It's strength lies in the fact that, as a gamer, you assume you are in complete control of your character. Games typically operate by creating the illusion of control, even whilst pushing the player down a fairly linear path; A voice in your ear tells you where to go, arrows point you to your next objective, and the level is crafted to guide you onwards towards the next plot point. Bioshock is perhaps the first game to exploit our unquestioning acceptance of those conventions, and subvert the player's delusion of control.
Half way through, the game reveals that you were never in control. The whole time, you're character has been doing exactly what he was told and so have you. Thus you get an uncanny sensation that you are in the same predicament as your character. With the exception of The Stanley Parable, no other game has created a story around the concept of a game controlling the player, despite control being the essence of a video game.
I would believe that more if, in the "would you kindly" situations, you were given several choices, but the game subtly forced you into one of them.
When I found out that my character was brainwashed, I didn't go back and question all the instances where it came up, because the game is quite linear. If it pretended to give me choices, but then reviled that I made those choices due to brainwashing, then it would be better. But for me, I didn't make those choices because I was told to, I did because they were the only thing to do.
In the end I didn't find that plot twist to be all that great because I had a hunch Fontaine was evil, and the game felt to linear to say I made those choices due to brainwashing when there weren't many choices to be made.
(Disclaimer: I never completed Bioshock. I made it a fair way past the main plot twist, but then my PS3 fried and I couldn't be bothered replay what I thought was a "meh" game just to figure out how it ended.)
Yeah, I had to give Gearbox some props with that one. There is nothing to suggest that she is his daughter, but if you listen to the character audio logs a father daughter relationship is sort of reflected in them. I honestly think borderlands 2 is a parody of traditional RPG elements, and Angel's betrayal is one of the best example of that
Best example from Zero audio logs
Jack-"So what is he?"
Angel-"I dunno."
Jack-"Don't give me that I don't know crap you are one of the most powerful beings in the universe, whats the problem?"
Angel-"I dunno..."
For me a bad twist is just shocking, a good/okay twist makes a second playthrough interesting and a great twist changes the theme of the game is such a way that the experience is possibly even greater playing the game twist spoiled so for me:
Vigormortis said:
Hmm, I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned more often, but for me it's:
The game spends its entirety setting up a very cliched, Mario-esque "journey to save the princess" tale. Yet, by the end, you discover that the protagonist is the villain, the antagonist is the hero, and that the princess is actually attempting to escape from the player.
I know a lot of people claim "they saw it coming" (bullshit) and even more give the game, and it's creator, all kinds of flak for any number of reasons. But honestly? Braids plot-twist was one that stayed with me long after the game was done. Even more than Bioshocks. More than System Shock 2. More than Portal or Portal 2s. More than any other.
It reemphasized for me how strange even the most stereo-typical of plot setups can become with a simple alteration or reversal of roles. When I first played, I was so accepting and complacent with the basic idea of the story. That being that I was playing the hero, chasing after the princess to save her. It hadn't occurred to me that, with a simple change of context, that could make the player the villain. A very sinister, creepy villain. And that all of my efforts, my trials and tribulations, had been towards the detriment of the princess instead of her rescue.
That hit me much more profoundly than, say, learning my guide had been dead the whole time (System Shock 2) or hearing the words "Would you kindly" for the first time.
is pretty bad twist. The story is just not cohesive enough that it gives it any value on a second playthrough. Maybe a second playthrough of one level, but that's just it, a single level is short and you should be able to remember it both ways without needing to replay it.
The problem is Braid is just one level, if the books in the game were designed to make some kind of sense then maybe the twist would reinterpret the way you experienced the majority of the game, but at the end it's revealed that the flavour twist is not part of a singular sensical story (untwist!). However, I will say this for it, it's shocking enough that it elevated for a lot of people, what is a pretty cool but unexciting puzzle platformer to a fantastic game. (I did see it coming though which might make me a little bitter)
Now
Kiefer13 said:
Knights of the Old Republic.
You are Darth Revan.
It's brilliantly set up. There's enough foreshadowing that it makes sense and doesn't just feel like it comes out of nowhere, and yet not so much that it's obvious.
Is a good twist. On a second playthrough a lot of new things click into place and it's enjoyable to see the trick (I'd played KotoR2 first which doesn't reveal this twist, but provided me enough knowledge to guess the KotoR twist within the first 5 minutes of the game which downplayed the impact for me though)
However I'll delve into spoiler to explain why it's not a great twist
In the end it doesn't change anything thematically about the game. And actually is quite petty in the long run. The Jedi Council were motivated solely by attempting to find the Star Map locations and so, what could and should have raised great questions about what makes a person a person (and why Planescape: Torment sweeps the floor with KotoR) into a slightly convoluted fetch quest. Equally Revan's actions and changes of heart aren't explored or what this new life means for them. So ultimately KotoR is a twist plot, it takes most of it's emotional impact directly from the twist rather than using the twist to drive greater events (films like Sixth Sense and Fight Club are more than twist plots because there's still a lot of drive without them). You can play KotoR twice and get equal enjoyment out of it, but the game doesn't offer anything new from runs after that apart from being a really fun game in general (well I tell a lie, you have the third run where you name your character 'Darth Revan' and do a dark side run. Bonus points if you download a mod which gives you Revans Robes and mask)
Even Malak doesn't really react to Revan particularly organically based on his identity, there are some lines of dialogue there, but he doesn't treat Revan particularly differently than he treated Bastila or any other powerful threat
And a great twist is
roushutsu said:
Here are some of my personal faves:
I know it's been mentioned a bunch of times already, but it really was a surprise. I predicted that Atlas wasn't all that he was cracked up to be and was probably leading you on the whole time, so I was expecting him to just be a masterful liar. But I was not expecting Jack to be a sleeper agent built specifically to take down his father...and Andrew Ryan knew all along.
Not only is the second playthrough enjoyable, picking up all the hints, but the twist ties deeply into the themes of Objectivism and Determinism and when you look at the games events through the prism of the twist they are greatly enhanced. It's also pretty unique as a bonus, 'he betrays you' etc are pretty standard twists. Bioshocks for me at least is fresh enough that I wouldn't even think of guessing it.
I'd like to put in another vote for Bastion though, but a different twist.
The world has been stuck in a cycle of you creating a time machine to go back and stop the Calamity and then changing nothing
It's an interesting twist because it happens right at the start of the game, yet you'll only realise the impact on New Game+. I'm not sure where I would rank it, all of the depth of Bastions themes stem from this and its an interesting play on putting together a broken world, so it has a bit more to say than KotoR, but it's also quieter than KotoR and has less affect on the story. Bastion is a lot about the experience and the music and the world which the twist ultimately doesn't impact on. It's definitely not Bioshock good, but then the game doesn't revolve around it and it adds a lot of depth. In the end I'll put it on level with KotoR because whilst it's smaller the idea of a twist that only appears on your second playthrough is absolute genius and very original
EDIT: Actually I want to rant some more about the KotoR twist. This isn't intellectual and is entirely personal but how quickly I guessed the KotoR twist actually really annoys me. It's weird, normally if you guess a twist you feel a bit smug and good about yourself for being clever. But I'm really annoyed that I guessed the KotoR twist. Because the thing is, I guessed it before we were out of the tutorial. I'm replaying it right now and I passed the scene where I guessed it and I still grimance for that.
So you're on a ship, you get informed about Bastilia and her great work. You get told about Malak and the downfall of Revan (really clumsily, the exposition right at the beginning of KotoR is pretty bad). You get off the ship and then... you have a vision of Revans facemask? Well what else is it going to be. My first thought was. Oh I guess you're Revan then. And I hadn't even explored anything about the game. I think it's actually relying on you not knowing how important Revan is at that moment (something which I did know because of KotoR) because if you do, there's nothing else that vision can mean.
Just narratively. Someone dreaming close shots of someones masked face only ever means two things. Either that mask is going to be revealed to be your mentor/lover/friend (in which case they would have established the person first). Or it's yourself. Otherwise how are you having a vision just of their concealed face and why is it important?
It's strength lies in the fact that, as a gamer, you assume you are in complete control of your character. Games typically operate by creating the illusion of control, even whilst pushing the player down a fairly linear path; A voice in your ear tells you where to go, arrows point you to your next objective, and the level is crafted to guide you onwards towards the next plot point. Bioshock is perhaps the first game to exploit our unquestioning acceptance of those conventions, and subvert the player's delusion of control.
Half way through, the game reveals that you were never in control. The whole time, you're character has been doing exactly what he was told and so have you. Thus you get an uncanny sensation that you are in the same predicament as your character. With the exception of The Stanley Parable, no other game has created a story around the concept of a game controlling the player, despite control being the essence of a video game.
When I found out that my character was brainwashed, I didn't go back and question all the instances where it came up, because the game is quite linear. If it pretended to give me choices, but then reviled that I made those choices due to brainwashing, then it would be better. But for me, I didn't make those choices because I was told to, I did because they were the only thing to
I don't know, you are never actually told to do what Atlas says, but when he asked you to look for wrench, you instinctively did just that, didn't you? Admittedly, it is impossible to progress without the wrench, but you probably wouldn't need to know that to still look for one. That's how used we have got to this sort of thing. We have played games for so long now, we just know to do whatever the voices in our ear tells us to do - Bioshock has fun with that concept, stopping the player and asking "did you decide to do that, or were you just compelled?"
Obviously, it's the former and we still decide whether to play along with the game the whole time, but it made me stop and think for a second. I guess I find that more impressive than some other folk.
Lotta love for KotOR 1 here, but I'm gonna go ahead and give as shout to two of the sequel's best plot twists.
You're not a Jedi: not really. After cutting yourself off from the force at Malachor V, you became some kind of Force Reaver, a being who siphons the strength, free will, and abilities off of others. That's why you gain EXP when you kill people, and that's why the influence mechanic changes your party's alignment: you're eroding their free will. That's why Atton starts off as a jerkass, and eventually becomes your most trusted party member: you've spent the most time with him, so he has the least free will. And your eventual fate, if you follow the Dark Side, is to become a Planet Devouring abomination like Nihilus. Mind. Freaking. Blown.
Another one is merely kinda implied in the original release, but outright stated in the Restored Content.
Kreia never wanted to kill the force. All she wanted was to erase the arrogance of the old order, and rebuild it in the Exile's image, an order based around the self, rather than the force. Around people, rather than a metaphysical concept. And, of course, around Revan.
I had Atlas pegged as the villain the instant his "family" was killed, due to their curious lack of presence or direct establishment in a game that establishes everything else.
Everyone and their crazy brother can find me and my radio EXCEPT these people I am supposed to save. Of course, this later ruined part of System Shock 2 for me (which I played after Bioshock), seeing how they pulled the same "Villain is leading the player around from the start" gig there too.
Call me jaded, but I wasn't stunned by the "Would You Kindly" bit. Found it clever and cute, but not shocking.
And no, I actually didn't have it spoiled for me.
Thematically, I'd have to say my favorite twist is...
That Lavos influenced mankind's direction, and that most of the party (all sans Ayla) exist and have the powers they do because of Lavos mucking with their evolutionary path.
It's a twist that everyone and their brother ignored, (and I can't blame them, given how obsessed Japanese games and anime were with evolution and God in the 90s), but I found kind of interesting.
(Granted, it was also sort of tacked on to the very end of the game and only given a couple of rooms with some throw-away lines. So perhaps this is just sloppy writing and I'm looking into it far more than I should.)
It throws into question some of Lavos' motives. The nature of children rebelling against their parents; things a bit beyond the typical "Sins of the Father/Cain".
Was humanity specially-engineered as cattle? Queen Zeal and the Mammon Machine suggest it could have gone either way, given how Zeal herself was controlled by Lavos, rather than consumed.
On the other hand, there are the earthbound humans who can't use Magic (provided by Lavos, naturally). So perhaps Lavos only wanted the superior subjects. Zeal's daughter, Schala turns out to be pivotal in Chrono Cross (for extremely contrived reasons).
Did Lavos cause the Reptites' extinction as a preventative measure or was it (initially) incidental? I can see him being selective for the purposes of manipulating humanity, but apparently he was having nothing to do with the Reptites.
Then you consider the possibility that Azala called Lavos to the planet as a means of mutually-assured-destruction (her last words confirm this was her intention; she knows the reptites will all die even when offered mercy. She probably did not know humanity would survive), and this possibility creates a sort of time loop because she's responding to the threat Crono's Crew posed with their time-traveling meddling.
(If history initially started with the Reptites beating Ayla and the humans before Lavos arrived, humanity would have already been extinct. Further complicating this is the fact that Ayla and Marle are directly related. Obviously, Lavos and Humanity survived at the start of the game, so this is a sort of "Chicken and Egg" paradox that has multiple ambiguous solutions depending on what you think is the original timeline.
Chrono Cross throws the alternate "Originally intended" timeline where the Reptites survived in lieu of humanity, and evolved into the Dragonians. Suggesting that there was indeed a timeline where Lavos did not reach the planet; presumably because Azala didn't call to it)
Lots to consider, including the possibility that it's just broken writing.
But fun and interesting all the same.
Whelp, ninja'd on Bioshock, Spec Ops (which is amazing, play it now), Bastion, and Alpha Protocol.
I totally missed every plot twist the first time- Scarlett is the killer (although I knew it wasn't Deng), Madison is Parker's daughter, etc.
There was "Shock and Awe" from CoD4, but I was spoiled on that.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution:
Megan was stealing genetic samples from you, defected to the badguys, is implied to be sleeping with Namir, and eventually creates the Grey Death/JC Denton.
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