Balancing Real with Fun

[sinvraal]

Playing through Dragon Age II, reflecting on Origins and both Mass Effects brings up an interesting conundrum in my mind; the balance of reality versus wish-fulfillment in game storytelling.

Comments

[kahoko007]

I feel much the same way. I haven't played any of the DA games, but I did give up on Fable 3 for exactly this reason. You put all your time and effort into something you really believe in, and then they drop this bomb on you that you have two choices and neither of them is particularly good. It kind of blindsided me, and actually really upset me, because I hadn't been able to come up with some strategy to make it work the way I wanted. I get enough of that IRL, and it kind of upset me to have to make a decision like that in a game I was using to be, in a way, better than I am IRL.

I know that when I play RPGs, I like to imagine the character I'm playing as a better version of myself, one that doesn't make bad decisions and one that everyone likes and respects. So I guess it upsets me when I have to make a decision that I'm not sure is the right one, or that I'm concerned will cause someone (even a video game character, as ridiculous as that sounds) to lose respect for me. I had this problem again in ME2 with the decision to rewrite or blow up the geth. I did it both ways in different playthroughs just for completion's sake, but boy did it take me forever to decide the first time.

I don't mind a few choices like this, but a bunch of them just burns me out and makes me wanna play something more light-hearted and fun. In my opinion, ME and ME2 never went over this line for me. Fable 3, on the other hand, did it in a big way.

[zikadee]

Ditto on the Fable 3 thing. I came to the ending and when I realized how shitty my two choices were, I put the game down and didn't play it for a few weeks. I just didn't care anymore. I eventually beat it but it was probably one of the most unsatisfying endings I've ever seen in a video game.

I'm ok with dark endings as OPTIONS, but I really do prefer it if the player can do overall good and be heroic if they are smart enough/work hard enough. ME2 did it for me in this regard: the ending can be dark and sad, or kickass and heroic depending on your choices and how well you were paying attention to your crew.

[kahoko007]

The worst thing for me was that I had more or less figured out how to do it anyway (mostly renting every property available and just sitting around with the game running to get that income so I could throw all my own money into the treasury) and then they go from "We're skipping 2-3 days on our countdown each time" to "Hahaha! We went from 100 and something to none."

So I basically finished it (most people died, surprise) and never looked at it again. The only good thing is that at least it was my brother's game and not mine, so I didn't waste the money on it.

[thewaterbandit]

I had that exact same experience with fable 3 and it ruined the game for me. I ended up not even finishing it and trading it in for something else. It was like the whole first half of the game had been totally pointless!

[kahoko007]

Totally agree. It really, really upset me. Hilariously enough, I didn't even enjoy the first half of the game that much. I mean, it was fun enough, but I more or less ended up spamming magic all the time because trying to do anything with the melee weapons or guns (ha, what a joke) just ended up with me dead. So. Yeah, big disappointment.

Like I said above, though, at least it wasn't mine! I would have been supremely pissed if I'd paid the 60 bucks or whatever for it and then had it turn out that way.