Line #64 Main/MultipleGameOpenings


1	-> ''"What will you be? A banker from Boston, a carpenter from Ohio, or a farmer from Illinois?"''
2	-->-- ''VideoGame/TheOregonTrail''
3
4	Multiple Game Openings is a form of StoryBranching opposite of MultipleEndings, where each available PlayerCharacter (or CharacterClass) starts the game in a different level, but all such prologues soon [[BranchAndBottleneckPlotStructure converge into a single common plot]] (which can coincide with OpeningTheSandbox).
5
6	Particularly common in {{MMORPG}}s, in which your choice of faction, race, or class can determine where your journey begins.
7
8	Compare AnotherSideAnotherStory, where the player unlocks an alternative level progression by completing the game, and BigFirstChoice, where all new games start the same but branch out heavily early on. See also SchrodingersPlayerCharacter, where picking a player character effectively erases all other playable characters from the game, and SchrodingersQuestion, where choices selected by the player build the setting and plot instead of merely affecting it.
9	----
10	!!Examples:
11
12	[[foldercontrol]]
13
14	[[folder: Platform Games]]
15	* The opening level of ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'' differs depending on whether you chose to play as Grey or Ashe.
16	* ''VideoGame/LittleSamson'' introduces each of the four player characters in a solo stage. [[ArbitrarilySerializedSimultaneousAdventures These can be played in any order,]] but from then on progression is strictly linear.
17	* ''VideoGame/XMenMutantApocalypse'' has different opening stages for Wolverine, Cyclops, Psylocke, Gambit and Beast, which can be played in any order.
18	[[/folder]]
19
20	[[folder: RPG -- Eastern]]
21	* In ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', depending on which of the six characters you select as your primary party member, you see six separate opening sequences. These paths converge at Jadd Stronghold, shortly after the opening credits.
22	* ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'' gives you the choice to play as either Claude or Rena, with the other character relegated to the role of {{deuteragonist}}. As such, your perspective of the first part of the plot varies with your chosen character. Though the pair eventually resolves to travel together, there are still minor differences in what you see depending on this initial choice.
23	* In ''VideoGame/UnchartedWatersNewHorizons'', each character started off in the capital of his or her respective nation, before getting involved (to varying degrees) in the overarching plot.
24	* In ''VideoGame/ThreadsOfFate'', you can select one of two characters as your protagonist, and each one depicts his backstory and motivations for finding the legendary treasure. Although the game proper begins after they both arrive at the HubLevel, there are many times throughout the game where their individual stories diverge again.
25	* At the start of ''VideoGame/PersonaQShadowOfTheLabyrinth'', you're given the choice of whether to follow the ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' protagonist or the ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' protagonist. Each has a totally different opening explaining how they got into the game's world, and while the first dungeon itself is the same for both, you start with a very different party in each.[[note]]The Persona 3 protagonist is also more difficult, as his persona Orpheus is weak to two elements, while the Persona 4 protagonist's persona, Izanagi, is only weak to one.[[/note]]
26	* At the start of ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' you choose whether to follow Jude or Milla's story. This affects where the story starts and whose perspective you see when the party splits up. Each story has several exclusive events and bosses. At one point, Jude travels through [[SlippySlideyIceWorld an ice themed dungeon]] while Milla takes on a [[LethalLavaLand lava-themed one]], for example. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking They also get different battle music.]]
27	* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'' has an eight-way version of this. To complete the game and see the credits, only one character's distinct opening needs to be cleared solo and the other seven don't even have to be recruited. Still, for variety's sake and fun's sake, recruiting all eight characters lets you play all eight openings as a party.
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder: RPG -- MMO]]
31	* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' every race has its own starting area. Dwarves & Gnomes and Orcs & Trolls each share the starting zone but, as of the ''Cataclysm'' expansion, they begin in different parts of those zones. Death Knights and Demon Hunters are the only ''classes'' that get their own unique starting zone, regardless of race.
32	* In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'', for both the Republic and the Sith Empire, Force users start on one planet (Tython & Korriban) while those who don't use the Force start on another (Ord Mantell & Hutta)
33	* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', you choose your home nation but inevitably begin traveling along the same path as players who chose others.
34	* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', whose personal story, though it [[StoryBranching branches frequently]], generally converges to a single story thread -- apart from the first twenty levels, where choice of race and [[BigFirstChoice answers to biography questions during character creation]] result in one of ''forty-five'' unique scenarios.
35	* The opening of ''VideoGame/DCUniverseOnline'' (after the JustifiedTutorial) can be any one of six different missions, depending on your character's allegiance (good or evil) and origin (meta, tech or magic). Beyond that one mission, however, all other missions within your allegiance are available to you.
36	* In ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'' dwarves, elves, hobbits and humans all have different introductory scenarios before getting involved in the main game.
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	[[folder: RPG -- Western]]
40	* While it doesn't change specific events, the players' starting ''position'' in ''VideoGame/UltimaIV'' depends on their class, with their arrival in Britannia in the city corresponding to the virtue associated with said class.
41	* The PC adaptation of ''VideoGame/TempleOfElementalEvil'' had nine opening scenes, depending on the alignment you selected for your party. Some were just cutscenes or conversations, while others had a short battle. All nine served to give your team a reason to head to the village of Hommlet, where they pick up the real quest.
42	* ''Franchise/DragonAge'' does this a lot.
43	** The six playable PlayerCharacter origins were the main gimmick of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. The first mission-slash-tutorial leading up to the PC's recruitment into TheOrder of the [[ImpartialPurposeDrivenFaction Grey Wardens]] depends on the combination of their race and class:
44	*** Human Nobles (human warrior or rogue) start the game in their parents' castle, just before it falls to an unscrupulous vassal's treachery and [[RulingFamilyMassacre everyone inside save the PC is butchered]].
45	*** City Elves (elven warrior or rogue) attend their own wedding at their FantasticGhetto when it is crashed by a jerkass human noble, who kidnaps several young women, including the female PC. The PC either gives chase and possibly murders him or fights their way out from the inside and possibly murders him.
46	*** Dalish Elves (ditto) explore some ancient ruins when they stumble upon an ancient ArtifactOfDoom that infects them with TheCorruption -- and the only cure is to become a Warden.
47	*** Circle Mages (elven or human mage) pass their Harrowing but immediately get embroiled in a conspiracy that results in a {{Blood Mag\|ic}}e's escape, so only the Wardens can protect them from execution by the Templars.[[note]]This is the one route where the player character can avoid falling victim to the plot by working with First Enchanter Irving, but they'll be given to the Wardens anyway.[[/note]]
48	*** Dwarven Nobles (dwarf warrior or rogue) fall victim to a courtly intrigue when their younger sibling, TheEvilPrince, frames them for the murder of their eldest brother, the heir apparent to the Orzammar throne.
49	*** Dwarven Commoners (ditto) break pretty much every law in Orzammar to make ends meet and join the Wardens basically as a GetOutOfJailFreeCard.
50	** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', the player character is always human. However, selecting the character's class determines which of their younger twin siblings will be killed during the prologue. If Hawke is a mage, their sister Bethany (who is also a mage) dies; if Hawke is a warrior or rogue, their warrior brother Carver is the one to go. The only hint of this prior to the character's death comes in the exaggerated scene described by CharacterNarrator Varric, in which the twin who will survive is shown fighting at Hawke's side.
51	** Downplayed in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', where the choice of race and class for the player character impacts a number of dialogue options and conversations throughout the prologue. In particular, a mage character can point out to Cassandra that putting down a weapon doesn't actually mean they're disarming, and an early conversation with Varric will have him perform a SherlockScan on the character in which he correctly pinpoints their origin (unless they're a Dalish elf, who discusses it with Solas instead).
52	* ''VideoGame/{{Nox}}'' had three opening sequences, depending on the choice of the PC's class. Essentially, it's three different games until you reach the Field of Valor.
53	* ''VideoGame/{{Sacred}}'' and its expansion pack had different opening sequences for every character class. The plots quickly converged after that.
54	* ''Videogame/{{Wizardry}} 8'' did this by virtue of possibility of importing saves from previous game, where if you had an alliance with Umpani or T'Rang, you would start in their respective camps and higher level instead of in a NoobCave, but the objectives were the same. Some earlier games did this too.
55	* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': Depending on which lifepath you choose for the protagonist V at character creation, the first half of the prologue features a completely unique storyline: the Nomad V smuggles a contraband item into Night City with Jackie; the Corpo V gets entangled in a political scheme within [[MegaCorp Arasaka]], then fired by their superiors covering their asses[[note]]and they already know Jackie from way back[[/note]]; and the Streetkid V tries to hijack the same supercar as Jackie but both get busted by the police. Either way, it is followed by a universal TrainingMontage and the first proper mission with Jackie.
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder: Shoot-Em-Ups]]
59	* ''VideoGame/ConcealedTheConclusion'' has four sets of stages 1-3 -- one for each shot type. The rest of the stages are the same, but the game does have MultipleEndings depending on your performance.
60	* The order of ''VideoGame/GigaWing''[='=]s first four stages is dictated by which character you pick at the start of the game.
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	[[folder: Simulation Games]]
64	* In all but the 2004 ''VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates'' games, you have a choice of your character's background, which can cause wildly differing scenarios when it comes to friendly ports, initial flagship, and crew size. It also provides differing explanations as to how your family became scattered across the Caribbean.
65	* The ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' games starting with ''X3: Reunion'' offer various starting scenarios, which differ mainly in terms of which ship and sector you start in. ''X3: Terran Conflict's'' "Terran Defender" start, for instance, starts you off in a Terran Sabre interceptor in Uranus orbit and lets you begin the game's first plot immediately, while "Humble Merchant" starts you off in Herron's Nebula with an [[SpaceTrucker Argon Mercury]] and a Discoverer scoutship, and requires a bridging mission to get you to Terran space before you can start the plot. Various other game starts are unlocked by fulfilling conditions in the game.
66	** Optional openings return in ''Videogame/XRebirth'''s 2.0 update, where each start has an alternate cockpit layout for the ''Albion Skunk'', weapon loadout, ships upgrades, credits, and property. The Mercenary start, for example, has the basic versions of every weapon installed and a hefty suite of upgrades installed, along with a minimalist cockpit that uses multiple panoramic video screens instead of a window for maximum visibility. However, unlike previous games, every start is explicitly the same person ([[PlayerCharacter Ren Otani]]) to prevent dialogue from breaking. The alternate starts disable the plot and have all star systems unlocked right from the get go; no {{Broken Bridge}}s need to be overcome.
67	* Planned as a feature in future versions of ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''.
68	[[/folder]]
69
70	[[folder: Stealth-Based Games]]
71	* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', if you pick "I didn't play ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid MGS1]]''" before starting the game, you'll start it from Raiden's perspective, skipping the Tanker storyline altogether. Conversely, picking that you did play [=MGS1=] lets you play the Tanker chapter, and if you do so then Raiden will have a line at the start of the Plant making note of having completed hundreds of VR simulations before this mission.
72	* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', your answer to the question of which ''MGS'' you liked best slightly influences the introduction scene (whether Snake is wearing the Raikov mask in the transport plane) or the rate at which your stamina depletes; the ''Subsistence'' rerelease adds [=MGS3=] itself to the list as well, allowing you to start with camouflage patterns that are otherwise NewGamePlus rewards.
73	[[/folder]]
74
75	[[folder: Survival Horror]]
76	* ''VideoGame/TheSuffering'' had three different endings, so its sequel has three different beginnings, which the player could choose according to his headcanon. Surprisingly, the beginnings of the second game continue to have an effect on the game throughout its length.
77	[[/folder]]
78
79	[[folder: Visual Novels]]
80	* ''VisualNovel/SevenKingdomsThePrincessProblem'' plays with this. The game always starts with a PlayerPersonalityQuiz that functions as character creation, but after that, you are allowed to [[MultipleChoicePast pick one of the playable backgrounds]] you've unlocked with your final stats. Each background then gets a unique interactive flashback that allows you to further refine the PC's personality, and is regularly referenced later in the game. There are even secret backgrounds unlocked by triggering certain events.
81	[[/folder]]

Context Main / MultipleGameOpenings