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Batman: The Enemy Within has multiple (two) very different endings and one of the most memorable versions of a character full stop. But, really, there is no narrative-driven game (or story) with limitless well-thought out endings. They all have to have some sort of pre-defined structure for a story to exist at all. I think RPGs actually have done some compelling choices; a lot of games, unfortunately, push the major decisions near the end regarding multiple endings. Of course, if you don’t want a story, then there are many many many game options that satisfy!

IronCretin - 16 February 2024 01:51 AM

Batman: The Enemy Within has multiple (two) very different endings and one of the most memorable versions of a character full stop. But, really, there is no narrative-driven game (or story) with limitless well-thought out endings. They all have to have some sort of pre-defined structure for a story to exist at all. I think RPGs actually have done some compelling choices; a lot of games, unfortunately, push the major decisions near the end regarding multiple endings. Of course, if you don’t want a story, then there are many many many game options that satisfy!

If that’s the case great, I never played the second Batman game. I did play the first one because it was free in the PS4 Store. And I was let down with the choose your story mechanic as usual. in my playthrough I saved Harvey Dent from getting disfigured and yet he still turned into the cackling, crazy villain,  just without the half messed up face. so the only real difference was cosmetic

I personally don’t think any game has to have thousands of endings but when you constantly advertise that your game is all about choice and it matters what you pick, with flashing lines above character’s heads that say, this character will remember what you said or did. then it should have more impact than what Telltale did, especially when that is the only major gameplay mechanic in the whole game.

That’s one reason I just gave Revolution credit in the Beyond the steel sky thread, because they actually do have a choice mechanic, where a character can have two endings depending on player input, but it’s such a small part of the game the devs dont advertise it as a major gameplay feature. So it’s more like a nice bonus.

As far as other choice driven games in the narrative genre, even though they have a host of other problem, they do the Choice mechanic better, like a heavy rain or Detroit become human. I think those games have serious other issues but the choice mechanic is better implemented.

I think what some of us are saying is when you majorily advertise in your game that Choice matters and then it doesn’t really, some feel duped. The most famous example in the last couple of years was with Mass Effect and the ending of Mass Effect 3. fans complained so much the devs went back in and made a director’s cut to the endings.

A RPG that did choice well was the Witcher 2, the game had three or four chapters and depending on what you chose at the end of chapter 1, chapter 2 was completely different. where you went to wholly different locations and had different sets of characters you interacted with. I mean completely different settings, not just what order you went to them in. that was a pretty big choice to make, that had some weight to it.

If modern telltale didnt advertise the fact that choice had such a huge importance and they just made story driven games, I still wouldn’t like them much because there’s no real puzzles in them. but I personally wouldn’t feel they are being semi deceitful either.  just my two cents

@Jdawg445: Ah, I did not realize that how the game was marketed was your bigger concern! And, yes, the first Telltale Batman game was definitely not as quality as the second. I quite enjoyed the Witcher games (played the three primary titles); for me, Witcher 3 had the most world-resonating choices.

@Charophycean: Yes, CYOA novels are defined story arcs with a lot of dead-ends. What are your thoughts on QFG4?

IronCretin - 16 February 2024 01:28 PM

@Jdawg445: Ah, I did not realize that how the game was marketed was your bigger concern! And, yes, the first Telltale Batman game was definitely not as quality as the second. I quite enjoyed the Witcher games (played the three primary titles); for me, Witcher 3 had the most world-resonating choices.

@Charophycean: Yes, CYOA novels are defined story arcs with a lot of dead-ends. What are your thoughts on QFG4?

Yeah my two biggest beefs with telltale is 1. they marketed their game as choices that truly matter, down to intentionally calling out what a character will or will not remember, but then the devs themselves came out later and said it was a gimmick bc it would grab people’s attention. To me that’s dishonest marketing. The other reason which I pointed out numerous times is because I think Telltale was a canary in a coal mine and was the ending of bigger adventure games putting an effort into puzzles or any meaningful gameplay design. Going back to something like heavy rain, while the choice mechanics I think was better implemented, the actual gameplay was pretty awful.  still no real puzzles, they just made the QTEs harder. I remember at one point near the end of the game to get through some kind of booby trap I had to do half the commands and I used my wife to do the other half, because the qte button prompts were so ridiculous that it took four hands to get through it lol. The story was also Half Baked, which turns out was because there was supposed to be a mystical element in heavy rain,  but that got completely cut out, for whatever reason halfway through development.

Yeah I like The Witcher 3 a lot especially because of the side quests but with the main storyline; I was way more invested in The Witcher 2, probably because that’s just what I like. I like the kingdom Intrigue where kings and queens are backstabbing each other, kind of like Game of Thrones. it really added to the World building and lore, way more than just trying to find my daughter in The Witcher 3. I also like the idea of Hub worlds better than just one huge open world, it made things big enough to explore, but not so big that it got cumbersome, like I felt in Witcher 3 sometimes.

Plus like I said I didn’t know chapter one had choices in it at all until i played the game and it shocked me to see two completely different paths. Whether you help the elves or you side with the humans, chapter 2 is completely different, all the way around. it was crazy and very ambitious for a studio that was still very small at the time. I remember after I beat the game I went back to a save near the end of chapter 1 and picked the other side, and I was flabbergasted at the differences. It was not just new lines of dialogue or a different cutscene, it was a wholly different chapter.

Im playing machinarium finally, technically I was thinking about playing something non adventure game, but this game was on sale for $2 in the PlayStation Store and I knew it was short and finally wanted to play it. I believe I’m about halfway through based on trophies and I’m really enjoying what it is.  I don’t think there’s enough there for a full-fledged review, like I usually do, but I’m very much enjoying myself.