So I am veeeeeeeeeery late to the party, BUT I'm currently playing the walking dead (season 1) and I really enjoy it! I think it's such a shame that telltale is gone and I really think that their games had a huge impact on this genre.

I also played Life is Strange and Life is Strange BtS and enjoyed these games as well but I always have the same feeling playing these sorts of games: Every time I choose something, like every single time, I regret it. Afterwards I ALWAYS wished I had chosen differently.

What do you think? Do you have the same feeling with these sorts of games? What are your thoughts on this topic? :D

5 years ago

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I think that all the choices in these games really do not affect anything. The only important choice is made at the end of the game.

5 years ago
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yeah right, but still during the game it can get a bit unsatisfying somehow... at least thats what I felt not only for the outcome overall but more for the direct reaction from the other characters for example I got

5 years ago
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You can affect some things in Tales from the Borderlands. Certain characters (not main ones, obviously) will die or not die; lot of your choices affect who's available to be in your endgame party for the "final boss," and with effort you can change the central romance.

5 years ago
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These are linear games, and so they'll always progress along the same path regardless of your choices as by design they have to go from episode 1 to 2, 3, 4, and 5.

But while the destination may be the same until the final episode, every choice shapes and effects the journey to get there. Even if a choice doesn't directly affect something in the game (say you chose whether to trust a character or lie to them), it still has an effect in the player's mind by changing your perception of the story and your relationship to the characters (you'll know you lied to the character, even if the game doesn't explicitly call it out). It's why two people who play through the same game may have a very different experience due to making different choices, and why my playthrough feels personal to me because it reflects each of the choices I made along the way.

In short, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey - because the destination is meaningless without the journey to get there.

5 years ago
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Walking Dead has a great story and compelling characters, but like StarPONY said, the majority of choices don't really change anything. I think playing them once is probably the best, because it feels like the choices mattered.

5 years ago
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oh yeah sure! I thought that about LiS as well... playing it a second time is not a real option for me (also because I have a shit ton of games and I want to play them all before inevitable death) but I always of course watch online the other ending/s etc. yet I always feel weird about my choices not later on regarding the ending but more when seeing the direct concequences,... but I think thats also intentionally build in so players want to play it a second time with other choices..

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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The only choice I remade was in The Wolf Among Us, where I misunderstood the prompt - glassing someone didn't mean to raise your glass on them, but to smash the glass on their head :D
Otherwise I played those games with a " welp, that happened" attitude. I'm unsure if it will be doable about LiS, I think the feels will get me a lot more than with any TT game.

5 years ago
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in The Wolf Among Us, where I misunderstood the prompt - glassing someone didn't mean to raise your glass on them, but to smash the glass on their head :D

I misunderstood that prompt too, and I don't think we're alone on this one :D

5 years ago
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You'll be happy to know none of the choices (apart from some minor ones at the end) change anything at all about the story except for one or two lines of dialogue directly after you made the choice. You can play as a raging psychopath, nothing changes. Still love the game though.

5 years ago
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Played it both ways, I know. But I roleplay/ follow a personality in games, not just powergame through.

5 years ago
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Play SOMA and you will want to kill yourself after choices :D

Really tho, it is the game that made me think, the most.

(Pillars of the Earth was very good as well and it is closer to games you mentioned above)

5 years ago
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uh I already have SOMA so I think I will give this a try after the walking dead so thanks :D and I'll take a look at pillars of the earth hehe

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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uh already watched like the whole lets play! I would have loved to have the experience on my own but I just don't own a ps4 lol

5 years ago
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5 years ago
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ok HOW DID I MISS THIS?!?!?!?!??!?

5 years ago
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since WHEN? WHY? i am so confused hahaha! thank you dude!

5 years ago
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I usually like to consult the wiki or a guide to know which choice leads where, so I rarely regret the choice I make in games. In real life, however... I instantly regret pretty much every choice I make. And it's not even that I made a wrong decision, just that I'm never happy with myself. Jesus, now I'm depressed again :D

5 years ago
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hahahaa oh man :'D I wished I would have some kind of wiki for my life where my choices in the end somehow really do matter haha for games I kinda like not knowing what happens, although I regret everything hehe.

and that's somehow that what you are getting thought.. but we will eventually break that cycle and be happy with ourselfs and the decisions we make! (:

5 years ago
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Uh, I have mixed feeling about these game. Like someone said, the only choice that really matters is the one at the end. Most of the minor choices give the exact same outcome, no matter if you choose A or B, just a different roundabout. It was espacially painfully visible in TWD.

If you REALLY wish for a game where choices matter LISA is the game that will really fuck with you and make you question your decisions.

5 years ago
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oh man.. thx for the tipp, heared enough good things about LISA..

5 years ago
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Afterwards I ALWAYS wished I had chosen differently

Well the great thing in LiS is that you could always (well, almost always) rewind time and choose something else. A pity they removed in LiS BtS (and a shame they replaced it with that stupid backtalk minigame)

5 years ago
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oh yeah the backtalk thing was really super anoying!!!

5 years ago
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Play https://store.steampowered.com/app/282070/This_War_of_Mine/ and thank me later :o)

You NEVER have enough ressources to do all that you "should do". If you fullfill some requirement the protagonists suffer at something else. That push you the complete game under pressure and that is in the end a very intense game experience that teach you a lot about people in a emergency situation. A great game.

5 years ago
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I'm pretty sure that the Walking Dead is designed to make you feel that way, ie: there are no good choices. I enjoyed the first season anyway, the second not quite as much, and stopped there because occasionally I do know how to quit while I'm ahead.

5 years ago
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I rather like having bad choice options as it makes the game feel more realistic. (If you knew the outcome of every possible choice in any given situation in real life, would you pick the outcome that is always the most favorable? I know I would!) TWD is a great game, but to be fair, the world the game is set in is bleak anyway and that is what makes it's choice outcomes perfect... because it puts you in situations where you don't have much information to work with or time to think about the consequences.

5 years ago
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I have same feeling mostly when I don't really understand what I choose. So I'm trying to make savegames from time to time to be able to fix it

5 years ago
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The worst game in this regard I've ever played is an Italian VN Dry Drowning. I mean, it's a decently written and drawn dystopian noir detective, but each and every choice feels like a wrong one. If I load a previous save and choose a different option, it also feels like a wrong one. I mean, sure, that's kinda an issue in most of the similar games, but Dry Drowning was the first game that made me feel so bad about every decision that I abandoned it for good.

5 years ago
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Thats how I finished to play Deus Ex MD. Couldn't choose and backlogged it... forever

5 years ago
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A noir detective game that actually makes you feel trapped in a hostile universe with no real way out? That's a rare thing - I'm in and I don't usually play VNs. Thanks for the rec :)

5 years ago
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I think that's the beauty of these games, when done right they make it feel like everything is the result of your choice. I always go with the choices I make, and only change them if I misunderstood something and didn't actually make the choice I thought I was making (which is why I really like LiS's system, since you can see the immediate response to your choice before committing to it, but not the far reaching ramifications).

5 years ago
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I think that's the beauty of these games

Exactly. If you're going to use a walkthrough on your first playthrough just to make sure you choose the right decision, then you're doing it wrong.

5 years ago
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+1

5 years ago
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