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Geek Culture / Games that have you make choices?

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Muzzles56
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Posted: 5th May 2013 00:35
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I like the idea of games that make you decide things which change the events and outcomes of the game. The Walking Dead by Telltale is an example, but I do not want this game. Saints Row the Third had a few choices, but they didnt really change much. What games are available that are based on choices? Steam games are preferable.
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Le Shorte
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Posted: 5th May 2013 00:42
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Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Black Ops 2(seriously), Alpha Protocol (wouldn't recommend), KotOR 1 and 2 (66% off this weekend, definitely get them), Deus Ex (wouldn't recommend; blasphemy, I know), Fable, Fallout (the first two and New Vegas, wasn't a fan of the third), On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Two Worlds 1 and 2, The Witcher 1 and 2, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines.

...Those are just the ones I own. All are available on Steam.

Yes, I live in Wisconsin. No, I don't live on a farm.
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Muzzles56
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Posted: 5th May 2013 00:50
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Mass Effect - no real interest
Dragon Age - no real interest
Black Ops 2 - possibly
Alpha Protocol -
KotOR - Played
Deus Ex - Taken into consideration
Fable - Played
Fallout - played
Others - no real interest

I'm not into RPGs, so that might take out a lot of options. I liked deus ex human revolution though
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Jimpo
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Posted: 5th May 2013 00:54
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I remember Risen 1 being heavily based around choices. It took me a while to make some decisions in the game because your actions actually have consequences. None of the factions were strictly good or evil and it wasn't clear which was the 'right' side to go with. I think there might be only one ending, but the paths to get there are varied. I talked about the game with a friend, and his story played out very differently from mine - in a way I didn't even know was possible.

There's also a sequel, but I don't think it's as good.

http://degorpg.blogspot.com/
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 5th May 2013 01:02
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Mass Effect might not interest you, I was say the series, particularly number 2 & 3, are worth playing, particuarly if you like to see the effects of your action, it's one of only few games that have managed to engage me emotionally. For that reason I think it's worth playing. But if it's not the sort of gameplay you get along with, or something that's your cup of tea, that's understandable.

It might be a bit difficult for me to suggest something because I'm a big RPGamer.

I quite liked Primordia, there are some choices you make, but they mainly just effect the ending. If you make certain mistakes in the game it will also affect the ending you get. I managed to get the 2nd best ending, 1 mistake cost me the best end. It was a challenging game as well and a reflection of classic Point & Click adventures like Beneath a Steel Sky.

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bitJericho
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Posted: 6th May 2013 03:18
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Organ Trail!

Visit my blog http://www.canales.me.
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Dar13
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Posted: 6th May 2013 06:32
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Here are some others:

Deus Ex Human Revolution (recommend),
Bioshock (recommend),
Dishonored (recommend),
Far Cry 3 (recommend),
TES V : Skyrim (recommend)

I'm sure there are others but I can't think of them right now and they're not in my steam library at the moment. Most of those are first person action games, though Skyrim is more of an action RPG than a pure action game.

WTLD has been put on indefinite hold.
A new project is under initial development now.
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Quik
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Posted: 6th May 2013 07:18
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Quote: "Far Cry 3 (recommend),
TES V : Skyrim (recommend)
"

Quote: "Bioshock (recommend),"


wouldnt really count these as games that allow you to make choices tbh - or atleast not in a significant and meaningful way



Whose eyes are those eyes?
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Phaelax
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Posted: 6th May 2013 07:37
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Quote: "Deus Ex (wouldn't recommend; blasphemy, I know), "

Why not? It was a great game, but the sequel sucked.

I beat that game I don't know how many times then years later I must've done something different because for the first time his brother lived to the end of the game. Its nice to be surprised by a game after you've beaten it already a dozen times.

"You're all wrong. You're all idiots." ~Fluffy Rabbit
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Van B
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Posted: 6th May 2013 11:30
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Farcry2 and 3 - more 2 than 3 though - as it has all those choices whether to save your friend or not. The choices in these games are largely redundant, you end up choosing ending A or ending B - it would be nice if games had you have to work to get the good ending. Like old arcade games like Bubble Bobble, Rainbow islands... I mean, you finish Rainbow Islands and unless you collected 7 diamonds in the correct order, on every single level, you don't get the real ending. It kinda puts modern hardcore games to shame. Maybe continuing to play should be the reward. I mean, if you play Fallout3 and sacrifice yourself, then you get saved and are allowed to play on - otherwise you die, but I mean with a less obvious alignment rating system. Immortality is really the best incentive, especially if it's earned through wise gameplay choices rather than just choosing the right end sequence video.

I think it only works with heavily sandbox games, any sort of a real plot often gets in the way. Like with LA Noire - that game should have multiple endings, but it doesn't - doesn't even say, you were right, or you were wrong. By the end, the whole entire game, all the choices you made and stressed over amount to nothing, completely redundant, I'd get the same result even if I pinned the crime on the first witness I interview. Even if you figure out what is really happening, your still just going down strict paths with a this guy or that dude choice at the end that might not even make sense.

I got a fever, and the only prescription, is more memes.
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Jimpo
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Posted: 6th May 2013 20:51 Edited at: 6th May 2013 20:52
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Heavy Rain is also a great choice based game. It's not an RPG like the others here, so it might be more for you. The game is like playing through a detective thriller. Not only your choices but also your actions have a big impact on the story and ending. For example, if you mess up a challenge and the character dies, they are dead for the rest of the game. That character wont be in any more scenes and you wont have access to the clues that character could find. My friends and I used to watch each other play just to see how different the story turned out.

Quote: "I think it only works with heavily sandbox games, any sort of a real plot often gets in the way."

I thought Heavy Rain did a really good job of being choice based while have an engaging plot to go with it.

http://degorpg.blogspot.com/
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FLAME123
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Posted: 6th May 2013 21:35
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^ I'm surprised no one even mentioned Heavy Rain earlier.
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 6th May 2013 23:30
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I guess LA Noire would be another. It's a fantastic game, I loved it. It was going quite cheap on Steam recently. Only warning is that it has a few compatability issues with Windows 8,but is supposed to work if Windows is up to date, the game client is up to date and social club is up to date.

The bonus is that it's not an RPG.

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Dar13
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Posted: 7th May 2013 03:16
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Quote: "wouldnt really count these as games that allow you to make choices tbh - or atleast not in a significant and meaningful way"

I kind of agree with you for Far Cry 3, but Bioshock and TES V : Skyrim both had major choices to be made. Bioshock you could choose to harvest the Little Sisters or you could free them which affected certain rewards and the final ending. In Skyrim, you choose which side of the civil war to be on and you also can choose between different optional quest objectives during certain quests(such as when you're asked to kill a certain friendly dragon).

WTLD has been put on indefinite hold.
A new project is under initial development now.
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Quik
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Posted: 7th May 2013 15:44
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Quote: "I guess LA Noire would be another. It's a fantastic game, I loved it. "


I never felt like I was making choices in that game tbh :/ But then - i havent finished it.



Whose eyes are those eyes?
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Seppuku Arts
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Posted: 7th May 2013 20:31
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The choices you make will have an ultimate effect in the end. Of course, your choices will also affect the out come of the cases. It is possible (for example) to put an innocent man in jail (and I did exactly that). I wouldn't say the choices are as significant as other games, but they are there and I thought the game was really good.

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tha_rami
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Posted: 21st May 2013 03:03
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I always like this question, if only because it foregoes one of the most basic truths about our medium: if your choices do not influence the outcome or experience of a game...

Business guy and developer at [url]www.vlambeer.com[/url] - bringing back arcade since 1956.
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Le Shorte
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Posted: 21st May 2013 04:35
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Quote: "I kind of agree with you for Far Cry 3, but Bioshock and TES V : Skyrim both had major choices to be made. Bioshock you could choose to harvest the Little Sisters or you could free them which affected certain rewards and the final ending."

Can't really speak on Skyrim since I never bothered finishing it, but Bioshock...nah. Completely binary choice that results in one ending or the other.

Quote: " Why not? It was a great game, but the sequel sucked."

I dunno. I only just played DE for the first time in 2011, and at that time... it just didn't hold me. The gameplay was clunky, the shooting was bad, the story was just...well, you know, and I just couldn't deal with the voice acting. The level design was amazing, though, and so was the freedom. I much prefer HR, but even then the voice acting and shooting somewhat holds it back.

@Muzzles
A game I recently played through was Spec Ops: The Line. It had some really great and thought-provoking choices and depending on how sensitive you are, it may or may not make you never want to play a mindless bro-shooter ever again. Seriously, it's that heavy. Amazing game.

Yes, I live in Wisconsin. No, I don't live on a farm.
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Libervurto
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Posted: 21st May 2013 17:22
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Quote: "if your choices do not influence the outcome or experience of a game..."

Then what? It's not a game?

I think Heavy Rain dealt with choice a lot better than LA Noir. HR had quite a rigid plot but within that it made you feel like you were driving the story forwards. LA Noir made a mistake in being open-world IMO, that highlighted how linear the game really was and how little freedom you actually had ; You have the option to let your partner drive and skip the driving phases so I think there was maybe a disagreement about whether the game should be open-world, and this was a compromise. LA Noir was a disappointment to me because it could have been one of the best games ever but it felt very heavily dumbed-down and repetitive.

The difficulty in learning is not acquiring new knowledge but relinquishing the old.
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