History Main / BigFirstChoice

* The first thing you do in ''{{Nox}}'' is pick your CharacterClass, which also decides which one of three largely different storylines the game will follow.

* An early quest in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' gives you the choice of blowing up the city of Megaton by setting off its namesake bomb or working to disarm it permanently. Setting off the bomb is a good StartOfDarkness for an evil character, as it "rewards" you with a serious hit to your KarmaMeter. Setting off the bomb is also one of the few acts that influences what images are shown during the ending.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has a similar early-game branching quest involving a trader on the run from some bandits. You can either convince the town's residents to stick up for the trader, or side with the bandits and help them take over the town as revenge for harboring the trader.

* In RadiataStories, you have to decide whether to stick with the humans, or join the Elves. The decision changes the entire second half of the game.

You escape the enemy's dreadnought aboard your commandeered shuttle, with the rescued rebel leader in tow and mere seconds to spare before the explosive charges you planted crack the monstrous ship in half. Not a bad job for the tutorial level. As the adrenaline wears off, the rebel leader congratulates you for your courage and offers you a chance to work alongside her to help free the galaxy from the [[ReligionOfEvil Dark Order]]'s clutches. But your hero would have to give up his grand life as a space mercenary, an outlaw-for-hire: certainly he's no friend of the Order, and he's more than happy to fight them on his own time, but he chafes at taking orders from anyone.

You ponder the decision for a few seconds, then have your hero turn down the offer with characteristic nonchalance. You then spend the next twenty hours of this epic space opera being inadvertently dragged into one conflict after another, meeting the rebels under awkward circumstances, and generally making life hell for the Order. Finally, when all's said and done, you get to put a bullet between the eyes of the [[BigBad Shadow Prince]], collect your reward and fly off into the sunset.

Feeling good about your victory, you go online to discuss the game. But what's this? You don't remember an infiltration mission aboard a satellite. And a romantic subplot with the rebel leader? How come no one's talking about the [[{{BFG}} MX-6000 railgun]] that got you through the final stages, but they're all gushing over that [[MacrossMissileMassacre multi-missile launcher]] that the EliteMooks had towards the end? [[UnusableEnemyEquipment Certainly]] ''[[UnusableEnemyEquipment you]]'' [[UnusableEnemyEquipment don't remember getting one.]]

After skimming a few threads, you can't help but wonder: [[MindScrew did you even play the same game as everyone else?]]

The answer: not quite. As it turned out, a lot more was riding on that innocuous first question than you ever could have guessed. By making one choice or the other, you determined the entire course of the rest of the game.

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* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' and [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII its sequel]] ask the player to choose which skills to emphasize and de-emphasize (strength, magic or defense) and how quickly they level up at the start of the game. Woe to the player who might unknowingly choose to level up slowly at the start.

* ''FrontMission 3'' has quite possibly the most extreme example in all of gaming: an innocuous choice at the beginning (whether or not you want to hang out with an NPC for drinks) determines your ''entire path'' through the game. There are two complete storylines with wildly different results throughout, all hinging on that little choice.

[[quoteright:350:[[TheStanleyParable http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/twodoors_2869.png]]]]

* An early quest in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' gives you the choice of blowing up the city of Megaton by setting off its namesake bomb or working to disarm it permanently. Setting off the bomb is a good StartOfDarkness for an evil character, as it "rewards" you with a serious hit to your KarmaMeter.

Not every game is quite as extreme as this example, but the BigFirstChoice (or second, or third) is a common way of extending the life of a game by making the player's choices at key points have a dramatic effect on the way the game plays out - perhaps even the way the game ''plays,'' period. Multiple playthroughs are absolutely necessary to wring OneHundredPercentCompletion out of games that feature such choices: sometimes the different paths will converge again at the end, but it's just as likely that each individual choice [[MultipleEndings will lead to a different ending.]] Compare MultipleGameOpenings, where the the story branches even ''before'' you make the first in-game choice.

Not every game is quite as extreme as this example, but the BigFirstChoice (or second, or third) is a common way of extending the life of a game by making the player's choices at key points have a dramatic effect on the way the game plays out - perhaps even the way the game ''plays,'' period. Multiple playthroughs are absolutely necessary to wring OneHundredPercentCompletion out of games that feature such choices: sometimes the different paths will converge again at the end, but it's just as likely that each individual choice [[MultipleEndings will lead to a different ending.]]

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has its eponymous Origin stories: class/race-specific pseudo-tutorial misssions, the consequences of which come up again and again throughout the rest of the story.

* ''DragonAge: Origins'' has its eponymous Origin stories: class/race-specific pseudo-tutorial misssions, the consequences of which come up again and again throughout the rest of the story.

* In ''FinalFantasyX2'', at the beginning of Chapter 2, you have to decide which of two factions to give an important MacGuffin to. This affects which faction-related sidequests will be available to you later.

* An early quest in ''{{Fallout 3}}'' gives you the choice of blowing up the city of Megaton by setting off its namesake bomb or working to disarm it permanently. Setting off the bomb is a good StartOfDarkness for an evil character, as it "rewards" you with a serious hit to your KarmaMeter.

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' and [[KingdomHeartsII its sequel]] ask the player to choose which skills to emphasize and de-emphasize (strength, magic or defense) and how quickly they level up at the start of the game. Woe to the player who might unknowingly choose to level up slowly at the start.

* In the ''{{Pokemon}}'' series, your choice of starter Pokémon determines your rival's starter as well: if you choose the Grass-Type starter, he'll choose the Fire-Type; the Fire-Type starter, the Water-Type; and the Water-Type starter, the Grass-Type (i.e. whichever you choose, he gets the one that's strong against it). Yellow is an exception: there, your starter is always the Electric-Type Pikachu, and your rival's Eevee will evolve into Vaporeon (weak against Electric), Flareon (neutral against Electric), or Jolteon (strong against Electric) depending on how often you lose to him. Your rival's starter (or his starter's final form) will also determine his final team.

* In ''{{Tsukihime}}'', a few less than obvious choices during the first two days of the story determine which one of five branches it will follow for the rest of it. It doesn't help that some options and branches only become available after you clear other endings.
* In ''FateStayNight'', you are given a few choices regarding how you follow your day as an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent... and the answers you give determine which route you follow for the rest of the game.

* In RadiantHistoria, one of your earliest decisions is whether to stay with Heiss in Special Intelligence, or join your friend Rosch in his new brigade. Due to the [[TimeTravel nat]][[AlternateHistory ure]] of the game, of course, the paths are not ''truly'' mutually exclusive, and because of some [[TimeyWimeyBall interplay]] between the two diverging timelines, it is not only possible but ''necessary'' to experience both.

* In the Adventure scenario of ''{{Clonk}}'''s "Metal and Magic" pack, you can either choose becoming a mage or a paladin, and both choices lead to quite a long story...or you can become a roadsweeper, which ends the story in about five minutes.