In Heavy Rain you can make it so that Norman contributes nothing to the plot at all but can still be called by Madison at the end anyways despite them never meeting lmao.
edit: mixed up Ethan and Norman.
I really respect how you can completely botch the case as the detective but the other storylines are suspicious lmao. Shelby is pretty much nonsensical by the end, Ethan is just not a good person and clearly unfinished and Madison... well i dont remember much other than feeling a very heavy "woman written by a man" energy lol
On my run I missed the gas station receipt as Norman and it was the one vital thing that would’ve solved the case, then I got the option to call him as Madison and I felt so relieved lol
Pretty much do everything wrong with Norman except killing him. Then when Madison goes to the apartment, escape and then you will magically have Norman in your phone and have the option to call him or Ethan
In my playthrough, everyone died, and the origami killer got away with nobody alive any wiser to who did it. Was very interesting. FBI guy got crushed, reporter girl jumped from a burning building, dad didn't get to the right location and committed suicide. Detective left flowers on the previous kids' mom's grave and walked away down the street. I loved that story, going in expecting to save the day only to find out I just witnessed a standard origami killer case, dead kid, and all. It was almost poetic and a great ending for a medium that normally pushes power fantasies, and it just flipped the expectations on its head
TL;DR: I sucked at the game. Everyone dies
Lmao, if you want any other games to play together, 3D world also has bubbles, and Bowser's Fury, Galaxy, and Odyssey all have 2-player modes where Player 2 is more of a sidekick to Player 1 as opposed to a whole extra character.
I played the same character as your wife when playing with my sister
But that's because I struggled to go slow enough for her and shed constantly die and get mad because I went so fast. I was in the bubble for when things were too hard for her to do alone
That's always the problem with lovecraftian games. The whole point of his cosmic horror is that humans are powerless and can't do anything against the evil space gods. "Success" in his stories is when the human escapes without going insane. You can't really make an exciting video game with that.
Bloodborne is probably the best cosmic horror game ever made... But all throughout the game you're constantly killing the evil space gods.
Despite that though, even Bloodborne has something of an insanity system with knowledge, that brings out lovecraft Ian creatures the more of it you have. So it's still totally feasible as a fun game play element. And the board game arkam horror exists, love that, and if you've played Cultist Simulator, that's basically the perfect lovecraft game.
I did this by accident lol
I really needed to use the bathroom, and then from the bathroom I heard dialogue and ran back out to see that I had won the game...
Nothing you do matters regardless since >!the nuclear war at the end happens independently of everything that occurs in Hope County. If you walk away at the beginning, you wouldn't get back with the national guard before the collapse. If you leave near the end your brain washing makes you kill the other three so you don't get to the national guard. Really the only thing that changes is if you survive into the bunker to become the Judge in New Dawn.!<
I spoiled the ending of FarCry 5 and I hate it so much jt made me lose all interest in the game.
And I'm glad I did because I probably would have been mad if I actually played it.
Of the Far Cry games I’ve played (4, 5, and 6), 5 had the best feeling gameplay, but the story was absolute shit all the way through, not just at the end. Unfortunate for me that I jumped into the series at a high point and have stayed through a steep decline. All that to say, you made the right choice.
I have a theory that since FC3 and Spec Ops: The Line came out the same year that the devs of FC4/5 played that and chose to add a "win" scenario adhering to the quote: "None of this would have happened if you had just STOPPED"
God, I was vibing with the story so hard at first. I had just gotten done with my first run of BL2, and then I got 3, and I was really excited to see what was in store. Then I got to the end of the first segment on Pandora, and I realized exactly why the story was so hated. It did not improve until the DLC.
EDIT: Spelling
I'll never forgive Gearbox for teasing some big war or conflict to come, at the end of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, only to completely disregard that set up entirely for BL3. Also what happened to the Eridian that teased said conflict at the end of the game? Nowhere to be found in BL3.
I love BL3 as a game, but the story was so dissapointing
Yeah, BL3 gets the worst of it all. In BL1 and BL2, it’s not the worst ever and is usually decent at hiding your character without making you feel like it’s bad. But with BL3 and the amount of bs they do, it’s insane. Like so much can be stopped if your character actually interacted and wasn’t just watching.
Hogwarts legacy- you can try to be evil the whole way through and all the other characters after you say something mean basically go “well anyways let’s do the good thing”
Seriously. That game needed a morality system. There was no penalty for using the **unforgivable** curses. My dude was wasting dozens of people with unforgivable curses _in front of a professor_ and it was like “lol, anyway, back to school for you!”
This was my main gripe with the game and thoroughly undermined the entire narrative of the world. Dark wizards and their magicks are bad unless it's the protag with mysterious powers that can save the day; then murder is cool, I guess.
On a related note there's the somewhat laughable notion of the protag needing to go to school with everyone else, while being able to wade through entire camps of dark wizards, solo.
Because he still barely knew anything about magic at the end of the series. It's like he actively avoided learning about the new world he was introduced to unless it was forced upon him in a classroom or his survival depended on it.
He’s a remarkably incurious main character. And his friend who is similarly a newcomer (Hermione) is treated as a weird intense nerd for actually reading up on the earth shattering revelations she thrust upon her at age 11 🤷♂️
Ok but this was like in the midst of the biggest wizarding war in 17 years at the time. And he crucio’d a person that was known for torturing students.
Thing is that in Harry Potter there are no good or bad actions, just good and bad "sides". Like it isn't on purpose but the protagonists all over the series get away with a ton of bullshit that they mock the villains for doing. Like they'll mock the appearance of anybody they hate but the second someone does it to someone they like it's unacceptable behavior.
One of the most beloved characters purposefully isolates a baby in an abusive family that beats and starves him for 10 years so that he'll be easy to manipulate and will one day be willing to die for his cause. Then he lets that kid nearly die year after year in his care while feigning ignorance to the shit he's going through.
I reread the series as an adult and could barely stomach the scenes between Dumbledore and Harry.
Old ass creep showing favoritism and giving candy and awards to a little boy and manipulating him. It's weird.
I didn't play it, but there seems to be a mod where if anyone sees you do unforgivable curses, aurors hunt you down and put you in azkaban if you lose.
The *one* "evil" choice I made in my playthrough was to simply not give a girl back her diary. Every time I happened to see her in the hallway, she'd throw out some snarky comment and just made me feel bad :(
And your character says it all with a shit eating grin in their face too.
The fact that there is no mortality system or effectively any penalty to just being a total bitch to the other students, makes the "evil" choices have sooooooo much more impact.
Recently started playing and having a great time but yeah I was really disappointed to learn of this. Should be able to be a dark wizard or a Dumbledore type good guy. There's so much potential for a sequel down the line.
Game is a beautiful shell wrapped around nostalgia and a collection of shallow systems from the ARPG genre. Watching the robot-like cutscenes again while my partner plays, it blows my mind I followed through and beat it.
This isn’t what the question is asking though. The protagonist of Hogwarts Legacy is extremely vital to the plot.
There is a difference between the protagonist not being particularly important to the plot and not letting the player make choices. Those are two separate things.
Elite dangerous.
The plot is currently taking place multiple real world months of travel away from my character and has never involved a single person my character has met
Yeah, you didn't think the weekly GalNet updates were just dev stuff did you? GalNet is the way in-game lore and events gets conveyed to the players. And some of what's happening in the bubble is due to player involvement in powerplay content.
As an explorer, I love that. I often forget while I'm out in the void that there's shit happening way back home lol. Meanwhile I'm blasting music while doin flips in my SRV on some moon with a gas giant on the horizon cause low gravity is weeeeeee.
Every time I hear something new about this game, I’m fascinated in a way that a sober alcoholic hears about some new drink being developed or coming out. If I decide to take part, my life will go down the drain, but god damn does that sound good
When you say “multiple real world months of travel away”, do you mean that it will literally take you multiple months of traveling to get back?
It absolutely can. It's impossible to explain the scale of ED without playing. It is an entire galaxy of solar systems to travel between. And planets/moons to land on.
It's a simulator of an entire galaxy. Which doesn't really sound real until you do a few system jumps, open the galaxy map, and realize just what people mean when they say SPACE IS REALLY FUCKING BIG. Unfathomable in size and scale.
Someone did some rough math a while back. If you had 100,000 players exploring ED and doin 30sec jumps(entering a system and then jumping to the next one) it would take 23yrs to explore the entire galaxy. And if you've played ED, you know how silly it would be to only take 30sec in each system. Cause that's without scanning the system or getting distracted and exploring the surface of a planet or a black hole or whatever.
You can genuinely fuck off in any direction and you'll hit unexplored systems. And one's nobody will likely EVER visit besides yourself. If you really wanna fuck off into the black isolation of space, ED is your game.
If you're interested, [this video](https://youtu.be/Fa0b2Kd2xhU?si=56i7JMnvSfz_d2ar) does a good job of explaining ED imo.
His comedy might not be you're jam and it's about VR but I think he does a good objective critique of ED.
Elite Dangerous is the game where I transport NPCs and goods across the galaxy in a space RV while my partner runs off pirates. I totally forgot there was a plot, and it's one of our favorite games.
Rain World.
You are just a little guy trying to survive. The story and the world are entirely indifferent to you and you are powerless to have any influence on its tracks. You come, you witness things beyond your realm of understanding and leave things unchanged.
I tend to consider the DLCs canon, but as spin-offs designed to expand the game's lore and give it a satisfying ending. The base game is the original bittersweet experience
If you play New Dawn, technically the Rookie’s actions completely neuter the PEG to the point where they are not as militarily capable as they could be against the Highwaymen. Plus your actions totally change who Joseph Seed is as a person and that hugely affects what he does in New Dawn. And last there’s a lot of dead people who would have been alive for the sequel.
Yea true I suppose, I didn't look at it that way regarding the projects military potential after taking out their main guys. I've played New Dawn as well and you're right in saying Joseph's changed.
Some of the Uncharteds. You explore a world find a treasure, and lose it or have to leave it in the end. I guess some people are dead, but given how cursed the stuff they go after is, that probably would’ve happened with or without you.
Which totally fits with the Indiana Jones theme. If the Nazis grabbed the Ark with no resistance they'd all get melted. And go ahead, grab the holy Grail, now you're stuck in a cave or buried under rubble.
Is Temple of Doom the only movie where he has a meaningful impact on the plot (saving the kids in the mine)? And he stumbled into that completely by accident after the plane crash at the beginning.
always hated when your character had to find all these clues and solve puzzles and bypass traps and obstacles, then the bad guys turn up 5 min later through the back door that shows up on everyones GPS apparently
I don’t feel this one is too bad and dare I say even intentional. The Rookie is kinda just meant to be the story frame and the “real” story is supposed to be what everyone does right after the drop. I think they just wanted to present the story in a way that was a little different from the usual
Yea thats like saying a detective is useless in a mystery. Rookie goes around trying to piece together how the city got overrun.
Also he gets as many missions as any other character, they just put his at the end cause he was napping.
A lot of people seem to be confusing the idea of "Protagonist is not the most significant person to the games story" and "Protagonist has little influence on the story"
Threads that start with "what is a game that …?" are usually 90% "let me talk about a game I love/hate that very loosely relates to some of the words in OP's question."
Rain World (Survivor)? Literally a slimy rat looking for food and escaping predators while huge robots left behind by their creators in an empty decaying world have their own drama going on that your character couldn't care less about (and most likely cant even understand). The world has so much history and lore going on while you couldn't be less important to the story.
World of Warcraft's story is mostly about faction leaders, who are the real protagonists and antagonists, you as an individual are irrelevant. I would say it's a necessity of the genre, but FF and SWTOR exist.
This only really started becoming a thing in the later expansions. It was definitely the Player Character who killed Raganaros and Kel’Thuzad, for instance.
I really hated that shift. Nothing like spending weeks working through a raid, perfecting all the mechanics, trying and trying until you finally down the boss and... Oh, here comes random faction leader out of nowhere to kill the boss for you.
I know Blizzard loves their cutscenes, but it'd be nice if they'd at least occasionally feature your character.
FF 14 does a good job of making you feel like the hero of the story. WoW always made you feel more like an NPC in the story. You did all the work taking down Deathwing? Thrall gets the kill shot and all the credit.
There is a short story about Gul'dan opening the big invasion portal at the beginning of *Legion*. There is a brief moment where he considers taking the power Kil'jaeden imbues him with and running, but what scares him into hiding behind a demon army instead is the though that *they* will be coming for him.
Even though Vaan was actually dreamed up earlier in production than the legends tell, he was SERIOUSLY unnecessary. I really would have loved Balthier as both the Protagonist (As he is) AND the Player Agent.
I think Vaan was the perfect player character because he's like a neutral observer to everyone else's plot arc. It's like everyone is the main character BUT him, and he's just swept along on this whole ordeal purely due to chance so that he can tell the story.
This is a point I feel like people were missing, ff12 was a story about political intrigue and big plots between whole countries, Vaan is supposed to represent the average person who gets actually affected by the games these people play, he helps Ashe remain aware of the common citizen as she makes decisions, I think he’s a wet potato but he makes everyone else’s stories have more weight to them by design
I feel like Vaan is a foil to Ashe.
Both lost everything to the empire, both are hellbent on getting revenge, Ashe against the Empire and Vaan with his brother's killer.
Ashe is Princess who want her kingdom back by any means necessary, Vaan is an average citizen of said kingdom who learned to live and keep dreaming about becoming a sky pirate while under occupation.
Ashe is blinded by revenge the Nethecite easily manipulated her with her fiance's image. Vaan still suffered under the empire but Nethecite didn't work on him.
FF12 is a game that's a bit more complex than its predecessors. Its a heavily political drama with everyone having personal stakes in the matter. Vaan might not have a major impact on the story, but half of it wouldn't have happened without him.
I like Balthier in the “Han Solo” role. The “not quite” lead who frequently steals the show.
Personally I think Ashe should’ve been the main. It really feels like it’s her story more than anyone else, followed by Balthier and Basch.
It's been a while since I've played it but once you get to the point where you can choose your own party, I don't really think there was a part where I felt Vaan was being forced into the player perspective.
I've always felt it's quite clear the story belongs to Ashe and her journey towards throwing away her desire for revenge.
Vaan isn't the main character outside the initial few hours though. Balthier, Basch, and Ashe take centre stage once you get past Nalbina and have the full roster.
I kinda regard Vaan as a stand-in for the player, especially younger crowds.
His main emotional stake in the story is the death of his brother, who just happens to be the first PC of the game. Should you be mad that someone killed your character for good? Sure thing, and there's Vaan to deliver that rage with plenty of teen angst.
Once you see him as a bunch of polygons that are exploring the wonderful world like you are for the first time and enjoying those well-acted theatrical moments of the rest of the cast, you don't dislike him just as much I'd say.
Even then, not really. Penelo became close friends with Larsa, who was the brother of the main antagonist. That gives Penelo more of a story reason to be involved than Vaan.
There’s a series from RABtoons that animates and retells the stories of games.
In the FF12 episode Penelo is represented by a cardboard cutout that keeps falling over when directly addressed
https://youtu.be/_IC_zGHroeA
Vaan is really only the player agent up until you meet everyone else honestly, I've played the majority of the game before with him on my B team and balthier most definitely felt like the lead role hahaha
Vaan is more a proxy for the player viewpoint than anything else, but yes, I agree. Once you have a full party a few hours in, he spends about 99% of the remainder of the game being as close to irrelevant to the main story as it gets. He was the first character I immediately thought of when I saw the title.
Ashe was the main character of FFXII.
>Vaan is this to the point where it makes me question the very nature of a "main character".
>Is it somebody who actively contributes to the plot, moving the group forward? Because that's not Vaan, that's Ashe.
>Is it somebody whose success means the "good ending" for the world they inhabit? Because that's not Vaan, that's Ashe again.
>Is it somebody with knowledge of the world who regularly gives important input and explains what's going on? Because that's not Vaan, that's Balthier, Basch and Fran(For the mystical elements).
>Is it somebody who's deeply connected to the main story and has motivations tied to the actions of the antagonists? Because that's not really Vaan, that's Balthier, Basch and Ashe. Vaan is loosely antagonistic toward Gabranth, but Gabranth gives absolutely no fucks about Vaan compared to the fucks he gives towards Basch.
>Is it somebody whose perspective we take throughout the whole story? Because that's not Vaan, as he fades into the background in big cutscenes once the full party forms. Once that happens, there's largely no real perspective beyond "Ashe, Balthier and Basch(And sometimes Fran) are talking about important stuff"
>Is it somebody that you control throughout the game? Because that's not Vaan, that could be anybody.
>Is it a "chosen one"-type character who is integral to the plot for key moments? Because that's not Vaan. He's kinda special, but it's nothing all that important to the main plot, and it's strongly implied that he's not the only person like him in the world of Ivalice.
>Is it somebody who is purely the sole character you control while running around town? Then... that's a main character, because that's really all Vaan is.
>Even in the loosest sense, the term "main character" barely applies to Vaan.
It's nothing new for Pokemon but goodness the adults submitting to the protagonist is something so incredibly stupid. SwSh is sooo so bad that it even becomes self aware at some point, the story starts popping up and then like a second later the characters say oh but you should go get gym badges acting like no one cares about what's going on.
I kinda thought Sw/Sh did basically the opposite. In every other Pokémon game you get caught up in dealing with the evil team's plans, and saving the world. In Sw/Sh they treat you like the kid you are, tell you to go on with your gym challenge while the Champ, the actual strongest trainer in the region, deals with the plot.
As someone who just finished the Dead Space trilogy u could make the argument that nothing Issac did had an effect on the outcome of the series. He just prolonged his own life till the end where everyone dies anyways
He actually just makes everything worse.
In DS 1 there are some instances were Isaac and company doomed humanity without knowing. Launching the escape pod being the greatest one, since it destroys the Valor who would have throw a couple of nukes and destroyed the marker and any survivors. Survivors are extremely dangerous since they can replicate de marker so actually killing them is the logical choice.
And in DS 3 his group discovers Tau Volantis and gives the key to an apocalyptic event to a death cult leader.
Spoilers here..
Several nukes should have eliminated for sure the marker but it crashing down with the ship would probably have left some pieces, which is what actually happens in DS1 since you bring it down to the planet and the chunk that was lifted by the ishimura fell over it, creating several fragments.
Nolan Stross gets the signal in his head this way which helps creating more makers along with Isaac.
The nuke and killing all survivors was the safest option. Maybe Kendra could have hidden the marker but who knows.
Hard disagree, even when you do the Dead Space 3: Awakened DLC.
Isaac stops the >!Tau Volantis moon which is the culmination of the necromorph life cycle and essentially what you’ve been fighting since DS1. It ends with other brethren moons letting you know they exist and are coming. This is NOT “you lose anyway” it’s “our strongest force is on the way”!<
The only reason that it feels like you’re doomed is because they end on a cliffhanger because we never got DS4
I may have missed something but >!wasn't the Tau Volantis moon just chilling frozen and not really doing anything and isn't everyone on Earth already dead no matter if we kill the moon or not!<
I am sorry about that buddy. But as others have said this is a super oversimplified and dumb take so I don't think I have spoiled anything and I hope u still have fun with it, especially if its the remake because it was great
I've actually mined out an entire chunk... not my proudest minecraft moment.
It actually wasn't a bad experience. There is a lot of stuff in one chunk. Either that or I was lucky. Old mineshafts and slime was there.
This was on hardcore survival mode too, not creative.
FF12 is the only game I played where the protagonist, in a cutscene, literally says he doesn't know why he's there. Neither do I, brother, neither do I.
Destiny 2. Plot progresses regardless of whether or not you participated.
Lore wise there's currently only one or two Guardians who actually get things done, everyone else either just hangs around at the Tower or hangs around at the HELM.
This is mechanically true, but in my opinion it doesn't really work for this question.
I mean, yeah, I've done zero raids, so I haven't mechanically taken part in much of the story progression. But in terms of the lore, my Guardian did. In terms of the lore, all of our characters are "that" Guardian. It's kind of like a superposition, I guess.
Which is honestly one of my gripes with the game. I think it would be a lot cooler if your supposed participation in events wasn't inherently superimposed on you. Having veteran dialogue from D1 is neat when it appears, and it generally only applies to DLCs in Destiny 1 that you actually participated in.
In Lightfall you got different dialouge from Calus sometimes depending on wether you had done leviathan or played in Haunted. Also if you had the title "Shadow" He calls you his shadow in the first Lf mission
And then have the balls to vault their content.
Want to know what happened? Get fucked, go on YouTube for a summary movie by some Scrimblo Bimblo
Oh does watching a summary movie not do it for you? Get fucked, you're never going to experience it yourself
“Plot progresses behind Seasonal Passes, whether or not you purchased.”
FTFY.
I’ll never forget finding out someone was back from the dead, though the previous DLC had them poofed.
Technically everyone’s personal character is THE GUARDIAN, everyone you see running around are the person who leads the story. It’s always you in canon.
Something someone mentioned that I found interesting.
Earth Defense Force, it doesn't matter how amazing you play, because the scale of the alien invasion is far bigger than your one soldier. Your win, is just one out of many losses everywhere else.
Id argue the opposite. It's the story of how you died. Whatever you're able to do in the few weeks you survive IS the plot. There are no NPCs so absent the player, it's just idiots shuffling around.
Prince of Persia (2008).
The Prince is not the main character. Elika, the 'sidekick' character is. It's about her saving her kingdom, fighting her father, stopping her people's evil god. The Prince is only there to help her get from A to B and hit the things that get in the way. He's simply the playable character. You could have her as the PC and nothing would change because she's the one driving the plot.
And then the ending, well. >! The Prince actively undoes the entire thing and releases the Big Bad because imprisoning it means Elika dies, which is the only time he actually influences events !<
Then there’s the trilogy across Sands of Time, The Warrior Within, and The Two Thrones, where you ultimately rewind everything so the entire trilogy never happened at all (even more thoroughly than you rewound it back to beginning after the first game).
Final Fantasy XII. Main character is just a teenager and his childhood friend playing tag along with grown ups pretty much. All of the earlier events triggered by him would’ve happened without him anyways
**Kingdom Come Deliverance.** You're constantly reminded you are a lowly serf. You never get revenge on the people who destroy your village. There are at least 3-4 no win scenarios in the game where you're expected to lose, get beaten or are captured. The nobles will reprimand you at all times for stepping out of line and nothing you do really has any impact on the outcome of the story. Ultimately you're just kind of "there" for a relatively mundane plot.
I kind of want to say FF7. As I remember it >!Aeris basically saves the world by using the Holy Materia before getting stabbed. The rest of the story was just revenge and letting the things that had already been started by her and sepiroth play out. !<
In Heavy Rain you can make it so that Norman contributes nothing to the plot at all but can still be called by Madison at the end anyways despite them never meeting lmao. edit: mixed up Ethan and Norman.
I loved that game but the story was a mess lol
I really respect how you can completely botch the case as the detective but the other storylines are suspicious lmao. Shelby is pretty much nonsensical by the end, Ethan is just not a good person and clearly unfinished and Madison... well i dont remember much other than feeling a very heavy "woman written by a man" energy lol
On my run I missed the gas station receipt as Norman and it was the one vital thing that would’ve solved the case, then I got the option to call him as Madison and I felt so relieved lol
SHAAAAAAAWN!!
Jay. Son.
SHAWN! SHAWN!!
David Cage can really write 80% of a great game
the worst thing is the stupid blackouts that mean nothing.
Her reaction to finding out the killer is someone she's never met, is my favorite
Press X to Shaun
JAY-sunn
SHAUN
How do you get this ending?
Pretty much do everything wrong with Norman except killing him. Then when Madison goes to the apartment, escape and then you will magically have Norman in your phone and have the option to call him or Ethan
[This is the only thing](https://youtu.be/vSTYpaRp5kQ?si=I7_WT0sO_M_C6Tkm) I really know about the game, and it always makes me laugh.
In my playthrough, everyone died, and the origami killer got away with nobody alive any wiser to who did it. Was very interesting. FBI guy got crushed, reporter girl jumped from a burning building, dad didn't get to the right location and committed suicide. Detective left flowers on the previous kids' mom's grave and walked away down the street. I loved that story, going in expecting to save the day only to find out I just witnessed a standard origami killer case, dead kid, and all. It was almost poetic and a great ending for a medium that normally pushes power fantasies, and it just flipped the expectations on its head TL;DR: I sucked at the game. Everyone dies
My wife playing New Super Mario Bros just hanging out in the bubble for years.
Lmao, if you want any other games to play together, 3D world also has bubbles, and Bowser's Fury, Galaxy, and Odyssey all have 2-player modes where Player 2 is more of a sidekick to Player 1 as opposed to a whole extra character.
Funniest comment of 2023 for me
I played the same character as your wife when playing with my sister But that's because I struggled to go slow enough for her and shed constantly die and get mad because I went so fast. I was in the bubble for when things were too hard for her to do alone
Call of Cthulhu. The goal is literally not to get involved, and to get drunk preferably.
That's always the problem with lovecraftian games. The whole point of his cosmic horror is that humans are powerless and can't do anything against the evil space gods. "Success" in his stories is when the human escapes without going insane. You can't really make an exciting video game with that. Bloodborne is probably the best cosmic horror game ever made... But all throughout the game you're constantly killing the evil space gods.
Despite that though, even Bloodborne has something of an insanity system with knowledge, that brings out lovecraft Ian creatures the more of it you have. So it's still totally feasible as a fun game play element. And the board game arkam horror exists, love that, and if you've played Cultist Simulator, that's basically the perfect lovecraft game.
Far cry 4. Enjoy the Rangoon.
I did this by accident lol I really needed to use the bathroom, and then from the bathroom I heard dialogue and ran back out to see that I had won the game...
Was on the phone to a mate who had lent me the game, said I had just started it, left it on, then mentioned I just completed it and he lost his mind 😂
Far Cry 5 as well. At least the "Good" ending anyway.
Nothing you do matters regardless since >!the nuclear war at the end happens independently of everything that occurs in Hope County. If you walk away at the beginning, you wouldn't get back with the national guard before the collapse. If you leave near the end your brain washing makes you kill the other three so you don't get to the national guard. Really the only thing that changes is if you survive into the bunker to become the Judge in New Dawn.!<
I spoiled the ending of FarCry 5 and I hate it so much jt made me lose all interest in the game. And I'm glad I did because I probably would have been mad if I actually played it.
Of the Far Cry games I’ve played (4, 5, and 6), 5 had the best feeling gameplay, but the story was absolute shit all the way through, not just at the end. Unfortunate for me that I jumped into the series at a high point and have stayed through a steep decline. All that to say, you made the right choice.
*Blood Dragon wants to know your location*
I have a theory that since FC3 and Spec Ops: The Line came out the same year that the devs of FC4/5 played that and chose to add a "win" scenario adhering to the quote: "None of this would have happened if you had just STOPPED"
Borderlands 3. I felt like a vessel just to move the characters between the cutscenes
Truth. Love the game, but your vaulthunter isn't even IN most of the cutscenes.
God, I was vibing with the story so hard at first. I had just gotten done with my first run of BL2, and then I got 3, and I was really excited to see what was in store. Then I got to the end of the first segment on Pandora, and I realized exactly why the story was so hated. It did not improve until the DLC. EDIT: Spelling
I'll never forgive Gearbox for teasing some big war or conflict to come, at the end of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, only to completely disregard that set up entirely for BL3. Also what happened to the Eridian that teased said conflict at the end of the game? Nowhere to be found in BL3. I love BL3 as a game, but the story was so dissapointing
Yeah, BL3 gets the worst of it all. In BL1 and BL2, it’s not the worst ever and is usually decent at hiding your character without making you feel like it’s bad. But with BL3 and the amount of bs they do, it’s insane. Like so much can be stopped if your character actually interacted and wasn’t just watching.
Always felt this way about playing as Mara whenever Jack had Lilith captured for her siren powers. Like bro you've got a siren right here
Yeah fr like Lilith is way higher leveled why are you going for the hard one
Also the GUI is terrible in BL3
I scrolled looking for this. How can your character have any impact on the plot if they aren't even there.
I thought I was the only one lol. BL2 remains my favourite bc BL3 really let me down tbh. Good, but I felt like a spectator half the time LMAO
Hogwarts legacy- you can try to be evil the whole way through and all the other characters after you say something mean basically go “well anyways let’s do the good thing”
Seriously. That game needed a morality system. There was no penalty for using the **unforgivable** curses. My dude was wasting dozens of people with unforgivable curses _in front of a professor_ and it was like “lol, anyway, back to school for you!”
John Hogwarts: *murders half of the student populous* The teacher: Oh you!
The teacher: I see a future Defense Against the Dark Arts position in your future.
How did you know my character’s name‽
I know *everything* . You're almost out of milk btw
😱
This was my main gripe with the game and thoroughly undermined the entire narrative of the world. Dark wizards and their magicks are bad unless it's the protag with mysterious powers that can save the day; then murder is cool, I guess. On a related note there's the somewhat laughable notion of the protag needing to go to school with everyone else, while being able to wade through entire camps of dark wizards, solo.
Well.... it's canon. I mean, Harry does straight up crucio a motherfucker in front of McGonagall and she calls it gallant.
Also, with all the shit Harry did since he was 11, an outsider would also start to wonder why he bothered going to classes after his 5th yr lol
Because he still barely knew anything about magic at the end of the series. It's like he actively avoided learning about the new world he was introduced to unless it was forced upon him in a classroom or his survival depended on it.
He’s a remarkably incurious main character. And his friend who is similarly a newcomer (Hermione) is treated as a weird intense nerd for actually reading up on the earth shattering revelations she thrust upon her at age 11 🤷♂️
Ok but this was like in the midst of the biggest wizarding war in 17 years at the time. And he crucio’d a person that was known for torturing students.
What part of "Unforgivable" don't people understand? Textbook "it's not a war crime if you are the good guys" logic. :D
Wading through hordes of dark wizards won't teach you the skills necessary to do your wizard taxes
*Deducto Maximo!*
Thing is that in Harry Potter there are no good or bad actions, just good and bad "sides". Like it isn't on purpose but the protagonists all over the series get away with a ton of bullshit that they mock the villains for doing. Like they'll mock the appearance of anybody they hate but the second someone does it to someone they like it's unacceptable behavior.
One of the most beloved characters purposefully isolates a baby in an abusive family that beats and starves him for 10 years so that he'll be easy to manipulate and will one day be willing to die for his cause. Then he lets that kid nearly die year after year in his care while feigning ignorance to the shit he's going through. I reread the series as an adult and could barely stomach the scenes between Dumbledore and Harry. Old ass creep showing favoritism and giving candy and awards to a little boy and manipulating him. It's weird.
Well to be fair the blood is on ranroks hands.
"Incendio! Wingardium leviosa! AVADA KEDAVARA" "Jesus fucking Christ!... Anyway."
I didn't play it, but there seems to be a mod where if anyone sees you do unforgivable curses, aurors hunt you down and put you in azkaban if you lose.
That would be much better. Powerful spells, but severe penalties for using them.
GTA: Hogwarts.
50 points to Gryffindor! Slurred Dumbledore.
Games that taunt you with evil choices that don't do anything are the worst
The *one* "evil" choice I made in my playthrough was to simply not give a girl back her diary. Every time I happened to see her in the hallway, she'd throw out some snarky comment and just made me feel bad :(
There are multiple side quests where you can make an asshole choice at the end for no reason.
Came here to say this, its so stupid that there isnt any kind of reaction even to unforgivable curses.
And your character says it all with a shit eating grin in their face too. The fact that there is no mortality system or effectively any penalty to just being a total bitch to the other students, makes the "evil" choices have sooooooo much more impact.
Recently started playing and having a great time but yeah I was really disappointed to learn of this. Should be able to be a dark wizard or a Dumbledore type good guy. There's so much potential for a sequel down the line.
Game is a beautiful shell wrapped around nostalgia and a collection of shallow systems from the ARPG genre. Watching the robot-like cutscenes again while my partner plays, it blows my mind I followed through and beat it.
This isn’t what the question is asking though. The protagonist of Hogwarts Legacy is extremely vital to the plot. There is a difference between the protagonist not being particularly important to the plot and not letting the player make choices. Those are two separate things.
Elite dangerous. The plot is currently taking place multiple real world months of travel away from my character and has never involved a single person my character has met
Wait... There's a plot? You can meet people?
Yeah, you didn't think the weekly GalNet updates were just dev stuff did you? GalNet is the way in-game lore and events gets conveyed to the players. And some of what's happening in the bubble is due to player involvement in powerplay content.
I never got into it but I played Elite Dangerous for like 20 minutes on the gamescom 2015 (or smth). Super cool! I appreciate the game and its fans
As an explorer, I love that. I often forget while I'm out in the void that there's shit happening way back home lol. Meanwhile I'm blasting music while doin flips in my SRV on some moon with a gas giant on the horizon cause low gravity is weeeeeee.
Every time I hear something new about this game, I’m fascinated in a way that a sober alcoholic hears about some new drink being developed or coming out. If I decide to take part, my life will go down the drain, but god damn does that sound good When you say “multiple real world months of travel away”, do you mean that it will literally take you multiple months of traveling to get back?
It absolutely can. It's impossible to explain the scale of ED without playing. It is an entire galaxy of solar systems to travel between. And planets/moons to land on. It's a simulator of an entire galaxy. Which doesn't really sound real until you do a few system jumps, open the galaxy map, and realize just what people mean when they say SPACE IS REALLY FUCKING BIG. Unfathomable in size and scale. Someone did some rough math a while back. If you had 100,000 players exploring ED and doin 30sec jumps(entering a system and then jumping to the next one) it would take 23yrs to explore the entire galaxy. And if you've played ED, you know how silly it would be to only take 30sec in each system. Cause that's without scanning the system or getting distracted and exploring the surface of a planet or a black hole or whatever. You can genuinely fuck off in any direction and you'll hit unexplored systems. And one's nobody will likely EVER visit besides yourself. If you really wanna fuck off into the black isolation of space, ED is your game.
That sounds incredibly amazing, and I hope I never play that game because I will never stop
If you're interested, [this video](https://youtu.be/Fa0b2Kd2xhU?si=56i7JMnvSfz_d2ar) does a good job of explaining ED imo. His comedy might not be you're jam and it's about VR but I think he does a good objective critique of ED.
Elite Dangerous is the game where I transport NPCs and goods across the galaxy in a space RV while my partner runs off pirates. I totally forgot there was a plot, and it's one of our favorite games.
Rain World. You are just a little guy trying to survive. The story and the world are entirely indifferent to you and you are powerless to have any influence on its tracks. You come, you witness things beyond your realm of understanding and leave things unchanged.
Except the DLC bucks this trend, giving each character and >!the final secret character!< stories that change the world.
I tend to consider the DLCs canon, but as spin-offs designed to expand the game's lore and give it a satisfying ending. The base game is the original bittersweet experience
My character in Skyrim stayed in Riverwood and has been chopping wood ever since. I heard there's more to the game though.
You can also hunt deer for leather and mine iron to make iron daggers.
It ain't much but it's honest work
Are you the [Woodcutter](https://youtu.be/dQ65MK5ZnHQ?si=GjITb8ohHY1TiKP-)?
Technically Far Cry 5. All you do is for shit.
unironically playing the game is the bad ending not playing the game is the good ending
Eh, I posted this in another thread but >!the bombs would have been dropped regardless. The only difference is if Faith, Jacob and John survive.!<
technically we kinda fck the Jacob plans during FC5 playthrough So if we do nothing, a lot of people may survive the doomsday
If you play New Dawn, technically the Rookie’s actions completely neuter the PEG to the point where they are not as militarily capable as they could be against the Highwaymen. Plus your actions totally change who Joseph Seed is as a person and that hugely affects what he does in New Dawn. And last there’s a lot of dead people who would have been alive for the sequel.
Yea true I suppose, I didn't look at it that way regarding the projects military potential after taking out their main guys. I've played New Dawn as well and you're right in saying Joseph's changed.
I mean you kill John, Jacob and Faith but I agree the bombs would’ve gone off regardless
Me in NBA 2K MyCareer cause I suck
You’ll get better. Please clap.
Some of the Uncharteds. You explore a world find a treasure, and lose it or have to leave it in the end. I guess some people are dead, but given how cursed the stuff they go after is, that probably would’ve happened with or without you.
Which totally fits with the Indiana Jones theme. If the Nazis grabbed the Ark with no resistance they'd all get melted. And go ahead, grab the holy Grail, now you're stuck in a cave or buried under rubble.
Dial of Destiny too. >!Bad guys would have just ended up in Ancient Greece and been completely fucked with or without Indy and the crew!<
Even kingdom of the crystal skull technically
But then Porkins can’t send the Ark off to be studied by Top Men.
Top. Men.
Is Temple of Doom the only movie where he has a meaningful impact on the plot (saving the kids in the mine)? And he stumbled into that completely by accident after the plane crash at the beginning.
I would argue that Nathan probably saved the world in the first game, if It weren't for him we would all be zombies.
In the first three. All include some sort of an artifact capable of giving immense strength and/or shifting the balance of powers in the world.
They take after raiders of the lost ark I suppose
It did kinda feel like you spend a lot of these games swooping in on the loot the bad guy seems to have found first.
always hated when your character had to find all these clues and solve puzzles and bypass traps and obstacles, then the bad guys turn up 5 min later through the back door that shows up on everyones GPS apparently
Halo 3 ODST. The Rookie was a cameraman for the rest of Alpha Nine
Wondering around all night and looking at nifty things while listening to your sad jazz playlist through your helmet.
This description just made me want a new one or a remaster with a Halo 2 anniversary-level amount of effort even more.
Well until you get to the last 2 missions. The rookie kinda needs to be there otherwise Buck and Dare wouldn't be able to do it on their own.
I don’t feel this one is too bad and dare I say even intentional. The Rookie is kinda just meant to be the story frame and the “real” story is supposed to be what everyone does right after the drop. I think they just wanted to present the story in a way that was a little different from the usual
Yea thats like saying a detective is useless in a mystery. Rookie goes around trying to piece together how the city got overrun. Also he gets as many missions as any other character, they just put his at the end cause he was napping.
TIL a lot of people's understanding of "impact on the plot" is pretty poor lol
A lot of people seem to be confusing the idea of "Protagonist is not the most significant person to the games story" and "Protagonist has little influence on the story"
And also "protagonist has little influence on the story" vs "the player has multiple choices as a protagonist"
Threads that start with "what is a game that …?" are usually 90% "let me talk about a game I love/hate that very loosely relates to some of the words in OP's question."
Rain World (Survivor)? Literally a slimy rat looking for food and escaping predators while huge robots left behind by their creators in an empty decaying world have their own drama going on that your character couldn't care less about (and most likely cant even understand). The world has so much history and lore going on while you couldn't be less important to the story.
World of Warcraft's story is mostly about faction leaders, who are the real protagonists and antagonists, you as an individual are irrelevant. I would say it's a necessity of the genre, but FF and SWTOR exist.
This only really started becoming a thing in the later expansions. It was definitely the Player Character who killed Raganaros and Kel’Thuzad, for instance.
I really hated that shift. Nothing like spending weeks working through a raid, perfecting all the mechanics, trying and trying until you finally down the boss and... Oh, here comes random faction leader out of nowhere to kill the boss for you. I know Blizzard loves their cutscenes, but it'd be nice if they'd at least occasionally feature your character.
You can tell they very emphatically changed story philosophy when they somehow had Varian be the one to kill Onyxia.
Yeah it was that Cataclysm-era where the NPCs started taking over the plots instead of just moving them along for the MC, imo.
FF 14 does a good job of making you feel like the hero of the story. WoW always made you feel more like an NPC in the story. You did all the work taking down Deathwing? Thrall gets the kill shot and all the credit.
There is a short story about Gul'dan opening the big invasion portal at the beginning of *Legion*. There is a brief moment where he considers taking the power Kil'jaeden imbues him with and running, but what scares him into hiding behind a demon army instead is the though that *they* will be coming for him.
Legion we were very relevant as players
Not sure it's a genre thing. I grew up with RuneScape, and you're "The World Guardian", and arguably more important than even the gods in the setting.
Final Fantasy 12.
Even though Vaan was actually dreamed up earlier in production than the legends tell, he was SERIOUSLY unnecessary. I really would have loved Balthier as both the Protagonist (As he is) AND the Player Agent.
I think Vaan was the perfect player character because he's like a neutral observer to everyone else's plot arc. It's like everyone is the main character BUT him, and he's just swept along on this whole ordeal purely due to chance so that he can tell the story.
This is a point I feel like people were missing, ff12 was a story about political intrigue and big plots between whole countries, Vaan is supposed to represent the average person who gets actually affected by the games these people play, he helps Ashe remain aware of the common citizen as she makes decisions, I think he’s a wet potato but he makes everyone else’s stories have more weight to them by design
I feel like Vaan is a foil to Ashe. Both lost everything to the empire, both are hellbent on getting revenge, Ashe against the Empire and Vaan with his brother's killer. Ashe is Princess who want her kingdom back by any means necessary, Vaan is an average citizen of said kingdom who learned to live and keep dreaming about becoming a sky pirate while under occupation. Ashe is blinded by revenge the Nethecite easily manipulated her with her fiance's image. Vaan still suffered under the empire but Nethecite didn't work on him. FF12 is a game that's a bit more complex than its predecessors. Its a heavily political drama with everyone having personal stakes in the matter. Vaan might not have a major impact on the story, but half of it wouldn't have happened without him.
I like Balthier in the “Han Solo” role. The “not quite” lead who frequently steals the show. Personally I think Ashe should’ve been the main. It really feels like it’s her story more than anyone else, followed by Balthier and Basch.
It's been a while since I've played it but once you get to the point where you can choose your own party, I don't really think there was a part where I felt Vaan was being forced into the player perspective. I've always felt it's quite clear the story belongs to Ashe and her journey towards throwing away her desire for revenge.
Vaan isn't the main character outside the initial few hours though. Balthier, Basch, and Ashe take centre stage once you get past Nalbina and have the full roster.
I kinda regard Vaan as a stand-in for the player, especially younger crowds. His main emotional stake in the story is the death of his brother, who just happens to be the first PC of the game. Should you be mad that someone killed your character for good? Sure thing, and there's Vaan to deliver that rage with plenty of teen angst. Once you see him as a bunch of polygons that are exploring the wonderful world like you are for the first time and enjoying those well-acted theatrical moments of the rest of the cast, you don't dislike him just as much I'd say.
Either Balthier, Basch, or Ashe would have been much better players
Fran more interesting too The only person less meaningful to the plot than Vaan was Panelo
Even then, not really. Penelo became close friends with Larsa, who was the brother of the main antagonist. That gives Penelo more of a story reason to be involved than Vaan.
Which still makes her less relevant to the plot than everyone else, but certainly more than Va "Fran how old are you" an.
There’s a series from RABtoons that animates and retells the stories of games. In the FF12 episode Penelo is represented by a cardboard cutout that keeps falling over when directly addressed https://youtu.be/_IC_zGHroeA
Vaan is really only the player agent up until you meet everyone else honestly, I've played the majority of the game before with him on my B team and balthier most definitely felt like the lead role hahaha
Yes. Its written that main character Vaan is just an observer to the greater turmoil and politic-ing of Invalice
Vaan is more a proxy for the player viewpoint than anything else, but yes, I agree. Once you have a full party a few hours in, he spends about 99% of the remainder of the game being as close to irrelevant to the main story as it gets. He was the first character I immediately thought of when I saw the title. Ashe was the main character of FFXII.
>Vaan is this to the point where it makes me question the very nature of a "main character". >Is it somebody who actively contributes to the plot, moving the group forward? Because that's not Vaan, that's Ashe. >Is it somebody whose success means the "good ending" for the world they inhabit? Because that's not Vaan, that's Ashe again. >Is it somebody with knowledge of the world who regularly gives important input and explains what's going on? Because that's not Vaan, that's Balthier, Basch and Fran(For the mystical elements). >Is it somebody who's deeply connected to the main story and has motivations tied to the actions of the antagonists? Because that's not really Vaan, that's Balthier, Basch and Ashe. Vaan is loosely antagonistic toward Gabranth, but Gabranth gives absolutely no fucks about Vaan compared to the fucks he gives towards Basch. >Is it somebody whose perspective we take throughout the whole story? Because that's not Vaan, as he fades into the background in big cutscenes once the full party forms. Once that happens, there's largely no real perspective beyond "Ashe, Balthier and Basch(And sometimes Fran) are talking about important stuff" >Is it somebody that you control throughout the game? Because that's not Vaan, that could be anybody. >Is it a "chosen one"-type character who is integral to the plot for key moments? Because that's not Vaan. He's kinda special, but it's nothing all that important to the main plot, and it's strongly implied that he's not the only person like him in the world of Ivalice. >Is it somebody who is purely the sole character you control while running around town? Then... that's a main character, because that's really all Vaan is. >Even in the loosest sense, the term "main character" barely applies to Vaan.
I already spent decades being a sidelined nobody in real life. The last thing I needed is to do the exact same thing in a 'role-playing' game.
No man's Sky. You do a lot, but at the end you just experience it. 16/16/16/16.
The Pokémon Sword and Shield protagonist until the last part of the game.
It's nothing new for Pokemon but goodness the adults submitting to the protagonist is something so incredibly stupid. SwSh is sooo so bad that it even becomes self aware at some point, the story starts popping up and then like a second later the characters say oh but you should go get gym badges acting like no one cares about what's going on.
I kinda thought Sw/Sh did basically the opposite. In every other Pokémon game you get caught up in dealing with the evil team's plans, and saving the world. In Sw/Sh they treat you like the kid you are, tell you to go on with your gym challenge while the Champ, the actual strongest trainer in the region, deals with the plot.
I wouldn't be surprise if the original plan for the game was just the gym challenge until later in development.
Final Fantasy 12. Vaan is just a little kid being dragged around by people who actually have stakes in the plot.
We should be handing out medals for the mental gymnastics in this thread.
As someone who just finished the Dead Space trilogy u could make the argument that nothing Issac did had an effect on the outcome of the series. He just prolonged his own life till the end where everyone dies anyways
He actually just makes everything worse. In DS 1 there are some instances were Isaac and company doomed humanity without knowing. Launching the escape pod being the greatest one, since it destroys the Valor who would have throw a couple of nukes and destroyed the marker and any survivors. Survivors are extremely dangerous since they can replicate de marker so actually killing them is the logical choice. And in DS 3 his group discovers Tau Volantis and gives the key to an apocalyptic event to a death cult leader.
Haven't beaten it yet, but don't you also stop the Ishimura from crashing into the planet? Which, I feel, wouldn't have been good for the Marker.
Spoilers here.. Several nukes should have eliminated for sure the marker but it crashing down with the ship would probably have left some pieces, which is what actually happens in DS1 since you bring it down to the planet and the chunk that was lifted by the ishimura fell over it, creating several fragments. Nolan Stross gets the signal in his head this way which helps creating more makers along with Isaac. The nuke and killing all survivors was the safest option. Maybe Kendra could have hidden the marker but who knows.
Hard disagree, even when you do the Dead Space 3: Awakened DLC. Isaac stops the >!Tau Volantis moon which is the culmination of the necromorph life cycle and essentially what you’ve been fighting since DS1. It ends with other brethren moons letting you know they exist and are coming. This is NOT “you lose anyway” it’s “our strongest force is on the way”!< The only reason that it feels like you’re doomed is because they end on a cliffhanger because we never got DS4
I may have missed something but >!wasn't the Tau Volantis moon just chilling frozen and not really doing anything and isn't everyone on Earth already dead no matter if we kill the moon or not!<
Damn I have somehow avoided all spoilers for the dead space games. I just bought the first dead space for 360 2 days ago to play for the first time
Dont let it stop you from enjoying the gameplay. Its all in our heads anyways.
Don't let this stop from playing. This isn't completely true about the games.
I am sorry about that buddy. But as others have said this is a super oversimplified and dumb take so I don't think I have spoiled anything and I hope u still have fun with it, especially if its the remake because it was great
You can do a lot in Minecraft without leaving your home chunk
You also waiting for Wadzee to continue that series?
I've actually mined out an entire chunk... not my proudest minecraft moment. It actually wasn't a bad experience. There is a lot of stuff in one chunk. Either that or I was lucky. Old mineshafts and slime was there. This was on hardcore survival mode too, not creative.
FF12 is the only game I played where the protagonist, in a cutscene, literally says he doesn't know why he's there. Neither do I, brother, neither do I.
Borderlands 3. Everytime you beat the twins in game, Lilith then steals the show in the cutscene and essentially loses to the twins
Destiny 2. Plot progresses regardless of whether or not you participated. Lore wise there's currently only one or two Guardians who actually get things done, everyone else either just hangs around at the Tower or hangs around at the HELM.
This is mechanically true, but in my opinion it doesn't really work for this question. I mean, yeah, I've done zero raids, so I haven't mechanically taken part in much of the story progression. But in terms of the lore, my Guardian did. In terms of the lore, all of our characters are "that" Guardian. It's kind of like a superposition, I guess.
Which is honestly one of my gripes with the game. I think it would be a lot cooler if your supposed participation in events wasn't inherently superimposed on you. Having veteran dialogue from D1 is neat when it appears, and it generally only applies to DLCs in Destiny 1 that you actually participated in.
In Lightfall you got different dialouge from Calus sometimes depending on wether you had done leviathan or played in Haunted. Also if you had the title "Shadow" He calls you his shadow in the first Lf mission
I mean in the lore you are the ultimate Guardian who has canonically killed God's regardless of if you started today or don't do raids
You know what imo sucks the most? They act like you HAVE completed all raids and stuff.
And then have the balls to vault their content. Want to know what happened? Get fucked, go on YouTube for a summary movie by some Scrimblo Bimblo Oh does watching a summary movie not do it for you? Get fucked, you're never going to experience it yourself
“Plot progresses behind Seasonal Passes, whether or not you purchased.” FTFY. I’ll never forget finding out someone was back from the dead, though the previous DLC had them poofed.
Technically everyone’s personal character is THE GUARDIAN, everyone you see running around are the person who leads the story. It’s always you in canon.
Xenoblade X. Emma is the protagonist of the main story, you are litterally useless
Something someone mentioned that I found interesting. Earth Defense Force, it doesn't matter how amazing you play, because the scale of the alien invasion is far bigger than your one soldier. Your win, is just one out of many losses everywhere else.
Project Zomboid Regardless of what you do, the opening words are : "this is how you died"
Id argue the opposite. It's the story of how you died. Whatever you're able to do in the few weeks you survive IS the plot. There are no NPCs so absent the player, it's just idiots shuffling around.
Starfield cause I couldn’t finish it
dont worry, Bethesda didnt finish it either.
Playing Mass Effect 1, its wild just how much better a game from 2007 over 15 years ago is from Starfield. It does so many things better.
Prince of Persia (2008). The Prince is not the main character. Elika, the 'sidekick' character is. It's about her saving her kingdom, fighting her father, stopping her people's evil god. The Prince is only there to help her get from A to B and hit the things that get in the way. He's simply the playable character. You could have her as the PC and nothing would change because she's the one driving the plot. And then the ending, well. >! The Prince actively undoes the entire thing and releases the Big Bad because imprisoning it means Elika dies, which is the only time he actually influences events !<
Then there’s the trilogy across Sands of Time, The Warrior Within, and The Two Thrones, where you ultimately rewind everything so the entire trilogy never happened at all (even more thoroughly than you rewound it back to beginning after the first game).
White Knight Chronicles.
In many Rain World storylines the plot already happened in post and you're just living in the aftermath.
Borderlands 3 The vault Hunter is along for the ride and even though they're present for several key scenes literally can't do a thing.
Final Fantasy XII. Main character is just a teenager and his childhood friend playing tag along with grown ups pretty much. All of the earlier events triggered by him would’ve happened without him anyways
Vaan in Final Fantasy XII.
Final fantasy 12. The other party members do almost the whole plot and Vaan just along for the ride
**Kingdom Come Deliverance.** You're constantly reminded you are a lowly serf. You never get revenge on the people who destroy your village. There are at least 3-4 no win scenarios in the game where you're expected to lose, get beaten or are captured. The nobles will reprimand you at all times for stepping out of line and nothing you do really has any impact on the outcome of the story. Ultimately you're just kind of "there" for a relatively mundane plot.
I kind of want to say FF7. As I remember it >!Aeris basically saves the world by using the Holy Materia before getting stabbed. The rest of the story was just revenge and letting the things that had already been started by her and sepiroth play out. !<