Games like to give you a moral choice and it sometimes is either a heartbreaking one or it's a decision you can never make in real life. Games have done that for years now, since the Fable games to the newest Tale Telltale they throw at us. Hell and welcome to this Community Challenge!
Now, to be honest, I love making choices in games. Walking Dead Season 1 was the best for me and a great find. I didn't even know it came out. The story was steady and it was just so satisfying to progress. It was a mixture of Resident Evil atmosphere and a Silent Hill fear to it. Before I go on, just know that there is spoilers.
I went through the beginning of the chapter and met the entire crew to love or hate. There was the racist grandpa and his *** daughter, the nice married couple with a kid, a new lady and a TV tech expert. When you unravel the story of the store you're in, Walkers find their way inside. Everyone gets to safety, but the News Lady, Carley, and the TV Expert, Doug. You had a choice, each one was being manhandled by a Walker and needed help. The game freezes and gives you a choice, save one and leave the other. I was freaking out as this happened. Each one were both likable, I didn't want any of them to die! I went to my senses and thought Carley would be more helpful. She had a gun after all. As I made my final choice, you can see a small glimpse of Doug being eaten. The scene turns to the player as all you can hear is his screams as the Racist Grandpa whacks you on the head. I felt... As if I killed someone. I wanted to just walk away from the game, but it was too good to leave. Besides, what chance is this going to happen again?
When will the depression end!? So far the game just gave me more and more decisions to make that had awful outcomes. Larry has a Heart attack! Kill him to not risk a walker or help him so his daughter can think better of you. No matter what you choose, he gets a salt brick smashed in his head. God it was awful. I mean, what the f**k, Kenny!? What until I fail at least instead of doing it while I'm trying to save him. The whole game just made me feel so dead inside with regret.
In Bioshock, which had a large moral to it, had you, the player, choose to either be greedy and kill a Little Sister or rescue her and get very little Adam out of it. I was challenged to play on the hardest difficulty and seeing that Adam gets you new abilities and power-ups to defend yourself on the horde of splicers, I had to get more Adam. I got the most I could out of killing the little sister and the parasite inside of her as Tenenbaum could hardly hold the anger inside of her. I didn't know it would kill her! I'll be different next time! I had to load the save back and save her instead. I just didn't want to go with that in my mind as I play. Glad I did since the good ending is such a great tear jerker.
Another that I can remember is Spec Ops. There are so many moral choices in there that you believe that the game is giving you the choice to make, but just turns out it's testing how you are with all the gaming conditioning we had. Spoilers, if you haven't played that age old game. There is the "choice" to shoot into a civilian crowded area or the one part with the two guys, one is a criminal and the other is sinner, you have to shoot one, but the one that got me was the part where you have control of a White Phosphorus strike. You start shooting the horrible weapon at enemy soldiers and then you come across a large group of them, or so you believe. With that many white dots on screen, the only thing that comes to mind as a gamer is, "Wow, look at how many kills I'm going to get!" without a second thought that it might be something else.
Without know, you just shot White Phosphorus at the group of hostage civilians you were ordered to rescue. The first thing you see is a gaping-holes-for-eyes mother trying to protect her child. But before then, you take a look at the damage you've done and see some soldiers begging for help as they crawl towards you with a leg missing and half their face intact. Naturally, the player would continue to unravel the story of the game, but that moment just made me want to just put down the controller, sit in a corner and think of what I've done. It's not naturally a choice the game gives you, but it feels like it's your fault.
Okay, to let this end with a light note, let's talk about Fallout 3's ending. The game has been out for quite some time, so I shouldn't have to say it. If you remember, the game had you fight the last of the Enclave, stop them from destroying the Fountain of Eden and finally use the GECK to cleanse the world. Well, like your father, the intense radiation will kill you if you go in and turn it on. So after killing the Enclave, you are given a choice: Sacrifice yourself to turn it on and become a hero and legend or tell your partner to do it for you and let her become a hero and legend and you will forever be known as a coward. If you could think outside the box and tried to get Fawkes to do it since he's a freaking mutant that is immune radiation, it won't work because, "It is you that should do this!"
This just made me go in a loop of thinking of the wrongs of each side. I would be a hero if I sacrificed myself, but then I would be dead! If I die, then I won't be able to finish the game. I could get her to do it, but I don't want everyone in the game to remind me why that Paladin died and have myself be known for this. What sucks is how the game doesn't let you leave, you're locked in this situation, make a choice or turn of the console. When it comes to those with the PC power, you can go into the console commands and noclip your way out, but that wouldn't work since the door, if opened, would get you to a loading screen than another area, so there was no way to get out of this besides loading saves and going back to the last one before you started this mission. This wasn't a life changing choice to be sure, but it was more of a I-want-to-look-good-or-not choice and that one just got me so mad. I quickly made my character die for what needs to be done... At level 10. "What a waste" I said as the credits roll. What makes it even worse is how they released a DLC to extend the game's story and satisfy the player to be able to continue the game's real good fun.
Well, those are mine to show off, but I can't wait to see the community's response to this one. Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this and it felt good to take a load off the more angry blogs I wrote recently. 'Til next time...
Play More Games!