Forums » General Gaming

• Chris

  

  • 1441 posts
   

  May 28, 2014 1:35 PM EDT

  Now, you may have wondered why I have named this discussion after the (in)famous Bioshock 1 quote. Its simple, when gaming, have you ever felt like your character rally had a choice in their decisions, like, if you were in their shoes, would you yourself choose that decision? Or, are they merely a slave, forced to make that decision because of some outside force (That isn't the player), like, is everything they've done because the antagonist (main or otherwise), or to the benefit of some group. Are they really doing actions of their own free will, or are they just being jerked around by multiple factions? For me, yes and no. If I am aware that X or Y group is obviously, or subtly using me, I pretend to go along with it, and possible, either strike out as an independent, or choose the side that is the lesser of two greys, or lesser of two evils, as the saying goes. How bout you guys?  Is your character a (Wo)man, or a slave? 

• Bryn

  

  • 1913 posts
   

  May 28, 2014 1:40 PM EDT

  I do like this discussion. Off topic, I love it when a character in a game breaks the 4th wall saying "I feel like I'm not in control of my life/actions... Oh well." Like in saints row 3 with the Laura Bailey voice.
• Borommakot

  

  • 1217 posts
   

  May 28, 2014 1:50 PM EDT

  I've always got characters in all the camps. There's that one character who is doing all the fetch quests, trying to please everyone, one who picks and chooses based on whose cause he actually cares about, and the one self interested character who doesn't even want to hear about peoples' problems. Part of the problem with the realism of it is that in most AAA RPGs, even your main questline quickly devolves into you getting jerked around by whoever you "side" with, doing literally all their dirty work. It's hard to feel like the character is doing anything for themselves when that happens.

• Legion

  

  • 700 posts
   

  June 4, 2014 7:03 PM EDT

  It depends on the game.  In Skyrim, the player can ignore Alduin completely and not suffer any consequences for it.  In any linear game, the antagonist directly influences the behavior of the protagonist.  The game is over if the protagonist strays from the objective.  

• Spectre

  

  • 285 posts
   

  June 4, 2014 7:12 PM EDT

  I wish Skyrim had an alternate main quest and you could help Alduin and begin to raise the Dragon Cult again, the same goes towards the Dragonborn DLC and helping Miraak.
• Deleted Member

  
   

  June 10, 2014 6:21 PM EDT

  I still remember my disappointment when I went to Red Mountain in Morrowind when I was summoned by Dagoth Ur to join him, only to realize that the "summons" was just a letter saying to get my ass in gear. It's hard to RP a bad guy when you can't take over the world.

• Riggzon

  

  • 75 posts
   

  September 8, 2014 9:01 PM EDT

  Usually on my first playthrough of an open-world/multiple choice game I make my own decisions and will usually try and go against what the game makes me do, unless I actually agree with what it wants me to do. Then on my second playthrough I just do the opposite of my original choices.