# Computer games with flexible plotlines **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 5, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609 "2006-01-05T18:48:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/1 "2006-01-05T18:48:36Z")
_Deus Ex_ was one of my most favorite computer games. Not for the basic gameplay, which was just generic FPS, but for the nonlinearity of the missions and the ability to choose from several different ways to solve problems, with choices you make affecting the future storyline of the game. I’m not just talking about the basic choices of “Do I fight my way in the front door or sneak in through a vent shaft?” questions, although it had plenty of those. _Deus Ex_ had optional side quests that you wouldn’t even see unless you followed up on the right clues, NPCs who could live or die by your actions (which would then have repurcussions in later parts of the games), character dialog that would differ depending on what you had done and where you had been previously, and three different possible endings. Although the overall plotline was always the same, your actions could change the details of the story in a lot of ways. I loved it. I haven’t seen quite the same in any other game. Most RTS and FPS games have a plot that’s completely on rails, giving you at best a choice of which guy to shoot or which door to sneak in through. _Black & White_ gave the player wide options on how to behave, but (IMHO) failed as a game - more tedious than fun once the novelty wore off, and the plot, such as it was, wasn’t very interesting. What other games have there been that have the same kind of narrative flexibility that _Deus Ex_ had? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/2 "2006-01-05T19:21:36Z")
The good _Fallout_ games (_Fallout I_ & _II_) had major plotlines, but a lot of side quests that you could do in just about any order, and depending on which you did and who you killed/rescued/fucked/ignored would alter the outcome. Great games, too. _Fallout Tactics_, an iso shooter game rather than an RPG, had some limited flexibility but you pretty much followed the plan as far as missions and conclusions. _Blade Runner_ had some limited flexibility, and the plotline changed every time you played it (sometimes you were a Replicant, sometimes you weren’t), but it became fairly clockwork after a few runthroughs. Beautiful design, pedestrian plot line. I don’t play games much so I don’t know many, but there must be others. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/3 "2006-01-05T19:24:05Z")
If I recall correctly, the original _Wing Commander_ games had this kind of variable storyline, with the progress of the war between the Terrans and the Kilrathi depending on how you performed in your missions. Fail a few times, they stick you with the wingman from hell, Maniac. Fail many times, all of your friends are dead and your side is chased away from their home system in defeat. The later installments (with live-action cutscenes) did have branching story-lines, but not to this extent. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5ac83/32.png) [@The\_Mad\_Hermit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Mad_Hermit)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/4 "2006-01-05T19:44:05Z")
Planescape: Torment has many differing possibilities, and although the basic story stays the same, the details getting there vary widely. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/5 "2006-01-05T19:46:30Z")
Although the events mostly stayed the same, the entire _meaning_ of the game Planescape: Torment changed depending on your character and his actions. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/6 "2006-01-05T20:07:08Z")
Tactics Ogre for the Playstation had multiple plotlines and endings, depending on which plot choices you made and who you recruited. ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/7 "2006-01-06T21:21:39Z")
The old Game “Mainac Mansion” had a number of different endings depending on what characters you had and what you did. For exmaple, you can win the game by getting the bad guy’s book published, which I guess makes him famous and he’s too busy to terrorize people. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/8 "2006-01-06T21:53:35Z")
To a lesser extent, Bioware’s “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” and its “Jade Empire” both have different ways to solve game puzzles and different plots, depending on whether you were a “good” or an “evil” character. ---
**Author:** ![YellowTail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b5ac83/32.png) [@YellowTail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YellowTail)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/9 "2006-01-06T22:01:38Z")
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind doesn’t care whether you follow the main quest or not. There are plenty of small tasks and you can join guilds and work your way up the ranks by going on short adventures. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2006, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/10 "2006-01-06T22:42:12Z")
I just remembered one more, even though this is more of the “do I go through the front door or sneak in through the vent” variety. “Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis” had you make a choice about halfway through the game. You could either choose to play the rest of your game with another character (“teamwork”), by using your wits (“wits”), or by using force (“fists”). Depending on which you picked, the puzzle solutions were different. So, to use an example that wasn’t in the game, lets say you had to get past a guard. You could either have your partner distract the guard while you slipped past (teamwork), convince the guard to let you in (wits) or beat the guard up and get in that way (fists). ---
**Author:** ![Daniel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Daniel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daniel)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/11 "2006-01-07T00:52:30Z")
my favorite has always been _Star Control II_. You had the freedom to go to any part of the galaxy you wished, provided you had enough fuel to get there. You could mine planets, form alliances, make enemies, and pretty much discover everything there was to discover with no real pressure to do much else. Of course, during all this, an enemy is building power and at a specified time it will begin its destructive march across the galaxy… so there is, of course, a point to the game. But everything up to that point is pretty much totally up to you. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/12 "2006-01-07T01:31:59Z")
Ha! Wow. Near simulpost, and we both put almost the exact same information about the same game! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/13 "2006-01-07T01:35:39Z")
There’s always Civilization 1, 2, 3, and 4. And the Sim games. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/14 "2006-01-07T02:07:13Z")
Not exactly like _Deus Ex_[sup]\*[/sup] : **System Shock** had a ‘plot’ slider that let you select how complex the plot was – if you wanted, you could turn it off entirely and just go around blasting things (or just go around solving door puzzles, even). **Escape Velocity** and its descendants allowed for multiple ‘plotlines’ that made up a mission string. The game was easily extensible, and it was possible for particular missions to cancel out others. Usually you would at some point pick a side and you could then play only the missions for that side, which could (slightly) affect the way the galaxy ended up looking. There was no single overall story, but there were a few rather long strings. (There used to be a great-looking chart of the original missions in Override). In **Space Rangers 2** , which I’ve only just started playing, you can practically choose between various _genres_ – there’s the typical space exploration/combat/merchant, text adventures, and real-time strategy, all of which are quite well done. [sup]\*[/sup] While I can appreciate it on one level, I rarely replay games, so I didn’t find this aspect of _Deus Ex_ very exciting. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/15 "2006-01-07T03:11:09Z")
> [@Daniel](#): > > my favorite has always been _Star Control II_. You had the freedom to go to any part of the galaxy you wished, provided you had enough fuel to get there. You could mine planets, form alliances, make enemies, and pretty much discover everything there was to discover with no real pressure to do much else. > > Of course, during all this, an enemy is building power and at a specified time it will begin its destructive march across the galaxy… so there is, of course, a point to the game. But everything up to that point is pretty much totally up to you. In case anyone doesn’t know, [these guys](http://sc2.sourceforge.net/) acquired the rights to the Star Control 2 game, and offer a free ( and yes, legal ) download. The one thing they didn’t get was the rights to the name, so they renamed it _The Ur-Quan Masters_. Interestingly, it’s a port from the 3DO version, as the original PC code was lost. ---
**Author:** ![dotchan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@dotchan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dotchan)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2006, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-games-with-flexible-plotlines/338609/16 "2006-01-07T03:40:11Z")
While this doesn’t quite fit the OP’s requirements, _Chrono Trigger_, _Chrono Cross_, and _Star Ocean: The Second Story_ all have multiple endings. (The Star Ocean ones, though are largely relationshiped-based, and a pain in the rear to get.) Squeenix Games are rather infamous otherwise for “communist choices”: i.e., the plot progresses the way it’s been programmed to no matter what you do.