What are the worst kinds of choices?

Ugh…well, it happened again. On the second choice of Hero Unmasked, you’re asked if you’re madly in love with your partner. Well, I have no idea because I haven’t even met them yet. I’m sure the story is great, but this is my least favorite kind of choice.

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This was literally my complaint in the feedback thread… :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: (They did have the choice that I’d felt forced into it, which I as a player did, but my MC wouldn’t necessarily feel that.)

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Now I think about it, I can sometimes have similar difficulty with “choose this character’s gender” choices, if they make up a substantial amount of the core cast, because I like the cute romance people to be male, but I also prefer if there’s some female representation present too, and when presented with the choice, I often can’t tell yet whom I might be interested in :thinking:

Do bisexual players tend to have trouble with that kind of choice too? :thinking:

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That’s what multiple playthroughs are for. :stuck_out_tongue: The decision is even made easier for me when there are achievements that you can get by playing a game with all ROs that are of the same gender (like in Mecha Ace).

Since these character are only different because of the pronouns used (I’m sure there are some exceptions, though I can’t think of any right now.), I don’t really have much trouble with it.

Though I admit that I prefer ROs who are genderlocked so that choice is out of my hands.

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For me sometimes having to many options without a clear understanding of what implications those options will have on the MC.

I don’t know how many minutes I’ve wasted time trying to choose between between several choices because either none fits the way I’m playing the MC or (more often than not) several options could work for the way I’m playing the MC.

Basically, in most cases I’m good with 3 or 4 options.

PS… I also think there needs to be choices for the MC to be a sarcastic smartass in every game lol

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When you have to pick a side, or even just a strong opinion about a side, really early in a game when you know next to nothing about the players or the conflict. I get really put off by things like that, because I’m naturally indecisive and want as much info as possible. I get why it happens, because a lot of the time you’re playing an established character who would have these opinions, but as I person I don’t know that much about the world I’m in. Suddenly all these factions are running around and I’m helping them or hindering them mostly at random.

I like a game that gives the option for your character to just say ‘I’m confused’ when it comes to these sorts of things like there is in Freak Among the Neon Lights. There’s this chaotic whirlwind of characters and combat introduced and you get asked whether you want to fight. When you say no one of the options is because you’re too confused. I’d be confused if I was suddenly asked to pick sides, so I like my characters to have the same opinion.

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Ahem…you might like my WIP, The Magician’s Task. Theres a sarcasm stat. XD end shameless self-promotion

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Hahaha Having a gamebook where I have a goal (probably not your intention but it’s going to be my goal anyways) to be the biggest sarcastic smartass I can be… Now that’s a gamebook for me. lol :wink:

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Reason n68 I prefer gender locked ROs. When I have to choose their gender I feel I’m like “yes, you’ll be whatever I say” and it kills the immersion for me. Very few authors can pull it off IMO.

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One of the worst things I know in games regarding choices and romance in particular is when your MC is locked into a romance from the start, and in order to date someone else your character literally has to cheat on them, or like talk behind their back?

The examples that come to mind are Champion of the Gods (where you only get the chance to date that commander character - I don’t remember their name - at the very end, when either you or they are literally just about to get married to the prince/ss?)

The other one is in The Hero Unmasked where the whole romance was just kind of…off-putting to me personally. To begin with you have to decide whether your character is interested in the person they’re engaged to, and then right away you meet another character and you don’t get a say in the fact that your character is very obviously attracted to them (a thing that wouldn’t have been an issue if it was just…mentioned in passing but it’s more than that. I remember being annoyed that I couldn’t decide how my character felt about this person they just met since I’d just met them as well.) Then you’re given several romance options and even though you can start flirting/kissing/romancing them mid-game, you have no chance (that I found) to break it off with your S/O until the end of the game? I kinda felt like we were being nudged to do it at some points and it ruined some of the gameplay for me, especially since I really liked one of the other romance options while I didn’t feel I knew the mayor enough to care much.

TL;DR: if you’re gonna add multiple romance options please don’t make it sound like the MC has to cheat to unlock other romances.

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