One of the reviewers said "Choices don't matter in the end"

[Bill the Butcher]

Is this actually true? I just started the game so no spoilers please.

[Bill the Butcher]

Is it possible to answer this without spoilers?

[Poop King]

No.

[ConQueefTador]

Choices matter a lot. dont let people fool you

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Bill the Butcher:

One of the reviewers said "Choices don't matter in the end"
Is this actually true? I just started the game so no spoilers please.

You are right to ask the question. The effective answer is "no", and it never was pointless with your choices. What you experienced is something we call over here "oversensationaliation" - you should avoid reviewers with such exaggerations.

They can be considered right, if they made their bar for comparison right - e.g. "compared to game X and Y the ending I would have expected more", but your choices throughout the game definitely matters and affects how you perceive the game in whole. If the reviewer you refer to did not get it, they surely made the wrong choices in their life without willing to take responsibility for them.

[Braun]

Not sure how to answer this properly without spoilers but I will try.

The best way to put it is that in some ways the final sequences of the game regardless of the ending you're going for feel rushed or unfinished. Like they cut or didn't have time to finish the content where all those "17,000" permutations they loved to mention would've actually shown up and mattered. In my opinion it's still a really fun game from start to end but yeah it just kinda ends abruptly in its current state.

I feel like there's a simple solution to it though, so hopefully Larian patches something in soon.

[Pan Darius Cassandra]

It's like a choose-your-own-adventure style book - you will come to inflection points where you're asked to make a choice, sometimes you'll have to pass a skill check of some sort (savescum if you want), and then the story will branch from there.

There aren't infinite branches and the story doesn't write itself organically as you go, but there's more than one way to conclude each character's story, including your own.

[Desertedcake]

There are only two endings. Good or bad. You'll get 30 seconds to review if you completed your companions quest or not before being dismissed. The '17,000' endings in my opinion is the random voicelines the NPCs will say at the end to conclude your campaign. You can create a save point just before you make your final choice if you don't believe it.

[teksuo]

a lot of choices fork to the same result. you notice it by savescumming and experimenting a lot.

there's a lot of illusion of choice in there.

[Havoc]

Ultimately no your choices don't mean anything, there are only 5ish endings to the game (1/2 more depending on your origin choice) all of the talks of 17,000 endings is a meme different quest lines can have different ending but the overall ending of the game is not effected by basically any of it.

[Shepherd]

IMO choices matter as early as the first hour of the game. You can literally kill or refuse to recruit major characters (companions). You can take drastically different actions that absolutely change the tune of the tale.

It's not just about the endings, it's the whole journey that is the story.

[fox]

One of the reviewers said the worm in his head told him the game was good.

Is this actually true?

[Drake]

Originally posted by Shepherd:

IMO choices matter as early as the first hour of the game. You can literally kill or refuse to recruit major characters (companions). You can take drastically different actions that absolutely change the tune of the tale.

It's not just about the endings, it's the whole journey that is the story.

When people talk about choices they are always talking about the end credits. Who cares that you can mess with goblins and the grove in act 1, or that you can ♥♥♥♥ up meyrina and auntie ethel.
If it's not in the end game credits that's not a choice.
There are a lot of choices to be made along the way.
In my playthrough the zhentarim is pretty much an extinct species, does it matter for the ending. No, but it did shape my playthrough.

[アンジェル]

The ending is the least thing why people play a game like this. Of course it would be be more rewarding, or even satisfying, if it is fleshed out with plenty of background information as seen with Pillars of Eternity or Dragon Age Origins even. But even if it is something banal like the four endings on Mass Effect 3, it does not devalue the rest of the game.

Most people do not even remember the many endings of Dragon Age Origins. But they remember an awesome journey from the start to the very end. It just made them happy to be reminded that something they did early is still remembered by the story.

[Nospel]

Well i finished the game after 140h and i have to say ending was a huge mess or felt really unfinished ♥♥♥♥ show to be honest , finish the game and u will see.

[Dailao]

Originally posted by Bill the Butcher:

Is this actually true? I just started the game so no spoilers please.

They matter a lot during the game. I do not not know yet if they matter for the ending. The journey there is much more important anyway.