My role playing game ending attitude used to be this, let the chips fall where they may.
Then I ran into Fallout 4, a story driven RPG where I had made friends with 4 factions as unlikely how that might be in real life, and then was put into a choice of picking one or the other, while killing the other, which arguable could be realistic. ? But this is a game, people! Make me happy!
However the elephant in the story that represented a last straw was when Bethesda decided from a story standpoint that I either had to join the Institute, the people who locked themselves away underground and screwed with/murdered people on the surface to maintain an advantage, or I had to blow it up, the most advanced treasure trove of human technical knowledge that survived the apocalypse, in the middle of downtown Boston, the home of large numbers of survivors, no less. If you prefer to be a purist, then just accept the boat you find yourself in and gnash your teeth.
But who in their right mind would pick the latter, if there was a way to raid and take over said Institution neutering it, but retaining it’s knowledge?? This is what pushed me into a person who wants to know my options in advance, because 1) this is not real life, 2) the developers have crafted scenarios based on their limited choices due to challenges in programming, 3) in real life there could be all sorts of options that you won’t see in a game. Btw, there is a way to mitigate maintaining friends with 3 of the 4 factions, and consequently, the Institute must be destroyed in the vanilla game...
...unless you go with a marvelous content mod, the Project Valkyrie Mod created by a third party, who gives some fantastic outcomes (Review Link), found at Nexus mods.
Project Valkyrie Mod
So my rationalization is this, I want options or to know my options in advance.
Look at Cyberpunk 2077. There are significantly different endings, triggered by things you do or don’t do during the course of the game. Romance can be easy, just say nice things to the person you want to romance and while that is unrealistic for real life, in a game like this with limited choices, you might not choose to abandon a love interest (in real life) yet in a game, make the wrong move and you can be locked into an outcome you don’t want, where in real life you may have more leeway to fix something that went wrong. Based on today’s gaming technology, you just won’t see anything approximating the number of options you might have in real life.
For example, say you pissed off your possible girl friend, by not taking her side in an argument, this can happen in CP77, and you won’t get a chance to beg for forgiveness.
If I was braver or if I didn’t mind playing through a scenario a second time, I’d take my chances with outcomes, but I’d still like to know the critical juncture in the decision tree. And when I’m investing 50 hours in a game, based on artificial situations, I’m a sucker for good endings, I’d like more say in the outcomes, which can be achieved by studying spoiler articles that describe the construct you are operating within. Cheating? Yes. Coward? Yes? Entertainment? Yes!
What do you think?
Then I ran into Fallout 4, a story driven RPG where I had made friends with 4 factions as unlikely how that might be in real life, and then was put into a choice of picking one or the other, while killing the other, which arguable could be realistic. ? But this is a game, people! Make me happy!
However the elephant in the story that represented a last straw was when Bethesda decided from a story standpoint that I either had to join the Institute, the people who locked themselves away underground and screwed with/murdered people on the surface to maintain an advantage, or I had to blow it up, the most advanced treasure trove of human technical knowledge that survived the apocalypse, in the middle of downtown Boston, the home of large numbers of survivors, no less. If you prefer to be a purist, then just accept the boat you find yourself in and gnash your teeth.
But who in their right mind would pick the latter, if there was a way to raid and take over said Institution neutering it, but retaining it’s knowledge?? This is what pushed me into a person who wants to know my options in advance, because 1) this is not real life, 2) the developers have crafted scenarios based on their limited choices due to challenges in programming, 3) in real life there could be all sorts of options that you won’t see in a game. Btw, there is a way to mitigate maintaining friends with 3 of the 4 factions, and consequently, the Institute must be destroyed in the vanilla game...
Project Valkyrie Mod
So my rationalization is this, I want options or to know my options in advance.
Look at Cyberpunk 2077. There are significantly different endings, triggered by things you do or don’t do during the course of the game. Romance can be easy, just say nice things to the person you want to romance and while that is unrealistic for real life, in a game like this with limited choices, you might not choose to abandon a love interest (in real life) yet in a game, make the wrong move and you can be locked into an outcome you don’t want, where in real life you may have more leeway to fix something that went wrong. Based on today’s gaming technology, you just won’t see anything approximating the number of options you might have in real life.
For example, say you pissed off your possible girl friend, by not taking her side in an argument, this can happen in CP77, and you won’t get a chance to beg for forgiveness.
If I was braver or if I didn’t mind playing through a scenario a second time, I’d take my chances with outcomes, but I’d still like to know the critical juncture in the decision tree. And when I’m investing 50 hours in a game, based on artificial situations, I’m a sucker for good endings, I’d like more say in the outcomes, which can be achieved by studying spoiler articles that describe the construct you are operating within. Cheating? Yes. Coward? Yes?
Entertainment? Yes!What do you think?
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