… But I didn’t think the alternative endings, all of which I’ve seen now, were that special or worthy of an exception here. And I agree with the criticism in the article that the evil playthrough felt a lot less fleshed out
Yeah, I think the real exception here is Dragon Age: Origins. It has a lot of interesting choices, many matter and they impact the end in complex ways. Sure some of it is slideshow based but that is completely fine IMO. And all choices made can carry over to the final game in the series, actually altering the experience there in noticeable ways. First Mass Effect also had a good ending variation but it was far more subtle, small differences that ultimately didn’t have much impact on later games (though I applaud them doubling the voice lines by allowing your choice of leader of humanity to stand in subsequent games). Mass Effect 2 however had a very interesting take on ending given that the ending is basically the whole of the final mission were all your choices impact how that mission plays out. It’s interesting how you can “fail” that mission and it’s a viable ending. Kinda like a “bad ending” in a visual novel.
So I’d go with DA:O if we’re talking strictly multiple endings as we normally think about it and ME2 if we want to consider the final mission as a way to do a new take on multiple endings. Maybe “dynamic ending” would fit ME2 better.
I loved bg3 and played through it 3 times…
… But I didn’t think the alternative endings, all of which I’ve seen now, were that special or worthy of an exception here. And I agree with the criticism in the article that the evil playthrough felt a lot less fleshed out
Yeah, I think the real exception here is Dragon Age: Origins. It has a lot of interesting choices, many matter and they impact the end in complex ways. Sure some of it is slideshow based but that is completely fine IMO. And all choices made can carry over to the final game in the series, actually altering the experience there in noticeable ways. First Mass Effect also had a good ending variation but it was far more subtle, small differences that ultimately didn’t have much impact on later games (though I applaud them doubling the voice lines by allowing your choice of leader of humanity to stand in subsequent games). Mass Effect 2 however had a very interesting take on ending given that the ending is basically the whole of the final mission were all your choices impact how that mission plays out. It’s interesting how you can “fail” that mission and it’s a viable ending. Kinda like a “bad ending” in a visual novel.
So I’d go with DA:O if we’re talking strictly multiple endings as we normally think about it and ME2 if we want to consider the final mission as a way to do a new take on multiple endings. Maybe “dynamic ending” would fit ME2 better.
I haven’t played dragon age but that sounds pretty good.