Two paths meme Skyrim Edition seemed appropriate for this article.
It’s not a secret that I have nostalgic love for choose your own adventure books. My first article on this site went into how these books were my gateway into gaming. Because of that, I’ve always had a fondness for storytelling and choice in video games. Unfortunately, due to the realities of game development, story branches are not as common as they should be. Yes, they do create memorable moments and an incentive for replays, but it is only a small percentage of players who bother to engage in these features. Most players are one and done with games, if they finish them at all. From a developer perspective, there are bigger features to hit that provide more value to the average player for the effort. But there are always weirdos like me who find these concepts fascinating.
A bunch of Dungeons and Dragons themed CYOA books. I had a copy of the "Dragon of Doom" book and I still have fond memories of it.
I’ll highlight a few of the games I’ve played that used choose your own adventure elements to enhance their stories. I’ll try to avoid major spoilers as much as possible, but if you really want to experience these completely untarnished, stop reading this article now.
!!!MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
for Final Fantasy III US/VI
Chrono Trigger
Tactics Ogre
Mass Effect
Skyrim
Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Final Fantasy VI – Waiting for Shadow
FFVI is one of the first games I played that was chock full of optional scenes and choices. There are a couple of memorable ones, but the one involving Shadow is probably the most memorable. After completing the Floating Island section of the game, the player has a limited time to escape before the island plummets to the ground. The player gets the option to wait for Shadow or leave immediately. The first time I played this game, I messed it up and left Shadow to die. As expected, you won’t be able to recruit him later or see his ending. What is interesting is that there are some minor changes to scenes involving another character. Relm appears with Shadow’s dog, Interceptor, where you would normally meet Shadow if he was alive. I wonder if that hints at anything? Nah, its probably a coincidence.
This translation error always bugged me, but it is there because the localizers didn't account for the option of Shadow being alive in this scene.
Some people misinterpreted this error as indicative of Shadow being a woman.
Chrono Trigger – Saving Lucca’s Mom
Some of the most poignant scenes in the game happen in this little side quest.
Chrono Trigger is known for its multiple endings, so it isn’t a game that lacks for story choices. The one that has stuck with me over the years is related to a minor side quest before end game. There’s a section near the end of the game where each character has a specific personal quest to unlock their abilities. One of the quests allows Lucca to go back in time to a certain event and attempt to save her mom from an accident that ends up crippling her. The reason I think this quest resonated with to me is because it speaks to a desire in all of us: The desire to undo tragedies or mistakes in our past.
By the way, Chrono Trigger is such an awesome game, you get a special game over scene for failing to vanquish the ultimate enemy.
Tactics Ogre: Accepting/Refusing Duke Ronway’s plan
Early on in Tactics Ogre, there is a choice offered to the player that drastically alters the course of the game. The player is given a choice whether to follow his ruler in a ethically dubious act or to commit insubordination and abandon their army. From that choice, the game splits into two paths that drastically change the story, the antagonists and the characters that can join the party. That unique scenario presented to the player of a seemingly lose-lose situation is what made this particular story choice memorable to me. Either choice would leave the main character in a perilous situation, so it makes the choice difficult. It is interesting to note that the story of Tactics Ogre was heavily inspired by conflicts at the time, such as the Yugoslavian conflict and the Bosnian War. Putting the player in the mindset of soldiers who are forced to follow through with war crimes was at the heart of this story choice.
Denim must choose between obeying orders from his superiors or the moral choice that would lead him to insubordination.
Mass Effect: Saving Kaidan or Ashley
Bioware is another company known for allowing their players choices in their playthroughs. Whether it is dialogue choices, outcomes for quests or partners to romance, they often allow the player to express themselves through gameplay. There was one choice in the main story, however, that really highlighted the heightened stakes in the particular scene. Commander Shepard sets timed nuclear explosives to the enemy's base and the plan is to rescue Kaidan, his second in command, who is distracting the main forces from the bomb. However, Ashley gets injured by the main villain, Saren, and cannot move on her own volition. The player must choose between carrying Ashley with him to the ship or rescuing Kaidan from his suicide mission. This choice is particularly hard-hitting if the player has been talking to their teammates inside the Normandy and forming romantic bonds with them. It all serves to highlight the difficult choices that a military commander is often forced to make.
The player is forced to choose between two allies in a ticking time bomb scenario. One of the most difficult choices for a commander.
Skyrim: Choosing between the Empire and the Stormcloak Rebellion
Bethesda games are designed to provide an open ended buffet like experience to the player. There’s a bunch of factions and guilds in the world and the player can explore all of their quest lines to their heart’s content. Sometimes some of the factions are at odds and the player has to make a choice between them. Skyrim took this idea to heart and centered their whole game around the conflict between two factions: the Empire and the Stormcloak rebellion. The player gets the opportunity to join one of the two factions in the war, each with a unique questline. What’s interesting about this choice is that both factions have valid reasons to fight. The Empire wants to preserve the union of their territories, while the rebels are opposed to new repressive policies from the imperial government and wish to live in an independent Skyrim. The player gets to interact with various NPCs throughout their journeys and some of them offer their perspectives on the conflict. All of that setup raises the player investment in the questline of their chosen side.
The player must visit the main city of either faction and meet with the second in command (Either Galmar Stone-Fist or Legate Rikke) to start the civil war questline.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses: Choosing your House or aligning with the Church of Seiros
The player gets to choose their house on the first chapter and it decides the particular story branch for the second half of the game.
Fire Emblem is a franchise that isn’t shy to story branches. Sacred Stones and Fates are two notable iterations that include these type of features. Three Houses, however, really went wild with the branching storyline path premise. There’s the basic choice that is alluded to in the title of the game that allows the player to pick their faction. That will decide their allies and their particular story path in the second half of the game. But there is another branch in the middle of one of paths that has the player choose between staying loyal or abandoning their house to favor the Church of Seiros faction. It is a compelling moment although they heavily telegraph some of the plot twists in the game. That's typical of the more shonen anime inspired stories, but I'm sure for younger people it was more effective.
There's a point in one of the houses where the player must decide whether to continue following the House leader or to kill them. Can't say who as that would be a huge spoiler.
And that is all I could fit in this article. I didn't mention adventure games or Japanese visual novels because I'm not that familiar with those genres. Did I leave out any other memorable choose your own adventure moments? Feel free to include those in the comments. Thanks for reading.
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