The only game that I ever played that allows you to pick such an answer was Baldur’s Gate: Siege of Dragonspear. IIRC.
there is one trans character named Mizhena, you don’t even know she was actually trans until you finished her quest. Even that you still need to be so nosy, about her circumstances that she finally said she is Trans.
…ofc, when it was revealed people who played the original Baldur’s gate hate it because they thought the game become “woke”.
…knowing the game in question also has an item that changes a character gender, an evil character has his gender changed because of a spell he casted, etc.
Does anyone else find it annoying when a choice is described one way, but then you actually make that choice and the subsequent description is completely different from the actual choice you made?
Example: I was reading Arcadie, and in response to a woman offering to take your hand in marriage, you are given the option to say “I am not interested in women.” However, the subsequent description of that choice makes no actual reference to you saying you weren’t interested in women but rather just a vague general disinterested response. Made me a little miffed, because just expressing a general disinterest is definitely different from just saying your sexuality is completely incompatible.
Hmm for me it comes to narrative dissonance. If the plot is your life is on a timer and you don’t have a lot of it then the game should reflect that. There should be a negative effect the longer you take to fix the problem. This is the issue I had with cyberpunk where it didn’t feel like the threat to my life was that great. Where as with bg3 you have the other things keeping it at bay. Which lets you go out and do other stuff while still giving you the pressure of the plot. I also think the side missions happen more organic with them popping up in places related to the main mission I think helps it a lot
If it were integrated into gameplay properly, it would turn the game into a forced speedrun, which is not very fun to play.
Look at FFXIII Lighting Returns for an example of the concept.
Putting this here from the conversation about nm. I think a better solution would be for authors to tell us how much customization of the mc and how deep the level interactivity they plan the off to be. That way people know what they are getting into
I want to play at my own pace instead of constant “Gogogogo, stop wasting time and go” mode. Gives me anxiety every time i do anything optional, because i’m seemingly wasting time.
I absolutely hate timed events in games. As well as games with no pause function or limited save availability. Its rare for me to have a gaming session without some form of interruption, whether that is the wife, kids, pets whatever. I don’t want to prioritize my games over any of them, but I really hate having to come back to a game over screen.
Yeah I think the biggest issue there is just the inability to pause, right? There really is no reason to not allow the player to ESC and pause it until they can get back incase something happens.
I only really see not having a pause option as acceptable in online games where you literally can’t pause it, as a limitation of the type of game it is. (Or in cases where the game is designed around the inability to pause, making it a core mechanic of how you engage with the story.)
Sekiro is the only souls game that has a pause feature. You can open inventory and stuff just that any enemy can kill you while you are deciding which weapon to use.
From a narrative perspective, I agree with this. From a player’s perspective? As soon as you put a time limit on me, I get stressed out and stop enjoying the game. I swear I developed PTSD from playing the Dead Money DLC from Fallout: New Vegas. That beeping noise set me off every time (usually right before my poor courier’s head blew off). And as much as I love all of the Ezio AC games, the timed tasks pissed me off.
By the same token, I found it funny in Skyrim how you’d get handed some task where someone was in danger or you needed to deliver something quickly (this was also in FO:NV) but on the way to do it, my MC would get distracted and start exploring caves. Or shopping. Or killing Thalmor…Whoever was depending on that immediate delivery would’ve been screwed.
But given a choice, I’d still take those things not being timed. I play to have fun, not to get more stressed out (which is hilarious, because every time I replay, NV, I replay that damned DLC… I just cheat at the end so I can take all the gold, because screw the game and its “you can only carry two bars” bullshit).
yeah but it brings ludo narrative disonance i think a better way is not to have a really long timer so you can go out and do things or have temporary medication for the thing so you can keep doing what you are doing
I mean it makes sense. The game has the intent of always being online so you can be invaded. Sekiro was the only one where it wasn’t that way. Dark Souls as far as games go I didn’t care as much about pausing since most of the fights are short enough
To be fair regarding FromSoft games not having a pause, the constant autosaves mean you can just exit the game when you need to and jump back in right where you were. I guess if you’re in the middle of a boss fight that doesn’t work though.
Games where you’re forced to pick a character to romance, even though it’s not a specifically romance genre game. I love how many choice of games and hosted games have ace and aro representation in them, and I like to roleplay characters as close to my actual self I can get, so it really irks me when games that aren’t necessarily romance genre force romance in your face.
I feel this way with A Tale of Crowns. I know the game is marked as romance, but none of the ROs are attractive to me. I was more interested in ruling an empire, so it annoyed me that I was forced to choose RO.
I wish there was ‘friends-only’ option like in Wayhaven, then the game would be more fun for me.
I actually have the opposite problem as you- I’ve always wanted to try self-inserting, but every attempt dropkicks me out of suspension of disbelief SO QUICKLY. I myself am aro, which means relationships are HELLA complicated for me, and I have found all of zero games that let me have incredibly close friendships without doing romance-romance. Also media has always been escapism for me, diving into the intricacies of someone else from an omnipotent lens, and any reminder of my personal life while playing squicks me out hard. Idk, something about acknowledging my existence as like. A person that affects things weirds me out.
(however, It’s very interesting to see how you navigate IFs! Other people’s views are endlessly fascinating to me :DD!!)
