There are a lot of complaints on moral choices in games, with much complaint based on its arbitrary nature. I want everyone to talk about the moral choices done not so well, ones that made you think, "What? That's not a choice. Why would anyone do it any other way?".
I'll give two examples
Fallout 3
Yeah, you know what I mean. Megaton. Fuckin' Megaton. Honestly, did anyone set the bomb off, not based on the reasoning of "for shits and giggles"? This wasn't a moral dilemma, not even a weighing between gameplay benefits. At the moment we were provided with the quest and the option to blow the town up, we were given no context at all, whether these people deserved to die, whether we wanted to kill these people, or whether Tenpenny tower was an actual freakin' place! I do appreciate the option to blow the town up, Bethesda, but I'm not a chaotically stupid villain from Captain Planet or something. To be honest, I think if this was set somewhere later in the story, where we got to know the people of Megaton better, Burke gave us more quests to go around and do things for him, build up trust and rapport, this could have been a sweet storyline, but nooooo.
Bastion
So those are my examples. If anyone would like to list their own examples, please go ahead. If anyone would like to argue against my examples, that's okay, too, since this is a pretty subjective opinion. However, please try not to argue about the merits of the moral system in general, since that's a rather broad subject to cover.
I'll give two examples
Fallout 3
Yeah, you know what I mean. Megaton. Fuckin' Megaton. Honestly, did anyone set the bomb off, not based on the reasoning of "for shits and giggles"? This wasn't a moral dilemma, not even a weighing between gameplay benefits. At the moment we were provided with the quest and the option to blow the town up, we were given no context at all, whether these people deserved to die, whether we wanted to kill these people, or whether Tenpenny tower was an actual freakin' place! I do appreciate the option to blow the town up, Bethesda, but I'm not a chaotically stupid villain from Captain Planet or something. To be honest, I think if this was set somewhere later in the story, where we got to know the people of Megaton better, Burke gave us more quests to go around and do things for him, build up trust and rapport, this could have been a sweet storyline, but nooooo.
Bastion
Zulf. This is almost the opposite of Fallout 3's problem. We know and care about Zulf, and we're supposed to leave him to die? This wasn't much of an option, not because it was arbitrary, but because it went against the very relationship, the camaraderie that had risen from the survivors of the Calamity. Would the Kid abandon Zulf to his death after all he's been through, all the lives that was lost with the Calamity, with the very lives that he himself had taken? I just couldn't bring myself to abandon him in both playthroughs, even though I wanted to see all the options available. Plus, what results after the option is one of the greatest moments in the game, where the Ura army attacks your slowly moving character, carrying Zulf, until they begin to stop and watch, and allow you to simply move on with your friend. I'd like to think that this is a way for the devs to say rescuing Zulf is what should be happening, but if that's the case, then why have a choice at all? The choice does factor into the theme of the cycle of hate and forgiveness' power to break that cycle, but they're really not giving us much of a choice, are they? (Of course, complaining about how much they made you care about a character really shouldn't be a complaint at all.)
So those are my examples. If anyone would like to list their own examples, please go ahead. If anyone would like to argue against my examples, that's okay, too, since this is a pretty subjective opinion. However, please try not to argue about the merits of the moral system in general, since that's a rather broad subject to cover.
