Fallout: New Vegas

A one-click speech check replaces a fight instead of offering its own play. You can end the Chavez quest by fighting him and his goons, with choices of weapons, ammo, targets and movement, or by picking one dialogue option gated by a speech stat of 30.

Mark Brown uses it as the example of a talking route that should have play of its own: "Option two, on the other-hand, offers no gameplay whatsoever."

VATS pauses the action, turning a frantic shooter into a tactical game. Fallout's VATS stops the action so players can choose targets, turning a fast first person shooter into a measured, turn-based game.

It is cited as a normal gameplay system that doubles as an accessibility option, helping players with motor and cognitive disabilities who need time to think.

VATS pauses the action, turning a frantic shooter into a tactical game. Fallout's VATS stops the action so players can choose targets, turning a fast first person shooter into a measured, turn-based game.

It is cited as a normal gameplay system that doubles as an accessibility option, helping players with motor and cognitive disabilities who need time to think.

Every character build gets a route that uses its own skills. In the Ultra-Luxe quest Beyond the Beef, a stealth character smuggles in a silenced pistol and sneaks past guards, a silver-tongued one talks people round, and a boxer punches thugs. Whatever stats the player picked at the start, the quest offers a way to play that role.

Mark Brown plays it five times: stealth, silver-tongued villain, boxer, evil cannibal and madman. The madman skips the clues, tells Heck Gunderson the White Glove Society has his son Ted, takes Heck's shotgun and kills everyone in the way. The quest is held up as an example of the older Fallout tradition of a personal story shaped by the character you build.

Offer several routes to one goal, each with different risks and costs. To reach the kitchen you can pick a lock, pickpocket a key, work with Mortimer, pretend to work with him, or become an honorary White Glove Society member. Some routes carry higher risk or cost, and each suits a different kind of character.

"There are always multiple ways to achieve the same goal."

Options are gated by stats, perks, reputation, faction and morality. Many choices only appear if the character has a certain stat, perk, community standing, faction alignment or moral reputation, and lockpicking, hacking, stealth and combat skills decide which stories the player finds.

Fallout 2 designer Chris Avellone: "I think players should have the freedom to create their own destiny. What you should be giving them is a playground for them to roleplay their opportunities."

Write content for niche perks and past deeds, not just main skills. The quest reacts to the cannibal perk, to fame earned elsewhere on the Strip, to having a human companion, and to good or evil karma. The cannibal bonds with Mortimer, the famous boxer is made an honorary member, and the companion Boone can be locked in the fridge as a replacement meal.

A good player hears Mortimer say "I don't think you'd have the stomach for it"; an evil one hears "You strike me as just the sort of person who can help me."

The villain's route is a full quest, with grey options in between. Taking the job from Mortimer turns a rescue into replacing Ted with another human, with its own chain of tasks. Between hero and sadistic cannibal framing Heck sit options like talking Carlyle St. Clair into volunteering instead of pistol-whipping him.

Mortimer, impressed by the volunteer: "Of his own volition? My goodness, you are very professional, aren't you?"

Players can change plans mid-quest instead of locking in one choice. Stats shape the story without predestining it: a player who can't talk past a guard can kill him, or switch approach halfway through.

"You rarely get locked into one decision so you can change your mind mid way through the quest."

Branches rejoin at shared scenes to cut the content to build. Many solutions pass through the kitchen or the steam room meeting with Chauncey, which reduces the permutations designers must create while still giving many ways in.

Some consequences are forecast, others left as surprises. Mortimer warns that Heck has hired heavy security in his penthouse, so players can prepare or avoid it. The goons and the assassin are not signposted.

"It's a give and take, depending on the level of the challenge."

Identical rewards from both sides weaken the choice. Heck and Mortimer pay exactly the same reward, which makes deciding who to help less exciting. The quest is also very buggy.

The quest ties into the game's theme of greed and later quests. Beyond the Beef fleshes out New Vegas's view of greed as a savage force, other characters comment on what you did, and the White Glove Society and the Gundersons return in later quests.

Yes Man: "A cannibalism problem? Really? I'm so glad you weren't eaten!"