Would this work?

OcarinaMan · #1

I've been thinking. In some RPGs, you're forced to fight against bosses who want you alive rather than dead (i.e. Yuan or Regal in Tales of Symphonia) What I've been thinking is that if you lose a battle like this, instead of getting a Game Over, the storyline alters to fit the situation.

Example: Your hero and his party encounter an unscrupulous businessman who wants you to fight against his enemies for him in exchange for a favor. Negotiations turn sour and you end up locked in combat. If you win, you go on your merry way. If you lose, however, you're revived by him and forced into doing his will for him for a while until you earn his favor.

In this way, a game can become slightly more realistic and it could increase replay value if done right. Considering how some games like KotOR are able to move towards the same ending despite the wide difference between your choices, it would be possible to manipulate the events of the game in a more subtle, indirect way to provide a wide range of gameplay choices.

What do you guys think?

Auron · #2

A game like that would be a programmer's nightmare. I don't think there would be enough room on a disk to hold all that kind of information.

Of course, it's a great idea, but I don't think it's all that possible at the moment. Like, how many different life altering decisions are made in a lifetime? Now try programming them into a game, plus all the different results, and combinations of results, and paths, and so on. It can't be done. Unfortunately.

Codiekitty · #3

Phantasy Star III has something like that. Not losing a battle, but twice you have to choose a wife. The game ends with four possible grandchildren. It's part of the reason the game sucks.

Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!

[ August 16, 2005, 11:23 AM: Message edited by: CodieKitty ]

Sim Kid · #4

I personally thought how the choices you could make in III were interesting, though many of them really were annoying to catch up with, maybe I was too busy instead laughing at the Stone heads wiggling their ears to hurt Rhys's children to pay more attention to the plot.

Codiekitty · #5

Well, the generations system had something going for it. What mostly went wrong was that Sega didn't give Rhys's children and grandchildren any personality. You spend all that time getting to know and like Rhys, only to have him wiped off the face of the earth and replaced with somebody who makes you care even less about the game.

Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!

Nekoscat · #6

whoa, im suprised to see my old template for the square forum still in use x]

I know this isnt the place to post aobut it, but im not aboit to create another topic just about a side note.. x]

Neko^^

Cysma · #7

Say, did Chrono Trigger not have at least a dozen endings to it? And how were those unlocked?

Codiekitty · #8

Beating Lavos at different points on a New Game Plus.

At the fair at the beginning of the game, you can run into the right pod and examine the blinking light to go directly to Lavos with just Crono. But I wouldn't recommend this until you've been through the game a few times. The ending you get has all sorts of the staffers hanging around The End of Time and you can talk to them. I believe beating the "super" Lavos at the Undersea Palace nets the same ending.

Some of them are relatively serious. For example, if you beat Lavos after You-Know-Who dies but before reviving him, they go off to do it.

Some of them were jokes. For example, if you beat Lavos after beating Magus the first time but before beating the Black Tyrano, everyone becomes a Reptite.

Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!

ralfsmith · #9

Can you provide me more information on this matter?

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