History Main / BigFirstChoice

* The basement of ''Film/CabinInTheWoods'' is set up in this fashion. Which of the cursed artifacts the teenagers choose to play with determines which horrific monster will come forth to slaughter them.

* Subverted in ''VisualNovel/DoubleHomework. The protagonist seemingly has the choice to either go to summer school or go on disability payments when Dr. Mosely visits him at home, but he decides not to apply for the payments anyway if the player chooses this option.

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** 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. Some of the later games have another rival character who gets the remaining starter Pokémon (the one that is weaker to yours).

Typically, games let you make choices. Some games let you make choices that have significant effects on the game world. The '''Big First Choice''' is an early player choice -- sometimes occurring ''before proper gameplay even starts'' -- that has a ''massive'' effect on the game.

* ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'': The choice of [[FighterMageThief class]] for the Hero has a major impact on which side quests, characters, and locations will be accessible to him in the current game and, if [[OldSaveBonus keep importing your saves]], every subsequent installment. For example, in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'', non-wizards never meet Tatiana the Faery Queen, non-thieves cannot enter the local ThievesGuild and help the Chief Thief undo his BalefulPolymorph, while non-paladins[[note]]with ThePaladin class only available via OldSaveBonus[[/note]] never meet the ghost of Paladin Piotyr and cannot put the Rusalka of the Lake to rest.

* ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'': The choice of [[FighterMageThief class]] for the Hero has a major impact on which side quests, characters, and locations will be accessible to him in the current game and, if [[OldSaveBonus keep importing your saves]], every subsequent installment. For example, in ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryShadowsOfDarkness'', non-wizards never meet Tatiana the Faery Queen, non-thieves cannot enter the local ThievesGuild and help the Chief Thief undo his BalefulPolymorph, while non-paladins[[note]]with ThePaladin class only available via OldSaveBonus[[/note]] never meet the ghost of Paladin Piotyr and cannot put the Rusalka of the Lake to rest.

* In ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'', Zoë's first choice is when she wakes up from the coma, does she start working in her chosen profession as a bioengineer, or does she try something different. While the story will play out the same, some of the important characters will be different.

* ''VideoGame/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 accompany your friend on his delivery job) determines your ''entire path'' through the game. There are two complete storylines with wildly different results throughout, all hinging on that little choice.

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* Early on in ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'', the player is given a choice of saving one of two characters, Fergus or Wyatt, which significantly impacts the storyline and several mini-games for the rest of the game.
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* Before a new game of ''VisualNovel/MonsterProm'', the player will be asked a series of personality questions which will determine their starting stats. All perfectly normal and not this trope. They will then be asked a final question which will determine whose route they start on - this decides which events they will get from the beginning, and while it's possible to get another character's ending after this, it's definitely harder, and it'll be almost impossible to get a secret ending.

* In ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', the game begins with a selection of six main characters: StoneWall Duran, GlassCannon Angela, BarefistedMonk Kevin, WhiteMagicianGirl Charlotte, FragileSpeedster Hawkeye, and JackOfAllStats Riesz. However, a player can only pick three of them when the game starts, with one of them as the main character and two others as {{deuteragonist}}s. The story bumps into the other three that weren't chosen, but they can't be recruited. So a player has to think carefully about potential party line-ups right from the word "go" in this game.

* In ''VideoGame/AlterAILA'', the choice at the end of the prologue determines which faction you (and by extension Green) will side with for the first chapter, and determines who your allies will be.

* At about the end of the first third of ''VideoGame/IndianaJonesAndTheFateOfAtlantis'', the game splits into one of three possible paths depending the player's choice: the combat-centric "action" path, the self-explanatory "puzzle" path, or the "team" path where Indy travels together with Sophia. These paths all converge at the last act in Atlantis, and beating all of them is required for [[HundredPercentCompletion the maximum Indy Quotient points]].
** Not really an example since both the game and the manual make very clear that these are three distinct modes of play.

* ''VideoGame/FrontMission 3'' has a choice right after the tutorial about whether to accompany a friend or not. It's minor enough many players [[ForWantOfANail don't even realize it's significant]], but it sends the game down one of two completely different storylines, essentially putting the player on opposite sides of a war(to the point that party members of one branch might be enemies in the other) and with a different third major character in your party.

* In ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'' Zoë's first choice is when she wakes up from the coma, does she start working in her chosen profession as a bioengineer, or does she try something different. While the story will play out the same, some of the important characters will be different.

* At the start of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', the player will be asked to choose their favorite game in the series. Picking ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' makes Snake's stamina decrease more slowly; picking ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' starts the player wearing the Raikov mask in the very first cutscene; and picking ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' (in the ''Subsistence'' remake) unlocks a "Peep Theatre" cutscene. This choice has no impact on the story, however.

* In the {{Gamebook|s}} comic book ''ComicBook/{{Meanwhile}}'', the first choice you make is to buy chocolate or vanilla ice cream. If you choose chocolate, you are plunged into a series of MindScrew time-traveling adventures. If you choose vanilla, you eat your ice cream, go home, and [[NonStandardGameOver the story ends there.]]

One method of StoryBranching. Subtrope of ForWantOfANail. Compare MultipleGameOpenings, where the the story branches even ''before'' you make the first in-game choice, and LastSecondEndingChoice, where you play through ''most'' of the game before a major and [[PointOfNoReturn irrevocable]] plot split. Contrast ButThouMust, which might ''look'' like a big choice, but really isn't.

* ExaggeratedTrope in ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario''. Your first choice of the game is whether you will accept the challenge of saving the world. If you say no three times, you don't save the world and [[NonstandardGameOver automatically get a Game Over]].

* In the Adventure scenario of ''Videogame/{{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.

''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: did you even play the same game as everyone else?''