Choice vs Non-Choice in games

Why not both? Variety is the key to stimulation. Playing the Witcher 2 and all the choices you get there can be overwhelming. I let that prince (Stennis i think) get lynched by a mob and stabbed with pitchforks until bloody.

Not sure if I made the right call.

i really like games with choices more to be honest

I strongly prefer having options. Sometimes the decisions made by the dev can ruin the experience. However, I prefer not having a choice than giving me the illusion of choice.

I like both paths but i dont like it when a developer promises that it wont be A, B , C and it ends up being that or like with The Last of Us where you have the illusion of "free will" but really its always the choice the developers want you to make.

So only wish i have is that if a developer wants to use choices then stick with that and dont try to "force" your own liberal agenda or any agenda onto the player or if a developer wants to preach then do it , dont suddenly make it seem like you have choices you dont really have.

Best example is Papers Please, you are in charge and you never feel that the developer is trying to tell you want to do and worst is MassEffect, great game series up until the ending where its just a big F you in the face and nothing you did in 3 games matters one tiny bit.

I liked the end of Mass Effect when they did the DLC, the first ending was horrible though. But games like Dragona Age let you choose that kind of stuff well

I saw the DLC ending and it was some what better but it was still a lot like the same shit as before A B C but we end it the same way with a big kick in the face of all who played it .

What most AAA developers should do is look at Papers Please because they make your choices feel like a choice.

i like having choice a lot though, that's my point

I cant say that i really care that much , as i said all i care about is that if a developer chooses to have choices in the game that they also make you have choices and not just illusions. like TLOU.

Far Cry 3 doesn't have any choices either except for the last thing that happens in that game

@The_Last_Ride: How was Dragon Age Origins any better? Your choices affected a couple of meaningless things, like which armies followed you, and potentially changed which party members you had...but ultimately everything hurtled towards the same conclusion with just slightly different text before the credits.

Anyway if more games did choices along the lines of Age of Decadence, I would be a happy gamer. That game allows you to betray pretty much every quest-giver you come across (including your own starting faction), your character build strongly affects the outcome of quests, and you're frequently left in a position where you start to doubt your own choices. More games need to do these things.

Dragon Age is a story told over different games, just like Mass Effect

choices are good. I liked it how in fallout 3 you could be good or evil.

another good example, also Fable is also a good example i think

I like the choices in Dark Souls; you can either die a lot or choose to git gud and not die as much.

That's not really what i would call choice

I like games with choices.

I love both options for example ;

The Last of Us - There's choice in combat with regards to how you approach certain combat scenarios, stealth take-downs/guns blazing/sneak past etc but of course the story is linear but that's needed in this instance however,

If Skyrim/Fallout had no choices in regards to the story that'd heavily impact the quality of the game imo.

So to sum up, down to the developers on a game by game basis for me :D

I like interactivity. If the developers want to tell a story then they better not sacrifice the interactivity to do it. My Xbox is not a glorified DVD Player.

Both. I don't like when i am given lots of choices or very little. Moderation is key for me.

In some cases, if the game is really good i don't mind a linear gameplay without any choices especially if the cutscenes are worth watching.

I like both really.

I feel more involved (and significant) in a game when it offers choices, so I'll go for that. Nothing wrong if it's linear too.

I was being silly, but thanks.

I am starting to hate the choices in story telling. I find they are many times the worse stories and I can not get into them as much.

I like choices more about how my character levels up and have that affect the game.

Seconded.

The greatest stories in games I've experienced so far are ones that do both, developers who anticipate the choices you make and create fixed consequences for those choices. Too much freedom dilutes the story while the opposite only lets the player experience a single iteration of a story taking away from anyone making it their story or their experience.

True, but i like having choices that makes me create my own storyline in games

Most a dev can do is expand the illusion. as long as it doesn't involve an ME3 Red Green Blue ending with not context then its good. I still think EA pressured Bioware into making RedGreenBlue to rush the game out to market, and that wasn't their original intention.

Put yourself in their shoes, when tools assets and time is limited, The trick is make sure the player doesn't pay attention to how limited a game is. To me thats more admirable to fool the player into believing they accomplished something than games just going the self aware route and saying 'your choices mean nothing'. We kinda realize that when we enter walk-thru walls mode and see all the bells and whistles. Or press the power off button

Started the Mass Effect series and I love the choice dialogue on it. I, personally, tend not to take any crap and speak my mind so likewise so will my character.

At the same I can show a soft making friends and getting more side quests. Makes games more immerseful.

i totally agree

I find those stories to be the worse. Also they often take me out of the story. I have a hard time getting into the Mass Effect stories compare to JRPG stories.

I prefer choice, and the illusion of choice, to no choice at all.

To be clear, by choice I don't mean what you find in GTA. GTA is an open world game series, but you choices don't really affect the story or the game world.

Variety is the spice of life. And with that in mind, I chose "BOTH". Because sometimes I like an open-world playground that I can wreck at my leisure, and sometimes I prefer a directed experience.

And then there's that rare type of game that offers a little from column A and a little from column B. A game like Dead Rising where you can choose to play around and wreck the world if you like, or you can stay in line with the directed experience and either one can give you a satisfying playthrough of the game.