Illusion of choice- Summary

[montesinos7]

This is completely true, there is no real choice.

[Wrighty]

Most of ME3's choices didnt matter and they are a hell of alot bigger and have hell of alot more money and time than TellTale.

Doesnt matter if you save council, still wont help in ME3.
Doesnt matter who you choose as Earths ambassador.
Doesnt matter if you save collector base
Doesnt matter how many military points you have

I think people were expecting too much and i dont really care about the lack of real change with decisions you make. Im happy with new dialogue and the feeling that choices matter, the game doesnt have to branch off in entirely new directions or anything.

[Plan_R]

Yes, the choices you make do not make an impactful changes in the world or the story.

Yes, the choices you make a meaningful change in the story and the individual character arc's.

Both of these statements are true. The former is a valid complaint that points out that the choices the player makes do not alter the path or the destination of the game. The latter is valid defense of the players choices having a meaningful impact on the experience of the game and the journey the player goes through. I come down as agreeing more with the latter. But I do think Telltale was misleading us with some of the comments they made about choice changing the game. Nothing about the game changes due to the players decisions, but the experience of the game is drastically changed by the players choices.

[The Old Man]

(If black haired boy dies, lets call him Steve, then Mark survives...

Just for the sake of clarity, the "black haired boy" was named Travis.

[Ghositex]

Jesus, not this again... I'm not saying never talk about this, but it's just the same topic with nearly the same arguments all over again.

[Stridulfr]

I had heard this come up a bunch of times before I even started playing TWD and now that I've finished the game, it seems totally irrelevant to the experience. My specific playthrough seems completely separate from the other stories I have heard, which seems like the point to me. There is an incredible amount of variation from moment to moment in the relationships and moreover Lees intentions towards others that you carry the entirety of the game. In fact the game seems deliberately designed with this in mind.

I am new to the forums and I am sure this has been said before but it's just like life, you only have control over your own decisions and how you interact with others, you have no control over the world outside of yourself. If anything this improves the story by providing a sense of futility. Futility is a powerful emotional trigger and TWD uses it well.

Just look at the achievements, the game seems designed to be played once and only once. Not to say you can't go back and change your decisions but you will be lessening the gravitas of those decisions if you do, good or bad.

[YamiRaziel]

Once again we have the topic where people cry they don't have godly powers...
You tried to save Shawn but he died anyway?!..... Oh, the horror.
In other RPGs you can save whoever you want? True, sadly you can't name any of the supporting characters in those games.

There is no point to build standing with Larry or Lilly, because they die/leave? Oh... maybe we should suggest TTG to give rewards for choices. Maybe choices should give... hm let's say a +50 dexterity vest or a + 20 movement speed boots so that you can make decisions. Apparently story doesn't motivate you enough, so they should put something that can actually force you to think what is right and what is wrong.

Those of you who keep complaining, I'm not sure you get why this game is so much better than all those RPGs filled with choices and one dimensional boring characters, most of which are nothing more than reward givers and vendors.

[TealBlue]

Originally Posted by The Old Man

(If black haired boy dies, lets call him Steve, then Mark survives...

Just for the sake of clarity, the "black haired boy" was named Travis.

Thanks, missed that.

[Devlonir]

Originally Posted by Plan_R

Yes, the choices you make do not make an impactful changes in the world or the story.

Yes, the choices you make a meaningful change in the story and the individual character arc's.

Both of these statements are true. The former is a valid complaint that points out that the choices the player makes do not alter the path or the destination of the game. The latter is valid defense of the players choices having a meaningful impact on the experience of the game and the journey the player goes through. I come down as agreeing more with the latter. But I do think Telltale was misleading us with some of the comments they made about choice changing the game. Nothing about the game changes due to the players decisions, but the experience of the game is drastically changed by the players choices.

^^ 100% agree with this point of view.

The total and unbiased truth is that both sides have good and solid points and that the game was advertised with such wording that people might have thought the impact of choices would be bigger than how relationships with other characters would evolve over the course of the series.

I personally feel the impact is more personal and emotional because it doesn't effect other things besides the character relationships much. But I admit that is personal taste coming from being a bit tired of games that always had a 'best' way of doing things because your (sometimes minor) choices caused characters to live or die or had other major impacts which basicly made one choice/solution "better" than the others.

TWD turned out to not be about finding out if you'd survive the Zombie Apocalypse.. it's about finding out what kind of person you'll be throughout one.

[DreadMagus]

No, one side is right and the other is just being overly dramatic...

Unless Doug gives Lee some tongue on the balcony and Ben, like the true warrior that he is, fights his way out of the belltower and flips Lee the bird for dropping him.

[DanJ555]

But the choices do matter, just doesn't effect the plot much. Just because whether you save Yoda or Hagrid doesn't decide which world you go to doesn't mean the choice doesn't matter. The choice affects your reputation amoung others in your group and shows realistic actions in an unrealistic but popular setting.

The fact that the plot doesn't change is disappointing but TellTale isn't aiming for a Heavy Rain but with zombies, their doing what Kirkman is doing: exploring life in the zombie acopolypse.

[DreadMagus]

Well, the point I've always maintained is that they've never advertised it as a "Choose-Your-Own-Adventure." style game....

Though, reflecting on that - those books only had one ending where you "win" - so maybe they should have - lol.