Predict the standard Bioware TWIST in DA.

[Volourn]

"As we all know Bioware are very fond of their 'Twists' in their games."

All game devloeprs are - including BIS, Obsidian, and tROIKA.

"Baldurs Gate had the twist where you find out that GASP, you are a bhaalspawn."

Sounds good.


"Baldurs Gate 2 had the shocking twist where you find out that Imoen is a bhaalspawnette."

Not a twist unless your defintion of 'shocking twist' is dumb.


"KOTOR had the utterly obvious twist which had you as Revan."

Only 'obvious' in hindsight.


"Jade Empire had the twist where your master turned out to be Deaths Hand and becomes the ultimate nemesis."

WUT THE FUK R U TALKIN' ABOOT?


"So what do you think Dragon Age's twist will be?"

I'll play the game, and find out. Unlike hardcore BIO fanboys like you, I don't disect games so tightly prior to release. Go back to reaidng your copy of the DA book, geek.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

I had KotoR 1 spoiled before playing it but weren't there only 1 or 2 clues on Dantooine that you were Revan? It wasn't the best plot twist but "obvious" doesn't sound right.

 

[Xaus]

Yeah, I'll never forget the first time the KOTOR twist happened. It pretty much ruined RPGs for me, too, cause now I'm always expecting a twist and leave mildly disappointed when something DOESN'T happen. Still, that first revelation I just pushed my chair away from my computer and just smiled and said "What?"

Good times.

 

[oldmanpaco]

I had KotoR 1 spoiled before playing it but weren't there only 1 or 2 clues on Dantooine that you were Revan? It wasn't the best plot twist but "obvious" doesn't sound right.

Every dream sequence was a clue.

I hate dream sequences. They are the last resort of the lazy writer.

 

[flabbyjack]

Stolen from Omikron: The Nomad Soul.

You are in a video game OMFG! Also David Bowie is God.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

I had KotoR 1 spoiled before playing it but weren't there only 1 or 2 clues on Dantooine that you were Revan? It wasn't the best plot twist but "obvious" doesn't sound right.

They drop hints all along. In initial conversation with Carth on Taris, he discusses how the force "can do terrible things to a person" or something, and that it can even wipe someone's mind and change there identity. He's even heard that the Order might have done so, but it's just a rumor. Combine that discussion with the fact that you JUST HAD A DISTURBING, MYSTERIOUS DREAM, and you immediately get clued in that you're not who you think you are, assuming you're willing to connect some dots. Then, when you never see Revan's face or hear his voice in the cutscenes on Dantooine, it becomes pretty obvious. There's other stuff too, but that's what tipped me off on my first playthrough.

 

[Jasede]

I was never perceptive about this stuff, Sherlock Holmes always amazes me, and so surely enough I thought the twists in Kotor 1 and in Jade Empire were satisfying enough.

My favorite twist was in Kotor 2, when Kreia reveals that there is no twist. That was different at least.

 

[Andhaira]

Te twist in KOTOR 1 was blidingly obvious for the following reasons:

-You nver saw revans face in cutscenes
-Revan never spoke, just like the main character. This was the biggest clue and made it quiet simple to figure out really.

-Bioware always has the main pc to be someone really important. Plus we always kept reading/hearing about how malak was only second most powerful compared to revan. Now why would they go to the trouble of making their main villain seem less dangerous?

Jade EMpires twist wasn't bad though, and it wasn't forseeable.

 

[Stereotypical Villain]

Bioware's latest codexian twist: The elf you're fucking is actually a tranny. More on this at the five o' clock news. Stay tuned!

 

[heiamll]

They drop hints all along. In initial conversation with Carth on Taris, he discusses how the force "can do terrible things to a person" or something, and that it can even wipe someone's mind and change there identity. He's even heard that the Order might have done so, but it's just a rumor. Combine that discussion with the fact that you JUST HAD A DISTURBING, MYSTERIOUS DREAM, and you immediately get clued in that you're not who you think you are, assuming you're willing to connect some dots. Then, when you never see Revan's face or hear his voice in the cutscenes on Dantooine, it becomes pretty obvious. There's other stuff too, but that's what tipped me off on my first playthrough.

As soon as that first dream sequence played where they went out of their way to not show you Revans face or voice.. i just kind of jokingly blurted it out. Was totally confirmed for me when the force training stuff happened and everyone was like "wow omg you did in a week what it takes others years.. its as if you have used the force before.. lyke omg"

 

[Admiral Rimjob POOBUM]

When you're talking to the Yoda ripoff Jedi Master, he says "what if we undertake to train this one, and the Dark Lord Revan should return?"

So, uh... yeah. Didn't take much thought from there.

 

[Qwinn]

Best twists I ever found in a CRPG were both provided by the two Starflight games, right at the end. Did -not- see either one coming, at all. Floored, I was. That's why they'll always be among my favorites.

Qwinn

 

[kris]

Te twist in KOTOR 1 was blidingly obvious for the following reasons:

-You nver saw revans face in cutscenes

I never saw it and I think that was because I already assumed from the begining that you would meet him at the end of the game in some way. The hidden face helped reinforce my belief. Overall it is bad writing to steal someone's character in a RPG. This was way more blatant than BG, because in BG only your father and special powers came into play. In Kotor most of your life and personality was stolen.

Jade Empire on the other hand I saw from miles away.

 

[racofer]

Eh. There's a saying in portuguese for these kind of people claiming K1's twist was so predictable and shitz. A literal translation would be something like Prophets of the Aftermath.

 

[MetalCraze]

Every dream sequence was a clue.

I hate dream sequences. They are the last resort of the lazy writer.

My not removed from an inventory version had videos cut out and even with that I wasn't surprised when I turned out to be Revan.

 

[Dionysus]

Eh. There's a saying in portuguese for these kind of people claiming K1's twist was so predictable and shitz. A literal translation would be something like Prophets of the Aftermath.

I find that twists seem obvious when I know beforehand that there is a twist of some sort. Then I spend a lot of time thinking of what the twist might be. So, even if I had 10 guesses, the one that happened to be correct will always seem to be obvious when it finally comes to pass. A twist should be somewhat predictable, because it would just be a non-sequitur otherwise. It would be like a mystery novel that reveals the criminal to be a character that was never introduced until the end.

 

[St. Toxic]

But how can a predictable twist still be a twist, and not simply a fairly obvious next step in the plot advancement?

 

[shardspin]

Hi, first post. Kind of sad to spoil the virginity on a Bioware thread, but what is the codex nowadays anyways?

I resisted the urge last time the discussion about KOTOR's twist came up, but somehow I can not keep quite about this issue any longer.

I have to admit I had to play the beginning twice (build a fucked up char, or fucked something else up - or Kotor just corrupted my save file), so I got the chance to focus on some dialogue more.
But I think it is still pretty obvious (even though I admit, that at the time I figured it out I was still pretty impressed - being some kind of revived Dark Lord is pretty cool for a Star Wars enthusiast).

The game literally begins with you being some sort of chosen one on a ship only because you had some "high power" moving in on your behalf - AND you have the typical amnesia.
And just as ScottishMartialArts pointed out, Carth remarks somewhere on the first planet, that Jedis are rumored to be able to mindwipe (to borrow a B5 term) a person + nobody knows what really happened to Revan (or something like that) + it is obvious you are going to be a jedi and most people should know it is "not that easy".

It might not be very obvious, but it should not be called shocking. It should however be noted that for a Star Wars game, it is a pretty cool, well made twist (even though it is pretty gamey, and does not really fit into Star Wars lore - what would be the fucking point to have a Galactic Emperor to be revived).

 

[Vibalist]

As we all know Bioware are very fond of their 'Twists' in their games.


Baldurs Gate 2 had the shocking twist where you find out that Imoen is a bhaalspawnette.

You've got the BG2 one wrong. Imoen being a bhaalspawn isn't that important in the grand scheme of things - it's far less important than Bodhi and Irenicus stealing your and her souls. I'd put that marginally more important to they story than Yoshimo betraying you - though again, they made that deliberately skippable by putting some clue dialogue soon after you find Yoshi (when you ask the shadow thieves assaulting Irenicus's dungeon to join forces, they tell you - referring to you, but in hindsight applicable to Yoshi - 'f*** off, who would trust someone they found in this hellhole'), and later by putting some fairly obvious clues in the pirate town.

It's not like you didn't know something was up with Imoen - you spend half the fricken game trying to find her and to work out what Irenicus was trying to do to you and her. There WAS a neat gameplay twist, in that after you lose your soul you turn can turn into the Slayer - for a while involuntarily and always at the worst fucking times (i.e. when trying to rest), and slaughter your own party, but later as an interseting trade-off where you could get the uber-slayer-stats at the cost of rep, in a game where having low enough rep - (say 8 slayer changes, without rep gains in the middle) makes it nigh-unwinnable. But that wasn't really a story twist.

No, in that sense BG2 was not just the one truly good Bioware game, it was the one that didn't rely on a 'big twist'...

...except that there was, it was just the only marginally subtle twist Bioware has ever done. The twist is finding out that Bhaal has been an active helper, pushing you (his kid) along so that you will confont Irenicus and get your demon-soul back. All those dream sequences that feature Irenicus being a cool but evil bastard, talking about how life is strength ('Take this woman. She has strength, of a sort. She lost her husband to war, her children to plague, and yet still she perseveres. [flamestrike] And now she is dead' etc etc) - after Irenicus steals your soul you get a line of dialogue where you can ask him about all the dreams, and he doesn't know what you're talking about. That's pretty much the only indication you get in the game - well that along with the evidence that, until AFTER he steals your soul, Irenicus isn't as utterly evil as the dreams imply - his diary being the prime evidence, along with his changing aura at different points of the game if you cast detect alignment.

All this about Bhaal is actually pretty damn cool. Never pieced it together myself, but it makes sense now that you say it.

Also @ Andhaira, the twist in ME was that Saren wasn't the true villain after all.

 

[Volourn]

Huh? That wasn't the twist. The true villain was revealed well before ME was even released. L0L

 

[Radisshu]

The twist will be that the game becomes a hentai sim halfway through.

 

[shihonage]

There will not be a twist, just a cliffhanger. You will actually be hanging off a cliff, and then credits roll.

 

[Jaime Lannister]

They drop hints all along. In initial conversation with Carth on Taris, he discusses how the force "can do terrible things to a person" or something, and that it can even wipe someone's mind and change there identity. He's even heard that the Order might have done so, but it's just a rumor. Combine that discussion with the fact that you JUST HAD A DISTURBING, MYSTERIOUS DREAM, and you immediately get clued in that you're not who you think you are, assuming you're willing to connect some dots. Then, when you never see Revan's face or hear his voice in the cutscenes on Dantooine, it becomes pretty obvious. There's other stuff too, but that's what tipped me off on my first playthrough.

I remember going through those and not connecting the dots even though I already knew I was Revan. Ffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

The reason I knew I was Revan beforehand was because I played 2 first and noticed that you got to select Revan being male/female and LS/DS. It immediately clicked that that was the first game's protagonist. I didn't even know it was supposed to be a twist until playing KotoR 1.

 

[Radisshu]

There will not be a twist, just a cliffhanger. You will actually be hanging off a cliff, and then credits roll.

And when the next game begins, the camera will tilt back slightly and it will show that you're actually lying on a slope, and that will be the twist.

 

[bat_boro]

The twist is that the game ships without DRM

and that is the best Bioware twist ever!