Left Hook or Right?

Decisions. Choices. Options. Staple of the Western RPG, the ability to make decisions for your main character has been both praised and criticized. Some see it as the ultimate destination of video game narrative; the ability for a player to tell the story they want, to interact with it. Others see it as a weakness. An obstacle towards crafting a cohesive story. Personally I think both styles have their advantages, and it really depends on what kind of game is being made, and how good the writers involved are.

For better or worse, the Mass Effect series, and Bioware games in general, utilize a decision based dialogue system. The story is told through character interactions and the player is allowed to choose what their avatar says or does from a set of given options. Personally, I think it’s a great fit for the series, but it’s also a major contributing factor to the disappointment I, and others, have for the ending.

Why is decision making important to Mass Effect’s story? How does it enhance the game’s narrative? Let’s discuss, after the jump.

Warning! Once again, the rest of the article is filled with major spoilers! You have been warned!

Why Do People Hate Sequels?

The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, what do these three have in common? They're all movie trilogies whose sequels (Matrix Revolutions, Dead Man's Chest, The Two Towers) received major criticism, usually to the tune of, "while good, not as revolutionary as its predecessor." These sequels, while good, were graded harsher, because they brought nothing new to the table; they didn't appear as revolutionary as the first in the series, yet they were usually technically and narratively superior (ignoring The Matrix). Basically sequels get a bad rap.

The same rule applies in video games; expansion packs and sequels never receive as high of review ratings because they don't, or should I say, cannot revolutionize the genre in the same fashion as the original. Thanks to these views sequels are a rarity, especially in the realm of RPG's. It boggles my mind why, after devoting so much time and resources to creating these vast and detailed worlds such as those that appear in the final fantasy games, and after spending hours getting the player to get to know the characters involved, that they abandon it all every single game. Of the RPG's I've played, I can only come up with three that have sequels or expansions that carry their worlds on. These three are: Final Fantasy X-2 a game nearly universally reviled for its dress-up system and sequel nature, Neverwinter Nights 2 Mask of the Betrayer an expansion that all but ignores the narrative it is expanding upon, and Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 FES an expansion/sequel that was only recently announced to have an American release. For those who are taking score, I loved FFX-2, it filled in major gaps in FFX's narrative and allowed Yuna to develop over the two years between the games, a design decision that almost all avoid; I'm having a great time with Mask of the Betrayer right now, it fixes all of my major qualms with NWN2, though I do wish it did more with the narrative from NWN2; and Persona 3 gave me a full cathartic experience that all but eliminated my fear of death and allowed me to overcome what I have felt were some major flaws in my character. I cannot describe how happy I am that one of the RPG's that I felt has made the most significant strides in creative a cohesive narrative with the player is getting an expansion.

Also, very tired, might be a little sick, that's a huge paragraph. So to sum up:

Why the fuck are RPG developers not making more sequels!?

FFX-2 wasn't a bad game, you're just afraid of it because the color pink is in it.

I loved Persona 3.

PERSONA 3 FES COMING TO AMERICA!!!