There is also that stage in R-Type Final that takes one of five forms depending on exactly how you shoot at the boss. It ranges between desert and icy lake, with different enemies in each variant.
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I feel this is only cool if you know after the fact, whether through replaying the game, conversation with other players or by looking at a FAQ that there are indeed alternative choices.
What Iām saying is, in most cases there being a choice is meaningless to you, the player in your particular narrative, unless you know externally that the game is reacting to something you do.
I think the who-you-go-on-a-date-at-the-Golden-Saucer-with in Final Fantasy VII is a good example of this. Youāre making dialogue choices all along the way, which you do in RPGs all the time, but they only ever seem to have consequences when itās an immediate plot-branching choice. Instead, the game systemās been tracking how you treat each character to secretly determine whom your performance of Cloud likes the most (or, perhaps rather, who would like Cloud the most based on how heās treated them).
Because FFVII is one of the most picked-apart games from my teenage years, itās hard to remember that at one point this was a surprise and not simply something you would consciously go into a playthrough planning for.
I feel like this kind of thing should be more popular than it is. Imagine if the Persona games brought this into its vision of social links.
(I think Dragonās Dogma does something like this at some point near or at its endgame, but that may be a spoiler, and I havenāt actually played the game all the way through myself.)
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ffvi shadow
does, like, eatin guts at the end of bloodborne count?
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The game chooses one of the characters as the protagonistās ābelovedā who gets kidnapped and must be rescued. I donāt think that aspect of the story matters enough to be considered a spoiler, but I found it surprising and amusing when there was suddenly a dramatic reunion scene between my character and some random merchant guy. I guess I must have talked to him a lot, but it was only in the context of buying and selling things.
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thereās also exactly one stage in dishonored 2, of all things, thatās like this!
really nice touch that some people may not even notice, everything having to do with that one level is all that game has over death of the outsider
I love this.
That sounds like a very Fable 2 kind of moment
Yeah, Megaman X has several interesting stage changes:
Sting Chameleon, Spark Mandrill, and Chill Penguin.
Also, stretching the definition a little; the Megaman series weapons and weaknesses might also be considered unsignposted choices. There are little reactions and changes to the boss fights.
I know Telltale and Life Is Strange and such are kind of obvious about their choices, but I always really enjoyed the fact that they typically conclude each chapter by showing you different possible outcomes (some of which you didnāt realize was an undeclared choice you were making) and the percentage of players who took each route.
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Telltale also uses the choice acknowledged prompt for narrative effect.
Folding extradiegetical UI elements back into the narrative is a trope Iāve always been fond of.
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Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater
the game asks you at the beginning, which MGS game is your favorite (or maybe it was which MGS character?). and then it starts you with or without certain items, based on your choice.
destroy food storage - enemies in local area start complaining about being hungry and get lazy about patrolling and how alert they are.
Destory ammo caches - enemies run out of ammo very quickly in fire fights.
and mind you, its not like these food and ammo caches are highlighted with prompts to blow them up. You have to naturally decide to try it.
Shoot enemy radios/walky talkys and prevent their ability to call for backup.
Start The End boss fight, but then have to stop becuase you have to leave on the family vacation across the midwest. Return a week later, to find The End is dead. Because heās olllllld.
Shoot The End earlier in the game at some swamp docks and his boss fight area is instead, an ambush by Ocelot soldiers.
Iām sure there are some other ones Iām forgetting.
You can eat The Endās parrot, because you can interact with it exactly the same as any other animal in the game.
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You can also get killed by the flying wheel from his chair hitting you after you kill him early. This happened to me.
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Dragon Age: Origins
Actions taken in each of the origin stories affect NPCās and quests when you return to the areas.
Several NPCās will attack you until killed if you handle situations certain way, including a possessed child.
Certain party members will turn on you and attack if they donāt like you enough.
The big bad man since the beginning of the main story will join your party late in the game, but early enough for it to matter, in exchange for losing your original companion.