sophia) and it wasn't until I was talking about the game with one of my friends that I even realized that you could go different routes. He was having trouble and I was telling him what to do with Sophia, and he was like, "What? I left her ass back at the college long long ago..." Great moment.
Chad, it's freaking crazy the sheer amount of knowledge you have about videogames. Your ability to pick apart the tiny details in games and analyze them and appreciate them for every little piece of awesomeness that they are is something I've always respected about your writing.
Please don't stop writing features for the site. You're amazing.
Also, I've never played this game but I just wanted to say that OH MY GOD INDIANA JONES IS OH GOD SO DREAMY! I would do anything for a piece o' dat. ;D
Alright, lets be fair Chad. Given the cheaper costs, smaller team sizes, and FAR smaller file sizes of games in 1992, things were possible then that just aren't possible now. Your typical game is what, 7-10 GB now? And then it was probably that many megabytes, tops. The logistics of doing today what they did then with the three divergent paths just doesn't sound realistic to me. Granted, I'm no programmer so my word isn't gospel, it just sounds prohibitively difficult.
That aside, I do want to take issue with you when you disparage the scope of choice in a game like Infamous. I think it does a good job of what it sets out to do, which is alter the FEEL of the game. I think this especially works in an open world game like Infamous that allows sandbox-style gameplay between story missions.
I don't just pick different dialogue choices in Infamous when I play as good or evil. It changes the way I play the game entirely. Instead of stopping to beat up a mugger on the way to my next mission, I'll blow up some cars and smack some innocent old ladies. The ability to metagame in that way, far more than the actual "Press A to be bad, Press B to be good" mechanic, constitutes the real choice in a game like Infamous.
My point is, it's become entirely too vogue, in my personal opinion, to badmouth the way choice is implemented in recent games like Infamous and Mass Effect 2. I think they do a good, but not perfect, job of allowing the player to own the game. There's improvements to be made, sure, but they don't deserve to be picked on like they have been lately.
I can't believe I have never played this game. Well I guess I never did play many adventure games on the PC. Monkey Island is the only one that my father had on his computer, and I remember playing that a lot, but he loves the Indiana Jones series and I can't imagine him passing this up. I need to go back and play it.
I'm extremely disappointed you didn't mention the moral choices and consequences in Fable 2. It was pretty much the same as your example from IJ:FOA. It tore me apart to do some of the evil things I did in that game and the subsequent consequences of those actions. Especially making the sheriff lose his job and the way the town turn to hell afterward. The prison scene was equally horrible when I had to beat my brainwashed friend.
However, I do see how awesome the way the game changes in this game is. I only recently got into playing more adventure games(I've already knocked out all the Sam & Max games and finished Grim Fandango a few months back for the second time after playing it 5 years ago). So now that I read this, it's next on my list. Thanks!
@Tristrix -- Actually, I agree with you, and didn't mean to imply that games like Infamous do a bad job of implementing choice in the gameplay. I just wish that Infamous would go a little farther with the good vs. evil choices in the game.
When you reach a section and have to make a choice, you, literally, have to make a choice by hitting a button and selecting the path you are going to take.
While this is still really cool, imagine how amazing it would be if this all happened organically? Imagine running into a battle and handling it exactly as you would any other situation. And based on your actions in this battle, then the game would decide how "good" or "evil" you were.
That would blow my mind.
You are right, though: Who knows if that is even technically possible (although Red Dead Redemption kind of hinted at it at times)? But I would love to see a game like Infamous handle choice situations like that.
Fate of Atlantis is an older game, but I just love the way it handles the one big choice in the game. It is just so organic and natural. It's pretty amazing. :)
But, yeah, I do agree with your points. Thanks so much for the comment. :)
Actually, there are quite a lot of games with more or less game changing choises, but i'm also sad, that not a lot of games choose to go all the way with it (though it is understandable in terms of time?money spent into the game).
For example, i recently replayed Dino Crisis, which had several important choices throught the game that a) changed the challenge (1 path was more about action, the other was more about puzzles) and b) made slight, but sometimes very interesting changes to the story. And the last choice changed the ending completely.
P.S. Btw, on my site i sometimes write something "memory-card"-like and mentioned Dino Crisis in the other Big Moment - when dinosaurs started chasing you between the locations - a completely new thing for a RE-like game. Will never forget that broken table raptor jumped on...
Actually, depending on how you solve the puzzle of getting backstage at the start of the game, Sophia makes different predictions. There are three different ways to work get past the first screen of the game, and each suggests a path. There's a door with a guard who won't let you just walk in, so the way you get past him dictates Sophia's prediction.
Based on the way you wrote the article, you chose the more puzzle centric solution: there are a number of boxes in the back alley, and if you push them around you can get access to a hatch that lets you back stage. Since you solved this puzzle the hard way, she suggests you take the puzzle centric alone path.
A second way to get by is to talk to the guard. If you talk enough about how great Sophia is as a speaker you can win the guard to your side, and he'll let you in the back door. Solving the puzzle this way makes Sophia suggest that the two of you should work together than that it would be better if she goes with you.
Finally, rather than getting on the guards good side, you can insult him enough that you get into a fight with him. If you knock him out, you can walk past him to get backstage. Solving the puzzle this way makes Sophia suggest the more action oriented path in her prediction.
Regardless of the method you use to get by, you still get the decision to pick any of the three paths, but it was neat how the game incorporated your actual play actions into the prediction that Sophia made. Since I think that is a credit to the game makers beyond the praise you just gave them, I figured I'd mention it, particularly since you went on to mention "organic decisions" in your comment to Tristrix.
Also, pretty sure this is my first post. Loved this game, so it's fitting it would be about it.
Second, I'm always glad to see point and click adventure games getting coverage. Fate of Atlantis is one of my all time favorites! (along with Day of the Tentacle, Maniac Mansion, and The Last Crusade)
I have such good memories of this game, that as you were describing a lot of the build up in the beginning, I was actually seeing the animation and hearing the dialogue in my head. (that parrot sequence in the jungle will haunt me forever)
This moment and game are awesome. I've played through the game a bunch of times and each time I always make a save right at "the choice" and after beating the game I reload the save and play through the other two choices.
@T0MSERV0 -- Um ... I am blown away by this. I knew there were different solutions backstage, but I had NO idea it would affect Sophia's prediction right before "the choice".
Seriously. This is incredible.
I already thought the moment was brilliant, but this takes it over the edge.
Thank you for this! A thousand times thank you! :D
Awesome awesome awesome awesome, I'm loving seeing so many Memory Card posts lately. Also, I've never gotten around to actually playing this game but this article has pushed me over the edge, and....Good God! That pixel art is beautiful! Even for Lucasarts!
Has anyone ever played Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine? I'm probably the only person in the world who, although I don't dislike them, is not a fan of the movies but is a huge fan of his (mostly) shitty videogames. Infernal Machine is pretty much a Tomb Raider rip-off but I remember enjoying it immensely as a kid.
I still think in my 30 years of gaming Witcher did decision-making the best in that there wasn't a good or bad choice. You were given a limited amount of info regarding both sides of a situation, you made your choice, and then you DEALT WITH THE TOTALLY UNFORESEEABLE CONSEQUENCES. Just like in real life.
omg I actually had this game for Mac cause it was one of the few decent games you could get for Mac back in the day. I remember getting so lost in it since I was like 10 at the time and I had never played an adventure game before. Still a lot of fun though.
It would be nice if more AAA games today had huge branching story lines where content, locations and storyline digress considerably based on user choice. The only problem is that this is very expensive for development. Hundreds of thousands of dollars would be poured into the creation and testing of content that only a percentage of users would ever encounter.
You should check out Tactics Ogre, Chad. It's got eight different endings, depending on the choices you make, but the gameplay doesn't change like it does in Indiana Jones.
@T0MSERV0 way to bring up the recommended path bit. Didn't know until the last year or so that it did this and actually played through the whole game three more times just to relive it (also made a kick-ass animated gif of Indy as Nur-ab-sal while playing through the team path)
@Chad thanks for finally writing one up for this one. I think it's also worth noting that finding the lost dialog is different each time. Sometimes it's in the locked box in the totem room, sometimes it's in the wax cat statue, and sometimes it's in the tipped over bookcase. Haven't read up on it recently but I think this one may change as a result of the bouncer puzzle that determines the recommended path. Either way, I think that's a little extra bonus that adds to the re-playability of this game, even pre-choice. Just another reason I love adventure games.
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Contest:
4:00 PM on 04.07.2011 | 
I really wish the fourth Indiana Jones movie had been based on this game. Such a classic, Indy-esque story!
But yeah, when I first played through the game, I didn't even realize that the choice existed. I ended up doing the team path (I also liked Sophia) and it wasn't until I was talking about the game with one of my friends that I even realized that you could go different routes. He was having trouble and I was telling him what to do with Sophia, and he was like, "What? I left her ass back at the college long long ago..." Great moment.
Please don't stop writing features for the site. You're amazing.
Also, I've never played this game but I just wanted to say that OH MY GOD INDIANA JONES IS OH GOD SO DREAMY! I would do anything for a piece o' dat. ;D
Okay I'll stop now.
That aside, I do want to take issue with you when you disparage the scope of choice in a game like Infamous. I think it does a good job of what it sets out to do, which is alter the FEEL of the game. I think this especially works in an open world game like Infamous that allows sandbox-style gameplay between story missions.
I don't just pick different dialogue choices in Infamous when I play as good or evil. It changes the way I play the game entirely. Instead of stopping to beat up a mugger on the way to my next mission, I'll blow up some cars and smack some innocent old ladies. The ability to metagame in that way, far more than the actual "Press A to be bad, Press B to be good" mechanic, constitutes the real choice in a game like Infamous.
My point is, it's become entirely too vogue, in my personal opinion, to badmouth the way choice is implemented in recent games like Infamous and Mass Effect 2. I think they do a good, but not perfect, job of allowing the player to own the game. There's improvements to be made, sure, but they don't deserve to be picked on like they have been lately.
Good article, Chad. Thank you.
When you reach a section and have to make a choice, you, literally, have to make a choice by hitting a button and selecting the path you are going to take.
While this is still really cool, imagine how amazing it would be if this all happened organically? Imagine running into a battle and handling it exactly as you would any other situation. And based on your actions in this battle, then the game would decide how "good" or "evil" you were.
That would blow my mind.
You are right, though: Who knows if that is even technically possible (although Red Dead Redemption kind of hinted at it at times)? But I would love to see a game like Infamous handle choice situations like that.
Fate of Atlantis is an older game, but I just love the way it handles the one big choice in the game. It is just so organic and natural. It's pretty amazing. :)
But, yeah, I do agree with your points. Thanks so much for the comment. :)
For example, i recently replayed Dino Crisis, which had several important choices throught the game that a) changed the challenge (1 path was more about action, the other was more about puzzles) and b) made slight, but sometimes very interesting changes to the story. And the last choice changed the ending completely.
P.S. Btw, on my site i sometimes write something "memory-card"-like and mentioned Dino Crisis in the other Big Moment - when dinosaurs started chasing you between the locations - a completely new thing for a RE-like game. Will never forget that broken table raptor jumped on...
I will have your babies if you do!
Actually, depending on how you solve the puzzle of getting backstage at the start of the game, Sophia makes different predictions. There are three different ways to work get past the first screen of the game, and each suggests a path. There's a door with a guard who won't let you just walk in, so the way you get past him dictates Sophia's prediction.
Based on the way you wrote the article, you chose the more puzzle centric solution: there are a number of boxes in the back alley, and if you push them around you can get access to a hatch that lets you back stage. Since you solved this puzzle the hard way, she suggests you take the puzzle centric alone path.
A second way to get by is to talk to the guard. If you talk enough about how great Sophia is as a speaker you can win the guard to your side, and he'll let you in the back door. Solving the puzzle this way makes Sophia suggest that the two of you should work together than that it would be better if she goes with you.
Finally, rather than getting on the guards good side, you can insult him enough that you get into a fight with him. If you knock him out, you can walk past him to get backstage. Solving the puzzle this way makes Sophia suggest the more action oriented path in her prediction.
Regardless of the method you use to get by, you still get the decision to pick any of the three paths, but it was neat how the game incorporated your actual play actions into the prediction that Sophia made. Since I think that is a credit to the game makers beyond the praise you just gave them, I figured I'd mention it, particularly since you went on to mention "organic decisions" in your comment to Tristrix.
Also, pretty sure this is my first post. Loved this game, so it's fitting it would be about it.
Second, I'm always glad to see point and click adventure games getting coverage. Fate of Atlantis is one of my all time favorites! (along with Day of the Tentacle, Maniac Mansion, and The Last Crusade)
I have such good memories of this game, that as you were describing a lot of the build up in the beginning, I was actually seeing the animation and hearing the dialogue in my head. (that parrot sequence in the jungle will haunt me forever)
Awesome choice, awesome game, awesome read!
Seriously. This is incredible.
I already thought the moment was brilliant, but this takes it over the edge.
Thank you for this! A thousand times thank you! :D
http://neatwoofwoof.ytmnd.com/
-10 for liking Indy 4.
Has anyone ever played Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine? I'm probably the only person in the world who, although I don't dislike them, is not a fan of the movies but is a huge fan of his (mostly) shitty videogames. Infernal Machine is pretty much a Tomb Raider rip-off but I remember enjoying it immensely as a kid.
@Chad thanks for finally writing one up for this one. I think it's also worth noting that finding the lost dialog is different each time. Sometimes it's in the locked box in the totem room, sometimes it's in the wax cat statue, and sometimes it's in the tipped over bookcase. Haven't read up on it recently but I think this one may change as a result of the bouncer puzzle that determines the recommended path. Either way, I think that's a little extra bonus that adds to the re-playability of this game, even pre-choice. Just another reason I love adventure games.