Top 10 False Choices in Video Games

Top 10 False Choices in Video Games

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Another Top 10 False Choices in Video Games

Video games provide us with the ability to undertake challenges and create change in the game world around us...at least that’s how it seems most of the time. Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we will be counting down our picks for the Top 10 False Choices in Video Games. For this list, we are focusing on moments in video games where it appears as if the player has a say on the outcome, but everything is already predetermined, causing these moments to have little to no influence on the gameplay or plot, leaving the option for a so-called 'choice' pointless.

#10: Which Factions You Help/Destroy “Dragon Age Origins” (2009)

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Picture this: a massive RPG set in a high fantasy setting in which you control what is known as a Grey Warden, one of the last in an elite group of guardians. Got that? Okay, now add in the premise that you must choose which races to unite and which to destroy in hopes of defeating an evil archdemon once and for all and restoring peace to the world. That is quite the setup for some monumental decision making. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter who you side with or against as it doesn’t impact the end result of the story in a meaningful way.

#9: Can’t Say No To Ravio “The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds” (2013)

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Early on in this 3DS Zelda adventure, the player awakes in their house with this mysteriously cloaked character after suffering a devastating loss to the game’s antagonist Yuga. Ravio introduces himself to you as a travelling merchant in desperate need of a place to set up shop. After some chit chat, Ravio looks around and takes a liking to his current surroundings, asking to stay and continue his business here in your home. Naturally you’d want to think over allowing a random homeless stranger to stay in your house, right? Well, he doesn’t share that point of view.

In this critically acclaimed adventure series from Telltale, the player has been forced into many situations where tough calls need to be made. This is understandable, as in a scenario as intense and desperate as a zombie apocalypse, lines will be drawn and sacrifices made. Unfortunately, the developers stumbled on supporting that dramatic weight for this particular moment. When undead attack Hershel’s farm settlement, you are tasked with quickly choosing who to save: Hershel’s son Shawn or a small boy named Duck. Don’t let either decision wear down too heavily on your conscience though, as either choice results in Shawn dying.

Upon returning to Guardia castle in this sequence from the massive role playing epic for the Super Nintendo, the character Crono is accused of kidnapping the princess Nadia, aka Marle and plotting to seize the throne. As the title of this entry would suggest, what follows is a lengthy trial, in which Crono is bombarded with a series of various questions. Although your actions at the start of the game can change the progression of the trial, it is ultimately irrelevant as Crono gets tossed in a jail cell regardless on if he’s found not guilty. I guess there’s no right to an attorney around here?

#6: The Bird or The Cage “Bioshock Infinite” (2013)

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A slower moment between the frenetic action of this shooter, the player bumps into the Lutece twins who offer a pair of pendants to Elizabeth. While both of them look nice, don’t lose any hair choosing one as both do nothing to change the overall gameplay experience. This entry can be cut some slack as the two options do serve some clever symbolism for the game’s narrative. Without spoiling anything, the pendants can represent freedom and imprisonment respectively, though you could probably figure that out, and the illusion of choice in this instance can represent how life sometimes works in cycles, bringing us right back to where we began.

Here is another Bioware series with a meaningless set of choices that don’t amount to much. At the end of Mass Effect 1, you are left with the major decision of appointing who you feel is the best individual to run a council on behalf of Earth and keep things in order during strenuous intergalactic times. This could be a tipping point if you choose poorly right? Surprise, surprise, it doesn’t matter one bit. If you chose Anderson, he quits in between Mass Effect 2 & 3, and Udina is the Councillor regardless. All for a convenient plot for both characters really.

In this DLC mission, you play as Catwoman while she pursues her own mischievous goals. Her storyline eventually syncs up with a moment from the main game as she notices that the dark knight is knocked out cold. In this moment, she is left with the choice to drop everything to save the caped crusader or walk away with the loot she has stolen. If you choose the latter, the game will literally rewind and make you do what it wants. We get this choice needs to coincide with the main game’s narrative but, well, the cat says it best.

So picture this: You’ve found yourself in a human colony on an uncharted alien world, and have been recommended to join the dangerous exploration and reconnaissance division BLADE. Of course you’re also reminded that “Blade service is Voluntary” Oh and “I would never force and coerce anyone.” Now given that NLA is a big city with a lot of opportunities, any realistic scenario should allow you to say no and just work in the coffee shop or storage warehouse right? “Now you wouldn’t want to refuse the people who saved your life would you?” Well so much for never forcing someone to do dangerous voluntary work. You might want to look into your own choice words Captain Nagi.

#2: Water Thief or The Soldier “Spec Ops The Line” (2011)

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After fighting across the warzone that was once Dubai, the player comes across two men tied under a sign with their mouths taped shut. What follows is a radio call from the game’s main antagonist Joseph Konrad, forcing the Captain Walker to choose which of these two men will live and which will bite the dust. No matter which you choose, a group of snipers kills the other and if you refuse Konrad entirely you are gunned down instead. The real kicker here is that at the end of the game, this entire scene is revealed to have been a hallucination and both men are already dead. Before we reveal our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions… Freeing Admiral Tolwyn “Wing Commander 4” (1996) Helping Paul “Deus Ex” (2000) Helping Preston Convoy “Fallout 4” (2015) Pure Blood Test “Wolfenstein: The New Order” (2014)

Let it be so that Ramsay Bolton should be placed into the dictionary next to the words “sadistic” and “sociopath”. With that in mind, anyone with even an ounce of logic would steer clear of a dude like this as his erratic behavior can never lead to anything good. Once it comes time to decide if you will back down or stand up to Ramsay...you’re pretty screwed as he kills you no matter what choice you make. So it becomes all the more puzzling how they even offer you the option to refuse a man who gets what he wants with no questions asked. Do you agree with our list? Which video games ripped choice from your hands? For more meaningful Top 10 lists published every day, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.