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20 Examples of Choices Effecting Events Beyond the Cutscene
baritone3k
Member Posts: 223
Let' try to get a list of 20 examples of choices effecting events beyond the cutscene.
A lot is said about the voiceovers which I tended to enjoy initially, but not a lot about the other part of the game that was well touted - the ability to make decisions that will shape your journey. I think a lot of the sourness about the game for many of us stems in part from the illusion of choice. Were the game more honest about the linearity, fewer of us would have been so annoyed.
I can only remember a couple instances in flashpoints (pun noted) where the choice you make changes something outside of the cutscene itself. I am not talking about reputation gains or light/dark points. I mean changes what happens after the cutscene. Black Talon has you decide to kill or not kill a guy and that changes one boss. I think it is Red Reaper where you can decide to release, kill or leave the pure-blooded sith you find. If you release them, you have to fight them.
I can only remember 2 things that were dynamic. 1. I let a jedi live and had to kill here several levels later instead. As a Bounty Hunter on Hoth, I got the light side option to let some people keep their heat shields. That made me take insanely more damage from a story boss and resulted in the hardest fight in the game for my Bounty Hunter. But it didn't really change the game other than give me a debuff.
I remember being very careful with my choices until i experimented with doing things the quest giver wouldn't like and saw that the rewards didn't change and the only thing would be a little curtness or exasperation in tone. Nothing changed outside of the cutscene.
For me, that is when I got a little more comfortable with hitting the space bar (mid 40s on my first toon) and realized that the ILLUSION of choice was really turning me off. The game was being dishonest about my influence on events. It was trying to make me feel as if I could change things, but I couldn't.
I am wondering if we can even come up with 20 examples like this across all 8 storylines. That is just 5 examples of things you chose that shaped your journey differently than making the other choice would have.
And the choice to NOT pick a quest doesn't count, because that is just deciding NOT to do a quest and has no branching impact other than just NOT doing something.
Please - post the examples you can remember about your toons and let's see if we can get past 20 examples of the dynamic, player-led changes.
Someone please make a good MMO.
Comments
i think the problem you will have with this post is that you'll need someone that played the same class twice up to level cap making the oppose choices to get any answers.
they didn't deliver what they said they would.
I'm impressed you found two. Outside of dark/light points, minor cinematic play changes, and mail you receive I haven't seen anything worthy of note.
The mail you receive seems to be the biggest change story line wise. Big woopity doo there
>_>
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Youtube and conversations with guildies/other people who are online can bring those answers.
I have to add one - SPOILER - at the end of the BH line you can choose to kill the chancellor or the sith lord who sent you to kill him. BUT other than fighting one or the other, it does not mark you as a traitor to the empire or anything. You just go along your way again. No lasting effect.
Someone please make a good MMO.
Woowww...
Do any NPCs atleast treat you different after choosing outside of cutscene?
I might get banned for this. - Rizel Star.
I'm not afraid to tell trolls what they [need] to hear, even if that means for me to have an forced absence afterwards.
P2P LOGIC = If it's P2P it means longevity, overall better game, and THE BEST SUPPORT EVER!!!!!(Which has been rinsed and repeated about a thousand times)
Common Sense Logic = P2P logic is no better than F2P Logic.
No. They just stand there like they did before. Same rewards. No new branches or cut off branches. Same exact outcome. You just may not get something in the mail.
Someone please make a good MMO.
Wtf I mean even BW's single player games managed this..
I might get banned for this. - Rizel Star.
I'm not afraid to tell trolls what they [need] to hear, even if that means for me to have an forced absence afterwards.
P2P LOGIC = If it's P2P it means longevity, overall better game, and THE BEST SUPPORT EVER!!!!!(Which has been rinsed and repeated about a thousand times)
Common Sense Logic = P2P logic is no better than F2P Logic.
Actually they used to right up to Dragon Age II when you had to choose between helping the Templars or the Mages. In the end you had to take out both leaders of the perspective groups .So really your choice didn't seem to matter as much. And if you have been following some of the write ups about ME 3 you will notice the same trend in that the choice you made in ME 2 doesn't really affect the out come of anything.
Wow I am clueless and you are right, I'm trippin, I haven't played ME 2 in awhile but yea I do remember that the end choice didn't matter.
But didn't it matter in missions atleast? Like ehen you did something you'd talk to someone later and it mattered in a sense and revisiting areas and seeing changes, I still can't remember.
Because I know in ME 3 fearly you'll have in game choices that lead to loosing a member or not.
I might get banned for this. - Rizel Star.
I'm not afraid to tell trolls what they [need] to hear, even if that means for me to have an forced absence afterwards.
P2P LOGIC = If it's P2P it means longevity, overall better game, and THE BEST SUPPORT EVER!!!!!(Which has been rinsed and repeated about a thousand times)
Common Sense Logic = P2P logic is no better than F2P Logic.
I have played a number of toons through to the end.
In only one circumstance has my decision or action made what, to me me, was a significant difference.
It was in the Sith Warrior storyline.
I had just completed some quest for Darth Zhorrid, yet another woman character written and acted like Sable Colby from Dynasty in the 80s (like Darth Zash, like Darth Lachris, like Ladra...etc Did the writers of this tosh think all British women are Stephanie Beecham?).
She said: 'Oh, I have a nice reward for you....' then she asked me a question. Because I knew that it didnt matter wjhat I said, I chose the rude answer and she said: 'All right then, no reward for you!'. And I was sent away without any quest loot.
This was the only time in the game, in [playing through three story arcs, that I felt something I said made a difference. Specifically, it showed me that Darth Zhorrid truly was a cunt.
Effect = noun
Affect= verb
Name 20 MMOs that give you choices...
I don't care about innovation I care about fun.
They nearly all do... picking a race is a choice customizing is a choice leveling up in a certain area is a choice and I could go on and on.
Horribly incorrect.
Affect can be a noun as "His impassive expression showed a flat affect".
Effect can be a verb: 'You will effect these changes on Monday".
Is it really choices if it doesn´t affect the game?
AoC also offers you "choices" although fewer than TOR. There you can get extra rewards at time but the only quest I know in it where your choices really matters is that quest where you are trying to ficure which one of 3 guys is a thief, you can either outsmart the thief or threaten him to admit or you fail the quests.
I wish both AoC and TOR had more quests like that.
I remember some distinct changes depending on decisions made in ME1 that carried over to two. An example would be the council and the effect it had whether you saved them or not there were many differences in who you'd see and where they were within the universe. There were also within ME2 choices that effected which companions you would have, these choices were in ME1 as well.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
They said early on in development that choices you make will have long term effects.
Then later on they recanted saying that they didn't like gameplay choices that made you feel stuck that you couldn't take back later.
Thats why they went with dark side and light side not having much difference... Only cosmetic and thats it...
Kinda disapointing.
Now I'm starting to wish I wrote down all the little changes I've noticed in my play through. The thing is, unless you're playing the same character twice taking the opposite path, how would you know if it's different? Maybe I misunderstood the point.
I remember back on Quesh, I was leveling with my wife and friend. My friend was going dark side while we were mostly light. He happened to pickup a quest without us, thus altering what needed to be done. The thing is we weren't aware of this and it took us a while to figure out why we had such completely different objectives for the same quest. (We'd been taking quests together up until this point)
There's also smaller things like previously spared NPCs showing up in cut scenes a chapter or two later. Granted it's not like 'ZOMG HERE I COME TO SAVE YOU AND CHANGE THE STORY' showing up but it's definitely one of those 'hey, I remember saving you' gratifying 'alive' stories that most MMOs simply don't have. They even fought with me as reinforcements at one point... not like I need them. I imagine they'd just be generic jedi had I chose not to save them.
Having already leveled a Trooper and my wife being one perma-duo's with my JK, there's definitely been some key differences in our stories. I'm sorry I can't site the differences (although they'd be spoilers and don't belong here) but it has been different in what the two of us have had to do along our ways.
Ultimately, the choices and their effects are there, you just have to be looking for them. You also need a base for comparison otherwise it seems like your choices didn't matter. Unfortunately, they are very watered down and bland (for the most part) as to be easy on the MMOers and not force them into a certain route due to outcome. It's much like what GW2 talks about in trying to keep the dynamic events from turning into "NO GUYS! FAIL THIS PART! THE OUTCOME IS BETTER' which takes away all 'choice' of the matter and undermines it's very existence.
We really need separate forums for every newly launched game. There can be the anti-<MMO> one and there can be the 'what general discussion should be' one. All the lamenting can happen together where each can find solace in like minded can't-move-on-ers leaving the rest of us to actually move forward and discuss meaningful and relevant topics.
verb (used with object)
10.
to produce as an effect; bring about; accomplish; makehappen: The new machines finally effected the transition to computerized accounting last spring.
Just realized someone already refuted your claim. But I will leave this here anyway.
Affect and Effect are tough. Depends on how purist you want to be.
"Impacted" isn't really a word in the sense of "to impact", but I think this one will join "effect" and "affect" as expanded usage sinks in.
Language is alive. That pet peeve your teacher in x year of school had about certain words being used incorrectly... well, things change. Grammar, as well, changes.
Someone please make a good MMO.
I had forgotten that something like the reinforcements you mentioned happened to me. It was the sith warrior storyline on Korriban. I kept getting challenged as I went to talk to my creepy mentor.
I let one of the guys live after he attacked me. I was rewardsed a few minutes later when he came in to tell me of an ambush. He even interposed himself, did not damage to the bad guy, died and I had to kill the guy solo anyways. I of course was already in the cutscene with the ambusher when this guy showed up. So, again, fully cosmetic.
The king of change which is similar to the one you mentioned on Quesh was on Balmorra or something. I am not sure. That one was a guy saying that he wanted me to kill all the force sensitives in his building so he didn't have to feed them or something. Again, that kind of change is just you get to or don't get to do a quest depending on your answer. It doesn't really branch into anything long term, but I should have mentioned it. I forgot until I read your post.
Someone please make a good MMO.
While that is partially true about GW2 you are forgetting that those events are not a part of the player's personal story in the game. On top of those event you also have an individual story wherein the player can make meaningful choices. The most commonly known example of this is when human characters have to choose to save an orphanage or a military hospital from being burned down (there isn't enough time to save both). If you save the hospital the orphange is then forever burnt down leaving a bunch of sad orphans milling about and vice versa. How the story branches off after that we don't yet know but seeing the orphange or hospital burnt husk forever afterwards seems to me to be a meaningful effects from the choices you make.
Yes if you LS you need to do the quest twice. But later that student try to help you at your final quest in Koriban.
Yes - this is what I meant to say about that Korriban quest. It wasn't that I left him alive. It was that I gave him the stuff I got. HAHAHA my reward was having to go back and do the exact same quest again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THEN - this "help" he gives you in your final quest is just in the cutscene. He died immediately before I even engaged the bad guy. It was all fluff.
This is a GREAT example of the WRONG way to do this kind of thing.
Someone please make a good MMO.