Mortons Fork / Telltale Games

Telltale's games result in this rather often, despite the emphasis on player choice. Can lead to some frustration, because players may feel that, as either choice leads to the same ending, what they choose doesn't matter.

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The Walking Dead

• Season 1:
  • As if it was a sign of all the ones to follow, there is one in the opening moments of the first episode of the first game, albeit a very minor one in comparison to everything else. When the police officer who is driving Lee to jail gives his opinion on Lee's case (that it might just be that Lee married the wrong woman), you have four different dialogue options. All four just have Lee decide not to say anything and just grumble instead.
  • When on Hershel's Farm, Lee has to choose between trying to save Hershel's son Shawn and Kenny's son Duck. Whichever one you pick, Duck always lives, Shawn always dies, Hershel always throws you off the farm, and Kenny always gives you a ride. Kenny and Katjaa don't even get that mad at you if tried to save Shawn.
  • When Lee, Carley, and Glenn rescue a woman from a group of walkers, they find that she has already been bitten and she asks for their gun to end it before she turns. You can either give it to her or say that you can't let her do it. Either way, she takes the gun and does the deed.
  • Episode 2 starts with Lee encountering Ben, Travis, and Mr. Parker. Mr. Parker's leg is caught in a bear trap without a release and walkers are closing in, so you choose to either leave him to die or cut his leg off. If you cut his leg off, walkers eat Travis and you carry Mr. Parker back where he will turn into a walker. If you choose to leave him, walkers eat Mr. Parker and Travis gets shot so you carry him back where he will turn into a walker.
  • In episode 2, the gang ends up locked in a room while Larry is apparently dying from a heart attack; keep in mind they had just learned that you become a zombie no matter what your cause of death, and Larry is over 300 pounds of ex-military trouble. Lee has the choice of either helping his daughter Lilly administer CPR, or restraining her while Kenny smashes Larry's head with a salt lick to prevent him from reanimating. Even if you don't take the second choice, Kenny kills Larry anyway. The only real choice is which character you want to take a hit in Relationship Values with. And since Lilly ends up leaving the group in the next episode while Kenny stays until the end, about half of the fandom considers helping her to be pointless.
  • At the end of Episode 2, the group comes across an abandoned vehicle, full of supplies they will need to survive. Some players may wish to do the moral thing and not steal from it, in which case the rest of the group takes it while they do nothing. When you meet the owner of the car in a later episode, he chews you out for stealing his supplies regardless of whether or not you actually did it. At best, this choice changes what Clem wears for the rest of the game.
  • Episode 3 retroactively makes the choice between Carley and Doug from episode 1 into one of these, as which everyone you picked, they fill basically the exact role until Lilly kills which ever one you picked either by accident (Doug) or on purpose (Carley) at the exact same time she would have killed the other. The only real difference is that one of the two allows you to be honest about Lee's criminal past, and even then, it is not as important as you'd think it be.
  • While fleeing a herd of walkers by train, the group encounters a couple of survivors named Christa and Omid; Lee and Omid end up having to jump onto the train from above, but Omid is hesitant. Whether Lee pushes Omid, encourages him to jump, or just remains silent, Omid ends up falling off the roof of the train and hurting his leg.
  • Inverted when you have to get onboard the train: Lee has a choice between helping the injured Omid or Christa (who is tougher, but heavily implied to be pregnant) onto the train. He gets briefly chewed out no matter his choice, but the one you don't rescue catches up anyway.
  • Episode 4 ends with picking who of four people to take with you to go rescue Clem. No matter whom you take or didn't take with you, Vernon's group will always have stolen your boat by the time you get back.
  • Episode 5's starting choice is whether or not to saw off Lee's arm. This does have some minor effects for later scenes, but even if you sawed off Lee's arm, he will still succumb to his bite at the exact same time as he would have if you hadn't.
  • 400 Days can be considered one long one if you think about. It ends with Tavia attempting to convince the five playable characters of that episode (and Becca) to come with her to her community with your previous choices though out the episode as well as what you make Tavia say effecting who comes with her. This will affect which of the 400 Days characters show up in Season 2. Unfortunately, four of the five characters are relegated to cameos, cameos so minor that you have to already know they are missing to notice a difference, then they disappear from the series forever. The only one of any importance to Season 2 is Bonnie, who is the only one who will go with Tavia no matter what you say or do.
• Season 2:
  • Near the very beginning of Season 2, Clem is trying to keep hers and Christa's fire going. You have the option to burn Lee's picture, Clem's drawing of Kenny's family, or a log. However, even if you choose to burn the log instead, Clem loses both pictures anyway after a raider knocks her into the river.
  • The first main choice of the season is to try to distract the raiders who have Christa at gun point or to try to sneak away. Either way Clem runs away, a shot goes off in the distance, and you never see Christa again.
  • Later in episode 1 of Season 2, Clementine has the option of sharing some beans with a stray dog. If she doesn't, the dog attacks her for denying her food. If she does, the dog will grab the whole can, and attack Clem when she tries to stop him eating all of it.
  • When the cabin survivors believe Clem has been bit, you can try to appeal to one of five of them, even protentional give them the sad eyes look. But no matter what, they will still lock her in the shed.
  • When Clem is in the kitchen alone with Rebecca, you can have her either confront Rebecca about the possibility of baby not being Alvin's or keep quiet about it. While Rebecca is a little more hostile in that moment if you confront her about it, either way she'll have warmed up to Clem at the start of episode 2 and apologize for how she acted when they met rendering the choice moot.
  • For the second to last choice for episode 1 Clem is trying to get a dying raider to tell her what happened to Christa and he asks for some water. Whether or not you give it to him, he'll still die before he can tell Clem what happened to her.
  • In episode 2, when Clem is watching Sarah, she asks Clem to teach her how to shoot. Even if you do it, it will never come up again.
  • When Carver takes the group hostage, you have the choice to give yourself up or sneak out to find Kenny. Either way, the next part plays out mostly the same, with the only real difference being you choose whether Alvin lives or dies in a much less direct way if you gave yourself up.
  • At about the middle of episode 3, you can choose whether to help Sarah with her work or focus on your own. No matter what you choose, Carver will still kill Reggie.
  • At the end of episode 3, the player has a choice with Sarita, whether to either cut off her arm or kill the walker attacking her. Either way, Sarita dies from the attack; cutting off her arm gets her killed immediately, while killing the walker still gets her infected, and she dies early into episode 4 with Kenny blaming Clementine for it regardless.
  • Also in episode 4, you must choose between saving Sarah or leaving her in the trailer park. If you leave her, she is painfully eaten by walkers. However, if you choose to save her, she will just be eaten by a different walker horde about 20 minutes later anyway without having contributed anything to the episode, even if you try to have Jane help her.
  • In what is probably the single most infamous choice in the series (if not all of Telltale), when Clem and Jane encounter Arvo, Jane decides to rob him of his medicine for her sister, and it's up to you whether to let her or call her off. If you agree to rob him, his friends attack you in retaliation for robbing him. If you decide not to, his friends attack you because Jane wanted to rob him. Either way the scene plays out exactly the same, other than deciding whether Arvo is sympathetic or not.
  • Near the very end of episode 4, you choose whether to leave for the next town immediately or wait a few days so Rebecca can get some rest. Either way Arvo's gang will still ambush the group and Rebecca will still die.
  • For the ending choice of episode 4, Rebecca has become a walker and baby AJ is on her lap. Clem can either shoot her in the head or call for help. If you shoot her, Luke screams no and a firefight breaks out. If you call for help, Kenny shoots her, Luke screams no and a firefight breaks out.
  • In episode 5, while crossing a frozen lake, Luke falls into the ice, Clem can either try to pull him out or cover him from a distance. If you pick the former, the ice breaks and Luke will drown. If you pick the latter, Bonnie will try to pull Luke out, the ice will break, and Luke will drown. Even if Bonnie drowns to, subsequent events at the house will remain the same, as Arvo will always shoot Clem and he and Mike will always take off.
  • If any of the previous example weren't enough to get you mad, The New Frontier retroactively makes all four of Season 2's endings into one as if you chose to stay with Kenny or Jane or Edith, then the one you picked will die in a flashback in the first episode of New Frontier.
• The New Frontier:
  • In the first episode of Season 3, you have to choose between leaving Prescott at night with Eleanor or in the morning with Tripp to get back to Javi's family. The following scene at the junkyard is identical regardless of with one you picked.
  • In Clem's flashback in episode 3, she can steal some medicine to use on a very sick AJ. However, even if you choose not to steal the medicine, David will still exile Clem, he will still take AJ away from her, and AJ will still live.
  • In episode 4, Javi and Clem happen upon a drugged-up Dr. Lingard. In his despair he'll ask Javi to give him a fatal overdose in exchange for AJ's location. However, if you let refuse to do it, he'll show up at the end of episode 5 and tell Clem where AJ is regardless. The only real difference is that if you killed him, Joan will bring it up during David's trial (not that it effects anything).
  • Near the end of episode 4 Joan forces Javi to choose between Tripp and Ava. Not only does Joan kill the opposite one of the one you picked, but whoever survived will die at nearly the exact same point anyway.
  • The final choice in episode 4 comes right after the above choice. After Joan executes whomever, Clint offers Javi a deal, he and his friends and family agree to leave Richmond for good and they will leave without any trouble. Javi can choose to either accept the deal or shoot Joan in the head. If he does the latter, Richmond will erupt into chaos, ending with walkers pouring in and Clint disappears for the rest of the game. However, if you choose the former, David will take matters into his own hands and shoot Clint in the head, with the same result happening only with Joan disappearing instead. At best, it effects whether Gabe is mad at both of you or just David (if you care about that).
• The Final Season:
  • The very final choice you make in the entire series turns out to be one. After Clem is bit by a walker and she and AJ are boxed-in in a crumbling barn, eventually you will have to have Clem tell AJ to either kill her or leave her to turn. Whichever one you chose AJ does neither and instead chops off Clem's leg and pulls her to safety off screen.

Game of Thrones

• In Episode One, Mira can convince Margaery to plead the Forrester's case to Joffrey. Unsurprisingly, considering it's Joffrey, this won't go well for Margaery, but choosing not to have Margaery risk it won't stop Her's and Mira's friendship from souring in later episodes.
• At the end of Episode One, Ethan is forced to make a choice whether to try to rescue his sister from Ramsay Snow. If Ethan tries to rescue his sister from Ramsey, he says Ethan is too brave and stabs him in the throat, killing him, but if Ethan does not try to save his sister from Ramsay, he says Ethan is too weak and stabs him in the throat, killing him. Really, Ethan is doomed either way.
• At the beginning of Episode Two, Asher must choose to either kill Tazal or spare him. The Lost Legion will pursue Asher, Beskha, and Malcolm well into episode three either way, so Tazel's threat that the legion won't stop chasing them if Asher kills him is absolutely meaningless.
• In Episode Two, Mira has the option to forge a letter from Margaery to the Glemore's to try to secure the marriage between Rodrik and Elaena after Margaery refuses to do so. Unfortunately, forging the letter doesn't actually help secure the marriage at all if you do it and again Mira's relationship with Margaery will still sour in latter episodes even if you don't do it.
• At the beginning of Episode Three, Asher must choose to either help his uncle Malcolm or his best friend Beskha in a fight with both the Lost Legion and Daenerys' dragon Drogon. Either way, both will survive, albeit burned by Drogon, and will continue to help Asher despite being a mad at him if they weren't picked.
• In Episode Three, Margaery will find out that Mira has been making plans with Tyrion to have the crown buy Forrester Ironwood. She will be furious and orders Mira not to speak to Tyrion again. When Tyrion comes up to Margaery and Mira at Joffrey's wedding to speak with Mira in private, who can either choose to go with him or obey Margaery's orders and stay with her. However, if you refuse Tyrion's request, he just admits openly that he has given the Forrester's the Ironwood contract, which will make Margaery just as angry as talking with him will.
• Near the end of Episode Three, you have the option to tell Finn that Cotter is secretly a wildling. The only real difference it makes is that Finn won't be surprised about it if Gared brings him along while fleeing The Wall.
• A little bit after the pervious example, Gared will encounter Britt, the man who murdered Gared's father and sister. Every choice you make here ends the same. Even if you promised Jon Snow to not fight him and keep it by trying to avoid the fight, Britt will still force you to fight him. If you try to spare him by stabbing him in the arm instead of the chest and refuse to finish him off, he will still die. And carrying into Episode Four, even if you went out of your way to avoid both fighting and killing Britt and even if you've befriended Finn so he vouches for your story, Frostfinger will still have Gared scheduled for execution, forcing Gared to flee from The Wall.
• The choice to leave either Rodrik or Asher to die at the end of Episode Five turns out to be one, as the Whitehill's attack on Ironrath will happen regardless and be almost identical. And for that matter, this bleeds into two choices in episode six...
  • If Rodrik is the survivor, you have the choice to either kill Ludd, potentially winning the war but risking Gryff killing Ryon, or kill Gryff, saving Ryon but potentially allowing the Whitehill's conquer Ironrath. Except, whichever one you pick, Beskha will save Ryon off-screen and the remaining Whitehill lord will take Ironrath.
  • If Asher is the survivor, you have option to call off whichever plan you made to kill Ludd and attempt to marry Gwyn to secure peace. Except, Elissa will attempt to murder Ludd anyway, which depending on if you choose poison or ambush, she'll either succeed or Asher will be forced to kill Gryff and the siege of Ironrath proceeds as normal.
• In Episode Six, Mira is forced to either admit she forced Sera to let her into Tommen's coronation feast or blame Sera for letting her in. If Mira accepts the blame, Margaery dismisses Mira from her service and without Margaery's protection, Mira is thrown into prison. If Mira blames Sera, Margaery keeps Mira in her service, but distances herself. Without Margery's protection, Mira is thrown into prison.

Other examples

• The Wolf Among Us:
  • In episode 4, when Beauty and Beast tell Bigby about The Crooked Man's businesses (the pawn shop and the butcher shop), you must choose which of the two to visit first. Whichever of the two you picked, you will find Crane's jacket (and thus the missing shard of the magic mirror) in the opposite location, and you will still have to fight Jersey Devil.
  • Later, when you meet Mr. Toad again at the business office, instead of telling him he will be sent to the farm like Snow White wants you to, you can tell him that you'll work it out for him or if you can give him the money for glamor's (magic that makes you look human) if you have it. However, even if you did, Toad and Toad Jr. will still be sent to the farm anyway.
• Batman: The Telltale Series does this at the end of Episode Two. During the ending, you're given the choice of either saving either Catwoman or Harvey Dent, with the one you don't help out getting injured but still surviving. If you save Catwoman, Harvey receives his trademark Facial Horror and develops the Two-Face Split Personality. If you save Harvey, he still develops the Two-Face personality, which is arguably made creepier, aside from the blackeye he sustained, by his face being perfectly intact.
  • Quite a few occur in Episode 3, while Bruce is in Selina's Apartment recovering from his wounds. Harvey Dent comes in for a surprise visit. You can choose to show yourself and have him deduce what happened or to hide behind the door...and then the cat opens the door and reveals you anyways. That's fork number one. The part before that, you could have chosen to sleep with Selina or simply reject her advances. Either way, Harvey flips out and gets angry at Bruce and Selina. That's fork number 2. Once he attacks you, you can choose to fight back with all you've got or simply avoid his attacks and let him get tired. Either way, and even if you've been real nice to him thus far, he'll end going up against you later on and you being with Selina will be mentioned. That's fork number three. Finally, and this is shared between Episode 3 and 4, even if you manage to calm Selina down and convince her to go with you to Wayne Manor instead of running away, she'll end up doing so anyway by Episode 4. And even if you've been nice to her, she'll betray you anyways. That's fork number fourk.
  • You have a choice between stopping Two-Face or Penguin at the end of Episode 4, with whomever you don't pick becoming the Starter Villain of Episode 5. Despite the choice changing up a whole lot of details you'll be unable to use your suit, and have to confront said Starter Villain as Bruce with none of your toys. Oh, and Commissioner Grogan will die at the start of Episode 5 regardless.
• Minecraft: Story Mode:
  • Asking Axel and Olivia to help Jesse find Reuben leads to them barely doing anything, so Jesse will always find Reuben on his own and always need Petra's help.
  • Once you recruit either Magnus or Ellegaard, and whoever you didn't choose was recruited by whoever you left behind, whoever you recruited will want to get moving to find Soren right away to avoid the Wither Storm catching up, while the other will want to wait until morning to avoid monsters. However, if you wait until morning, the Wither Storm will appear and block the sun, making it dark enough for monsters to spawn and forcing you to fight them anyway.
  • During the endgame of Episode 3, regardless of whether you choose to take Ellegaard's or Magnus's armor, whoever you took the armor of will get killed by the Wither Storm swatting them into a tree.
  • In Episode 6, you can choose to either accuse Stampy of being the White Pumpkin or not. If he's accused, then DanTDM will be killed by either a group of Spiders or the White Pumpkin. If he's not accused, then LDShadowLady will be killed by either a group of Spiders or the White Pumpkin. Both choices are complimentary, meaning one character will be attacked by spiders, the other by the White Pumpkin, but you can choose to save one of them during this scene, and the one you save dies by whichever fate they are left to (though Jesse will scar the White Pumpkin's mask should he choose to stop the murderer). In addition, regardless of who you save, neither character returns in season 2.
  • In addition, when exposing the White Pumpkin as Cassie Rose, it's possible to out her by having Stampy reveal the enchanted flint and steel used to open this world's exit portal. This will not change the episode's climax, as regardless of whether Cassie sees Stampy with the flint and steel, she will still assume Jesse has it (though the portals open regardless of which flint and steel is used, it doesn't occur to her that Jesse brought a different flint and steel from the one she was after), so the climax plays out exactly the same way as if Stampy never revealed the flint and steel to her.
  • Although you can choose to recruit Em at the end of Episode 8, she doesn't speak a single line of dialogue in the scenes where she's present, and she is entirely absent from season 2 either way.