In-Game Decisions

I believe I made thread about this a while ago.

In-game choices. Sometimes in the story your main character is poised with two or more choices. These choices vary, from which path you'll take to who lives and who dies. Often times these choices ripple in later parts of the game. My question to you, the reader, is how do you go about deciding? Do you base your choices on what's best for the current situation or do choose things you would do if you were asked?
What's your process in making choices in-game and finally, what games do you like that have in-game choices?

#inb4 The Walking Dead

I loved the choices in the walking dead if they make a breaking bad game it needs to be in that art style and that type of game. I always chose who I like the most to save and I kill whoever I feel like it because then I am in control.

I just decide upon between who i can help. I always help the people i like more and just let the other one die. The only game i like with that option has been StarCraft II, i havent experienced any other game with this option.

Most the time in these type of games, The Walking Dead being a prime example I just choose from who I want to save, simply because I like to immerse myself into a game as much as possible.

Sometimes I make them just because I'm genuinely curious about what will happen. I'm very stringent about not letting my in-game characters become extensions of myself, so I don't particularly favor what I myself would do.

Honestly speaking, I'm not a fan of games that give you choices. Although I appreciate the replay value in multiple endings and writing your own character story, it doesn't suit my preferences. I like following one straight story and having one ending. I'm a horrible decision maker in real life, never mind making choices in-game. But when I do, I generally choose the sensible and probably most often chosen one.

I loveee games that give you meaningful choices *cough cough* Walking Dead.

However just like in real life i'm really bad at making choices XD

I just pick the negative choices for the lulz. Sometimes, I tend to have more fun being the criminal rather than being the hero.

An example is Skyrim, after a guard orders me to submit, I'd tell him that "I'd rather die than go to prison".

As for real life, I always choose the optimistic path. Realism kicks in real life; in-game doesn't.

Whenever I make a choice in a video game, It's generally trying to fit what the character I'm either playing as or created would say. If I want to make a complete saint of a character, I'll always choose the choices that help the most people and vice-versa.

The only game that I really liked that had choices was the Walking Dead. Since, in those games the choices you made actually mattered, to a degree.

But whenever I'm given a choice, I usually decide my choices what best fits with the situation or what the character would most likely make.

"Make game choices carefully"

That's what I learned from playing The Walking Dead, Skyrim, and The Wolf Among Us. A wrong choice could lead to a game over so you really have to choose what is right. For me I put myself in the characters shoes just for me to realize what choices is for the best especially when I'm playing The Walking Dead like choosing between who gets to live now that's just harsh and you have to face the consequences that the characters will say to you regarding your decision. So I do 2-3 gameplays of the game just to see what each decision does for me to enjoy the game more.

I believe the Mass Effect series is something like that as well although I haven't played it yet.

I'm apathetic towards in-game choices as of right now, but it's mostly because the medium is still in a primitive state. Most modern games that use choices as a selling point end up falling on their face because they display choices in at least one of two ways:
-story changing choices only occur during dialogue
-said choices involve black-and-white morality

I think both of these are laughably poor ways of presenting player choice, but since it's an easy solution most developers use it. An equally big problem that arises is the pacing. A handful of these same developers think that the calm period in between heavy combat sequences is the perfect place for text dumps, and the conversations that occur themselves are so incredibly stilted and robotic that it's almost impossible to get immersed.

Moreover, I think what's more important than choices are their impact on the player, rather than on the game. A silly but surprisingly fitting example is a QTE in Assassin's Creed II, where you have a quick opportunity to hug Leonardo da Vinci(I think). Despite the choice affecting absolutely nothing, many players decided to play the segment over just because they wanted to making Leonardo happy.


tl;dr choices are cool, but how choices are presented sucks.

The thing about choices in game is that a lot of the time, those choices are really an illusion. They try to make you believe you have control. Some games really do give you choices and it actually effects the story and I applaud those games, but often times I always find the choices leading.

What I mean is, they give you either option A) Do it, B) Don't Do it or C) Ignore and it happens anyways. Or they give you options that your character wouldn't actually do (due to how you developed them or for whatever reason) but you can't progress without choosing an action that would break your character. Those kinds of options are frustrating. If you're playing a Rogue that would rather leave you broke and lost, but you're only option is to either help them or leave them alone, then what kind of choice is that really?

I always go with what I would answer in real life. Which doesn't always work out. Cause I'm a pretty sarcastic person.

Yeah, these are some of my favorite type of games. Mass Effect actually came to my head. Normally I would pick the choice which would cause the most chaos haha. Choice A:: run into a horde of enemies? Choice B: Wait it out. Without a doubt I'm running into that horde! I'm glad that we were able to make more of our own choices in GTA V. The Jewelry store mission is what comes to my head. :)