Immersion and Linear Progression

by Ragashingo , Official DBO Cryptarch, Thursday, July 25, 2013, 10:37 (3934 days ago) @ Xenos

You talk about these things as if writing optional, non-linear narrative is just a simple problem to solve. I think the very fact it doesn't exist (a few experiments aside) in mainstream video games is a good demonstration that it's far from simple.

Yeah I have to say this is one of the main reasons why the story for Mass Effect 3 ended up annoying (or enraged) people so much. They had put 3 games worth of decisions into the series and it turned out that their decisions barely mattered for the story. Honestly I was not disappointed because I really wasn't expecting something vastly different depending on how I played the game because I know how ridiculously difficult it would be to write a story (especially one with as many cinematics as Mass Effect) that changed drastically based on your decisions. Not that I am saying people were wrong to be annoyed, but it honestly would be very surprising to me to see a modern game that has a lot of actually branching and changing story.

I think Mass Effect's problem was more that it took a sharp left in the last 5 minutes. Well that and the way ME3's entire plot centered around the galaxy desperately banding together to build a giant device who's function they couldn't even guess at…

Heh, ME story idea: It would have been great if the device, that had been pass down from cycle to cycle, was in fact yet another Reaper plant, just like the Mass Relays. It would have brought it neatly back around to Sovereign tell us in 1 that we were so far beneath them that they were beyond comprehension and all that. Bonus points if the device we all worked so hard to build was in fact, a new Reaper in disguise… somehow. :)