Confused about choices

[Berk]

I'm enjoying this game, but I'm a bit confused. I read that you have to make choices throughout the game. I'm up to chapter 9 yet I don't think I've made a single decision yet. There was one part where it seemed I had to decide between Captain Gould and the refugees, but I couldn't really see what else I could do other than shoot the captors, so I shot the captors. Other than that I don't think I've had any ultimatums or anything. Am I overlooking something?

[Polyglotton]

yes multiple things off the top of my head the part where you run into the cia guy and the 33rd captured soldier you have to decide wether to let him go or shoot him
for the gould one you walk over to adams and there should be a whole you can jump down to get to the ground you let them kill the people and then you follow adams

[Berk]

Er, which CIA agent do you mean? I think I must have shot him without realising it. Unless I haven't got to that part yet? And I did not notice the hole by Adams. So I guess I am overlooking things. My bad.

Regardless I am still impressed by the way the story is unfolding; some very heavy things are starting to occur now. Thanks for the replies.

[Faith and Fury]

Who said their was any choice in this game? they spell it out for you...

"there is always a choice"

"No their really isn't"

[Berk]

Ah, wait. I just got to the CIA agent / civilian ultimatum. Yeah, the choice was pretty clear there. I think I missed previous choices because I recently played thru Deus Ex 3, where the choices appear on screen and you basically have to answer Yes or No.

[Chara the Explorer]

Originally posted by Berk:

Ah, wait. I just got to the CIA agent / civilian ultimatum. Yeah, the choice was pretty clear there. I think I missed previous choices because I recently played thru Deus Ex 3, where the choices appear on screen and you basically have to answer Yes or No.

The cool thing is that you can be a badass like me and just shoot the Snipers, or shoot the rope, and the game recognizes it.

[mad rad rat lad]

It's illusion of choice. Basically regardless of what you do you end up with the same endings to choose from every time with no difference.

[Berk]

I thought this game has multiple endings? Or is that based on one final decision?

Flower, you can shoot the rope? Ah, wish I had thought of that!

Terminator, I think my memory must be impared because I don't remember that CIA agent. I probably shot him in the head staright away. I'm kind of trigger happy like that

[Berk]

Thanks for the info Terminator.

[Chara the Explorer]

The choices you make in the game slightly effect the end-of-game cutscene, but yes, at the end of the day, the multiple endings are entirely dependent on what you choose to do at the end.

[Tilen]

By the way, in the part where you have to choose between saving Gould or the civilians, you must move to the left (toward Adams) if you chose to save the civilians.

I found it by accident. Previously I just waited for them to kill Gould and a firefight ensued. But that way the civilians also get killed.

[the velvet hammer]

Originally posted by Berk:

I'm up to chapter 9 yet I don't think I've made a single decision yet. There was one part where it seemed I had to decide between Captain Gould and the refugees, but I couldn't really see what else I could do other than shoot the captors,

In my interpretation of this game, this is literally what the developers had in mind. There's a great line where Lugo says, "There's always a choice" and Walker responds, 'No, there really isn't." All your choices end up with bad consequences. Yeah there's a choice between rescuing the civilians or saving Gould, but both choices end bad.

So the face that it makes you feel you have no choices although you would've had three by that point(shooting the soldier, letting him go. Saving Gould or saving civis. Shooting the hanging civilians, leaving them be, shooting snipers) says something about you as well. To me, that's the true brilliance of this game. There are some of us who feel we have no choice, some of us who see no other choice, some of us who try to make the right choice and it still goes bad, and those who just want to cause chaos.

[Berk]

Nice interpretation. I have since completed the game, and I agree with what you're saying. Even though the choices we make in the game may be somewhat superficial, the way the concepts of choice and responsibility are woven into the story affected me much more than other games of this nature. Of course the sheer weight of the atrocities being committed probably helps too.

Good call on the dialogue between Lugo and Walker. There is definitely some meta-narrative type stuff going on. I don't remember the exact words, but doesn't Konrad even say something about it all being a video game? And one of the loading screens even says something like "It's just a video game, so who cares?" Out of context that probably sounds quirky and daft, but in game it has much grander implications. I think this type of meta stuff only really works if handled in the right way, and Yager did a great job IMO.

[Chara the Explorer]

In relation to the whole "Is there really a choice" thing, I'd like to point out that in all of the "multiple choice" sections, the game often has a "third option" that it doesn't actually tell you about in these situations.

Examples:
1. Shoot the soldier or citizen? ♥♥♥♥ the man, I'm going to kill the Snipers, or shoot at the rope so noone dies (in theory...)
2. Tons of angry civilians in your face? Shoot at the air/ground or punch someone in the face, and it recognizes a "peaceful" method of breaking up the crowd.


So, while it's still a bit pretentious, it's actually not all that... for want of a better choice of words, "out there" for the developer to suggest you could have always stopped playing.

[Berk]

Good point Flower. One could argue these 'third' choices are more genuine in a way, as they are choices you can only make by thinking for yourself, as opposed to selecting from the options presented. I just wish I had been able to make a 'third' choice myself. I did try to resolve the angry mob situation peacefully, but when I tried to put my weapon away I accidentally shot into the crowd!

[BetaOneSeven]

They did such a good job or letting those choice emerge. I let the CIA guy go, shot the ropes, dispersed the crowd. I was trying to play it as peaceful as I could, so the phosphorus mortar scene REALLY punched me in the gut. Also how they very slowly turned Walker into an animal; at the beginning he's all pro, then they start grunting and yelling instead of confirming orders while enemies die slower on the ground, and finally just screaming and insulting enemies while they die in really gruesome ways. Just amazing all the way around.