So, my initial experiences of RPGs were JRPGs, where you're basically playing through a pre-written story. The way things end is the way things end.
I've hit a point in Cyberpunk 2077 where I realize some of the actions I took earlier in the game are having consequences. For example, I was unable to romance Panam because I guess I screwed up some dialogue earlier on.
I really want to just let go and let the actions I've taken as a player allow me to see the story I've built for them, but I get frustrated with this kind of thing because of the knowledge that it could all go differently. I found myself growing paralyzed playing Baldur's Gate III for the same reason.
It's a funny thing, because I love TTRPGs (see this blog) where we have infinite freedom to do as our characters will, but in a sense, because it's all infinite, there's no real sense of what you're missing out on if you choose a different path. The DM might set aside certain stuff they had prepared, but there's no "multiple endings" because there's only the one that you got.
And, like, actually the kind of sweet turning-down of V by Panam worked fine, genre-wise. Cyberpunk is very indebted to noir, and the hero not getting the girl in the end is a totally valid way for a story to go. It's just that I sort of feel like this kind of "miss this thing early on and you miss out on something later" style of gameplay doesn't make me feel freer.
I'm sure I'm in the minority here. And I don't know, maybe it says something about me that I want a very clear path laid before me.
But it does kind of make me appreciate that Remedy has said that Control Resonant won't have multiple endings. They are, after all, making a big interconnected world where continuity between games has to make sense (though at least for now it's only between two game franchises). But I also appreciate that I'll be able to play Dylan's journey across Warped Manhattan without worrying that I'll, I don't know, screw up and get the ending where he gets re-corrupted by the Hiss and kills Jesse (assuming that's not... you know... the actual ending. Which would be a hell of a downer).
More annoying was that my first attempt at the final mission with Panam, I tripped the alarm and we wound up getting chased by bad guys, in a fight that as far as I could tell was utterly unwinnable because I couldn't Quickhack the people in the cars chasing us and so I had to rely on my not-very-good smart weapons, and the van we were in kept getting destroyed. I wound up re-loading (the "continue from last checkpoint was already at this unwinnable stage) so I could get the thing done with perfect stealth, quicksaving a few times.
It's funny, because a lot of what I really like about this game is that it doesn't really penalize you a ton in its core mechanics. Healing items and grenades regenerate, and ammo is plentiful, so a rough fight that you make it through is fine. Your car can get super-damaged, but the next time you call it, it's fine.
I guess I like games that allow you to just go with your own flow. And I suppose for some people, these alternate endings and relationship options are fun rewards for doing things a certain way, but to me they feel like punishments for not doing things a certain way.
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