13 réponses à ce sujet

[Kinan Eldari]

Hey Bioware/Mass Effect forum folk.

The topic already states it fairly obviously, but I'm doing my thesis on the "illusion of choice in linear storytelling", and elected the ME games as one of my topics of research. Question to you all though is (as also restated from the topic); does anyone know where I can find the story of one or even all three games broken down by all the choices? Or have any tips for me that could potentially save me time?

Lastly, perhaps any you have more (game) suggestions for me that I can look into for this research topic?

 

Thanks up front!

Kinan

[Ithurael]

Cool topic. I like it!!

 

I would start by defining what the Illusion of Choice is to the reader. EC did a review of it:

CLICK

 

There was also a review of this by another user citing the ups and downs of the Illusion of Choice

CLICK

 

As for the choices themselves:

This could kinda help - albeit it is a bit messy

http://masseffect.wi...e_File_Transfer

 

This helps a bit as well

clicky

 

That is all I can think of. Try looking at the Something Aweful forums (I can't go there while at work) or reddit

 

I will check in again if I have anything else.

 

Good Luck!!

[Valmar]

Some other and perhaps easier games to deal with could be the Telltale Games. Such as the Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. They're both prime examples of illusion of choice in video games and are relatively short compared to the Mass Effect trilogy so would likely be easier to research. Plus they're pretty phenomenal games aswell, imo.

[Vazgen]

For the first two games I suggest watching (or using) Genesis comics. They summarize the major choices of the first two games.

Be sure to include the rachni. 

[Linkenski]

For ME3 I have the plot flowchart.

 

 

There's also a very generous Kotaku article about the choices of ME123

http://kotaku.com/th...ss-ef-471612781

[Kinan Eldari]

Wow. I thought it would take at least a couple of days for this to gain any traction, but you people all stepped up to help me out much faster, and with much more info already than I thought I would get from this. I can't say anything but Thank You! Thank you all for your suggestions and I will definitely look into the Telltale games, Valmar.

[Linkenski]

The Witcher 2 also has the most thorough use of choice and consequence I have seen in a game. A seemingly gray choice you make in the first act almost completely changes the locale for act 2 and the entire half of the game's critical path is divided in two completely unique subplots. It's like how DA:I's mages vs templars missions are completely exclusive but in Witcher 2 that choice you make affects the rest of the game.

[Kinan Eldari]

The Witcher 2 also has the most thorough use of choice and consequence I have seen in a game. A seemingly gray choice you make in the first act almost completely changes the locale for act 2 and the entire half of the game's critical path is divided in two completely unique subplots. It's like how DA:I's mages vs templars missions are completely exclusive but in Witcher 2 that choice you make affects the rest of the game.

The problem with the Witcher 2 then would be that it features splits in the story and you make choices that affect the game. It wouldn't work for my thesis on how to create the illusion of choice. Thank you for the suggestion though : )

On another note, I was considering slapping together a survey of sorts regarding people's experiences with Mass Effect's story. Question is, how do you all gauge the probability I would get enough data from these forums? Do you all consider these forums active enough to get enough people to fill out a short, 5-10 minute survey (because, heck, who'd fill out half an hour worth of questions)?

[Valmar]

The problem with the Witcher 2 then would be that it features splits in the story and you make choices that affect the game. It wouldn't work for my thesis on how to create the illusion of choice. Thank you for the suggestion though : )

On another note, I was considering slapping together a survey of sorts regarding people's experiences with Mass Effect's story. Question is, how do you all gauge the probability I would get enough data from these forums? Do you all consider these forums active enough to get enough people to fill out a short, 5-10 minute survey (because, heck, who'd fill out half an hour worth of questions)?

 

The issue, imo, wouldn't be so much how much data you get but rather how incredibly bias it's bound to be. I might just be pessimistic here but I have this crazy feeling that most of the input you'd get would amount to "ENDING ENDING ENDING RAWR RAWR RAWR BIOWARE MURDERED MY FAMILY!"

 

Just to keep things in perspective think of this: based around the passionate fanbase online you'd think Wrex was a big deal. Turns out over half of the players never met him. You'd think Femshep would be fairly popular. Less than 20% played Femshep. Less than half even finished the trilogy. Half of the people who played ME2 didn't even finish the game.

 

All that being said I'm sure I'd be up for answering such a survey.

[Kinan Eldari]

The issue, imo, wouldn't be so much how much data you get but rather how incredibly bias it's bound to be. I might just be pessimistic here but I have this crazy feeling that most of the input you'd get would amount to "ENDING ENDING ENDING RAWR RAWR RAWR BIOWARE MURDERED MY FAMILY!"

 

Just to keep things in perspective think of this: based around the passionate fanbase online you'd think Wrex was a big deal. Turns out over half of the players never met him. You'd think Femshep would be fairly popular. Less than 20% played Femshep. Less than half even finished the trilogy. Half of the people who played ME2 didn't even finish the game.

 

All that being said I'm sure I'd be up for answering such a survey.

Ha, yeah I remember the stink thrown over the ending (and I'm throwing fuel on the fire here by saying I didn't mind it too much). I would run into bias regardless because I need people who played the games to answer the questions of course. But thank you for the vote of confidence and the warnings. They are appreciated

[Valmar]

"Remember the stink"... Ah, I just noticed you're new to the forum. The stench never left, it still lingers. Like a festering corpse that refuses to stay buried. Lol.

[Darkarus]

Additional games to look at might be Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (one and two) and Baldur's gate which offer a lot of 'choices' that still lead to similar outcomes. 

[Linkenski]

The problem with the Witcher 2 then would be that it features splits in the story and you make choices that affect the game. It wouldn't work for my thesis on how to create the illusion of choice. Thank you for the suggestion though : )

On another note, I was considering slapping together a survey of sorts regarding people's experiences with Mass Effect's story. Question is, how do you all gauge the probability I would get enough data from these forums? Do you all consider these forums active enough to get enough people to fill out a short, 5-10 minute survey (because, heck, who'd fill out half an hour worth of questions)?

Any video game that has "Choices" as a big feature is bound to have illision of choice. Everything the player chooses are choices that are tailored beforehand by developers.

 

In your project you can write about the nature of emerging player stories - like the way choices, AI and freedom of player movement in open-world games like Fallout, intersect to form a "story" that is completely unique to the player - and the nature of designed choices and variables that can determine a set of pre-set outcomes in a literary narrative like in Bioware games.

 

In the Witcher 2 we're talking about the latter kind, the one where all choices and consequences are practically "artificial choices" the developers have designed for us to make but they affect which sides of the game's content we gain access to and it creates the illusion that we're forming our own story. The same goes for Mass Effect.

 

The reason why the Bioware/Telltale kind of "choice/consequence" has become popular is because the way choices change the game is not just about the player leveling up or getting a nice weapon, it's about letting us explore different themes change the tone and dramatic beats of the game.

 

Technically KOTOR and Baldur's gate popularized it I guess.

[Kinan Eldari]

Any video game that has "Choices" as a big feature is bound to have illision of choice. Everything the player chooses are choices that are tailored beforehand by developers.

 

In your project you can write about the nature of emerging player stories - like the way choices, AI and freedom of player movement in open-world games like Fallout, intersect to form a "story" that is completely unique to the player - and the nature of designed choices and variables that can determine a set of pre-set outcomes in a literary narrative like in Bioware games.

 

In the Witcher 2 we're talking about the latter kind, the one where all choices and consequences are practically "artificial choices" the developers have designed for us to make but they affect which sides of the game's content we gain access to and it creates the illusion that we're forming our own story. The same goes for Mass Effect.

 

The reason why the Bioware/Telltale kind of "choice/consequence" has become popular is because the way choices change the game is not just about the player leveling up or getting a nice weapon, it's about letting us explore different themes change the tone and dramatic beats of the game.

 

Technically KOTOR and Baldur's gate popularized it I guess.

I'm not disagreeing that all games to some extent feature the illusion of choice. Because indeed the developers need something to design. Otherwise it would just be life that we're playing. And there would be little point to play the game then, indeed.
But why I don't think the Witcher 2 would work for my thesis is because there are different endings. For the sake of keeping my thesis manageable, I'm opting to limit the types of games I am including in this to the ones where all possible storylines converge to a single end, rather than multiple ones. The reason I have to do this is simply the scope of it all. I only have a limited time to play and analyse a number of games, and the Witcher series is far too large to analyse fully without running out of time.
Still, not disagreeing, and I wish I could include examples that feature multiple storylines and endings. But yeah, time. The scarcest resource of all.