I have always been curious how people play games, with mass effect series you saw a huge backlash on all ending being similar but different color, or choices not having an impact when you compare the two decisions.
For me, I rarely have this problem. When I play games I find ignorance to be bliss, I still strongly to the fact that this is the decision I made and now I must ‘live’ with it. I may think oh what if I chose this other option, but will never truly know - I find this to make the story far more personal as knowing all outcomes instantly removes you as a participant and more of an overseer.
My best example is a game that does have decisions that mean something, though I don’t know personally. The Witcher 3. After 70 hours I was wanting to see the end, so I didn’t kill King Radovid. Upon completion I saw the elves, dwarves and mages outcast. I hated this and I assume had I killed him it wouldn’t have happened (I haven’t checked to see and I don’t want to) and now I must again, ‘live’ with the mistake I made.
(Going against what I said, I will change my decision in the Witcher 3 when I play it to beat the DLC - the outcomes rally upsets me hahaha - I just hope that my assumed outcome from killing Radovid is correct haha)
I feel if I knew all outcomes, it removes the weight from my decision, my decision doesn’t mean anything if I can go back and alter it - so in games where decisions don’t matter has much, the ‘ignorance is bliss’ approach gives them far more weight than they could possibly carry, and personally I think it would improve the experience.
I am curious if anyone else plays games in this way
Hi,
first of all I needed to google that radovid quest aaaaand I didn’t kill him either I think because I didn’t trust Dijkstra but I don’t know for sure (if I remind correctly I hurt him badly)
That’s my way too. I have the feeling that a lot of games don’t give me enough information to even make a well thought decision. For example Dragon Age: Kill the mage or let him live - How should I know? Same goes for Mass Effect with the suicide mission or the worm queen or the genophage. I am at a point that I expect that something bad is happening if I make a “good” decision, the “Telltale-Style”.
yeah I think that is an issue too, so many times there is a decision but it means nothing until it is made because you haven’t got enough information prior.
Like life itself! I couldn’t agree more! Sure you can always load and redo that bit of the game once you know the implications of your decision, but I don’t have much time nowadays to play games and doing so would feel like a waste of time. Instead I’d press forward and maybe replay the whole game in the (distant) future… But I’m also of the opinion that once the cards are up, part of the fun is gone…
I found a quote you stated in your post to be rather interesting @whalee.
I find myself roughly feeling the same way when going through games where your choices supposedly do or are advertised to matter. I try to think not only what makes sense to me but also what makes sense to the story overall, and then go with that decision. That is how I played the Mass Effect trilogy, and having beat the third game on both PS3 and Wii-U with the extended edition, I found the choices I made, actually matter more because however you feel about the final ending(s) that Bioware and EA came up with, it was me who made he ultimate decision between them and therefore it gave me a feeling or power over the end result in a way if that makes sense.
It is fun to look into the possibilities and repercussions of one’s choices later on but ultimately I try to compose what I feel to work within the context and boundaries the developers provide me.
