History Main / StoryBranchFavoritism

*** This time around, you can play as one of ten different races. However, because it explores Nordic culture, gives the PlayerCharacter the power of the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]], which lore-wise has always been associated with the Nords, and depicted the Dragonborn as a burly Nord warrior on all the promotional material, there's no mistake as to which race the game is kind of expecting you to play as. Furthermore, some races, like the [[LizardFolk Argonians]] and [[CatFolk Khajiit]], are subjected to FantasticRacism and not allowed into some cities, [[GameplayAndStorySegregation but the player is inexplicably free of such restrictions]].

** An Ultimate Good playthrough is necessary to unlock both the [[GoldenEnding Ultimate Good ending]] and the [[OmegaEnding Future ending]], as the opportunity is denied in an Ultimate Evil playthrough.

** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2'' slightly favors the Claire A/Leon B story where Sherry gets infected with the G-Virus and thus Claire has to find a cure. In Leon's story, Ada and Leon grow a bit close together throughout the game and she [[DiedInYourArmsTonight dies in Leon's arms]] near the end. In the reversed scenarios, Ada dangles over a ledge and Leon's strength gives out, causing her to fall into a BottomlessPit while Leon curses Umbrella for causing the whole mess before he throws the G-Virus sample into the pit. Claire's story is even less fleshed out since nothing major happens other than the two of them being stalked by [[EliteMook Mr. X]].

* ''VideoGame/ParadiseKiller'' is an investigation simulator that allows you to make a case against various characters...but pinning it all on the obvious suspect, Henry, leads to the least amount of character development.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', oddly, seems to slightly prefer the "bad" Ending B to the "good" and canonical Ending A. In Ending B, both Otacon and Meryl's character developments are finished off better (with Otacon rising to his role as Snake's equal, and the truth behind Meryl's background being revealed), and Snake's is more interesting as he is allowed to have a [[HeroicBSOD visible breakdown]] after Meryl's death which Otacon has to talk him out of. Snake and Otacon's conversation is more plot-relevant, focusing on their feelings about the events that have happened, their career plans, and their feelings about Naomi, while Snake and Meryl instead talk about their newfound love and think about the beauty of Alaska. The plot even makes somewhat more sense, as in Ending B, the implication is that Liquid attached Meryl's corpse to a fake bomb and posed her to make sure she seems alive, but in Ending A Snake merely goes to Meryl and the bomb is forgotten about. Even the NewGamePlus item Otacon gives to Snake is ''significantly'' more [[GameBreaker powerful]] than Meryl's, which is nearly useless. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' borrows much more from Ending B than from Ending A, omitting Meryl and having Snake and Otacon's Ending B realization that they are meant to "[[HeterosexualLifePartners take a trip to Jupiter]]" as part of the unspoken backstory.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' series, you can choose your gender, but promotional material and even some in-game lore tends to suggest that the female Inkling/Octoling was the canon heroine of any given story campaign.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowTheHedgehog'' plays this trope straight, where although the game features up to 11 different endings ranging from Evil to Neutral to Good; only the hidden Neutral ending against the obvious BigBad is considered to be the games GoldenEnding from the creator standpoint.

* ''VideoGame/RedEarth'' has four playable characters to go through its story, but nudges the player towards selecting [[BeastMan Leo]] -- he is the one most prominently featured in its intro, is who Player 1's cursor automatically starts on, and has a personal stake with [[PreFinalBoss Blade]] (more specifically, that Blade was his former trusted underling) that the other three lack.

** ''[[VideoGame/SilentHill4 Silent Hill 4: The Room]]''’s "'''21 Sacraments'''" ending is unequivocally a DownerEnding…but by Samael, is it ''easily'' the [[ItsAWonderfulFailure most interesting]] of the four, as well as the longest and the one that best fits the game's overall tone. [[spoiler:The ending can be achieved if the player neither cleanses at least a fifth of Room 302's hauntings, nor finishes the final boss fight in time to save a possessed Eileen from [[UnflinchingWalk walking to her death]] (at which she quickly succeeds if the player performed terribly at an [[TooDumbToLive equally]] [[ArtificialStupidity terrible]] [[EscortMission escort mission]]). It starts with Walter [[FauxDeath faking the dramatic death scene]] standard to all four endings (including the hushed [[IWantMyMommy cry for "Mom"]] as he reaches out to her). However, instead of the normally ensuing earthquake -- no, wait, ''[[WorldSundering dream]]''[[WorldSundering quake?]] -- Henry's [[ImHavingSoulPains convenient debilitating headaches]] return at full blast…only for his misery to suddenly and suspiciously end. Henry stands up to fathom the [[BeautifulVoid vast nothingness]] around him. Back in the real world, both manifestations of Walter's spirit have entered Room 302; and while little Walter is off [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas hugging the furniture]], adult Walter just stands there, left to wonder…''[[AllThatGlitters Is this it?]]'' In the background of the [[ImmortalityHurts disappointment of this eternity]], a radio news anchor confirms the deaths of Eileen and Henry; announces that Frank the superintendent has also been found dead; and adds that all surviving tenants of the South Ashfield Heights apartment complex have been rushed to the hospital, complaining of [[ImHavingSoulPains severe chest pains]]—just like [[WhenItAllBegan ten years ago]].]] Contrast the other three endings, in which either [[spoiler:Eileen and Henry [[GoldenEnding make it out together]]]] and the appartment building has been cleansed of Walter's influence; [[spoiler:Eileen and Henry make it out together, but she wants to return to the [[NotQuiteBackToNormal still haunted]] apartment building, implying that she's still possessed]]; [[spoiler:or [[BittersweetEnding Henry gets out alone]] and is left to mourn Eileen's death, confirmed by the same radio anchor as in "21 Sacraments"]].

** ''[[VideoGame/SilentHill4 Silent Hill 4: The Room]]''’s "'''21 Sacraments'''" ending is unequivocally a DownerEnding…but by Samael, is it ''easily'' the [[ItsAWonderfulFailure most interesting]] of the four, as well as the longest and the one that best fits the game's overall tone. [[spoiler:The ending can be achieved if the player neither cleanses at least a fifth of Room 302's hauntings, nor finishes the final boss fight in time to save a possessed Eileen from [[UnflinchingWalk walking to her death]] (at which she quickly succeeds if the player performed terribly at an [[TooDumbToLive equally]] [[ArtificialStupidity terrible]] [[EscortMission escort mission]]). It starts with Walter [[FauxDeath faking the dramatic death scene]] standard to all four endings (including the hushed [[IWantMyMommy cry for "Mom"]] as he reaches out to her). However, instead of the normally ensuing earthquake -- no, wait, ''[[WorldSundering dream]]''[[WorldSundering quake?]] -- Henry's [[ImHavingSoulPains convenient debilitating headaches]] return at full blast…only for his misery to suddenly and suspiciously end. Henry stands up to fathom the [[BeautifulVoid vast nothingness]] around him. Back in the real world, both manifestations of Walter's spirit have entered Room 302; and while little Walter is off [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas hugging the furniture]], adult Walter just stands there, left to wonder…''[[AllThatGlitters Is this it?]]'' In the background of the [[ImmortalityHurts disappointment of this eternity]], a radio news anchor confirms the deaths of Eileen and Henry; announces that Frank the superintendent has also been found dead; and adds that all surviving tenants of the South Ashfield Heights apartment complex have been rushed to the hospital, complaining of [[ImHavingSoulPains severe chest pains]]—just like [[WhenItAllBegan ten years ago]].]] Contrast the other three endings, in which either [[spoiler:Eileen and Henry [[GoldenEnding make it out together]]]] and the appartment building has been cleansed of Walter's influence; [[spoiler:Eileen and Henry make it out together, but she wants to return to the [[NotQuiteBackToNormal still haunted]] apartment building, implying that she's still possessed; or [[BittersweetEnding Henry gets out alone]] and is left to mourn Eileen's death, confirmed by the same radio anchor as in "21 Sacraments"]].

** ''[[VideoGame/SilentHill4 Silent Hill 4: The Room]]''’s "'''21 Sacraments'''" ending is unequivocally a DownerEnding…but by Samael, is it ''easily'' the [[ItsAWonderfulFailure most interesting]] of the four, as well as the longest and the one that best fits the game's overall tone. [[spoiler:The ending can be achieved if the player neither cleanses at least a fifth of Room 302's hauntings, nor finishes the final boss fight in time to save a possessed Eileen from [[UnflinchingWalk walking to her death]] (at which she quickly succeeds if the player performed terribly at an [[TooDumbToLive equally]] [[ArtificialStupidity terrible]] [[EscortMission escort mission]]). It starts with Walter [[FauxDeath faking the dramatic death scene]] standard to all four endings (including the hushed [[IWantMyMommy cry for "Mom"]] as he reaches out to her). However, instead of the normally ensuing earthquake -- no, wait, ''[[WorldSundering dream]]''[[WorldSundering quake?]] -- Henry's [[ImHavingSoulPains convenient debilitating headaches]] return at full blast…only for his misery to suddenly and suspiciously end. Henry stands up to fathom the [[BeautifulVoid vast nothingness]] around him. Back in the real world, both manifestations of Walter's spirit have entered Room 302; and while little Walter is off [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas hugging the furniture]], adult Walter just stands there, left to wonder…''[[AllThatGlitters Is this it?]]'' In the background of the [[ImmortalityHurts disappointment of this eternity]], a radio news anchor confirms the deaths of Eileen and Henry; announces that Frank the superintendent has also been found dead; and adds that all surviving tenants of the South Ashfield Heights apartment complex have been rushed to the hospital, complaining of [[ImHavingSoulPains severe chest pains]]—just like [[WhenItAllBegan ten years ago]].]] Contrast the other three endings, in which either [[spoiler:Eileen and Henry [[GoldenEnding make it out together]]]] and the appartment building has been cleansed of Walter's influence; [[spoiler:Eileen and Henry make it out together, but she wants to return to the [[NotQuiteBackToNormal still haunted]] apartment building, implying that she's still possessed; or [[spoiler:[[BittersweetEnding Henry gets out alone]] and is left to mourn Eileen's death, confirmed by the same radio anchor as in "21 Sacraments"]].

** ''[[VideoGame/SilentHill4 Silent Hill 4: The Room]]''’s "'''21 Sacraments'''" ending is unequivocally a DownerEnding…but by Samael, is it ''easily'' the [[ItsAWonderfulFailure most interesting]] of the four, as well as the longest and the one that best fits the game's overall tone. [[spoiler:The ending can be achieved if the player neither cleanses at least a fifth of Room 302's hauntings, nor finishes the final boss fight in time to save a possessed Eileen from [[UnflinchingWalk walking to her death]] (at which she quickly succeeds if the player performed terribly at an [[TooDumbToLive equally]] [[ArtificialStupidity terrible]] [[EscortMission escort mission]]). It starts with Walter [[FauxDeath faking the dramatic death scene]] standard to all four endings (including the hushed [[IWantMyMommy cry for "Mom"]] as he reaches out to her). However, instead of the normally ensuing earthquake -- no, wait, ''[[WorldSundering dream]]''[[WorldSundering quake?]] -- Henry's [[ImHavingSoulPains convenient debilitating headaches]] return at full blast…only for his misery to suddenly and suspiciously end. Henry stands up to fathom the [[BeautifulVoid vast nothingness]] around him. Back in the real world, both manifestations of Walter's spirit have entered Room 302; and while little Walter is off [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas hugging the furniture]], adult Walter just stands there, left to wonder…''[[AllThatGlitters Is this it?]]'' In the background of the [[ImmortalityHurts disappointment of this eternity]], a radio news anchor confirms the deaths of Eileen and Henry; announces that Frank the superintendent has also been found dead; and adds that all surviving tenants of the South Ashfield Heights apartment complex have been rushed to the hospital, complaining of [[ImHavingSoulPains severe chest pains]]—just like [[WhenItAllBegan ten years ago]].]] Contrast the other three endings, in which either [[spoiler:Eileen and Henry [[GoldenEnding make it out together]]]]; [[spoiler:Eileen and Henry make it out together, but she ''[[AssPull somehow]]'' wants to return to the cursed apartment building (which is [[NotQuiteBackToNormal very much still cursed]])]]; or [[spoiler:[[BittersweetEnding Henry gets out alone]] and is left to mourn Eileen's death, confirmed by the same radio anchor as in "21 Sacraments"]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard}}'' plays with this concept a bit. On the one hand, Ending A is the least "bad" of the endings, and is what the players gets after a single playthrough. It's also the canonical ending that led into ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard 2}}''. On the other hand, Ending B answers more questions, ties up more loose ends, and generally fits better with the overall tragic and dark nature of the game. This leads [[{{epileptic trees}} something safer]]. On the other other hand, the game's lead designer Taro Yoko had nothing to do with ''Drakengard 2''[='=]s development; when he finally returned to the series with ''VideoGame/{{NieR}}'', it followed after the events of Ending E, the ending most [[MindScrew out of left field]], and the one the fewest players would ever see.
** And then ''VideoGame/{{Drakengard 3}}'' throws in another doozy: Every ending of every game, including the [[GainaxEnding weird ones]], are considered canonical, as possible outcomes of a varying timeline. [[spoiler:Drakengard 3 is the first chronologically, and the goal of its narrator is to oversee events being pushed onto the only timeline that conclusively ''prevents'' the horrifying events of the rest of the series.]]

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes'':
*** The first mission after the initial route split is being instructed by Jeritza to infiltrate a bandit base that results in the rescue of [[spoiler:the real]] Monica, with both characters only having prominent roles in the Scarlet Blaze route from that point on. Scarlet Blaze's climax also involves taking down both [[spoiler:Rhea]] and [[spoiler:Thales]], whereas the other two routes only focus on one of the two. Scarlet Blaze is also the route most affected story-wise by the decision to [[spoiler:recruit Byleth and Jeralt]], as failing to do so [[spoiler:will result in the Alliance backstabbing the Empire and Claude being killed compared to how they will remain allies with the implication the war will end much sooner against the Kingdom]]. Azure Gleam does have more exclusive playable characters than Scarlet Blaze, but it also demotes [[spoiler:Byleth and Jeralt]] to EleventhHourRanger.

* ''VideoGame/AkibasTrip'' has an odd case with this. You'd ''expect'' it to be Shizuku, considering how much the game pushes her as the main character, and her making the MC her blood-bound servant to save his life in the intro, which is something she can only do once in her incredibly long lifespan. It turns out that it's not her, but Shion, the character with barely any ties to the plot and has by far the hardest route to enter. Unlike any of the other routes, it averts StrictlyFormula with how it unfolds, goes into far more depth about the story, [[spoiler:cures the MC of his Synthister affliction, and stops the villain before he's able to complete the first stage of his plan.]]