True and this drives me nuts. What’s the point of a medium where “your choices matter” if you simultaneously want to “not miss anything”. Those are literally contradictory positions
Reposted from
Dominic Tarason
A lot of gamers are also deathly afraid of missing something. Just the idea of a single line of dialogue slipping through the cracks sends a lot of people into a deep anxiety sprial.
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Next you're going to tell me the point of a Choose Your Own Adventure book is *not* building a flowchart of the narrative paths.
When I played Overboard! I enjoyed permanent choices because I was able to play it over and over to try to eventually see all the outcomes.
it's fine to allow the player to see everything, of course
if choices matter, making it clear that no matter what you do you'll miss a ton of stuff, you just come to terms with it really quickly
missables are an issue when they're actually avoidable
I really adore how satisfied I feel playing inkle games like Highland Song just a couple times before moving on, yet knowing there's much more in those hills that I've never seen.
But much weaker games have held me hostage for much, much longer, I guess with the hope that maybe I would enjoy it if I just saw all of it??
“Do you wanna crucifix that guy?”
I don’t know! What choice gives me more game, I want that!
Then i replay the game 7 more times until i find everything i missed
For example, maybe able to keep the multiple threads in their heads, following multiple branches, and admiring the craft of it.
People appreciate multiple choice games more because they know that doing things differently results in different outcomes. Just because you want to do multiple playthroughs to see everything doesn't make choices matter any less.
Honestly I find that even just dying or any other typical end-state results in a similar situation where storytelling suffers.